The next morning, sunlight came in through the window, which was covered with only a layer of oil paper, and sprinkled on the bed.
Qin Zhao frowned and opened his eyes dazedly, as if he saw a black shadow flash past the bed.
His eyes suddenly became clear: "Who is it?"
No response.
The room was quiet, without any noise. Qin Zhao sat up, opened the curtain and walked out of the bedroom. There was no one in the outer room, and the small wooden bucket containing koi was still on the table, with water ripples on the surface.
The little koi floated on the water, looking at him obediently with a pair of eyes.
Qin Zhao's tense spirit relaxed. He leaned against the wall and pressed his sore brows.
Why... is he at home
Qin Zhao's memory is a little fuzzy.
He only remembered that he went up the mountain to collect herbs yesterday. Just when he finished collecting the herbs and wanted to go back, it started to rain. Then, he found a small house to shelter from the rain.
But who would have thought that the rain would not stop, he caught a cold, and did not take medicine in time, and gradually he felt so uncomfortable that he lost consciousness.
He didn't remember clearly what happened after that.
It wasn't the first time he had been to that cabin.
This situation had happened before, but usually he would spend the whole night in the hut and then slowly walk back the next day after the weather cleared up.
After that incident, he couldn't get out of bed for at least half a month.
But that is not the case today.
He didn't feel too uncomfortable, no pain, no fever, and he was in good spirits.
Did he take any drugs last night
Qin Zhao walked to the stove and opened the lid of the pot. The bowl of soup remained the same as when he left yesterday, untouched.
Qin Zhao showed a hint of confusion in his eyes and sat back at the table.
Jing Li secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
Fortunately, no one was discovered.
He was very tired last night, and after Qin Zhao fell asleep, he also changed back to his original form and fell asleep in the water. It was not until dawn this morning that he remembered that he had not had time to clean up the mess.
Early in the morning, he supported his tired body and transformed back into human form, and put the straw raincoat, medicine, and everything he had used last night back in their places.
When he was returning to his position, he made quite a bit of noise and was almost seen by Qin Zhao.
Jing Li blew a bubble into the water tiredly.
The fish is so tired.
"What's wrong with you?" Qin Zhao also noticed that something was wrong with him, and reached out to touch the little koi's back.
The warm feeling inevitably reminded Jing Li of last night, when this man held him in his arms, his hot palms covering his fish scales, touching them bit by bit.
Jing Li shuddered reflexively and turned his head to avoid Qin Zhao's touch.
"You don't want me to touch you?" Qin Zhao asked, "Are you unhappy?"
No unhappiness...
Jing Li didn't know what he was hiding from, and didn't know how to explain it.
Qin Zhao was sick last night, he didn't mean to bully him. And in the end, he took the initiative to lie in his arms, trying to cool him down.
It's just a treatment. Didn't Qin Zhao help him treat the injury of scales before
Why not let him touch it
Jing Li looked at Qin Zhao's eyes, and after a moment, he swam back obediently to Qin Zhao's palm.
The other person's fingertips landed on his dorsal fin.
The touch from his fingertips was as smooth and cool as before. The little koi seemed a little nervous and trembled slightly, but still stayed where he was and let him touch it obediently.
Qin Zhao's eyes moved slightly, and he felt something strange in his heart.
This feeling...
Some unfamiliar images flashed through his mind.
In the darkness, those clear and bright eyes looked at him, with some fear and some grievance.
He said, "... I was just passing by..."
The touch under his palm was cool and smooth, the body was trembling slightly, and a soft voice came from his ears.
He said, "Here I am..."
Qin Zhao was distracted for a moment, and his fingers stroking Jing Li's dorsal fin also stopped. Jing Li just breathed a sigh of relief when he heard Qin Zhao speak again.
"Yesterday..." Qin Zhao frowned slightly and asked in a low voice, "I came back alone yesterday?"
Jing Li: “…”
Without thinking, he nodded quickly.
Qin Zhao was skeptical.
He wanted to recall more, but his mind was blank. His memory was always unclear during his illness, and now he couldn't even remember the boy's appearance.
Moreover, if someone really rescued him last night, why was he nowhere to be seen this morning
… Maybe it was just an illusion during his illness.
Qin Zhao sighed and stopped thinking about it.
Although there were some twists and turns last night, at least all the herbs were collected. Qin Zhao took the herbs out of the backpack, processed them briefly, tied them up with rattan, and wrapped them in cloth.
There were sixteen plants that were intact, and a few that had slight defects, which Qin Zhao also packed separately.
Defective products can of course be used as medicine, but the appearance, weight, and efficacy will be somewhat impaired. However, private purchases are different from medical clinics, and the requirements for defective products are not so strict, and they may agree to purchase at a discount.
If the other party doesn't want it, he can keep it for himself in case of emergency.
Qin Zhao packed up the herbs, went to the bedroom to change clothes, and prepared to send them to Doctor Ge.
He opened the closet, but paused.
Jing Li held his breath and watched the situation in the bedroom, he was so nervous that he forgot to breathe.
He didn't put Qin Zhao's clothes back.
He wore that piece of clothing yesterday when he went for a walk in the mountains, and it was covered with a lot of mud. If Qin Zhao found it, he would definitely suspect him. Jing Li didn't dare to put the clothing back, so he could only find a corner to hide it.
It was better to think that the clothes were lost than for him to find out that they were dirty.
Jing Li had already made up his mind that if Qin Zhao asked him later, he would pretend not to know.
Anyway, he is just a fish now, and Qin Zhao definitely can't do anything to him.
