The Wife of Seishu Hanaoka Page #4

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He told me to wipe them carefully.

They're poisonous so wash your hands carefully.

It's very dangerous if they ended up in the pots and pans.

Can you help me hang these Datura leaves above the stove and dry them?

Welcome back.

Unpei has been waiting for you.

Yonejiro is here.

They're really cute.

You've brought me a lot of cats!

With these rains there's no rice and people have problems finding food. They're more than happy to give me the cats.

I need cats and dogs in order to help people live. Get me as many as you can.

Here you go. Feed it and look after it carefully.

I will.

They're dead!

The amount of Datura was too great.

Sis, it's Kae ...

Kae, what's the matter?

She's pregnant.

Really? That's brilliant.

It just keeps on raining.

Two years of these prolonged rains has made the price of rice double.

Across the whole country hundreds of thousands of people are starving to death.

It's terrible.

These rains have rotted the rice and made the rivers out of control ...

All this has brought all kinds of strange illnesses.

Herbal medicine sellers are doing well though. I'm selling loads of Ginseng.

But no matter how much money you get you can't buy human life.

What kinds of illnesses are spreading?

People's bones are rotting and sticking out under the skin all over the body.

If you press it hurts as if it is rotten inside.

Are these some kind of blister?

No, this is a kind of bone growth like exostosis.

The bones are rotten and fluid builds up.

It's probably because people's diet has been so restricted by these long rains.

Can it be cured?

I can cure it.

You put ointment to kill the pain and cut out the rotten bone.

Thank you.

People have heard rumours about Unpei and are coming from Kawachi and Yamato ...

... and even from as far away as Osaka.

Because of the dreadful times hardly anyone can pay us.

But when people are starving to death we are lucky to be able to eat even millet porridge.

Let's eat!

Mother, please give me the same as everyone else.

You and Unpei are different.

Unpei is the most important person for all of us.

And the next most important person is you.

I understand as the wife that you feel awkward ...

The child you're carrying is a Hanaoka and your job is to bear it safely.

The rice and the fish on your tray are to feed the child ...

... and all of our prayers are with it.

So eat and don't hold back.

This stage of pregnancy is a time when you'll be hungry and want to eat a lot.

It's Datura. The leaves you picked for me.

I dissolved the juice in sake and gave it to them and at first they mostly died.

But now look! They're sleeping.

If I can operate on them while they're asleep I will be able to cut anything.

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