fell
He frowned, put away his phone and looked up.
Her father sat at the door, holding his long pipe in his hand, staring at her unhappily.
He tilted his head and spat, then complained again, "That wicked mother of yours is the same. She said she was going to dig garlic early this morning, and she hasn't come back yet. If you didn't know, you would think she was having an affair!"
Wu Meilai frowned even deeper, went into the house, put the liver away, and said, "I'll go take a look."
"What are you looking at? Let's prepare the meal first! You're clueless." Wu Baizi scolded in a tone of disappointment.
"There's still some soup and rice left over from last night. You can heat them up and eat them first." After saying that, Wu Mei walked back and forth to the garlic field, ignoring her father's yelling.
Her family has a lot of land planted with garlic, and basically half of the land is planted in a row on the edge.
She first searched the two plots of land closest to her home, but didn't see her mother. She then headed up another hill, where she remembered a small patch dedicated to growing garlic. After nearly twenty minutes of walking, she finally reached the garlic patch. Still no sign of her mother, but the garlic was indeed much thinner, and the weeds had been removed.
Wu Meilai felt something was wrong and walked back along the road looking for her mother, calling for her mother.
There are no jackals, tigers or leopards in the mountains, but there are wild boars. Especially in winter when there is no food in the forest, the wild boars will dig up potato seeds in the fields.
Wu Meilai picked up a wooden stick in case of emergency. She carefully observed the ground along the way and was relieved when she didn't see any wild boar footprints.
She was standing on a small path that could only accommodate one person. There was land on her left, and a ditch on her right. The ditch was full of rocks, and there was dense vegetation on both sides. If she wasn't careful, she would easily step on air and fall.
Wu Meilai fell silent, and the only sounds in the mountains were the sounds of streams and birdsong.
"Mom!" she shouted, her voice echoing between the two mountains for a long time.
She took out her cell phone and dialed the number after hesitating.
"What's that?"
Because she is reluctant to spend money on phone bills, her mother and her father use an old-fashioned phone, and her father usually carries the phone.
Wu Meilai was a little disappointed, but she still asked, "Has Mom gone home yet?"
"No, haven't found it yet? I'm afraid he really went to steal someone!"
Wu Meilai hung up in time, too lazy to listen to the humiliating words that were about to come.
She looked at the foot of the mountain and still thought that her mother must have fallen into the ditch, so she went up again to look for her. This time, she shouted every time she walked a distance, then stopped to listen for any movement. Finally, she heard a small, intermittent groan three or four meters below the garlic field.
"Mom?" Wu Mei came and pulled away the ferns and dense water nettles on the roadside, and saw Liu Guiyan lying flat at the bottom of the ditch with her head tilted, and a bag of garlic and pig grass scattered beside her.
Wu Meilai quickly grabbed the grass and slid down. When she got closer, she heard her mother's painful whimpering.
"Mom, what's wrong with you?"
Wu Meilai didn't dare to move. She knelt anxiously beside her and pulled some water plants to block her head, hoping to block the stream water. Fortunately, there was little water in winter.
"My waist is hurt, I can't move." Liu Guiyan cried and groaned, "If it weren't for the tender water nettles here, I wouldn't have fallen down..."
Wu Mei came to call Wu Baizi.
"How can I be safe? I can even fall down while digging garlic. What's the point..."
"Looking for someone? Who can I look for? Help someone up after they fall down. Do I need to be taught?"
…
After hanging up the phone, Liu Guiyan cried and muttered, "It's my fault. If only I hadn't been greedy for that little bit of pig grass."
"Mom, this is an accident. Does it hurt anywhere else besides your waist?"
"No, my dear, help me up, the water is cold."
Her lips were pale and she was shivering. Wu Meilai had no other options. This place was too remote, and ambulances were a long way from them. When villagers encountered any major or minor incidents, those with better conditions would find ways to get a ride to the city, while those with less means would just fend for themselves.
Her family belongs to the latter, the kind with a low life expectancy.
Wu Meilai knelt beside her, put one arm around her shoulders and the other hand on her waist, pushed her to sit up, then squatted in front of Liu Guiyan and pulled her onto her back.
The mountain road was rugged and she was worried that Liu Guiyan might hurt her waist again, so she was very careful. It was almost three o'clock when she carried her back home.
