Chapter 3 A Heartless and Rotten Family
"I've been in a daze ever since I fell into the river the day before yesterday."
Lin Changshi pressed a handkerchief to the corner of her eye, "I woke up this morning and suddenly didn't recognize anyone. Look at my pulse..."
Before the words were finished, a dull thud came from outside the window, startling the wooden wind chimes hanging on the bamboo curtain, which swayed wildly with a clattering sound.
The doctor stroked his beard and pondered, "The wind-cold has penetrated to the bone; the pulse at the cunkou point is floating and tight..."
He caught a glimpse of a pale blue bruise on the girl's wrist and suddenly fell silent.
The copper basin that Niu Er's sister-in-law overturned outside the window rolled on the yellow earth with a piercing sound, and the reflection of the moonlight on the water's surface shattered into shimmering waves.
"Second daughter-in-law, what's going on?"
Niu Er's sister-in-law's voice came from outside the window: "It's alright, Mother. Those two naughty girls, I don't know who put the stone under the window. I almost tripped over it. It's just that the hot water I got for Liu Lang spilled all over the floor!"
Madam Lin patted the slightly startled Lin Changning and called out to the window, "It's good that no one fell. There's still hot water on the stove, just fetch more. Move the stones so he doesn't trip over them again."
"Yes, Mother."
After Lin Changshi finished speaking, she looked at the doctor, who smiled and asked, "Did Fifth Sister bump her head in the water?"
Lin Changning subconsciously touched the back of his head and hissed, "It does hurt a little."
The doctor nodded and continued to ask, "How many people in your family do you recognize?"
Lin Changning shook his head and then nodded: "Mother, younger brother, and my eldest and third elder brothers, father, that's all I remember."
The doctor withdrew his fingers from his coarse cloth sleeve, and the earthenware pots in his medicine box clinked together with a dull thud.
He lowered his head and stuffed the pulse pillow back into the patched cloth bag, glancing at Lin Changshi's bloodshot eyes:
"Fifth Sister has suffered a loss of consciousness after bumping her head. Fortunately, she recognizes her mother and can remember a few relatives. Once she recovers from her cold, talking about the past might help her remember. It's alright, the main thing is to treat her cold properly."
Sister-in-law Wang was rubbing her apron by the door, water dripping from the dregs of medicine in the bamboo sieve.
Lin Changshi tucked her daughter's hand back into the patched quilt; the thin wrist still bore the old scar from when she was cutting pig feed.
"Really, we don't need to get medicine?" She hugged her daughter's thin body, the candlelight casting flickering shadows on the straw raincoat hanging on the wall.
"She woke up groggily in the middle of the night last night, insisting that she was still alive, saying she was dreaming or something..."
"Poor families can't afford strong medicines." The doctor pulled a chipped earthenware jar from the bottom of his medicine box, the scent of mint mixed with the bitterness of dried mugwort.
"Boil dried loquat leaves in water to induce sweating. I also boiled and drank the medicine I prescribed. The cold and wind are gone, so the problem is not serious. It's just that the twins were born with insufficient fetal development, making them weaker than other babies. This time they also fell into the water, so they will inevitably need to recuperate for a while."
Suddenly, the sound of a hen flapping its wings came from outside the bamboo curtain, startling the dust that had accumulated around the edge of the medicine pot and causing it to fall in a flurry.
Madam Lin nodded repeatedly: "I understand, Uncle. Let me see you out. How about the consultation fee this time?"
The doctor smiled and shook his head: "It's no trouble at all, no need for a consultation fee."
Lin Changning coughed suddenly, making the bamboo bed beneath him creak.
Niu Er's sister-in-law went to help, but Lin Changshi blocked her with her body.
When the rough cloth sleeves were rolled up, three scabbed scratches were revealed on his wrists, as if he had been scratched by a wild cat.
After patting Lin Changning on the back to help him catch his breath, Madam Lin Changning stood up, tiptoed onto a stool, and took out two eggs from a bamboo basket hanging from the roof beam.
He turned around and dug out three copper coins with rough edges from the bottom of the pottery jar.
The doctor refused the copper coins, but they were stuffed into his medicine box.
In the midst of the shoving, I caught a glimpse of rice husks still clinging to the cracks in the woman's palm and felt a pang of pity.
"That won't do."
Lin Changshi still stuffed the eggs into the gaps in the medicine box.
She noticed that the other person's straw sandals were patched upon patched, just like the ones her husband wore when he went to the fields.
These days, with poor harvests and the outbreak of war, it's not easy for anyone.
"Please take some, it's so late and you've gone to all this trouble."
