The next morning, early.
Harano woke up feeling pretty decent. After all, he finally had cotton blankets and a mattress, so sleeping in Japanese late-winter temperatures of four or five degrees wasn't really suffering—in fact, it was even kind of cozy and warm.
Yeah, it's that summer air-conditioning-and-blanket kind of comfy—not too hot, not too cold, just perfect for sleep.
Yayoi was, as always, already waiting obediently at the door super early. She only came in when she heard movement. She was a bit surprised to see a strange little girl in the room, and even more shocked to find that Ah Man had a black eye. But she was very tactful and didn't ask anything at all, acting like she couldn't see it—total professional Japanese maid vibes, possibly has an "Innate Little Maid Saint Body."
After greeting Harano, she brought in hot water and helped Harano wipe down Meng Ziqi's head, face, and body, so Meng Ziqi wouldn't end up with bedsores from lying around all day.
Ah Man had just woken up as well. Overflowing with curiosity, she wrapped up in her blanket and scooched over as Harano busied himself. Staring curiously at the chubby, pale Meng Ziqi, she asked, "Who's he? Why's he been sleeping this whole time?"
She'd noticed last night already—thought he was one of Harano's drinking buddies at first, but looking now, apparently not.
"My son—" Meng Ziqi still showed zero signs of waking up today, not even the slightest improvement. Harano's worry was mounting, even tipping into fear, dreading the nightmare of losing a child before his time. Caught off guard, he nearly slipped up but quickly corrected himself, "My friend. He hit his head and has been unconscious for days now."
Saying that, something clicked in his mind. He turned to ask Ah Man: "You ever heard of something like this? Know anyone who's good at treating these kind of injuries?"
Ah Man grabbed Meng Ziqi's chubby head, fiddling it from side to side for a bit, then hesitated, "No wounds anywhere. No outside injury but still sleeping…uh, never heard the old folks mention something like this, nor anyone who has treated it…But if it started after a fall, it should still count as a trauma, right? You tried horse-dung soup?"
Harano froze. "Horse-dung soup?"
Could this be one of those local remedies, specifically for tough cases?
"It's soup boiled from well-cooked horse dung. Good for detox and warding off evil, really works for persistent external injuries!" Ah Man swore by it, and even gave an example, "There was this guy in East Omi called Hirata Uemon Captain—got hit by an iron cannon in a duel. Once the wound healed, he passed out and wouldn't wake up. His family did all sorts of prayers and nothing helped. Became a vegetable, basically. In the end he drank horse-dung soup and snapped right out of it—mentally sharp as ever. Sounds just like your friend—I bet it'll work!"
"This really happened?" Harano's brow furrowed. "The horse dung you're talking about—it's not seriously just horse…?"
Maybe it's some kind of magical, rare mushroom? Maybe around here there's a mushroom called "horse dung shroom" because it looks like it or something.
"It's literal horse poop, duh!" Ah Man gave him a "wow, you really don't know stuff" look, her bean-like eyebrows shooting up, speaking with utter conviction. "The fresher, the better. Get it home, tie it up real tight in straw, seal it up for a few days, cook it until it's mature horse dung. Then toss it in a pot, boil a whole pot of water down to a bowl and—you're set! Trust me, chug that down and all your sicknesses will be gone!"
Yeah right, like hell I trust you! Turns out it's really actual horse poop!
What kind of medical philosophy is this even?!
I mean, sure, traditional Chinese medicine's all about 'everything under the sun can be used,' but horse dung as medicine is just…
Even unflappable Harano couldn't keep his face from twisting. He glanced at Meng Ziqi, then pictured him getting force-fed a golden bowl of horse-dung soup, and quickly shook his head to drive the horrifying thought away. But what if it really did work…
Clinging to that final hope, he asked Ah Man, "But have you actually tried it? Did it really work for you?"
"Of course I haven't! I'm not sick in the head, I'm not about to eat shit. I'm not a dung beetle…Uh—I mean, I've never been hurt that bad, never been knocked out cold, never had a chance to drink it!"
Goddammit…
Harano barely held back from cursing. He couldn't do much about this ridiculous wild child anyway, so he tried a different tack, "Then do you know if there's any famous doctors in Owari? Doesn't matter if they haven't treated this before, as long as they actually know what they're doing."
"Famous doctors? Most samurai know a bit about Han-style medicine, got some family-trauma-cure passed down—But a famous doctor…" Ah Man didn't even have to think. "Haidong County's just a rural dump, how could there be any famous doctors? You're dreaming. You can't even find a proper doctor here!"
Harano let out a light sigh—not that disappointed, honestly.
From what he remembered, traditional Chinese medicine formally entered Japan in 562 AD, during China's Northern and Southern Dynasties, when a monk named Zhisong lugged over the Mingtang Map and over a hundred TCM books to Japan.
But with TCM, the thing is—except for modern gems like the Barefoot Doctor's Manual, just reading medical books back then didn't do much for you. Tons of stuff came down through oral teaching from master to disciple. If no one breaks open that "window paper" for you, you only get the surface, never the real thing, can't become a master, can't cure the tough stuff.
So even when Japan managed to get their hands on the books, they didn't get all that much out of it—just copied and modified some formulas for the royal family or nobles.
Even in the days of envoys to Sui and Tang China, when Japan went nuts to hoard every technology, custom, and encyclopedic text, they also snuck back a bunch of Chinese medical books—but actually getting good at TCM? Nope, never really happened.
