6 Names

Shen Qingyue asked in a rush, "Is seeing a doctor expensive?"

Jiang Zhu replied, "I don't know."

Shen Qingyue was taken aback. "You don't know? Have you never seen a doctor?"

Jiang Zhu shook his head, then nodded. "My father saw one, but it didn't help."

Shen Qingyue fell silent. He didn't want to overthink it, and he certainly didn't want to press for the meaning behind "it didn't help." He simply smiled and awkwardly changed the subject. "You're digging that up right in front of me—aren't you afraid I'll steal your money and run off?"

Jiang Zhu laughed. "I'm not afraid." *You can't even run.*

Although he didn't say it aloud, Shen Qingyue caught the implication and teased, "Hey! You wait until my leg is healed, and then say that again!"

Jiang Zhu sealed the jar, brushed the dust off his clothes, poured a kettle of hot water for Shen Qingyue, and handed him a flatbread.

Shen Qingyue touched the bread and chuckled. "Did you bake this yourself?"

"Yes," said Jiang Zhu.

Shen Qingyue tapped the bread, which gave off a sound as solid as stone. He exclaimed, "This bread is truly impressive. It would have been perfect for me to use to crack stones yesterday."

Jiang Zhu’s face flushed as he realized what he meant. "It's... it's meant to be soaked in water. You have to eat it with water..."

Shen Qingyue thought to himself that he would rather go hungry. He handed the bread back. "I still have some food left. I won't starve. Don't worry, just go."

Jiang Zhu hesitated, his face still red, before pulling out two small pastries he had intended to offer to the Mountain God.

Shen Qingyue couldn't help but smile. "You don't have to give me those if you're so reluctant."

Jiang Zhu shook his head. He didn't explain the local tradition that offerings couldn't be eaten before being presented to the god—once eaten, they were no longer fit for the altar. He figured he would just buy another set when he reached town. He reasoned silently that since Shen Qingyue claimed to be an immortal, he must surely know the Mountain God, so the deity wouldn't be angry if he ate them.

"I'm leaving now."

"Hey, kid."

"Yes?"

"If the doctor is too expensive, don't waste your money. Buy some meat and something good to eat instead. We'll eat well. You can just pick some herbs from the mountain for me; that will work just as well." Besides, even if his leg healed, he’d already run out of medicine, and he might just die any day anyway. Furthermore, asthma was the kind of thing that was fine until it wasn't; if he had a bad flare-up, medicine wouldn't necessarily save him.

Jiang Zhu smiled. "Okay."

"Okay what?"

"I'll buy meat, and we'll have hand-pulled noodles tonight."

Shen Qingyue beamed. "...Okay."

"I'm going."

"Be careful on the road."

Jiang Zhu closed the door, then opened it again. "If you need to use the outhouse..."

"Go, go, hurry up! I have a broken leg, not paralysis."

Jiang Zhu closed the door again.

"Hey, kid."

"Yes?"

The door opened once more.

"What's your name?"

"Jiang Zhu."

"Jiang Zhu?" *Stiff?* "Like the bamboo in 'bamboo'?" *He didn't just name himself that because there's bamboo growing at home, did he? Is he that casual?*

"Yes."

"Not bad, very good... colloquial, elegant, pleasant, and easy to remember. My name is Shen Qingyue. 'Qing' as in the green of the green mountains, and 'Yue' as in the higher you jump, the harder you fall."

"...?" Jiang Zhu was stunned, thinking, *What a strange name!*

Shen Qingyue, Shen Qingyue... A man surnamed Shen went up a mountain and fell very hard.

*Isn't that just the Shen Qingyue from yesterday?*

Jiang Zhu was deeply impressed. He pondered the strange name all the way along the path, thinking it wasn't actually that hard to remember!

"Bamboo? Did you find money? Why are you so happy today?"

Jiang Zhu shook his head. "No."

But he had found a strange person.

Seeing who it was, his smile didn't fade. "Big Brother, Sister-in-law."

