While Zhao Jun and Li Baoyu were talking, Zhao Youcai, having finished processing the Bear Gall, came in and said to Li Baoyu, "Those cannon eggs you two got yesterday? I found a vehicle this morning to bring them back. They’re in the storage shed now.

Tomorrow, your dad and I have to work, so you and your mom should come over early. You, your aunt, and Zhao Jun can peel them all."

"Alright, Uncle," Li Baoyu replied.

Just then, Zhao Youcai glanced at the two dogs on their IV drips. He looked up at Zhao Jun and asked, "What’s this? Are they sleeping in your room tonight?"

Before Zhao Jun could answer, Zhao Youcai added, "Aren’t you afraid they’ll stink you to death?"

"Ah!" Zhao Jun suddenly remembered something. He looked at the dogs’ bulging bellies; it was from eating too much bear meat on the mountain.

Having suddenly eaten so much rich, oily food, the dogs wouldn’t be able to digest it all at once. Later in the night, they were bound to fart—and the really smelly kind, too.

Seeing that Zhao Jun had caught on, Zhao Youcai said, "In a bit, after your mom’s done cleaning up, move them to the outer room."

With that, Zhao Youcai turned and left.

Once Zhao Youcai was gone, Li Baoyu climbed down from the kang bed and said to Zhao Jun with a grin, "I should head home."

Then, he made a point of explaining, "I’m going to check on Ruhai."

Zhao Jun gave a helpless wave, gesturing for him to go.

Li Baoyu scampered off, thoughtfully pulling the door shut behind him.

Zhao Jun sat leaning against the kang cabinet. He tried not to think, but memories of the past flashed through his mind, one scene after another, clear as day.

’There were so many things from his past life he’d thought he’d forgotten. But today, they were all coming back to him.’

After a long while, a soft PFFT came from the corner, and a foul stench immediately filled the room.

Zhao Jun glanced over, quickly climbed off the kang bed, and, ignoring the stench, went to Daqing’s side. He lifted the IV tube, holding it high to make the medicine drip faster.

When the bag was nearly empty, Zhao Jun pulled the needle from Daqing’s body, wrapped the IV line around the bottle, and set it on a nearby table.

He opened the door and shooed Daqing into the outer room. He then picked up the burlap sack Daqing had been lying on, placed it across from the stove, and gestured for the dog to lie down on it again.

After returning to his room and waiting a little longer, Zhao Jun removed the needle from Hua Xiao’Er and shooed the dog outside as well.

Then, Zhao Jun poured hot water from a thermos into a basin to wash his feet. Afterward, he undressed, climbed onto the kang bed, and went to sleep.

Whether from exhaustion or something else, he was out the moment his head hit the pillow.

He slept soundly until a little past three in the morning, when he faintly heard a series of SCRATCHING sounds. He got down from the kang bed, threw on some clothes, and went outside.

As soon as he entered the outer room, he saw Hua Xiao’Er and Daqing standing together by the door. Hearing him approach, both dogs turned in unison to look at him.

Seeing it was Zhao Jun, Hua Xiao’Er lifted a paw and scratched the door again.

’They need to go to the bathroom.’

Zhao Jun walked over and pushed the door open. Hua Xiao’Er and Daqing squeezed through the gap one after the other.

Zhao Jun returned to his room, but instead of lying down immediately, he grabbed his cotton-padded pants and pulled them on.

He sat groggily on the edge of the kang bed for about ten minutes, then went back out into the courtyard. He herded the two dogs, who had already done their business but were still sniffing around, back into the house.

He got back on the kang bed and fell asleep again. He wasn’t sure how much time had passed when he vaguely sensed his door being pushed open.

Zhao Jun looked up and saw Zhao Hong sneak in. She gathered up all the items from the dogs’ IV treatment the day before—the medicine bottles, drip lines, and everything else—and took them away.