Not until Monk Jianzhen got sweet-talked by Japanese monks into crossing the sea six times, finally bringing the Treatise on Cold Pathogenic and Warm Pathogenic Diseases and the Essential Prescriptions of the Golden Cabinet to Japan—plus all his medical knowledge and skills, founding the Ritsu school, teaching hands-on, training a huge batch of medical monks, and even curing the so-called Emperor Shomu and Empress Dowager Guangming—did TCM really take root in Japan.
That's why Jianzhen got called "founder of Japanese physicians." Even now, his face is on all kinds of Japanese medicine boxes and pouches—literal legend status.
But even up to the mid-to-late Muromachi Era, TCM was still strictly for royals and nobles. Ordinary folk—even samurai or daimyo—could barely find a proper doctor (except in Ritsu school territory. Owari was religiously torn between Ikko-shu, Nichiren, Linji Zen, and Caodong Zen, especially in the Lower Four Prefectures, which were basically all Caodong fief). If you got sick, it was gods and prayers, or—if you're lucky—horse-dung soup and the likes.
This situation dragged on until Monk Sanxi brought the Great Ming's most advanced, fully-formed Jinyuan Medicine—especially the works of Li Dongyuan and Zhu Danxi among the Four Great Masters—back to Japan and had his student Manase Dosan found the Enlightenment Institute, recruiting students, promoting Li-Zhu medicine big time, and pumping out wave after wave of doctors, finally giving Japanese commoners somewhere to turn for healthcare.
Because of that, Manase Dosan is called the "re-founder of Han-style medicine in Japan." Super famous guy. He was from the 16th century, and actually treated Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Meaning, right now, the guy probably hasn't even started medical school yet—or is still learning, but nowhere near opening a med college—so yeah, your chances of finding a famous doctor in Owari? Basically zero.
All along, Harano was just hoping for a lucky break, maybe stumbling across a "hidden master" or "mysterious expert" with a "family-heirloom secret recipe" or "miracle medicine" that'd save his dumb kid—maybe, just maybe, an unexpected happy miracle. But nope, no dice.
As for horse-dung soup…
Yeah, forget it. Just sounds unbelievably sketchy. Best stick to studying his Barefoot Doctor's Manual hard, hope he can save his kid before time runs out…if there's even enough time…
Yayoi, meanwhile, had been keeping her little ears perked up and was listening in with rapt attention, memorizing the "secret recipe" for brewing horse-dung soup. That was seriously valuable medical knowledge—a rare kind of wisdom! No way it could hurt to remember it!
If someone gets hurt in the future, just feed them horse-dung soup—cure-all for everything!
She learned it!
......
Once Meng Ziqi's hygiene needs were taken care of—and after Harano refused Ah Man's "horse-dung soup" treatment (to her total disbelief, because she felt betrayed; she normally would never share a secret recipe like this, and if Ah Qing ever passed out, she'd really make her drink it, totally for real)—Harano got ready for his second daily quest: go up the mountain, see if it was foggy, and check if he could get back to the modern world today.
Ah Man saw him putting on those weird big shoes to head out, suddenly not upset anymore about him rejecting her goodwill. She trundled over in her blanket and asked curiously, "Where you going so early?"
"Just out for a random walk up the mountain." After a day and two nights, Harano more or less had the measure of this kid—she was the textbook definition of "naturally familiar," a total "little busybody," nosy as hell and endlessly curious. He couldn't be bothered to entertain her, so he just replied offhandedly.
Ah Man looked even more confused. Out for a stroll up a mountain on a cold winter's morning? You must be nuts. She had zero intention of leaving her warm blanket, and even when awake, she still wrapped herself in it.
She really thought Harano was a weirdo—like, actual crazy. But whether Harano was weird wasn't her problem. After a moment's curiosity, she immediately turned to give Ah Qing orders: "Perfect, you go too—grab my food bowl and bring it back. Right, it's buried under a tree with a big bird nest in the little grove west of the village entrance."
She'd buried her stuff out there the night before yesterday when she went on a righteous black-market mission—lutes and the like were too bulky. Now that things had calmed down, she needed to dig them up before the damp ruined them for good.
Ah Qing didn't say a word, silently got up and put on straw sandals. The little capuchin monkey scrambled onto her shoulder, ready to tag along.
Harano couldn't care less and, fully shod, walked out of the village with Ah Qing.
Even though there were two of them, Ah Qing didn't walk at his side, just half a step behind, totally silent as usual.
After a bit, Harano turned to glance at her. The air was only getting more awkward, so he threw out some small talk and smiled, "Nice weather today, huh!"
Ah Qing looked up at him with cold eyes, then looked down again, obviously not planning to answer.
Harano: …
The awkwardness just got thicker.
Harano honestly just wanted to make a friend—after all, more friends, more options—but if she was going to ignore him, there wasn't much he could do but shut up and trudge on in silence.
Honestly, he still much preferred Ah Man's personality. Sure, she had a mouth full of "shit, piss, and fart" jokes, zero respect for status, always ready with some savage one-liner—full-on wild child—but it was so much easier being around her. It felt like hanging out with a friend back home. In this strange era, there was a sense of comfort he couldn't really describe.
On the other hand, being with someone like Ah Qing, who kept everyone miles away, just felt awkward and uncomfortable—definitely not his vibe.
The two of them left the village together in silence.
Once they were out, Ah Qing glanced at his waist, noticed he wasn't carrying any weapons, frowned and seemed about to say something, but in the end just gave Harano a frosty glance and went off toward the little grove without a word.
Harano was baffled. Watching her walk away, he just shook his head and headed along Xiatianjing River up the mountain.
What a weird kid!