Chapter 11: Prescribing and Gathering Herbs

Baifeng realized that his wound was not looking good.

After the morning's labor ended, as Baifeng sat down to cook, he felt a dull pain in his leg wound; this would normally be expected, but Baifeng discovered that the wound not only showed no signs of improvement, it had begun to fester.

This terrified Baifeng, because while a scratch from a tree branch might be nothing, one didn't know what viruses or bacteria a wolf's claws might carry.

There was no other way; Baifeng had to see what medicine he could find to survive this ordeal before the wound deteriorated completely.

Baifeng dared not delay in the slightest; he took a basket and went out to gather herbs. People in this era had no medical knowledge, though they might know a little about the effects of certain specific plants based on the experience passed down through generations.

As for anything else, they were completely ignorant. A person might be eating a meal with others and suddenly die right beside them, and those with them wouldn't find it strange at all; death was far too common for them.

Baifeng wanted to find Large Thistle and Small Thistle. These two medicines had remarkable effects on external wounds; when mashed and applied topically, they could cool the blood, detoxify, and stop bleeding, especially the ash of Small Thistle, which was excellent for stopping bleeding.

These two medicines were easy to find and grew basically all over the Huaxia region. Both had purple flowers, prickly buds, and thorns on their leaves and stems, though the Large Thistle was thick and tall, while the Small Thistle was thin and short.

On a patch of wild grass, Baifeng saw the conspicuous purple flowers poking their heads out. He went over to check and sure enough, he was right, and both Large Thistle and Small Thistle were there.

He used a Knife to cut down a few, carefully pinching the leaves to avoid getting pricked, found a rock, placed the medicine on it, smashed it into juice, and smeared it onto his wound.

Baifeng felt a cooling sensation at first, then the wound began to ache, but there was no help for it; using medicine was never comfortable.

He found a leaf to wrap it, tied it onto his leg, and that counted as bandaging.

Along the way, Baifeng saw many other medicinal herbs. Operating on the principle that it would be a waste not to pick them, he dug up some Licorice, Anemarrhena, Codonopsis, and the like. In any case, there were many varieties.

Even at the place where Baifeng dug for clay, he found several pieces of large Gypsum. It had too many impurities, but after thinking about it, Baifeng took it with him anyway.

Because his wound was becoming increasingly uncomfortable, Baifeng did no more work after returning with the herbs, instead sitting in the shade under his wooden shed, lost in thought.

But as evening approached, Baifeng felt increasingly thirsty and feverish. He touched his forehead—it was very hot!

Baifeng felt that things were going badly; he had indeed developed an infection and a fever, and he felt worse by the moment.

While he could still hold on, Baifeng found the pile of herbs he had dug up, rummaged through them, and picked out the Gypsum, Anemarrhena, and Licorice.

Baifeng wanted to prepare a dose of White Tiger Decoction, but he was still missing one ingredient: Non-glutinous Rice. But at this time, let alone Non-glutinous Rice, even the Grass Seed of foxtail grass was not dry.

After thinking, he took out the Codonopsis as well. Without a scale, Baifeng could only rely on his intuition.

The Gypsum had too many impurities, and fearing he would end up with a mouthful of mud, Baifeng smashed it up and washed it with water to remove most of the impurities.

Baifeng felt increasingly dizzy, sweat pouring from his body, but the medicine in the pot had only just begun to boil.

Baifeng forced himself to change the juice of the Large Thistle and Small Thistle on his leg wound. Then, swaying, he took the medicine pot off the fire and poured himself a bowl of medicine.

After drinking the medicine, Baifeng could no longer hold on and collapsed to the ground. He felt the world spinning, fumbled to rest his head on a stone, and then steadily closed his eyes.

In the night, Baifeng felt cold in his delirium, his hands flailing in the air to grab something to cover himself with, but there was nothing around him but air and dirt. After struggling for a while, he fell asleep while murmuring.

When the sun shone on Baifeng, he felt as if he had been beaten up; his whole body ached, his head was groggy, and his mouth was extremely dry.

He opened his eyes to see it was almost noon. Baifeng touched his forehead; the fever should be gone.

He crawled up to change the dressing on his wound; it seemed the state of the wound had improved, and there were signs of flesh beginning to grow.

The pot still contained the dregs from last night; Baifeng dumped them out, added some water, and began to cook a meal.

Although Baifeng had no appetite at all, he had to eat; only by being able to eat could there be hope of recovery.

He cooked some Smoked Fish, and Baifeng added plenty of Bitter Lettuce and dandelions, both of which could cool the blood; medicine and food shared the same origin.

Forcing himself to endure the discomfort in his stomach, Baifeng drank a large bowl of soup. After eating, Baifeng immediately began to brew medicine again; if not for that dose last night, Baifeng felt he would likely be gone by now.

It was the same formula, slowly boiling in the pot.

After his meal began to digest, Baifeng slowly felt his strength return, even feeling that he could continue to work, but as a doctor, Baifeng knew this was merely a buffer period.

Once the medicine was brewed and cooled, Baifeng drank it all without leaving a drop. Although he couldn't see his own tongue coating, judging by his bounding pulse and his urine, the fever had not yet broken.

To conserve his strength, Baifeng lay in the wooden shed to stay cool in the afternoon, but he stretched his leg out to let the sun disinfect it, though he didn't know how effective that would be.

As it approached evening again, Baifeng began to run a fever once more, though this time it was slightly better than the previous night.

Baifeng prepared his dinner and evening medicine early; he couldn't be like last night, where he almost didn't make it to drinking the medicine.

This time, Baifeng drank the medicine before lying down steadily, attempting to fall asleep amidst the spinning world.

The next day, Baifeng woke up later than usual, but he didn't feel as miserable. The wound looked as if it was no longer infected.

Only then did Baifeng feel relieved; he had finally survived the first major illness of the primitive era.

Today, Baifeng was already able to work, and he didn't want to waste time. He always felt a sense of urgency in his heart; although he didn't know what he was anxious about, whenever this thought arose, he felt like he was driving on a highway with a stomachache, but the service area was dozens of kilometers away.

Baifeng hadn't opened the kiln to retrieve the Pottery he had fired the day before yesterday. It wasn't until today that he opened the kiln; he took out many basins and jars, and only one jar was broken, while the others were intact.

Baifeng took a jar with a lid and put his salt inside; this would keep it from getting damp and prevent other dirty things from getting mixed in, or the wind from blowing his salt away.

The Tile he had made previously had dried very well, so Baifeng loaded the kiln to fire them, but the kiln was too small; for two hundred tiles, he would have to fire at least four batches.

While firing the kiln, Baifeng found some wood to make tools for tamping earth foundations.

Four pieces of wood, joined together with mortise and tenon joints to form a square, with one side that could be removed—this was a mold for making earth foundations.

He should also have a Stone Pestle to tamp the earth foundation solid, but Baifeng didn't have the ability to drill holes in stone, so he had to abandon that idea and just find a rock to hold and smash with when the time came.

Watching the black smoke and the burning kiln fire, Baifeng sighed, "It's good to be alive."