Don't spoil it too much
After five days of assessment, Jian Mo accepted a total of seventeen students.
Among them were five Riverside Tribe: the sub-orc Ye Luo, Xi Lu, Min Dang, Chen Yi, and the orc Yan Yun; twelve people from other tribes; and Bei Ya, whose face was injured.
Apart from the five people from the Riverside Tribe, the remaining twelve people from other tribes will stay in the Riverside Tribe for a period of time and study diligently under Jian Mo's guidance.
The Riverside Tribe had no objections, and neither did the other tribes.
Yun Long also brought a group of people to deliver a lot of supplies to the Riverside Tribe to express his gratitude for their care.
Ya Zheng, an orc from the Mengshui Tribe, and Luan Feng sub-orc, successfully became Jian Mo's first batch of students. Their chieftain, Yun Long, keenly realized the benefits and has been walking with a swagger these past two days. If he weren't the chieftain himself, he probably would have signed up for the program as well.
Jian Mo wanted to take advantage of late autumn and winter to teach the students as much basic knowledge as possible about witch medicine, to cultivate their ability to treat minor illnesses and handle emergencies, and then let them go back to their tribes to practice medicine, and then come back for training every winter thereafter.
This training model will not interfere with students' daily lives and is also convenient for them to understand and absorb the knowledge.
With such long lifespans, we can gradually improve through years of learning and practice.
They can also become teachers to their tribes, spreading relevant knowledge and promoting development in the region.
Because the trainees are modeled after barefoot doctors in rural areas, rather than general practitioners with doctoral degrees, Jian Mo felt that the task shouldn't be too difficult, and the pressure was manageable.
He quite likes this model.
Teaching and learning go hand in hand. He can also fill in the gaps in his knowledge during teaching, record the problems he doesn't know, and study them slowly in his spare time, or after accumulating a certain number of notes, go to the Xingchu Tribe for guidance.
After classes officially started, Jian Mo became less strict, and the students quickly became friends with him.
The students have all sorts of questions every day, and some of them are so perplexing that Jian Mo feels like he's the one taking the exam.
Why is Corydalis yanhusuo steamed and dried three times? Because Corydalis yanhusuo is slightly toxic. Steaming helps evaporate the toxicity, while drying prepares it for the next steaming. Multiple steaming and boiling processes better remove the toxicity and preserve its medicinal properties.
"Why do we use Ipomoea purpurea (懷母根) and Tetracentron sinense (明苔) together? -- What we actually use are the small granules formed by the coagulation of Ipomoea purpurea and Tetracentron sinense. Have you noticed? When Ipomoea purpurea and Tetracentron sinense are boiled together, there are always some dark, sandy things at the bottom."
"Why is the fruit of the singing-leaf tree mashed and then steamed in a pot before being added to other medicines? Because the fruit of the singing-leaf tree is poisonous when raw, so it must be steamed. However, if boiled for too long, it will dissolve and lose its medicinal effect. Therefore, it must be steamed directly and then added to the medicinal soup and stirred well before use."
"Why can Qingqinghua be picked in the morning and dried at noon? Can't it be picked in the afternoon and dried in the afternoon? -- I don't know either. That's what the prescription says. But I've observed that when dried in the midday sun, the color and aroma of Qingqinghua remain unchanged. However, when dried in the afternoon, it turns black and the aroma becomes dull. This may be the reason why it affects the medicinal effect."
Jian Mo had finished answering all the "100,000 Whys" questions that day. Seeing that the students had no other questions, she waved her hand to dismiss them and then packed her things to go home.
When Jian Mo got home, he immediately saw that his cup on the table was filled with cool herbal tea, with honey and other herbs to soothe his throat. The tea was at about the same temperature as his body.
He picked up the cup, drank it all in one gulp, wiped his mouth, and leaned back in his chair.
That feels good.
After feeding Jiujiu and Ying'ao, Wu Jiong returned to find Jian Mo slumped on the bench, motionless. He walked over and touched Jian Mo's face. "Are you so tired?"
Jian Mo held Wu Jiong's hand against her face and sighed, "It's alright, we can get through this if we just hang in there."
Wu Jiong looked at him with concern. "Has it come to the point where we have to hold on? The students are so difficult to manage?"
Jian Mo shook her head. "Mainly because I realized my basic knowledge wasn't very solid. While teaching students, I also have to fill in the gaps and figure out what I don't know, which is quite tiring."
Jian Mo sighed, "I was lazy a while ago, and I didn't even fully understand many of the prescriptions I copied. Now I have to catch up."
Wu Jiong used his other hand to massage his head. "You've worked hard. Is there anything I can do for you?"
Jian Mo: "You've already done everything you could for me. You've been doing all the housework lately, and I'm starting to feel a little guilty about it."
Upon hearing this, Wu Jiong used both hands to squeeze his face together, making his lips purse. "Why are you being so polite with me?"
Jian Mo quickly reached out and pulled Wu Jiong's hand away, laughing as she retorted, "What?!"
Wu Jiong looked at him. "No?"
Jian Mo held Wu Jiong's hands. "I was just worried about you!"
Wu Jiong smiled, then leaned down and kissed Jian Mo: "The housework isn't heavy, don't worry. I'm so glad I was there for you when you were so busy."
Jian Mo's students adapted quite well to the Riverside Tribe. They quickly became familiar with the Riverside Tribe, as well as with Jiujiu and Ying'ao.
Jiujiu is incredibly gifted at reading people's expressions; it can always sense whether someone likes it or not in the first instant.
The students were very grateful to Jian Mo and had a natural fondness for Jiujiu.
After noticing this, Jiujiu quickly joined in and became friends with the students.
Lately, Jiujiu has been sticking to Jian Mo's students, and has been playing with the little ones less often. The little ones even went to Jian Mo to complain, but Jian Mo calmed them down.
Jian Mo has been quite busy lately, and Wu Jiong has been taking care of Jiujiu and Ying'ao most of the time, only visiting them occasionally.
That day, Jian Mo gave her students a day off. Having a rare moment of free time, she went to see Jiujiu before the sun had even set.
Jiujiu wasn't there, nor was Ying'ao, but both chirping's food bowls were full. It was probably food that Wu Jiong had put out, or it was possible that they had brought back a batch of food beforehand.