Chapter 35 - 20: Horse Manure Soup

Chapter 35 - 20: Horse Manure SoupThe next day, in the early morning. After waking up, Yanye felt pretty good. After all, he finally had a cotton quilt and blanket, which made sleeping in the four or five degree end-of-winter weather in Japan not painful, and even a bit comfortably warm. Hmm, it had the comfort of using an air conditioner and a blanket in summer, neither too cold nor too warm, just right for sleeping. Yayoi was already waiting obediently at the door as usual. She came in upon hearing movement, and was a bit surprised to see a strange little girl in the room, even more so when she saw Aman with a bruised eye. However, she was very tactful and didn't ask anything, looking straight past it, showing the demeanor of a professional maid from future Japan, possibly having an "Innate Little Maid Saint Body." After greeting Yanye, she brought hot water and helped Yanye wash Meng Ziqi's head, face, and body, to prevent him from developing bedsores while lying down all day. Aman had woken up by this time too. Her curiosity was strong, so she came over wrapped in a cotton quilt, and looked at the chubby and fair Meng Ziqi curiously asking, "Who is he, and why is he sleeping all the time?" She had noticed him last night and thought he was Yanye's drunken companion, but now it seemed that wasn't the case. "My son..." Today, Meng Ziqi still showed no sign of waking up or any improvement, which made Yanye increasingly worried and even a little afraid that the tragedy of a black-haired person sending off a white-child idiot would happen to him. He almost slipped up when casually covering it up, quickly correcting himself, "My friend, he fell and injured his head, and has been in a coma for several days." While speaking, a thought occurred to him, and he turned to Aman to ask, "Have you heard of anything like this? Do you know anyone who is good at treating such injuries?" Aman lifted and fiddled with Meng Ziqi's plump head for a moment, hesitantly saying, "There's no wound, no external injury, and he's still sleeping... uh, I've never heard the old man mention such a thing, nor that anyone has treated such injuries... But since it happened after a fall, it should count as an external injury, right? Have you tried horse dung soup?" Yanye was a bit taken aback, "Horse dung soup?" Could it be some local folk remedy, specifically for difficult and miscellaneous diseases? "It's a soup made by boiling mature horse dung; it's good for detoxifying and warding off evil, very effective for external injuries that won't heal!" Aman insisted confidently, even giving an example, "There's a guy named Hirata Yuemon Captain in East Omi who was injured by an iron cannon while dueling, and after the wound healed, he fell into a coma. His family prayed to gods and Buddhas to no avail, and he became useless. Finally, he drank horse dung soup and woke up immediately, in very good spirits. I think it's quite similar to your friend's situation, so it should work." "Is there really such a thing?" Yanye frowned slightly, "You mean horse dung for real, it couldn't be that..." Perhaps it was a kind of miraculous and rare mushroom? A local slang term? There might be a type of mushroom that resembles horse droppings called horse dung mushroom; it's not entirely impossible. "It's horse dung, what horses pull out!" Aman said with a "you really are clueless" expression, her bean eyebrows raising, speaking assuredly, "The fresher the better. Bring it back, tightly tie it with straw and seal it for a few days, simmer it into mature horse dung, then place it in a pot to boil. Boil a pot of water into a bowl and it's done! Trust me, force it down and it'll cure all ailments!" I trust you like hell, so it really is horse dung, eh?! What kind of medical concept is this?! Though Chinese medicine also believes in using everything, horse dung as medicine is... The usually composed and calm Yanye's face twisted, looking at Meng Ziqi and imagining pouring golden yellow horse dung soup down his throat made him shake his head quickly to dispel the terrifying thought, but what if it actually worked... Clinging to his last hope, he asked Aman, "Have you tried it? Is it really effective?" "Of course, I haven't tried it. I'd be sick to eat dung; I'm not a dung beetle... uh, I mean I've never been seriously injured or comatose, never had the chance to try it!" You damn... Yanye held back his words twice, unable to scold the unrefined wild child, restrained his anger, and instead asked, "Then do you know any famous doctors in Owari? Even if they haven't treated this kind of injury, as long as they have good medical skills it will do!" "Famous doctors? Most samurai know a bit about Han medicine, and they have some family remedies for external injuries, but to say who is a famous doctor..." Aman replied without needing to think, "In a rural place like Haidong County, how could there be famous doctors? You're overthinking it; you can't even find a proper doctor here!" Yanye let out a light sigh, not really disappointed. In his impression, traditional Chinese medicine officially entered Japan in the year 562 A.D., when Monk Zhili from the Northern and Southern Dynasties of China brought over more than a hundred volumes of traditional Chinese medicine books including the Mingtang Map, formally introducing Chinese medicine to Japan. But how to put this about traditional Chinese medicine; apart from the modern wonder "Barefoot Doctor's Manual," in ancient times, just reading medical books was useless, as many things were orally passed down between master and disciple. Without someone pointing out that thin "window screen," you would only ever know the surface, never the inside story, never graduating, never curing major illnesses. So even if they managed to get the books, Japan gained barely any benefits in Chinese medicine, only plagiarizing and altering a lot of complete prescriptions to supply medicine for the royal family and nobility. Even during the eras of the missions to the Sui and Tang Dynasties, when they frantically scavenged for all kinds of Chinese craftsmanship, cultural customs, and political texts, they also brought back quite a few books on Chinese medicine, but the application of Chinese medicine in Japan never saw much development. It wasn't until the Monk Jianzhen was tricked by Japanese monks into making six attempts to cross eastwards, bringing the "Treatise on Cold Pathogenic and Warm Pathogenic Diseases" and "Essential Prescriptions of the Golden Cabinet" to Japan, and