Chapter 301: Chapter 301

Xiao Chengzi lowered his head, "Even if it’s cured, it won’t matter; she will still scold me, and everyone will still look down on me."

As he spoke, he began to sob again.

Li Yuzhu said, "If you haven’t cured it, how do you know everyone will look down on you?"

Xiao Chengzi sighed, "You... you don’t understand..."

Li Xing’an squinted his eyes and stroked his chin while looking at him with a smile, "Hey, Xiao Chengzi, did you really watch that girl Liu Ya bathing next door?"

Xiao Chengzi immediately shouted, with an angry look on his face, "No!"

"Then why don’t you refute it when others say that about you?" Li Xing’an raised his eyebrows, "You just take the scolding? You’re too useless!"

Li Yuzhu also said, "My brother is right, you just take it when others scold you? If you don’t refute it, rumors will keep spreading, and things you didn’t do will become things you did!"

Mu Yuanxiu also said, "If you don’t refute it this time, the rumors will keep coming at you, and you’ll become someone everybody hates. Is it worth living like that?"

Xiao Chengzi bit his lip, looking at the three of them, "I... I, I..."

"Oh, can’t you speak a little faster?" Li Xing’an was impatient, "Why are you so wishy-washy?"

Li Yuzhu said, "You just said that whether your eyes are good or bad, people will look down on you. In my opinion, it’s better to get them healed. Aren’t bad eyes bothering you too? Waiting for them to heal on their own could take as little as seven or eight days, or as much as ten. You’ll be tortured by your eyes all these days; isn’t that uncomfortable?"

Li Xing’an patted Xiao Chengzi on the shoulder, "My sister is right, you should consider her suggestion. Ah, do you even need to think about it? How can you not understand such a simple truth? What’s wrong with your head?"

Li Xing’an was persuading him, and then he got angry again.

Xiao Chengzi bit his lip, still hesitating.

A woman carrying a basket of vegetables walked by in the alley, glancing at Xiao Chengzi, she let out a light laugh and walked away.

Seven or eight little kids were laughing and playing in the alley.

They saw Xiao Chengzi and all jeered, "Ah, shame, shame, looking at Liu Ya bathing, serves you right to have an eye infection. One-eyed dragon, shame, shame, haha——"

Li Xing’an put his hands on his hips and fiercely yelled at the kids, "I’m from the government office. If you say that again, I’ll catch you all!"

"Wah——" A few kids were so scared they scattered and fled, each going back to their own home.

Li Yuzhu asked Xiao Chengzi again, "Have you decided? If you don’t treat it, you’ll be a one-eyed dragon for several days, feeling both pain and itchiness, not eating well, not sleeping well, and being laughed at by kids. If you treat it, the swelling will go down overnight, and it won’t hurt anymore. Your eyes will be able to see clearly, and in another day, they’ll basically be all better."

Xiao Chengzi bit his lip, "Okay, I’ll treat it."

"That’s the right decision." Li Xing’an patted his shoulder.

Xiao Chengzi looked at the three of them, "Really... no money needed? I don’t have a single coin."

"No money needed. However, after I treat your eye, you have to help me carve a mold," Li Yuzhu said.

Xiao Chengzi nodded, "Okay, I’ll carve it once my eyes are better."

Li Yuzhu then asked Xiao Chengzi where nearby there is a quiet place to treat his eye.

There was a woman of unknown status making a big fuss at home, making it impossible to treat the illness quietly.

Xiao Chengzi said, "At the other end of the alley, there’s an Earth Spirit temple. Not many people usually go there."

Li Yuzhu said, "Okay, let’s go there."

Everyone followed Xiao Chengzi out of the alley, and Li Yuzhu did indeed see, diagonally opposite the alley entrance, an Earth Spirit temple.

The temple was shorter than an average house, but could seat seven or eight people. The ground was cleaned up nicely.

In the northern direction inside the house, there was an offering to the Earth God, with a few shriveled fruits placed on the altar.

Xiao Chengzi walked up to the Earth God and bowed piously, "Devotee Xiao Chengzi, once again disturbing you today. When I have money, I will definitely offer you good fruits."

Li Yuzhu said, "Xiao Chengzi, do you often come here?"

Xiao Chengzi turned back, gave her a glance, and gently nodded.

His expression was one of not wanting to say much.

Li Yuzhu didn’t ask much further, only said, "Sit down, I’ll start treating your eye now."

She pointed to the entrance, where the light was bright.

Xiao Chengzi sat down where she pointed. Li Xing’an and Mu Yuanxiu looked around the temple and stood guard outside the door.

Li Yuzhu lifted the cloth covering Xiao Chengzi’s left eye, and upon seeing his eye, she asked, "How many days has it been for this eye?"

Xiao Chengzi’s left eye was already swollen and red, only leaving a slit visible.

No wonder he covered it with a cloth; it indeed looked quite frightening.

"Four days," Xiao Chengzi said.

