Chapter 20 "Can we take a bath here?...
Li Xiulan hurriedly rummaged through Shu Ran's things and found the small brown glass bottle and a small roll of clean bandage that Xu Junjun had given her.
Sister Wang wrung out a hot towel and helped Shu Ran wipe the mud and sweat from her face and neck.
Shu Ran closed her eyes, not wanting to think about anything.
"Did you bump your lower back too?" When Sister Wang wiped her back, Shu Ran couldn't help but hiss.
"Yes, an old injury," Shu Ran said weakly.
"Lie down, lie down! I'll go borrow a bottle of medicinal wine to rub it on you!" Sister Wang said, heading towards the door.
Shu Ran pointed to her camphor wood chest: "There's a bottle of medicinal wine inside."
Sister Wang quickly found it, poured some medicinal wine into her palms to warm it up, and then lifted Shu Ran's clothes at the back.
"Bear with it." Sister Wang placed her palm on the injured area and began to rub it.
A burning sensation and pain shot through her, and Shu Ran clenched her teeth. But soon, the medicine subsided the pain slightly.
"This medicinal wine is really potent!" Sister Wang exclaimed as she rubbed her hands together. "Shu Ran, you really are... sigh, that place in the third row, even grown men would be skinned alive! But," she changed the subject, her tone filled with admiration, "the story of how you saved Li Dazhuang has spread far and wide! Zhang Guifen was even blocking the door just now, and judging from her expression, she's genuinely grateful to you! All those gossips will have to shut up now!"
Li Xiulan nodded vigorously, "That's right! Sister Shuran, you're amazing! That pot of saline solution from Medical Officer Xu came in very handy!"
Shu Ran lay on the mattress and softly hummed in agreement.
Sister Wang rubbed her forehead until she was sweating, and her back was a little sore.
Shu Ran turned her head to the side and said softly, "Big sister, you should rest for a while too. You can also put some medicinal wine on your waist and rub it in. Physician Xu said it's very effective in promoting blood circulation and removing blood stasis." She pointed to the bottle of medicinal wine.
Sister Wang paused for a moment, looking at the bottle of medicinal wine with some embarrassment: "This...this was given to you by Medical Officer Xu, I..."
"It's alright, use it. Thanks to you and Xiulan today," Shu Ran said sincerely.
Sister Wang felt a warmth in her heart and stopped refusing. She poured some medicinal wine into her palm and began to rub it on her aching lower back.
"Oh, it feels so good! This medicinal wine from Shanghai is really something else!" she exclaimed.
The dugout was filled with a strong smell of medicinal liquor. Li Xiulan carefully cleaned the blisters and cracks on Shu Ran's palms, reapplied the mercurochrome, and then bandaged them with clean bandages.
Zhou Qiaozhen remained wrapped in the quilt, facing the inner wall, motionless, seemingly fast asleep. But upon closer inspection, one could see that the edges of her quilt were slightly undulating, clearly indicating that she was not asleep.
She had heard Zhang Guifen's sobbing at the door, the conversation between Sister Wang and Li Xiulan, and the pervasive smell of medicinal wine all clearly.
She felt an indescribable sense of frustration.
Shu Ran lay face down on the mattress, thinking, "If only I could take a hot bath."
"Big sister," she turned her head and looked at Sister Wang, "can we take a bath here?"
Sister Wang, rubbing her aching back, paused upon hearing this, quickly glancing at Zhou Qiaozhen's retreating figure before lowering her voice with a hint of embarrassment: "This... water is so precious. We rely on the little water we fetch from the irrigation ditch every day for drinking, cooking, and washing. Bathing? That would use so much water..." She unconsciously wiped her hands, which were rubbing medicinal wine, on her clothes.
“In the Gobi Desert, water is more precious than oil. In the summer, when it gets unbearably hot, the men will splash around in the ditch for a bit, while the women…” Her gaze swept over the cramped and stuffy dugout, “…just stay inside, get a basin of water, wash themselves, and make do.”
Shu Ran frowned slightly. She was new here and hadn't really thought about these things in detail.
Li Xiulan leaned closer and whispered, "Sister Shuran, the water is all distributed by the dormitory head..." She gestured towards Zhou Qiaozhen, "...by head, in fixed quantities each day. If someone uses more, others have to use less. Showering? I've never heard of anyone showering here."
As soon as she finished speaking, Zhou Qiaozhen suddenly threw off the covers and sat up.
