Chapter 5
Chapter 5: My Hands Are the Scale!
“It needs an enema.” Xie Changqing thought for a moment, then stood up with forced composure. “I need to go back and get my medical kit first.”
Though the medicine in the kit was only enough for one ewe, he still had syringes.
If there were no new medications, he could find some herbs, boil them into medicinal soup, and use the syringe to give the lamb an enema—that would work too.
Before anyone else could speak, Sangtu’s youngest son had already jumped up: “I’ll get it! I’ll go!”
The two families didn’t live too far apart. He let out a whistle, and his little pony came trotting over with a “clip-clop.”
He leaped up and waved vigorously at Xie Changqing: “Brother Changqing, I’ll be right back!”
“…Alright.” Xie Changqing thought for a moment, though he felt somewhat worried.
He wasn’t sure if there would be other medicines left in the medical kit.
If there weren’t any, to save this little lamb, he’d probably have to think of other methods…
While he was pondering this, a horse suddenly came running from the distance.
“That fast?” Xie Changqing could hardly believe it.
Uncle Qiaoba looked carefully and laughed heartily: “No, that’s not him. That’s my daughter, Nuomin.”
Nuomin came like a gust of wind, very quickly, almost appearing before them in the blink of an eye.
After arriving, she pulled up sharply.
The horse stopped with incredible smoothness, not even causing her body to sway.
Xie Changqing looked up, and the first thing that caught his eye was a pair of long, black braids.
The braids swayed lightly as she dismounted. Her eyes were bright as stars, her long eyelashes fluttering gently against her rosy cheeks.
Below her high nose bridge were red, moist lips. She curved the corners of her mouth and said with a smile: “Changqing! Are you really better?!”
“Mm… I’m better.” Xie Changqing was somewhat surprised by her familiar way of addressing him.
“That’s wonderful! Ha!” She looked him over carefully, her brows relaxing: “When Abu told me yesterday, I couldn’t believe it! Now seeing it with my own eyes, I believe it!”
His gaze was clear and bright, completely different from the previous confusion and blankness.
In other words, his whole person had spirit now, his eyes sharp as an eagle’s!
As she spoke, she took a bundle from her horse’s back and handed it to Qiaoba: “Abu, these are the herbs you sorted yesterday. You forgot to bring them this morning! Eji asked me to deliver them to you!”
Herbs?
Hearing this, Xie Changqing’s eyes lit up.
Qiaoba took them, and he followed over to spread them out and examine them carefully.
Because of this, he didn’t see Qiaoba’s surprised look toward Nuomin: “How did you… mix them all together?”
Nuomin smiled and winked at him, then moved closer to watch Xie Changqing: “Changqing, see which ones you need to use. These are all herbs we gathered ourselves before…”
Although Xie Yu was their pasture’s veterinarian, he had always held back.
Whenever they went out to gather herbs, he only let them follow and collect, never teaching more. If they asked too many questions, he’d get annoyed.
So after they brought them back, they only knew to dry them in the sun before storing them away.
Previously with Xie Yu around, these weren’t needed—it was just Qiaoba’s personal habit, keeping them for emergencies.
“They used to say it wasn’t necessary, but look, now we need them!” Qiaoba was always very serious about everything he did.
Xie Changqing nodded and looked carefully.
“This is dandelion… anti-inflammatory and antibacterial…”
“Ah, purslane, this one will work…”
“The willow bark is a bit old… but it’ll do.”
To others, this looked like just a pile of dried weeds and tree bark.
But in Xie Changqing’s eyes, this was a pile of treasure.
He carefully selected some good herbs, separating out roughly enough for six doses.
“Pulsatilla 10 grams, coptis 6 grams, purslane 15 grams, plantain 10 grams. Good, that should do it.”
After getting the medicinal ingredients, Xie Changqing finally felt a huge weight lift from his heart.
Looking up, he saw everyone staring at him in shock.
“Changqing, you… don’t you…” Qiaoba stepped forward, asking hesitantly: “Don’t you need to weigh them? You can determine the portions just by grabbing them with your hands?”
Previously, Xie Yu had a special small scale that he treasured greatly, never letting anyone touch it, saying he was afraid of precision errors.
Xie Changqing smiled—he had actually practiced this: “Don’t worry, there absolutely won’t be any problems. My hands are the scale!”
Through practice, he could determine not only the weight of various herbs accurately, but even the weight of various fruits.
Moreover, Xie Yu had taken everything with him. That scale he treasured so much—there was absolutely no possibility he’d leave it for them.
Though he said this, since it was his own sheep after all, Sangtu thought it over and still ran to find a scale.
“It might not be as accurate as Xie Yu’s… Let’s weigh it roughly to be safer…”
Xie Changqing laughed and took the scale: “Alright, though these herbs aren’t much, this weight might be too big to weigh them out…”
This was the scale they used when selling sheep…
But no matter.
He casually picked up a wooden block nearby and weighed it in his hand: “About one jin.”
With that, he hung it on the scale.
The weight swayed gently and finally settled steadily at the one-jin mark.
“Oh my…” Everyone was amazed.
Looking at Xie Changqing, their gazes held surprise mixed with admiration.
Qiaoba immediately broke into a smile: “This is excellent! Changqing, this skill of yours is really something!”
Even Xie Yu didn’t have this ability!
Sangtu was so shocked his jaw nearly dropped. He scratched his head: “This is truly impressive… How about weighing this too? Changqing, guess how much this weighs?”
He handed over a stone. Xie Changqing casually weighed it: “Two and a half jin.”
He was about to weigh it when Qiaoba stopped him: “Enough, enough, Sangtu. Put the scale away—Haierte is back.”
Then he handed the herbs Xie Changqing had selected to Nuomin: “You go supervise the medicine brewing. Changqing will need it later.”
Nuomin had helped brew medicine before, so she could save Xie Changqing some effort.
The sound of hoofbeats approached from far to near. Haierte lifted the curtain and entered, excited: “Brother Changqing, here! The medical kit!”
The moment the medical kit was in his hands, Xie Changqing clearly heard the notification.
[Level 1 Medical Kit]
[Points: 1]
[Reputation: -278]
[Available for exchange: Ampicillin]
Xie Changqing was somewhat surprised because he discovered that ampicillin cost exactly one point.
Moreover, his reputation value had increased slightly.
Though still negative, it was at least a bit better than before.
With this, the remaining ewe could be saved.
“But the syringe was used for the ewe yesterday…” Qiaoba was worried: “It seems different from what Xie Yu used before?”
The key was they only had one syringe left, not the kind for enemas.
“No problem.” Xie Changqing thought for a moment and said calmly: “Do you have any hollow reed stems? Or thick grass stems would work too, like wild scallions or wild parsley.”
Generally speaking, when conditions were limited, they used these to feed medicine to foals.
Without him even getting up, Haierte had already jumped up: “I have some! I picked a lot of wild scallions earlier to play with!”
Everyone was actually quite puzzled—what use were those wild scallions?
Could they replace syringes? Those things were finger-thick; how could they be injected?
Someone couldn’t help but frown slightly. It wasn’t that they doubted Xie Changqing—they just couldn’t imagine how it would work.
Xie Changqing was about to explain when Sangtu suddenly exclaimed with delight: “Hey! It really is two and a half jin!”