"Don't move." Qin Zhao held Jing Li's body with two fingers, "You are still injured."
Jing Li had long forgotten that he was still injured.
The water flow will reduce the pain of the injury. In addition, the part where the scales were cut off is on the flank, so it will not be touched by the fins or the tail, so the fish will not feel any pain.
Seeing the silly look of the little fish in his hand, Qin Zhao knew that he had forgotten that he was injured.
He lowered his eyes and gently rubbed the injured area with his fingertips. Where the bright red scales were originally attached, a few scales had fallen off, revealing a soft, light pink texture.
It hurts!
Jing Li's tail tip trembled in pain, and his body kept twisting under Qin Zhao's fingertips.
There was no systematic fish farming in that era, and most people focused on fishing. No one would heal injured fish, especially in this remote mountain village where they lived.
Even if I want to treat it, there is no medicine to be found.
Fortunately, fish have strong self-healing abilities, and the wound on the little koi was not deep and there was no bleeding. It will be fine once the scales grow back.
After Qin Zhao checked the little koi's injuries, he put him back into the water.
Jing Li twisted his tail and hid at the bottom of the barrel.
Why does this person always bully the fish!
"Ignoring you?" Qin Zhao knocked his knuckles on the edge of the wooden barrel and said slowly, "Do you know why I didn't let you go? I'm a stingy person. I spent fifteen cents to buy you back today. If you don't pay me back, I won't let you go."
"Xiao Yu'er, you should think carefully about how to compensate me."
Jing Li floated up quietly.
Qin Zhao saved his life, so he naturally wanted to repay him. But he was just a fish now, and he couldn't turn into a human, so he couldn't even go out to make money.
How to pay it back...
During the past few days since he came here, Jing Li has tried to become a human, but he has never succeeded.
It seemed that apart from possessing a human soul and memories, he was no different from the ordinary fish that could be found everywhere in the world.
Jing Li felt very desperate.
The little koi fish was worried in the water. Qin Zhao poked his head again: "Actually, I have an idea."
Jing Li raised his head.
Any idea
The man looked upright and serious, and said slowly, "Why don't you give birth to some fish to repay me after I raise you? You... should be a female fish."
As he spoke, his finger pointedly reached towards Jing Li's lower abdomen.
!!!
Where is this person touching!!!
And he is a boy, he can't give birth to fish!
Jing Li was angry and annoyed, and bit the other person's finger.
But the little koi has only a row of tiny teeth in its mouth, and it doesn't hurt or itch when bitten, and it has no deterrent effect at all.
Qin Zhao burst out laughing.
Jing Li: “…”
He actually teased him again. How boring is this guy
Qin Zhao wanted to tease him some more, but at this moment, someone knocked on the door.
"Collecting medicine, is anyone home?"
Qin Zhao suppressed his smile and turned to open the door.
A young man in his teens stood in front of the door with a backpack on his back. He bowed and greeted Qin Zhao: "Mr. Qin, my master asked me to come and collect the medicine."
The young man's name was Awen. He was an apprentice of the only mountain doctor in the nearby village. He would collect medicine regularly from several nearby villages every half a month.
These villages depend on the mountains for their livelihood, and the mountains are rich in medicinal herbs. When there is no farm work, the villagers often go up the mountains to collect herbs.
In fact, if conditions permit, the price would be higher if the medicine was transported to the town by oxcart like Lin Laoer did. However, the medicine shops in the town use a large amount of medicine and have extremely high requirements for the quality of the medicine, so they rarely accept unprocessed loose medicine from farmers.
Therefore, farmers would rather sell to village doctors. Although the price is a bit low, at least they can save transportation and processing costs.
Qin Zhao regained his gentle and kind appearance in front of others. He took out several bundles of medicinal herbs that had been sorted into categories from the inner room and handed them to the young man.
The young man carefully counted them and said with a smile, "Mr. Qin's herbs are of the best quality. We want all of them."
He handed a string of copper coins to Qin Zhao, who pointed at them and asked, "Why is there an extra fifteen coins?"
"Not much. Master said that Mr. Qin's herbs are of good quality. Before we set off, he instructed us to raise the price of all the herbs in Mr. Qin's house by 10% starting today."
Why would the price suddenly increase out of nowhere
Qin Zhao's eyes moved slightly, and he felt vaguely that something was strange.
But this is how small businesses among villagers work. Giving a few cents of profit to farmers who cooperate well is considered mutually beneficial.
Qin Zhao didn't say anything more, just nodded and said, "Thank you."
The young man put the herbs into the backpack and said, "By the way, Master also said that these few days are suitable for picking herbs. If Mr. Qin can provide more, the price can be raised further."
Qin Zhao nodded in agreement and sent the person out.
Jing Li lay beside the wooden barrel and looked out.
One copper coin was worth one cent. One hundred copper coins were strung together, plus some scattered coins, so there were a total of one hundred and sixty-five cents on the table.
Jing Li saw clearly just now that Qin Zhao took out a total of three or four kinds of herbs, and each bundle probably contained about ten roots, which was not a large number.
