Chinese Medicine: Starting with Daily Intelligence-Chapter 202: A Sudden Turn for the Better

Somehow, the news got out.

Ji Youyou's fan group chat erupted:

[I heard Sister Youyou has a sore throat. Is tomorrow's performance going to be canceled?]

[For real? I already bought my high-speed rail ticket!]

[Her health comes first. I hope Sister Youyou doesn't push herself.]

[Sigh, we waited so long for her comeback...]

Every message was like a knife twisting in Ji Youyou's heart.

She was curled up on the sofa, the light from her phone screen reflecting in her red-rimmed eyes.

Ji Feng paced back and forth in the living room, then suddenly stopped. "Why not just lip-sync? It's just a promotional event for a jewelry store, not a professional concert."

Ji Youyou's head snapped up, and she shook it forcefully.

'She would rather cancel the show than ever deceive her fans.'

Just as the atmosphere grew unbearably tense, Ji Youyou suddenly thought of something, grabbing her phone and dialing a number.

"Hello, Dr. Li..." Her voice was so hoarse it was almost unintelligible.

On the other end of the line, Li Xu asked, "Sore throat?"

Ji Youyou froze for a second, then realized—her symptoms were so obvious any doctor could tell just by listening.

She grunted in affirmation, struggling to squeeze out a few words: "Tomorrow... performance..."

Li Xu asked directly, "Are your vocal cords swollen? Can you cough?"

Ji Youyou coughed lightly twice, and her throat immediately burned with pain.

"It's not too severe," Li Xu said. "It'll take two days to completely cure the cold, but if you just need to temporarily reduce the swelling and get your voice back..."

Ji Youyou held her breath.

"I recommend a Watermelon Frost spray. It's produced by our pharmaceutical factory and works very well."

"Too far... Not enough time..."

"You don't have to come to Feng City. A pharmacy chain in the Capital City just stocked it. You can buy it at Kangning Pharmacy."

"Th... thank you..."

...

Ji Youyou told Ji Feng to go buy it.

Ji Feng was a bit reluctant.

Mainly because he didn't believe it.

'It's just Watermelon Frost.'

'Could it really treat such a severe sore throat?'

But Ji Youyou insisted he go.

Having no other choice, Ji Feng headed out. It was a last-ditch effort.

...

At nine o'clock at night, the lights of Kangning Pharmacy's Capital City branch were still on.

Ji Feng pushed open the door to find the clerk on duty yawning as they organized the shelves.

"Do you have the Watermelon Frost made by Ding's Pharmaceutical Factory?" Ji Feng got straight to the point.

The clerk walked over to the throat care section in the corner.

Ji Feng quickly followed.

The shelves were neatly lined with blue and white boxes of "Li's Watermelon Frost," with a price tag below: 16 yuan/box.

The clerk took a box of the Watermelon Frost and handed it to Ji Feng.

Ji Feng took it and looked it over, his brow furrowed. 'Could such an ordinary-looking medicine really work?'

"How well does this stuff work?" he couldn't help but ask the clerk.

The clerk's eyes lit up. "You've come to the right place! This Watermelon Frost has only been on the market for two days, and we're already getting tons of repeat customers! Yesterday, a teacher who had lost her voice used it once, and she could speak normally again in two hours!"

Ji Feng was skeptical, but he still took two boxes to the checkout counter.

...

It was already ten-thirty at night when Ji Feng pushed open the villa's main door.

The living room was lit by a single, dim floor lamp. Ji Youyou was curled up on the sofa, wrapped in a thin blanket, looking terrible.

"I got it." Ji Feng placed the pharmacy bag on the coffee table.

Ji Youyou slowly sat up and tore open the box.

Inside was a small, dark blue spray bottle.

"Spray it directly into my throat?" she asked hoarsely, her voice rough.

Ji Feng poured her a glass of warm water. "The instructions say not to drink water right after spraying it."

Ji Youyou nodded, tilted her head back, aimed the nozzle at her throat, and gently pressed down. With a soft "PSST," a cool, misty spray coated her red, swollen throat.

