Ah Jiu watched the light in her sister-in-law's eyes, which had finally begun to shine, instantly vanish, as if veiled by a layer of mist.
"He just, just doesn't want to see me," she said, covering her face and crouching down.
Ah Jiu couldn't hear her sobs, but tears fell through her fingers.
"Sister-in-law, actually..." Ah Jiu patted her back. "Actually, I don't have the right words to comfort you either. My elder brother might be afraid of you worrying, or afraid of you seeing him in his current state."
"What state of his haven't I seen?" Liu Cai'er's tear-streaked face lifted, her crying ceasing abruptly.
"I even saw him at nine years old, still wearing his split crotch pants. Back then... I went with my father to Xinghua Village on a house call, and he pulled my pigtail, and I cried..."
"He got scared. Later, when he grew up, he said I didn't know how to joke, that I'd cry over a little tug on my pigtail."
Ah Jiu was surprised. "So you and my elder brother were childhood sweethearts." But for Ah Jiu, when her brother was nine, she was only one year old, so she couldn't remember anything.
"Your elder brother and I rode a bamboo horse together. He said when we grew up, he'd buy a real horse to marry me. Back then, your grandmother wouldn't allow it, saying the horse was too expensive and useless, couldn't plow fields or work the land. But after we got married, your brother was very sensitive about me mentioning him wearing split crotch pants at nine."
Liu Cai'er spoke as if talking to herself, as if the memories were right before her eyes. She gathered her thoughts, stood up, and went into the thatched shed.
"Miss Liu, please save me... The needles have been inserted, the medicine has been drunk... cough cough cough!" The person in the thatched shed couldn't straighten up from coughing and could only lie on the ground.
"Don't worry, we are doing our best to save you..." Liu Cai'er had said this phrase no less than eight hundred times. The patients had grown completely numb to it. Liu Cai'er could only helplessly crouch there, burying her face in her knees.
"Jiu'er, here they come, got them, got them all."
Over there, Yun Hao, carrying a bamboo basket, his face beaming with joy, ran over like a toad with trumpet legs. "Look!"
Liu Cai'er, beneath the thatched shed, also perked up and ran out to see.
"Wow, that big?"
"Indeed, it took the eight of us a whole day's effort to catch them," Yun Hao's smile was filled with an unusual sense of satisfaction.
"Leave it to me." Liu Cai'er rolled up her sleeves and carried the cage with both hands, walking out. "Jiu'er sister, let's go back to the post station."
"Okay, sister-in-law." Ah Jiu scampered after her.
As soon as the carriage stopped, Liu Cai'er impatiently got out, holding the cage, and went directly into their room.
"Jiu'er, how did you get the snake venom?" Liu Cai'er asked as she opened the lid. The king cobra, as thick as an arm, slithered within the confined space, its body pressing against another.
"I used a handkerchief." Ah Jiu took out the handkerchief from her pocket.
"Watch, sister-in-law will teach you the professional method of extracting snake venom." As she spoke, she grabbed a porcelain bottle from the table. Then, she found fire tongs from the kitchen. When the snake's head was in an attacking stance, she clamped down on its neck. The snake's body writhed, but this didn't prevent Liu Cai'er from thrusting the porcelain bottle into the snake's mouth. With a slight flick, she pried open the snake's jaws. The two fangs hooked onto the edge of the bottle, and the venom that spurted out instantly flowed into the bottle. Liu Cai'er's movements were exceptionally professional, not a drop falling outside. Ah Jiu was truly amazed this time. Then came the second and third snakes, and soon the palm-sized porcelain bottle was full. The snakes in the basket moved freely, their lid secured by Liu Cai'er with a stone.
"Jiu'er, you worked hard all day yesterday. Today I'll try. This dosage will be mixed according to your clinical experience, and then combined with the ear needles you taught me, it should be foolproof."
Ah Jiu nodded. This was for the best. After all, the goal was to preserve the reputation of Hualan Medical Hall and to complete the task so they could return to the city sooner. Ah Jiu wanted some quiet time to go into her spatial dimension and check on the little earth dragon. "Sister-in-law, please come back early tonight."
Ah Jiu watched her sister-in-law get back into the carriage and head to the Yi Zhuang. She subconsciously glanced at the three snakes in the cage. Ah Jiu entered her spatial dimension.