The doctor tried to push the eggs back, but he couldn't refuse, so he took out some dried Bupleurum twigs from the open medicine box.
"These were picked from the back hill. Boil them with ginger slices to make a simmering drink that will help the two children sweat faster."
Lin Changshi then accepted Chaihu, thanking him as she saw him off: "Uncle, it's so late, let me see you out."
The doctor waved his hand and went out the door: "It's not far, I can go back by myself, no need to see me off, go back and prepare medicine for the children."
Lin Changshi escorted the person to the door and then returned.
Niu Er's wife and Wang Da's wife washed their faces with warm water in the yard. When they saw Lin Changshi, Wang Da's wife asked, "Mother, what did the doctor say?"
Madam Lin sighed, "She probably hit her head when she fell into the water. She's a little disoriented. The doctor said it's not a big problem and she just needs to take her medicine."
"As long as everyone's alright, we can always earn more money."
Sister-in-law Niu Er was wringing out wet clothes by the well. "Yesterday, Aunt Wang's daughter, Er Niu, asked me if I wanted to take on some embroidery work. I was thinking of embroidering some patterns with my sister-in-law to supplement the family income..."
Before he could finish speaking, the sound of a bamboo bed creaking came from the side room.
Lin Changshi sighed, "Grandpa left some money for the family when he was serving in the military, so the family wasn't that strapped for cash. We can take on some jobs if we want, but just don't ruin our eyesight."
Sister-in-law Niu Er smiled broadly and replied, "Yes, thank you, Mother."
Lin Changning leaned against the blackened reed pillow, staring at the patches of light filtering through the earthen roof.
These hands have no calluses.
—As a girl who wields the Qi Family Saber in a modern martial arts school, she has calluses on her hands.
However, the owner of this body probably didn't do any heavy work. Although his hands weren't particularly delicate, they weren't rough either, so his family must have cherished them.
There was a lot of work to be done in ancient times, so the Lin family probably didn't let the original Lin Changning do any work.
Although there were some minor cuts on her hands, there were no calluses from years of hard work, and her fingers were long and slender. If it weren't for her slightly rough skin, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that they were the hands of some young lady.
Lin Changning sat on the bed, carefully thinking about the plot of the original book.
"Why are you up, Fifth Sister?"
Lin Changshi's frostbitten fingers brushed against her forehead, the rough texture of rice stubble against her skin. She touched her forehead and, finding no fever, pulled her into her arms.
"Mother's body is warm, let Mother warm you up. Poor child, how could you fall into an ice hole while picking some wild vegetables? Luckily your brother passed by, otherwise what would Mother have done? Ouch~"
Lin Changning frowned slightly, as if he had remembered something.
The original text seems to be about Lin's seventh daughter, Lin Changning's cousin. The female protagonist in the original text told her that there was a lot of lamb's quarters on the other side of the river, and that she herself had gone there to pick lamb's quarters.
Lin Changning saw that his cousin's basket was full of wild vegetables, and he was tempted to walk across the ice to the other side of the river to pick wild vegetables.
Unexpectedly, they fell into an ice hole as soon as they reached the middle of the river.
Thinking of this, Lin Changning raised his head and pursed his lips: "Mother, Seventh Aunt said there are a lot of lamb's quarters on the other side of the river. She picks all her vegetables from the other side of the river. I wanted to pick more wild vegetables, so I went onto the ice to cross. I hadn't gone halfway when I fell right in."
The oil lamp cast a long shadow of Lin Changshi, which swayed on the earthen wall like a menacing ghost.
She suddenly tightened her grip on her daughter, the rough fabric of her clothes rubbing against Lin Changning's ears until they turned red.
"That girl Qi Niang's basket is full of ashes from graves! The ice is as crisp as a thin pancake in the first month of the lunar year, yet she tricked you into going to the middle of the river..."
Lin Changning unconsciously ran her fingertips along the patch on the corner of the quilt.
"I didn't want to pay her any attention, but Seventh Sister lifted the veil to show me, and the lamb's quarters were so fresh you could squeeze water out of them..."
A spark suddenly burst from the stove, startling the rats on the beams so much that they scurried away.
Lin Changshi's eyes turned red with anger: "That's a mass grave on the other side of the river! It's been soaked in snowmelt since spring, where would fresh asparagus come from?"
I knew your second uncle's family was no good. Before the New Year, his second son tripped you up and made your father, your eldest brother, and your second eldest brother take their family's place in the military service.
Even after the New Year, Seventh Sister will still trick you into going down to the river; her whole family is a bunch of black-hearted, rotten bastards!
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