TTLJDFL chapter 17

Since Li Jin heard Li Zhuzi mention that ge’er could also breastfeed, he started paying attention.

He even gave Old Wen from the village a pig’s trotter the day before yesterday to ask about ge’er’s nursing.

Old Wen was a ge’er himself, just older, and had learned some midwifery skills. In the town and Lin Village, when a ge’er gave birth, people usually went to him.

But as luck would have it, on the day Qin Muwen had his baby, Old Wen went to the neighboring village to help with a delivery.

If it weren’t for Li Jin luckily coming back to life, they might really have ended up dead together.

When old Wen saw it was Li Jin, knowing that his husband had just had a child, he didn’t hold back and, taking a pig’s trotter, cheerfully went on to give him lots of advice.

“Ger’er’s body isn’t as strong or powerful as a man. And when it comes to feeding and taking care of the child, it’s not as capable as a woman. So, this is why the ger’ers is not valued today.”

Li Jin frowned. In his view, whether male or female, or even a ge’er, everyone is human, so there shouldn’t be any situation where someone looks down on each other because of gender.

But in this era, ge’er’s social status was low, just like in the ancient times he lived in, where women’s social status was low—the reason was roughly the same.

Old Wen took the pig’s trotters without caring about Li Jin’s attitude and explained everything in great detail.

“I don’t need to say much about strength. Everyone knows that gers aren’t as good as men at farm work.

But when it comes to nursing and pregnancy, even though gers can get pregnant and give birth, their chests don’t have space to store milk, which means they can’t continue to breastfeed their children.”

Li Jin asked, “So you’re saying gers don’t have milk and can’t breastfeed?”

He thought, it turns out it was Li Zhuzi who was mistaken, so he didn’t need to worry so much.

After all, even in earlier times, women would develop all kinds of ailments if they didn’t nurse properly. Many children would keep nursing even after their teeth came in, biting their mothers until their skin broke.

Then old Wen shook his head: “Not quite. Not being able to store milk doesn’t mean there won’t be any; these are two different things.”

Li Jin: “…..” So?

Old Wen said, “Because of his own physical condition, the ger will not have an abundant supply of breast milk, so once there is milk, it is necessary to let the child feed immediately. Otherwise, the clothes will get soiled.”

… At this moment, is it really a question of whether the clothes get soiled or not?

“However, based on my many years of experience, the boy’s milk supply will only last for up to a month after giving birth. After that, one will have to rely on goat milk or find a wet nurse to feed the child.”

These were all just surface-level details about breastfeeding. Li Jin then asked a few more questions, like ‘Does it hurt when gers breastfeeds?’ and ‘What kind of soup should be simmered to restore the body?’ After Wen Gong heard his questions, he was surprised for a while, and in the end looked at him as if seeing Li Jin for the first time, and went through all the details.

Li Jin got all the answers he wanted, thanked him, and then turned to go home.

Old Wen watched Li Jin’s back and muttered to himself, “How long has it been since a guy like Li Jin showed up in the village?”

The questions Li Jin asked at the end were basically only things a ger or family would pay attention to.

As for the man, he only cared if the kid could eat enough and if his clothes would get dirty—everything else didn’t matter.

Li Jin saw the boy holding him and crying, thinking he was crying from pain, which is why he said what he did earlier.

But after asking, he felt that he had said the wrong thing. The young man hadn’t cried this fiercely even when giving birth, which was so painful; the chest pain shouldn’t be worse than childbirth…

The young man was stunned for a moment upon hearing this, then shook his head.

It was his first time giving birth too, and before this, when he was at home, before his father could teach him these things, the Shangshu Mansion had already been ruined and the family destroyed. It can be said that before marrying Li Jin, the young man was like a blank sheet of paper, knowing nothing at all.

Li Jin cleared his throat lightly: “Old Wen said that you might feel unwell for a while. If you feel pain, just tell me.”

Although the youth was shy, he obediently responded.

That night, the two of them still slept under the same blanket, with Baozi sleeping between his two dads.

Recently, although the youth’s body was heavy and he was very sleepy, it was also because he slept a lot that he woke up relatively early in the morning.

When dawn broke, the young man felt movement beside him. He slowly opened his eyes and saw that Li Jin was already holding the little bun, feeding him rice porridge.

However, today Li Jin’s movements while holding the child were somewhat… a bit stiff, as if one of his arms couldn’t exert much strength.

The young man got up and said, ”Ah Jin, let me hold the child.”

Compared to before, he now dared to speak to Li Jin proactively.

Li Jin raised an eyebrow and asked, “Why not sleep a little longer?”

The boy’s face had that unique mix of youthful awkwardness and sunshine. When he held Baozi, his gaze was just as clear as Baozi’s.

He said, “I’ve slept enough. My body has been recovering quickly lately, so I don’t have to lie down all the time.”

Li Jin didn’t say anything either. One of them held the child, the other fed him, and soon little Baozi was full, smiling in his dad’s arms.

This morning, Li Jin’s undergarment fit snugly when worn, and there was no incident of exposure. However, the young man keenly noticed that Li Jin’s right shoulder seemed to be swollen.

After looking several times, he finally mustered the courage and said, “Ah Jin, your shoulder…”

Li Jin smiled and said, “It’s nothing, just a bit swollen. It will be fine in a couple of days.”

He didn’t say that it was pulled by a cart. With the way the young man was so protective, wanting to do even the grass cutting himself, Li Jin didn’t plan to let him worry.

