A Western Doctor’s Happy Farming Life[1] chapter 71

Wu Dahu was a little helpless. He pondered for a moment, saying slowly, “The trees of peppers in the back mountain are farther than of cumin.”

Though the fact had already been a widespread common view among the villages and town, only Wu Dahu and Song Qinghan knew where they could find the trees.

Hearing that, Song Qinghan opened the door without further hesitation, and at the moment he was about to throw himself into Wu Dahu’s arms, he noticed that his husband was lifting a man who was wearing a strange curtain on head, asking, “Who is this?”

The man cried, saying with a pair of tearing eyes, “Doctor Song, I’m a neighbour of Yunyun!”

Song Qinghan scratched his head in confusion and asked inexplicably, “Who is Yunyun? I don’t know him.”

Wu Dahu lifted the man in a stronger strength intending to force the man to tell the truth, and took off the curtain on the man’s face, saying seriously, “Make it clear! What’s your intention to look for Han so late?”

But when the man was exposed without the curtain covered, both Wu Dahu and Song Qinghan were stunned.

Wu Dahu was stunned because he didn’t expect this person’s face to be full of red scary and ugly rashes while Song Qinghan was stunned because he finally remembered who the “Yun Yun” the man mentioned was.

The man cried and shouted, saying, “Doctor Song, are you going to abandon us now? It’s not easy for Yunyun to recover from the illness we’ve long suffered. And now he is much better than before, you shouldn’t just leave us alone!”

Song Qinghan regained his attention and coughed slightly, indicating for Wu Dahu to let go. He frowned and asked, “How’s Yunyun going? Did he strictly follow my rules?”

The man rubbed his shoulder while showing his teeth smiling, and then said honestly, “Yunyun has recovered now. The rashes haven’t bothered him for nearly half a month. We got no idea what we should do in the follow-up treatments, that’s why I show up here tonight. It takes me a long while to find you, why are you not in Lin Mansion, but somewhere like this shack?”

Wu Dahu realized that this person was met by Song Qinghan and Lin Dafu in the past few days by the force of the so-called contrast. He took a glance at Song Qinghan, and then said slightly, “Let’s go inside and have a seat?”

Although an embarrassment flashed across Song Qinghan’s eyes, he still nodded and invited the man inside.

Although it was indeed Lin Dafu’s decision, more or less on a whim, Song Qinghan wanted to cure the villagers urticaria or else he wouldn’t have made such a bet with You Yunyun.

From that person’s demonstration, Song Qinghan and Wu Dahu found out that his name was Wei Youran. He left the village early in the morning and rushed to the Lin Mansion in the town. But he then found that Song Qinghan was no longer in Lin Mansion, so he just kept asking residents along the way and found this place.

With a whole day struggle for searching, the rashes on his body became more serious. If it wasn’t the curtain on his head, probably he would have been beaten to death being regarded as an ugly monster.

Song Qinghan pondered for a moment and then took a piece of the root of the monk fruit, boiled it with water and waited until it cooled down. And then he applied it to the rashes on Wei Youran’s body.

After a while, he saw Wei Youran was with a motor-mouth delivering an eloquent speech talking about how You Yunyun’s situation became better and better and the rest of the villagers were all inspired again. He couldn’t help telling him the truth, saying, “The direct reason why you are quite vulnerable for catching the rashes is because you are allergic to the sun. So the only way for you to keep away from the rashes is to keep away from the sunlight.”

In fact, Wei Youran had already made a conclusion in his mind, but the villagers insisted on letting him come over here for a more precise and certain answer. In addition, Wei Youran was a man of “Not Stop Until He Reaches The Goals” type, so he was doomed to come over here though it posted a risk.

At this time, though the fact was as desperate as he had imagined, he still got his mind relieved.

“So, as long as we avoid the sunlight on purpose we will be fine? That means we can only act at nights?”

Song Qinghan nodded and said sympathetically, “If it is a cloudy or rainy day, you are allowed to go out as long as the sun is hid away. But I would warn you that if the rashes come again even under that situation, you should go back home immediately and intake medicine according to Doctor Luo’s prescription.”

Wei Youran got up, answering, “Alright, thank you so much Doctor Luo, this is the way which we can show our great gratitude to you. Please take it!”

He took out a thin piece of paper from his arms, and then delivered it to Song Qinghan. Taking over the paper and noticing that “Silver Draft Valuable For One Hundred Silver Coins” written on it, Song Qinghan put the silver draft back into Wei Youyou’s hand in surprise, waving his hand and saying, “I don’t need it. Since you are all inspired again and have a hope for your bright futures, you really need a big amount of money. Just take it back.”

Wei Youran smiled big, saying leisurely, “As long as we can get rid of these annoying rashes, we don’t see other matters as a big deal. Our villagers have all had made up our minds to leave the village after I go back there.”

Song Qinghan widened his eyes in surprise, asking, “Why?”

It is hard to go away from one’s native soil. In addition, though the village where Wei Youran stayed was a bit old and shabby, it still got a shape there. A slight refurbishment and decoration would definitely bring it a new look.

Wei Youran gently stroked his cheek and said slowly, “Even if our illness is cured, we can’t forget the illness-driven days which haunted us for a long while if we keep staying there. To be honest, some of us had already lost any hope to life and intended not to struggle anymore, but since Mr. Song has given us hope, we plan to reshape our life by restarting it without the bothering from the past.”

