The two of them arrived at the cowshed looking around. When Old Mrs. Huo saw Lin Qingyan, she was both happy and worried. She was happy that Lin Qingyan could come, but she was worried that Lin Qingyan would be seen by others. She was afraid that they would implicate Lin Qingyan, so she quickly let Lin Qingyan into the house.
She noticed a young man following behind Lin Qingyan and asked, "Little girl, who is this young man?"
The boy was fair-skinned and had delicate features, but his eyes darted away slightly when he looked at them, appearing quite shy.
“He is my younger brother.” Lin Qingyan said to her and Old Man Huo, “Grandma, sir, actually I’m here today to trouble you.”
Grandma Huo quickly waved her hand: "We're already like this, how could we trouble you? If there's anything we can help with, just let us know."
Old Man Huo nodded and said, "Little girl, it's not that you're troubling us, it's that I'll be troubling you more in the future. Please don't say such polite things to us in the future."
Lin Qingyan smiled and said, "Okay. Actually, the reason I brought my younger brother here today is because he has epilepsy secondary to a brain injury. It's inconvenient for me to give him acupuncture at the educated youth settlement, so I thought of coming here."
"Oh, I see. We don't have as many people as your educated youth settlement, so it's quieter and we can prevent anyone from bumping into him while he's receiving acupuncture."
"Yes, that's what I think too."
Lin Qingyan pulled Lin Zhiheng aside and introduced him to Old Man Huo and Old Woman Huo: "This is Grandma Huo and Old Man Huo." Seeing that Old Man Huo and Old Woman Huo were not young, she said, "Why don't we call you Grandpa and Grandma? You won't mind, will you?"
"We don't mind at all, why would we mind?" Old Man Huo and Old Woman Huo waved their hands together. Old Woman Huo said with a smile, "We're overjoyed to suddenly have an extra granddaughter and grandson."
Everyone smiled.
Lin Zhiheng called out to Old Man Huo and Old Woman Huo, "Grandpa Huo, Grandma Huo."
"Why."
"Good, good, what a good child."
The elderly couple smiled and nodded in agreement.
Lin Qingyan said, "We can't stay out for too long. I think we should start giving Xiao Heng acupuncture now."
"Alright." Old Mrs. Huo brought over the kerosene lamp, and Lin Qingyan asked Lin Zhiheng to sit on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed). She took out the acupuncture kit that the two elders of the Huo family had given her last time from her pocket, opened the kit, and revealed rows of reflective silver needles.
After locating the acupoints on Lin Zhiheng's head, she slowly inserted silver needles one by one into those acupoints.
Before long, Lin Zhiheng's head was covered with silver needles.
Lin Qingyan got a temporary rest, and Old Man Huo said somewhat embarrassedly, "Well, little girl, since you've come all this way, why don't you give me acupuncture too? I'm just afraid that I might suddenly fall ill again one day. Not only will I suffer, but it won't be easy for me to come to you. Let's get acupuncture in advance as a precaution."
"no problem."
Old Mrs. Huo took out the set of silver needles they had kept and asked Lin Qingyan to give Old Mr. Huo acupuncture.
Old Huo sat down next to Lin Zhiheng, and soon another glittering hedgehog appeared on the edge of the kang (heated brick bed).
Half an hour later, Lin Qingyan first removed the silver needles from Lin Zhiheng's head, and then removed the silver needles from Old Man Huo's head.
Lin Qingyan thought that she would definitely continue to use her medical skills in the future, but the original owner had only read medical books. If she revealed too many skills, it would probably arouse suspicion from some people.
If she could become Old Man Huo's apprentice, no matter how much she could learn from him, she would have a reasonable excuse for knowing medicine in the future.
She then spoke to Old Man Huo: "Grandpa Huo, I want to ask you something. You and Grandma Huo are both imprisoned here, and you have two sets of silver needles here. I guess you must have been a great traditional Chinese medicine doctor before."
Upon hearing this, Old Man Huo immediately froze, his eyes slowly turning sorrowful, and he nodded.
"Young lady, I know I can't hide it from you. If it weren't for my skills, I probably wouldn't be living in a place like this, where life seems to be bleak and hopeless."
Grandma Huo was also in a bad mood. "Back then, your Grandpa Huo was one of the top doctors in Beijing. I don't know who was jealous and reported us, saying that we were practicing feudal superstition. We were arrested and sent here."
Before we came here, we were subjected to a period of public criticism and struggle sessions in Beijing's northern district. It was truly a situation where we were completely helpless, like prisoners, enduring torture, insults, and curses every day. Your Grandpa Huo just couldn't understand it. He had dedicated his life to medicine, saving countless lives, and in the end, those patients he had cured came to criticize and torment him.
Those were the darkest days of our lives, even more painful than the war itself. Your Grandpa Huo, in a moment of despair, even tried to kill himself by banging his head against a wall, but he didn't. After my persuasion, he decided to hold on. He thought, "If I die and fall, the enemy will laugh. So, they must live well."
But after that incident, he developed headaches, a problem not only caused by the head-banging incident but also related to the previous torment he had suffered.
Old Huo sighed, "Life is never smooth sailing. Through that suicide attempt, I've learned that it's better to live a miserable life than to die. I've treated so many patients; it's time for someone else to treat me."
After saying that, he smiled jokingly.
Lin Qingyan nodded: "Yes, who can always have a smooth life? Even if things are difficult now, just hang in there, and maybe the dawn will come soon."
"As long as I can persevere, I will see the dawn every day," Old Man Huo said with a firm expression.
"Yes, Grandpa Huo, whether it is darkness or light depends entirely on what people see. As long as we are alive, we should try our best to live well and maintain an upward-looking attitude, so that life can be full of sunshine every day."
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