Chapter 14 The Laziest Man in the Countryside 70 (14)
“Absolutely, Brother Ji.” Someone thought the village secretary made sense: “Luckily we’ve never bullied them before, otherwise they would definitely hold a grudge against us.”
"Our village secretary is really smart. Back then, my son wanted to throw stones at them, but Brother Ji stopped him and gave him a good scolding. He was the one who had foresight."
"If those people come to hold another denunciation meeting, let's not just watch the show, let's help them out. Everyone gets sick sometimes," someone suggested.
“Yes, if we go to ask that barefoot doctor next door, we have to watch the attitude of the villagers.”
"What will we call a doctor when we have one in our village? What's the term again?"
"Adding flowers to brocade!"
"right!"
Li Decheng and his wife felt refreshed after drinking the mung bean soup.
I didn't expect this kid to be so grateful.
They don't care at all what others think.
This made Li Decheng think more highly of him.
After He Xianglan watched him leave, she noticed that her daughter looked up at Ji Huaizhi's back several times, and something flashed through her mind.
But it was suppressed again.
Probably not.
The two had no connection whatsoever.
Li Decheng and his wife noticed a significant change in the village's attitude towards them. Previously, they were ignored, but now the villagers would greet them proactively.
The aunties in the village would still call He Xianglan "Xianglan" when they saw her, and occasionally ask her if she wanted to go up the mountain to look for something.
You should know that this was not allowed before; even if they wanted to go, they could only do so secretly.
I didn't expect that she would call out to me.
Li Decheng quickly understood why, and everyone started to approach him to talk about Ji Huaizhi's illness. He would also speak up, and although everyone couldn't understand him, they could sense that Li Decheng was very capable.
Doctors who can cure headaches and fevers are highly respected everywhere.
Not to mention doctors like him who come from big hospitals.
The villagers are simple and honest.
Seeing that he could treat children's stomach aches and sometimes treat the elderly's colds, without charging any money, everyone felt happy and grateful.
Since they don't charge money, they give us fruits and vegetables, or two eggs.
The couple's treatment in the village improved significantly.
One day, while working, a young woman, unaware that she was pregnant, slipped and fell into the paddy field. She was shocked and didn't know what to do when she heard an old woman say that the baby was going to die.
She was so anxious and upset that she asked her mother-in-law to take her to the hospital.
"The tractor took the grain to the delivery station today, and the handcart went with it too, what are we going to do?" The woman's mother-in-law slapped her thigh anxiously: "My Dazhu went with it too, how am I going to explain this to him when he gets back!"
Most people went to deliver their grain today, leaving only a few people to work leisurely in the fields.
"Go find Li the Cripple; he's digging on the other side!"
"Hurry, hurry, hurry!"
Li the Cripple was brought over, limping and panting. He saw Pearl looking at him with worried eyes in the crowd.
He glanced at the pregnant young woman first.
I knew what it meant after just one glance.
"If we take him to the hospital now, the journey will be very bumpy, and by the time we get there, the baby probably won't survive."
"Oh no, what should we do? This is my child's first child!"
Li the Cripple always carried a bag of silver needles with him, though only a few remained.
After pulling out one needle, he inserted it directly into the woman's acupoint. He then inserted the remaining needles as well, and everyone noticed that the woman's complexion improved instantly.
"Take her home first, be careful. I need to go to the mountains to find some medicinal herbs."
"Yes, yes, thank you so much, Dr. Li."
Li Decheng noticed that they no longer called him Li the Cripple, and there was nothing else: "I can only stabilize the fetus. If the person feels better after taking the medicine when the tractor comes back, they still need to go to the hospital to see a doctor."
“Alright! But Dr. Li, I’m a little worried about you going up the mountain. I’ll find a few young people to go with you.”
Even without Ji Hong, Wang Xiuju's words still carry weight.
Li Decheng did not refuse.
He really has a problem; if it weren't for a matter of life and death, he wouldn't want to go up the mountain with his leg like that.
At this moment, Ji Huaizhi appeared: "I'll go. At this time, all the slightly capable young people are out delivering grain."
"Okay!" Wang Xiuju nodded. "Who else is willing to go?"
Li Zhenzhu knew some herbs, and if she went with them, she could talk to her father alone. Without thinking, she said, "Aunt Xiuju, I've read the barefoot doctor's manual and know herbs. I'll go too!"
Wang Xiuju: "Okay, baby, you're a good girl. Huaizhi, you take good care of Pearl."
