Since Sun Chengyuan recovered from his illness and returned to the county town, there was no use for Cui'er's family to keep the mother goat. Xiao Youran simply bought the goat back with two taels of silver. The milk was used to feed the kittens, and the family members often drank some of it and occasionally used it to make some food.
Yun Qiao'er covered her mouth, nodded vigorously, tears streaming down her face uncontrollably, and then quickly ran out the door.
Yun Qiao'er's older sister, Yun Xiu'er, held her younger sister in one arm and wiped away her tears haphazardly with the other, leading the two siblings into the house.
Jiang Youchen had already examined the woman and knew that her sister was here to see her about her postpartum illness, so she didn't go into the room.
Yun Xiuer lifted the curtain and entered the room. First, she placed her little sister on the bed, and then carefully lifted the quilt to take out her father's and mother's wrists.
When Xiao Youran arrived at the couple's bedside, she saw that the woman had her eyes open, cloudy and lifeless, while the man beside her had his eyes closed and his cheeks sunken.
The room was filled with an unknown odor.
She first took their pulses, and as her brother had said before, the man had suffered a brain injury with bruising and could only be kept alive by sucking on ginseng slices, which was quite troublesome.
It seems that Wang, the old woman who was Yun Laowu's wife, was already showing great kindness by giving her youngest son a few slices of ginseng to keep him alive.
The woman was a typical case of postpartum depletion, likely due to inadequate care during childbirth and lack of nourishment, resulting in continuous lochia and severe blood and qi deficiency.
That's easier.
She looked around and said to Xiuer, "Xiuer, go fetch a basin of water, wash your mother's bottom clean first, then change her into clean clothes and bedding. It's best if the two of them sleep separately, you two..."
There aren't any extra beds either.
She asked hesitantly, "Where...do you sleep?"
Xiuer patted the edge of the bed, her voice very soft, "Just... squeeze in here..."
Xiao You Ran: ……
Xiuer turned around and went out to fetch water, but after bringing the water back in, she looked troubled.
After thinking for a moment, she put down the water and went out again.
Little Youran didn't know what was going on, so she came out and waited while discussing the medication with her brother.
A moment later, the old woman Wang's voice came through again, cursing and swearing, "Why should someone who's about to die wear clean clothes?! We might as well wait until she dies and just put her in her burial clothes! Bad luck! Get out!"
Xiuer cried out, "Grandma, my mother isn't dead! She won't die... The little miracle doctor said she needs clean clothes... Please, just give her one..."
Xiao You Ran: ……
This house is so poor that they don't even have a change of clothes.
After a while, a voice seemed to call Xiuer away.
A moment later, Xiuer came in with a set of clothes, her eyes red. Then, as Xiao Youran had instructed, she first wiped her mother's body, then pressed her abdomen, and then wiped her again...
Qiao'er also returned, holding a bowl of goat milk, and excitedly said to Xiu'er, "Sister! Little sister has milk to drink!"
Xiao Youran asked Qiao'er and learned that Hongyu had boiled the goat milk, so she didn't stop her. She watched as Qiao'er held the baby and clumsily fed the little girl with a spoon.
She felt that Qiao'er was a sensible person. Even though she was very hungry and kept swallowing her saliva while staring at the goat milk, she was still able to resist the urge to save her younger sister first.
Just now she said to ask Qiao'er to get the pastries, presumably because she could only hold a bowl of goat milk with both hands, so she temporarily gave up the pastries?
Sure enough, after feeding her younger sister, Qiao'er put down the bowl and then went out again.
Xiuer quickly served her mother, Yang, and even brought a bowl of boiled water as Xiao Youran had asked.
Xiao Youran then took out a box of anti-inflammatory pills and a box of oral liquid to replenish qi and blood, and had Xiuer hold her mother and feed them to her.
After all this commotion, a glimmer of light finally returned to Yang's eyes. She focused her gaze, licked the slightly bitter taste on her tongue—the lingering flavor of the oral liquid—and uttered her first words in over ten days: "What...are you...doing?"
Xiuer cried tears of joy, "Mother! Mother! This little miracle doctor is saving you! Mother, you must cheer up!"
Madam Yang said with a bitter smile, "Isn't I about to die? Why would you save me?"
Just then, Qiao'er ran in carrying a food box. "Mother! You're awake?! That's wonderful! Mother, we have food! You won't die!"
Madam Yang smiled weakly, "Qiao'er, Xiu'er, you are both good children... After I leave, I will bless you... so that you can grow up well..."
She took it as a temporary resurgence of energy before death.
Xiao Youran could tell that Madam Yang was determined to die, so she spoke up, "Auntie, your newborn daughter still needs your care, how can you leave?"
Madam Yang was stunned. She looked at Xiao Youran with a somewhat anxious expression. "What did you say? My youngest daughter... is still alive?"
Xiuer immediately picked up her little sister, "Yes, Mother! Look, the little sister is still alive! Qiao'er just fed her goat milk!"
Yang's eyes widened.
On the sixth day of the lunar new year, her mother-in-law learned that her water had broken and did not even hire a midwife. She gritted her teeth and directed her two daughters, one to boil water and the other to lay straw against the wall. She endured the pain for several hours before giving birth to her youngest daughter.
She had hoped that if she gave birth to a son, her mother-in-law would at least give her some food. However, when her mother-in-law found out that she had given birth to another daughter, she cursed her for days, calling her a jinx, a jinx, and a worthless woman who couldn't give birth to a son, and didn't even come to see her once.
She still ate wild vegetable soup twice a day, and it was good enough if she could get any. How could she dare to hope for chicken soup or meat soup to nourish her body after childbirth?
But the youngest daughter has nothing to eat!
She tried to express milk for a long time but couldn't, and she fainted from anxiety.
She vaguely heard her two daughters crying, and the baby crying, but she just couldn't wake up.
When the baby stopped making noise, she instinctively felt that her youngest daughter had starved to death.
Her newborn daughter starved to death, her husband was in a coma, and her mother-in-law was cursing her viciously... What was the point of living?
While in a coma, she slowly developed suicidal thoughts.
Forget it, let her die. Qiao'er and Xiu'er are at least Yun family members, they certainly won't starve. She's just a burden to me. Perhaps she can see her youngest daughter in the afterlife.
But now, the baby she saw was fast asleep with its eyes closed, its chest rising and falling.
Really alive?!
She slowly reached out and touched the baby's lips; they were warm.
I even put some milk stains on my fingers in my mouth and tasted them. Did they really taste like goat milk?!
Looking at her sleeping youngest daughter, Yang's expression was filled with disbelief, but a renewed determination to survive rose in her heart.
Qiao'er immediately took out a steaming hot steamed bun from the food box. "Mom! This is a snack that the little miracle doctor gave us! It smells so good! She said we can get more later! Mom, we have food now, we won't go hungry! You have to get better soon, waaaah..."
As she spoke, she burst into tears, and Xiuer also started crying.
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