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nChapter 18: Establishing Prestige

nTranslator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation

nWithout the tools to store the wild vegetables, she couldn’t possibly store them in her clothes, right?

nHowever, this was not too difficult. Aunt Qiu emptied the basket she had brought from home, and she had the tools to store the wild vegetables.

n“Su Qing, thank you. My boss is much better after taking your medicine. His wound doesn’t hurt anymore.”

n“My old man doesn’t say that his wound hurts anymore.”

n“My man’s fever has also subsided.”

nThe family members of the five people Su Qing had treated the night before looked at her with gratitude and came over to thank her.

nThey had been very frightened yesterday. The injured people’s bodies were hot and their wounds were white. The medicine that Ji Shui Sheng had brought back didn’t have much effect. They didn’t expect Su Qing to come over to change the medicine and give them a pill. After that, their fevers went down in less than an hour.

nThey had thought that Shui Sheng had picked up a burden, but now they realized that Shui Sheng had picked up a treasure. It could be said that Su Qing had established her prestige in front of the villagers of Peach Blossom Cove.

nWhen Ji Shui Sheng heard the conversation, he looked at Su Qing with an even more inquisitive gaze. What exactly did she do? The medicine she took out was surprisingly effective. Even his foster father’s medical skills were not as good as hers?

nSu Qing felt a probing gaze and looked up at the tall man standing by the river. His deep eyes were looking at her suspiciously, but Su Qing looked away as if nothing had happened.

nShe didn’t care even if she had no evidence. Last night, when she gave the medicine to the five people, she specifically told little seven to only use one-tenth of the medicine to make the pills, so that they wouldn’t recover so quickly.

nOtherwise, their wounds would heal in a day. No matter how good the medicine was, it shouldn’t be able to do it. She was still very careful about this.

n“It’s aquatic. There’s no fishing net!”

nLi Daniu looked at the fish swimming around in the clear river and became anxious. Ji Shui Sheng retracted his gaze from Su Qing and looked into the river. They left too quickly yesterday and didn’t get the rented fishing net back. However, this wasn’t a problem for Ji Shui Sheng.

nHe looked around the water and found a small, mouth-shaped river bend with dense aquatic grass. Ji Shui Sheng brought old seventh to move stones and grab mud to block the opening. Then, he used a large pot to scoop water out.

nThe river was not very deep to begin with. After scooping it up, there was only a shallow layer of water left, leaving the fish in the water all exposed. They could not swim in the shallow water and were struggling to survive.

n“I’m catching fish. ”

nJi Shui Sheng turned around and told old seventh that this was just a small trick. They always went to the river to catch fish when they were young. The fish hidden in the seaweed could not escape their eyes, so the two brothers caught half a pot of fish.

nHowever, the fish caught this way were different from the ones caught in the net yesterday. They came in different sizes. The biggest one was a catfish, about three catties heavy. The smallest one was a mud Loach, and there were some grass carp too.

nWhen Su Qing saw that the fish had returned, she rolled up her sleeves and cleaned up the fish. She won a lot of praise for not being dirty or tired.

nAunt Qiu realized that she could not let Su Qing do the work alone, so she called her daughter and Li Shuang ‘er over to help. Ji Xiao Ying also volunteered to join the team.

nQiu Yue squatted beside the pot, feeling a little awkward. She didn’t dare to do anything to the fish, which were still alive and kicking. Then, she saw Su Qing grab the biggest catfish and throw it to the ground. She cut open the catfish’s stomach with a knife, blood and intestines flowing out, and Qiu Yue covered her eyes in fear.

n“Alright, alright, you should get up!”

nSeeing that her daughter was scared, Aunt Qiu called her up to clean up the fish for her.

nThe Jiang family’s old son came back with a large bundle of branches and trunks. Qiu Yue didn’t dare to kill the fish, standing at the side. Everyone else was busy working, and it was very eye-catching for her to stand alone. When she saw that he had come back from chopping wood, she hurried over to start a fire.

