Chapter 65 - 36: Jing 7’s Medicine, You Give It to Brother 4 to Drink
Qin Mei gritted her teeth and yelled defiantly at Jie Jingchen’s back. "Fine, I’ll ask! You think I’d be too embarrassed?"
’Asking her father-in-law for an allowance... she really was too embarrassed. Elders were supposed to give pocket money to the younger generation on their own accord. What kind of person asks for it? She wasn’t a child anymore.’
"Fourth Sister-in-law, are you short on cash?" Jie Jingshan asked curiously.
"I am, of course I am," Qin Mei nodded.
"Fourth Brother has money," Jie Jingshan said with certainty.
"Hmph!" Qin Mei grumbled. "I know he has money. The key is, he’s too stingy to give me any."
They say the way to test if a man loves you is to see if he’s willing to spend money on you. Qin Mei had forgotten that just yesterday, Jie Jingchen had taken her to a department store and even bought her quite a few things.
"Fourth Sister-in-law, I have money. If you push me back to my room, I’ll get it for you," Jie Jingshan offered generously.
Qin Mei was deeply touched, but she couldn’t possibly take Jing Qi’s money. "Jing Qi, a person of principle earns their money the right way. I won’t take yours. I’m going to go brew your medicine."
Qin Mei got up and went back to her room. She put the envelope in a cabinet and took three packets of medicine to the kitchen.
Jing Qi had received traditional Chinese medicine treatments before, so the kitchen had clay pots for medicine and a small stove specifically for brewing it. Qin Mei didn’t know how to light the fire. Before she could ask Jie Jingchen for help, Jie Jingjue’s voice rang out.
"Fourth Sister-in-law, what can I do to help?" After dropping Jie You off at school, Jie Jingjue hadn’t lingered and had returned home immediately.
Xu Chunyan’s facial injury was quite serious, and she hadn’t returned from the hospital. Second Brother had taken time off to look after her there, so the task of taking care of Jie You had fallen to him.
"Don’t you have work?" Qin Mei asked.
"Work is important, but treating Jing Qi’s leg is more important. I took a few days off." Jie Jingjue came into the kitchen and saw that Jie Jingchen was also there. He said to him, "Fourth Brother, you’re injured. Go back to your room and lie down. Don’t worry, I’ve got this."
Jie Jingchen didn’t leave the kitchen. He ignored him and stood to the side, waiting for Qin Mei to assign him a task.
"Do you know how to brew medicine?" Qin Mei asked Jie Jingjue.
"Of course! I used to brew all of Jing Qi’s medicine," Jie Jingjue said proudly. Brewing medicine was second nature to him.
"Alright then. You can brew these two packets," Qin Mei said, handing the medicine to Jie Jingjue.
"Okay." Jie Jingjue took them, washed a clay pot, and poured one packet of herbs inside. Then he washed another clay pot but didn’t rush to light the fire, instead letting the herbs soak for half an hour.
Seeing his practiced movements, Qin Mei felt at ease entrusting the task of brewing the medicine to him.
Qin Mei poured the last packet of herbs into a large pot, filled it with water, and had Jie Jingchen light the fire.
"Is she having another herbal bath?" Jie Jingjue asked. When he saw Qin Mei nod, he became incredibly excited. His intuition told him that Qin Mei could really heal Jing Qi’s leg. "Fourth Sister-in-law."
"Control your emotions. I don’t want to deal with your tears and snot," Qin Mei said, immediately jumping back a step when she saw Jie Jingjue about to lunge at her. She stared at him with a wary expression.
’When this guy had an emotional outburst, she couldn’t handle it. A twenty-two-year-old man who could cry on par with any little girl.’
"Fourth Brother, Fourth Sister-in-law is disgusted with me," Jie Jingjue said to Jie Jingchen, his face crumpled as if about to cry.
"I’m disgusted with you, too," Jie Jingchen replied, offering him no sympathy whatsoever.
「One hour later.」
Jie Jingjue poured the last bucket of medicinal liquid into the large wooden tub used for Jing Qi’s baths.
"Fourth Sister-in-law, call me if you need anything," Jie Jingjue said to Qin Mei. Only after she nodded did he leave the room.
Qin Mei struggled a bit to help Jing Qi into the large wooden tub. She didn’t leave, but instead stood watch. If she left and something happened to Jing Qi—if she drowned in the tub—then Qin Mei would be to blame.
In the courtyard, Jie Jingchen and Jie Jingjue sat under a tree, their gazes fixed on the door to Jing Qi’s room. They were her older brothers. If they had been her older sisters, or if Jing Qi had been a boy, they would certainly be in the room with her right now.
It wasn’t the first time Jing Qi had taken an herbal bath, but it was the first time they had been this nervous.
"Fourth Brother, do you think Fourth Sister-in-law can really heal Jing Qi’s leg?" Jie Jingjue couldn’t help but ask Jie Jingchen, who was beside him.
"If she says she can, she can," Jie Jingchen said with conviction. Thinking of Qin Mei’s promise, however, made his heart ache with a bittersweet feeling.
Jie Jingjue breathed a sigh of relief, then asked curiously, "Fourth Brother, is Fourth Sister-in-law’s family from a long line of traditional Chinese medicine doctors?"
’A long line of doctors?’ Jie Jingchen’s eyes flickered. If Qin Xiang hadn’t lied to him, the Qin family had nothing to do with medicine.
"No," Jie Jingchen said, looking up and rubbing the bridge of his nose.
"Then who did Fourth Sister-in-law learn her medical skills from?" Jie Jingjue asked.
"Her older sister," Jie Jingchen answered. It wasn’t something he made up; it was what Qin Mei had told him herself.
"What?" Jie Jingjue shot to his feet, his composure gone. "Her older sister is just a barefoot doctor! Her skills aren’t even as good as Mom’s. Even Mom couldn’t do anything about Jing Qi’s leg. How could a student taught by her older sister possibly heal it?"