Chapter 23: Let’s Heal Them First
A Man acted decisively. The next day, she packed over a dozen rice balls, brought A Qing along as a bodyguard, and set off from the village to find the water merchants.
Yuan Ye was not idle either. Although he had enough money for the time being, he still wanted to save where he could. He decided to take two followers out to gather medicinal herbs to minimize costs.
Yayoi was also very eager to help, but she was too young and not very strong. She couldn’t do much fieldwork. Most of the time, she was responsible for preparing meals and taking care of Meng Ziqi on Yuan Ye’s behalf.
In this era, wild resources had hardly been damaged, and there was not much custom of picking medicinal herbs in Japanese Medieval Period Japan. After a few days, the few of them worked together and had a good harvest. Due to the season, most of what they brought back were roots, branches, and bark, such as Asparagus cochinchinensis, Dioscorea opposita, Cynanchum paniculatum, Stephania tetrandra, Cortex Phellodendri, Cortex Phellodendri, and Pinus sylvestris needles. Fortunately, the quantity was sufficient, and the quality looked good.
Just then, A Man and A Qing finally returned. Everything had gone smoothly, and they just had to wait a few days for the goods to be delivered. Moreover, A Man bragged about her achievements, claiming she had haggled fiercely for Yuan Ye, getting the shipping costs down to the minimum. She had also invoked her grandfather’s name, guaranteeing that those water merchants wouldn’t dare to cheat them. Otherwise, it wouldn’t just be about overcharging; they would face retaliation from her Kōka Group. Her grandfather could pop their anuses with one hand, and those swindlers wouldn’t dare.
In short, thanks to her, things had gone so smoothly and saved so much money. Yuan Ye should thank her properly.
Then she lay down…
Uh, Yuan Ye originally thought she would just lie down and use “aggravated injuries due to strenuous travel” as an excuse to shirk physical labor, as she seemed a bit lazy and fond of eating.
But to his surprise, when there was actual work to be done, she didn’t lie down. Instead, she was more hardworking than he expected. She didn’t rest for even a day. After wolfing down three bowls of rice, she wiped her mouth and naturally began to help him process the gathered medicinal materials and prepare for the black clinic’s opening, showing no signs of slacking off.
If she was fed, she would genuinely work. Even if she was lazy, at most she would play some tricks, find excuses to stay in the warmer rooms and courtyards, and send her unlucky sister A Qing out into the cold wind in the wilderness.
Perhaps this was a characteristic of this era. Truly lazy people might not have survived at all.
While marveling in his heart, Yuan Ye brought her along to work. Following the requirements in the Barefoot Doctor’s Manual, they heated water, smoked and fumigated the herbs. In a few days, they had a batch of truly natural, wild, handmade Chinese medicinal materials. If sold on Taobao in later generations, they would fetch at least a 200% markup. As for the efficacy…
He didn’t have much experience and couldn’t tell. He could only learn through practice. If he accidentally killed the working people of Japanese Medieval Period Japan, then it was their fate.
After all, even the worst medical care was better than none. This was already quite good.
When the handmade medicinal materials were almost processed, the water merchants also returned with their goods. Their attitude was surprisingly good, delivering the goods directly to Hibitsu Village. It seemed that A Man’s grandfather, who could pop anuses with one hand, was quite intimidating.
Yuan Ye took a rough look and compared it with the book. The quality wasn’t great, but it was usable. After A Man’s incessant nagging and further price haggling, he paid them promptly.
With medical skills and medicinal materials all in place, everything was ready. His black clinic could now officially open for business.
He politely invited Jikuro and the bald Jubei over and explained that “the world is suffering, he is naturally kind and benevolent, his character is incomparably noble, he is prepared to save all beings and relieve their suffering.” He sincerely invited them to join this great plan and asked them to help him advertise in Hibitsu and the surrounding villages. This immediately caused a small-scale sensation, and then there was silence.
People eat grains and cereals, and no one is immune to illness. The torment of pain is something only those who have experienced it can know; it is not something that can be overcome by willpower.
