6kv Chapter 11 Medicated Bath
Chapter 11 Medicated Bath
Fortunately, Su Changming had saved up some subsidies from his family during his years of studying abroad, and he also earned money from tutoring and publishing articles.
All things considered, they were quite wealthy.
Even so, when he returned carrying two large bags of medicinal herbs, 20 jin of high-quality yellow beef bought from the market, a bag of refined flour, several bundles of fresh vegetables, and some seasonings and other things.
My steps were still somewhat heavy.
It wasn't just because the things in my hands were heavy, but also because my heart ached.
"Thank you for your kind offer, three hundred and sixty silver dollars."
The shopkeeper's smiling voice still seemed to echo in my ears.
Three hundred and sixty silver dollars!
In those days, a worker at an ordinary textile factory in Shenghai could only earn a dozen or so silver dollars a month, even if he worked himself to the bone.
He was a professor at Nanyang Public School, which was already a top-tier, high-paying job, but he only earned two hundred dollars a month.
And this is only a five-day supply of medicine!
"The poor are scholars, the rich are warriors; the ancients were right..."
Su Changming couldn't help but look up at the sky and sigh.
Sighs aside, life goes on, and martial arts training must continue.
He deftly stuffed the large pile of meat into the kitchen refrigerator.
Then, following Ling's instructions, they laboriously carried the medicinal herbs into the bathroom and set up a large wooden tub, about half a person's height, that had been prepared beforehand.
Boil water and decoct the medicine.
Since the money has already been spent, it must be put to good use with interest.
As the flames rose, a strong, pungent smell of Chinese medicine, with a hint of spiciness, gradually filled the entire room.
Half an hour later.
The dark, murky medicinal soup was poured into wooden tubs, steam rising and making the bathroom shrouded in mist.
Su Changming took a deep breath, then took off his clothes, revealing a fairly muscular physique.
Although Ling kept saying he was weak and frail, that was by her standards. But Su Changming was, after all, a fine eighteen-year-old young man, and he would exercise from time to time, so his physique was not bad.
"Go in." Ling's cool voice rang out from outside the bathroom door. Through the frosted glass door, a tall, slender figure could be vaguely seen.
"Remember, no matter how much it hurts, you are not allowed to come out, unless you want your three hundred-plus dollars to go down the drain."
"knew!"
Su Changming nodded vigorously; that last sentence was more effective than anything else.
He stepped into the wooden tub and slowly sat down.
The medicinal soup just covered his chest.
Although the color looked intimidating and the smell was pungent, Su Changming didn't feel any discomfort when he first sat down.
Apart from the water being a little too hot, the warm, enveloping sensation actually made him feel quite comfortable, like soaking in an old hot spring in winter, and the fatigue accumulated from days of standing meditation seemed to be dissipating.
"It's nothing..."
Su Changming muttered something to himself, leaned against the barrel, and even thought about humming a little tune.
However, less than five minutes later, he realized that something seemed wrong.
The originally mild medicinal liquids seemed to come alive.
As the pores open in the steam, the potent medicinal properties contained in the herbal soup begin to take effect.
First came a series of stinging pains, dense and numerous, like countless ants biting him.
"Hiss..." Su Changming gasped, his body involuntarily tensing up.
But this is just the beginning.
As time went on, the ant-like pain intensified rapidly.
The ants turned into burning embers; the stinging sensation penetrated the skin, seeped into the muscles, and finally seemed to burrow directly into the bones.
That was the medicinal properties of tiger bone and pangolin in the Dragon Tempering Soup forcibly widening his meridians and removing impurities from his body.
"Well--!!!"
Su Changming gritted his teeth and let out a low growl.
The feeling was like being skinned alive and then thrown into boiling chili water.
Su Changming gripped the edge of the wooden tub tightly with both hands, and several times he tried to push himself up and jump out.
But the next second, a number acted like a spell, forcefully pushing him back down.
Three hundred and sixty yuan!
Three hundred and sixty yuan!
If we jump out, then those 360 silver dollars will really become bathwater!
"We can't afford to lose money... we absolutely can't afford to lose money..."
Su Changming was covered in sweat, his face contorted, and he kept muttering the number to himself.
He suffered terribly under this inhuman torture.
Time seemed to stretch on endlessly.
Just as Su Changming felt he was about to faint from the pain.
suddenly.
The excruciating pain seemed to have reached a breaking point.
Or perhaps the body's pain receptors have finally become numb and adapted.
The pain began to subside slowly, and gradually a comfortable warm current flowed into his open pores.
It gradually fills the void deep within the body.
comfortable.
A kind of comfort that seeps out from the very bones.
Su Changming's tightly furrowed brows slowly relaxed, and his hand, which had been gripping the edge of the bucket, loosened.
He felt like a dried-out sponge, greedily absorbing moisture.
I don't know how much time passed.
"Thump, thump".
Two crisp knocks came from outside the door.
"The time has come. Come out." Ling's voice remained calm.
Su Changming suddenly opened his eyes and realized that he had been soaking for two whole hours without even realizing it.
He stood up from the wooden tub with a splash.
Looking down, I saw that the originally pitch-black medicine soup had now turned into a light grayish-brown.
His skin was now a deep red, like that of a boiled shrimp, and his whole body was steaming hot.
The most amazing thing is that the water in the bucket had actually cooled down completely long ago.
But to Su Changming, the icy water felt as comfortable as warm water.
"Cool!"
Su Changming clenched his fist, feeling his whole body filled with explosive power, as if he could kill a bull with one punch.
He dried himself off, put on a pair of loose trousers, and went out of the bathroom.
In the living room, Ling was sitting on the sofa flipping through a magazine he had brought back.
When Su Changming came out, she raised her eyelids and looked him up and down, surprisingly without any mockery.
"Not bad, you absorbed it better than I expected. It seems your body still has some potential."
Su Changming proudly showed off his biceps: "That's right, I feel incredibly strong right now."
"powerful?"
Ling closed the magazine, stood up, and a meaningful smile appeared on her lips.
That smile made Su Changming's newly built confidence tremble instantly.
"The medicine has only taken effect for the first step. Right now, you're like a sponge that's soaked with water—very weak."
Ling walked to the center of the open space, casually rolled up her sleeves, revealing a section of her fair and jade-like wrist.
"To truly embed these medicinal properties into your bones and transform them into your vital energy and strength, one final step is needed."
"Come here." The girl beckoned to him.
"What...what do you want to do?" Su Changming swallowed hard.
"Get beaten up."