After thinking it over, they called Zhang Miao, who was more reliable at the educated youth settlement. It wasn't quite right for a girl like her to be with two grown men.
He Yingying also raised her hand to say that she could go too, but she was going because she was lazy and didn't want to do any work.
Wang Xiuju waved her hand impatiently: "Go away, everyone else, stay in the fields and work properly!"
The harvest is almost complete, and now it's time to prepare to plant the next batch of crops.
Zhang Miao and He Yingying didn't recognize the herbs, so they could only follow behind them and watch. He Yingying looked up and was surprised to see a beautiful, pale yellow bird:
"That bird is so beautiful."
What kind of bird is that?
When the group looked up, Li Zhenzhu immediately recognized it as Ji Huaizhi's bird, as it was always nearby wherever Ji Huaizhi was.
"Uncle Li, what kind of medicinal herbs are you looking for?" Ji Huaizhi knew that Xuanfeng was here, and it was much easier for it to find things on this mountain than for them.
Li Decheng: "I remember there is Eucommia ulmoides on this mountain. You can pull out silvery threads after breaking it open."
"There are also mugwort, mulberry mistletoe, and ramie root, all of which are medicines to prevent miscarriage."
Thinking that Ji Huaizhi probably wouldn't recognize her, she looked at Li Zhenzhu and carefully asked, "Do you know her?"
Li Zhenzhu naturally recognized him and nodded, "I know him."
"Let's search together then, but don't go too deep into the mountains, there might be wild boars there," Ji Huaizhi reminded them.
Li Decheng was actually a little confused: "Um, Huaizhi, why don't you come with me? If you don't know him..."
“I’ve also read the barefoot doctor’s manual. I’ll show you what looks like first.”
After they parted, Ji Huaizhi first whistled a clear tune, and Xuanfeng flew to Ji Huaizhi's shoulder, looking at him with its round eyes.
"Go and find those things."
Understanding its master's meaning, the phoenix flapped its wings and flew away.
Li Zhenzhu ran into Ji Huaizhi while searching for something and noticed that he already knew about several items: "You found so many?"
"There's also Isatis root?" Li Zhenzhu asked in surprise.
"Yes, I dug it up as soon as I saw it, and there are some other herbs for clearing heat and detoxifying." Ji Huaizhi said casually, "Have you been avoiding me lately?"
Ji Huaizhi suddenly changed the subject.
Li Zhenzhu didn't know why he said that: "No, you've got it wrong."
“Then I must have made a mistake.” Ji Huaizhi said casually, “My mother likes you very much.”
"Auntie is doing well." Li Zhenzhu felt the atmosphere was a little strange for some reason, and she didn't dare to meet his gaze, as she felt it would be easy to fall into his trap.
"Pretty good?" Ji Huaizhi found her obvious attempt to hide something amusing. "What do you think of me?"
"It's...pretty good."
Ji Huaizhi stopped teasing her and looked in another direction: "Your friend is here."
Li Zhenzhu looked over and saw He Yingying not far away: "Yingying, come here, he has almost finished searching."
He Yingying had just seen the two of them talking, and after thinking about it, she didn't go forward.
She had always felt that there was something strange about the two of them, and as for how she could tell, it was mainly based on intuition.
Seeing them standing in front of her now, she felt too embarrassed to go up and interrupt their conversation.
I didn't expect them to see me so quickly.
"I'm just wandering around. I don't recognize any medicinal herbs, but I saw some wild fruits. I'll eat some to quench my thirst." He Yingying glanced at the village secretary's youngest son.
She is indeed quite good-looking, but she doesn't like to talk to people.
He then looked at Li Zhenzhu, as if he had only ever paid attention to Zhenzhu.
The three of them went to find Zhang Miao and Li Decheng. They tried to bite into the wild pear plum pearl, but it was hard and astringent. The flesh inside was juicy but too small.
The pears my parents used to make for me tasted the best.
Li Decheng didn't expect to get these things so quickly; it seems the resources in these mountains are better than he imagined.
He would glance at Li Zhenzhu from time to time, and occasionally pretend to talk to her.
“You three female educated youths should go back. We’ll go over there.” Li Decheng wanted to speak with Ji Huaizhi alone.
After the three said goodbye, Li Zhenzhu turned and glanced at Ji Huaizhi.
Li Decheng took in this glance.
"Are you close to Pearl?" Since he knew about Pearl's relationship with the couple, Li Decheng asked directly.
"fine."
Ji Huaizhi uttered two words that left Li Decheng unsure how to proceed. They were not in a position to interfere in matters concerning a young child, but he did not want his daughter to remain in the countryside.
