Chapter 35: Down to Earth (Part 2)
Captain Hong shouted that the people were saved by Huo Chong, and Huo Chong immediately followed Captain Hong back home. After checking the wound, the maggots ate everything they could according to their habits. From the perspective of humans, the terrible wounds formed by the terrible pus and disgusting tissue fluid became clean, and the tender meat was gradually covered with a healthy scab, with red tender meat underneath.
I put my hand on the patient's forehead and found that his body temperature had dropped significantly. Although he was still a little hot, it was not the kind of high fever that could kill him.
Huo Chong sighed deeply and said to Captain Hong, "I am really grateful for your help in rescuing me just now."
Captain Hong had an expression that said "I was the one who helped you", but he said very modestly: "Brother Huo, what are you talking about? You saved my people, I just went out and asked you to come back to help."
Huo Chong did not dare to be complacent. These people were still weak, and Huo Chong did not have any further treatment equipment. If they died, Huo Chong could not bear the responsibility. He sighed and said, "It depends on whether these brothers are strong enough."
Captain Hong pulled Huo Chong, and the two of them went to the yard and talked in low voices.
"Brother Huo, it's not possible now?"
"Captain Hong, I don't know how long these brothers have had a fever. If they have had a high fever for three or four days..."
"I've seen this happen many times. If a person has a fever for two days in a row, not to mention three or four days, he will die. Brother Huo, our brother only started to have a fever yesterday."
"If it were yesterday, a 60% chance of being saved would have been achieved." Huo Chong remained modest and cautious.
I thought that Captain Hong would still dwell on the matter of death, but unexpectedly, this old man said, "It depends on their fate. Brother Huo, is there anything to eat?"
The ham that was intended for Liu Yannian had been taken back and given to Huo Chong, who immediately ordered his fellow apprentices to slice the ham and smoke it over pine branches. He also hurriedly prepared dinner, and as soon as it got dark, the miners' lamps were lit and everyone started eating.
If there is meat, there must be wine, although Captain Hong complained a little, "Is there any other wine?"
But they still had to drink Huo Chong's potato wine, but strong liquor and meat are actually a perfect match. After a few slices of meat, no one cares about the strong liquor. After eating and drinking for a while, Captain Hong was so envious, "Huo...Brother Huo. I didn't expect your method to be so weird."
"Haha." Huo Chong could only laugh dryly. Sometimes Huo Chong envied people who could get drunk. His physique of being able to get dizzy but not drunk was actually at a disadvantage in the drinking scene. Others took advantage of the alcohol to do this and that, and talk nonsense. He couldn't do that.
If I could get drunk, I could fight back against what Captain Hong said. But I can't get drunk, so I can't do such a thing. It's a pity.
"Brother Huo, our people must survive." Captain Hong said with a thick tongue.
Huo Chong could only nod. However, his experience in the drinking scene made Huo Chong doubt whether Captain Hong could really see others nodding at this moment.
After eating for a while, with a burst of crackling, eight of Hong's men drank one after another. Hong stood up straight, looking like he wanted to say something more. However, he kept this posture and fell directly onto the table.
Huo Chong stretched out his hand to block the guy, so that he would not be drowned by the soup in the bowl in front of him. Unexpectedly, Captain Hong was able to hold Huo Chong's arm tightly, and said before losing consciousness: "Brother Huo, our... people..., uh... need to be saved..."
That night, Huo Chong led his fellow apprentices to take turns on the night watch. When daybreak came, Huo Chong immediately began to probe the wound with a probe, picking out pieces of bark and splinters left in the flesh.
By the time they were done, it was already daybreak. The people who were settling the Daqinghecao Gang struggled for a while, and soon the gang rushed out, asked where the latrine was, and ran straight to it.
After finishing the morning's work, Captain Hong came to see their brothers again. Seeing that they were all sick, he began to ask what was going on.
Huo Chong simply replied, "Captain Hong, it would be helpful to ask a doctor to come over now."
Captain Hong immediately sent his men out, had breakfast at Huo Chong's place, and then went out as well.
In the afternoon, Captain Hong came back. Following him were Liu Yannian and his men. When they saw Huo Chong, the two who had been beaten immediately held down their weapons. Captain Hong shouted angrily: "What's the matter? I invited you here, do you still want to fight in front of me?"
Liu Yannian waved his hand to let the two subordinates who had been beaten regain the most basic courtesy, that is, to let go of their weapons.
Then he said, "Master Hong, what do you mean?"
Captain Hong acted like a familiar person. He asked his men to bring a stool and asked Liu Yannian and Huo Chong to sit down. Then he said, "I want to be a peacemaker. Please talk it out on both sides."
Liu Yannian mocked, "Haha! Captain Hong, you are too proud, aren't you?"
Leader Hong was not moved at all and laughed, "Haha! Leader Liu, Liu Feng offended someone from the Cao Gang and caused a death! You must know about this, right?"
