The woman tried to scream, but the sight of the foul socks in the mouths of those men made her swallow her voice again, and at that moment, those men were already rolling their eyes from the stench of the socks.
Gu Yao watched with disgust, feeling the stench from afar; how much worse would it be to have the socks in one’s mouth? He resolved to never offend this young girl in the future.
Yang Ruxin rolled up her undershirt and stuffed it into the mouth of one of the subdued men, "This should smell nice, right?"
That man couldn’t help but roll his eyes too. Did this woman not bathe for days? Her undershirt was soaked with sweat mixed with the scent of rouge, which was even worse than the socks.
Yang Ruxin, having achieved her goal, ignored those men and went inside the house. After searching and finding no one else, and noticing there wasn’t much in the house, she discovered thirty taels of chopped silver and a letter in a box. Deeming them illicit gains, she quietly confiscated everything.
When she came out of the house, she saw Dabao carrying a little girl, who was barely breathing, out of the woodshed in the backyard with great difficulty.
"Is this your sister?" Yang Ruxin’s brows furrowed. To think that they had put the little girl in the woodshed?
Tears streamed down Dabao’s face, "My sister has had a fever for three days now..."
Yang Ruxin quickly took the little girl into her arms, feeling her burning temperature, and seeing that she appeared to be unconscious, she ran out, instructing Gu Yao as she did so, "I’ll leave this to you. I’m taking the child to the clinic..." The little girl’s whole body was scorching hot, as if on fire; any later, and she might have been burned stupid.
"Don’t worry, I won’t let these scum off lightly," Gu Yao responded. Dealing with these people was easy for him, but the person behind them might be more troublesome. He’d need to discuss with his older brother later and seek the assistance of the Qi family.
Dabao looked gratefully at Gu Yao but had no time to say anything, rushing to follow Yang Ruxin.
Doctor Wang from Hechun Hall was very familiar with Yang Ruxin. Seeing her rushing in, he didn’t ask any questions and immediately started treating her. The little girl had a fever for too long which had developed into pneumonia; they had to administer injections to control her temperature first.
"Doctor Wang, please make sure she gets the treatment she needs. Don’t worry about the silver..." Yang Ruxin pleaded, urgent.
"Rest assured, I’ll do my best," Doctor Wang nodded and then directed his apprentices to prepare the sick room and brew medicine.
Yang Ruxin nodded; she had faith in Doctor Wang’s medical skills, having heard his ancestors had served as Imperial Physicians.
The medicine was quickly prepared, and Yang Ruxin helped feed it to the little girl.
"Grandfather Doctor, my sister... she will be okay, right?" Dabao had been watching the bustle without interrupting, but now that his sister had taken her medicine and was asleep, he approached.
"If she had been brought in half a day later, she might have ended up burned silly..." Doctor Wang sighed.
"So..." The little fellow’s tears started falling once more.
"There, there, don’t worry," Yang Ruxin, feeling for the child, hurried to intervene. "It’s timely now; your sister will be fine..."
"Really?" Dabao quickly wiped away his tears.
"Of course, it’s true. Why would I lie to you?" Yang Ruxin patted Dabao’s head. "Come on now, a man of courage must not cry so easily."