Chapter 69 She grabbed the other person's pants

Chapter 69 She grabbed the other person's pants

People started getting busy, and Jiang Yutang followed the old doctor around, learning everything quickly and well, from identifying herbs and dispensing medicine according to prescriptions to starting a fire and boiling the medicine.

The older brothers led the healthy refugees back and forth between the river and the camp, carrying back clean water to feed the sick.

Almost everyone who could move was busy with their own affairs, and everyone was doing their best in the face of the hope of survival.

However, the Chinese medicine was consumed too quickly, and it was all gone in less than half a day.

The escorts gave him limited silver, and the medicine in the pharmacy was expensive. The old doctor tried everywhere to borrow medicine, but to no avail.

Jiang Yutang then suggested, "Doctor, there might be wild herbs on the mountains outside the city. Let's go and collect some; it might solve our immediate problem."

The old doctor paused in stroking his beard, looked up at the mountain outside the door, and slowly said, "That's fine, but it will be a bit troublesome. Two people won't be enough."

Cheng Lanzhou and Jiang Sumin immediately expressed their willingness to go together to protect them, while Jiang Songzhi and Jiang Jiuzhe stayed behind to take care of their parents and the two women.

The group carried bamboo baskets up the mountain. Jiang Yutang's ability to identify medicinal herbs once again amazed the old doctor. She could not only quickly recognize common herbs, but also point out several rare herbs hidden in the crevices of the rocks. Even the old doctor couldn't help but praise her.

"Young lady, your ability to identify medicinal herbs surpasses even my apprentice who has studied for three years! If you weren't a refugee, I would definitely take you as my apprentice and teach you medicine properly!"

"You flatter me." Jiang Yutang smiled and thanked him, thinking to herself that the knowledge in textbooks is far less valuable than practical experience, and this trip was not without its gains.

But the weather turned against them; just as they finished picking half a basket, dark clouds gathered and large raindrops began to fall instantly.

The group hurriedly took shelter in a small cave nearby, their faces darkening as they watched the rain outside intensify.

"If this rain doesn't stop, the mountain path will be even more difficult to traverse after sunset." The old doctor looked at the curtain of rain outside and said anxiously, "If we spend the night here, the patients in the camp will run out of medicine, and we will have one less chance of survival."

Jiang Yutang nodded, turned to the three of them and said, "Go down the mountain in the rain, and hurry up. Try to get back before dark."

Jiang Huaiyu had no objections, after all, he was also worried about his family who stayed behind.

Cheng Lanzhou looked at the road outside, his brows furrowed: "The mountain road is slippery, everyone watch your step. If you lose your footing and fall, call for help immediately."

The group reached a consensus, and, covered with leaves they had found on the spot, carefully stepped into the rain.

The mountain path was slippery and difficult to traverse after the rain. Cheng Lanzhou and Jiang Yutang led the way, using tree branches to probe the path. Jiang Yutang walked in the middle, carefully following the footprints ahead of them.

The old doctor walked at the back, occasionally helping Jiang Yutang along.

Jiang Yutang's cloth shoes were already more delicate than others', but when she stepped on the muddy mountain road, the shoes were covered in mud, which gave her a comical feeling of "a lotus emerging from the mud".

She was carefully moving her feet when suddenly her foot slipped, and her body fell uncontrollably down the mountainside!

"ah--"

Jiang Yutang screamed in fright, her body arching backward as she slid down the mountain path like she was on a slide.

"Little sister!" Jiang Huaiyu and Cheng Lanzhou reacted quickly, grabbing her collar at the same time and pulling her back with their combined strength, helping her to stand steadily.

Jiang Huaiyu carefully helped her up, her voice full of concern: "Little sister, did you twist your ankle?"

"No, no." Jiang Yutang patted his chest, clearly frightened.

If she had rolled down the mountain path, she would have been half-crippled, if not killed. Surviving the ordeal didn't make her feel fortunate; it only intensified her fear.

