Chapter 1080 - 1082: To Save or Not to Save? _1
Having understood this, Bai Ruozhu no longer felt so panicked. As for Zhou Jue’s main purpose in capturing her, it was certainly because of the cowpox she had once mentioned.
She was actually very curious about how far Zhou Jue had progressed with the cowpox vaccine development. If Zhou Jue would just have a proper discussion with her, she might have been willing to offer some guidance. After all, it was a matter that would benefit the people of this era. As a doctor, Bai Ruozhu did possess some benevolence.
However, she was also puzzled. Why didn’t Zhou Jue just capture her secretly? Why did he have to make such a public scene, which would make any future actions easily suspect?
Perhaps he just happened to come across her and then capriciously caused a fuss?
As Bai Ruozhu pondered in the spatial hot spring, she failed to notice a faint black line extending from a vein on her injured right wrist. The line was hidden just under the skin and was very faint; if one did not look closely, it would be imperceptible, and at this moment, Bai Ruozhu was not paying any attention to it.
After soaking for a long time, Bai Ruozhu took her hands out of the hot spring and checked the wound, which had almost completely healed. She nodded in satisfaction; it would be too miraculous to be completely healed at once. As long as it didn’t affect her acupuncture, it was fine.
She climbed out of the pond, dried off her body, and got dressed again. Then she took the bandage with a bit of blood on it and rewrapped her hand.
"Eh, what is this..." Bai Ruozhu finished wrapping her hand and then noticed the black line on her wrist. She examined it closely for a long time and took her own pulse. Soon, her face revealed an expression that was both shocked and delighted.
What shocked her was that although Chu Hai’s poison seemed to have no effect, she had still been poisoned without realizing it. The poison had an incubation period, which probably even Chu Hai himself did not know, so she did not detect her own poisoning.
What delighted her was that the water from the spatial hot spring had a suppressive effect on Chu Hai’s poison. It was also because of this that the poison had become manifest, revealing the black line, and the poison had been partially neutralized. Therefore, the black line she saw was quite blurred.
With this realization, Bai Ruozhu quickly found a bowl, scooped up some water from the spatial hot spring, hurried out of the space, and returned to Chu Hai’s room.
"Sister Ruozhu, you should be resting properly!" Seeing her wrapped hand, Diao Yao’s tone carried a reprimand, but her face was full of guilt, "If there’s something you need, just ask me to do it."
Bai Ruozhu smiled at her, "It’s okay, I just thought of a few medicinal materials that could improve the effect."
As she spoke, she carried the bowl into Chu Hai’s room and directly poured the water into the bath barrel where Chu Hai was soaking.
"This is great, now Brother Han can recover more quickly," Diao Yao said happily.
Bai Ruozhu did not pay attention to her, but instead stared intently at the situation in the bath barrel. There was no change after pouring the bowl of water in. Bai Ruozhu quickly took Chu Hai’s pulse and found that his condition remained unchanged.
But she soon thought that even she had to soak for a long time before it took effect, so they would have to wait longer.
Unfortunately, Bai Ruozhu watched over it for four hours, yet there was no change in Chu Hai’s condition.
Feeling somewhat disappointed, she left Chu Hai’s yard, thinking that perhaps the treatment would only work if she soaked in the hot spring inside her space. Could it be that the detoxifying element wasn’t the water, but the soil of that space itself?
Xiaosi had already told Bai Yihong and Lin Ping’er about the day’s events. When the family saw Bai Ruozhu appearing distraught, they all thought the odds were against Chu Hai, and Lin Ping’er even started to cry, muttering, "Although those two children aren’t our relatives, we’ve become attached to them after spending so much time together, and we all hope that Chu Hai will recover soon."
Hearing this, Bai Ruozhu felt even more distressed. Even her parents, who had had less interaction with Chu Hai, treated him as someone close to them. Was she being too cold?
Should she really refrain from using the Space to help Chu Hai?
She was confident that if she used the Spatial Hot Spring, she could detoxify Chu Hai within half a month, but...
Due to the unexpected incident, the mood at home had turned somewhat somber, and Xiaosi felt especially remorseful. Elder Xuan Jizi noticed the atmosphere was off as soon as he returned and, after learning about the situation, realized he couldn’t be of any help. The Huashan Sect wasn’t known for its medical skills, and Xuan Jizi had even less understanding of medicine.
However, Xuan Jizi did say to Bai Ruozhu, "Since I am staying here, I will certainly do my part. Even if that Chengshui Crown Prince is formidable, if he tries to launch a sneak attack, he likely won’t gain any advantage."
"I thank the elder in advance. I think he wouldn’t dare to make a move knowing that you are staying with the Bai family," Bai Ruozhu said gratefully as she bowed to Xuan Jizi.
The night passed without further incident. The next day, Lady Bo suddenly arrived with Bo Caiyue, bringing many gifts to thank the Bai family.
"You’re being so formal, it’s like you don’t consider us relatives," Lin Ping’er said, looking at the piles of gifts with slight reproach.
Lady Bo took her hand and said, "These are all from the storeroom of our residence, and many are medicinal materials we don’t even know how to use. It would be better to give them to Ruozhu so that they can be put to good use."
Bai Ruozhu smelled the strong scent of the herbs and was naturally willing to accept them; among them could be the rare medicinal materials she had been unable to find.
Seeing that her daughter did not object, Lin Ping’er felt it would be impolite to be too formal, so she inquired about Bo Qun’s wellbeing. Later on, she wanted to ask about Old Master Bo’s health and was about to say "How is Uncle doing now," when she suddenly felt it wasn’t appropriate and changed her term to "Old Master Bo."
"The Old Master is in good health. It was good that he was put to sleep that day; it prevented him from becoming too agitated and hurting himself. These past few days, since the Marquis has been able to sit up, the Old Master has been eating an extra half bowl of food," said Lady Bo with a smile. She looked at Lin Ping’er and then at Bai Ruozhu, adding, "Even if we’re not relatives, we hope you’ll consider us friends, and not grow distant."
"Actually, I think it’s quite nice," Bai Ruozhu said with a smile, "My mother and Lady Bo can call each other sisters, and I don’t have to call the Second Miss ’Aunt’. Honestly, I would find it hard to say."
Her words made everyone in the room laugh. Lady Bo, holding Lin Ping’er’s hand, said, "Ruozhu is right. From now on, I’ll call you sister."
Lin Ping’er was a straightforward person and responded immediately. Bo Caiyue, with a blushing face, also called Bai Ruozhu "Sister."
After the two families chatted for a while, Lady Bo hesitantly said, "The Old Master wants to help Bai Yibo get an early release from his post on the frontier. Bai Fu hasn’t been eating or drinking these days, and he’s become terribly thin. He says that Bai Yibo is his only son and hopes that his son will be there to see him off when he passes away. The old man’s heart has finally softened."
"Aunt, don’t worry about us. We won’t oppose this matter. They raised my father, which is also a kind of grace. We can’t help with this, but let’s support with two hundred silver pieces. I suspect smoothing things over will require some expenses," Bai Ruozhu said, having discussed this with Lin Ping’er beforehand, and naturally, Lin Ping’er did not object.
Lady Bo looked at the two of them in surprise, "So, that Bai Yibo is really coming back?"