“Moreover…” he paused and sighed, and then continued to utter, “The people in the other villages had already known about our village’s situation. They don’t even want to pass by our village and every time they see us, they disdain. We’re just so tired of being ignored and disdained without communication with others.”

Song Qinghan nodded understandingly. For a patient, the pain of illness was already unbearable, let alone the disparaging remarks from the others.

Noticing that his mission today was accomplished already, Wei Youran put the silver draft back into Song Qinghan’s hand and said without hesitation, “Doctor Song, don’t look down upon us. This amount of money is really nothing for us, please just take it for the sake of our villagers, we just want to show our gratitude. Since the night is approaching, I have to leave for not bothering you.”

Hearing that, Song Qinghan asked subconsciously, “Why don’t you stay and rest tonight here and leave tomorrow?”

Wei Youran shrugged and smiled, answering, “I’m afraid it’s more comfortable for me to go back home at night. Besides, I have to get used to it in the future.”

Seeing that the man was tough, Song Qinghan looked back at the yard and then went to dig out a whole pack of monk fruit roots. After wrapping them up, he put the pack in Wei Youran’s hand and said, “If you find that the rashes are coming again, break some of them off and put them in water and boil them. As soon as it cools down, apply it on the affected part.”

Wei Youran had just applied the monk fruit root water that Song Qinghan had boiled for him. Knowing that it was useful, he didn’t refuse. He then made a bow with hands folded in front and showed his gratitude to Song Qinghan, saying, “Thank you, Doctor Song. If we get a chance to meet again in the future, we should have a drink and toast!”

Song Qinghan nodded and then sent him to the door. Waving hands, he eyed him to leave far.

Wu Dahu witnessed all of this and then he seemed to think about something in mind. Suddenly he greeted and said to Wei Youran, “Go southward straightly, and you will see a stockaded village full of bandits. If you are willing to relocate, I would highly recommend there.”

Wei Youran was stunned hearing that. He didn’t expect Wu Dahu to advise him to the somewhere crammed with bandits. But seeing that Wu Dahu was of seriousness, he nodded seriously, saying, “Okay, I’ll try to convince the villagers.”

After Wei Youran left, Song Qinghan looked at Wu Dahu curiously, asking, “Have you been to the stockaded village? Why did you recommend him to try his luck in a place of bandit cluster?”

Wu Dahu closed the door and relayed everything he had experienced in the past few days to Song Qinghan, including the fact that he freed a red fox. It was not until he finished “reporting” did he answer Song Qinghan’s question, “That stockaded village is not full of savages as we imagine. Instead, the chieftain there seems to be an extraordinary person. I think probably they will gain some unknown surprise if Wei Youran can convince his villagers to relocate there.”

Song Qinghan’s expression changed when he heard this. He did not expect that Wu Dahu’s trip would be so perilous.

He couldn’t help sighing, exclaiming, “There were five people in this trip, and only two people were left when the team came back. What a heartbroken news!”

Wu Dahu felt the same. Seeing that it was getting late, Wu Dahu went to cook and then finish dinner with Song Qinghan. It was a normal dinner as usual but with a thicker intimacy in the air. After dinner, they got into bed together and fell asleep.

Early the next morning, Laifu came and knocked on the door of Wu Dahu in the yard, seemingly he was much excited and all eagerness to invite Wu Dahu to share the “Illicit Money”.

Song Qinghan had nothing else to do, so he chose to go with Laifu and Wu Dahu. When the men were dividing the stuff on the ground, Song Qinghan stood with Zhuer while staring at them doing so.

The furs that the two bought back was of rich varieties and colors. If they could be well-processed, they would surely be made into fur garments of good quality to keep coldness away.

Although only the two of them came back from this trip, the way of dividing the profits was still the same. On the basic of that method, the portion that was supposed to be obtained by Wu Decai and Yin LaoSan went to Wang Yuanbao.

Wu Dahu showed no opposition on the idea made by Laifu, because he knew that Wang Yuanbao still had his parents in his family, and it would be such a great grief to those two pitiful old men. Though money was not a panacea, it was still promising for them to improve their lives. In addition, they could help Wang Yuanbao do his final filial duty by doing so.

Laifu wrote down the amount of fur of each variety, and then said to Wu Dahu, “I will sell them all together after I process them into well-made and delicate garments. As for the amount of profits we will gain, it depends on providence.”

Wu Dahu nodded understandingly. If the weather was cold, the price of the fur would definitely rise. But if it was warmer, no one could promise that they could sell them all out, let alone a higher price of single unit.

After dealing with the fur, Laifu took out the dry meat prepared by Wu Dahu and said to him, “Although it is cold now and the meat can be preserved for a long time, you should sell them out as soon as possible. Otherwise, it will not be good to attract some beasts.”

Laifu wasn’t bluffing, because he caught a weasel which sneaked into their house yesterday. Fortunately, he got so many eyes guarding and patrolling in this big mansion, and the furtive weasel failed to ruin the dry meat.

Wu Dahu was reminded by Laifu and then he recalled the red fox in the woods, he knew exactly that it was from the natural instincts of the wild animals.

When they came out of the Laifu’s house, it was still early. Wu Dahu decided to rent an oxcart and went to the town together with Song Qinghan. He was planning to sell the dry meat and purchase some daily necessities for the winter.