by N/A
After Du Xiu Heng came back from washing his face, he saw Du Xiao Li still not done and asked, "What are you making to eat?"
"I saw the sweet potatoes we got back yesterday, and wanted to make some sweet potato cake to eat." When Du Xiao Li felt it was about done, she removed it from the fire, and afterwards, opened the bamboo steamer lid. The sweet aroma of the sweet potatoes assaulted their nose.
Du Xiu Heng watched Du Xiao Li use chopsticks to pick up the sweet potato and placed it into a bowl, afterwards slowly pressing it into mashed sweet potatoes. Then, she added in glutinous rice flour, and used chopsticks to mix it evenly.
"Younger sister, when did you learn to cook?" Du Xiu Heng skeptically looked to Du Xiao Li. Yesterday's wild hare stew was also good, and today's sweet potato cake, he'd never heard her mention before.
"I just randomly thought about it and felt it can be made like this." Du Xiao Li replied, and then ran to go wash her hands. When she came back, she had the sweet potatoes kneaded into palm size, and finger thick, flat cakes. She then took down the pot, and replaced it with the pot for stir-frying, letting Du Xiu Heng light the fire for her.
After waiting for the pot to heat up, she poured the vegetable oil into the pot. Then after the oil heated up, she had the pieces of flat cakes placed into the pot to pan-fry. And when the two sides became a golden color, she found a plate to put them onto.
Very soon, a plate of sweet potato cakes were made.
Du Xiao Li used chopsticks to separate a little piece for Du Xiu Heng, and watched him eat it, asking: "How's the taste?"
"Very delicious! Didn't know that sweet potatoes could be made like this to eat too." After Du Xiu Heng swallowed it down, he successively exclaimed in admiration.
"Then quickly go wash your hands and come back to eat." Du Xiao Li, seeing Du Xiu Heng liking it, happily smiled. After she plated all the cakes, she had the pot washed, then poured in the remaining wild hare stew from yesterday.
"En, how pleasant smelling. Xiao Li, what are you making here? Smelling this good!" Niu Jing, who was passing by Du Xiao Li's courtyard, smelled the sweet potato cakes, and couldn't help stopping to ask.
As soon as Du Xiu Li saw it was Niu Jing, she replied with a smile, "I made some sweet potato cakes for big brother. Grandpa Niu, do you want to come in and try some?"
"Okay!" Niu Jing pushed opened the very worn-out wooden fence and walked in, behind him, also followed Han Ming Yi and those two men in black.
"Grandpa Niu, he is?" Since it was their second time meeting, and even in her own home, Du Xiao Li couldn't continue to pretend to not see him, thus asked.
Niu Jing picked up a piece of sweet potato cake with chopsticks and took a bite. A sweet but not greasy taste dispersed in his mouth, delicious to the point where his entire face even smoothed out. Hearing Du Xiao Li ask about Han Ming Yi, he swallowed the sweet potato cake in his mouth, and said, "This is the grandson of a friend of mine. Because he's sick, he came to my place to recuperate for a period of time. You can just call him big brother Xiao Yi[1]."
"Oh. Big brother Xiao Yi, do you want to eat?" Du Xiao Li went and had one of the plates cleaned. Afterwards, she picked up a piece and placed it onto the plate, placing it in front of Han Ming Yi.
Since he's come to her home, no matter what, she should at least make a friendly gesture. However, based on her experience with his type in her past life, he won't eat it, so she was only just going through the motions.
Sure enough, Han Ming Yi looked to the the golden brown sweet potato cake on the plate, then shifted his gaze towards the mountains in the back. Not even making a peep.
"Mensao[2]!" Du Xiao Li couldn't help mouthing. Afterwards, she also gave some to those two men in black, but as expected, they both refused.
Niu Jing had two great loves in his life, one was medicine, and the other was delicious food. He also liked drinking wine, but because after drinking wine, he can't see patients, he usually very rarely drank. He saw that Han Ming Yi didn't eat, so he took the piece from his plate and said, "He doesn't want to eat, I'll eat! Xiao Li ah, how did you make this? So delicious!"
"It's very simple." Du Xiao Li, although didn't like Han Ming Yi that much, she liked Niu Jing a lot, thus she told him the method for making sweet potato cakes. When she finished, she even poured a bowl of wild hare stew for him to drink.