Liu Yannian's expression became greatly shaken, but he still resisted stubbornly, "Master Hong, what do you mean by this?"
"Captain Liu. All of us in the Cao Gang know about this. If you insist on saying you don't know, we have to find someone to judge the matter."
Huo Chong wanted to laugh when he heard this, but he was also even more confused. Because he had never been involved in the underworld, Huo Chong did not know how the underworld worked. However, Huo Chong felt that the so-called judgment was not just a literal meaning.
Liu Yannian was silent for a while with a dark face, and then he said: "That was also done by Huo Chong's master!"
"Oh? Wasn't Huo Chong driven out by you? How come he is related to his master again?" Captain Hong asked.
"Captain Hong, are you going to interfere in the affairs of our sect?" Liu Yannian asked back unhappily.
"Liu Feng's eldest disciple Li Xiunian stabbed two of us. Do you want to let this matter go?"
The atmosphere in the courtyard immediately reached a freezing point. Liu Yannian remained silent for a moment, then suddenly stood up and said loudly, "Let's talk about it in the afternoon."
After Liu Yannian left, Huo Chong was about to say something, but Captain Hong waved his hand and said, "Brother Huo, let's not talk about this. It has nothing to do with you."
Huo Chong could only not mention this matter, but he could not help asking: "Let me tell you something about myself. Captain Hong, do you know if this wine can be sold on the canal?"
"This wine is amazing." Captain Hong exclaimed.
Huo Chong knew that this was the problem with his wine, but he had tried his best. Then he heard Captain Hong ask, "How much is this wine?"
"Two cents a bowl." Huo Chong said his price. In this era, a bowl of wine is about two cents, and a bowl is at most two taels. In this era, a catty is sixteen taels, and Huo Chong's wine can be sold for about 25-30 cents per catty. One hundred catties is 2,000 cents, equivalent to two taels of silver.
Buying 2,000 kilograms of potatoes only costs 2,200 coins. 2,000 kilograms of potato wine can produce at least 200 kilograms of wine. In fact, it may be more than 300 kilograms. Huo Chong is also working hard to increase his profit rate.
"This price..." Captain Hong pondered for a while before saying, "That's fine."
Huo Chong quickly asked: "Then Master Hong, can you help me contact the buyer?"
Captain Hong was quite generous. "Give me 100 kilograms first, and I'll try to sell it. If I can sell it, I'll help you sell it."
Huo Chong felt much more relaxed, so he changed the subject, "Captain Hong, I wonder if the brothers on the Cao Gang ship want anything. I'm not saying I've bought it before, but I just think there's something that's willing to pay for it but can't be dealt with."
Captain Hong nodded. "When I saw you burning that wine, I remembered something. Can this wine be used as lamp oil?"
Huo Chong had thought about it a long time ago, but alcohol is too volatile. And the flame of the lamp burns more completely, so it cannot be used as lamp oil. If it were possible, Huo Chong would have developed this thing a long time ago.
However, after thinking hard for a while, Huo Chong did have an idea. He asked Captain Hong to wait for a moment, and Huo Chong went into the house to get a few things out.
The appearance of this thing is a bit like wax. Captain Hong picked it up and looked at it. He felt that the surface of this thing was a bit rough, and he didn't know what it was.
Huo Chong lit some firewood and put the thing close to the flame. Soon, the small piece actually started to burn. Huo Chong put the burning solid alcohol on an iron plate. Everyone in the Cao Gang stared blankly at the small piece burning with light blue and orange flames.
The small piece continued to burn, and gradually shrank. When the flames died out, a piece of what looked like a shrunken object was left behind.
"What is this?" asked Captain Hong in surprise.
Huo Chong casually explained: "It's just a little thing I made. If you buy it, it's several times more expensive than the wine."
Captain Hong was completely interested. "This thing... can be sold. But I haven't figured out who to sell it to. Brother Huo, give me a price, I need to think about it."
After lunch, the fever of the three people in Cao Gang had completely subsided. However, the body temperature of these people was like a roller coaster, after the peak of the high fever, it went straight to the valley. Even though Huo Chong had tried his best to supplement them with nutrient solution, these people's hands were still frighteningly cold. Huo Chong could only light a brazier on the fifth day of the lunar calendar to maintain the temperature in the house so that these people would not die from excessive hypothermia.
After roasting for a while, the group of people finally recovered a little bit of temperature due to the external temperature. The people in the room were already sweating on their foreheads. At this time, someone knocked on the door. It turned out to be Liu Yannian's men. He had a dark face and asked Huo Chong to go to the earthen platform.
Huo Chong took his fellow apprentices to accept the invitation, and this time there were more people under the stage than before. Huo Chong thought this was a good thing, which meant that the villagers were no longer interested in this bad show.
