Chapter 720 The Barefoot Doctor
Incidents like taking care of Nora's injury painted Uncle Jasper and Aunt Emma in a positive light, which made others look up to them.
No doubt, Uncle Jasper was warm-hearted, fond of helping others, and had high prestige.
Perhaps his personality appearing to be a bit eccentric to Clarissa and Nora was because of the local social customs and rules.
This was something that Clarissa could not tell for sure.
Fortunately, there was no obvious activity at the moment, except for some small signs that something was not right. As long as they did not do anything harmful to Clarissa and Nora, Clarissa did not want to make any false accusations.
With her thoughts sorted out, Clarissa felt more relaxed.
Then, she walked in front of Uncle Jasper who was busy smoking his pipe, and greeted him cheerfully, "Good morning, Uncle Jasper!"
Uncle Jasper turned his head, peeped at her, and returned her greeting, "Good morning. Breakfast should be ready soon. Go and help Aunt Emma bring it out, and we'll eat together."
Clarissa nodded in reply. She helped Nora with her fractured leg to sit down on a bamboo chair then walked towards the kitchen.
In the rural area, there was hardly anything delicious for lunch or dinner.
As for a simple breakfast, Clarissa dared not hope for anything better.
Unexpectedly, Aunt Emma was more capable and refined than Clarissa and Nora thought. Not only was the breakfast sumptuous, but it was also well presented.
There was fragrant oat porridge, wheat buns, and fried wheat cakes.
Such a breakfast would be plain and simple in the city.
In a place where breakfast was either simple or skipped altogether, these foods were simply delicious.
Clarissa's eyes lit up when she saw the fragrant oat porridge and fried wheat cakes.
She could not help but exclaim in admiration, "It's so lovely and fragrant!"
Aunt Emma smiled in embarrassment as this was the first time someone praised her. She replied happily,
"It's just a common breakfast. I don't know if you are used to it. Try it first."
Clarissa nodded quickly and helped her to take out the breakfast. Then, everyone sat around the table and began to eat.
While eating, Uncle Jasper asked innocently, "I only know that your nickname is Maxi, right? What's your full name?"
Stunned, Clarissa furtively exchanged glances with Nora, then replied, "My name is Clarissa."
She did not hide anything. Anyway, she was sure that no one here would know or recognise the name Clarissa.
Sure enough, Uncle Jasper merely nodded and asked, "Do your families know that you are on a trip?"
This question was a bit deceptive.
Clarissa and Nora exchanged glances once again and then answered tacitly, "No, they don't know."
Uncle Jasper asked further, "Is your home far from here?"
Clarissa replied with a smile, "It's far away. It's thousands of kilometres away."
"Oh, that's far away." Uncle Jasper's face flickered with interest, smiled warmly, and added, "Do your families know that you met with an accident?"
Again, Clarissa smiled and replied, "I don't think they do. It happened so suddenly. My cell phone was gone. There's no way to inform them."
Then, she asked earnestly, "Uncle Jasper, is there any place nearby where I can make a phone call? I want to call home and let them know that I'm safe."
Uncle Jasper rubbed his tangled beard as he replied, "It's difficult to get to a phone. We'll have to walk for a day and night to the next town. There, you can make a phone call. However, recently, a landslide buried part of the road. For the time being, the road is closed and impassable."
This bad news made Clarissa furrowed as she fretted.
"Landslide?"
"That's right. Unfortunately, the road to the town is impassable. It will be at least a month before you can go there." Uncle Jasper explained.
His explanation made Clarissa and Nora downcast and fall silent.
Both of them looked dumbstruck with heavy loads on their minds.
Seeing their reactions, Uncle Jasper narrowed his eyes and consoled them with a smile, "Don't worry. We need to go there too. It's a matter of time before the road will be passable again. Besides, this little lady's leg will take some time to heal. She won't be leaving in a hurry."
Clarissa smiled thinly and replied, "That's true. It will be troublesome for you if we stay here for an extended period. That's not a good idea."
"It's okay, it's okay."
Uncle Jasper brushed off her protest, "Both of you are just little ladies. How much can you eat? If you are embarrassed, just help out Aunt Emma."
Clarissa and Nora conceded and nodded in agreement.
After breakfast, Uncle Jasper went out.
Clarissa and Nora stayed to help Aunt Emma with her work.
The so-called "work" was nothing more than picking beans and drying radishes.
Both Clarissa and Nora preferred this quiet but easier-to-talk-to Aunt Emma rather than Uncle Jasper.
After all, she looked the same as any of the inhabitants here.
However, the way she behaved, like preparing a sumptuous breakfast or the occasional display of emotions was unlike the other inhabitants here.
Sometimes, Clarissa fantasized.
This Aunt Emma was not originally from this village.
However, she could not ask with no rhyme or reason. So, she just suppressed her curiosity inside her.
In the afternoon, Uncle Jasper came back with a barefoot doctor.
Nora recognised the barefoot doctor as the one who treated her previously. He was here to change the dressing for Nora.
There would not be good medicine available in this kind of rural village. The medicine mostly used were herbs that the doctor mixed and applied to her injury.
Fortunately, Nora was often injured during her training days.
So often that, she was almost as good as any doctor.
She knew how to treat superficial wounds and some serious injuries.
The right medicines to take and the right herbs to apply for better recovery were all in her head.
When the doctor was treating her injury, she asked for more details to make sure that the medicine was effective.
Fortunately, the doctor was experienced and gave the herbs that she knew were effective for fractures like hers.
After the doctor had changed the dressing, he left with Uncle Jasper.
Aunt Emma came in with a clean towel. These few days, Nora was embarrassed she had to rely on Aunt Emma for menial tasks. After thanking Aunt Emma, Nora pulled her to a chair and chatted with her for a while.
"I saw you making a bracelet just now. What's that?"
To answer her question, Aunt Emma took out the half-finished red cord from her pocket and asked.
"Are you talking about this?"
Nora nodded rapidly.
The red cord was finely woven into a superbly beautiful strap.
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