TATLC Chapter 52

At the Chen household, Chen Xiaocai spoke while puffing his cheeks full of food. “Lin-ge, your family is selling land now, seems like they’re selling two mu of land.”

“Selling land? For the sake of Lu Chengyu, that future high-ranking official, the old man is willing to sacrifice anything,” Lu Lin remarked somewhat sarcastically.

“Selling land!” Chen Xiaomi’s eyes sparkled, as if interested.

Watching Chen Xiaomi’s expression, Lu Lin guessed that Xiaomi wanted to buy the land.

Lu Lin had considered buying land himself, but he wasn’t particularly interested in the Lu family’s property. Buying land there would likely lead to endless entanglements with them.

“How much money does Lu Chengyu’s marriage actually cost?” Chen Xiaomi asked in confusion, biting on his chopsticks.

Lu Lin thought for a moment before answering, “If it were less expensive, they probably wouldn’t need to sell land. They probably need forty or fifty taels.”

Chen Xiaocai looked up and exclaimed, “More than forty taels?” His eyes widened. For someone like Chen Xiaocai who was accustomed to poverty and couldn’t shake that mindset, forty taels was an astronomical figure. “That’s way too much.”

Lu Lin smiled and said, “The Lu family is still rich.”

Chen Xiaomi lay on the bed and commented, “The Lu elders are really good to Lu Chengyu!”

“That’s right,” Lu Lin shook his head. Since he wasn’t the original owner of this body, he didn’t feel much about the Lu elders going to such lengths for Lu Chengyu. If it were the original Lu Lin, he would probably be heartbroken. The second branch of the family had worked tirelessly only to end up with such an outcome.

Back then, the old man would rather send his own son to military service than sell land. Now he was planning to sell two mu of land just because Lu Chengyu wanted to get married.

How dangerous was military service? had preferred to let his son take that risk rather than part with a single coin.

Lu Lin shook off the thought. He wasn’t the original Lu Lin, and the Lu family meant nothing to him.

While the Lu family was busy preparing for the wedding, Chen Xiaomi and Lu Lin still made occasional trips into the mountains.

Lu Lin looked around with interest. Deep in the forest, they occasionally encountered fruit trees Lu Lin hadn’t seen before. Most of the fruits were sour and astringent, which made them difficult to eat, but Lu Lin was still willing to try them. After so many attempts, Lu Lin discovered several good fruit trees.

Chen Xiaomi frowned and said, “Seems like someone’s been here.”

Lu Lin glanced at Chen Xiaomi and asked, “Someone?”

Chen Xiaomi nodded. “Yes, it seems like someone was moving around here just now. How strange.”

“Maybe it’s a hunter from the village,” Lu Lin suggested.

Chen Xiaomi shook his head. “That shouldn’t be the case. Hunters from the village usually don’t go in this deep. Besides, these footprints are fresh. Someone came through here.”

Chen Xiaomi and Lu Lin wandered around the area and suddenly heard crying.

Lu Lin frowned. Hearing crying in the deep forest was really eerie.

Chen Xiaomi looked at Lu Lin’s terrified expression, blinked, and asked with curiosity, “Are you scared?”

Lu Lin smiled awkwardly and said, “Not really.” He was just afraid of encountering ghosts. After transmigrating, Lu Lin became a little more open-minded about supernatural stuff. Seeing his husband’s fearless expression, Lu Lin felt somewhat embarrassed.

“It’s probably mountain dwellers. Something must’ve happened to force them out of their territory.”

Lu Lin secretly breathed a sigh of relief. These so-called mountain dwellers were similar to hunters, but a little different. Hunters mostly lived in villages, only going out during out during hunting seasons. Mountain dwellers were different. They were generally very poor. They dug caves in the mountains, marked territories like wild beasts, and lived a primitive lifestyle.

Living conditions in the mountains were harsh, and as people aged, they could easily fall ill. However, being mountain dweller had certain advantages: no taxes, occasional meat in their diet, and no military service obligations.

There were many disadvantages too. Generally, they were poor with harsh living conditions. If they carelessly fell ill and had no money for treatment, minor ailments could easily develop into serious illnesses, often resulting in death. Many mountain children died at a young age.