"Ngh..." She reflexively clutched her neck, her eyes widening slightly.

"What's wrong?" Ji Feng asked nervously.

Ji Youyou shook her head and sprayed two more times, prepared for it this time.

The moment the liquid medicine touched her mucous membranes, a deeply soothing coolness spread out, like a refreshing watermelon-scented breeze on a hot summer day.

The burning pain instantly subsided by more than half. She tentatively swallowed and was thrilled to find that the stabbing pain of swallowing was fifty percent gone.

"Much... much better!" she managed to say. Though still hoarse, her words were now intelligible.

Ji Feng was incredulous. "That fast?"

Ji Youyou sprayed it again, this time closing her eyes to savor the miraculous sensation of the medicine dissolving in her throat.

It wasn't just an ordinary cooling sensation, but a soothing relief that seemed to penetrate the tissue, like an invisible pair of hands gently smoothing out every inflamed spot on her vocal cords.

"Dr. Li said... this can temporarily reduce the swelling," she said, her speech much smoother now. "But for the cold... I still need to take medicine."

Ji Feng poured a glass of warm water and watched her take the anti-inflammatory pills prescribed by the hospital. "Let's see how things are tomorrow. If it's still bad, we'll just have to cancel."

Ji Youyou nodded. The combination of the medicine's effect and her exhaustion was making her drowsy.

She wrapped the blanket tightly around herself and went back to her bedroom to rest.

Ji Feng picked up the Watermelon Frost spray, twirled it in his palm, and scoffed. 'How amazing can something that costs 16 yuan be...'

「The next day.」

As sunlight filtered through the sheer curtains into the bedroom, Ji Youyou was trapped in a chaotic dream.

She dreamt she was on stage, her mouth open but unable to make a sound, while the faces of the audience below slowly blurred...

"Go-go-go, let's get going! How strong is the taste of this black coffee—" Her ringtone yanked her back to reality.

She groggily fumbled for her phone. The screen displayed a single word: "Brother."

The sky outside was already bright, and she was shocked to realize it was already seven-thirty in the morning.

"Hello..." she answered instinctively, her voice thick with sleep.

The other end was silent for two seconds, then Ji Feng's incredulous voice came through. "You... your voice?"

Only then did Ji Youyou fully wake up.

She cleared her throat and tentatively let out an "Ah—" A clear, pleasant tone echoed in the bedroom, without a trace of hoarseness, as if she had never been sick at all.

"I'm... I'm better?"

In disbelief, she touched her throat and spoke a few more words. Every word was full and clear, and she felt no discomfort as her vocal cords vibrated.

"This is impossible..." Ji Feng's voice, equally shocked, came through the phone. "The hospital clearly said it would take two days..."

Ji Youyou stood up barefoot and opened her mouth in front of her bedroom mirror. "Ah—" In the reflection, she could see the swelling in her throat had mostly subsided, leaving only a faint pink color.

"The Watermelon Frost..." she murmured, turning and running to the living room. She snatched the blue spray bottle from the coffee table as if it were a priceless treasure.

On the other end, Ji Feng seemed to have finally snapped out of it. "I'm coming over right now! The performance is back on!"

After hanging up, Ji Youyou stood by the window, pulled open the curtains, and let the sunlight wash over her.

She began to hum softly. Every note danced perfectly in the air, as fluid as it had been during countless practice sessions in the past.

She suddenly remembered something and picked up her phone to post on Weibo:

[Jewelry store performance today, be there or be square!]

The accompanying picture was of the morning sun outside her window.

Almost instantly, the comments section was flooded with cheers from her fans.

Ji Youyou smiled and put down her phone. Her gaze fell on the Watermelon Frost, and on a whim, she posted again: [Actually, I've had a sore throat for the past two days, so bad I could barely speak. But I used a certain medicine, and after just one night, my throat is all better. Can anyone guess what it was?]

...

PS: One last push for monthly tickets, please!