Li Jin didn’t say much, and the young man didn’t dare to ask further.

But when Li Jin finished tidying up breakfast and came back, he found that the young man was already holding onto the wall, walking slowly on the ground.

It was now the fifth day after childbirth, so theoretically, he could get out of bed.

Li Jin didn’t block him and just watched from the side as he moved his feet. The young man should be over 1.7 meters tall, but for some reason—whether due to his physique or something else—he just didn’t gain any weight, and his chin was also sharp. His legs were straight and long, giving no sign that he had just given birth.

After breakfast, Li Jin went up the mountain to gather herbs by himself. Today happened to be the day he had arranged to meet Xinglintang. He had been there last time, so this time Li Zhuzi didn’t need to guide him.

Today he went up the mountain earlier, and Li Jin gathered even more herbs. He even ventured a little deeper on his own and could find other kinds of medicinal plants.

Li Jin put them all into his basket and would sort them out one by one back at his own yard.

Before leaving, he waved to the boy and told him the pig’s feet soup was in the pot, reminding him to drink it at noon.

Hearing this, the boy quickly got out of bed, walked to the door, and asked, “And you?”

Li Jin said, “I’ll have a couple of buns in town and buy some gifts to visit the teacher.I haven’t attended class these days, so I should apologize.”

After thinking for a moment, Li Jin washed his hands and went inside to change into a long robe.

This was the outfit he was wearing the day he traveled over, probably also the most presentable set of clothes the original owner had.

The young boy didn’t wait for Li Jin to make a move; he knelt by the edge of the bed and fastened the ties of his clothes with hands that were slightly smaller than Li Jin’s but still well-jointed and long like jade. Li Jin’s gaze followed his hands as they moved.

It was only after the young man had tidied his clothes that he came back to his senses.

…After all, those were a pair of men’s hands, not soft, tender, and bony-free like a woman’s.

Li Jin always felt that something was off, but the chaotic emotions in his heart were miraculously soothed by these hands.

He said, “I sew you’ve finished sewing those pouches and handkerchiefs. Don’t take such work in the future, okay?”

The young man behaved exceptionally obediently, “Mm, I’ll sew clothes for Ah Jin.”

Li Jin was already at the door, but his heart felt quite happy because of that sentence. So he went back and pinched the boy’s face again. Watching the boy show an obedient and puzzled expression, he left in a great mood, carrying his basket on his back.

When Li Jin arrived at Xinglintang, the young assistant Zhou Gui was racking his brains trying to recite the ‘Treatise on Cold Damage · Song of Decoctions’ and didn’t even notice that Li Jin had arrived.

“Ma Huang Decoction treats Taiyang cold, Ma, Gui, Xing, Cao, four herbs in combination to treat exterior… exterior…”

Li Jin smiled and replied, “The patient has no sweat, body aches, tight pulse, shortness of breath, and is even more sensitive to cold.”

Zhou Gui: “Yes, yes, that’s the line! Mr. Li! You’re here, I’ll go find Master.”

Li Jin said, “Thank you for your trouble.”

“No trouble at all, no trouble at all. The herbs you collected last time were plenty and fresh; Master keeps mentioning you every day.”

After the young assistant Zhou Gui went in, before long, Doctor Wu lifted the door curtain and came out.

Today, Li Jin collected a lot of herbs, estimated to be worth a full six hundred and thirty wen.

Zhou Gui said, “Mr. Li, you can both recognize medicines and recite Prescriptions by Heart. Do you also know how to diagnose pulses?”

Li Jin said, “I know a little.”

Doctor Wu’s eyes lit up, and he invited Li Jin to enter the inner hall for a more detailed discussion.

Li Jin followed him inside, and Doctor Wu spoke frankly, “I wonder, Mr. Li, have you had any medical experience before?”

Li Jin shook his head. If so, it would have been in a previous life. With this body now, he had nothing at all.

Besides, his medical experience is all in Western medicine; he really isn’t good at traditional Chinese medicine.

Dr. Wu sighed, thinking he was probably overthinking it. The town isn’t that big, and there are only eight small villages around. Having three clinics in town is already pretty good.

Apart from the two main street clinics with resident doctors, the Xinglintang and the other Baicaotang only have one doctor each. But… there really is an emergency at his place.

But the owner of Xinglintang owed him a favor, so he couldn’t just quit outright. This time, finding Li Jin was also a desperate act.

Li Jin looked at Doctor Wu’s expression and could guess some of his thoughts. He proactively asked, “Are you looking for a doctor for Xinglintang?”

Doctor Wu nodded and said, “Yes, but our town is still small, there aren’t many people.”

Li Jin felt that he couldn’t help much. Although he knew some herbs and had memorized basic introductory Chinese medicine books, taking a pulse and treating illnesses was still difficult for him.

Besides, in practice, the biggest taboo is showing off skills before you’ve actually learned them, which can easily cost lives.

In the end, Dr. Wu gave Li Jin 640 wen, ten more than usual as a fee for long-term collaboration.

After Li Jin went out, he followed the route from memory, first heading toward the grocery store.

In ancient times, the most common items for the shuxiu gift were cured meat and eggs. Since he hadn’t attended class these days, he naturally needed to go apologize properly.

Li Jin thought that fortunately, he remembered some fragments of the original owner’s studies; otherwise, if he had come out completely clueless, it would have been really troublesome.

​kotha: This novel will be updated on every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Happy reading🌸🌸