Chapter 34: Drug Administration
Old Qi was stunned, the light in his eyes dimmed, he lowered his head and responded, then followed Su Tong to the cowshed next to him.
Fortunately, the herbal soup was still warm.
Su Tong instructed Lao Qi to pry open the cows' mouths and feed two full buckets of herbal soup to the cows at once.
Several cows struggled and cried out after being fed too much water, and both men were sweating profusely from exhaustion.
At last, Lao Qi asked weakly, "What kind of medicine is this?"
Su Tong wiped the sweat off his face and replied, "I cooked the medicine."
After saying this, he carried two empty buckets and walked away.
Although the answer was irrelevant to the question, Lao Qi didn't dare to ask more questions.
He just prayed in his heart that nothing would happen to the cow. He and Lao Lin couldn't stand it anymore. If there was another criticism, they might not be able to survive.
Although the cow has taken the medicine, it will take time to recover and it is estimated that it will not start eating until tomorrow.
Su Tong didn't want to stare at it, so he checked that the cowshed was closed properly and went back to the house to pack his things.
There was no bed in the room, so he brought two bundles of straw from the cowshed and spread them on the ground. Then he spread out his newly bought bedding with new cotton quilt cover. It felt pretty good to lie on it.
He put some odds and ends in place, looked at the watch and saw it was already past six in the afternoon, after thinking for a while, he caught the pheasant and walked towards the two old men's house.
Lao Lin's fever had subsided and he had a good sleep, and he just woke up. Lao Qi came over and was just telling him what happened today when he heard someone knocking on the door.
Before the two of them could respond, they heard a girl's voice outside shouting:
"Lao Qi, I just moved here and I can't cook at home yet, so I came to share a meal with you guys."
When the two old men heard this, they looked at each other and then looked at the small pile of sweet potatoes in the corner.
That was the food ration they would have until next spring, and there was not a single grain of rice to be found in their house.
Even with this small pile of sweet potatoes, I have to save them again and again...
It was Lao Lin who bumped Lao Qi's arm and said, "I just treated the disease..."
Only then did Lao Qi tremble and respond, "Hey - I'm coming!"
As soon as Lao Qi opened the door, he saw Su Tong standing at the door, holding a pheasant with colorful feathers in his hand, flapping its wings.
Lao Qi looked stunned again.
After that, Su Tong was seen walking in and out of the house with his sleeves rolled up, searching inside and out.
Finally, a large bowl of stir-fried chicken offal and a large pot of pheasant bamboo shoot soup with oil floating on it, plus a few roasted sweet potatoes, were placed in front of the two old men.
The oil can in the simple kitchen only had one bottom of oil, so Su Tong didn't dare to use it.
Fortunately, pheasants are fatter than poultry and have thicker oil. Not only can I use the fried oil to cook the dishes, I can also put some of it into the oil can.
The two old men couldn't remember how long it had been since they last smelled this kind of fragrance. They tried hard to hold back their saliva, and neither of them dared to reach out first.
Su Tong moved a small stool and sat down beside him. He reached out and took a roasted sweet potato, peeled it and stuffed it into his mouth. "Hmm! It smells so good! I haven't had this for a long time!"
The two old men stared at her in unison.
Su Tong knocked on the table, "Eat! Why are you standing there?"
Lao Lin had been suffering from a fever for several days and had barely eaten a single grain of rice. Now that the fever had subsided, he was already extremely hungry. How could he resist such temptation? He picked up his chopsticks and said:
"Girl, you let us eat it! Let me make it clear first, we can't pay you back if you eat it."
Su Tong raised the sweet potato in his hand and said, "You eat mine, and I eat yours. We agreed to share, so we don't have to pay it back."
Lao Lin and Lao Qi looked at each other, then tremblingly stretched out their chopsticks.
The chicken offal is stir-fried with wild peppercorns and wild Sichuan peppercorns, which makes it spicy and numbing, and very appetizing.
Lao Lin started to cry as he ate.
He was from Sichuan Province. After he became an adult, he wandered around without a fixed place to live. When he was finally settling down, there was chaos and he was sent to the cowshed. He had always had to make do with food and it was rare for him to have a good meal. Little did he know that he had dreamed many times of this authentic Sichuan flavor.
When Lao Lin started crying, Lao Qi couldn't hold back his tears either. Life was really hard these days and having a good meal seemed like a dream.
Su Tong glanced at the two of them calmly, stuffed the last bite of sweet potato into his mouth, and clapped his hands, "Tsk! I still can't show off my cooking skills easily, look! The two of you are crying because of the delicious food!"
As soon as these words came out, the two old men looked at each other, both found it a little funny, and grinned again. The sad emotions seemed to evaporate all of a sudden.
Su Tong looked at the two old men who were crying and laughing, grinned, and stood up.
"Alright! I'm done! But Old Lin, I still have to remind you to drink more chicken soup and eat less spicy food. Your stomach can't stand the stimulation now."
After saying that, he turned around and walked out.
Lao Qi stopped her immediately, "Comrade Wu, there's so much chicken here! You haven't eaten any yet!"
Su Tong turned around and blinked, "To be honest, I just ate one at noon, and I haven't digested it yet."
After Su Tong left, the two old men looked at the chicken and chicken soup on the table and felt a little sour in their noses again.
It was already dark, and the cold wind made me feel quite chilly.
Su Tong pulled his cotton jacket closer and went into the cowshed next to him for a walk. He heard the long breathing of several cows, all of whom were sleeping soundly, so he groped his way back to the yard in the dark.
I was thinking that I should ask Secretary Wu to get a flashlight, otherwise it would be very inconvenient at night.
Just as he was about to push open the door of the courtyard, Su Tong paused, retracted his legs, and shouted to the outside of the courtyard wall, "Who?!"
A figure slowly stood up at the corner of the courtyard wall, "Sister, it's me!"
The person squatting there was Wu Qiuyu, the youngest daughter of the original owner’s uncle Wu Dajun. She was two years younger than the original owner and was not yet seventeen.
Wu Qiuyu has two older brothers. Although her mother, Li Cuixiang, is not as domineering as Wang Guilan, she is notoriously stingy. All the good things in the family are given to the boys. Wu Qiuyu grew up in an environment of beatings, scoldings and harsh deprivations.
It’s still much better than what the original owner experienced.
When the original owner was around, the two of them were like sisters in distress. Many times, it was Wu Qiuyu who secretly helped the original owner to get through the nights without food. When Wu Qiuyu had too much work to do, Wu Tong would help her do it overnight.
The existence of this cousin also made the original owner feel the love and friendship of family.
Su Tong waved to Wu Qiuyu, "Qiuyu, come here quickly."
Wu Qiuyu followed Su Tong into the house in the dark and stuffed two sweet potatoes into her hands.
I guess it was because he had kept it in his arms all the time, so it was still somewhat warm.
"Sister, I saw everything that happened during the day. I didn't dare to say hello to you because my mother would scold me. I know you didn't bring any food with you, and I was afraid that you would have nothing to eat at night, so I waited for you here."
Although Su Tong was not the original owner, he also felt warm in his heart and held Wu Qiuyu's hand, "I have eaten. Did your mother find you out?"
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