Niu Jing drank a mouthful of wild hare stew and said, "We also used the wild hare for stew last night, how come it wasn't as good as yours? What did you put in it?"
"Just put a bit of salt, and also mushrooms picked from the mountains." Du Xiao Li answered. She waited for him to finish drinking and took back the bowl, asking: "Grandpa Niu, what are you doing coming up the mountain this early?"
"I'm going into the mountains to find some medical herbs, and also bring Xiao Yi around to look, climb some mountains, and exercise a bit." Niu Jing answered.
Du Xiao Li looked to Han Ming Yi's pale white face, and also the gown on his body, silently sitting there. With him like this, it was useless now matter how much he exercised. However, Niu Jing's words pointed out a money making path for her. "Grandpa Niu, do you think if I dig up medical herbs from the mountains to sell, will the medicine shop accept them?"
"The medicinal herb shop naturally will accept them, but the medical herbs you dig up, probably no one will dare to accept." Niu Jing said with a smile.
"Why?" Du Xiao Li instinctively asked. In her past life, she was called the exotic flower of the medical world. There weren't many medical ingredients that she didn't recognize. To actually dare disdain her?!
But she forgot that she herself right now was just a seven year old little girl, who would believe that a seven year old little girl could distinguish between medical ingredients?
"You've never studied medicine before, nor have learned how to handle medicinal ingredients, who do you think would dare to want yours?" Niu Jing looked to Du Xiao Li's little face and said.
"What if I can dig up some useful medical herbs?" Du Xiao Li, unwilling to give up, asked.
Niu Jing looked to the worn-out house, and knew that Du Xiao Li and her brother, without fields, could only think of other ways to earn money. "If you dig up any medical herbs, you can sell them to me. When the time comes, I'll sell them together to the medicine shop in the county seat[3]."
"Really?!" Du Xiao Li looked up to Niu Jing, somewhat in disbelief.
"Of course it's real. But you need to learn how to distinguish medical herbs first. Else, poisonous or not, useful or not, you'll dig them all up. I don't have that time to sort through them." Niu Jing saw Du Xiao Li's joyous appearance and felt happy inside too.
"Thank you, grandpa Niu!" Du Xiao Li wished she could run up and Niu Jing and give him a kiss on his face.
"Haha, then later come by my house to learn some medical ingredient knowledge. Now then, I'll take him for a stroll in the mountains first. Quickly eat your breakfast alright." Niu Jing patted Du Xiao Li's head and got up, taking Han Ming Yi and the others towards the mountain top.
Du Xiu Heng finally came to Du Xiao Li's side after Niu Jing left, asking: "Younger sister, do you really plan on learning medicine?"
Du Xiao Li nodded. It's not that she wanted to learn medicine, but that she originally already knew how. If she doesn't learn anything now, in the future, if she were to accidentally expose her medical knowledge, then that would be troublesome.
"Since you want to learn, then just go. Whether or not you can make money, all that is secondary. Big brother will support you." Du Xiu Heng firmly said.
Perhaps Du Xiu Heng's words weren't for her to hear, but in that moment, Du Xiao Li felt a never before warmth in her own heart.
[1] Xiao Yi - 'Little Yi'; since his full name is Han Ming Yi
[2] Mensao - used to describe someone who's outwardly cold, but deep and passionate inside.
[3] Country Seat - the town that is the governmental center of a county
Ch. 010 – Big Brother is Injured
Big Brother is Injured
T/N: Sponsored Chapter! Thanks to MajorQuinn for enabling my coffee addiction!
After eating breakfast, Du Xiu Heng and Du Xiao Li didn't go anywhere, and just stayed at home tidying up those furniture they'd moved over. By the time the sun was about to set, they finally saw Niu Jing and the others come down from the mountain.
"Li girl, tomorrow, remember to come by my place to learn how to differentiate medical herbs!" When Niu Jing passed by their house, he shouted towards the house.
Du Xiao Li ran out from the house and waved her little arms at Niu Jing. "I know, grandpa Niu. I'll go over tomorrow morning."
Niu Jing saw Du Xiao Li's appearance and softly chuckled.
"Doctor Niu, that medicinal ingredient, approximately how much longer until it matures?" One of the men in black asked.