For example, the non-famous sommelier Sebide Doug, who had strong psychological fortitude, suffered a relapse of an old injury due to excessive drinking, nearly going blind. However, he did not yield. He fought against the illness with extraordinary willpower. The illness forbade him from drinking, but he insisted on drinking, and drinking heavily, refusing to bow to the illness. As a result, he was hospitalized three times for emergency treatment and underwent two surgeries, nearly passing away. Only then did he understand this principle.
Drinking cannot overcome illness, and tenacious willpower cannot overcome illness either. One must believe in science!
The working people of Japan are also human. In the villages of Japanese Medieval Period, they rarely saw proper doctors. Surely many people suffered from illness for a long time. Why weren’t they coming for treatment?
Yuan Ye suspected that the villagers might have mistaken this for a “new type of scam.” Although he had promised low fees and even credit, the villagers had never interacted with him before and might not dare to trust him. What if, after being treated by him, they received an exorbitant bill…
The reality was indeed so. The villagers had their own survival wisdom, and they were indeed thinking this way.
If Yuan Ye were to break his promise and enrich himself, confiscating all the grain from a villager’s home, taking away their chickens, and abducting their daughters to be defiled day and night, they, as subordinates, would have no recourse. Especially since insufficient medicine money could be “paid off with labor in the future,” the conditions were too generous, making it look more and more like a trap.
After all, why would samurai lords be so kind? At most, they might randomly kill a few passersby to test their swords; how could they be so benevolent and kind?
Whoever believes it is a big fool!
This was truly a case of “one person chops trees, and another enjoys the shade.” The daily actions of Japanese samurai were inhumane. Besides normal annual tributes and direct conscription, they also levied “dan money,” “mune-betsu money,” “kaji-shi,” “soldier’s rations,” and “horse rental fees.” These various exorbitant taxes bled the villagers dry, squeezing out every last drop of their wealth, and ruined their reputation. As a result, Yuan Ye, a transmigator, was inexplicably caught in the crossfire. Even when he wanted to do something good and gain some popularity, no one dared to believe him.
The “Mongolian Doctor Plan” stalled right at the beginning. A Man laughed so hard she could barely stand, constantly urging him to give up. Let the ungrateful commoners die, she said. It was better for everyone to continue the music and dance, eat well, drink well, and stay warm for the winter. Yuan Ye also had no good solution for the time being. He couldn’t force people to come for treatment, could he?
Moreover, he didn’t have the means to force people to come for treatment.
After waiting quietly for two days, he was pounding herbs in the courtyard, already contemplating finding a “stooge” to be the first patient, to set an example and prove that there was no trap and that he had no evil intentions of defiling all the village girls.
As he was lost in thought, he suddenly heard the urgent sound of horse hooves. He looked up and saw a samurai in green riding furiously down the road. The villagers scattered in panic. He didn’t slow down until he reached the fence. He suddenly spurred his horse and leaped over the fence, landing in the courtyard with a thud before abruptly pulling on the reins and shouting anxiously, “Where is the doctor? Didn’t they say there was a doctor here? Who is the doctor? Doctor, come out quickly!”
Due to the harshness of the reins, the horse was extremely uncomfortable. It stopped, but it kept shaking its head, neighing, and pawing the ground, circling frantically in place. It kicked and trampled the medicinal herbs drying in the courtyard into a mess. Even Yuan Ye was forced to retreat to a corner of the courtyard to avoid it, his face instantly darkening.
He was terrified, thinking someone had come to rob him again, and they had upgraded from river pirates to cavalry!
A Man, who had been dozing by the hearth and stove, baking herbs and drooling, was also startled awake. She tumbled out with her hair disheveled, still in a dazed state. Lying on the ground, she shouted incoherently, “What’s that noise? Is it an earthquake? Ouch! Hiss~~ A Qing, quickly, quickly come here! My calf seems to have cramped, help me run!”
A Qing was not there; she had gone with the Momoi Brothers and Jikuro and his wife to help gather herbs. After calling out a few times and not seeing anyone, A Man’s mind finally cleared a bit. She looked at the medicinal herbs in the courtyard, which were trampled into a mess, and instantly became furious. These were herbs she had painstakingly processed for several days, her labor results （ mainly Yuan Ye’s labor results ）, and now they were like this after she hadn’t seen them for a moment?
