Qin Fengming's safe return home filled his mother with joy.
She embraced him, choked with sobs, unable to speak.
"Mother, I'm fine, didn't I come back safely?" Qin Fengming comforted his mother while shedding tears in her embrace.
"It's good that you're fine, it's good that you're fine," his mother said, gently touching Qin Fengming with both hands, carefully checking him.
She found no injuries except for his torn clothes, and her heart immediately settled.
Qin Fengming wiped away his tears and then asked, "Where's my grandfather? Is he badly injured?"
"Grandfather's leg is injured, and he's lying in bed.
Go quickly and see him; it will put his mind at ease."
Qin Fengming didn't delay; he ran into his grandfather's room and saw his grandmother sitting by the bed, helping his grandfather drink water.
"Grandfather, Grandfather, I'm back!
How are your injuries?"
Hearing Qin Fengming's call, Grandfather propped himself up with his elbow, forcefully sat up, rubbed his eyes, and after recognizing Qin Fengming, immediately beamed with joy, as if his injuries and illness had lessened considerably.
His grandmother, however, immediately embraced Qin Fengming, shedding tears while asking if he was injured.
It turned out that when the wild boar gored Qin Fengming off the cliff, Grandfather and Father were also closing in on the wild boar.
Seeing Qin Fengming roll down the cliff, both of them immediately became anxious and simultaneously attacked the wild boar fiercely from behind with their steel forks.
The wild boar, gored in the rump by Qin Hong, became even more enraged and turned its body to charge directly at Grandfather.
Grandfather calmly responded, forcefully thrusting the steel fork towards the charging wild boar's eye.
Amidst splashing blood, one of the wild boar's eyes was impaled by the steel fork.
The excruciatingly pained wild boar, due to its momentum, still struck Grandfather, its tusk tearing open a large gash on Grandfather's calf, revealing ghastly white bone within.
The wild boar's injuries were extremely severe; it no longer bothered to attack the two and fled directly into the depths of the mountain.
Seeing his son fall off the cliff and his father injured, Qin Hong was immediately heartbroken.
He quickly checked his father's injuries, and seeing that the wound was severe, he immediately found some herbs nearby.
He chewed them up and applied them to the wound, then bandaged his father's wound with strips of cloth.
Then he went to the edge of the cliff and looked down, finding it bottomless.
He shouted loudly several times, but there was no echo.
Facing the towering cliff, Qin Hong temporarily had no way to descend.
He could only suppress the grief in his heart, first move his father to a safe place, and then run back to the village to inform the Clan Chief and request reinforcements.
As the grandfather and grandson were recounting what happened, Qin Hong and the villagers, having received the news, also returned one after another from the depths of the mountain.
But when they saw Qin Fengming, everyone found that he had no trace of injury whatsoever.
Upon seeing this, everyone was greatly astonished.
Under the villagers' questioning, Qin Fengming briefly recounted what had happened after he fell off the cliff, but he omitted the part about eating the vermillion fruit and finding the little calabash.
Qin Fengming himself couldn't explain why he did this.
When the villagers heard that Qin Fengming had single-handedly killed a python nearly two zhang long, everyone was greatly surprised.
They all showed disbelief.
Qin Fengming didn't argue; instead, he directly took out the bag containing the snake skin and snake gall and placed it before everyone.
Seeing such a long python skin, everyone was astonished.
Such a large python, even an adult would only be able to flee if they encountered it.
How could a ten-year-old Child kill it without astonishing everyone?
Only then did Qin Hong have time to check on his father's injuries.
Upon seeing them, Qin Hong was greatly alarmed.
Although his father's wound had been treated with herbs, the injury was too severe this time, and it was absolutely impossible to heal it relying solely on the mountain people's traditional methods.
After giving brief instructions to his family and asking the villagers to look after them, Qin Hong did not delay at all and immediately went tens of li away to invite a healer.
Everyone waited until late evening before Qin Hong returned, leading the old village horse, with an old gentleman of seventy or eighty years old sitting on its back, holding a small box in his arms.
Although the old man was quite old, he was very vigorous.
After a careful examination by the old gentleman, he found the wound to be very serious.
He pondered for a long time before prescribing a remedy, which included both external application and internal consumption.
The old gentleman pointed to the remedy, a look of hesitation on his face as he said,
"Except for Dragon's Tooth Grass (also known as Agrimony, which has hemostatic, cardiotonic, antibacterial, and anthelmintic effects), the other herbs should all be available at the medicine shop in Tenglong Town.
As for the Dragon's Tooth Grass, you'll have to try your luck.
If you really can't find it, we'll think of other ways."
After dinner, Qin Fengming went to his father's room and listened to his parents discussing tomorrow's trip to Tenglong Town to buy herbs.
Qin Hong sat on a small wooden stool, pondering for a while before finally saying, "This time, selling the snake skin and snake gall that little Sanzi brought back, along with that civet, the silver obtained should be enough to buy the herbs.
But whether or not the Dragon's Tooth Grass that the old gentleman mentioned is available, we can only try our luck."
Listening to his parents' discussion, Qin Fengming felt eager to try.
"Father, let me go with you tomorrow.
I haven't been to town in a long time, and I miss Second Brother too."
Before Qin Hong could speak, his mother, sitting beside him, said, "No, you just came back.
You've been in the mountains alone for three days and three nights; you must be very tired.
Just stay at home."
"I'm not tired.
I'll be fine after a good night's sleep.
Besides, I didn't suffer much in the mountains.
Let me go, Mother," Qin Fengming said, embracing his mother and starting to act spoiled.
After much argument, his mother saw that Qin Fengming truly wanted to go, so she said no more.
She only admonished him, telling him not to run around in town.
Hearing this, Qin Fengming, filled with joy, returned to his room and sat by the bed, thinking about going to Tenglong Town tomorrow.
As he was pondering, his hand inadvertently touched something on his chest.
He paused, then remembered the little calabash.
So he closed the door, and seeing no one around, he took out the emerald green calabash and placed it under the pine oil lamp.
Under the lamplight, the entire calabash appeared small and exquisite, unusually lustrous green, and the five clouds on the calabash were even more vibrant, as if they were floating.
Holding the little calabash in his hand, Qin Fengming was overjoyed in his Heart-Nature.
He knew that this little calabash must be a treasure.
Although he had a Child's Heart-Nature, he also knew not to show off his wealth.
He made up his mind never to let anyone else discover the existence of this little calabash.
He picked up the little calabash and shook it forcefully; it seemed there was something inside, but he couldn't be sure.
So he held the calabash in one hand and the lid in the other, twisting hard, but it still didn't budge at all.
What was inside the calabash? This thought constantly tempted Qin Fengming.
So he found a small fire tong, clamped the lid of the calabash with the tongs, and tried again with force, but it still showed no sign of opening.
Looking at the emerald green little calabash before him, Qin Fengming was at a loss for a while.
He could only wait until he was stronger in the future to try and open it again.