Those that rushed down the mountain heard Lu Jiao’s voice and turned to look. It didn’t take long for them to recognize Lu Jiao.
Detest flashed across each one of their eyes. If it weren’t for the fact that this woman refused to spend money on Xie Yunjin, Brother Xu never would’ve come up this mountain today to hunt animals and sell them for money.
While they caught a big animal, who knew they’d get attacked by a snake near the end of their trip? From the way Brother Xu was behaving, he wasn’t going to make it. Those bitten by a ringneck snake normally don’t get cured. Even if they do survive, they become disabled.
Brother Xu’s life was practically over.
Everyone here grew more and more frustrated as they thought about it. There was so much rage in their eyes as they looked over at Lu Jiao. Lu Jiao, however, didn’t mind them and headed straight toward Xu Duojin.
Before she reached the stretcher, someone blocked her, “What do you think you’re doing?”
Lu Jiao looked up and saw that it was an older man who had stopped her. He was also a hunter for the Xie Village and people called him old man Xiao.
Right now, Lu Jiao was more concerned about Xue Duojin.
“We need to get the venom out of him. It’s best not to delay it. If we delay it, he won’t make it down the mountain. And even if he does make it, he’ll become paralyzed waist down.”
Old man Xiao froze at those words.
Lu Jiao ignored him and stepped over him. Beside her, someone else cursed, “You wanna die?”
Old man Xiao stopped that man and in return, the man looked back in surprise, “Uncle Xiao?”
Old man Xiao had his eyes glued to Lu Jiao.
Lu Jiao now used small silver needles to stop the spread of poison by stabbing around the affected areas.
Once she was done, she turned to ask old man Xiao, “What kind of snake bit him?”
Old man Xiao noticed how well practiced she appeared and knew right away that she had medical training, “It was a ringneck snake.”
Lu Jiao nodded. She quickly took out a scalpel from her space inside her sleeve, then made cuts on the bitten area. She then squeezed out the poisoned dark blood.
If she had an antidote, she could’ve just given him a shot. Sadly, she didn’t have that stored in her space. She did originally but once that was used up, she never replenished it.
After the bad blood was squeezed out, Lu Jiao took out a water bottle and cleaned the wound again and again.
Once clean, she quickly jumped and announced, “You guys wait around here. I’m going to pick some medicinal herbs to help with the poison. I’ll be right back.”
The truth was that she had some herbs in her basket that could be helpful. However, she didn’t want to reveal her secret in front of everyone and she was missing some herbs. Therefore, she decided to pick some fresh ones.
Lu Jiao quickly left.
Behind her, the hunters all looked over to old man Xiao, “Uncle Xiao, let’s hurry and bring him down the mountain.”
“How could that fat woman know how to cure snake bites? She better not kill him.”
“Yeah, let’s just get him down the mountain.”
Old man Xiao studied Xue Duojin, who had fainted, and concluded that it was too dangerous to move him.
He glanced at the others and said with a heavy heart, “Duojin is very hurt. If we keep moving him, he may die before we arrive. Right now, his best chance is Yunjin’s wife. Maybe her way can save his life.”
The others wanted to argue but the unconscious Xue Duojin made them have second thoughts.
Lu Jiao didn’t take long to find the herbs she needed. At the same time, she took out some of the herbs she put in her space.
She crushed a combination of herbs and applied them directly onto Xu Duojin’s bite wound.
At the same time, she crushed half a lotus stem, gentian, and some other herbs and shoved them into Xu Duojin’s mouth.
The others saw her work and voluntarily stepped up to help. Lu Jiao didn’t stop them.
Though passed out, Xu Duojin still involuntarily swallowed as Lu Jiao fed him the medicine she made.
Seeking the perfect opportunity, Lu Jiao slipped a few drops of the spiritual stream water into his mouth.
After all that, the darkness that gloomed Xu Duojin’s face lightened up a little. This made Lu Jiao sigh in relief. She removed the needles around the wound and looked up to the others, “Okay, he’s no longer in critical condition. You can carry him down the mountain. Once I’m back home, I’ll write him a prescription and you can have someone put it together for him. He’ll need to take the medicine three times a day for several days. Then he should recover.”
She then stood up soaked in sweat. How exhausting.
Old man Xiao and the others all gawked in disbelief, “He’ll really recover?”
Lu Jiao looked up to the sky – it was getting late. She hurriedly nodded, “He’ll be fine.”
Old man Xiao asked again, “He won’t be paralyzed?”
“No. Ringneck snake venom is a fast-working poison. As long as we give him the proper treatment quickly, he wouldn’t be paralyzed or have any other lasting symptoms.”
She then put her basket back on and descended the mountain.
Behind her, old man Xiao gestured for everyone to help carry Xue Duojin down the mountain.
After the group left, three people walked out from behind the trees. The head of the group was a well-dressed young master. His features were handsome but his eyes carried some aloofness. His every movement made it apparent that he was born from a wealthy family.
Beside him stood a kind-looking man, who excitedly said, “Lingfeng, isn’t that the lady who sold us ganoderma last time? I didn’t expect her to be so knowledgeable about medicine! She seemed to know how to cure ringneck snake bites. Do you think it’s true?”
Ringneck snakes’ venom hurts the human nervous system. Even if there’s a good antidote, there are usually long-lasting side effects such as fast aging, teeth loss, slumped back, or paralysis. That lady claimed that he will be fine? Was that true?
Qi Lei was tempted to chase after her to ask her if there truly won’t be any long-lasting symptoms.
Zhao Lingfeng turned to peek at his good friend. No matter what day it was, that friend of his was passionate about medicine.
“She simply made that claim. We’ll never know if it’s true.”
Qi Lei quickly grabbed Zhao Lingfeng’s hand and said, “Then, ask someone to keep an eye on the man who was bitten. If he truly makes out without major symptoms, then it’s news for all the citizens. As you know, there are so many people who die from snake poison each year and even more who get paralyzed from it.”
Zhao Lingfeng realized the importance of this then, “Okay, I’ll keep an eye on the wounded.”
The three then chatted as they climbed down the mountain and left the Xie Village.
Lu Jiao didn’t know what had happened. She headed home and went straight to the east bedroom to look for paper, brush, and ink.
Xie Yunjin was a scholar so they didn’t lack any of those. However, when they were being forced to move out, those stuff got packed away randomly by the original host.
Inside the east bedroom, Xie Yunjin and the four little ones stared at Lu Jiao, uncertain what she was looking for.
The Fourth Born was rather fearless these days. He stumbled his way to Lu Jiao and asked in a sticky voice, “Mummy, what are you looking for? I will help you.”
Lu Jiao glanced at him and asked, “Have you seen your daddy’s paper and brushes?”