Chapter 128: Bai Yunqi – It’s Not That He Didn’t Know, He Just Didn’t Care

Bai Tian hurried into the house and saw that the children had already started cooling Jiang Dai down.

Hmm…

Not bad. The whole family had come down with fevers not long ago, so they’d gained some experience. Everything looked in order.

But—

Bai Tian glanced at Jiang Dai’s wound. Though it had been treated with medicine, it still looked angry and inflamed, red and swollen.

【There’s inflammation in the body. A fever is highly likely. And in this ancient world, there’s no strong antipyretic to bring it down fast!】

Right now, Bai Tian missed the modern world terribly. But he also knew that nostalgia was the most useless thing in a situation like this.

“Father! The physician is here!”

Bai Yun’an’s voice came from outside the door.

Bai Tian immediately welcomed the physician in.

“The medicine is here. You all go decoct it. I’ll begin the acupuncture.”

The physician had already heard the patient’s condition from Bai Yun’an. The medicine had been prepared, and with acupuncture at the right meridian points, this was the best treatment available.

As the physician inserted the needles, Jiang Dai’s restlessness gradually eased.

Her fever wouldn’t break immediately, but at least she’d stopped mumbling incoherently like she was trapped in a nightmare.

In the kitchen, Bai Yun’an stood watch over the stove, staring at the pot of simmering herbal medicine. Despite himself, he felt a bit hesitant.

For one, he hadn’t yet unlocked access to ibuprofen. The only modern medicines available to him were iodine for disinfection and Yunnan Baiyao¹ for external injuries.

Maybe the System thought he had a knack for getting himself hurt, but at most it had only given him first-aid supplies.

Another concern was whether a body from ancient times could even handle Western medicine without adverse effects.

Maybe…

He should try giving his mother the herbal medicine first? See if the fever would go down?

If it did, then later that night he could quietly disinfect her wound and sprinkle on some Yunnan Baiyao, and that would be that.

But—

Bai Yun’an never expected that his plan would die at the very first step, before he even had a chance to try it.

Inside the room, one adult and four children stood beside the bed.

They stared at Jiang Dai, whose mouth was clamped shut like it was made of iron, utterly refusing to let the medicine in. The room fell into silence.

“Father, I have an idea,” Bai Yunqi suddenly said. From the look on his face, it was clearly not a good one.

Bai Tian said, “Go on.”

“You drink the medicine first, then feed it to Mother by mouth.”

As soon as Bai Yunqi finished speaking, the room grew even quieter.

Bai Tian looked down at the bowl of pitch-black, bitter-smelling concoction. Just the smell was enough to make someone gag, and even in her unconscious state, Jiang Dai had already tried to spit it out.

【Honestly, I think Jiang Dai will pull through. She’s a transmigrator, after all! People like that have tough lives!】

Bai Tian shook his head and handed the bowl to his second son.

“I’ll hold your mother down. Come on, let’s go with brute force feeding!”

Rolling up his sleeves, Bai Tian stepped forward and pried Jiang Dai’s mouth open, signaling Bai Yunxing to pour the medicine in.

Bai Yunxing: …

“Father, are you sure she won’t choke? Maybe you should—”

Bai Tian: …

“No no no no, this stuff is bitter. I’m not doing it! Not happening!”

【Come on, kids. If I really did that, I’m afraid once Jiang Dai wakes up, life won’t be worth living.】

【Sure, it’s to save her, but still… this is… this is…】

Bai Yunqi raised an eyebrow, expression unreadable, as he stared at his father’s flushed ears and the obvious embarrassment on his face—not the kind of reluctance that came from bitterness, but from sheer awkwardness. He couldn’t help but give his father a once-over.

【Seriously? You’ve already had four kids together, and you’re embarrassed about mouth-to-mouth medicine feeding?】

【Wait a minute… did Father get replaced too?】

Bai Yunqi had been suspecting as much, but only when it came to his father.

After all, even if someone turned over a new leaf, the change couldn’t be this drastic. How could he suddenly become so clever and come up with so many money-making ideas?

But he wasn’t entirely sure. This father didn’t seem like someone from the Cultivation World, but he didn’t completely fit into this world either.

Could there be other worlds?

Bai Yunqi didn’t know, so he couldn’t be certain.

Still, from their time together so far, this father hadn’t posed any threat to him. In fact, he was pretty decent.

So whether or not his father had been swapped out didn’t really matter. He didn’t care that much.

And since he didn’t care, there was no need to dwell on it.

Just as Bai Tian was mentally preparing himself to treat this like CPR and go through with the mouth-to-mouth feeding—

“I’ll try, Father!”

Bai Yunqi took the medicine bowl, moved to the bedside, and began softly calling out “Mother” while attempting to feed her the medicine.

Amazingly, Jiang Dai actually swallowed it.

Bai Tian: ???

He stared at his eldest son in disbelief. No way.

【Did we just witness one of those bizarre medicine-feeding scenes from a drama²? The kind where the heroine only drinks the medicine if it’s fed to her by the male lead???】

【But isn’t I supposed to be the male lead? Why is it my son???】

Bai Yunqi: 【Heh! I’m using Spiritual Power to assist her swallowing. With that kind of precision, it’s practically foolproof.】

Then let him use his Spiritual Power to help his mother!

The Cultivation World’s version of forced medicine-feeding—no one escapes!

Juanjuan stood behind them, watching her eldest brother hold the medicine bowl and gently call out “Mother” as he fed her. But she knew he was actually using some kind of Spiritual Power to force the medicine down.

She couldn’t help but feel a bitterness in her own mouth.

Mother… was so pitiful.

Juanjuan turned away and went to her little drawer, pulled out a small paper-wrapped parcel, and placed a preserved fruit by her mother’s pillow.

So that when Mother woke up, she’d have something sweet to eat.

As Juanjuan turned her head slightly, she caught sight of her third brother standing nearby, completely still, a slight furrow in his brow, deep in thought about something.

Translator’s Notes