Seeing Huo Chong and others arrive, Liu Yannian said with a gloomy face: "Everyone! Huo Chong has begged me and doesn't want to be driven away. I feel sorry for him, so I agreed to it."
Almost half of the villagers who came were Liu Laowu and his men, and their faces changed when they heard this.
Liu Yannian knew that he would be laughed at if he went back on his word, so he quickly said, "Zhu Youquan is Liu Feng's apprentice, I don't think he should be kicked out."
Huo Chong immediately understood that Li Yannian was trying to seduce him, so he jumped onto the stage and shouted, "Master, our sect values loyalty! How can it be called loyalty if the teacher is so angry that he vomits blood?"
With the previous experience, Huo Chong also chose the same method as this group of people. Grasp one point and ignore the others.
The loyalty thing can be explained anywhere, Huo Chong first put it forward as a shield. Sure enough, Mr. Zhu in the audience was already so angry that he cursed, "Huo Chong, you bastard! You obviously made your master vomit blood!"
"Everyone can see it clearly. I don't want to argue with you." After confronting Grandpa Zhu, Huo Chong turned to Liu Yannian and said, "The sect master wants Zhu Youquan to stay in the sect. That's the sect master's business. My master kicked Zhu Youquan out of the sect. If the sect master wants Zhu Youquan to come back to me, please ask my master to come back and talk. If my master wants Zhu Youquan to come back, I will let Zhu Youquan come back."
Huo Chong was very happy after he finished speaking. Uncle Liu had set a trap for Huo Chong to fall into, so Huo Chong certainly hated it. Now Uncle Liu, who had escaped without a trace, had become Huo Chong's best shield. As long as Uncle Liu didn't come back, Huo Chong could certainly throw everything on Uncle Liu.
Since he was going to run away, Uncle Liu definitely didn't want others to find him. If the Tianli Sect was willing to spend this effort, Huo Chong sincerely hoped that they would get what they wanted.
Seeing Liu Yannian's resentful eyes, Huo Chong smiled at him in a friendly way. If a group boss is attacked to death by a small agent under him, but cannot break off the relationship with this small agent for some reason, the small agent will never have the delusion of restoring a friendly relationship with this boss unless he is stupid.
In this case, maintaining basic courtesy is also a good way to please yourself. If Liu Yannian could fly into a rage, then this courtesy would be reciprocated.
Liu Yannian obviously didn't want to continue being humiliated, so he left after saying, "Wait for Liu Feng to come back!" and was surrounded by his men.
Just wait. Huo Chong was looking forward to seeing Uncle Liu again. Even if some accounts cannot be settled, they must be said in person!
After returning home, Huo Chong continued to treat the three brothers from Cao Gang. The Qing Dynasty people were in good health and survived the high fever and the drop in body temperature caused by malnutrition. The three of them recovered day by day.
Seeing that the three people would not die immediately, Captain Hong wanted to keep them to recuperate. But Huo Chong did not dare to agree. When Captain Hong left, the three people seemed to be fine. If the three people's illness relapsed, Huo Chong would have to bear all the responsibility.
In 1717, when the autopsy was performed in this medical institution without a third-party notarization, Huo Chong had no chance to seek justice when he was blackmailed.
Seeing that Huo Chong was determined not to agree to keep the three men as his own, Captain Hong was very puzzled, "Brother Huo, why are you doing this?"
"Captain Hong, you brought your men to me so that I could treat their injuries. Right?"
"right."
"Do you think your injury has healed?"
"I think it's cured." Captain Hong answered readily.
Seeing that Captain Hong was straightforward, Huo Chong also continued to speak straightforwardly: "Captain Hong, the injuries have healed, but I'm afraid these brothers are still sick. I only know some methods of healing injuries, but I don't know how to cure diseases. I think these brothers may have some other diseases. Please take them to see a doctor, Captain Hong."
"Seeing a doctor... costs money." Captain Hong sighed.
Seeing this, Huo Chong was even more afraid to keep them. "Master Hong, I don't mean to curse these brothers. But if they get sick, I won't be able to explain myself. Master Hong, please take the brothers back with you."
Captain Hong frowned and said unhappily: "Brother Huo, why are you like this!"
"Captain Hong, it's not that I don't want to help you. I'm really not a doctor. I can't do a doctor's job. I just want these brothers to get better. That's why I asked Captain Hong to take the brothers to find a doctor."
It was unknown whether Captain Hong understood what he said, or if he simply felt embarrassed. Anyway, he angrily ordered his men to carry the three people on stretchers, and left angrily.
After they left, Huo Chong suddenly remembered that these guys, apart from the two pork legs they brought, didn't pay and even ate for free. Although he didn't suffer any loss, he definitely didn't make any profit either.
But after sending these troublesome people away, Huo Chong felt relieved. These people were capable of doing such a thing. If their people died on Huo Chong's side, Huo Chong would definitely be in big trouble.
