If you don't consummate the marriage for three years and then marry a successful educated youth

Wen Yao removed the handkerchief from her mouth, untied the bandages, and said softly, "Alright, you can get up now. The wound cleaning is finished for today. Come back tonight for another dose of traditional Chinese medicine."

"I'll wash away the remaining pus and blood from your face. It should be clean in about three days. After that, the wound will heal and the tissue will grow back. You'll get better."

"When you get back, be careful not to laugh or cry loudly, so as not to aggravate the wound on your face. For the time being, eat porridge and liquid food and talk less."

Lin Fengjiao was in so much pain that her head was spinning and she felt so heavy that she couldn't lift herself up. She stared blankly at her, completely unable to think. When she stood up, her legs went weak and she almost knelt down.

Zhang Lan reacted quickly, reaching out to support her daughter. Seeing her daughter in so much pain that she couldn't speak, she felt heartbroken and tears streamed down her face.

"My dear daughter, are you alright?"

"Hmm."

Wen Yao gave the instructions again and handed over a medicine bottle: "I will give you two pills once a day to remove internal poisoning. Take one when you get back, and take another one to stabilize after rinsing off the pus and blood at night."

"Okay, I got it. So Dr. Wen can go back now, right? She should drink porridge and sleep a lot after she gets back, right?"

"Yes, getting plenty of sleep is good for wound healing. Don't get your face wet, and you can't wash your face for a while. I'll rinse your face with disinfectant water."

Looking at her daughter, whose face was covered in gauze and who was wrapped up like a mummy, Zhang Lan's nose tingled and she almost cried again: "Okay, I'll remember."

Wen Yao watched the mother and daughter leave, then rinsed the chair stained with pus and blood, wiped it with disinfectant, and finally scalded it with boiling water. By the time she finished cleaning up, it was almost time for dinner.

"Phew, thankfully there was only one patient this morning, otherwise I wouldn't have had time for lunch."

A little girl's cheerful voice came from the doorway: "Sister-in-law, sister-in-law, are you home?"

"I'm here, Baozhu, what brings you here?"

Jiang Baozhu held her hand and smiled brightly: "Oh dear, I came to call you to come home for dinner. My older brother came to my house this morning before he left and told me that he went into the mountains to hunt and that you were home alone."

"Sometimes patients are too busy to cook, so they ask me to cook an extra portion for you and invite you over for dinner."

Wen Yao felt a warmth in her heart upon hearing this: "He left at four or five in the morning, so how could he tell you? You were still sleeping at that time."

"Hmph, that's right. I was dreaming about eating roast chicken when my older brother knocked on the window and woke me up. I was about to get angry when he woke me up, but he said he would treat me to roast chicken."

"Hey, give me a few dollars to buy a roast chicken, let me cook an extra meal and invite you over to eat. You don't need to worry about him after he comes down the mountain in a couple of days."

Jiang Baozhu's eyes sparkled as her gaze swept across the courtyard, landing on a chair that was still dripping water. She remembered that this was usually where patients lay down to have their facial and head ailments treated.

"Sister-in-law, is a patient here today?"

Wen Yao nodded: "Yes, a patient came in. We need to clean the abscesses on his face. It takes a bit of time. I just finished treating and disinfecting this so it can be used directly on the next patient."

"Oh, is that so? It must be really serious. It must be disgusting to treat, with all that pus and blood. I hope you don't get it on your skin."

"It's okay, I'm wearing gloves and a mask."

Jiang Baozhu pulled her towards home: "Sister-in-law, after you returned home safely, didn't you feel that the house suddenly felt empty and less lively?"

Wen Yao hummed in agreement: "Yes, a little. I'm quite reluctant to see them leave, but my brother-in-law misses the children, and their health has almost recovered, so I can't really stop them."

"That's true. Once you have your own children, it will be so nice to have a lively and bustling home. After all, you live in town and can't stay at home for long."

"Besides, my second sister-in-law is very calculating. If you say the wrong thing, she'll start to overthink things. She's not easy to get along with."

Jiang Baozhu casually asked, "Sister-in-law, who came for facial treatment this morning? From other brigades? I looked at the girls in our brigade, and I didn't see any with serious abscesses on their faces."

Wen Yao paused for a moment before speaking, "It's Lin Fengjiao."

"what?"

Suspecting she had misheard, she exclaimed in shock, "No way, sister-in-law, are you sure you didn't misunderstand? Didn't she marry into the city? Why would she come back to get her face treated?"

"She cherishes her face so much, how could she let it get so badly damaged that it needed cleaning?"

Wen Yao shook her head: "I don't know the specifics, but it's quite serious. Doctors in the city are afraid of the trouble and no one will take it on. Her face can be treated, but it's a lot of suffering and trouble."

"If someone were to clean her wound, it would be equivalent to treating several patients, and it would easily lead to scarring and disputes later on. I saw that the flesh was already starting to rot, and if I didn't do it, she would really be disfigured."

Jiang Baozhu's face scrunched up: "It's that serious? How did she get like this? People in the city are supposed to be very healthy, how could she almost ruin her face?"

"The heat is so intense, it's seeping onto my face."

"Oh, it seems that the soil and water here in the mountains are still more nourishing than ours. I'll go and check on her when she comes again, just in case she starts making a fuss and bullying people."

"Sister-in-law, you're just too good-tempered. If she were to speak rudely, I'd scold her back for you."

Wen Yao smiled gently: "Okay, but it's nothing serious. She's been suffering a lot from this problem on her face. She didn't even have the strength to speak after the wound was cleaned this morning."

"You can go and see if you want, but the process is disgusting. Pus and blood will come out, and I'm afraid you won't be able to eat."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Baozhu hesitated for a moment and asked softly, "Is it really that disgusting?"

"Yes, the inflammation in the abscess hasn't subsided and it will continue to ooze pus and blood. It needs to be flushed twice a day, otherwise it will accumulate and continue to rot. That piece of flesh is hollow inside, which is quite frightening."

"If you want to learn medicine from me, then take a look. As long as you can suppress your nausea and keep your hands steady, it's much simpler than recognizing those medicinal herbs."

Wen Yao encouraged, "It's good to learn more skills. It's always good to have more skills, right, Baozhu?"

Jiang Baozhu thought about it and agreed: "Okay, I'll go and see and learn. I'll help my sister-in-law in the future. I've already thought it through. If I get married, I won't marry someone from far away."

"I'll find someone with good character in the surrounding area, so I can come back every day to help my sister-in-law and learn more skills. I don't want to toil in the fields every day."

"Okay, if you want to learn, I'll teach you. Actually, instead of studying medicine, you could try specializing in skincare treatments."

The two women, sister-in-law and aunt, chatted more and more congenially. After finishing their meal, Jiang Baozhu sent the woman home, then went home to wash clothes and tidy up the yard. After finishing everything, she came to her sister-in-law's house to help with the preparation of medicinal herbs.

Wen Yao was also very happy that her sister-in-law came. She gave her a brief explanation of facial skincare creams and how to treat different skin types. As she watched her sister-in-law take notes, a look of satisfaction flashed in her eyes.