Abandoned Woman Busy Farming
Chapter 840 - 842: Who Decided That I Must Treat People?_1

Chapter 840: Chapter 842: Who Decided That I Must Treat People?_1

Bai Ruozhu involuntarily shivered, unsure whether the person had been bitten by a water snake while on the small boat, or by a venomous snake onboard another large ship. She had heard that water snakes were rarely poisonous and even if they were, their venom was mild. Could it be that there was a poisonous snake on the other ship? Had it accidentally made its way on board, or had someone placed it there deliberately? And how many could there be?

Could there be a poisonous snake on the ship they were on?

Bai Ruozhu couldn’t help but shiver again, holding Dengdeng tighter in her arms. Women usually felt a deep fear of such limbless creatures, and Bai Ruozhu was no exception.

Jiang Yichun clearly sensed Bai Ruozhu’s fear and stepped in front of her, asking, "Was it a water snake that bit him while he was on the small boat, or was he bitten on that large ship? What kind of snake was it?"

"Reporting to the official, we didn’t see the snake. It was on the way over on the small boat that he suddenly fainted. We noticed his lips turning blue and on checking, discovered a snake bite on his ankle," a soldier replied.

"Quickly bring the man up; if we don’t treat him promptly, he may be in danger of losing his life," Bai Ruozhu hurriedly said upon hearing the victim’s lips had turned blue, indicating severe poisoning.

Someone immediately went to help, and soon they carried the poisoned man onto the deck.

The man had already passed out, and his leg had been tied with a hemp rope to stop the spread of the poison; the treatment seemed timely.

She quickly administered a needle to control the poison and then fed him a pill with detoxifying properties before lifting his pant leg to extract the poison from the wound.

"My lord, let me do it," Jianqi quickly stepped forward, taking over the man’s leg and started to squeeze.

Jiang Yichun gave Chenfeng and Muyu a glare as if to say, look at how clueless you two are. Chenfeng and Muyu both shrank their necks; they didn’t dare to act recklessly in front of their master, but apparently, not acting at all also seemed wrong.

The drug temporarily controlled the poison, and the poison in the wound had been squeezed out, causing the man’s complexion to look much better, though he remained unconscious.

"I’ll prepare a detoxifying prescription for him. After taking it for three consecutive days, he should be fine," Bai Ruozhu said.

"Is it possible to know what kind of snake bit him?" Jiang Yichun asked.

Bai Ruozhu shook her head, "I’m not knowledgeable about snakes." She’d be surprised if she was.

"Send someone to search both ships, and leave no corner unchecked," Jiang Yichun ordered.

Carrying Dengdeng, Bai Ruozhu, accompanied by Tu Ying, went to prepare the medicine. If there were snakes on the ship, the most at risk were the children. Adults must accompany their children at all times and must never leave them alone.

Soon, a search was underway for the poisonous snakes on both ships, but even until evening, no clue was found. There was no evidence to suggest that a snake had been there at all.

"Snakes are creatures without knowledge to destroy the traces they leave behind. How could there not be a single trace?" Bai Ruozhu said to Jiang Yichun while sitting next to the sleeping Dengdeng, once there was no one around in the evening. "Unless someone has been secretly keeping it and has intentionally helped to hide its traces."

"Is there a way to find out who it could be?" Jiang Yichun asked.

After thinking for a moment, Bai Ruozhu said, "Let’s start by spreading Snake-repelling Powder on both ships."

The next day, they started sprinkling snake-repelling powder on the boat. If it wasn’t a man-made incident, the snakes were very vigilant and might not appear until the boat reached the shore. But if it was man-made, it couldn’t be certain. With over two hundred people traveling together, it was really too difficult to check each one thoroughly.

Of course, the next day Dang Youshen fell ill, but it wasn’t a serious illness, just a sore throat and eyes. Too proud to ask for help and particularly resentful of Bai Ruozhu, he flatly refused to seek her assistance.

"Dang, you’d better not catch a cold. Why not let Lady Jiang take a look? Apologize for your earlier rudeness, and that’s it. She’s not a petty person," Liu Jianzhou, who shared a room with Dang Youshen, advised him in private.

Dang Youshen gave him an unhappy look. What did it mean "she’s not a petty person," and what did he do that was "out of line"? Liu Jianzhou was too quick to turn his coat.

"No need, it’s just a little heatiness. I’ll be fine once I drink some tea," Dang Youshen said unhappily.

Liu Jianzhou curled his lip, for after what had happened last time, he wouldn’t blindly follow Dang Youshen anymore. He advised Dang now only to spare himself any trouble if Dang’s sickness got worse.

Two days after the snake-repelling powder had been spread, nothing else had happened. Bai Ruozhu and Jiang Yichun both sighed in relief but did not dare to relax completely. That’s when someone came looking for them.

Fearing Bai Ruozhu would reject him, Dang Youshen waited specifically for her to bring the child to the deck before he approached her, not believing that she would dare refuse to prescribe him medicine in front of everyone.

Regrettably, he underestimated Bai Ruozhu.

"I’m sorry, Young Master Dang, you’re just a little overheated. I don’t believe you don’t have any fire-reducing teas or medicine with you. You probably don’t need my help at all," Bai Ruozhu flatly refused him, and she did so in front of many soldiers on the deck.

Dang Youshen cursed her as foolish in his mind but put on a pitiful face and said hoarsely, "I acknowledge that I’ve offended Lady Jiang before. I was young and impulsive, please do not stoop to my level."

Bai Ruozhu laughed, "Young and impulsive? You look much older than me, at least, and should be older by quite a few years. It seems to me that I should be the one who is young and impulsive. I’ve already said it’s your overheated heart. You have to let go of things in your heart, and even if I prescribed medication, it would be useless. Heart diseases must be treated with heart medicine, after all."

"Is Lady Jiang holding a grudge because of what I said before? How can you be so petty as a doctor? Besides, aren’t you here to escort our Beiyu Study Palace’s delegation? If we fall ill, shouldn’t you treat us?" Dang Youshen struggled to get these words out; his throat hurt so much that his voice was as grating as a dull knife sawing wood.

Bai Ruozhu raised her eyebrows, played with the child in her arms, and then said leisurely, "Who said I was a doctor? I’m not part of the Northwest Main Camp, just a family member accompanying the army. Who decreed that I must treat people?"

At that moment, a soldier nearby became anxious upon hearing her, "My Lady, please don’t bother with this lad. You mustn’t neglect us because of him."

Others also echoed, "That’s right, my Lady. Such a young master, who brought his own medicine, still troubling you. Who knows what he’s really up to?"

Bai Ruozhu smiled and said, "Yes, indeed, the Dang family has quite a background. If Young Master Dang took my medicine and something went wrong, I would be in trouble. I can’t afford to get involved in such matters. I’m just a woman; I have no desire to get tangled in your affairs."

Tu Ying also spoke up, "Isn’t it just a sore throat from having too much heat? How could he not carry such common medicine himself? He was so arrogant before, saying Lady Jiang gave the wrong prescription. Now he comes begging, but who knows what he’s really thinking?"

Dang Youshen was so angry he wanted to argue back, but however eloquent he was, his throat hurt so much at this point that he could hardly make a sound, let alone debate with anyone.

Poor him, he hadn’t come to provoke trouble this time; he genuinely wanted medicine but ended up being treated with such disdain. It wasn’t that he hadn’t taken his own medicine, but it just wasn’t helping!