"Probably three to five months." Niu Jing replied. "This period of time is perfect for using to treat young master's body. Else, once the medicinal ingredient matures, the body won't be able to endure the intensity of the medicine either. I've watched over it for this many years, and have continuously concentrated on researching how to permanently cure young master's illness. Right now, all hope is placed on it."
"Doctor Niu doesn't need to worry, life and death is up to fate, I understand inside." Han Ming Yi knew for the sake of his illness, Niu Jing spent a lot of effort, even running to this kind of remote place to stay for this many years.
"I will definitely think of a way to cure young master's illness." Niu Jing said. Even if he had to sacrifice this old life, he would not hesitate.
The morning of the next day, Du Xiu Heng entered the mountains to cut wood, and Du Xiao Li thus went to Niu Jing's home. When she went, she just happened to run into Han Ming Yi's bodyguard moving the guifei couch into the courtyard for him, so that he can lay down and sunbathe.
"Big brother Xiao Yi." Du Xiao Li gave her greetings to Han Ming Yi, then cleared her throat and shouted, "Grandpa Niu, I've come."
Niu Jing came out from inside and said, "Li girl, wait a while, let me cut up the medicine inside first."
"I'll come help you." Du Xiao Li said and ran into the house. From beginning to end, she never cared whether Han Ming Yi replied to her or not.
Niu Jing originally wanted to let Du Xiao Li go out, fearing that she will mess up the medical herbs he already sorted. But Du Xiao Li insisted, so he gave her a small lever-style guillotine, letting her cut some ordinary ingredients.
Very soon, he discovered that Du Xiao Li very much had a gift in this aspect. However he said to cut, she mastered in two cuts. Furthermore, every kind of medical ingredient was sorted very well, with no mess appearing.
"Haha, looks like you are very fated with medicine!" Niu Jing looked to Du Xiao Li's movements and said with a laugh. "Looks like letting you come in contact with medical herbs is correct. Even if in the future, you can't become a doctor, you can still be a medicine girl."
In Feng Ming, doctors and medicine girls were like the modern day doctors and nurses. Doctors can examine and treat a patient, but a nurse could only be an assistant, and take care of patients.
"Then asking grandpa Niu to teach Xiao Li lots." Du Xiao Li sweetly said.
Although she was a prodigy of the modern medical world, it didn't mean that the medical science here will be completely the same as modern times'. It was still good to learn more.
Seeing Du Xiao Li having a talent in this aspect, and was also willing to learn, Niu Jing was very much happy. At once, he flipped out a medical book and gave it to Du Xiao Li, saying: "This is the introductory book to medicine, take it back with you to read. Afterwards, I'll test you on it."
"Alright." Du Xiao Li put away the book. Since she wanted to understand, she naturally needed to start from the most basic medical books first.
"Come on, I'll take you outside to differentiate some medical herbs." With that said, Niu Jing pulled along Du Xiao Li to the courtyard.
Yesterday, after deciding to let Du Xiao Li dig up medical herbs for himself, Niu Jing dug back some commonly seen medical ingredients from the mountains, planning to explain their usage to Du Xiao Li today.
Inside the wicker basket in the courtyard were several kinds of medical herbs laid out for drying. Du Xiao Li knew at a glance what these herbs were, and also what their effects were. However, she still feigned a confused look, earnestly listening to Niu Jing explain to her one by one.
As Niu Jing explained, from time to time, he would glance at Du Xiao Li. When he discovered that she was earnestly listening to him explain, he would nod in satisfaction. Didn't expect that she was able to be this steady at such a young age.
Du Xiao Li waited for Niu Jing to finish speaking, then had his words just now repeated back to him. Every kind of medical herb's name, medicinal effect, and so on. Niu Jing became more excited the more he listened, discovering that Du Xiao Li really was a good pupil of medicine!
"Mother often said I have the ability to memorize anything I see!" Du Xiao Li was afraid Niu Jing would notice something off, and had her old mother who'd just died not long ago brought out as a shield.
Whether or not the former host had a highly retentive memory, she didn't know. But in her past life, she indeed was like this. Else, she wouldn't have been discovered and taken away by that organization either.
"Haha, good! good! Go back and properly study the medical book I gave you. This isn't something that only needs to be looked at once and memorized. You need to have the content inside comprehended, understand?" Niu Jing said.