"Recovering with medicine will be slow. I’ll cut open the swollen part of your eye and squeeze out the pus, then apply some topical medication and take some internal medication. It’ll be basically fine in two or three days," Li Yuzhu said, "Once the pus is gone, your eye won’t itch or hurt."

Xiao Chengzi was so scared his face turned white, "Will... will it hurt?"

Li Yuzhu shook her head and smiled, "If I give you some Powder for Anesthesia, it won’t hurt much."

She understood why Xiao Chengzi’s face turned pale with fright.

She remembered in her past life in the countryside, she had seen some poor parents who couldn’t afford to go to the hospital themselves treating their children’s styes.

They would only use sewing needles heated over fire to prick the abscess and then squeeze out the pus with their hands. ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ 𝗇𝗈𝗏𝖾𝗅•𝖿𝗂𝗋𝖾•𝗇𝖾𝗍

The longer the procedure took, the longer the pain lasted. The children would often cry out in agony, unable to bear the pain.

To prevent the children from moving around and affecting the speed of squeezing, the parents either had several people hold down the child’s limbs, or tied the child to the bed.

"I’ll apply some anesthetic-like medicine around your eye, and it won’t hurt at all during the treatment. But after the treatment, the wound might hurt a little, at that time you can take some medicine to relieve it," Li Yuzhu said.

Xiao Chengzi sighed in relief, "That’s good then."

Li Yuzhu tilted her head and teased him, "Xiao Chengzi, this little pain is nothing. Women giving birth is the real pain."

Xiao Chengzi blushed and lowered his head.

Li Yuzhu stopped smiling, "Alright, I won’t tease you anymore, let’s get started."

She took a cloth from her bag and spread it on the ground. Then she took out a copper box the size of a book and placed it on the cloth.

Opening the copper box revealed a neat row of shiny tools like silver needles inside.

Xiao Chengzi looked on curiously.

"Lie down, close your eyes, don’t move!" Li Yuzhu commanded.

Xiao Chengzi obeyed and lay down.

Li Yuzhu disinfected her hands, took a syringe, filled it with anesthetic, and injected it under the skin at the infected area of his eye.

The fine needle pierced the skin, causing Xiao Chengzi to shiver slightly.

"This is the anesthetic, soon you won’t feel any pain," Li Yuzhu said, "If you want to heal your eye quickly, just lie still."

Hearing this, Xiao Chengzi stopped moving.

Once the anesthetic took effect, Li Yuzhu took out gauze and other supplies from her bag and began the procedure. She used a small surgical knife to cut open the infected area of Xiao Chengzi’s eyelid.

She squeezed out the toxin and applied the medicine.

After the time it took to drink a bowl of tea, the procedure was complete.

Li Yuzhu cleaned the wound on Xiao Chengzi’s eyelid and applied an external anti-inflammatory medicine.

"All done," she said, handing him a small mirror to look at his eye, "See, isn’t the swelling reduced? The toxins inside have been expelled. Take some detox medicine soon, and by tomorrow, your eye will be deswollen, and you’ll be able to see again."

"It... it’s all better?" Xiao Chengzi reached out to touch his eye.

Li Yuzhu quickly held down his hand and shook her head, "Don’t touch your eye, your hands aren’t washed and not clean, it might cause your eye to get infected again."

Xiao Chengzi responded with an "Oh," "Can I get up now?"

"You can get up. Also, I have something to tell you," Li Yuzhu said.

Xiao Chengzi got up from the ground and was about to pat the dust off his clothes, but Li Yuzhu stopped him, "Be careful, dust might get into your eye wound."

Xiao Chengzi dared not move again.

"I’ll wrap your eye for you, today it’s still not suitable to see people." She took clean gauze and bandaged Xiao Chengzi’s eye.

She also gave him some medicine pills and told him how to take them.

Then she told him not to use the previous washcloth anymore and to replace it with a new one.

She also said not to share a washbasin with others and to prepare one just for himself.

Xiao Chengzi blinked with one eye, "Why can’t I use the old washcloth?"

Li Yuzhu said seriously, "The problem with your eye was mainly caused by unclean things getting into it. When I say unclean, I don’t mean something you can see, but stuff you can touch, like the unclean water on the washcloth getting into your eye, causing it to get sick. Just like eating unclean food gives us diarrhea. It’s the same with the eye; it will try to expel toxins, causing the eye to swell."

Xiao Chengzi sighed, "But people don’t believe these things."

Li Yuzhu replied, "The truth will come out sooner or later over time, naturally, they’ll believe then. For now, it’s good enough if you believe it, it’s better for your eye."

Xiao Chengzi nodded gratefully to Li Yuzhu, "I’ll remember what you said."

"I’ll come to your house at dawn tomorrow to give you the medicine," Li Yuzhu said again.

Xiao Chengzi looked troubled, "Tomorrow... early morning?"

Li Yuzhu nodded, "Is there a problem?"

Xiao Chengzi bit his lip, just about to speak, when outside, someone shouted loudly, "Liu Ya? Where did you die off to? Get back here!"