Chapter 71

Chapter 71: The Purple Gourd

Perhaps the Ganoderma had a significant effect, combined with Doctor Jin's precise treatment. Five days later, Ding Zhuang's condition improved considerably, and he was mostly lucid during the day.

Clove stayed by his side, coaxing him with her sweet words, often pressing her little face against his, eagerly using a wet cloth to wipe his face and feet. She even checked the temperature of the medicine bowl to ensure it wasn't too hot, which greatly cheered up Ding Zhuang.

In good spirits and with effective medication, Ding Zhuang’s health improved significantly.

However, Ding Zhuang still feared that Jiaozi Shop, after seemingly letting the Dings off, might secretly plot to kidnap Clove. He constantly warned her not to leave the house or the village and to stay safely at home. If he didn’t see Clove or hear her voice even for a moment, he would become anxious and start yelling.

Ding Zhao and Mrs. Zhang, too, were terrified and strictly forbade Clove from leaving the house alone.

The story of the Dings finding and selling the Ganoderma for a large sum of money also spread.

People said it was the Ding family's luck. The son fell off a cliff, didn’t die but landed on a tree, and even found a thousand-year-old Ganoderma. Everyone thought the Ding family was finished, and the blacksmith wouldn’t survive, but they turned their fortunes around with the Ganoderma, earning hundreds of taels and regaining their shop and house, clearing all their debts.

It was said that Ding Hongbi was just too lucky to deny.

Villagers from nearby flocked to Nanfu Mountain, hoping to also find a Ganoderma or wild ginseng to change their fortunes.

The purple gourd had dried up, its skin hardening and wrinkling, and its fragrance becoming more intense.

Clove wrapped the purple gourd in cloth and placed it in a small wooden box, fearing its unique aroma might be detected by Ding Zhao and Mrs. Zhang. She also put a few of her own medicinal pills in the cabinet as a cover.

Then, she locked it up securely.

When Ding Shunian's family came to visit Ding Zhuang, she and her brother ended up crying together again.

Guo’s husband and Guo Liang deeply regretted not lending more money when they knew they could repay it so quickly, which might have prevented Ding Zhuang from cutting off his fingers.

In recent days, Ding Shunian frequently cried and scolded them for their ingratitude, reminding them that if it weren’t for the dowry she received from the Xue family, they wouldn’t have been able to prosper.

This time, they brought a generous gift of five pounds of meat and a packet of tonic medicine.

Ding Zhuang, lacking the energy to console his sister, let Ding Zhao do the comforting.

"Aunt, don't be sad. You lent us the most money, and we know you did all you could. Jiaozi Shop was determined to exploit us; even if we had gathered the money, they would have found another excuse to take someone. It was our lack of foresight. We should have sought help from Qian Er sooner, then none of this would have happened…"

Clove felt that fate had its own designs. If Jiaozi Shop hadn't tried to forcibly buy her, and her grandfather hadn't cut off his fingers, she wouldn’t have been sent to her grandparents' house, wouldn't have discovered Chicken Head Peak, and wouldn’t have had the courage to let Fei Fei take her into the mountains to pick Ganoderma.

Of course, she would have preferred not to pick Ganoderma if it meant sparing her grandfather that suffering.

With the ironworks temporarily closed, Ding Zhao occasionally worked as a folk doctor in the county town and nearby towns, treating abscesses and boils to earn money.

Today, Doctor Jin came again for Ding Zhuang’s follow-up and to change his dressing.

At noon, Ding Zhao joined Doctor Jin for lunch, with Mrs. Zhang cooking several special dishes to entertain their guest.

Taking advantage of Ding Zhao’s visit to the outhouse, Clove snuck in to chat with Doctor Jin.

"Thank you, Grandfather Jin, my grandfather's health has improved a lot. I even dream about praising Grandfather Jin for his compassionate heart and excellent medical skills."

Doctor Jin, greatly fond of this filial and beautiful young girl, put down his chopsticks with a smile, "What a smart child, knowing about the compassionate heart and skill of a doctor."

After chatting about various topics, Clove got to her main question, "Grandfather Jin, are there purple gourds?"

The old doctor stroked his long beard and said seriously, "Yes, there are."

Clove's eyes sparkled with joy as she eagerly looked at him.

The doctor continued, "If you paint a gourd purple, it becomes a purple gourd, doesn’t it?"

He laughed heartily, finding his own joke quite amusing.

Clove was frustrated, not finding the joke funny at all. She glanced at his long beard, thinking that if it were her Grandfather Ding Zhuang, she would have definitely pulled on it.

The old doctor was really exasperating.

If such an old and experienced doctor didn't know about purple gourds, she would have to check the study later to see if there were any records about them.

However, Clove knew she couldn't leave home for some time.

Fei Fei flew away again on August 21st.

It left on its own.

Despite the Ding family's gratitude, offering it a variety of chicken, rabbit, and lamb meat, Fei Fei still left. Perhaps it was bored because Clove didn’t have time to play with it.

Although Clove was sad to see it go, she also felt it was for the best.

The little creature thought of its stay at the Ding's as a visit, being fed and watered without needing to go out during the day to find food and return at night. Only when it returned to its own home would it have to fend for itself, failing which it would starve.

It was not yet fully grown and still needed to continue honing its skills.

Leopard eagles reach maturity at four years old, and Fei Fei would only turn four next May or June.

Ding Zhuang's health improved further; he could sit up to eat and even walk a few steps, though he was very thin, resembling an old man in his sixties.

His poor health was not just due to the severed fingers, but also because he had coughed up blood, damaging his core vitality.

Doctor Jin said Ding Zhuang's recovery was remarkably quick. Without consuming that Ganoderma, he might not have survived.

What the doctor didn't dare to mention was that a businessman from the south had seen the half Ganoderma and bought it for a thousand taels of silver.

The doctor was furious, arguing with the head of the medical hall. Merchants from the south were shrewd; if they were willing to pay so much, the Ganoderma must be better than they realized. Keeping it in their own medical hall for treating patients, especially those deemed incurable by others, would have greatly enhanced their reputation, more valuable than the money. Seeing Ding Zhuang’s improvement, he realized how impossible it would have been without that Ganoderma...

The only silver lining of Ding Zhuang’s injury was that his rosacea automatically healed; his nose was no longer red, just a bit darker. Ding Zhuang was naturally dark-skinned, and his nose was even darker.

Clove hugged him and said, "Grandpa, you should drink less in the future, then your nose won't be so red. You look handsome with a normal nose."

This made Ding Zhuang laugh heartily.

"I was never handsome when I was young, and certainly not now in my old age. Ah, only my granddaughter would say I'm handsome."

"Grandpa's not old. In Clove's eyes, you're the most handsome, much better looking than Mr. Xia."

Occasionally, Ding Zhuang would mock Mr. Xia as an old pretty boy, with the look of a treacherous official, thinking too highly of himself and looking down on others...

Ding Zhuang's heart was as soft as a gentle breeze. With his granddaughter by his side, he bore all hardships and pain without complaint or regret.

On the 23rd, Ding Zhao's family picked all the apples from the tree and sawed it down to a two-foot-tall trunk. They also cut the branch brought back by Fei Fei into four small pieces and hired someone to graft them onto the original tree.

Clove admired her grandfather and father's bold decision to cut down the apple tree. This tree would usually earn three or four taels of silver annually for the family, but now it would take at least three years to bear fruit again and five years to enter a fruitful period after grafting.

Not everyone is willing to forgo immediate financial gains in hopes of future returns, like Grandfather Zhang, who would never consider investing in something that only pays off after eight years.