Chapter 160
Chapter 160
Qin Ying’s solution was the smectite powder for diarrhea and Rehydration Salts from outside the Box.
Combined with the Yao Grass she had on hand, keeping that child alive shouldn’t be a problem.
As for why she needed a roofless house, naturally, it was so she could receive things discreetly.
Many people had died in the Kuxi Tribe, leaving behind quite a few collapsed, empty cave dwellings.
The roofs of these cave homes, which sheltered people from heat and wind, were woven from sand willow branches. The insulating mud on top had to be replaced regularly.
If they were not maintained and swept clean in time, sand blown in by the wind would quickly weigh the roofs down until they caved in.
The Old Shaman led Qin Ying to a cave dwelling whose roof had collapsed.
His eyes were filled with anticipation as he watched Qin Ying walk inside.
Qin Ying sat back against the gravel and pulled up her hood to make sure that if her face melted, she would not scare any children passing by.
She closed her eyes and woke up in the world outside the Box.
After the usual bout of dizziness, she scrambled to her feet.
There was still quite a lot of medicine left from what she had previously sent into Yunwu County City.
Qin Ying quickly tore open several packets while listening with half an ear.
Sure enough, the unattended kids on the first floor were watching TV again early in the morning.
Sharp-eared Wangcai heard movement upstairs and, at flying speed, grabbed its dog bowl in its mouth and dragged it up the stairs with a clang and clatter.
Thunderbird was not slow either, flapping its wings as it flew up.
Qin Ying was dividing the anti-diarrhea smectite powder into little packets with toilet paper. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the two of them and distractedly reminded them, “Wait a little longer. I’ll be back in a bit to feed you.”
Using the Cell Clamp, Qin Ying packed the smectite powder, Rehydration Salts, and anti-inflammatory medicine into portions the size of small red beans.
Then she quickly searched online and, after confirming that water with excessive iron content could be filtered, walked over to the Box.
She opened the lid. The inside of the Box looked like glass smeared with paint.
Following the aura of her Soul-Container Wooden Puppet, Qin Ying searched, and the scene shifted.
From that familiar high-altitude perspective, she hovered above a stretch of red rock terraces.
At the center was the abandoned house where her Soul-Container Puppet sat leaning against the wall.
Qin Ying did not reveal a divine miracle in broad daylight. Instead, she carefully concealed her presence.
Using the Barbecue Tongs, she placed three small color-marked packets of medicine beside the Soul-Container Puppet.
Then she closed the Box, lay down on the bed, and descended into the Box once more.
When the Soul-Container Puppet woke, three packets of medicine were already lying by its hand.
Aman and the Old Shaman were waiting outside. The Old Shaman in particular was on tenterhooks, thinking that Qin Ying, this Divine Envoy, was about to perform some incredible feat.
Just as his imagination was surging with excitement, he heard Qin Ying call, “Come in and get the things.”
The Old Shaman was startled. “There… there are things to take already?”
Following behind Aman, he saw that Qin Ying, who had entered empty-handed, now had three brightly colored packets beside her.
Qin Ying had no time to explain. She only said, “Use the medicine first.”
No one objected to her request, including the child’s parents.
Under everyone’s gaze, Qin Ying opened the marked packet of smectite powder.
From inside, she took out a granule the size of a thumb.
After crushing it completely and dissolving it in water, Qin Ying found herself a little stumped over the feeding dosage.
After thinking it over, she only fed the child one small bowl.
After that came the Rehydration Salts and the anti-inflammatory medicine.
Finally, Qin Ying privately crushed one red fruit from the Yao Grass and added it to the medicine as well.
After watching the child’s parents feed it all down, the Old Shaman of the Kuxi Tribe moved closer.
Surprise and delight mingled on his nail-studded face. His expectations for the divine medicine Qin Ying had brought down were at their peak.
Lowering his voice, he asked, “Shaman Ah Ying, he’ll be fine now, right?”
Qin Ying was just about to explain the effects of the medicine to him when someone shouted, “He’s better! He’s really better!”
Qin Ying instinctively wanted to sigh. Even divine medicine should not take effect the moment it reached the throat.
But reality immediately slapped her in the face. She heard cheer after cheer.