He wanted his older brother to get the pearl back, even though it would be difficult.
But getting into the mountains is easy, but getting out is difficult.
But if he can't go back, he can't bear to see his daughter suffer. Their family background is bad, and if his daughter is bullied in her husband's family in the future, they will have a hard time supporting her.
The issue of ingredients held my daughter back.
They might spend their whole lives in this small village, but what about Pearl?
Li Decheng remained silent.
Dragging that leg along the path, I felt utterly powerless.
Ji Huaizhi suddenly spoke up: "Uncle, things will only get better day by day."
Li Decheng did not answer this question.
He's on a downhill path.
After the pregnant woman was taken to the hospital, the doctor said the baby was saved, and Li Decheng's status in the village rose another level.
The hospital staff said that if someone hadn't saved her pregnancy, the baby wouldn't have been able to stay still. They also wanted to know which doctor it was and invited him to come to the hospital for consultations.
But when they heard that it was about people who had been transferred to lower levels, they stopped talking about it.
The pregnant woman's family told the village about it, and everyone became even more enthusiastic towards Li Decheng.
Seeing all this, Li Zhenzhu felt both relieved and happy; they were unfortunate yet fortunate.
Li Decheng's face also showed more smiles, and He Xianglan became more talkative, even chatting and working with the aunties in the village. Sometimes she would say a few words to her daughter Pearl in front of everyone, and no one would take it to heart.
No one would have guessed that Li Zhiqing, who seemed to come from a well-off family, was actually the biological daughter of Li the Cripple and He Xianglan.
The other people in the cowshed were treated better; at least when the cowshed leaked, someone would come and help fix it.
Li Decheng and He Xianglan did not move out of the cowshed, but instead built a new small house next to it.
It's said that it can be used as a pharmacy, and the couple can also live there.
All four brothers of the Ji family came to help.
While busy, He Xianglan kept an eye on Ji Huaizhi. She seemed to have noticed something and tentatively asked Zhenzhu about it, which unexpectedly made Zhenzhu blush.
Is there anything He Xianglan doesn't understand?
The two of them fell for each other at some point.
She neither agreed nor disagreed.
He would often watch the educated youth working in the fields, and occasionally a hint of other emotions would appear in his eyes.
After the harvest, everyone had some free time after distributing the grain. However, even when farmers had plenty of free time, they couldn't stay idle for long. On rainy days when they couldn't work, they still had to find something to do.
Li Zhenzhu put on long sleeves and prepared to go to the mountains to pick mushrooms with the other educated youth at the settlement. It had rained all day yesterday, and today they said that a lot of mushrooms and wild vegetables had appeared in the back mountains.
Everyone carried small baskets and bamboo baskets up the mountain.
Unexpectedly, when they got to the cowshed, they saw a number of people wearing red armbands pushing and shoving those people in the cowshed.
Before Li Zhenzhu's smile could fade, she saw her father being pushed to the ground.
The mother wanted to help her up, but someone grabbed her hair and said they were going to shave her head.
He Xianglan placed her hands on her head, trying to ease the pain in her scalp, and cried out, begging them to let them go.
Li Zhenzhu's eyes instantly turned red.
As she stepped forward, she called out "Mom," but He Yingying stopped her, saying, "I know you're quite familiar with them, but if you go now, you're finished!"
"Calm down. They're not worth offending. They're the Red Guards, you know. Be careful they don't try to frame you."
He Xianglan and Li Decheng vaguely saw their daughter, and saw her being pulled to stand not far away.
Her heart was in her throat; she couldn't afford to panic.
The two kept shaking their heads, hoping she would understand that she couldn't come over.
"You dead rightists, how dare you leave the cowshed and build a new house?"
"I think the minds of you people need a good education!" he said, turning to one of the children, who was not yet sixteen years old, "Go and call people to come and watch the denunciation meeting!"
"The people in this village have no sense of morality! They're allowed to live a good life in the village; they should be sleeping with those beasts!"
Smash it!
Li Decheng closed his eyes tightly. The feeling of being seen in such a disheveled state by his daughter was truly unbearable.
Everything was a crimson blur before my eyes; my head must have been smashed open. Hearing my wife's cries, I crawled over and hugged her, trying to comfort her.
Then the two of them were pushed together with the others.
Li Zhenzhu clenched her teeth tightly, and He Yingying noticed her strong reaction and felt something was wrong.
Zhang Miao thought so too, and frowned as she held her tightly: "Do you want to die? If you offend those people, you'll never have a good life again!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