As Lu Lin and Chen Xiaomi continued walking, they saw two children. One was about eleven or twelve, and the other was about seven or eight. The younger one seemed to have injured himself from a fall and was crying.

When they saw Lu Lin and Chen Xiaomi appear, the older child watched them warily.

Lu Lin asked in confusion, “Why are there two children here?” This was deep in the mountains and was very dangerous.

Chen Xiaomi looked at the two children and sighed. “Something must have happened.”

Mountain dwellers lived isolated lives. Children like these usually lived in the mountains with their parents. If the elders in the family died, mountain children would struggle to survive.

Looking at Chen Xiaomi’s expression, Lu Lin felt a pang of sympathy. In this era, survival was still extremely difficult. If something happened to Chen Xiaomi, Chen Xiaocai and Chen Xiaomai would likely face a terrible fate. Thinking about this, Lu Lin couldn’t help glancing at Chen Xiaomi, feeling a trace of heartache.

“You two, what are you doing here?” Lu Lin asked.

Qin Lang’s face slightly turned red as he answered, “Father is sick. We came out to find a doctor.”

Since birth, Qin Lang had always lived in a fixed area in the mountains. A few days ago, their father Qin Yi was bitten by a wild animal and developed a high fever. The boys’ mother had died from a cold infection two years ago.

With no adults in the Qin family, Qin Lang and Qin Ming had no choice but to venture out to seek help. However, they were only half-grown children and got lost shortly after leaving. Fortunately, they had learned some hunting skills and had managed to avoid trouble, but after wandering in the mountains for several hours, both were exhausted and hungry.

Chen Xiaomi glanced at them and said, “This is very dangerous for you.”

Doctors were quite scarce in the area. Even if these boys found a doctor, it would likely be of no use. Even if the children were willing to pay, city doctors would be unlikely to travel all the way to the mountains.

Qin Lang gritted his teeth and said, “We must find a doctor.” For the brothers, their father was their whole world. Qin Yi’s injury had left both brothers extremely anxious.

Chen Xiaomi looked at them for a moment, then suddenly said, “Is your father Qin Yi, Uncle Qin?”

Qin Lang looked at Chen Xiaomi in confusion and asked, “You know my father?”

“I’ve met him.”

Qin Yi’s territory was deep in the forest and was usually difficult to find.

When Chen Xiaomi first started hunting in the forest, he would occasionally lose his way. Several times, when he was unable to return home, he had to find a place in the mountains to spend the night.

After spending more time in the mountains, Chen Xiaomi had encountered Qin Yi a few times. Qin Yi had even shown Chen Xiaomi the way. Once when Chen Xiaomi was chased up a tree by a wild beast, Qin Yi happened to pass by and drove the animal away.

Hearing Chen Xiaomi’s words, Qin Lang grabbed onto them like a lifeline. “Can you help us? I can pay you.”

Lu Lin asked with interest, “How much money do you have?”

Qin Lang suddenly raised his head and looked at Lu Lin.

Lu Lin suddenly realized he had been too forward. The money in the two children’s hands was probably their lifeline. It seemed somewhat inappropriate to ask so casually.

“I have five hundred wen,” Qin Lang said.

Lu Lin sighed inwardly. Only five hundred wen! They were so poor. Lu Lin suddenly felt absurdly wealthy in comparison. With just five hundred wen to find a doctor willing to go into the mountains, it seemed almost impossible.

Doctors held relatively high status in this world. If they found a decent one, that would be fortunate, but if they encountered one who wasn’t kind-hearted, they could spend more than ten taels of silver and still see no improvement.

“Five hundred wen isn’t enough to hire a doctor, and even if you found one, they wouldn’t follow you into the mountains,” Chen Xiaomi said bluntly. “Your father was bitten and can’t move.”

Qin Lang lowered his head. He had thought about bringing his father down the mountain, but he and his brother were too small. It was already difficult enough for them to make it down the mountain themselves, let alone carry their injured father.

Lu Lin and Chen Xiaomi followed the two children to find Qin Yi, who had already fallen unconscious and was running a fever. The wound was infected.

Lu Lin looked at Qin Yi’s condition with a frown and asked, “It’s this bad? Have you seen this kind of situation before?”

Chen Xiaomi shook his head and said, “I haven’t seen it, but I’ve heard about it…” He lowered his voice and continued, “They say that in cases like this, even doctors can’t help. If he can pull through, that’s best, but if not, it’s a dead end. Many hunters die this way.”