The child lying on the straw mat weakly lifted his eyelids.
Everyone was cheering. Only Qin Ying noticed that the child was smacking his lips.
So it hadn’t been some miraculous medicine after all. The greedy little brat had simply tasted something sweet and, even on the brink of death, couldn’t stop savoring it.
The Kuxi Tribe’s Old Shaman stared at Qin Ying in shock. “It really is you.”
The corners of Qin Ying’s mouth twitched twice. Too drained to argue, she hurriedly stopped the Sand People when she saw they were about to hoist the little brat up and cheer.
“Everyone, stop!”
Were these people trying to play this child to death? Besides, the kid had soiled himself all over!
By taking out medicine and saving him, she had accumulated quite a bit of goodwill. After her shout, the overexcited Sand People stopped.
Qin Ying looked at the child’s parents and had Aman translate for her. “For the next few days, just remember to cook him some thin rice porridge.”
As soon as she said it, she paused.
Here in the Kuxi Tribe, they probably didn’t have anything that could be cooked into porridge.
She would have to go back and bring some rice over.
Before she could think further, the child’s mother said a long string of words.
Aman translated, “She wants to ask if ground sea buckthorn seeds boiled into gruel would work.”
Afraid Qin Ying wouldn’t know what sea buckthorn seeds were, Aman pulled out the small piece of dry, hard flatbread he had hidden in his clothes.
“This bread is made from sea buckthorn seed flour and camelthorn flour.”
At that, Aman suddenly let out an “ah,” as if remembering something, and his face changed in alarm. “You still haven’t eaten your morning meal!”
Startled by his sudden outburst, Qin Ying snapped, “That’s not important.”
Judging by the names alone, whether it was sea buckthorn seed or camelthorn flour, both sounded scratchy enough to tear up the stomach.
The child already had diarrhea. Eating something like that would definitely make it worse.
Qin Ying said, “Tell them not to eat that anymore. I’ll give them some rice in a bit.”
Amid the Sand People’s endless thanks, Qin Ying left.
Once again, she stepped out of the Box and tossed some rice into it.
The Fengshan Elite Cavalry’s military camp was not far away, so Qin Ying still did not dare make any big movements.
After returning to the Box, she had the Shaman secretly summon his trusted people and break up the conspicuously huge grains of rice on the spot before distributing them.
She herself took the Old Shaman and Aman to the Kuxi Tribe’s underground cistern.
In a place like this, water was of the utmost importance, and guards stood watch in front of the cistern door.
The moment they entered, a heavy reek of water mixed with rust rushed at her.
It was as if someone had thrown a clump of rusty water straight into her face.
Only after catching her breath did she begin to take in the cistern.
The cistern was not wide. A pale white coating clung to the crimson sandstone walls, with handprints visible across it. It had clearly been smeared on by hand to prevent moisture from evaporating.
Qin Ying lifted the overly long hem of her cloak and carefully stepped down the carved stone stairs.
It was obvious that the Kuxi Tribe had put great care into this cistern. The walls were covered in dense, fish-scale-like marks, each one made by a shovel.
After she descended a few steps, the light dimmed, but the air grew more humid.
Qin Ying reached the last stretch of stairs and saw a small stone pool embedded at the bottom.
Aman raised his torch to shine over it.
She saw a shallow layer of muddy water collected at the bottom of the pool.
With drinking water in this state, trouble had only been a matter of time.
But no one could be blamed for it, least of all the Old Shaman.
Qin Ying sighed. “I’ll teach you a way to filter water.”
After Aman translated her words to the Old Shaman, the Old Shaman looked deeply moved.
“Is it divine magic?”
Qin Ying, who had to maintain her Divine Envoy persona, turned her back, rolled her eyes, then turned around again.
Just as she was about to give them a little science lesson, a commotion came from above.
A Sand People man ran down, his expression anxious and terrified as he shouted something.
Aman’s expression changed after listening closely. He said to Qin Ying, “Someone from the Fengshan Elite Cavalry has come. They say the Kuxi Tribe poisoned the water and made the two government soldiers who came yesterday fall ill.”
“They… they’ve already sent men to surround the Kuxi Tribe. I’m afraid they mean us harm!”