"En en, I understand! Then I'll head back first. Bye bye grandpa Niu!" Du Xiao Li held the medical book in her arms, and after bidding farewell to Niu Jing, turned and left.
Niu Jing heartily laughed as he turned around. Seeing Han Ming Yi looking at Du Xiao Li's retreating figure, he asked, "Young master, what are you looking at?"
"She's purposely ignoring me, or perhaps, she's avoiding me." Han Ming Yi said.
"Oh? There are actually people that would avoid you? Don't those young and older noble ladies in the capital all chase after you?" Niu Jing said, "Looks like our young master's appearance doesn't have any attraction to Li girl! She has composure, good, only this way can one fully concentrate on studying!"
"You rather like that girl very much." Han Ming Yi said.
"Smart and cute, what's not to like? This old man, in this lifetime, doesn't even have single child. That girl being intimate with me, naturally I like it." Niu Jing said with a laugh, but in his voice there was an indescribable loneliness.
"If madam knew of your love, being faithful to her for a lifetime, even under the nine springs[1], she would still rest in peace." Han Ming Yi said, "Unlike my mother...."
"Younger master, the sun is too strong, let's return inside." Niu Jing said.
"En." Han Ming Yi stood up and returned inside. The bodyguards hastily had the guifei couch moved back too.
After Du Xiao Li returned to her own home, she made herself a bit of something to eat, then moved a stool under the eaves, and began flipping through the medical book Niu Jing gave her.
Su Su Xin was famous in the village for being a daughter of a wealthy family. In the beginning, when Du Hai had her brought back, everyone in the village all said he was fortunate to have been able to marry a wealthy family's miss. Du Hai didn't let her work in the fields, only letting her stay at home to teach Du Xiu Heng how to read. And after Du Xiao Li grew up a bit, she also taught her how to recognize characters. That's why, even if someone saw her reading, they wouldn't find it shocking either.
As the sun set in the west, Du Xiao Li finished making dinner, but still didn't see Du Xiu Heng returning. Inside, she couldn't help beginning to worry. After waiting for a while, and still not seeing him return, she had the food covered with a bamboo cover, closed the door, and went out, planning to go into the mountains to find him. As a result, not far out, she saw Du Xiu Heng limping back home with a large bundle of wood on his back.
"Big brother, what's wrong with your leg?" Du Xiao Li quickly went up to him, and took down the wood bundle on his back. Just as she looked down at his leg....
"Just got scraped by a branch." Du Xiu Heng unconsciously withdrew his leg, yet discovered that Du Xiao Li had grabbed his leg, and he was unable to move it.
[1] Nine Springs - Chinese mythological underworld
Ch. 011 – Saving Someone and Getting Kicked
Saving Someone and Getting Kicked
Du Xiao Li drew up Du Xiu Heng's pant leg and saw on his white little leg a four to five centimeter long slanted cut. Must have been cut by a branch. Aside from this, there aren't any other major problems.
"Big brother, how can you be this careless? Seeing how you still haven't come back, I was worried to death. Luckily the cut isn't very deep. You'll be fine after resting for two days. However, in these two days, you can't work." Du Xiao Li put down his pant leg and stood up.
Du Xiu Heng saw the distinct worry on Du Xiao Li's face, and thought of how, although she was different from before now, she understood how to care for others.
"Let's go back home first. Else, the sky will grow dark in a bit." Du Xiu Heng said with reddened eyes.
(T/N: ;;A;; AHHHHHHHHHHHH PLEASE PROTECT THIS SMOLL BEAN)
"Let me." Du Xiao Li picked up the wood bunch on the ground and carried it on her back. Some of the longer pieces of wood were even taller than her, and those wood weighed several catty. Don't know how the injured Du Xiu Heng was able to carry back this heavy firewoods.
"Younger sister, how about I do it, your strength is still so small." Du Xiu Heng wanted to take it back, but was dodged by Du Xiao Li.
"Let's go big brother, I can still carry it. You're injured, so it's best if this leg doesn't receive pressure." Du Xiao Li said and walked ahead, carrying the firewood on her back.
Seeing Du Xiao Li being insistent, Du Xiu Heng could only head back following behind her, while also reaching out to help lift it, letting Du Xiao Li have an easier time carrying it.
When they finally arrived back home with great difficulty, Du Xiao Li felt she was about to be squashed onto the ground.