transferring all Chinese medical knowledge and skills, establishing the Vinaya School, teaching hand in hand, and cultivating a large number of medical monks, even curing the so-called Emperor Shomu and Empress Dowager Guangming of Japan, that Chinese medicine truly took root in Japan. Because of this, Monk Jianzhen is also known as the "Father of Japanese Medicine," and even in modern times, many medicine boxes and bags in Japan still have his portrait printed on them, making him a name celebrated through the ages. But until the mid to late Muromachi Era, Chinese medicine was still limited to the exclusive use of the Japanese royal family and nobility. Ordinary people, including even the samurai daimyo, found it as difficult as climbing to the heavens to find a legitimate doctor (except in territories of the Ritsu sect, as Owari believed in One True Sect, Nichiren Sect, Linji Zen, and Caodong Zen, with the Lower Four Prefectures almost entirely within the influence range of Caodong Zen), so people had to pray to gods and Buddha for help or had to drink horse dung soup, a kind of folk remedy. This situation persisted until Monk Sanxi systematically brought back the most advanced and well-established Jinyuan Medicine from the Great Ming, especially medical books written by Li Dongyuan and Zhu Danxi among the four greats of Jinyuan Medicine. His disciple Kuriyama Dosan founded the "Enlightenment Institute," widely inviting students to promote "Li Zhu Medicine," cultivating batch after batch of doctors, which finally provided ordinary Japanese people with a place to seek medical treatment. Consequently, Kuriyama Dosan is revered in later generations of Japan as the "Patriarch of Revival of Han Medicine," quite renowned, and he was from the sixteenth century, having treated Toyotomi Hideyoshi. This means, at this point, this guy probably hasn't started learning medicine yet, or has started but hasn't finished, with founding a medical college being far from reality, so finding a so-called famous doctor in Owari is indeed unlikely. Originally, Harano asked Aman with a faint hope, hoping to find some "hidden world master" or "extraordinary person" with "family-heirloom secret recipes" or "miracle medicine" to cure his foolish son, dreaming of an unexpected surprise, but as expected, there wasn't any. As for horse dung soup... Forget it, it sounds terribly unreliable, better to diligently study the "Barefoot Doctor's Manual," aim to learn quickly to save his foolish son, but he wonders if there'll be enough time... But Yayoi was always listening intently, memorizing the secret recipe for making horse dung soup—after all, this was precious medical knowledge and rare insight, can't go wrong with remembering it! If someone gets hurt in the future, just give them horse dung soup, guaranteed to cure all ailments! She learned it! ... Once Meng Ziqi's personal hygiene matters were sorted out, and after refusing Aman's horse dung soup treatment plan again (Aman was very aggrieved, believing Harano disregarded her goodwill; such a secret recipe she wouldn't easily share with others, saying she would truly give Akira horse dung soup if Akira remained unconscious), Harano intended to carry out the second daily task: to go up the mountain to see if the fog had cleared, hoping to return to the modern era. Seeing him wearing those strange big shoes to go out, Aman didn't mind his disregard for her goodwill anymore, dragged the cotton blanket over to him, and curiously asked, "Where are you going so early in the morning?" "Just going for a walk on the mountain." Though they only knew each other for a day and two nights, Harano seemed to already understand what kind of person Aman was. This fellow was the epitome of the legendary "naturally sociable," inherently "busybodies," talks a lot with strong curiosity, feeling disinclined to deal with her much, he casually replied. Aman found it even stranger, going up the mountain for a walk so early in the cold season, isn't that crazy? She had no intention of leaving her warm little nest, even if awake, she'd still keep the blanket wrapped around her. She thought Harano was indeed a weirdo, like a lunatic, but Harano's quirks had little to do with her, so she didn't dwell on it, instead directly instructing Akira, "Perfect timing, you also make a trip to get my eating utensils back. Hmm, just under the tree with a big bird nest in the west-side grove at the village entrance." The night before, when she planned justice eating, lyres and such were too cumbersome, she'd casually buried it outside the village, and now since there's no problem, it needs to be dug back in time before it gets spoiled by moisture from being buried too long. Akira got up silently without saying a word, wearing straw sandals, the little monkey rapidly climbed to her shoulder, intent on going together. Harano was indifferent, and slipped on his shoes to head outside the village with Akira. Clearly two people together, Akira didn't walk side by side with him, rather falling half a step behind without any words. After walking a short distance, Harano glanced at her once, felt progressively the air becoming stifled, sought a topic, smiling at her, "Nice weather today, huh?" Akira looked up at him coolly, then lowered her head without any intention of responding. Harano: ... The air grew increasingly stiff. Harano simply wanted to make friends, for after all, more friends mean more paths, but seeing her ignoring him, he couldn't help it so he simply closed his mouth, continuing to walk silently out of the village. Honestly, he preferred Aman's personality more, though she might talk about "shit, urine, farts" casually, speak irreverently anytime, throw some nasty comments casually, a genuine wild kid, but being with her felt relaxing, as if being with modern-day friends, bringing an indescribable feeling of familiarity in these unknown times. Contrarily, being with someone like Akira who keeps people at arm's length brings an inexplicably uneasy feeling, which he doesn't quite like. The two silently walked out of the village. Upon leaving the village, Akira glanced unnecessarily at his waist, seeing he seemed unarmed, lightly furrowing her brows intending to say something, but eventually nothing came out, coldly gazing at Harano before lowering her eyes heading toward the small grove. Harano felt baffled, shook his head at her departing back, and followed the creek towards the mountain. Sёarch* The NôvelFire.nёt website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Truly a strange kid!