Chapter 27: The System, Binding Those Nine Fat Pigs as Patients

It’s not that the villagers just blindly listened to Qin Zhaodi.

It’s just that, in these times of thin clothes and little food, some families might not even get to eat pork a few times a year.

So every pig raised in the village was a treasure in the eyes of the villagers.

To put it bluntly, the pigs were even more precious than people.

The year was drawing to a close, and everyone was looking forward to the pork they’d get to share for the New Year. But now, out of nowhere, something had happened to the pigs. And not just one—nine pigs had fallen ill at once, and things looked bad.

Naturally, the villagers who came running over were agitated.

But after Yao Chunhua spoke to them, things calmed down a bit.

“But Auntie Yao, something’s definitely wrong with the pigs. We should figure out what to do.”

“Yes, yes, we need to do something.”

“I know, that’s why I called Ningning over.”

Only then did everyone realize that Yao Chunhua had been holding Gu Jianing’s hand the whole time. When she said this, it dawned on them—right, Gu Jianing studied medical care, and she was the only one in the village with any medical training, even if it was just at the technical school level.

But… could Gu Jianing really help?

No one had ever heard of her treating people, let alone pigs.

The villagers looked at her with doubt in their eyes.

Just then, someone shouted, “Old Zhang is here!”

In the distance, Gu Jianing’s father was dragging someone along—a man with a medicine box on his back. Sure enough, it was Old Zhang.

“Let Old Zhang take a look first.”

After all, Old Zhang was the village’s only doctor.

At that moment, Old Zhang was being dragged along by Gu Jianing’s father. When they finally stopped, he was panting hard and cursing in his heart: What did I do to deserve this? Last time, I was dragged out in a hurry to check on your daughter who jumped in the river. Now you’re dragging me to look at your wife’s sick pigs.

Is it because I’m an old bachelor with no wife or kids to help me, or because I treat you like a brother?

But grumbling aside, whenever Gu Jianing’s father needed something, Old Zhang always came right away.

They’d been friends since childhood, after all—decades of friendship.

Still…

The crowd parted to make way, and Old Zhang was brought to the pigsty. Looking at the pigs inside—some listless, some convulsing on the ground—he could tell right away that things were bad.

“I treat people, not animals. I’m not a vet—I might not be able to help.”

“Just take a look first. We have to try.”

In the end, Old Zhang went in to check.

No matter what, it was better to look first. After all, no one in the village wanted anything to happen to those fat pigs.

“System, bind those nine fat pigs.”

[Ding! Patient No. 2 bound. Scanning… Results pending.]

[Ding! Patient No. 3 bound…]

While Old Zhang was examining the pigs, Gu Jianing quietly had the system bind them as patients.

She glanced around. By now, quite a crowd had gathered—not just villagers, but also some of the educated youth.

She even spotted Wen Zhuqing, who was talking to a male educated youth. Sensing Gu Jianing’s gaze, Wen Zhuqing looked over calmly, as if nothing was out of the ordinary.

Gu Jianing withdrew her gaze, frowning in thought. Who was behind this incident?

Standing behind her mother, Gu Jianing used her mind to operate the system’s patient panel.

She first checked the condition of the first fat pig.

Soon, the system displayed the pig’s age and current physical status.

One look at the health report and she knew things were bad.

Diarrhea, vomiting, rapid heartbeat, high fever, mucus and blood in the stool, restlessness, convulsions on the ground…

Gu Jianing focused on the diagnosis.

[Diagnosis: Food poisoning. The pig accidentally ate toxic Crotalaria seeds (known locally as “pig dung beans”). This is acute food poisoning. Please treat immediately, or Patient No. 2 will die within a few hours.]

Gu Jianing’s heart skipped a beat. Die within a few hours? She really had to act fast.

She couldn’t let these pigs die!

But…

Toxic “pig dung beans”…

Gu Jianing knew about these. They were a common wild plant in the countryside, growing everywhere. But any experienced villager knew that most Crotalaria seeds were poisonous—to both humans and animals.

Gu Jianing was certain her mother would never feed those to the pigs.

If it wasn’t her mother, then it must have been someone else.

At this point, Gu Jianing was sure someone was targeting the Gu family. As for who, she couldn’t say yet.

She checked the other pigs’ symptoms—they were all about the same as Pig No. 2.

But that could wait. The most important thing now was to save the pigs.

Standing behind her mother, Gu Jianing let her consciousness enter the Divine Doctor’s Space.

[Would the host like to begin studying?]

“Yes.”

In the space, several books on pig food poisoning appeared before her, along with a few veterinary teachers standing nearby. Standing behind her mother, head lowered where no one could see, Gu Jianing began to study like mad.

Luckily, time in the space passed much faster than in the real world—one hour outside was a year inside.

Gu Jianing figured that with a month in the space, she should be able to master this.

Yao Chunhua, unaware of what was going on, thought her daughter was just scared by the crowd’s aggressive questioning. She shielded Gu Jianing behind her.

Her daughter was delicate, after all.

She even started to regret calling her daughter over. If Ningning could cure the pigs, great. But if she couldn’t, wouldn’t that just get her in trouble?

Gu Jianing, deep in her frantic studying, had no idea what her mother was thinking, nor how much time had passed in the space.

Until the system chimed.

[Ding! Congratulations, host has passed the exam. Reward: 9 points and a 24-hour Time Rewind Card (single-use).]

Gu Jianing snapped back to reality behind her mother, her eyes a bit dazed, as if she’d just returned from another world. After a moment, her gaze cleared.

Then she saw the system’s reward.

Nine points? Was it because of the nine pigs? Only one point per pig—clearly, pigs weren’t worth as much as people.

Last time, when she treated her sister-in-law’s uterine cold, she got ten points for passing the exam.

But…

This 24-hour Time Rewind Card…

Gu Jianing read the description: For a designated place or person, you could view any 24-hour period from the past as a video.

What a useful thing.

Gu Jianing’s mind started to turn, but she decided to wait for now.

How much time had passed in the real world?

She looked toward the pigsty. Old Zhang seemed to have finished his examination and was coming out.

Gu Jianing figured only a few minutes had passed.

“Old Zhang, how are the pigs?”

“Yeah, can they be saved?”"