Chapter 57 Chapter 57 Chapter...
Chapter 57
Yao Anhui now has to drink incredibly bitter Chinese medicine every day. The medicine is so bitter that after only a few days, Yao Anhui feels like she's been "marinated" by the medicine. But she can't stop drinking it, because she still wants to have a child.
Actually, she wasn't as eager to have children as she had been at the beginning, because she and Qi Mingzhe got along very well, and Qi Mingzhe treated her sincerely. She was also sincere towards Qi Mingzhe, so if she couldn't have children, then so be it.
She was just too frightened at the hospital to process what was happening, so she was prescribed three months' worth of Chinese medicine. When she got home and saw Qi Mingzhe, she thought it would be a waste not to drink the medicine since it had already been prescribed.
Could this be a near-synonym of Hua Fangling's "One of the Eight Great Sayings of China" and "Since we're already here"?
Ultimately, she still wanted a child of her own. Although she believed that she no longer valued Qi Mingzhe's sincerity and Lu Yuanqing's statement that it didn't matter whether she had a child or not, she still longed for a child of her own since her previous life.
That's why Yao Anhui is so eager to take her medicine.
"Auntie, here's some candy." Yao Anhui swallowed the awful-tasting Chinese medicine in one gulp, and Qi Mingzhe promptly handed her candy.
Yao Anhui wasn't one to suffer in silence. She took the candy and put it in her mouth, which finally made it less bitter.
…………
Time passed slowly but surely, and it was November 1970. Starting from late October, it gradually got colder, and by late November, the temperature had dropped below zero, marking the beginning of the coldest period of the year.
After October, Yao Anhui stopped going out. Having been a southerner for two lifetimes, this was the first time she had felt the biting cold, the kind of cold that the wind could crack her face.
Yao Anhui started staying at home, and she wouldn't even go out unless absolutely necessary. Even so, she still felt cold. Fortunately, Hua Fangling was there and provided plastic sheeting and a solution. After using the plastic sheeting to keep warm, Yao Anhui finally stopped feeling that the house was drafty. However, this made Yao Anhui even more reluctant to go out.
On December 7, 1970, the tenth day of the eleventh lunar month, it was the day of Major Snow in the twenty-four solar terms, and it snowed heavily, just in time for the occasion. It was also the first time that Yao Anhui had ever seen a real snowfall.
Overnight, the snow on the ground was more than ten centimeters thick. Yao Anhui was envious, but her life was more important. She didn't want to go out and play in the snow and freeze herself. So while Hua Fangling and her husband were building a snowman outside, Yao Anhui just watched from the sidelines and had no intention of joining in.
Because of the snow, Yao Anhui, who was already staying at home, became even more of a homebody. She rarely even went out of the courtyard. In the past, she would visit Hua Fangling's house, but now no one could easily get her to step out of the courtyard.
The heavy snow meant that Qi Mingzhe School was closed for the holidays, but Lu Yuanqing and his men were far from idle. They had plenty of work to do with their soldiers. In addition to clearing snow from the troops' area, they would also lead teams to nearby towns to help shovel snow and to the countryside to help elderly people living alone by shoveling snow and repairing houses.
To be honest, Yao Anhui didn't know why the soldiers here were so beloved by the people before, but now she knows: it's because the People's Liberation Army is the people's army, and the people support the army, and the army loves the people.
Therefore, when Yao Anhui saw Lu Yuanqing's chapped hands and feet after he returned, she felt she had to do something.
That day, after Lu Yuanqing returned from outside, he received a porcelain jar from Yao Anhui, which contained a yellow paste-like substance.
"What is this?" Lu Yuanqing asked.
"I made this frostbite ointment myself. I saw many soldiers getting frostbite on their hands, so I made this frostbite ointment. I learned it from someone else; it's supposedly a recipe used in the imperial court. Try it and see if it works. If it's effective, then hand over the recipe..."
Lu Yuanqing was deeply moved; his wife was truly kind: "Wife, how can you be so good?"
...
The effects of the frostbite ointment are self-evident. Lu Yuanqing's wound, which had been cracked and bleeding from the frostbite, had formed a thin scab overnight. It wouldn't open unless you applied too much force. The scab was formed after two days, and it wouldn't open even with force after three days. The scab fell off after five days.
The effect was amazing, because Lu Yuanqing's frostbite was not a small wound, but a very deep one. If it were just frostbite, the ointment would have stopped the itching immediately on the same day, and the effect would have been immediate.
Lu Yuanqing quickly submitted the prescription for the ointment to his superiors. The highest-ranking officer in the military region was a selfless person. After having someone test the prescription and confirming its feasibility, he immediately opened a workshop to produce frostbite ointment. The workshop employed military dependents from the family compound, as well as some families of martyrs who were struggling financially.
Of course, no matter how quickly the leaders acted, by the time the workshop was opened, it was already spring of 1971.
Yao Anhui didn't try to take those jobs, after all, her family wasn't short of money, and there were rewards for submitting ointment prescriptions. Besides, Yao Anhui really didn't like monotonous jobs.
Going back to the past, Yao Anhui stayed at home all winter and didn't like to go out. It might sound like she was doing nothing at home, but in reality, Yao Anhui had quite a lot to do. The former Imperial Concubine Hui had many ways to pass the time: writing, painting to cultivate her mind, embroidering and making clothes to dress herself up, or she could teach Qi Mingzhe to study. Or she could have good friends like Hua Fangling come over to chat and gossip. This winter was anything but boring.
In the spring of 1971, Yao Anhui became pregnant. The fish had just thawed, and Lu Yuanqing somehow got hold of a fish and made Yao Anhui's favorite dish, chopped chili fish head. However, Yao Anhui vomited before she even started eating, which terrified Lu Yuanqing.
Because when Yao Anhui went to see the doctor before, she was told that she had a cold uterus and needed to be treated before she could get pregnant. Yao Anhui even cried because of this. Therefore, neither Yao Anhui nor Lu Yuanqing thought about pregnancy. They thought that Yao Anhui had gastrointestinal discomfort. Even when they went to the hospital, they registered with an internist and were then sent to the obstetrics and gynecology department. It was quite a misunderstanding.
Life after pregnancy didn't change much. The only two changes were that Xu Tinglan, Hua, and others said they wanted to arrange a marriage between their unborn child and Yao Anhui's baby. Hua Fangling then interrupted and the unborn babies became sworn brothers (sworn sisters?). Regardless of gender, they would become brothers, sisters, or other half-siblings.
Another change is Qi Mingzhe. Before, Yao Anhui always felt that Qi Mingzhe was a bit arrogant. It's not that Qi Mingzhe wasn't close to Yao Anhui and Lu Yuanqing or didn't trust them. Qi Mingzhe was absolutely sincere to the couple, but there was just a feeling of him being rootless.
However, ever since Yao Anhui became pregnant, she felt that Qi Mingzhe had become more grounded, as if a rootless duckweed had taken root in the earth. Not only were his roots firmly planted in the soil, but these roots would also slowly grow into towering trees.
This greatly relieved Yao Anhui.
However, not everyone is without ill intentions. Yao Anhui had only revealed her pregnancy for less than half a month when some people started to sow discord between Qi Mingzhe and others.
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