nSu Qing cleaned up the fish and prepared to bring it to the river to wash it. Ji Shui Sheng saw this and came over to take the big iron pot from her hands. He strode towards the river and Su Qing was afraid that he would snatch her job of washing the fish, so she quickly chased after him.

nJi Shui Sheng did not leave. He stood by the river and waited for Su Qing to wash the fish.

nQiu Yue bit her lower lip and looked at them unhappily. If she had known earlier, she would have gone to wash the fish and be alone with Brother Shui Sheng.

nSu Qing washed the fish deftly. Ji Shui Sheng then carried the fish and walked back without her saying anything. She only needed to follow behind empty-handed.

nThere were also still some wild scallions, wild ginger, and pepper leaves left over from yesterday, but there was no oil. If she had known, she would have left some oil last night for the fish stew. However, it was fine. The fish was delicious when stewed with river water, and the pepper and wild ginger could also remove the fishy smell.

nSu Qing stewed the fish in a pot and followed Aunt Qiu to the mountains to pick wild vegetables.

nQiu Yue and Ji Xiaoying stayed behind to light the fire and look after the pot. Ji Xiao Ying wanted to go with them but was held back by Qiu Yue, so she could only stay with her.

nThere was a lot of dew on the mountain in the morning, and those who wore cloth shoes were drenched in a short time. When they saw Su Qing’s straw shoes, they were envious.

n“Su Qing’s shoes are so water-resistant. Su Qing, teach us how to make straw sandals!” Aunt Qiu shouted at Su Qing.

nYesterday, she had seen her grandson wearing the straw shoes that Su Qing had made. It was more comfortable to walk in those than to wear cloth shoes, so she had wanted to learn how to make them. The journey would take months, and the cloth shoes would be useless after so long. Su Qing had agreed to help, but she couldn’t always let her do it, right?

nThere were more than a hundred people in Peachwood, both young and old. With an average speed of three to five days for a pair of shoes, the number of people needed was quite large. That was why Aunt Qiu wanted all the women to learn how to weave straw shoes. She couldn’t let Su Qing be tired. She had just recovered from a serious illness and her body was still weak.

n“Alright,” Su Qing replied calmly. She had asked little seven yesterday and found out that she was also making progress by teaching others how to make straw sandals. It would take a long time, but with so many people, even if it was slow, it would still be faster than if she were to make them by herself.

nAfter two days of interaction, everyone was already used to Su Qing’s reticence. Since she had agreed, then it was fine. Everyone chatted and laughed as they picked the wild vegetables. The more people there were, the faster they could pick. In a short while, they had picked a basket full of wild vegetables.

nSu Qing went to the side to pick herbs and seemed very unsociable. Aunt Qiu was afraid that she would get lost and quickly called out to her, “Su Qing, don’t go too far. You’ll be scared if there are wild beasts and insects in the mountains.”

n“Yes,” Su Qing grunted in acknowledgment and kept a distance from them. Others might have seen her picking herbs in a basket, but she had actually thrown most of them to little seven. After a long time, she only had a small basket of herbs.

nWhen Aunt Qiu saw that the basket was full, she took it back.

n“Let’s go back. The fish is almost done and we need to steam some wild vegetable cornbread. We still have to travel today, so steam more for the journey.”

nSeeing that Su Qing had picked all kinds of herbs, Aunt Qiu didn’t say anything since she knew that Su Qing could cure diseases.

nWhen they returned home, the fish had been stewed. Aunt Qiu took everyone to steam the cornbread with wild vegetables and noodles.

nThe wheat was grown by their own family. After being ground twice, it was a little black and a little bit rusty. In the past few years, it was ground three times. In the past two years, the drought had decreased once, so there was more edible food.

nThe cornbread that wasn’t steamed was hard, but everyone still ate it with relish. The cornbread wasn’t delicious, but it couldn’t withstand the fish’s fragrance.

nWhile they were eating, the disaster victims rushed to the river, one after another. Everyone was like fish out of water, diving into the river and drinking water.

nSu Qing noticed that these people were all panicking. Their hair was in a mess and their bodies were covered in dust, as if they were being chased.

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