Chapter 78

Huo Jilin took a deep breath and said to him, "Once we drop off the meds at Wanchun Hall in town today, you won't need to go out for the next few days. I'll keep an eye on things at home, so you should take some time to rest too. Come on, let's go home. You—"

He pointed at Zhou Qingzhu, who was still following them around like a shadow: "You stay here and keep a close eye on things. Once you're done with that candied hawthorn, get back to work."

Zhou Qingzhu nodded repeatedly and handed the other skewer to Chen Jue: "Brother Chen, don't worry, I've got the rest of the work covered!"

This was the last batch, and as long as he watched the heat carefully, there naturally wouldn't be any issues.

Huo Jilin couldn't be bothered to even respond.

He helped Chen Jue along and left without looking back, leaving Zhou Qingzhu and Zhou Qingshan exchanging glances. Zhou Qingzhu patted his chest: "Brother Dalin was terrifying just now."

Zhou Qingshan sighed: "He's pissed because he's worried about Doctor Chen. We still need to learn our lesson."

Zhou Qingzhu nodded vigorously. He never wanted to face another round of Huo Jilin's grilling—the pressure was way too much.

Back home, Chen Jue sat in the courtyard, munching on his candied hawthorn with his eyes shut. The sugar-coated ones were definitely the best—crunchy sugar, soft fruit, sweet and tangy all at once.

Huo Jilin watched him squint with pure bliss on his face, and his expression softened a bit. He asked quietly, "Good, huh?"

Chen Jue grunted in agreement. Seeing Huo Jilin still staring at him, wondering if he wanted some, he reluctantly held it out since there was only the one skewer: "Try it."

Huo Jilin didn't hold back. He leaned over and bit one off the skewer—crunchy, tart, and sweet. It was indeed much better than eating plain hawthorn.

Actually, it tasted better because Chen Jue had already had a bite.

That's what Huo Jilin figured.

But Chen Jue wouldn't share any more and polished off the rest himself.

Huo Jilin smiled and asked, "Good, huh? I'll bring you more next time. What'd you have for lunch?"

Lunch was made by Zhou Qingshan's wife, Xiuer. She was a pretty good cook too.

But it was big-pot cooking, so of course it wouldn't be as fancy as what he made. Sure enough, Chen Jue said, "Sweet potatoes, corn cakes, and cabbage soup."

Huo Jilin pressed on: "Not as good as mine, right?"

Chen Jue shot him a look. Sister-in-law Xiuer cooked big-pot meals her own way, never too generous with the oil. So of course it was plain, simple food.

But the steamed sweet potato leaves were pretty good. Since it was his first time trying them, they still had that newness to them.

Huo Jilin knew the answer from that one look—Chen Jue would never compliment him outright. He opened the box of mung bean cakes and handed them over: "Have a little first, don't overdo it. I'm planning to make some pork bone noodles for dinner."

"Okay." Chen Jue nodded and started eating the mung bean cakes. The ones from this era didn't have much sugar, so they weren't too sweet—he could handle a few.

After Huo Jilin washed the pork bones and threw them all in the pot, he lit the fire and explained the quilt situation to Chen Jue while it simmered.

"No store sells cotton quilts, so I bought cotton and fabric and had Uncle Liu sew them. It'll just take a bit longer, since they still gotta help out here."

Chen Jue was eating his mung bean cake and didn't quite get the connection—how did cooking lead to quilts?

It wasn't until the middle of the night, when he felt Huo Jilin slip back into his bed, that he finally got what he'd meant.

Huo Jilin was giving him a heads-up, telling him he'd be crawling into his bed again tonight.

Huo Jilin could be so weird sometimes. Did something this small really need a heads-up? Was it worth all that buildup?

That wasn't like Huo Jilin at all.

Chen Jue pushed at him a few times, and when he couldn't shove him out, he gave up. It was the middle of the night and he was dead tired. Besides, the temperature had really dropped. Though he could add a slow-burning log or charcoal to the stove, his body right now was sensitive to heat and dryness.

The heated brick bed was especially drying. As the weather got drier day by day, his nose would be dry every morning when he woke up, so he'd stopped adding firewood to the bed's heating vent at night.

So Chen Jue didn't push Huo Jilin away all that hard either. If Huo Jilin weren't being considerate of him as a pregnant man, he could've heated the bed.

Chen Jue drifted off in a daze, not knowing when he dozed back off.

When Huo Jilin pressed closer again, he just burrowed his head deeper into the blanket, leaving his butt sticking out, and that was that.

Because Chen Jue refused to sleep face-to-face with him, Huo Jilin accommodated him. When Chen Jue needed to turn over, he helped support his belly. Chen Jue curled up like a shrimp hugging his own stomach, and Huo Jilin adjusted to mirror his position, becoming an even bigger shrimp—two and a half people curled up together in one sleeping bundle.

Actually, sleeping together wasn't as comfortable as sleeping alone. Huo Jilin knew that very well. He was such a solitary person that even someone walking past his bed while he slept would irritate him.

Back when he'd shared a trench with his comrades, he couldn't sleep well even with sleeping bags between them.

They'd never have imagined he'd now sleep pressed right up against Chen Jue, competing with an unborn baby for his attention.

People change, and they change depending on who they're with.

He'd never thought he'd fall in love with Chen Jue, his opposite, and lose sleep night after night because of him.

Now he could finally sleep. So even if it was a bit cramped, even if Chen Jue found him annoying, even if his reputation went down the drain—he was squeezing into that bed anyway.

But Huo Jilin's good days of sharing a bed didn't last long. Uncle Liu and his daughter-in-law were simply too capable—while harvesting sweet potatoes at home, doing odd jobs, cooking a meal for the medicine workshop at noon, and washing work clothes every other day, they still managed to finish two quilts and the two linen quilt covers Chen Jue had requested in the gaps between tasks.

