Chapter 128 A glimmer of hope
After Aunt Sun and the others returned, they immediately discussed and decided to send one person to the provincial capital every week to help take care of Shen Lingning's family. They must not let her bear all this alone.
Wang Xiulan even took sick leave and made different kinds of soup for herself at home every day to nourish her body.
Zhao Changhe used his connections to invite Mr. Li Yide, the most famous traditional Chinese medicine expert in the Qinnan area, to diagnose Zhou Weiguo and Fubao.
Everyone is doing their best in their own way to support her and warm her, and they are all looking forward to the day when Zhou Weiguo wakes up and Fubao gets completely well.
These friendships are like sparks in the darkness. Although not dazzling, they are enough to comfort the cold night and let her know that she is not alone.
Time seems to be infinitely stretched in the abyss of despair, and every second is filled with suffocating fear.
Old Mr. Li Yide slowly put the silver needle back into the cloth bag. The room was so quiet that he could hear the rustling sound of the wind blowing through the bare branches outside the window.
He raised his head and met the expectant gazes of Zhao Changhe and Shen Lingning that were almost piercing. His throat rolled for a moment, and he finally shook his head heavily.
This situation made the old man, who had been treating patients all his life, feel sad.
The little guy on the bed is only two years old. He was exhausted by the inexplicable high fever and was just a bag of bones. In the past two months, he had more than a dozen consultations with Chinese and Western medicine doctors at the provincial hospital and had taken countless medicines, but it seemed like a drop in the ocean and there was no improvement.
What made it even more difficult for him to speak was the child’s mother – Shen Lingning.
A while ago, the provincial newspaper reported on that outstanding figure who had established a factory with military dependents and earned foreign exchange for the country. In the photo, she was clearly still a strikingly pretty girl with striking eyebrows and eyes...
Now he has become very thin, with sunken eye sockets. His eyes, which were once so bright, are now like two dry wells, and even the tears seem to have dried up.
Seeing the faint light in her eyes gradually extinguished due to his shaking head, Li Yide felt uncomfortable.
He sighed, his voice dry but gentle as possible: "Comrade Lingning, Comrade Changhe, this baby's illness... is very strange. It seems that Western medicine and my old-fashioned prescriptions have all been exhausted. We... can't just rely on the big hospitals."
He paused, as if he had made up his mind: "Some old barefoot people in the countryside may have some folk remedies or secret prescriptions passed down from their ancestors, which can sometimes unexpectedly cure these difficult and complicated diseases.
At this point, if there's even a glimmer of hope, we have to give it a try!"
These words were like a spark, suddenly splashing into the dead ashes.
Hong Xiulan, who was standing by, slapped her thigh suddenly, her voice changing in tone with excitement: "What Doctor Li said reminds me now! A few years ago, when our team moved to Huyi, I heard the locals talk about an old man named Chen!
It is said that several generations of ancestors have been practicing medicine, specializing in treating various difficult and complicated diseases, especially pediatric emergencies, and are very good at it! They live in a village called Xinghuagou at the foot of Zhongnan Mountain!
I wonder if it's still there now?"
There was a tremor of uncertainty at the end of her words, but it ignited hope.
Zhao Changhe's eyes widened upon hearing this, and he suddenly remembered, "Yes! Yes! There was such a person! During the Meihu Campaign in 1943, our regiment was covering the masses' retreat eastwards, and Lao Xu - the big guy in the supply team - suddenly came down with shingles.
I banged my head on the kang in so much pain. People say that if this 'golden belt' is wrapped around me once, it will kill me!
It was this old Mr. Chen who applied a homemade black ointment to him. The next day, he was able to walk with his teeth gritted. On the third day, the blisters started to dry up and form scabs! It's amazing!
He became more and more excited as he spoke, as if he had grasped a life-saving straw: "Doctor Li, what do you think?"
Li Yide's eyes flashed when he heard this. "'Waist Dragon' is caused by the accumulation of fire poison. It's extremely painful. Can it be cured in two days with external application of medicine? If such a person really exists, he must be a master hidden in the countryside! It's worth a try!"
"That's settled then!"
Zhao Changhe acted decisively, turning abruptly to the guard standing by at the door and ordering, "Xiao Liu! Arrange a car immediately! Get a jeep, check the fuel, and we're leaving for Xinghuagou, Huayi County, right away! We can't afford to delay the child's illness any longer!"
Wang Xiulan wiped her eyes, turned around and went into the inner room without saying a word, and began to tidy up the small quilt, diaper ring and baby bottle on the bed with swift hands and feet.
Shen Lingning seemed to be infused with strength by this sudden hope. She wiped away the tears on her face, took a deep breath, and quickly stepped forward to help. Her movements were fast and steady, but her slightly trembling fingertips revealed her inner excitement.
She carefully wrapped the still hot Fubao in a thick swaddling cloth, held her in her arms, lowered her head, and touched her daughter's red face with her cool cheek.
Her voice was low and hoarse, yet it carried a rock-hard determination: "Fubao, my dear girl, don't be afraid, Mom is here. Even if I have to search all over Zhongnan Mountain, Mom will definitely find someone who can save you!"
The jeep roared out of the provincial military district compound, kicking up a cloud of dust as it sped towards Mount Zhongnan.
Outside the car window was the bleak scene of late winter in the north in the 1970s. Occasionally, among the barren fields, members of the cooperative who were working together could be seen, wrapped in cotton-padded jackets, breathing out white air as they repaired the fields and shouted slogans.
Shen Lingning hugged her daughter tightly, her eyes passing over the figures working together outside the window. She had only one thought in her mind: no matter how slim the hope was, she would never give up.
The jeep raced along the bumpy loess road, the outline of Mount Zhongnan looming in the distance. Was the mysterious Mr. Chen, the man who could cure the "golden belt," still in Xinghuagou?
The jeep was running wildly on the bumpy loess road, and the dust it raised looked like a yellow earth dragon.
Shen Lingning held Fubao tightly in his arms, using his body to cushion the violent turbulence as much as possible.
The child was still burning like a charcoal, his little face flushed, his breathing weak and rapid, and every difficult breath pulled Shen Lingning's heart, liver, spleen and lungs.
Zhao Changhe's face turned pale as he kept urging the driver: "Faster! Drive more steadily!"
Guard Xiao Liu gripped the steering wheel tightly, sweat on his forehead, and tried his best to find a relatively smooth path on the bumpy country dirt road.
Wang Xiulan kept wiping Fubao's forehead and neck with a handkerchief dipped in cold water, muttering to herself, "My dear, hold on, we're almost there. It will be great if we can see the old man..."
The scenery outside the car window quickly receded. In the distance was the rolling, snow-covered outline of the Zhongnan Mountains, and in the near distance were vast farmlands.
It was the slack season in the fields, but the commune members were not idle either. Many people, led by production team cadres, shouted slogans to repair canals, accumulate fertilizer and transport manure in preparation for the spring.
Occasionally, you can see a few children following adults to collect firewood. They are all wearing patched cotton jackets, and their little faces are red from the cold.
This collective labor scene, full of the characteristics of the times, was now blurred in Shen Lingning's eyes. Her whole mind was focused on the faint breath of her daughter in her arms.
After asking around for a while, the jeep finally turned into a more remote ravine.
That old man...can he save Fubao, whose life is hanging by a thread?
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