She didn't look at Shu Ran, but went straight off the kang (a heated brick bed), shuffled to the half-person-high water tank in the corner of the dugout, lifted the wooden lid, pointed to the shallow layer of water inside, and said in a cold and hard voice: "Take a bath? Comrade Shu Ran, do you think this is a Shanghai mansion where the tap just turns on and the water flows?"
She slammed the lid of the water tank shut, then pulled a small notebook and half a pencil from under her pillow. "Water usage in the dorm has always been allocated per person, arranged by the dorm leader, which is me. Before, when you newcomers weren't settled in, I was the one who arranged for someone to fetch water. Now," she pointed sharply at Shu Ran's name with the pencil tip, "everyone's here, so rules need to be established. Starting tomorrow, we'll take turns fetching water. Each person will be responsible for filling the water cellar for a week."
She drew a line under Shu Ran's name with the tip of her pencil: "Shu Ran, you're number one. Starting tomorrow, choose a week."
Sister Wang and Li Xiulan were both stunned, their eyes shifting between Zhou Qiaozhen and Shu Ran. Shu Ran's back injury hadn't healed, and her hand was newly injured; were they really going to make her fetch water for a week?
"What?" Sister Wang blurted out, taking a quick step forward and rubbing her hands, which were covered in medicinal wine. "Qiaozhen, this...this isn't appropriate, is it? Look at Shuran's injury, her back is all messed up, she can barely walk, how can she carry water? That irrigation ditch is so far! How about...how about I switch with her? I'll carry it first?"
Li Xiulan chimed in softly, "Yes, Sister Qiaozhen, Sister Shuran is badly injured..."
Zhou Qiaozhen didn't even lift her eyelids, slammed the notebook shut, and casually tossed the pencil onto the kang (a heated brick bed).
"It's up to you. Anyone can choose. Anyway, she's in charge of the water for this week. If the water cellar is empty tomorrow, and we have no water to cook or drink, don't come looking for me."
After she finished speaking, she grabbed her coat from the bedside, lifted the curtain, and went out.
The curtain fell heavily behind her, swaying back and forth.
Sister Wang looked at the swaying curtain, opened her mouth, but finally just sighed heavily: "Ran, look at this... Sigh! Don't take it to heart. I'll help you carry the water! Your back injury is serious, don't push yourself."
Shu Ran turned to look at Sister Wang: "Sister, thank you. I'll remember this kindness." She then turned her gaze to Li Xiulan beside her, "Xiulan, thank you too."
Li Xiulan quickly waved her hand, "Sister Shuran, don't say that, I... I didn't help much..."
"Big sister," Shu Ran asked inquiringly, "Where do you and Xiu Lan usually work? Is the work heavy?"
When Sister Wang saw Shu Ran ask about this, she relaxed a bit and sat down on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed). She picked up a worn-out work uniform with frayed cuffs from her sewing basket and started chatting as she threaded the needle: "I work as a helper in the kitchen of the canteen, picking vegetables and washing the big pots. The work is a bit dirty and tiring, and there's a lot of oil, but at least I don't have to be exposed to the wind and sun, and the meals are provided and I get enough to eat. Xiulan," she gestured towards Li Xiulan, "makes tofu in the sideline production team, which is relatively peaceful."
After getting a few stitches, Sister Wang sighed as if remembering something: "The fact that I can stay here... is all thanks to the organization's care. There was a famine back home, so I brought my child to seek refuge with his father. Who would have thought... before I even saw him, news came that he... was gone."
Her hands paused for a moment, her eyes somewhat vacant, before she resumed sewing with renewed vigor, the stitches becoming denser. "Later... they arranged for me to stay here, as a place to settle down. Qiaozhen... no matter how unhappy she was, she wouldn't dare to really do anything to me."
Li Xiulan chimed in softly, "Yes, Sister Wang is a martyr's family member, so she gets subsidies. As for me... I was just recruited from the village. I don't know anything. As long as I have work, a place to live, and enough to eat, that's good enough. I don't care about anything else."
Shu Ran nodded, silently made a note of it, and then asked, "What about Zhou Qiaozhen? She seems to be taking extra care of me."
Sister Wang's hands, which were flying across the needle and thread, paused again.
She glanced quickly at the doorway, making sure the curtain wasn't moving, before leaning closer to Shu Ran and lowering her voice even further, "Her... she's not very petty. The propaganda team needed someone who could write and draw, and she was desperate to get in. Then... then she heard you could draw and write, and you even knew foreign languages, right? The leaders seemed to value that... I guess... they felt you were getting in her way?"
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