Jackie Chan's Son-in-Law

Chapter 44 Showing Grace and Relieving Suffering
"Please, please save my sister!"

In a soup kitchen outside Deqing County, a boy of about thirteen or fourteen years old, carrying a little girl of only eleven or twelve years old on his back, with a sallow and pale complexion, knelt before Chen Qing, kowtowing repeatedly.

His face was covered in tears as he pleaded, "As long as my sister can be saved, I'm willing to be your slave!"

By this time, it was already the second day when Chen Qing arrived to distribute porridge, and a long queue had formed outside the porridge distribution shed.

Anyway, it's free. Whether your home has been affected by a disaster or not, whether it's serious or not, after such heavy rain, it's always good to come over and have a bowl of hot porridge.

As word spread, Chen Qing's soup kitchen naturally became very popular.

Chen Qing looked at the pale-faced young man in front of him, sighed, walked up to the brother and sister, squatted down, and reached out to touch the forehead of the girl he was carrying.

piping hot.

It must be a high fever.

Chen Qing helped the boy up, and seeing his equally pale face, asked, "Have you eaten?"

The young man gritted his teeth and remained silent: "Please, sir, save my sister!"

Chen Qing nodded and said, "Come with me."

He walked ahead, and the young man, carrying his sister on his back, followed behind him. They soon arrived at a tent not far from the soup kitchen.

As soon as you approach the tent, you can clearly hear coughing sounds.

Chen Qing lifted the tent flap, glanced inside, then pointed to an empty spot and said, "You and your sister, wait there for now."

The boy nodded, carried his sister on his back, and walked into the tent. As soon as he entered, he looked around and saw that there were already about ten people resting in the tent, including men and women, young and old.

These people mostly looked sickly.

After a flood, many people will fall ill. In an era where even a common cold can be fatal, a mass illness could very well escalate into a major epidemic.

Seeing this, the boy hesitated, but having no other choice, he carried his sister to an open space.

After a while, Chen Qing returned with two bowls of relatively thick rice porridge. He walked up to the brother and sister and handed them the porridge, saying, "Drink this."

The young man quickly reached out and took the bowl of porridge. He turned to look at his sister lying behind him, who was already somewhat delirious. Holding the bowl, he said to Chen Qing with tears in his eyes, "Master, can I exchange this bowl of porridge for the medicine that's served outside?"

Chen Qing shook his head: "The medicine distributed outside is for prevention. Your sister already has a high fever, so drinking it will probably be useless. You should drink this porridge first."

"In a little while, I'll get a doctor to take her pulse."

Upon hearing this, the young man was about to kneel down to Chen Qing again, but Chen Qing shook his head, got up and left: "I'll go find a doctor for your sister. You two need to drink the porridge, especially your sister. If she doesn't have any food in her stomach, no medicine will be effective."

After Chen Qing got up and left, the young man carefully placed two bowls of porridge in front of him, then turned back and shook his younger sister awake.

"Sister, sister, get up, get up..."

When Chen Qing led Manager Lu back, the young man had already fed his younger sister half a bowl of porridge, leaving the remaining bowl and a half in front of her.

Chen Qing looked at the remaining bowl and a half of porridge, sighed, then looked at the young man, and turned to Lu Qing, saying, "Manager Lu, this is the girl. Please take her pulse."

Manager Lu responded first, then looked at Chen Qing and sighed: "Young Master, we rarely provide medical care during disaster relief efforts. Today, some people who were not affected by the disaster have come to us for treatment."

Doctors in this era, especially those with some skill, don't charge low consultation fees. Hearing about such a bargain, the local people naturally couldn't resist taking advantage of it.

Despite saying that, Manager Lu still squatted down, placed the little girl's hand flat, and put three fingers on her pulse.

In the blink of an eye, Manager Lu looked up at Chen Qing and said, "Young Master, this girl is very ill. I'm afraid that just using Banlangen Decoction or Qingwen Baidu Decoction may not be effective."

The decoction for clearing heat and eliminating toxins is one of the three prescriptions that Master Gu wrote for Chen Qing. It is also the main medicine currently used in this soup kitchen to treat disaster victims who have developed fevers.

The young man knelt down in front of Manager Lu with a thud, kowtowing repeatedly: "Sir, please save my sister! No matter what kind of medicine it is or how much it costs, I will definitely repay you in the future!"

