Chapter 13

I’m not Hungry

Lu Jiao chased Lady Tian all the way to the gate, “Mom, eat something before you leave.”

Lady Tian didn’t pause and continued to walk forward in giant leaps as if terrified that Lu Jiao would chase after her.

Behind her, Lu Jiao’s eyes were wet. Lady Tian truly loved her daughter and her maternal love was so intense.

Lu Jiao knew that Lady Tian lied when she said she had stuff to do at home. At least, she knew there was enough time to have a meal together. The reason she wanted to leave so soon was because she wanted to save Lu Jiao’s food for Lu Jiao’s family.

The more Lu Jiao thought about it, the sadder she got. Soon, tears started to roll down her cheeks.

Outside the trellis, the quadruplets watched the woman cry. They were unbelievably shocked that this evil woman knew how to cry.

The smallest of the four, the Fourth Born, carefully walked over and extended his hand to touch Lu Jiao’s.

Lu Jiao lowered her gaze and saw the skinny little man peer up at her. He was so astonishingly cute. When he realized that she saw him, he quickly retreated his hand. When Lu Jiao looked back up, he poked at her again.

Thanks to his silliness, Lu Jiao didn’t feel sad anymore. Since Lady Tian was so nice to her, she will repay the favor in the future. Ah no, she had to make money fast and return that five taels of silver. Or else it will be difficult for Lady Tian to explain this to the Lu family.

Lu Jiao thought of the herbs she had in her space. The ginseng and the ganoderma grew rather successfully. One of the ginseng was a century-old while the other was 50 years old. Out of all the ganoderma, the oldest was 50 years old.

Tomorrow, she will go into the mountains and pretend that she found two bunches of ganoderma. She’ll sell one of them to Baohe Tang and use the other on Xie Yunjin. Xie Yunjin’s current prescription lacked medicine that nourished the body.

His prescription asked for a medicinal herb that could help circulate the blood and treat infections. A good medicinal herb with such effects would cost them at least five taels of silver per portion.

That prescription didn’t even include ginseng, ganoderma, or other rarer medicinal herbs.

Before, Xie Erzhu was right to say that he had been buying the most basic and common medicine. Xie Yunjin would need to take those for a very long time in order to see any effects.

As Lu Jiao thought about it, she picked up the Fourth Born. Fourth Born’s boney body instantly tensed up.

Behind them, the First, Second, and Third Born all fixated their gazes on her, afraid that she would hit the Fourth Born.

Lu Jiao ignored them and turned to walk back into the courtyard.

She originally wanted to wash some clothes. But it was late now so she decided to cook first. After they ate, she could do the laundry.

Lunch was rice, fried eggs with green onions, leafy greens, and mushrooms.

The rice was cooked using what Lady Tian had given them before. There wasn’t much to begin with and after she fed it to the family twice, there wasn’t much left. In the end, Lu Jiao cooked all of it.

When she goes into town to sell the herbs, she’ll buy some more rice and flour. It wasn’t good for the kids to eat too much brown rice.

Since brown rice was not peeled, it had a hard texture. The rice must be soaked in water for two to three hours before it was cooked. If the rice was not soaked, it would be too hard to eat.

Lu Jiao finished cooking and saw that Xie Erzhu was nowhere in sight.

She checked the time and decided Xie Erzhu likely would not come. So today, it was her turn to feed Xie Yunjin his lunch.

Lu Jiao thought about it and decided it was no big deal. It was just feeding a patient. As a military doctor, it was more than normal for her to take care of the wounded…

Lu Jiao went to the east bedroom and found Xie Yunjin to be asleep. He was greatly injured and didn’t rest last night. At this point, he looked really ill and his face was extremely pale.

If she didn’t use the stream water to condition his body, he may never awaken.

His poor recovery was also due to the lack of good medicine. Though very injured, he could only afford the cheapest medicine and that was why he was barely healed.

Even the cheapest medicine cost one to two taels of silver. This proved just how valuable medicinal ingredients were in historic times.

Since Xie Yunjin was asleep, Lu Jiao left the room. However, the four little ones didn’t leave the doorway. She couldn’t help but call out to them, “Your daddy is asleep. Let’s go eat something first. Once he’s awake, I will feed him.”

The four little ones didn’t move and reacted as if they didn’t trust her. Lu Jiao raised an eyebrow and threatened, “Let me tell you something – from today on, your grandma will no longer let your second uncle come over to look after your dad. So you can only count on me to take care of him. If you don’t listen to me and behave, I won’t take care of your dad.”

The four little ones exchanged glances. They only now realized that their second uncle didn’t show up today at noon.

The First Born was the first to walk towards Lu Jiao and stare at her, “We will listen to you. We won’t run away if you hit us, or curse at us. In return, you take care of daddy.”

The other three little ones followed with much docility, “We will listen to you. Don’t just leave daddy there.”

Lu Jiao nodded in satisfaction. It was a rare peaceful moment between the boys and their mother.

Though the four little ones only went to the kitchen for lunch after Lu Jiao threatened them. However, the sight of white rice and eggs widened their eyes.

White rice and eggs were valuable on their own. Lu Jiao’s great cooking skills made this food taste even more delicious.

The quadruplets grinned ear to ear as they ate. The four little ones were cute like four puppies. Lu Jiao stared at them and didn’t want to give up these four cuties to Xie Yunjin anymore.

But these four didn’t like her much. So she gave up on that thought.

After lunch, Lu Jiao washed the clothes while she told the four little ones to take their afternoon nap. However, these four little ones were stubborn and stayed awake in order to protect Xie Yunjin.

The second Xie Yunjin woke up, Second Born rushed out to call Lu Jiao, “Daddy is awake. He is awake.”

Lu Jiao put the last shirt out to dry and headed to the east bedroom.

On the bed, Xie Yunjin really was awake and chatted with the four little ones. When Lu Jiao walked in, he paused before he continued, “Go to sleep. I will be okay.”

First Born said with a stern face, “Daddy, you haven’t eaten. You can’t heal without eating.”

He then turned his head to peer at Lu Jiao. Lu Jiao instantly opened her mouth, “I will go get some rice and veggies and feed you.”

She was in a rush today and didn’t get to make chicken soup.

Lu Jiao was about to head out when Xie Yunjin said, “Don’t. I’m not hungry.”

Lu Jiao stopped and looked back to find the man did not look at her. Instead, his eyes were half-closed as if he wanted to rest more.

She thought that he acted this way because he hadn’t gotten enough sleep. Therefore, she didn’t think much of it, “Alright, then you sleep a little longer.”

She then asked the four little beans to accompany their dad and nap with him.

The four little ones wanted to speak but Xie Yunjin gently comforted them, “Enough now. Go to sleep. I am not hungry right now. When I get hungry, I will eat.”

The four little ones nodded and fell asleep soon after they closed their eyes.

Lu Jiao looked over to Xie Yunjin and said, “Keep an eye on them. I am going up to the mountain. We are out of firewood so I will pick some up. Plus, I will try to see if I can find some things to eat up there.”

There wasn’t much housework left here so she had the time to make a trip up the mountain. She’ll use this opportunity to take the two bunches of herbs from her space. But, it was true that they were almost out of firewood and she needed to fetch some.

The original host had used chopped-up old tables and chairs as firewood. By now, there wasn’t much furniture left in the house to burn.