Chapter 88: Ruan Chanchan: Rather Strong Opinion
Priestess Yuan was also rather flattered; she had been to the Beast Temple at the City of Gods. Back then, she was too young and a bit too naive. She was also curious to know more about healing and treating beast women, men and mers. Thus, when she saw a healer in the temple, she asked him a few questions. But that man had looked at her as if she had uttered something shameful and chased her away. She had no choice but to walk away dejectedly, and later on, when she told the incident to her mother—her mother scolded her as well. She said that the healers healed the injured with their sacred magic and skills. They were blessed by the beast goddess and couldn’t just reveal their secrets.
Back then, Priestess Yuan believed her mother, even though it stung a little.
However, seeing how generous Ruan Chanchan was with sharing this important information with her, Priestess Yuan realised that it had nothing to do with the healers being blessed by the Beast Goddess and their skills being a secret. They just didn’t want to teach her for the sake of gatekeeping their skills.
"I see. Thank you for teaching me."
[You have earned +500 point.]
Ruan Chanchan paused and turned to look at the woman walking beside her. She said to her, "If you want to, then I can answer some of your other questions as well."
Priestess Yuan was shocked. She never thought that Ruan Chanchan would willingly tell her that she could ask more questions. Though she was surprised, she also felt a bit flattered. At least Ruan Chanchan was not a bad seedling. She was a good person through and through. No wonder she was blessed by the Beast Goddess. It must be because her heart was in the right place!
"Then what is boiled water, and why did you use it to wipe Nan Wu’s wound? I mean, what is the difference between using the water from the river and the boiled water?" Priestess Yuan asked. She looked at Ruan Chanchan with such a shiny gaze that she made the small hair on the back of Ruan Chanchan’s neck rise up. This woman’s gaze was really terrifying. She was looking at her as if she were looking at a gold brick or something.
However, Ruan Chanchan suppressed the unease in her heart and answered Priestess Yuan’s question. "Boiling water over fire can kill the germs in water. Even though the body of a beast woman could easily deal with the germs, Nan Wu is sick, and her body has gotten weaker, hasn’t it? If we use the water without boiling it, it would be no different from using one’s saliva. It’s better to drink boiled water, as well as when treating wounds. That way you will not get complaints like stomach aches, vomiting and loss of appetite."
"You mean to say that by drinking water from the river we might end up getting a stomachache?" Priestess Yuan asked, with a hint of stupefaction. She recalled the many tribe members who came to look for her and told her that they were having stomach aches. As a priestess of the tribe, she had some magical abilities which allowed her to heal small maladies like stomach aches and cuts. Though she couldn’t deal with fever and other diseases, as she didn’t know any working spells for them.
These spells were hidden purposefully by the healers of the Beast Goddess Temple. Thus, no one other than the healers of the temple knew about these spells. Even the spells of the stomach ailments and small cuts were something that she learnt by dumb sheer luck.
"The germs that are present in the saliva of a person are also present in the water of the river. Isn’t that where most of the tribe members go to clean their bodies and pull? The water is not clean. If we do not boil it on the flames, then the tribe members will be drinking the dirty water with germs; it shouldn’t be a surprise that they feel stomachaches all the time," explained Ruan Chanchan.
After listening to what Ruan Chanchan said to her, Priestess Yuan turned enlightened.
"Oh, so this is the reason for the tribe members getting stomachaches all the time." Priestess Yuan pursed her lips and looked thoughtful as she said to Ruan Chanchan, "So this is what happened. I wondered why the tribe members often complained about stomach aches all the time; so this is the reason." A pause and then, "But what about the rest of the tribe members? I have never heard them say that they are feeling sick."
"That’s because everyone has different bodies. Some have strong stomachs. They can digest almost everything, but some individuals have a weak stomach and may struggle to digest their food as well as others. That’s the reason why some of them complain of getting a stomach ache every now and then."
"I see, I see!" Priestess Yuan exclaimed, feeling a rush of excitement in her heart. She looked at Ruan Chanchan, and her opinion of the woman turned even better. "Thank you for telling me this. It will truly help me in treating the tribe members."
[Beep. 15 points for sharing your wisdom. You have collected 1500 points.]
Ruan Chanchan heaved a sigh of relief; it seemed as if she shared some information relayed to the betterment of the tribe, then the gratitude points would be much better when compared to helping someone. She turned to look at Priestess Yuan and thought about it a little, "How about I teach others how to boil water? But the problem is that they will think that I am messing around with the Holy Flame." Just like how Ruan Zeqiu thought that she stole the holy flame, others would have some opinion about her as well.
Though Ruan Chanchan had more or less gained the trust of a few tribe members, she knew that there were still a few tribe members who didn’t like her.
"Ah, about that—"