Wu Baizi sat on the doorstep with his legs spread wide open, puffing out a cigarette. When he saw the two men, he first glared at them and cursed, "I said I was afraid he was dead." Then he stood up, leaning on his pipe.
Liu Guiyan was still humming softly, and it seemed that her expression was not good, because Wu Baizi's droopy face also froze for a moment.
"Wu Han! Come and help your mother!"
A voice shouted open both doors.
The door opposite Wu Meilai's house was opened, and her aunt hurried out. "Found it? Oh, Xiaoyan, what happened?"
At the same time, the door of the toilet opened, and Wu Mei came over hurriedly without even pulling up her pants.
"What does Wu Han know? He's so careless about helping his mother." She said to the toilet, "Just poop your shit and leave your dad alone."
As she spoke, she steadied Liu Guiyan, and together with Wu Meilai, she brought her into the house.
After laying Liu Guiyan flat on the bed, Wu Mei asked her aunt to look after her mother while she went to borrow a motorcycle to go to the town to call a doctor.
As she was leaving, she heard Wu Baizi complaining in a low voice: "What about the bag? Another one is ruined."
Wu Meilai didn't say anything. She had long seen clearly that his wife's life was not worth an item worth ten yuan.
Or perhaps he thought Liu Guiyan wouldn't die, that after all, she couldn't hurt him, and naturally couldn't compare to a dead object. If Liu Guiyan really died, with no one to take care of him, or to farm the land, then even a hundred bamboo baskets wouldn't be enough to protect Liu Guiyan.
When Wu Meilai was young, she asked her mother, "Dad always beats and scolds you, why don't you go back to grandma's house?"
Liu Guiyan was silent for a long time, then whispered, "How embarrassing... Besides, your dad will probably beat you to death."
Wu Meilai felt depressed.
The phone notification rings.
Zhou Qianling: I heard that you have fixed market days. Is it fun?
Look at the date, today is the day to go.
Wu Meilai stroked the handle of the motorcycle, didn't answer her, started the engine and left.
There are two roads to the town. One is the road Zhou Qianling and her friends took to enter the village, and the other is the road Wu Meilai is taking now.
This was built with government funding. I heard that it connects Qianyang and the provincial capital of Lin Province. Construction began simultaneously in several sections, and some sections were completed last year.
The section from Qianyang to Biji has already been built to the next town, and the remaining section is just the roadbed. The road is wide, but the middle is uneven and covered with mud and sand covered with rainproof sheets, making it impassable for ordinary vehicles.
Wu Meilai rode along this road and arrived in the town in less than half an hour.
The barefoot doctor she was looking for was already in his sixties, an expert in treating injuries. His surname was Liu. Because they were from the same family, he was willing to follow her back to the village at such an advanced age to treat injuries.
When she returned home, Liu Guiyan changed into dry and warm clothes. Several neighbors and relatives who had come to visit her were already surrounding her bed.
The old doctor ordered the person to be turned over, lifted up the clothes, observed for two minutes, and then gently pressed the spine from top to bottom. When he reached the waist, Liu Guiyan screamed in pain. The old doctor found the right position and pressed it down.
"Ouch!" Liu Guiyan cried out.
"Fortunately, it's just a small dislocation." The old doctor took out the plaster and handed it to Wu Meilai, telling her how to use it and when to use it before leaving. Wu Meilai wanted to invite him to dinner, but seeing that he had something urgent to do, she took the old doctor back to town.
After paying for the medical treatment, Wu Meilai bought hundreds of dollars worth of supplements and tea in the town as a thank you.
He declined the doctor's daughter's invitation, filled up his gas tank in town, and rode his motorcycle back to the village.
When I passed by the market street, most people had already dispersed.
Wu Meilai turned on her phone and found that Zhou Qianling had not sent any more messages. After hesitating for a while, she retracted the message.
That night, Wu Mei, after a long day of tossing and turning, went to bed early. Liu Guiyan hummed from time to time next door. A war movie was playing in the living room, and occasionally Wu Baizi's voice could be heard, scolding Wu Han to get out and play.
Wu Meilai felt a little breathless and reached for her phone to play a game. As if by telepathy, she received a message from Zhou Qianling the moment she unlocked her phone.
Zhou Qianling: I just found out that my aunt fell, I came to take a look.
Zhou Qianling: Which way should I go from here?
Wu Meilai was stunned for a moment, then she stood up, put on her slippers and walked out.
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