It seems that even if they cannot work in the fields, sick plants still have ways to make a living.
No wonder the medicine is affordable.
After sending the medicine boy away, Qin Zhao watched the medicine boil by the stove for a while, then went into the inner room.
On the stove, the firewood was burning vigorously, and the house was filled with a strong medicinal aroma.
Jingli swam around in the barrel and felt a little bored.
He is just a fish now, unable to move around and unable to go far. If Qin Zhao doesn't come to play with him, he doesn't know what to do.
What is Qin Zhao doing...
Jing Li waited for a long time but Qin Zhao didn't come out. Finally, he couldn't resist the sleepiness and fell asleep in the water.
Until a faint smell of burnt food came into the air.
The fire in the stove was still burning brightly. The lid of the medicine pot was swirling due to the steam, and there was a circle of medicine overflowing around the edge.
Jing Li woke up instantly.
If you keep burning like this, the medicine jar will dry up.
Where on earth was Qin Zhao doing
Jing Li swam back and forth anxiously, flapping his tail in the water, trying to make splashes for Qin Zhao to hear. But the bedroom curtains were still quietly closed, without any human voice.
The other person's pale face suddenly flashed through Jing Li's mind and he stopped moving.
Qin Zhao was not in good health. He had walked a long way on his way back from town today and had been blown by the cold wind in the mountains.
Wouldn’t he...
The more Jing Li thought about it, the more worried he became. He made up his mind, swung his tail hard, and jumped out of the barrel.
Perhaps because he was once a human being, Jing Li's athletic ability is much better than that of ordinary fish. If not, he would not have been able to survive the fishmonger's knife.
He jumped off the table and bounded towards the bedroom, leaving a trail of water behind.
The bedroom was very narrow, with a wooden bed against the wall and a desk and a stool by the windowsill.
There is nothing else besides this.
The light in the room was dim. Qin Zhao was lying on the wooden bed, his brows unconsciously wrinkled. The blood color on his lips had faded, but his cheeks were a little red.
It turns out that he is sick.
Jing Li jumped a little closer. The injury on one side of his waist and abdomen limited his mobility, and it took him a lot of effort to jump onto the pillow.
Qin Zhao looks even better when he's asleep than when he's awake.
The lines of his facial features appeared even deeper and more three-dimensional in the dim light in the room. The corners of his slender eyes were a little red due to the fever, and there was even a small, light-colored cinnabar mole at the end of his eye.
Jing Li looked a little dazed.
He couldn't imagine why such a person would be ostracized.
Qin Zhao had a gentle and kind personality, but he was not as pedantic and boring as the ancient scholars. If such a good person was not in poor health, I really don't know how many men and women's hearts he could have won.
They must bully him because they see that he has a good temper.
Jing Li thought angrily, propped himself up, and gently touched Qin Zhao's cheek with his cold fish fin.
But he was so burned that he pulled it back suddenly.
We can't keep burning like this.
Jing Li didn't care whether he would be suspected or not and slapped Qin Zhao's face hard.
Don’t sleep, get up quickly and drink the medicine first!
But Qin Zhao had such a severe fever that he seemed to have lost all consciousness. No matter how Jing Li slapped him, he couldn't wake him up.
… Then you can’t blame him.
Jing Li raised his upper body, spread his fins, took a deep breath, and flew up, swinging his tail vigorously behind him.
Bang!
The fish tail hit Qin Zhao's face hard. The other party had a thin skin and a faint red mark appeared on the side of his face almost instantly.
But still no response.
Still not awake
Jing Li was anxious and angry. He couldn't stay out of the water for too long. After so much time, the feeling of suffocation caused by lack of water gradually came up, and it was becoming increasingly difficult for his gills to open.
There is no time to delay.
Jing Li took a deep breath and used more strength than before to lift his body up, with his tail also raised high.
But the next moment, Qin Zhao suddenly opened his eyes and met Jing Li's gaze.
As if waking up from a nightmare, Qin Zhao had a thin layer of sweat on his forehead and his eyes became very different from usual.
The previous gentle and kind appearance had faded away, and there was alertness and coldness in his eyes, which made those narrow and deep eyes look even colder.
And even more unfamiliar.
Jing Li shuddered at his glare, lost his balance, and rolled onto the quilt.
The room was silent for a while, the only sound in the air being the explosion of firewood outside.
Jing Li lay on Qin Zhao's chest, and it took him a while to notice that he was actually shaking slightly.
I have to say, Qin Zhao's appearance... is really a bit scary.
The man and the fish stared at each other for a long time.
After a moment, the cold look in Qin Zhao's eyes faded away and he returned to normal.
Then he slowly and gently touched the side of his face. On that pale and flawless face, a new red mark with a little water stain remained.
"You..." Qin Zhao looked a little confused, not knowing whether it was because of his fever or because the current situation was indeed incomprehensible, "... You hit me?"
Jing Li: “…”
Um...does he still have a chance to explain