Zhao Jun closed his eyes and fell back asleep, not waking again until after eight-thirty. He got up from the kang bed, washed his face and hands, and then went to the east room for breakfast.

The moment he entered the room, he saw Zhao Hong and Zhao Na, home from school for the weekend, playing cosplay on the kang bed.

The two sisters were taking turns playing doctor and nurse, using the IV equipment they had swiped from Zhao Jun’s room that morning as props.

Kids back then didn’t have many toys. Getting your hands on a syringe to use as a water pistol was better than almost anything else.

An IV bottle and its tubing were even more fascinating toys. A simple game of doctor and patient could keep them endlessly entertained.

Zhao Jun snatched the syringe. Seeing that the needle had been removed, he relaxed and tossed it back to Zhao Hong, who was playing the part of the doctor.

"Mom already sterilized them with hot water," said Zhao Na, who was playing the patient. She was lying on the kang under a small blanket, a folded towel pressed to her forehead.

Zhao Jun nodded. ’Kids back then weren’t as coddled as they would be in the future. Twenty years from now, no parent would ever let their child play with things like IV bottles and tubes. They’d say they were unhygienic and full of germs.’

’As for whether there were actually any germs, who knew? But in his mind, since his mom had scalded them with hot water, that counted as disinfecting them. It was a psychological comfort, at least.’

’But what could you do? The kids really had nothing else to play with. They were just too bored.’

Just then, Wang Meilan brought over Zhao Jun’s meal. The main course was sticky bean buns, and the side dishes were surprisingly lavish.

There was deboned wild boar meat, first slow-cooked until tender, then flash-fried with large pieces of scallion.

Another dish was firm tofu stewed with potatoes. It was cooked in a large pot until all the liquid had evaporated, leaving the bottom layer of tofu and potatoes slightly crisped and extra fragrant.

"Son, eat up," Wang Meilan said. "Your aunt and Baoyu will be here soon, and we’ve got work to do today."

"Mhm."

Zhao Jun dug in, eating with the hearty appetite of a twenty-year-old man.

He polished off a plate of stir-fried wild boar with scallions, half a basin of stewed tofu and potatoes, and a full ten sticky bean buns.

After he finished his meal, he helped Wang Meilan clear the dishes. He was just about to head to his room to rest when the door behind him was pulled open from outside.

"Auntie!" Li Baoyu called out to Wang Meilan before he was even fully inside.

"Baoyu, you’re here," Wang Meilan said. "Where’s your mother?"

Li Baoyu laughed. "She’s applying medicine to Ruhai. She’ll be here in a bit."

Hearing this, Wang Meilan shook her head. "That little brat, sneaking up the mountain with everyone. He deserves a good spanking."

"Exactly, exactly," Li Baoyu said, grinning as he walked over to Zhao Jun. He grabbed Zhao Jun’s arm with both hands and started pushing him toward the inner room, whispering in his ear, "Brother, your family has white coats, right?"

"We do," Zhao Jun said, stopping and pointing to the room across the way. "Those two little rascals are wearing them."

At this, Li Baoyu let go of Zhao Jun, took a couple of steps back, and craned his neck to peek into the room. He saw Zhao Hong sitting cross-legged on the kang, holding an IV bottle in one hand and the tube in the other. She was convincingly pretending to mix medicine, getting ready to give Zhao Na a shot.

And that wasn’t all. On top of her cotton-padded jacket and pants, Zhao Hong was wearing a white coat.

The coat was obviously not her size. The hem piled up around her on the kang, and the sleeves had to be rolled up several times.

In an open cabinet nearby, another white coat lay neatly folded.

"There are two?" Li Baoyu had already seen for himself, but he asked anyway, his voice full of pleasant surprise.

"Mhm," Zhao Jun nodded. "One is my dad’s. The other belongs to Brother Lin; he left it here."

Li Baoyu nodded, then asked, "So, one for each of us tomorrow?"

"Sure!"