Courtyard House: Rebirth of a Shopkeeper in 1937

As they were talking, Gui Xiang's aggrieved voice could be faintly heard from the kitchen: "Mom, my hands are so itchy, they're swollen and burning hot..."

Immediately afterwards, her mother's voice, tinged with reproach and heartache, rang out: "You silly girl, now you know what pain is, don't you? Xingbao helped you treat your hand, and you scolded him, cried and complained about him, causing him to get a beating. Is this how you help your mother watch over your brother?"

"I didn't mean to... Xingbao hurt me so much that I couldn't help but cry..." Guixiang's voice grew softer and softer, filled with guilt and grievance.

At dinner, Guixiang sat opposite Xingbao, her eyes darting around, avoiding direct eye contact, clearly still somewhat embarrassed. But she knew in her heart that Xingbao meant well, and to express her apology, she carefully used her slightly better right hand to pick up a few pieces of fried pork cracklings for Xingbao, whispering, "Here, have some. I'm not angry with you anymore."

Seeing that Gui Xiang was willing to make amends, Xing Bao didn't make things difficult for her. He took the fried dough residue and asked softly, "Sister, have you applied medicine to your hand? If it's still swollen, it will get worse."

Gui Xiang paused for a moment, then asked blankly, "Huh? What medicine? We don't have any medicine for frostbite at home!"

Xingbao couldn't help but pat his forehead, his tone full of helplessness: "Sister, we read medical books every day, are we just reading them for fun? There are clearly prescriptions for treating frostbite in the books—the Tongmai Sini Tang is for internal use, but we can't get the dosage right, so we won't use it for now; but there's also a prescription for external use, using Smilax glabra, Stemona japonica, dried ginger, Aconitum carmichaelii, prepared licorice root, peony root, Tetrapanax papyriferus, and Evodia rutaecarpa, decocted in water and used as a wash, which can relieve the itching and swelling of frostbite. We have all these herbs at home, haven't you thought about trying them? Otherwise, all this learning from these medical books would be for nothing!"

Upon hearing Xingbao's words, Guixiang instantly forgot her previous unhappiness. Her eyes lit up, and the worry on her face vanished. She immediately perked up and grabbed Xingbao's arm, saying eagerly, "Really? Then let's finish eating quickly and go brew the medicine! These chilblains are so itchy and painful; I don't want to suffer like this anymore!"

Seeing her impatient expression, Xingbao secretly smiled, thinking to himself: knowing that his medical knowledge would be of practical use, Guixiang would likely be even more diligent in studying and identifying herbs, making their daily research worthwhile. The earthenware pot used for decocting medicine at home was only for internal use, not for external applications. Xingbao then retrieved a ceramic teapot with a large chip from under the cupboard, carefully washed it with clean water, and let it dry. Guixiang also hurriedly ran to the medicine chest and found the necessary herbs—these were small quantities, samples given to them by their master for identification purposes. The two huddled together, carefully examining each herb against the medical books to ensure they had the correct one, before cautiously placing all the herbs into the ceramic teapot, adding plenty of water, and setting it on the stove to simmer. Preparing this external medicine doesn't require too many skills, just be careful to preheat the earthenware pot and heat it slowly so as not to crack it.

After the medicine was brewed, Xingbao carefully lifted the ceramic teapot and slowly poured the warm liquid into a clean wooden basin. He gently tested the temperature with his finger to make sure it wasn't too hot or too cold before saying to Guixiang, "Sister, put your hands in here. Soaking them for a while will stop the itching." Guixiang bit her lip and hesitantly put her frostbitten hands into the medicine. The warm liquid instantly enveloped the frostbitten areas, and the itching and pain shot straight to her fingertips. She couldn't help but flinch, wanting to pull her hands away several times, but each time she lifted them, her second brother, who was watching over her, gently pressed them down. The little girl frowned, puffed out her cheeks, and looked uncomfortable, but thinking that this was the first medicine she and Xingbao had found and brewed together, and that giving up halfway would be a waste of their efforts, she gritted her teeth and endured it. Her mother also came over to help, taking a clean strip of cloth, dipping it in some warm medicine, and gently wiping Gui Xiang's ears, which were red from the cold. When she was playing in the snow, she was so busy playing that her ears were stiff and red from the cold. If she didn't get medicine soon, they would probably swell up and she would suffer again.

Xingbao knew he only had one batch of herbs for decocting the medicine, and there were several different kinds. He hadn't even planted them in his spatial storage yet, so he couldn't prepare a second batch. Furthermore, the morning snow had begun to melt, making the roads muddy and full of potholes. The road to his master's house tomorrow would be difficult, making it even harder to ask his master for more herbs. He couldn't waste such precious medicine. Xingbao found a clean earthenware jar, carefully poured the remaining liquid from the basin into it, sealed it, and placed it near the charcoal fire to keep it warm. He muttered, "Sister, keep this medicine. Tomorrow I'll heat it up and use it to wash you a few more times. The more you soak, the faster your frostbite will heal." Guixiang, though still feeling unwell, nodded gently, feeling even more grateful to Xingbao.

The next morning, Dad returned carrying a leg of pork, along with half a piece of pork fat. As he put the basket down, Mom asked in surprise, "Honey, you didn't buy this pork from Butcher Liu, did you?"

"No, I went to watch them slaughter pigs today. I heard that Butcher Liu didn't sell much meat yesterday, and it was still covered in mud. So I asked Butcher Liu if I could have his meat today. The road was difficult to travel today, and he didn't want to go out to sell, so he agreed. It's a pity it's front leg meat. I'll marinate it later and make it into cured meat. I also bought half a piece of lard from the owner. If I want to buy such good lard again, I'll have to wait until the end of the year! But the lard I bought these two days is enough for us to use for half a year."

Having eaten pork cracklings yesterday, there was still quite a bit left in the cupboard. Gui Xiang wasn't craving meat today. Her right hand was almost healed after using the medicine last night, and her left hand wasn't as swollen and itchy. She thought of her friends and wanted to invite them over to wash their hands together: "Second Brother, could you heat up yesterday's medicine for me? I'll go find Xiao Hua and Xue Wu to come wash their hands too; their hands must be swollen too." With that, she ran out the door. Everyone knew that this girl was going to show off, since she was the one who actually prepared the medicine!

Xiaohua smiled and waved her little hand, her eyes curving into crescents. Her tone was tinged with pride and relief: "Yesterday we saw you rubbing Guixiang's hands with snow. We didn't know why, but my dad had already told my brother and me that whatever Xingbao did, we should just follow suit, and we wouldn't suffer any losses. So we found some clean snow, gritted our teeth, and rubbed our hands together, enduring the pain. We didn't expect that they wouldn't swell up today, and they don't hurt at all!"

Xuewu, standing nearby, quickly nodded in agreement, adding in a muffled voice, "My dad said the same thing to me, telling me to follow Xingbao's lead, it's sure to be the right thing to do!"

Upon hearing this, Xingbao's heart skipped a beat, and a barely perceptible hint of wariness flashed in his eyes—it turned out that Uncle Deng and Uncle Wang had already quietly noticed his difference and had even given the children special instructions. It seemed that some people in the village had already noticed his special nature. It was best to keep a low profile and hide it. In the future, if anything happened, he should try to put his eldest and second eldest brothers in front to avoid drawing too much attention and causing unnecessary trouble.