Chapter 94

Chapter 94

◎ A Bowl of Perilla Leaf Water. ◎

That night, Meng Qi held Maomao in his arms, crouched under a big tree for nearly three hours, before another group of teachers searching along the same route found them and rushed them down the mountain.

By the time Meng Qi found Maomao, the child already had a fever. Without any fever-reducing medicine, Meng Qi wanted to help lower Maomao's temperature first, but found himself helpless. Whenever he thought of reducing a fever, his mind only recalled memories from childhood of being forced by his grandparents to drink brown sugar ginger water and then sweat it out under a thick quilt. Clearly, the current conditions neither allowed Maomao to have a bowl of hot brown sugar ginger water nor to be wrapped up tightly to sweat profusely...

If only Li Qingjiang were here, he would surely have ways to bring down Maomao's temperature. Meng Qi, getting anxious and desperate, thought this, and it was what made him decide to become Li Qingjiang's apprentice.

After busting their butts to get down the mountain, Meng Qi first took out his phone to call Li Qingjiang, telling him that Maomao had been found and telling him to get back to school ASAP. Meanwhile, Meng Qi and two other teachers took turns piggybacking Maomao as they rushed back to the school.

By the time Meng Qi and his group returned to the school, Li Qingjiang had not yet arrived. Meng Qi first found a thermometer to take Maomao's temperature. As expected, the fever was bad—it had spiked to forty-one degrees! A cool towel placed on Maomao's forehead got hot to the touch in under two minutes, which was terrifying! Moreover, when they looked under the light, they discovered that Maomao's ankle was severely swollen, like a puffy steamed bun. A light poke left a big dent, and Maomao trembled in pain, causing his grandfather to cry out in shock. The old man wobbled, and if Meng Qi hadn't caught him quickly, he might have fallen badly.

In this remote wilderness, medical conditions were really basic. The nearest clinic, run by a village doctor, was several miles away. A round trip would take two hours, during which the kid would be in a lot of pain and the fever could worsen... Maomao's grandfather didn't know that Li Qingjiang was a renowned traditional Chinese medicine doctor. Imagining the child's suffering, he was scared out of his wits, holding Maomao and weeping.

Meng Qi wasn't feeling well either, going back and forth between hot and cold. Without taking his temperature, he knew he was coming down with something, but he didn't tell anyone, afraid it would freak everyone out and distract them from caring for Maomao. After taking Maomao's temperature, he instructed Elder Gu to quickly go to the kitchen and boil a pot of ginger and brown sugar water for everyone to drink and ward off the chill. At the same time, he quickly gave Maomao two fever pills. The moment Li Qingjiang stepped into the room, Meng Qi pushed him toward Maomao, giving him the rundown: "High fever at forty-one degrees, I gave him a bowl of light salt water and two fever pills. We're waiting to see if the fever breaks. Also, his ankle is sprained and swollen quite badly. I'm not sure if the bone is injured. I've already called Zhao Zheyuan and Qu Liang, asking them to come as soon as possible. If we need to send him to the hospital, we need to plan ahead..."

Li Qingjiang placed his hand on Maomao's forehead to check the temperature, then leaned down to listen to his chest. After that, he started feeling from Maomao's neck down, checking for external injuries and feeling the bones to determine if there were any other injuries. When he reached the ankle, he held the calf above the ankle with one hand and Maomao's sole with the other, then pulled in the opposite direction. With a soft pop, Maomao let out a short groan and then fell silent.

Meng Qi turned away and coughed quietly, not daring to disturb Li Qingjiang.

Maomao's grandfather had been crouching by Maomao's feet the whole time, watching Li Qingjiang's every move. After Maomao's short groan, he stared at Li Qingjiang and asked frantically, "What happened? Why isn't he making any noise?" He had expected Maomao to cry for a long time after someone touched his ankle, but only a single groan—that was too abnormal. Maybe the kid passed out from the pain. The old man was worried about his grandson.

Li Qingjiang glanced at the grandpa, then kept working calmly. He first brought over the bowl of warm water that Maomao hadn't finished drinking, then rolled up Maomao's sleeve. Starting from the first horizontal crease on Maomao's wrist, he gently tapped toward the elbow, blowing on Maomao's arm as he did. After doing this a few times, he finally had a moment to reassure the old man: "Don't worry, he's asleep now, not passed out from pain. Don't worry, his foot's fine." After repeating the tapping process a few times, he turned to Maomao's grandfather and said gently, "Did you see what I did? Please continue like this—one hundred and twenty taps on the left arm, one hundred and twenty on the right arm."

"I saw clearly, but what's this for? Will tapping make my grandson better?" After Li Qingjiang moved aside, Maomao's grandfather immediately shifted over. Even though he didn't get it, he followed Li Qingjiang's instructions and began tapping.

Li Qingjiang took the opportunity to return to Maomao's feet to check the ankle injury while speaking: "The kid's ankle isn't broken, just dislocated. It's been taken care of now. I'll crush some herbs and apply them later; the swelling should be gone by around noon tomorrow." After explaining the ankle situation, he explained why he had asked the grandfather to tap Maomao's arms: "Tapping the kid's arms is a way to lower the fever by clearing the meridians and boosting blood flow. The idea is to stimulate certain pressure points, quickly draw the heat out of the kid's body, helping him cool down. At the same time, it can prevent febrile seizures. You can remember this trick; when you don't have fever medicine on hand, you can use this trick to bring a kid's fever down first."

