Chapter 3

After a whole morning of bustling activity, the courtyard of the Jiang family finally quieted down. The old man boiled a pot of water and, holding the old hen, was about to slaughter it. He planned to add some yam, astragalus, and codonopsis to make a pot of soup to nourish Jiang Yuan.

However, just as he was about to walk to the well, Jiang Yuan snatched the hen from him and said with a smile, "Grandpa... You rest, I'll do it..."

Seeing his grandson, who had never killed a chicken before, deftly cut the chicken's neck in half, then held the chicken by the head and wing, and let the blood drip into a bowl without a single drop wasted, the old man's eyebrows twitched...

Three years ago, Jiang Yuan wouldn't even dare to kill a fish, but now... he was so calm and efficient, not a single drop of blood was wasted.

"This precious grandson of mine must have really suffered outside these past few years... He even knows how to kill chickens, and it looks like he's done it quite a few times..." The old man sighed with a pang of heartache, then shook his head and walked into the kitchen.

Jiang Yuan didn't pay much attention to this. He casually threw the bled-out chicken into a bucket of boiling water, then waited for a while. Once it was sufficiently scalded, he fished it out and, with a few swift movements, plucked all the feathers off the still steaming chicken.

He then took a kitchen knife, cut open the chicken's belly, removed the innards, and placed the edible parts in another bowl, while discarding the inedible parts in the trash. He then chopped the chicken into small pieces, and in just a few minutes, he had cleaned the entire chicken.

Jiang Yuan was quite familiar with such tasks. Over the past few years, he had traveled with his team, tracking the location of the box, often living in the wild and relying on hunting small animals for food. As the youngest in the team, he was usually not assigned to guard duty, so such tasks were often left to him, making him quite skilled at preparing wild game.

When Jiang Yuan brought the prepared chicken into the kitchen, the old man was just washing the rice to cook. Seeing Jiang Yuan carrying the two clean bowls and the bucket, he couldn't help but be surprised and said, "You're done already..."

"Yep... all done..." Jiang Yuan casually placed the bowls on the stove, smiled, and handed the bucket over, saying, "Grandpa... the rest is up to you. I haven't made soup in years, I'm afraid my skills have rusted..."

"Ah, ah, good, good. You put it down and rest. We'll eat soon..." The old man smiled and took the bucket from Jiang Yuan, looking at the clean chicken inside and nodding with a smile.

Jiang Yuan hadn't eaten his grandfather's cooking for a long time, and at lunch, he ate several large bowls of rice and drank half a pot of chicken soup, making the old man beam with joy. In the past, this boy could only eat one bowl of rice per meal, with a very small stomach, which gave the old man a headache. Now, he could eat several bowls in one meal, and his health must have improved.

After lunch, Jiang Yuan planned to go up the mountain to gather herbs for Uncle Li. The old man carefully took a plastic-wrapped package from the top of the wardrobe, opened it lovingly, and revealed an old-fashioned musket.

Seeing the musket, which was well-preserved and smelled heavily of oil, Jiang Yuan couldn't help but smile bitterly. He recognized it; when he was a child, he would follow his grandfather up the mountain to gather herbs, and his grandfather would carry this musket while he followed behind with a small basket. This musket had done a lot of work in the past, and most of the meat Jiang Yuan ate as a child came from it.

The old man lovingly caressed the musket for a while, then took a plastic bottle of gunpowder and a cloth bag from the top of the wardrobe, and carefully handed them to Jiang Yuan, saying, "Xiao Yuan... I can't climb anymore. If you go up the mountain, take it with you... There aren't many large animals in the mountains now, but it's safer to have it just in case!"

Seeing the old man solemnly hand over the musket, Jiang Yuan smiled bitterly but still carefully took the cumbersome weapon and slung it over his shoulder, saying, "Don't worry, Grandpa... It's just to gather some herbs, there won't be any problems!"

"Uh-huh..." The old man nodded, still worried, and said, "Do you remember how to load the gun? If you encounter a wild boar, don't shoot it, just scare it away. If you don't kill it with one shot, it will be a big problem..."

"I know, Grandpa. Don't worry, stay at home and rest. Maybe we'll have a better dinner tonight..." Jiang Yuan tied the gunpowder bottle and the iron ball bag to his waist, slung the musket over his shoulder, and was about to leave.

Seeing his grandson, who looked so heroic with the musket on his back, the old man felt a deep sense of satisfaction. His grandson had finally grown up.