"Be careful, make sure you're stepping firmly before you go," Cheng Lanzhou said with a frown, her tone carrying a hint of barely perceptible worry.

Jiang Yutang nodded, and just as she steadied herself and took a step, her legs suddenly gave way, and she slipped out again! In a panic, she instinctively reached out and grabbed Cheng Lanzhou's waistband!

Cheng Lanzhou was startled and quickly reached out to press her belt, afraid that her pants would be pulled down.

Before he could regain his balance, the two of them were carried away by inertia and fell into the mud pit next to them. They flew all the way down the hillside and finally came to a stop with a "plop" when they crashed heavily into the mud.

Jiang Huaiyu stared wide-eyed at everything, gasped, and rushed over to find Jiang Yutang and Cheng Lanzhou sitting in a mud pit, covered in mud and with bits of grass stuck to their hair, looking both disheveled and funny.

"Brother Lanzhou! Little sister! Are you alright?" He suppressed a laugh and reached out to help the two of them up.

Jiang Yutang shakily wiped the mud off her face, looked at the equally disheveled Cheng Lanzhou, and couldn't help but burst out laughing.

Cheng Lanzhou glared at her but didn't say anything more. He just tightened his belt and patted the mud off his body, but the more he patted, the more evenly the mud spread.

Looking at the two of them, Jiang Huaiyu couldn't help but sigh: "Forget about the mud for now, let's hurry down the mountain, or it will really get dark."

The old doctor carefully slid down onto them, holding onto the tree branch, and looked them over. "It's good that you're alright. Otherwise, if I had to carry you two down the mountain with my old bones, I'm afraid I would have lost another life."

Without further delay, the group quickened their pace and headed down the mountain.

The four of them stumbled down to the foot of the mountain, and as soon as they reached the city gate, they saw several familiar figures.

Yun and her two older brothers were standing under the eaves waiting, with Cheng Daier supporting Lin Shi beside them. Upon seeing their appearance, everyone froze in place.

Jiang Yutang blushed deeply, embarrassedly wiping her face with rainwater, and whispered, "Mother, brother."

Yun stared at her for a few seconds, looking at her daughter's disheveled appearance, covered in mud and with her hair stuck to her cheeks. Finally, she couldn't help but cover her mouth, her voice trembling slightly: "It's good that you're back, it's good that you're back."

Jiang Songzhi chuckled and rubbed the mud off her face: "How come you came back looking like a little kitten after just one trip out?"

Cheng Daier quickly stepped forward, took out a clean handkerchief and handed it to Cheng Lanzhou. Her tone was full of disdain but also contained concern: "How did you get yourself into such a mess? I've never seen you look this bad, even when we were traveling on mountain roads in a downpour."

Cheng Lanzhou took the handkerchief with a dark expression, pursing her lips and remaining silent. She couldn't very well say that Jiang Yutang had dragged her into the mud, could she?

That would be so embarrassing.

Seeing this, the old doctor smiled and smoothed things over: "Alright, alright, let's go to my house first. My wife has already boiled water for a bath, so you can wash up and change your clothes to avoid catching a cold. I'll boil the medicine later and send someone to deliver it to the camp."

The four followed the old doctor to his house.

When they arrived at the old doctor's house, his wife had indeed already prepared steaming hot bathwater.

"You all go ahead and wash, I'll go check the fire in the kitchen," the old doctor's wife said warmly, turning and going into the kitchen.

The group politely declined, but finally let the old doctor go take a bath first. He was the oldest and most susceptible to catching a cold if he got caught in the rain.

Jiang Yutang then offered, "I'll go to the kitchen to cook the medicine. That way I can keep an eye on the fire and prevent it from burning."

Cheng Lanzhou and Jiang Huaiyu took the herbs they had collected that day to another room to sort and organize them.

Cheng Lanzhou sorted the medicine and took a few herbs that needed to be decocted first into the kitchen. As soon as she entered, she saw a scene that made people laugh.