The Spirited Daughter-in-law and the Mountain Man

But with the dry scab sticking to her face, she couldn’t help wanting to scratch it off or touch it.

She had originally planned to buy a bronze mirror.

In modern times, mirrors are made by applying chemical silver plating to the surface of glass, which is both cheap and clear. In ancient times, without such advanced technology, there were only bronze mirrors.

Bronze itself isn’t cheap, and to make a bronze mirror, even a small one, would be the size of a palm.

She had wanted to buy a mirror for a long time. Even an inexpensive one would cost about one tael of silver. In order to save money, she had thought about it many times, but hadn’t bought it yet.

Whenever she wanted to see her reflection, she either peered into a water jar or used a basin filled with clear water.

Though it was a bit troublesome, it saved money.

The scabs on her face indicated that her sores had healed, and she was exceptionally delighted. Though her face was still covered in scabs, it wouldn’t be long before the new skin underneath could “see the light.”

The rice was cooking on the stove. Before nightfall, Su Qingyue went up the mountain and cut down a straight wooden stick, as thick as her arm and two meter long, to bring back.

She knew the height of her second brother. Her head only reached slightly above his shoulders.

She measured the length of the stick from her height up to just below his armpit and cut it down to about 1.6 meters, leveling both ends.

She then cut another 40-centimeter-long piece from the remaining wood and placed it horizontally, carving a hole in the middle of the piece.

On the 1.6-meter-long wood, she also carved a hole on its round, top surface.

When the long and short pieces of wood were placed together with their holes aligned, she hammered a thick wooden peg into them, creating a “T-shaped” crutch. The horizontal part of the crutch was short, and the vertical part was almost 1.6 meters long without any hook.

Once the crutch was completed, she ground the prepared medicine powder and brought it into the master bedroom in a bowl. She hadn’t gone up the mountain to collect medicinal herbs for many days. The herbs she had collected earlier were now dried and stored on the medicine rack. To make them easier to apply, she had ground them into a powder and added some water.

After the snake venom had been neutralized, Second Brother had taken the anti-venom medicine for a few more days. The venom no longer affected him; he only needed to treat the fractured leg injury. She would apply the medicine to it every day.

The three men in the room sat on the bed.

Su Qingyue squatted down beside Xiao Yishan, who was sitting on the bed, and removed the two bamboo pieces fastened around his left leg. Those two bamboo pieces initially served as a splint for her wrist injury, but she had replaced them with larger ones suitable for his leg injury. She skillfully helped him change the dressing and fastened the bamboo pieces back in place.

“Yue’er, last time I got off the bed, you said it would only take ten days. Now it’s been more than ten days…” Xiao Yishan, after changing the dressing, wanted to move around.

She raised her head in a squatting position and saw Second Brother’s full beard. He hadn’t shaved for many days, and his bushy beard made him look like a fierce bandit. However, this man had been obediently staying in bed for so many days because of her strict orders. “Back then, I said it would take at least ten days to get off the bed. It’s only beneficial for you to rest longer, with no harm in it.”

“It’s been more than twenty days now. If I don’t get off the bed, I’ll suffocate…” Xiao Yishan furrowed his thick brows deeply.

“It was such a big trouble for you, Second Brother. Just wait a moment…” She turned around and left, then brought the newly made crutch into the room. Before Xiao Yishan could speak, Yuchuan asked, “Wife, what did you make?”