Lu Qing shook his head and said, "No need to thank me, it was all the young master's idea."

He then turned to Chen Qing, bowed his head, and kowtowed repeatedly to Chen Qing.

"Alright, a man's knees are worth their weight in gold."

Chen Qing helped him up, turned to Lu Qing and sighed, "Manager Lu, please write down the prescription."

Lu Qing responded and stood up immediately: "We brought quite a few medicinal herbs, so we should be able to find them all. I'll go and find them for you."

He turned and left to find medicinal herbs.

Chen Qing stayed where he was, walked around the "patient tent," asked about the condition of a few people, and then returned to the brother and sister, asking, "Where is your family?" The boy, who was feeding his sister porridge at the moment, burst into tears upon hearing this: "Father passed away early. These past few days, there has been flooding. My mother went with the villagers to try and stop the floodwaters to save the crops, but she got swept away and developed a high fever that night..."

He couldn't continue speaking, and his body began to tremble slightly.

Chen Qing shook his head and sighed.

Just then, Manager Lu returned with two packets of medicine. He handed the medicine to Chen Qing and said, "Boil four bowls of water down to one bowl."

Chen Qing placed the medicinal herbs in front of the young man.

"Did you hear what Manager Lu said? We don't have enough people to brew the medicine, so you'll have to do it yourself."

The boy took the medicine packet with both hands, tears streaming down his face: "I'll remember, I'll remember..."

At this moment, Manager Lu had already gone to see other patients. The young man, with tears in his eyes, looked up at Chen Qing and asked, "Master, what is your name?"

He wasn't even very good at using honorifics, but it was clear that he had already memorized Chen Qing.

Chen Qing had heard those words many times that day, but he didn't mince words and simply said, "My name is Chen Qing."

"Helping out at Anrentang in Deqing."

"My name is Li Shiyi."

He knelt down, bowed his head to Chen Qing, and said, "I will remember your kindness, sir, and I will repay you in the future no matter what!"

During this day, Chen Qing had already met many ordinary people. Ordinary people don't usually pay much attention to naming their children. A name like "Eleven" is not from a prominent family. It's mostly because he was born on the eleventh of a certain month.

Choosing a name is that simple.

Chen Qing helped him up and patted his shoulder: "Go and brew the medicine first. We can talk about repaying her now, once your sister is better."

The young man surnamed Li shook his head resolutely.

"Regardless of whether my sister is good or bad."

He bowed his head and said, "I want to repay Master Chen."

…………

"Young master's family."

Another day passed, and Chen Qing's ward had expanded to two. The number of people queuing outside the porridge distribution shed had only increased. At this moment, he was busy distributing medicine when Manager Lu ran over and said to him, "Master and Magistrate Hong have arrived."

Chen Qing nodded and said, "I understand."

He put down his work, walked to several banners, and tore them down one by one.

These banners are very useful.

Although most people are illiterate, there are always some who can read. As long as one person can read, word will spread from one to ten, and from ten to a hundred, until everyone knows who the real person is.

However, such "favors" were unnecessary in front of Magistrate Hong, lest they cause unnecessary trouble.

Chen Qing carefully put away the banner, ignoring the mud on his clothes, and, led by Manager Lu, greeted Magistrate Hong, who had just alighted from his sedan chair, and Master Gu, who had just alighted from his carriage.

Upon seeing Magistrate Hong and his entourage, Chen Qingyuan bowed respectfully, saying, "Greetings, Magistrate; greetings, Uncle."

Magistrate Hong stepped forward and looked at the “thriving” soup kitchen. He stared at it for a while before turning to Master Gu and saying with emotion, “Brother, you have really done a great job this time.”

After saying that, he stepped forward, patted Chen Qing on the shoulder, and said with a smile, "I knew I was right. Young Master Chen is capable. You have managed this place very well."

Master Gu chuckled and said, "It's all thanks to the county magistrate's skillful leadership."

Chen Qing glanced at the two of them, then looked back at the porridge stall behind him.

"I'll take the county magistrate to see it."

He sighed, looking somewhat haggard.

"There is too much human suffering here."

　I've made some changes, so it might take a while...

　　
　
(End of this chapter)