Chapter 4: Identifying Medicinal Herbs
1508 Words
"Xiaolei! Xiaolei! What's wrong?" Situ Yingxiu quickly pushed open the door of Situ Chenlei's cabin and walked to his bedside.
Situ Chenlei was sitting on the bed, hugging his bent legs and burying his head deeply in his knees.
One maid was crouching on the ground picking up the fragments of a white porcelain bowl, and the other was half-kneeling by the bedside, speaking to Situ Chenlei: "Eldest Young Master, did you hurt your hand? Let this servant take a look. This servant will bandage it for you..."
"Xiaolei." Situ Yingxiu sat down by the bedside and called softly. Her voice was beautiful and as smooth and pleasant as silk.
Situ Chenlei suddenly raised his head. "Jie... Jie..." He released his arms and crawled towards Situ Yingxiu in a flurry. He sat down beside her and hugged her arm tightly. "Jie... Jie..."
He called out repeatedly without getting tired.
When Situ Chenlei was four or five years old, he could still only say the word "Jie Jie" (elder sister). He couldn't recognize characters, couldn't dress himself, and couldn't even eat by himself. The people of the Situ family were completely disappointed in him.
"... What a pity. It turns out he's a fool."
"Yes, sigh. Madam Shen came from a scholarly family. How many scholars who passed the imperial examinations, top scholars, second-place scholars, and third-place scholars have come out of the Shen family. The children born to the girls of the Shen family are all smart and clever. Why did the Madam Shen who married into our Situ family give birth to a fool?"
"Hehe, maybe the Shen family knew there was something wrong with this girl of theirs, so they married her into the Situ family. Think about it. The Shen family has been a scholarly family for generations, and there are so many people in the court who are officials. Madam Shen's own father is still the current Grand Chancellor! — And the Situ family? Just a small merchant family doing business. Among the four social classes of scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants, merchants are ranked the lowest! If there wasn't something wrong with this Madam Shen when she was a girl, how could she have married down to a family like the Situ family?!"
"Yes, although Situ Jianren looks handsome, he has been blind in one eye since childhood and will never be able to enter officialdom. If he hadn't married the legitimate daughter of Grand Chancellor Shen, could his business have grown bigger and bigger! — The largest royal merchant in the Dongyuan Kingdom! Tsk tsk, the Situ family is really lucky..."
Because of her younger brother's illness, the two siblings' mother, Shen Yongjie, was criticized, and even her reputation after death was trampled on.
Situ Yingxiu was only eight or nine years old at that time. When she heard these words, although she was very angry, the upbringing her mother gave her since she was a child made it impossible for her to speak harsh words. She couldn't argue with these people face to face. She could only swallow her anger, take good care of her younger brother, and strive to create a world for her younger brother where he wouldn't be despised or scolded by outsiders, so that her foolish younger brother could live a few good days...
She thought her younger brother was really a fool.
It wasn't until Situ Chenlei was eight years old, when their family was moving from Jiangnan to the capital city, and the two siblings accidentally fell into the water. When she was pushed to the surface of the water by her younger brother with all his might, she suddenly realized: Her younger brother Xiaolei was really not a fool!
Situ Yingxiu turned around and hugged her younger brother's thin shoulders and back tightly, and coaxed him softly: "It's okay, it's okay. It's all right. It's all right. You just broke a bowl, right? It's okay, it's okay. Your sister is here..."
Situ Chenlei's trembling finally stopped. He nestled beside Situ Yingxiu and sobbed occasionally.
Situ Yingxiu turned around and asked the two maids: "What happened? How did the bowl get broken?"
The maid who was picking up the broken porcelain pieces on the ground quickly knelt down and said: "Young Lady, this servant was giving Eldest Young Master ginger soup. Eldest Young Master only took one sip and then pushed it away. This servant didn't hold it firmly, and it fell to the ground. It's this servant's fault. Please punish this servant, Young Lady!"
