After leaving the mill, Zhao Dong didn't go home immediately but instead went to Wang the carpenter's house. Wang had already made ten sets of tofu frames, so he took them back with him.
Wang the carpenter said he would deliver the remaining nine sets to him in the evening.
By the afternoon, all the tofu frames and wooden barrels had been brought back, and Sun Mei had already started scrubbing them in the courtyard.
Zhao Dong was soaking the beans for use the next day.
These days, Zhao Dong and Sun Mei were so busy they could hardly make time, which Zhao Zhitong noticed, so she was especially well-behaved today.
Since she was too small to help, she could only fan her parents and serve tea and water.
She said some cute things to make her parents happy in the midst of their busyness.
Otherwise, she would sit alone on a small bench at the door, staring into the distance.
In her mind space, Old Mr. Bai clearly sensed Zhao Zhitong's low mood and asked, "Girl, what's wrong? Aren't you happy?"
Zhao Zhitong's eyes were red, and she said somewhat dejectedly, "Old Mr. Bai, I feel so bad here."
While saying this, she pointed her little finger at the place on her chest.
Old Mr. Bai was silent for a moment and then asked, "What happened? Did someone bully you?"
Zhao Zhitong shook her head, "No, no one bullied Tongtong, Tongtong just feels that Dad and Mom are working so hard, but Tongtong can't help."
These past few days, they've been making tofu at home, which requires a lot of water, and since the house doesn't have a well, Zhao Dong had to get up before dawn every day to fetch water.
Though the house isn't far from the well, making several trips to fill up two large vats of water caused his shoulders to get sore and peeled.
Plus, with his injured leg, running back and forth like this made his leg hurt so badly at night that he couldn't sleep well.
One night she woke up and saw Mom massaging Dad's leg, and Dad was in so much pain he gasped.
But the next day, even before dawn, Dad and Mom got up again to work.
Listening to Zhao Zhitong's words, Old Mr. Bai stroked his beard and smiled kindly, "Girl, you be good, study well, and make something of yourself in the future, that will be the best reward for your parents."
Zhao Zhitong propped her little head with her hands, looked at the distant horizon, and sighed, "Ah, I really want to grow up quickly."
That way, she could help her parents with their work.
Suddenly thinking of something, Zhao Zhitong asked excitedly, "Oh right, Old Mr. Bai, you're so powerful, Dad's leg hurts, you must have a way, right?"
Old Mr. Bai stroked his beard, thought for a moment, and said, "Girl, I'm not omnipotent. But your dad's leg was injured and didn't receive timely and effective treatment; however, with a good orthopedic doctor, it might be possible to recover."
Hearing that recovery was possible, Zhao Zhitong became even more spirited, excitedly jumping off the little stool, "Old Mr. Bai, hurry up and take a look at Dad!"
Old Mr. Bai was silent, and after a while, he said, "Girl, I have just collected some medical books; I don't know how to practice medicine, and besides, I can't get out of the space, so I can't treat your dad."
Hearing this, Zhao Zhitong sat back down on the little stool, her face full of disappointment, "Then what should I do? Tongtong feels so useless."
Seeing the little girl's appearance, Old Mr. Bai felt a twinge of heartache, sighed silently, and suddenly got an idea, "That's right, girl, you can go gather herbs for your dad."
Zhao Zhitong: "Gather herbs?"
Old Mr. Bai: "Exactly, I've seen a herb in a book named Duxu; it strengthens muscles and bones and stabilizes meridians, named 'joining dislocated bones.' Girl, you can gather it and use it on your dad's leg."
"Sure, sure." Finally able to contribute a bit of help, Zhao Zhitong immediately swept away her previous unhappiness and was full of energy.
Old Mr. Bai also stroked his beard and laughed heartily.
"Oh!"
At that moment, Zhao Zhitong suddenly cried out and raised a question, "But Old Mr. Bai, I don't know what it looks like."
Old Mr. Bai thought for a moment and then went to the bookshelf to search.
In a short while, Zhao Zhitong had a book in her hand. Her round almond eyes lit up with stars, "Wow, such a big book, Old Mr. Bai, is this for me?"
Old Mr. Bai stroked his beard, full of reluctance, "No, this book is just lent to you by Old Mr. Bai temporarily. You must take good care of it; don't damage or dirty it, and you have to return it when you're done."
Old Mr. Bai had a library full of bookshelves with many books, all collected and copied by him, incredibly precious.
Normally, she wasn't allowed to touch them, and now one was given to her, Zhao Zhitong was overjoyed. She didn't care about borrowing or returning, just full of excitement, "Old Mr. Bai, you're so good, I really like it."
Old Mr. Bai continually emphasized, "Girl, you must cherish it!"
But Zhao Zhitong had already lowered her head to read the book.
The book cover was gray-blue, with four big characters written on it, "Compendium of Materia Medica."
Zhao Zhitong got up from the stool, turned around, placed the book on the little bench, and then squatted down, pointing with her little hand at the four big characters on the cover, reading it word by word.
"Ben Cao, Cao what Mu… Old Mr. Bai, how do you read this character?"
Although Zhao Zhitong had recognized quite a few characters in her past life, this book was in traditional Chinese, and she had just arrived in this world not long ago, only catching some lessons at the school door from Mr. Meng.
Thus, she didn't recognize many characters and pointed to ask Old Mr. Bai.
Old Mr. Bai told her that this character was read as 'Gang,' and he explained that this book was written by Li Shizhen, the Compendium of Materia Medica. It collected 1,892 types of medicines and included over a thousand illustrations, which could help her recognize herbs well.
"Wow! That's amazing." Zhao Zhitong's mouth gaped open, taken aback, as she opened the first volume.
The first volume was the preface, filled with dense characters, many of which she did not recognize. Additionally, there was some vernacular, making it even harder to read.
Zhao Zhitong didn't linger on the first volume but continued flipping through, soon seeing many illustrations, followed by annotated text.
Old Mr. Bai said those words explained the ecological characteristics of the items in the drawings, when to plant them, when to harvest them, how to distinguish the real from the fake, and their odors and primary symptoms they treat.
There were also many recipes included afterward, using these herbs as the main ingredient for treating various symptoms.
Zhao Zhitong turned to the "Herbs" section and the first thing she saw was ginseng. She pointed at the picture and exclaimed excitedly, "Ginseng, I recognize this, Dad bought it for Grandpa; he said it's a tonic, it's very expensive."
"Hahaha." Old Mr. Bai stroked his beard and laughed cheerfully, "Girl, it's not that one-sided."
Zhao Zhitong happily flipped one by one, the second illustration introduced peony, and the third illustrated peony.
Zhao Zhitong marveled, "Wow, so these beautiful flowers are also medicine."
Now she didn't recognize many characters but was very interested in the pictures in the book, not in a hurry. Old Mr. Bai said she is smart and will surely learn enough in time.