"Mm." Jiang Zheng, who was driving the donkey cart, pulled over. Lü Xiangmei, who was hugging a child on the cart, shifted to the side and pushed the little boy sitting next to her. "Going to the temple fair too? Jiaye, scoot inside. Come on, Bamboo, hop on."

Jiang Zhu shook his head. "I'm going to town."

Lü Xiangmei said, "That's on the way, get on, get on."

Jiang Jiaye nimbly squeezed inside, calling out, "Little Uncle, get on!" The little girl in Lü Xiangmei's lap smiled sweetly at Jiang Zhu.

Jiang Zhu shook his head. The donkey cart wasn't big, and the donkey was quite old; it was already heavy with an adult and two children, not to mention the crates of tofu they were carrying to sell. His sister-in-law already felt bad for the donkey, and he knew he would have to get off and push when they hit an incline anyway, so why bother sitting?

Seeing he wouldn't budge, Lü Xiangmei called out, "Then put your basket on!"

Jiang Zhu didn't refuse. He placed the basket on the cart, and Jiang Jiaye scooted forward to hold it steady so it wouldn't tip over on the bumpy road.

Before long, they ran into other villagers heading to the fair. Jiang Zhu quietly walked on the outer edge of the group. Whenever someone struck up a conversation, his sister-in-law would answer, and he just kept walking in silence.

When they reached the fork in the road to town, Lü Xiangmei handed him the basket. Jiang Zhu reached in and pulled out four copper coins, giving two to each child.

"You don't need to give them anything, I brought money!" Lü Xiangmei protested. Jiang Zhu tossed the coins to Jiang Jiaye and took off running.

"Hey! Bamboo!" Lü Xiangmei put the child down and chased after him, but Jiang Zhu was already far away. "This child."

Jiang Zheng said, "Just take it. When we get to the fair, see if there's anything he needs."

"Mm," Lü Xiangmei flicked Jiang Jiaye on the head as he gave money to his sister. "Tomorrow, you run an errand and take some tofu up the mountain to your Little Uncle."

"Mm." Money in hand, Jiang Jiaye agreed happily and began chatting with his sister about what to buy at the fair.

Today was the Mountain God's birthday. Not just the nearby villages, but even the townspeople were flocking to the temple on another mountain on the outskirts of the county to pray and join the festivities. Usually, at this hour, crowds were heading toward the town, but today, everyone was moving outward from it.

Jiang Zhu squeezed against the flow of the crowd. Once he reached the town streets, it was less crowded. He first bought the pastries for the offering, then bought some flaky cakes and a pound of meat. Once everything was packed, he headed straight for the town's only medical clinic.

Even the junior doctor had taken his family to the fair, leaving only the old master and an apprentice to mind the shop. Fortunately, the junior doctor had taken a mule cart, leaving their donkey behind, and the old doctor was willing to ride the donkey up the mountain to see the patient.

When they arrived, Shen Qingyue had already hidden his backpack, clothes, and shoes. He was lying on the bamboo bed, waiting for them with a small stool propping up his injured leg, a bamboo pillow under his shoulder, his chin resting in one hand, and a bamboo fan in the other, waving it listlessly.

From head to toe, aside from his clothes and hair being a bit short and his skin a bit pale, he looked just like a young master from this world.

He had finally tied his dark blue cotton clothes properly, and the color made his skin look even paler. The cheap clothes looked a few degrees more expensive on him. Seeing him lounging there like a beauty, both the doctor and Jiang Zhu were stunned.

If it weren't for the bandaged leg and the scent of medicinal herbs in the room, he didn't look like someone trapped on a mountain waiting for treatment, but rather like someone living in recluse.

Shen Qingyue changed his position and explained, "It hurts less if I lie like this."

The old doctor didn't think much of it, assuming he was just some rebellious young master who had gone up the mountain to hunt and ended up falling. He brought his medical kit inside to examine the injury and feel the bones. "It's swollen quite a bit. Let me see. Does it hurt here? Or here?"

Shen Qingyue winced. "It hurts everywhere!"

"How about here?"

"Ouch, ouch, ouch! Please, go easy, go easy!"

