Fang Xiu'e opened the bags and, with great proficiency, pinched a small amount of herbs from each one and set them aside.
After going through all the bags, Fang Xiu'e placed them all back into the box.
Then, she took out two rolled-up, cylindrical bundles of cloth from the box.
It had to be said that these two bundles were rolled quite crudely; from this, it was evident that the contents were absolutely precious to Fang Xiu'e.
Opening the first one, a very small dried ginseng root could be seen inside.
If one had to describe it, the main body of this ginseng was only about the size of a cigarette butt.
However, the rootlets of this ginseng were quite numerous, and its overall appearance was actually very good.
Fang Xiu'e picked up the dried ginseng, looked at it, and then carefully snapped off all the rootlets, placing them back on the cloth before adding the main body of the ginseng to the pile of herbs set aside.
Immediately after, Fang Xiu'e opened the last cloth bundle. Inside was a black, stem-like object about the size of a finger.
Fang Xiu'e took a pair of scissors and snipped a small piece off this black object; the piece she cut was roughly the size of two kernels of corn.
Finally, Fang Xiu'e re-wrapped the ginseng rootlets and the black object and put them back in the cabinet.
Gathering the pile of herbs, Fang Xiu'e turned and walked toward the outer room.
After a while, the sound of "clang, clang, clang" echoed from the courtyard. The sound sounded like someone was crushing garlic.
At this time, Wang An was still fast asleep, unaffected by the noise.
A while later, Fang Xiu'e entered the room carrying a garlic-crushing mortar—or more accurately, a medicine mortar that looked like a garlic mortar but was considerably larger in volume.
It was clear that the herbs had been ground into a powder by Fang Xiu'e.
Fang Xiu'e found a clean canned-food jar and carefully poured the medicinal powder from the mortar into it.
Surprisingly, the amount of powder was neither too much nor too little; it filled the jar exactly.
Having finished this, Fang Xiu'e took some paper and a fountain pen from her pocket, unscrewed the cap, and wrote on the paper
"One wine cup before bed every day, take with warm water."
A wine cup, as a vessel, was essentially a miniature version of a bowl, with an opening roughly the size of a silver dollar.
Wine cups were typically used in tandem with a wine pot.
This set of items was a unique product of this era and the ones preceding it.
The reason was that drinking alcohol was a very luxurious affair!
When Wang An had first been reborn, because they were eating oil-fried cicadas, Wang Dazhu wanted to drink, but Wang An's family couldn't afford it. Consequently, Wang Dazhu had been scolded by Liu Guilan.
When people couldn't even get enough to eat, alcohol was truly a luxury.
One must realize that in this day and age, over ninety percent of people struggled just to eat. Drinking? Drinking what the hell?
Therefore, when drinking—even if guests were present—it was usually rationed. One wine cup held half a tael of liquor, and one wine pot held three taels.
In other words, if there was only one guest, the host and guest would each have three cups of wine, and that was that.
Want to drink more?
Sorry, the pot is empty; there's no more wine.
Of course, that was just the theory. In the Northeast, people cared deeply about "face," so even if a skinny donkey was pulling a cart of soy paste, they would grit their teeth and put out the wine.
However, any guest with a bit of sense would say they had had enough after three cups. If the host didn't offer more, the guest would never proactively ask for more.
If you were greedy and wanted more, and the host forced themselves to serve you, how would you handle it when the situation reversed and it was your turn to host?
What, you're giving up on your livelihood? Just because of drinking, the whole family has to eat the northwest wind?
After finishing her writing, Fang Xiu'e tore off the piece of paper and stuffed it into the jar.
Actually, Fang Xiu'e's handwriting was quite good, not inferior to Wang An's at all.
Normally speaking, in China during this era, herbs—or Traditional Chinese Medicine—were decocted into a medicinal soup to be drunk. Fang Xiu'e's method, however, did not seem to be the case.
This was a typical case of swallowing raw medicinal powder.
Once everything was done, Fang Xiu'e lifted the quilt and carefully observed the injuries on Wang An's body.
By now, the purplish bloodstains on Wang An's body had turned black, and the skin had begun to look swollen.
After observing, Fang Xiu'e turned and took a large sewing needle that had been pinned to a newspaper on the wall.
A large sewing needle was called a "big awl" locally. The awl used for stitching shoe soles was actually this thing embedded in a wooden handle.
Fang Xiu'e placed the needle in a bowl and soaked it in boiling water. After observing the position on Wang An's body, she plunged the needle in with a single strike.
To be honest, the scene looked quite brutal.
That massive needle went halfway in, leaving only half protruding.
But miraculously, despite being stabbed by such a long needle, Wang An did not wake up and continued to sleep soundly.
After a moment, Fang Xiu'e took a handkerchief in her hand. The instant she pulled the needle out, she pressed the handkerchief over the needle hole.
Then, an even more miraculous scene occurred: the black bloodstains on Wang An's body turned red at a speed visible to the naked eye.
It was clear that Fang Xiu'e had drained all the stagnant blood from Wang An's back.
It had to be said that this woman was truly not simple when it came to medical skills; she even knew acupuncture.
It was just that the needles used for this acupuncture were enough to instill a sense of dread.
While the needle hole was bleeding, Fang Xiu'e continued to observe Wang An's thigh, specifically searching for the place to insert the needle.
In this manner, Fang Xiu'e inserted a total of four needles into Wang An's body, and every single one drew blood.
However, whether it was the black bloodstains on Wang An's back, his thighs, or his buttocks, they all turned red and no longer looked so frightening.
By now, because of Wang An's injuries, Fang Xiu'e had demonstrated four treatment methods
Oral medication, external application, massage, and acupuncture.
Regardless, these methods were very effective and had an immediate effect.
Only then did Fang Xiu'e go to the outer room to light the fire and cook.
The sleeping Wang An was awakened by a waft of fragrance. By this time, the light in the room had dimmed, meaning it was already evening.
When Wang An sat up, he discovered that his body didn't hurt all that much.
Wang An thought it was because of that black pill, so he didn't think much of it and got up to put on his clothes.
Mainly, everyone knew that as long as one took "Eagle Essence," no matter how much pain there was, it would be stopped immediately.
(End of Chapter)