Huo Jilin looked at the fluffy quilts and didn't know what to say. He couldn't exactly tell Uncle Liu, "You should have slacked off on the things you were supposed to do and hurried through the things you weren't"—because Uncle Liu did everything well.

Whether it was the meals at the workshop or the fields and vegetable garden, everything was kept in perfect order.

Uncle Liu was still showing Chen Jue: "Jue Geer, I used your method to disinfect the quilt covers beforehand, and soaked the linen until it was soft. Keep these leftover whole pieces of fabric—when the baby comes, they'll make nice little clothes. And these scraps—Xiu Er made a pair of tiger-head shoes for the baby. Take a look."

Chen Jue had long seen Sister-in-law Xiuer's craftsmanship, so when he saw the adorable tiger head pieced together from colorful scraps, with finely embroidered fierce eyes and whiskers, he found it utterly charming—especially since it was so tiny, just the length of two of his fingers.

Chen Jue slipped his fingers into the little tiger shoes and made them "walk" across the table, then smiled and thanked Xiu Er: "They're really lovely. Thank you, sister-in-law. I like them very much."

Zhang Xiuer smiled shyly: "I'm glad you like them. I'll make all the baby's shoes from now on—I just love making things for children."

Zhou Hehua had been eyeing them enviously from the side. She patted her not-yet-visible belly and put in an early order: "Sister-in-law Xiuer, make a pair for my little one too! I'll put down a deposit now. I want two pairs!"

Zhang Xiuer smiled too: "Alright, I'll make you two pairs."

Zhang Yan could already carry his baby out to visit, so he'd come over to Chen Jue's place on the first day and happened to join in the fun. Now that he was a father, he was no longer the shy, quiet type. He was very interested in baby talk and teased Zhou Hehua with a grin: "Two pairs aren't nearly enough. Keep having kids—have a whole bunch."

Zhou Hehua didn't know the meaning of embarrassment and declared boldly: "I'm having six! Our family's counting on me to expand the clan!"

Everyone laughed.

It was a tea party of women and wives, and Huo Jilin had no place in it.

He stood outside and watched Chen Jue, who was still threading his fingers through the little tiger shoes.

It was rare to see him so adorable, and rare to see him so relaxed.

That morning, the first batch of medicine came out, and Shopkeeper Li personally drove his cart to pick it up—he took it very seriously. Chen Jue went over the dosage instructions and storage methods inside and out, and only after Shopkeeper Li repeatedly assured him he'd remembered everything did he load up and leave.

Moreover, there was a dosage instruction sheet personally written by Huo Jilin, displayed alongside Chen's Pharmaceutical's sign in the main hall of Jishi Hall, ensuring everyone could see it.

The first batch of medicine from Chen's Pharmaceutical sold quite well, because it was affordable enough and was sold at the highly reputable Jishi Hall.

The advertising banner personally written by Huo Jilin hung in Jishi Hall, so even though the common people hesitated and watched from the sidelines, there were still truly impoverished families who, under the recommendation of Old Doctor Tang, purchased this convenient and quick medicinal packet. Once one family bought it, others followed, and thus in this increasingly cold early winter, all one hundred packets were sold out.

Old Doctor Tang said that after taking the medicine, patients should come back for a check-up in three days, both to take responsibility for the patients and to observe the general outcomes.

Those who came for follow-ups reported good results—at least eight out of ten had passed the most severe days of the illness, no longer running fevers or shivering, and without developing coughs. This outcome was quite satisfactory.

Even the effects of freshly prepared medicine were no better than this. Three days was the most critical period; if you got through it, you were fine. Those with naturally strong bodies didn't need three days, while the slightly weaker—the elderly and children—fully recovered within seven days, which was normal.

So Old Doctor Tang truly felt reassured about this medicinal packet. Another advantage was the addition of licorice, which made it not as bitter, and children could take half the dosage.

A large portion of these cases were among children, whose resistance was not as strong as adults'. The common folk felt they could endure it themselves, but they couldn't let their children suffer, especially since most families had several children and the illness spread quickly. Thus, one large packet of this affordable medicine was enough to cure a whole family.

So this medicinal packet was a godsend for the children of ordinary families, and many people came to buy it upon hearing the news.

Thus, Shopkeeper Li urged Chen's Pharmaceutical Workshop to step up production of the medicine.

He really pushed them—he paid off the balance for the one hundred packets.

Although it was only eight taels of silver, it proved that their medicine was successful.

The workers at the workshop were all delighted; initially, they had worried that the medicine wouldn't sell and that they wouldn't get their wages at the end of the month, but now that concern was gone.

So, after becoming proficient, they produced one thousand packets over the following half month.

By the end of the month, Huo Jilin, who was nearly broke, finally recovered the one hundred taels of silver.

He could finally pay off part of the debt owed to Chen's father—though only a portion, still needing Chen's father to chip in. Chen's father, however, was thrilled to accept it and worked even harder than before, because he had connected with various medicine merchants, greatly expanding his network.

He talked it up to everyone he met about his Chen's Pharmaceutical.

As the workshop gradually got on track, Chen Jue's due date arrived.

During these days, Imperial Physician He from Wanchun Hall had been staying there.

He had come to observe the success of Chen's Pharmaceutical's medicinal packets, and once he started, he couldn't stop.

Because he had again engaged in medical discussions with Chen Jue. Old Doctor Tang needed to be on duty at all times, as many people needed him, but Imperial Physician He had the time, so he simply stayed for several consecutive days. This also suited Huo Jilin's needs perfectly.

Chen Jue had predicted her due date as October 17th, but even modern instruments couldn't pinpoint the exact day, so just to be safe, Huo Jilin had invited Imperial Physician He early.