Chapter 42: The True Cause of Grandfather's Death

Perhaps driven by the urgency to save a life, Du Wen and He Xiang soon returned to the backyard, running all the way with the purchased medicinal herbs and saltpeter.

Du Chengfeng took the herbs from his eldest brother Du Wen and spoke solemnly, “Big Brother, I’m going to prepare the medicinal powder now. Please watch over him carefully here. If anything unusual happens, let me know immediately.”

“Don’t worry, leave it to me,” Du Wen replied.

Du Chengfeng then turned to He Xiang and softly instructed, “He Xiang, listen closely. Go to the well and fetch a basin of clean water. Put the saltpeter I asked you to buy into the water. When saltpeter comes into contact with water, it will form ice. Wrap some of the ice in a clean towel and place it on Liu Chun’s forehead. Change it twice within the time it takes for an incense stick to burn. Don’t stop, do you understand?”

“Yes!” He Xiang nodded instinctively. She remembered the young master’s instructions clearly, though she didn’t quite understand how saltpeter could turn water into ice. But since he told her to do it, she would follow his orders.

With everything arranged, Du Chengfeng set off to prepare the medicinal powder, assisted by several servants. In addition to herbs for treating wounds, there was a remedy for internal use to alleviate the effects of tetanus.

He needed to grind each herb into powder and then mix them in precise proportions to make the medicine, a task that would take some time.

After Du Chengfeng left, He Xiang immediately followed his instructions, dropping all the pure white saltpeter into a basin of clean water. The saltpeter rapidly absorbed heat, quickly turning the water into ice cold enough to bite.

This miraculous phenomenon left He Xiang and the other maids dumbfounded, as if witnessing magic. Yet they all remembered the young master’s orders to stay quiet.

They suppressed their curiosity, and Du Chengfeng’s image in their hearts grew even more lofty and mysterious.

Seeing the water turn to ice so swiftly, He Xiang quickly wrapped some ice in a clean towel and placed it on Liu Chun’s forehead as instructed.

After changing the ice a few times, Liu Chun’s temperature gradually dropped. His complexion was no longer flushed, and his pupils slowly returned to normal.

It was indeed effective. He Xiang was overjoyed, tears of happiness flowing from her eyes.

She thought to herself: The young master is truly remarkable. Even the best doctors in Chang’an were powerless to help Liu Chun, yet with a simple method, the young master quickly brought down his fever.

As Liu Chun’s temperature fell, the frequency of his convulsions decreased. Though he had not fully awakened, his condition was visibly stabilized.

“The young master is incredible, even better than the finest doctors in Chang’an,” a maid whispered in awe.

Du Wen stood quietly to the side, observing as Liu Chun’s condition stabilized bit by bit, marveling silently. When had his younger brother become so skilled, knowledgeable even in medicine? And not just ordinary ailments but those beyond the reach of Chang’an’s greatest physicians.

He had always thought Du Chengfeng’s talents lay in brewing wine and amassing wealth, with a powerful group of followers already making him extraordinary. He had never imagined his younger brother could also heal.

Du Wen smiled foolishly. Though Du Chengfeng was not his blood brother, having such a remarkable younger sibling filled him with pride.

About half an hour later, Du Chengfeng returned with the prepared medicinal powder, and brought with him a bottle of immortal wine’s first batch from his spatial storage.

He observed Liu Chun’s condition, touched his forehead, and found that the ice treatment had indeed lowered his temperature.

Du Chengfeng opened the bottle of wine, poured some into a large bowl, and gently removed the bandages from Liu Chun’s wounds. He carefully washed away the pus with the wine, bit by bit, until the wound was clean.

Then he sprinkled the medicinal powder evenly over the wound and wrapped it carefully with breathable gauze.

After finishing, Du Chengfeng said to Du Wen, “Big Brother, help me prop him up, let him sit.”

“Er Hu, go to the kitchen and boil a pot of water for the medicine,” he instructed another servant.

Once the water was ready, Du Chengfeng dissolved the internal medicine powder in it, stirring until fully blended, then cooled it before feeding it to Liu Chun, mouthful by mouthful.

His actions moved the maids and servants deeply, binding their loyalty ever more firmly. An ordinary servant injured, and the young master not only showed no disdain but personally treated his wounds and fed him medicine—what was normal to Du Chengfeng only raised his stature in everyone’s eyes.

After taking the medicine, Liu Chun slowly opened his eyes and regained consciousness.

“Wonderful! The young master is truly a miracle worker!” He Xiang cried with joy.

The other maids and servants cheered excitedly.

“What happened to me?” Liu Chun asked, still dazed, his mind not fully clear.

He Xiang wiped her tears and said, “Brother Chun, you fainted from an infected wound yesterday. The doctors couldn’t help. It was the young master who saved you. You must thank him properly.”

“Ah!” Hearing that the young master had personally saved him, Liu Chun tried to struggle up to offer his thanks.

Du Chengfeng waved his hand, saying, “Enough, don’t push yourself. I know how you feel. Next time, be more careful. If I hadn’t happened to know what to do, you would have lost your life.”

“I understand, young master. I’ll be careful in the future. Thank you for saving my life. Liu Chun will repay your kindness with everything I have,” Liu Chun vowed tearfully.

“Ah, if only Grandfather had had such miraculous medicine back then, he wouldn’t have died in pain,” Du Wen suddenly sighed, his expression sorrowful.

“Big Brother, what’s wrong? How did Grandfather die? I don’t know,” Du Chengfeng asked.

For reasons unknown, though he had inherited the original owner’s memories, he could not recall the cause of the grandfather’s death. Was this what they called selective amnesia?

Hearing the question, Du Wen’s face was heavy with grief, his eyes misty as he choked out, “Grandfather fell from a height just like Liu Chun, suffered a severe leg injury, got infected, and died in agony because there was no cure. Little brother, since you have such miraculous medicine, why didn’t you use it to save Grandfather?”

Hearing his brother reveal the true cause of their grandfather’s death, Du Chengfeng suddenly felt a deep pain and inexplicable sorrow. He could tell that there was a hint of reproach in his brother’s words.

But how could he explain? Should he tell Du Wen that the original Du Chengfeng was truly gone, and that he himself was a soul from more than a thousand years in the future? Or confess to selective amnesia? Du Chengfeng dared not speak, fearing it would only make his brother’s grief worse.