Moreover, the other party was just one person and not armored. Even with a horse, he was not to be feared. Her eyes immediately gleamed fiercely. She turned and limped back into the house, then rushed out again with her short-handled axe, pointing at the rider and cursing loudly, “Bastard, what do you think you’re doing, you dung beetle? How dare you come here and act wild, you almost scared my… you almost scared my donkey into peeing its pants! Have you had enough of living?! Get down here and kneel to apologize and pay up! If you’re short even a single coin, I’ll split you in two!”
The samurai in green looked about fifteen or sixteen years old, but he was nearly 1.7 meters tall, with thick eyebrows and large eyes, broad shoulders, and a sturdy build. He wore a plain gray jacket over a dark green haori with white patterns. His hair was tied in a chasen-mage （ a type of stiff brush used in Japanese matcha preparation ）. Although he was out for a casual outing and not on the battlefield, he wore arm guards like hanging curtains, and inexplicably, a blue cotton scarf around his neck…
This was also a samurai who followed the “light, flamboyant, and eccentric style.” These people were always fearless, regarded traditional etiquette as nothing, and had very violent tempers.
The samurai in green was naturally the same. He had just managed to calm his horse. Seeing A Man pointing her sharp short-handled axe at him and cursing him with extremely foul language, he immediately became furious. Protecting his chest with one hand and drawing his sword with the other, he began to curse back in a quacking voice, “Bastard, who are you calling that, you lowly peasant? You… you…”
He seemed not to be good with words and lacked vocabulary. He couldn’t find a creature to counter “dung beetle” for a moment, while A Man had already started to circle to his side, still shouting incessantly and cursing more and more foully, “I’m calling you a dung beetle! What, you don’t like it? You are a dung beetle, your whole family are dung beetles, your whole family are thieves who steal dung balls!”
“Bastard, you… you are a, bastard!”
The samurai in green became increasingly tongue-tied. His face, flushed with rage, turned red. He simply shut his mouth, reined in his horse, and turned around. His eyes also flashed with ferocity. While guarding against being hit in the thigh by an axe, he prepared to charge on horseback, to fight A Man hand-to-hand. It was possible that one of them would die.
Yuan Ye’s face grew darker and darker. What kind of chaotic mess was this? This era was like a madhouse. No one took their lives seriously. It was truly unacceptable for him, a modern person!
Losing one person over such a trivial matter was not worth it. He quickly stepped forward to stop this farce and shouted loudly from a corner of the courtyard, “Enough, both of you, stop!”
A Man had also calmed down by then and recognized the other party’s identity. Fearing she might implicate her patron, Yuan Ye, she didn’t continue shouting. However, she still glared hatefully at the samurai in green. She had already been quite displeased with samurai, and now looking at this samurai in green, she found him more and more displeasing. She was likely harboring resentment and would go spread rumors about him later.
The samurai in green also finally remembered his main business. Seeing that Yuan Ye was tall, dignified, well-dressed, and had a noble demeanor, he was definitely not an ignorant villager. He immediately sheathed his sword, dismounted, and revealed a little girl he had been protecting in his arms. He said excitedly, “Are you the foreign samurai who can heal people, as they said? Quickly, take a look at A Song for me!”
A Song?
Yuan Ye’s gaze fell on the little girl. She looked about four or five years old, with dark, flowing hair, wearing a dark blue, coarsely woven cotton kozode with a yutōgi, and wrapped in a large, old, gray padded garment. She was curled up, clutching her abdomen tightly with both hands, her eyes slightly closed, her face sallow, and occasional flashes of pain crossing her features. There was also some un-wiped foam at the corner of her mouth.
Saving the person was urgent. Yuan Ye no longer bothered with the mess the samurai in green had made in the courtyard. He immediately stepped forward to examine the little girl’s condition, paying particular attention to the foam at the corner of her mouth. If it was foamy sputum caused by pulmonary congestion and edema, then the illness could not be treated. It was untreatable in this era. Fortunately, it wasn’t. This looked more like secretions from the digestive organs, coming up from dry heaving or after being jostled.
Yuan Ye hadn’t read books for nothing during this time. He already had basic diagnostic abilities. He immediately asked the samurai in green, “Has she vomited? When did she vomit? What did she eat before vomiting?”