"You're a really smart guy. Thank you for saving my grandson." Seeing Maomao's breathing gradually stabilize, the grandfather's face got all red with excitement as he repeatedly thanked Li Qingjiang.

"This is my duty. You don't need to thank me. When the child is willing to open his mouth, boil some rice water and feed it to him to replenish his body fluids. It will make him more comfortable."

"Thank you, thank you. I'll remember that." Maomao's grandfather thanked Li Qingjiang again.

Li Qingjiang didn't continue the pleasantries. Instead, he stood up and walked over to Meng Qi, reaching out to feel his forehead. His brow furrowed immediately. He then took Meng Qi's left hand to check his pulse, and after a moment, asked with some irritation, "Why didn't you say you were feeling unwell earlier? Don't you know your situation is special and can't afford any delay?"

Meng Qi's face stiffened. He glanced around to see if anyone was watching them, then relaxed slightly. He quickly pulled Li Qingjiang a few steps back toward the door and whispered, "Keep your voice down, man!"

"If you want me to be quiet, then don't do things that shock me," Li Qingjiang snorted. Seeing that the rain had stopped, he directly pulled Meng Qi into the kitchen. After rummaging through a pile of leafy greens for a while, he finally found a handful of perilla leaves. He then lit the fire and boiled water, moving swiftly. Ten minutes later, he brewed a large bowl of perilla leaf water and handed it to Meng Qi, telling him to drink it while it was hot.

What was this? It wasn't soup with noodles or porridge with rice. Meng Qi looked at it with a complicated expression, pinched his nose, and stepped back hesitantly, asking Li Qingjiang, "Is this for reducing the fever?"

Li Qingjiang nodded. "Yes, specifically for... reducing fever. Perilla leaf water is very effective. It mainly helps to ventilate the lungs, stop coughing, regulate qi and harmonize the middle, and relieve exterior cold. Most importantly, it can also..." He paused here, as if the next words were hard to say, but to reassure Meng Qi to drink it, he finally uttered the two words, "calm the fetus."

It was like a thunderbolt!

Meng Qi looked at Li Qingjiang in shock.

This was the first time he had heard such clear words related to pregnancy from someone else. For a moment, he found it hard to accept. His emotions were incredibly complex, a feeling not unlike when he first heard that a comet would crash into Earth in two years—too absurd, too damnable, too unreasonable!

Let it all be destroyed, destroyed!

Seeing Meng Qi silent for a long time, Li Qingjiang rubbed his nose, mimicking Meng Qi's earlier gesture to ease awkwardness, and showed a hint of embarrassment on his face. "Sorry, Meng Qi. You have to understand, some things are unavoidable. And from now on, we'll need to communicate a lot. We can't keep avoiding these topics, right?"

Meng Qi's brow twitched.

Li Qingjiang continued, "Your body shape hasn't changed much yet, but what about in a month or two? It can't stay the same forever. By then, you'll not only have to get used to this kind of conversation between us, but also come to terms with your own changes—inside and out, mainly the external ones. Do you understand?"

Meng Qi frowned deeply, his lips pressed into a thin line.

He understood what Li Qingjiang meant, but that made it even harder to accept...

Whether out of avoidance or because this was beyond his knowledge, he hadn't started thinking about it, nor had he wanted to.

Li Qingjiang's voice continued in his ear: "The reason I mentioned 'calming the fetus' is because you were quite frightened tonight. When I took your pulse, I found it beating rapidly and irregularly. That's not a good sign for you. And for him," Li Qingjiang pointed a finger at Meng Qi's abdomen, speaking slowly, "it's not good for him either. If you don't drink this perilla leaf water, you might have nightmares tonight. Nightmares can stimulate your internal organs, and combined with the high fever, I'm afraid it could harm him."

As Li Qingjiang's words fell, Meng Qi closed his eyes in despair. It seemed that if he couldn't see, he couldn't hear, and the outside world would have nothing to do with him.

But how could it have nothing to do with him? He had promised to protect him...

After a moment, Meng Qi opened his eyes again and forced a smile that was uglier than crying. "Thank you for reminding me. I understand."

Li Qingjiang smiled bitterly. "Don't thank me. It would be more fitting if you hit me."

"You haven't done anything wrong. Why would I hit you?"

"I woke you up without permission, forcing you to face all this nonsense. That's definitely worth a beating."

Meng Qi was speechless. Not knowing how to continue the conversation, he decided to change the subject. "...I just need to drink it while it's hot, right? Anything else I need to pay attention to?"

"To be safe, I'll boil two eggs to roll on your forehead. Combining methods works faster." Li Qingjiang turned around, took two eggs from the basket behind him, carefully placed them in a pot to boil, and looked up to see that Meng Qi had already finished the perilla leaf water in one go. Li Qingjiang let out a relieved sigh and then suggested, "Let that child sleep in your bed. You can stay in my room for the night. With two patients, I'll need to keep watch tonight, so I probably won't be sleeping."

Meng Qi didn't stand on ceremony with Li Qingjiang. After saying, "Thank you, Divine Doctor," he headed to Li Qingjiang's room.

He was exhausted, and his mind was a mess. He really needed a good night's sleep.