Lu Lin: “…” The medical standards were just too poor. In situations like this, people could only leave it to fate. It wasn’t surprising though. Even a common cold from modern times could become a terminal illness in ancient times.

Chen Xiaomi secretly asked, “How do you treat animal bites where you come from? Do people die from them?”

“People don’t die, but it’s still miserable. If you’re walking on the street and get bitten by a small dog, it might not cause problems, but to be safe, you need to get rabies vaccines. You need five shots in total, and missing even one isn’t an option. Getting these shots is quite painful.”

Chen Xiaomi said with a hint of envy, “So people don’t have to die? That’s great.”

Lu Lin sent the two Qin brothers away to fetch water. Although they were uneasy, they obediently left.

Chen Xiaomi glanced at Lu Lin and asked, “Do you have a way to help?”

Lu Lin shook his head and said, “I roughly know how to treat it, but whether he can pull through depends on his luck.”

Chen Xiaomi nodded, “If he can’t be saved, there’s nothing we can do. I’ve heard that on battlefields, many generals get slashed, and even imperial doctors can’t save them.”

Lu Lin took out a bottle of white wine. The alcohol in this world was limited by brewing techniques, so the alcohol content wasn’t very high, so the disinfecting properties were limited.

In Lu Lin’s convenience store, most of the stock was lower-proof[mfn]Alcohol proof is a unit of measurement used to determine the ethanol content in an alcoholic beverage. As the proof gets higher, the drink gets stronger.[/mfn] beer, but he did have some higher-proof white wine.

Chen Xiaomi sniffed and said, “Such a strong alcohol smell!”

Lu Lin smiled and said, “Naturally.”

Lu Lin cleaned Qin Yi’s wound and drained the infected blood from his body.

The intense pain finally brought Qin Yi briefly back to consciousness.

Qin Lang and Qin Ming, who had just returned, heard their father’s agonizing scream and rushed in frightened.

After briefly regaining consciousness, Qin Yi passed out again.

Lu Lin cleaned and disinfected Qin Yi’s wound, and secretly mixed antibiotics into water to feed him. Fortunately, the convenience store had some common medicines. Otherwise, Lu Lin would have been really helpless.

Qin Ming looked at Lu Lin with concern and asked, “How’s my father? He screamed so loudly just now.”

Lu Lin glanced at Qin Ming and said, “I treated him based on methods I’ve heard about, using a jar of alcohol, you know, the kind sold in town, worth three taels of silver.” In fact, the three taels Lu Lin mentioned wasn’t much, considering his alcohol had very high content and could fetch ten or more taels as a rare commodity.

Qin Ming and Qin Lang were shocked by Lu Lin’s high quoted price, and both boys’ faces turned red.

“Is alcohol that expensive?”

Lu Lin looked at the two brothers and said, “The wound has been treated. What happens next depends on his condition.”

The mountain paths were difficult to travel, making it troublesome to forcibly bring someone down the mountain. Besides, Lu Lin didn’t think doctors of this era would have better methods for treating such wounds.

Qin Ming and Qin Lang’s stomachs began to growl, and Qin Ming’s face turned red with embarrassment.

Chen Xiaomi caught two rabbits. One was roasted on the spot, and the other was made into soup. The brothers fed a little broth to Qin Yi.

Chen Xiaomi and Lu Lin didn’t eat much, leaving most of the rabbit for the two children and Qin Yi.

The two children were probably starving and devoured the food greedily.

Seeing it was getting late, Lu Lin and Chen Xiaomi left.

As Chen Xiaomi moved through the forest, he murmured, “I wonder if Qin Yi will make it through.”

If Qin Yi didn’t survive, Qin Ming and Qin Lang, the two children, might starve to death in the mountains.

The world had been unstable these past few years, with many people starving to death every year. There were simply too many tragedies.

Chen Xiaomi considered going back into the mountains tomorrow. There wasn’t much else he could do. At most, he could bring some food for the children, at least to help them get through the next couple of days.

Even if Qin Yi woke up, he probably wouldn’t be able to hunt for some time. The Qin family seemed to have run out of food, and at this rate, if they didn’t die from illness, they might die from starvation.

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