Chapter 22 Wounded
This hunt for the giant spotted group resulted in the fewest injuries in recent years.
Only two people were injured: Guo Banshan, who was bitten on the arm, and Guo Baiwen, who inexplicably twisted his ankle and was whipped.
However, both of these injuries could have been avoided.
But the village chief also knew that this was because everyone had gathered around, and it had little to do with the hunters who came to deal with the big-spotted beast today.
So they paid the agreed-upon amount, and after seeing that they were preparing to tan the large patch of skin, they sent over some saltpeter and asked if anyone could help treat the injury.
The village just sent someone to fetch a doctor, but it's getting late, and it will probably take some effort for them to come and go.
The injured person who was carried into the ancestral hall, it was unknown how long he could hold on.
Although hunters are not doctors, they have spent a lot of time in the mountains and forests and have some folk remedies or unorthodox methods for treating their own or others' wounds.
For minor injuries like those suffered by Guo Banshan and the others, Chen Damu, though not a doctor, could still help treat them.
So he was invited to the ancestral hall to help take a look.
Guo Baiwen's injuries were relatively easy to treat. His sprained ankle was straightened, and the long scar on his back was from his own niece's whip.
Although the wound was red, swollen, and oozing some blood, which looked quite frightening, it had not broken any bones.
In particular, Guo Baiwen said that he still had Panax notoginseng powder, so he asked his grandmother to apply the medicine to him herself. As long as he lay down and rested properly for a while, he should be almost fully recovered in ten days to half a month.
Guo Banshan was in more serious condition; his arm was badly bitten, and some of the wounds were so large that they couldn't stop bleeding.
But the doctor hasn't arrived yet.
Chen Damu could only follow the hunter's usual methods to stop the bleeding.
He took out some herbal residue that he always carried with him, wrapped it in a cloth, and began to apply pressure to the wound to stop the bleeding.
Seeing that the bleeding was gradually decreasing, but had not completely stopped, he shouted to the small group of onlookers outside the window, "Do you have any rice wine? If not, vinegar will do too!"
Cleaning wounds with these things can prevent them from festering.
Fortunately, it's cold now, not summer.
Otherwise, this entire arm would probably be ruined.
But after finally cleaning Guo Banshan's arm wound with rice wine, an even bigger problem arose: there was still a bit of animal tooth left in his wound.
Although only a tiny tip was visible above the flesh, no one would think that the tooth was only that small.
Xu Damu felt a chill run down his spine. It was the first time he had ever seen such a wound, and he couldn't help but feel uncertain. "Hasn't the doctor been called yet?!"
Guo Banshan's father, Uncle Shitou, watched from the side, his eyes red with anxiety.
I wish I were the one who got hurt today.
The animal tooth couldn't be left in the wound unattended. Chen Damu had already used vinegar and rice wine, but the doctor still hadn't arrived.
Uncle Stone was so desperate he was about to cry.
Even if you're completely unsure, you can only grit your teeth and say, "Give me the knife."
Finally, he added, "Remember to heat the knife over a fire first."
He had never picked animal teeth like this before, and although Guo Banshan was injured, he was still conscious and his eyes could still turn around to see how he was moving.
Worried that the person would faint from the pain, and without any anesthetic, Chen Damu could only find a wooden stick and put it in the person's mouth.
Fortunately, while he was gesturing how to make the incision, Guo Banshan, overly nervous, had already 'sensibly' fainted on his own.
Chen Damu lifted his head in one breath, his already hesitant movements becoming even more apprehensive. Fortunately, this time he didn't have to wait too long, and the doctor invited by Guojia Village finally arrived.
So the rest of the matter was left entirely to the doctor.
Emerging from the blood-stained room, even Chen Damu, who was used to seeing such injuries, couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
Turning my head, I saw Grandma Guo helping Guo Baiwen sit on a folding stool, with a little girl who looked like a bean sprout squatting on the ground next to them, looking worried.
To be honest, he had never seen such a thin little girl before.
I remember when Baoyue was the same age as this girl, she wasn't exactly as strong as a calf, but she was already able to carry the net that her family made and go to the woods behind the house to catch pheasants.
The big spotted one is dead, and the wounded inside have finally received medical treatment.
Chen Damu is now much more relaxed, and even has the leisure to meddle in other people's affairs.
"What's wrong? Everyone looks so worried."
Grandma Guo looked up and saw it was him. She quickly thanked him for taking care of her grandson's injury. But then she sighed, "The house is uninhabitable now. The New Year is coming soon, and I'm wondering what to do next."
"How come the house suddenly became uninhabitable?"
Before he could finish speaking, Xu Damu suddenly remembered the place where he and his men had just captured the giant spotted dog...
Good heavens, can it really be such a coincidence?!
Guo Xiaohua and Guo Baiwen's nods told him that yes, it was indeed such a coincidence.
"That courtyard is your home?" Even Chen Damu felt a little embarrassed at this moment.
Seeing this, Grandma Guo quickly waved her hand, "It's none of your business. That house is quite old; it was built when his grandfather was alive. After so many years of repairs and renovations, it's not very sturdy to begin with."
She originally thought that although the house was a bit old, it had survived so many years of ups and downs, and she could live there for another year or two. After she saved up some money, she would renovate the house completely.
Who would have thought that such a thing would happen, and the house would have to be repaired.
The yard was so messy that it would be more convenient to just clean it up and rebuild the house than to make minor repairs.
