Chapter 136: Danger in the Cave
As Mr. Chen spoke, he turned sideways, deliberately letting Wang Laosi see that there seemed to be a small package lying on the kang in the inner room. In fact, it was disguised by Wang Xiulan with a quilt. There were also a few suppressed groans, like a child in pain. Wang Xiulan was pretending to groan behind the door.
Wang Laosi was skeptical and wanted to squeeze in: "It's nothing, just register..."
Mr. Chen's face darkened and his tone became a little harsher: "Wang Laosi! I have lived in Xinghuagou all my life. Don't you know my background? My niece's granddaughter also came from a poor peasant family. She is innocent!
You brought people to break in in the middle of the night, frightening the child and making his condition worse. Can you afford it?
Besides, your torches are so bright. If they startle the kids and cause them to get sick, I'll go talk to the commune secretary! Let's see if your militia company is protecting the people or harming them!"
These words carry some weight.
Mr. Chen is somewhat famous in several nearby villages. If the matter really reaches the commune, Wang Laosi will also be in trouble.
He looked around and saw that there seemed to be no one else in the yard. Then he heard the groaning of the "child" in the inner room and hesitated for a moment.
His main purpose was to confirm whether Shen Lingning was there, or whether there were any other suspicious people, but now it seemed that there were none.
He didn't want to make a big deal out of it.
"Okay, okay, Mr. Chen, don't be angry. We are also doing our duty."
Wang Laosi waved his hand with a wry smile, "Since he's a relative of yours, forget it. But things are not peaceful in the mountains these days, with some vagrants. Keep your doors shut and report any strangers!"
He gave a few more symbolic instructions and then left with his men in a huff.
Listening to the footsteps fade away, Mr. Chen bolted the door and returned to the house, his expression becoming even more serious. "We can only fool people for a while. Wang Laosi and his gang are definitely connected to those gravediggers in the mountains. They won't give up. We can't stay here anymore. We have to leave now!"
Xiao Zhang nodded: "Yes, we must immediately move to a safer place to prepare medicine and treat the child."
Mr. Chen thought for a moment and said, "Let's go to the cave in the back mountain where I used to live while collecting herbs. It's secluded and few people know about it."
Without further ado, they sprang into action. Shen Lingning picked up the still-drowsy Fubao, Wang Xiulan gathered up the simple first aid supplies, and Mr. Chen took his bottles and jars of medicine and the precious medicinal ingredients he had just acquired.
Xiao Zhang and another soldier were in charge of guarding and covering the rear. Taking advantage of the thick darkness, the group quietly slipped out of the Chen family's back door and merged into the dark forest behind the village.
About an incense stick's time after they left, several dark shadows climbed over the wall like ghosts and entered Mr. Chen's yard again.
After finding that the place was empty, the leader cursed softly and whistled. Several dog barks were heard in the darkness... The hunting dogs were brought in!
The entrance to the stone cave in the back mountain is hidden behind a hanging dead vine. It is not big, but dry and sheltered from the wind. There are some simple stone stoves and hay mats left by the predecessors.
As soon as they entered the cave, Mr. Chen immediately asked Shen Lingning to place Fubao on a "bed" covered with thick hay. He himself began to prepare emergency medicine under the faint moonlight at the cave entrance and the windproof kerosene lamp lit by Xiao Zhang.
He first carefully scraped off some beeswax with ice crystals and a small amount of frozen bee pupae from the honeycomb, then took out the black-backed silverfish, and with extremely skillful techniques, he broke open the fish's head and took out the crystal fish brain.
He then ground several herbs he had prepared into powder, mixed them with beeswax and fish brains, added a little liquor he carried with him, and slowly ground and blended it in a coarse porcelain bowl, eventually making a dark brown ointment with a strange and pungent smell.
"Unbutton the child's chest."
Mr. Chen ordered. Shen Lingning hurriedly did as he was told, revealing Fubao's thin little chest, which was red due to high fever.
Mr. Chen dipped a piece of wood in the ointment and applied it evenly on Fubao's heart and forehead.
As soon as the ointment touched his skin, Fubao seemed to twitch slightly and let out an extremely faint moan.
"There's a reaction! Old man, Fubao has a reaction!"
Shen Lingning's voice trembled with excitement. Chen Lanhua, who was holding the lantern, also came over to look, her eyes red.
Mr. Chen's face was serious. "The medicinal power is dissipating. It's the most critical and dangerous time to force out the evil poison. You need to stay with me. You can't leave me alone."
He took out the silver needle again and gently pricked several acupuncture points on Fubao.
Time passed by minute by minute in the anxious waiting.
The mountain wind howled outside the cave, and the occasional howling of unknown wild beasts added a bit of tension.
Shen Lingning held his daughter's little hand tightly, staring at her pale little face without blinking.
Suddenly, the soldier on guard outside the cave lowered his voice to warn: "There's movement! It sounds like a dog barking! It's coming this way!"
Xiao Zhang's face changed. "Oh no! They're chasing us with dogs! Quick, get ready to move!"
But Fubao is at a critical moment of treatment, how can he move?
Shen Lingning was extremely anxious. Old Mr. Chen also frowned: "If we move now, all our efforts will be wasted. The child will immediately..."
At this moment, Fubao's body suddenly began to tremble violently, his little face turned red, his breathing became rapid, and a hoarse sound came from his throat, as if he was in great pain!
"Fubao!"
Shen Lingning exclaimed.
The barking of dogs and the noisy footsteps outside the cave were getting closer and closer, and the light of the torch had already faintly illuminated the stone wall near the cave entrance!
It looked like he was about to be trapped in the cave!
Xiao Zhang and another soldier have drawn their guns, ready to fight to the death!
At this critical moment, no one noticed that because of Shen Lingning's extreme worry and the close physical contact with her daughter, the silver bracelet on her wrist, which had long been dull, seemed to flash a very faint and almost imperceptible warm luster.
And deep within his consciousness, in that dead silence, at the root of the completely withered Spirit Tea Tree, a tiny green bud was struggling, extremely slowly breaking through the cracked soil...
At the same time, far away in the ward of the Provincial Military District Hospital, Zhou Weiguo, who had been in a coma for a long time, moved his fingers outside the quilt almost imperceptibly.
"Listen up, everyone inside! You're surrounded! Come out now!"
Wang Laosi's arrogant shouts were heard outside the cave, accompanied by the click of the bolt and the barking of hunting dogs.
Inside the cave, the atmosphere froze to freezing point.
Xiao Zhang gritted his teeth and whispered to Shen Lingning, "Director Shen, Xiao Li and I will cover you. You, Mr. Chen, and Aunt Wang carry the child and try to get out through the small crack at the back! Quick!"
In this desperate situation, it seems that the only way left is to fight to the death.
Shen Lingning looked at his daughter who was twitching in pain, then looked at the dark shadow swaying outside the cave, and an extreme anger and unwillingness surged in his heart!
She had gone through so much hardship to find the medicine, and now that there was hope ahead, how could she let it go to waste?
What should she do to save her daughter and ensure the safety of these people?
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