“She ate a little less than half a rice ball and a few konpeito. She vomited not long after eating.” The samurai in green finished speaking and immediately took out a small glass bottle. Inside was a little less than half a bottle of pale yellow candies with spikes, shaped like sea urchins. They looked quite pretty in the sunlight.
A Man, who had been indignant and staring at the samurai in green’s back, plotting something dark, was immediately drawn to the bottle. She couldn’t help but show a look of solemn respect and murmured, “Is this the konpeito that costs as much as gold? There’s almost half a bottle…”
She instinctively estimated the price. She felt that this half bottle of candy was worth about two taels, and even without the bottle itself, it would be worth two or three kan Eiraku coins. She really wanted to snatch it, but considering the other party’s skill and background, she didn’t dare to rob him.
In Yuan Ye’s eyes, these candies made from primitive white sugar mixed with wheat flour were nothing special. He casually took the bottle, opened it, sniffed it, and tasted a piece. He immediately detected a hint of moldy sourness.
He spat the candy onto the ground and asked, “How long has it been here?”
The samurai in green was stunned for a moment. Looking at the candy, he said hesitantly, “Has it gone bad? My lord rewarded me with it half a year ago. I ate one before and didn’t feel uncomfortable…”
Yuan Ye glanced at him silently. Was he comparing the digestive capacity of a nearly adult, strong male with that of a four or five-year-old child? Why didn’t he compare himself to a wild boar?
However, he didn’t explain further. He returned the candy to the samurai in green and said calmly, “Currently, it appears to be acute gastroenteritis caused by spoiled candy… Hmm, it’s a type of hot toxin cholera caused by external evil and filth. Do you want to treat it here?”
The samurai in green, holding the candy with his hand on his sword hilt, was stunned. He hadn’t understood at all. It seemed that not only was his vocabulary lacking, but his education level was also quite low.
Yuan Ye waited patiently for a moment before he reacted. He said repeatedly, “Treat it! No matter how much it costs, I’ll pay! Please, you must cure her!”
“I’ll do my best!” Yuan Ye nodded, called Yayoi, who was hiding nearby, secretly observing with a worried expression, to help settle the patient and her family. He then went to look through the Pinyin version of the Barefoot Doctor’s Manual to pick a prescription. Acute gastroenteritis was a common disease in rural areas and not difficult to treat. He had memorized the prescription, but this was his first time practicing medicine, so he wanted to double-check to be safe, lest he prescribe the wrong medicine or dosage and kill someone on his first attempt.
This was, after all, the first customer for his opening. It was better not to kill anyone if possible!
A Man followed him and glanced at the samurai in green from a distance, whispering to him, “Are you sure? He seems to be from Oda Danjō no Chū’s family, likely Oda Big Fool’s page. Those people have issues with their brains and are not easy to deal with. You should be careful!”
If it weren’t for the fact that she recognized him as Oda Big Fool’s page, and that Owari province was Oda territory, and that Oda Nobunaga was a capricious lunatic who was not to be trifled with, she would have already attacked. She wouldn’t have just planned to spread rumors. She only looked a bit funny, but she was by no means a naive child. She had seen life and death many times and was truly capable of killing if provoked. At worst, after killing someone, she would flee overnight, completely unafraid.
It was the same now. She didn’t know Yuan Ye’s medical skills. Who knew if they were effective? If A Song were accidentally killed, it could cause trouble. She had eaten Yuan Ye’s food, and Yuan Ye treated her very well and with respect. She didn’t want to see him in trouble, so she warned him.
The green haori had a family crest, which was Oda Nobunaga’s unique Quince Five-Piece Crest. Yuan Ye had also noticed it and nodded slightly, “I know. I’m confident about the illness too. You don’t need to worry.”
He not only knew the person was from Oda Nobunaga’s faction but also guessed that he was likely Maeda Toshiie. He hadn’t expected to encounter the future “Daimyo of Kaga Hyakuman-goku” so coincidentally. However, Hibitsu Village was originally the territory of the Aragiko Maeda Family, so it wasn’t strange to meet him here; it was unexpected yet within reason.
Moreover, since he had transmigrated to this era, dealing with these feudal samurai was unavoidable. He was mentally prepared, and this was just a little earlier than expected. He was confident and completely unconcerned.
In any case, he would cure the person first!