But to his surprise, Qin Zhao did not ask about the clothes, but came out wearing another clean robe.
Jing Li: “?”
Didn’t this person even notice that he was missing a piece of clothing? ?
Qin Zhao's expression showed no clues. He put the packed herbs into the backpack and asked Jing Li, "Do you want to stay at home today or go out with me?"
Jing Li of course chose the latter.
The sickly guy went up the mountain alone yesterday and came back in that state. How could he feel comfortable letting him go out alone
A moment later, Qin Zhao went out carrying the fish basket.
He was going to the town to buy medicine today, so he planned to send the herbs to Dr. Ge first, and then hire a car to go to the town. When Dr. Ge heard about it, he offered to go with him and deliver the medicine to him directly.
Doctor Ge also wanted to get the matter over with as soon as possible to avoid any further complications.
In the end, it was Qin Zhao who took the ox cart of Doctor Ge's family.
They left home early, and when they arrived in town the morning market was still going on, and the streets were crowded with people, making the place lively and bustling.
Since Jing Li followed Qin Zhao home, he has stayed in the village all day. He has never been to such a far place before, and he excitedly poked his head out of the fish basket.
But the ox cart was bumpy and the fish basket was light, so it could not withstand Jing Li's movements inside, and he almost lost his balance and fell out.
Qin Zhao quickly pressed the fish back into the basket and whispered, "Be good."
Doctor Ge was resting with his eyes closed. He opened his eyes when he heard this and asked, "What did you say about me?"
Qin Zhao: “…”
Jing Li: “…”
The ox cart soon stopped outside a magnificent house with two large characters written on a plaque above it.
—“Fang Zhai”.
Doctor Ge got out of the car and knocked on the door.
The Fang family is one of the richest families in the town. Qin Zhao has lived here for several years and has heard somewhat about them.
This kind of wealthy family with great wealth and power is actually not as arrogant as others imagine when dealing with others. After Doctor Ge explained his purpose, a maid soon welcomed them into the house.
The person who came to receive them was the butler of Fang's house.
The housekeeper looked kind and polite. He smiled and said, "I was going to send someone to get the medicine from Doctor Ge tomorrow, but I'd like to trouble you two to deliver it in person."
Doctor Ge waved his hand: "Don't bother, don't bother."
While they were counting the herbs, the little koi had nothing to do and secretly poked its head out of the fish basket.
These ancient houses were all exquisitely built. They entered the main hall for receiving guests. There were rockery, flowers and plants in the yard in front of the house, and corridors and side rooms on both sides. The layout was particularly grand.
It was the first time that Jing Li saw a real ancient house, and he couldn't help but take a few more glances at it.
Suddenly, a scream like a pig being slaughtered came from behind the house.
The little koi was so scared that it trembled all over and quickly retreated into the fish basket.
The screams became more and more intense, extremely miserable, and only the housekeeper remained calm: "Don't be afraid, my young master has been punished again."
Jing Li: “…”
If they continue to fight, someone will die.
Unfortunately, as outsiders, they couldn't do anything about it and could only pretend not to hear it.
The housekeeper had the herbs counted and said, "Including the previous one, there are a total of seventeen plants, which is thirty-four strings of cash. We'll also take these defective ones, so... add them up to thirty-five strings of cash and five hundred coins, how about that?"
Doctor Ge and Qin Zhao looked at each other, and the latter nodded: "Okay."
The butler was a straightforward person and quickly sent someone to settle the bill.
When entrusting Doctor Ge to sell the herbal medicine, Qin Zhao agreed to give him a 30:70 profit split. After deducting the 800-coin deposit he had given earlier, the final amount left in Qin Zhao's hands was 24 strings of cash and 50 coins.
Doctor Ge made a lot of money on this trip and said with a smile: "Mr. Qin, if you have any good things in the future, don't forget me."
Qin Zhao bowed slightly to him: "Of course."
Doctor Ge had to rush back to the village to see a doctor, and Qin Zhao had to go to the clinic to get medicine, so the two of them were no longer traveling together. Qin Zhao did not rush to the clinic, but went to the market first with the little koi.
I promised to buy him meat yesterday.
Qin Zhao just caught the end of the morning market and bought some pork, rice, flour and seasonings.
The staple foods of this era were mainly rice and millet, but because millet was much cheaper than rice, most families in the village still used millet as their staple food.
Qin Zhao was like this before.
But now that I have some money, I don’t need to be so frugal anymore.
The miscellaneous items cost nearly two hundred coins in total. Qin Zhao packed all the things into the backpack and prepared to go to the clinic on East Street to get some medicinal herbs.
Suddenly something pulled my sleeve.
Qin Zhao looked down and saw that the little koi had grabbed his sleeve. The whole fish was hanging in the air on his sleeve, swinging with his movements.
Qin Zhao: “…”
Qin Zhao didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "What do you want now?"
The little koi fish let go of his sleeve and jerked its head to the side.
Qin Zhao followed his sight and saw a shop selling pastries. At the door of the shop were freshly baked white pastries cut into small square pieces, steaming hot, and the sweet aroma could be smelled in the air.
"Want to eat?" Qin Zhao asked.
The little koi nodded quickly.
This fish not only loves meat, but also sweets.
A trace of smile disappeared from Qin Zhao's eyes. He lifted up the fish basket and looked at the little koi lying on the edge of the basket.
Qin Zhao said calmly, "You can eat if you want. But first, tell me where is the piece of clothing I just washed and haven't worn yet?"
Jing Li: “… … …”