Chen Damu recalled the half-collapsed kitchen, the two rooms with their front walls crooked, and the fence that had been trampled on by almost everyone.
Even though Grandma Guo kept saying it had nothing to do with them, she couldn't help but feel guilty.
"How about we talk to the village chief later and see if there are any empty houses in the village, or find someone to help you repair that sleeping room?"
It's going to snow soon, we can't let this family continue to live in this ancestral hall, can we?
Just as Grandma Guo was about to nod, Guo Baiwen quickly stopped her, saying, "No, there's no need to trouble yourself."
The ancestral hall looks nice from the outside, but there's no stove for cooking or a latrine inside.
Without Da Ban, not to mention the village chief, the other village elders probably wouldn't agree to let them continue living here until the New Year.
The house with its crooked walls was really uninhabitable. Even if it were temporarily repaired, a snowfall would probably trap people inside.
If it's just stuffy, that's not a big deal. The real danger is if the roof collapses in the middle of the night, leaving you with no one to answer your cries for help.
The villagers were probably worried they'd freeze to death, so the most practical and convenient thing to do would be to find an empty house in the village and temporarily put them in there. But—
During the Lunar New Year, whether you're staying at someone else's house or sharing a room with someone, you probably won't feel comfortable either at your own home or someone else's.
It's not like he doesn't have a house; his house in the county town is still there, perfectly fine.
There was no other way but to move up my initial plan.
But as the saying goes...
Plans can't keep up with changes.
Moreover, after this major ordeal, he has completely lost his fascination with life in Guojia Village.
Forget distant relatives and close neighbors, forget about the leisurely mountain life at the foot of the South Mountain. No matter how convenient it is to gather firewood near the mountain, nothing is more important than your own life.
Fortunately, the large spotted bird was discovered before the mountain was closed, so we were able to find someone to come and help.
If it had been a few days later, it would have been inconvenient to get in and out of the mountains.
Wouldn't that mean spending the New Year at home in constant fear?
The county town is still better.
Not only is it convenient with so many people, but it also goes without saying whether the county government is reliable or not. At worst, there are city walls outside the county town to protect it!
"It's alright, no need to trouble you and the village chief."
Guo Xiaohua's mouth dropped open upon hearing this.
Grandma Guo couldn't help but turn her head to look at him, only to see Guo Baiwen wink at the two of them.
"Grandma, Little Flower, I'm serious, I have a way."
Since they had their own solution, and Chen Damu wasn't one to take on too much responsibility, he nodded to them and took his leave. Then he washed his hands and headed towards the place where the animal hides were being tanned.
Once they arrived at the open space, the leather, which had been initially cleaned, had already been soaked in wood ash water to remove the grease.
The eldest brother, Chen Youtian, was cutting fresh meat. Since the internal organs couldn't be preserved for long, the doctor who had come over thought they could be used in medicine, so he had just paid to buy them.
This saved them the trouble of having to use salt to preserve it.
The remaining meat will be processed into jerky for easier preservation.
Chen Baoyue was squatting to one side, sanding a large tiger tooth with sandpaper.
Before she came out this time, her father told her that if she could successfully subdue Big Spot, he would let her choose the biggest and most beautiful tooth to make a necklace.
Consider this a souvenir of her helping out this time.
And she really put in a lot of effort today; several uncles and elders around her praised her for being amazing.
She was focused on polishing the tooth to make it whiter and brighter when she heard her second uncle suddenly lean in and whisper something to her father.
Then she heard her father, Chen Youtian, nod. "Yes, although it wasn't intentional, we still broke it, so we should send something over as a token of our appreciation."
She put down the sandpaper she was holding, stood up, and said, "Father, Second Uncle, what are you talking about?"
Chen Damu recounted what he had just heard to Chen Baoyue. It was only then that Chen Baoyue realized that the person she had whipped was actually the owner of the house that was about to be trampled by the giant spotted cat.
No wonder he insisted on squeezing to the front to see back then.
So that was his home.
"Are you sending something over?"
“Yes, although we didn’t do it on purpose, we still made a mess of their house,” Chen Youtian recalled that his daughter had scrambled to the window to avoid the big spotted dog, which led the dog to chase her into the yard. “And the one who got bitten on the arm, although it wasn’t our fault, we sent it to one family, so we couldn’t not send it to the other one.”
"This time we mainly brought weapons and rattan armor, and those things aren't really suitable to give away," Chen Damu thought for a moment, "But we haven't had a chance to eat those two pheasants we hunted yesterday, have we?"
To outsiders, it seems like life is very difficult and bitter for people living in the mountains.
But they weren't so poor they couldn't survive. For example, the pelt of this big spotted animal that we hunted today could be exchanged for one or two hundred taels of silver in the county or prefectural capital.
If it's in good condition, the price of this animal hide can be even higher.
The only problem is that living in the mountains makes it inconvenient to get around, and buying food, oil, and salt is more troublesome. Since most families don't farm much, they are quite frugal with rice and flour.
But throughout the year, there's never a shortage of meat in your mouth.
That being said, making a living by hunting is not as safe or easy as farming. If one is not careful and is injured by snakes, insects or wild beasts, one may suffer from chronic illnesses or even serious, incurable injuries.
That's why Chen Youtian was named Youtian.
Once he made up his mind, he immediately agreed, "That's perfect. Two pheasants, let's deliver one to each of those two households tomorrow."
Sending them a word of comfort is a small token of their appreciation.
A note from the author:
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