She didn't shift the blame onto Situ Chenlei just because he couldn't speak. She was really a kind-hearted and good maid.
Situ Yingxiu stared at her and vaguely remembered that this maid seemed to have been sold as soon as they landed in the capital city.
Because Xiaolei died on the way to the capital city, the people around him seemed to have been either sold or dismissed, and none of them were brought to the Situ Residence in the capital city.
Situ Yingxiu was only twelve years old at that time. She blamed herself so much for her younger brother's death that she didn't have the energy to pay attention to the things around her.
She was immersed in her own thoughts. If it weren't for that mysterious master later, she wouldn't have been able to get out of that state...
Situ Yingxiu smiled and stood up, helped the little maid up, and asked the two maids in the room: "What are your names?"
The maid who was picking up the broken porcelain pieces on the ground said: "This servant is called Xiaotao."
The maid who was half-kneeling by the bedside comforting Situ Chenlei said: "This servant is called Xiaoxing."
Situ Yingxiu couldn't help but smile. — The names were quite appropriate. Both peaches and apricots were fruits that Xiaolei liked to eat...
"Xiaotao, go and bring another bowl of ginger soup. I'll feed Xiaolei," Situ Yingxiu ordered.
The little maid Xiaotao was very grateful that Situ Yingxiu didn't punish her and quickly said: "Young Lady, this servant will go right away!" With that, she got up and hurried out of the cabin.
Situ Yingxiu looked around the room and asked the other little maid Xiaoxing: "Where is Nanny Zhao?"
Since Situ Chenlei was born, he had been taken care of by Nanny Zhao. And Nanny Zhao was the wet nurse that their mother had found for Xiaolei when she was alive. Situ Yingxiu trusted her very much.
The other little maid Xiaoxing quickly said: "Nanny Zhao is outside cooking the ginger soup."
Situ Yingxiu nodded, turned around and sat on the bed, stroked Situ Chenlei's little face, and felt it was a bit cold. She smiled and said slowly: "Xiaolei, drink some ginger soup. Your body will get warm, and you won't get sick."
Situ Chenlei stared at her blankly. His eyes were a bit unfocused and dull. — He really wasn't a normal child...
But Situ Yingxiu refused to think of her younger brother as foolish anymore.
A foolish person wouldn't take the initiative to save others, and even less would they, like Xiaolei, take the initiative to leave the hope of survival to others.
"Young Lady, the ginger soup is here." Xiaotao carefully brought in a bowl of ginger soup on a tray.
Situ Yingxiu took the white porcelain bowl, blew on it first, and then habitually took a taste.
This was a habit she developed in her previous life. When she fed medicine to the younger brothers and sisters born to her stepmother, she would always taste it herself to avoid scalding them.
After taking a taste, Situ Yingxiu was stunned.
She frowned slightly and looked down at the white porcelain bowl in her hand.
The ginger soup in the bowl had a dark red color. The smell of ginger was very strong, and a large amount of brown sugar had been added. It was sweet, and the sweetness was so strong that it even covered up two other very faint smells.
Under such a strong taste, an ordinary person simply couldn't taste those two smells, but Situ Yingxiu was different.
Her mysterious master in her previous life only taught her for half a year and mainly taught her two things.
One thing was swimming.
The other thing was identifying medicinal herbs.
Coincidentally, Situ Yingxiu had a particularly sensitive tongue. She could distinguish the tastes that ordinary people couldn't taste.
Her master, who never praised others, still gave her a little praise for this ability, "... Sensitive sense of taste."
She remembered these two tastes.
One was gentian, and the other was bupleurum.
Both gentian and bupleurum were rather bitter, but covered up with a large amount of ginger and brown sugar, an ordinary person simply couldn't taste them.
When gentian and bupleurum were boiled together, if eaten regularly, it would cause the kidney water to sink, harming the foundation of a man. Even an adult man would quickly become too weak to get up.
- Writer