"Don't worry, the bone isn't broken. It hurts here too, right? It's a bad sprain. I'll set the bone first, then prescribe two doses of medicine." The old doctor opened his kit and poured medicinal oil onto his hands.

Shen Qingyue nodded. "Okay, please go easy—Ah!!!"

"It doesn't hurt that much." The old doctor expertly pinned him down so he couldn't jump away. "Hold him down, hold him down, don't let him thrash about."

Jiang Zhu rushed over and held down Shen Qingyue's flailing left leg. With a *crack* and then another *crack*, the old doctor calmly said, "That's it. The leg and foot are back in place."

Shen Qingyue stopped moving, flopping onto the bed like a dead fish, having crushed the perfectly good bamboo pillow.

The old doctor massaged the tendons in his leg, wiped the oil from his hands, and announced, "There you go. It takes a hundred days to recover from a bone or tendon injury. Apply the medicine and just lie still. Don't let it get cold, and try not to put any weight on it until it's healed."

Jiang Zhu hurriedly added, "He has another illness."

"Hmm? Let me check his pulse..." The old doctor frowned. "Do you have a cough?"

Jiang Zhu answered, "Yes, a very severe cough."

"Do you wheeze?"

"Yes."

"What color is the phlegm?"

Jiang Zhu: "...?"

Shen Qingyue was still recovering from the pain in his leg and chuckled. "Answer him. Is it me who's sick, or you?"

Jiang Zhu: "..."

Shen Qingyue said, "It's congenital asthma. It can't be cured, no need to treat it."

The old doctor fell silent. He felt the pulse again and sighed helplessly. "I'm not skilled in this area. I can only prescribe some medicine to manage it."

Shen Qingyue wasn't disappointed. He smiled and said, "Thank you, but that won't be necessary. Just give me the medicine for the leg. I know how to manage the asthma."

Jiang Zhu asked, "It can't be cured?"

The old doctor replied, "It can be treated, but it's hard to heal completely. The main thing is proper care."

Jiang Zhu said, "Then treat it. Please prescribe the medicine."

Shen Qingyue interjected, "Only for the leg. We have herbs. Jiang Zhu, show the doctor the herbs you dug up this morning. If they can be used, don't buy new ones."

The old doctor found this amusing, wondering who among them was the poor one and who was the young master. He didn't refuse, though. They used the same few local herbs for sprains and fractures, so there was no point in buying duplicates if they were already on the mountain. He looked at the herbs Jiang Zhu had gathered before writing the prescription, telling Jiang Zhu which ingredients they needed to buy from the pharmacy for the ones they didn't have or that required special processing.

He explained how to brew the medicine twice, and once Jiang Zhu had memorized it, he handed over the script.

Jiang Zhu asked, "What about his other illness? No medicine for that?"

Shen Qingyue said, "No need."

The old doctor added, "Medicine is three parts poison. Just make sure he eats food that nourishes the lungs and clears the airways. I'll prescribe some dried tangerine peel, chrysanthemum, and jasmine. Boil those in water for him to drink."

Jiang Zhu nodded.

The old doctor finished the prescription and cautioned them, "Avoid raw, cold, and irritating foods. Be careful on a daily basis. If your asthma is severe, you must be extra careful on the mountain. Avoid the cold, and keep warm in the mornings and evenings. The weather on the mountain is fickle. Once your leg heals a bit, notify your family to come and take you down the mountain."

Jiang Zhu looked stunned. "He can't stay on the mountain?"

Shen Qingyue was very open-minded. "If you're careful, it's the same anywhere. If you're not, it's the same anywhere."

The old doctor smiled and shook his head. He asked Jiang Zhu for some bamboo drying baskets to offset part of the medical fees.

Jiang Zhu packed the baskets and walked the old doctor down the mountain, asking for advice on how to care for Shen Qingyue along the way. Since it was just the two of them, the doctor was happy to oblige. Once he finished, he casually asked, "Is he your friend?"

"...Yes!"

"Keep him on the tangerine peel and floral tea. If you're still worried, take him to the county once his leg is better. Actually, you're better off asking him; since he's had this illness since childhood, he certainly knows better than you how to manage it."

"Yes."