Xie Yunjin nodded. There was now much less coldness on his face. His entire persona appeared gentler and softer. He was born handsome, and now with warmth around his eyes, he was truly enjoyable to look at.

Despite his good looks, Lady Tian and Lu Gui found him too scary to get close to.

Lu Jiao had no idea why they were so afraid.

After breakfast, Lady Tian helped heat up Xie Yunjin’s medicine.

Lu Jiao planned to bring the four kids to the Village Leader’s place to look for Uncle Youcai.

However, the mother and her children didn’t even get to leave their gate when a horse carriage arrived. Behind the horse carriage was a crowd of people.

Lu Jiao remembered what happened yesterday and her temples pulsed. Who was it now? Xie Yunjin’s classmates again?

The man who stepped out of the carriage wasn’t Xie Yunjin’s classmate – it was Doctor Qi from Baohe Tang.

Other than Doctor Qi, there was also Xie Duojin. Though Xie Duojin hasn’t fully healed, he could already walk with someone’s help. The darkness on his skin had faded enough that nobody could tell he was bitten by a snake.

The sight of Xu Duojin triggered lots of discussions.

“I heard Duojin was bitten by a snake?”

“I heard that too. But he looks fine right now?”

“I heard that many people become disabled due to snake poison. Even those who don’t end up losing hair or teeth.”

Everyone gossiped while Xie Duojin and his family went up to Lu Jiao.

Xue Duojin’s wife, Zhang Zhaodi, supported him as he walked. She bowed towards Lu Jiao, “Thank you Yunjin’s wife for helping my husband with the ringneck snake venom.”

Many others started to thank Lu Jiao as well.

Lu Jiao brandished his hand, “I’m glad you are okay. Go home and rest. I’m sure the poison hasn’t been fully expelled. If you take your medicine as instructed, I think it’ll only take you another three days to heal up.”

Xu Duojin thanked her again. Then, he waved at his wife, Zhang Zhaodi. Zhang Zhaodi took out some silver, around five to six taels, and shoved it into Lu Jiao’s hand.

Lu Jiao declined, “I don’t want money. I only did what was right.”

She didn’t want money because Xu Duojin was one of the villagers and her neighbors. Plus, he was so poor. She was certain that the money here was all his savings and there was no way she would take that. She wasn’t in desperate need of money right now. She had more than 100 taels of silver from her ganoderma and Xie Yunjin just gave her another 150 taels.

Ah right, Doctor Qi also said he would compensate her for sharing her prescription.

Lu Jiao’s gaze landed on the soft-spoken Doctor Qi.

Doctor Qi responded with a smile.

Xu Duojin listened to Lu Jiao but didn’t take back the silver. He tried to convince her, “Use this money to help brother Yunjin. Once you get more money, you can return it to me.”

Lu Jiao shook her head, “I can make my own money. If I run out, I will go borrow some from you. How about that?”

The Xu family took back the silver then. Zhang Zhaodi helped Xu Duojin walk home.

Outside the trellis, many villagers greeted the Xu family. A portion of the crowd went to the Xu family while the rest remained outside Lu Jiao’s house. They all spoke about Lu Jiao, surprised.

Lu Jiao knew how to cure snake venom? Ringneck snake at that.

Someone remembered how Lu Jiao helped Xie Xiaobao with the fishbone that was stuck in his throat. Back then, she easily took out the fishbone for him.

So it appeared that Yunjin’s wife knew medicine and was a doctor.

Qi Lei ignored the villagers and continued to talk to Lu Jiao, “Ms. Lu, can we talk?”

Lu Jiao invited Qi Lei into her home. The villagers knew this young man was a doctor from Baohe Tang and thought Lu Jiao invited him in to check out Xie Yunjin. They all stood outside to watch the show.

Qi Lei said to Lu Jiao as they walked inside, “Last time, you mentioned that there are many types of snake venom.”

Lu Jiao nodded.

Qi Lei then genuinely requested, “I want to buy more prescriptions from you. I wonder if that’s okay? Ms. Lu, rest assured, I’m not buying the right to your prescriptions. You can of course continue to use them. I just want to be able to use them as well.”

“Sure, I can give you three different prescriptions.”

“Then, how about I give you 300 taels of silver for those?”

Lu Jiao agreed. Why would she say no to money that was already on her door? That would earn her a lightning strike!

Plus, these prescriptions could help save lives. Even if she wasn’t getting paid for them, she would let Doctor Qi use them. But, since he offered money, she wasn’t going to say no.

Lu Jiao smiled, “Of course. Doctor Qi, come on in.”

Since the paper and brushes were in the east bedroom, Lu Jiao invited him into the east bedroom.

The moment they walked in, Xie Yunjin’s cold voice arose, “Who is this?”

Lu Jiao walked to the bed and explained, “This is Doctor Qi from Baohe Tang. He wants to buy my prescriptions so I brought him in here.”

“Oh.”

Xie Yunjin checked out Qi Lei. This doctor sure was young and appeared kind. His face radiated with happiness and friendliness.

Though friendly, Xie Yunjin didn’t care for him at all. So, coldly, he muttered.

“Okay.”

Lu Jiao’s lips twitched. Would saying more words kill him?

If it weren’t for the people around, she would’ve rolled her eyes at him

Inside the room, Qi Lei stared at Xie Yunjin in shock.

He had asked Ling Feng to look into Lu Jiao’s background and therefore knew she had a husband who was bedridden. He also knew her husband was a scholar.

However, he never expected her husband to be so handsome. Though bedridden, he remained graceful. He leaned against the headboard and his black hair draped around his shoulders. His features were exquisite and his eyes almost appeared painted.

However, the look in his eyes was rather sharp, which made it impossible for people to undermine him.

If this man wasn’t injured so gravely, he could’ve gone far.

Qi Lei pitied him.

Lu Jiao had retrieved some paper, ink, and brushes. She placed them on the small broken table and said to Qi Lei.

“I’ll talk, you write.”

Qi Lei was in shock and thought he heard wrong, “I write?”

On the bed, Xie Yunjin shifted his gaze to Lu Jiao and his lips curled up sarcastically, obviously laughing at her.

Lu Jiao was terrified that he would sell her out and let everyone know that she couldn’t read. She glared at Xie Yunjin and then said to Qi Lei, “I’ll tell you the ingredients, you can write them down.”

Qi Lei no longer doubted his hearing and responded, “Okay.”

He sat down on the little chair made out of rock and started to write.

Lu Jiao first introduced to him the different types of poison, “You need to first identify the type of snake poison. For example, coral snake, ringneck snake, and many banded krait venoms are neurotoxic. Those bitten would experience severe neurological symptoms that you will need to counter with a heavy load of scorpions and centipedes.

Gloydius and cobras venoms are cytotoxic. Those bitten may quickly develop infections that can eventually evolve into worse diseases.

Rattlesnake, vipers, and copperhead venoms are considered hemotoxic. Those bitten get disoriented and have severe nausea .”