Just as Jiang Yuan had taken a few steps, a group of people suddenly burst into the courtyard, carrying a door panel. They rushed in, shouting, "Doctor Jiang... Doctor Jiang... Please take a look... Save my wife, what's wrong with her..."

The man in the lead, pale and sweating profusely, looked at the old man standing under the eaves and called out in a panic.

The old man recognized the man; he was Zhang Dapao from the end of the village. His heart tightened. Zhang Dapao's wife had been pregnant for a long time and was due to give birth in a few days. Could something have gone wrong during labor?

Looking again, he saw the village midwife standing beside the door panel, looking helpless and anxious as she watched the woman lying on it, who was heavily pregnant.

Seeing the situation, the old man's face changed. He muttered to himself, "Damn... I'm a traditional surgeon and internal medicine specialist. I've never learned obstetrics. Although there are some traditions in gynecology, obstetrics was never passed down. What should I do?"

However, since the people had come to him, he had to help. Despite his lack of confidence, he quickly ran over, asked for details, and took the woman's pulse.

With the old man's involvement, the midwife breathed a sigh of relief and quickly explained the situation in a trembling voice.

Jiang Yuan, seeing the situation, frowned. He had grown up with his grandfather and knew that the old man had little experience with obstetrics. This was going to be difficult.

He quickly put down the musket and went over to take a look.

Jiang Yuan saw that the woman was lying on a thick quilt on the door panel, her belly swollen, her face pale, and her body trembling. Her eyes were wide and rolling, her breathing rapid, and her limbs were convulsing, as if she were about to die.

Seeing this, Jiang Yuan's heart sank. The situation looked very serious.

The old man, while taking the woman's pulse, listened to the midwife's panicked explanation, and his frown deepened.

It turned out that Zhang Dapao's wife had reached her due date a few days ago. She had been checked at the town hospital, and everything was normal, so they decided to have the baby at home. When her labor pains started, Zhang Dapao thought it was time and quickly called the midwife.

The midwife arrived, and everything seemed normal at first. However, as the labor progressed, the woman suddenly screamed that she couldn't breathe, and her condition worsened. Her heart rate increased, and she appeared to be severely oxygen-deprived and on the verge of suffocation.

The midwife, who had never encountered such a situation before, suspected it might be eclampsia, a serious condition for pregnant women. She immediately told Zhang Dapao to take her to the town hospital. However, the hospital's two ambulances were out on calls, and they were told to find their own transportation.

Zhang Dapao ran around the village in a panic, but the two families with cars were not at home. The hospital was about thirty miles away, and carrying her there was not an option. Seeing that his wife was in critical condition, Zhang Dapao carried her to a nearby clinic, but the doctor there refused to treat her, saying it was beyond his capabilities.

With no other options, Zhang Dapao, holding out the last hope, carried her for over a mile to the village's most respected doctor, Doctor Jiang, and begged him to help.

After taking the woman's pulse and listening to the midwife's account, the old man's face turned grim. The woman's pulse was weak and rapid, almost undetectable. If it were anyone else, they would have already lost the pulse.

Seeing the situation, the old man shook his head slowly. He was a traditional Chinese medicine practitioner, specializing in surgery and internal medicine. He had some knowledge of eclampsia, but it was a condition in Western medicine, and he was not an expert. However, from the symptoms, it was likely eclampsia.

If it was indeed eclampsia, even the town hospital might struggle to save her, let alone him, an old TCM practitioner.

Seeing Doctor Jiang shake his head, Zhang Dapao panicked. Doctor Jiang was their last hope. When Doctor Jiang shook his head, Zhang Dapao's eyes turned red, and he fell to his knees, hugging the old man's legs and wailing, "Doctor Jiang... Please save my wife... If anything happens, it will be two lives lost... Please have mercy..."

"Ah, ah... Dapao, get up, get up... It's not that I don't want to help, but I've never dealt with such an obstetric case before!" Seeing the big man crying, the old man felt a pang of sadness. However, he had never encountered such a case and didn't know how to proceed.

The people around them sighed in sympathy. Zhang Dapao had only married a few years ago, and his wife was about to give birth to their first child. How could this happen now?

While the crowd was sympathizing, Jiang Yuan went over to the woman and examined her closely. He let out a light "hmm" and quickly went back to the house, rummaging through the clinic for a blood pressure monitor and a stethoscope, then ran back out.

The old man was surprised by Jiang Yuan's actions. He always kept the blood pressure monitor and stethoscope, but they were rarely used in his practice. Jiang Yuan, though experienced in treating injuries and measuring blood pressure, what was he going to do with them now? Could he be a Western medicine practitioner?