Jinxiu's eyes were filled with tears, her lips and face were bluish-purple, and she was struggling to breathe, unable to make a sound, her hands clutching her neck.
Upon seeing this, Shi Wan immediately stood behind Jinxiu, with one leg in front, stepping between Jinxiu's legs in a lunge position, and the other leg behind. He wrapped his arms around Jinxiu's waist, trying to make Jinxiu lean forward as much as possible. He made a fist with one hand, placing the knuckles two finger-widths above Jinxiu's navel and below the xiphoid process, while covering the fist with the other hand. He then repeatedly and quickly thrust at Jinxiu's upper back.
Once, twice, three times...
After five attempts, Jinxiu coughed.
A date the size of a quail egg was spat out of Jinxiu's mouth, and rolled to Shiwan's feet.
As the jujube was expelled, Jinxiu's complexion gradually returned to normal, and her breathing gradually calmed down.
Shi Wan carried Jinxiu to a stone bench and sat her down. Grandma Wang followed, limping over, patting Jinxiu's back to help her catch her breath while scolding her.
"You scared me to death! Why don't you bite the dates before eating them? You swallowed such big dates whole! What would I have done if your aunt hadn't been here today!"
The scene just now was too dangerous. If she and Wan Yatou had come out a little later, or if Wan Yatou had reacted a little slower, Jinxiu would have been dead without a doubt.
After this commotion, Jinxiu was also frightened. She leaned against Grandma Wang's arms and cried, feeling wronged. She didn't know why she choked on the dates; she didn't mean to.
"Alright, alright, stop crying. Grandma isn't blaming you, Grandma is just worried about you. From now on, you need to chew your food more thoroughly, don't be so careless, okay?"
While coaxing Jinxiu, Grandma Wang thanked Shi Wan, saying, "Wan, thank you so much this time. Otherwise, my girl might have lost her life. My back has been hurting these past two days, so I only ate noodles for lunch. Now that it's afternoon, the child is probably hungry, and we just finished eating the pastries at home, so she went to pick up dates to eat."
"Grandma Wang, you're too kind."
Shi Wan symbolically picked some dates and then said goodbye to Grandma Wang. Grandma Wang saw that Shi Wan had given her a massage and saved Jinxiu today, so she insisted that Shi Wan stay for dinner.
Looking at the sky in the evening, she saw that the clouds in the distance were dark and looked like it was going to rain. She politely declined, saying, "Grandma Wang, I have to go down the mountain quickly. It looks like it's going to rain."
"It's not safe in the rain, maybe you shouldn't go back tonight."
"Clang~ Clang~ Clang~"
A knock sounded on the large iron gate. Shi Wan went to open it, and when the door opened, she was also surprised: "Dad, why are you up here too?"
"Your grandma was worried about you, so she asked me to come and take you home," Shi Jianhua said simply, carrying some fruit and milk into the house and placing them in front of Grandma Wang.
Grandma Wang looked embarrassed. "You've come all this way, why did you bring this? How can this old woman like me repay you?"
Shi Dahua smiled calmly: "What are you saying, Auntie? I just brought over whatever I had at home. It's not like I brought it over expecting a return gift."
"Good...perfect timing, Dahua, you're here. You and your daughter can stay for dinner."
"Next time for sure. It's about to rain, so Wanwan and I need to hurry back so Wanwan's mom won't worry," Shi Jianhua said.
The road was even more difficult to walk on because of the rain, so Grandma Wang didn't dare to keep them any longer. She hobbled to the door and saw them off, reminding them, "Be careful on the road!"
Halfway there, it started to rain heavily.
The sky was overcast, and the rain pattered against the leaves, as if trying to wash the whole world clean.
Within minutes, the ground was covered with a layer of water.
Fearing it might be unsafe to continue walking, Shi Wan suggested, "Dad, why don't we find somewhere to take shelter from the rain first, and then continue when the rain stops?"
Shi Jianhua shook his head: "Let's keep going. It's very dark outside, and we don't know when the rain will stop. If we don't keep going, there will be more water on the road, making it even harder to walk. If we don't go home soon, your mother will worry."
Shi Wan nodded and said nothing more.
The father and daughter continued on their way, both wearing raincoats.
As rainwater accumulates, the previously potholes on the road turn into puddles of all sizes, and the road surface is covered with water and puddles, some of which are so deep that it is impossible to judge their depth with the naked eye.
Shi Wan followed behind her father, walking very carefully, afraid that she would slow him down.
Suddenly, a muffled thud came from ahead, and Shi Jianhua stumbled two steps, almost falling.
"Dad!" Shi Wan quickly stepped forward to support him.
A sharp pain shot through his ankle. Shi Jianhua frowned, his face turning pale. "I misjudged it. I thought it was a shallow pit, but it turned out to be a deep one."
"Dad, you don't look well. Why don't you take a break?"
Shi Jianhua caught his breath and said to his daughter, "Let's keep walking, we'll be home soon."
Seeing that Shi's father insisted, Shi Wan stopped trying to dissuade him and helped him continue walking forward.
However, the road ahead was extremely difficult for Shi Jianhua. Every step was incredibly arduous, but he gritted his teeth and persevered until he got home.
As expected, Shi's mother was already anxiously waiting at the door. Seeing Shi Jianhua limping, she hurriedly stepped forward to help him, saying, "I told you my eyelids kept twitching."
Fearing that his mother would worry, Shi Jianhua picked up where she left off, a smile on his face, and said, "I'm old and useless now. I even twisted my ankle after walking a few steps."
After taking off his raincoat, Shi Jianhua was helped to sit in a chair. Shi Wan took off his father's shoes and socks and checked them. His father's ankles were bruised and swollen.
Shi Wan frowned, looked up at her mother, and said, "Mom, could you get some ice for Dad?"
"Okay." Shi's mother turned around, took a bottle of frozen mineral water from the refrigerator, wrapped it in a cloth, and placed it on Shi Jianhua's ankle.
After the examination, Shi Wan breathed a sigh of relief, "Thank goodness, no bones were broken."
Hearing this, Shi's mother was slightly relieved, "How old is she? She can still twist her ankle while walking."
Although she was scolding him verbally, her movements while applying ice to his hands became much gentler.
Shi Jianhua joked to comfort his wife, "It's probably just laziness. Knowing I've been tired these past few days, it sprained its ankle and wanted me to rest at home for a few days."
Shi Wan lowered her head. Her family was of modest means. The money that she and Shi Yu transferred to their parents' WeChat account was never accepted by her parents. In recent years, the economy had been bad and the sales of agricultural products were poor. Her father, who was over fifty years old, still had to go out to find work, building houses, moving... doing manual labor to supplement the family income.
"If you're tired, just rest for a few days. Nobody will say anything to you."
"I feel guilty if I don't rest."
The older generation feels guilty if they take a few days off from work.
While Shi's father and mother were bickering, Shi Wan put the dinner that Shi's mother had prepared early in the morning on the table.
At the dinner table, Shi Wan was in low spirits because her father was injured. She ate her food silently and didn't say much.
Shi Jianhua, who was standing nearby, noticed this and started a conversation: "Why aren't you saying anything? Are you blaming yourself?"
Having been guessed, Shi Wan forced a smile, "If you hadn't gone to pick me up, I wouldn't have gotten hurt."
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