Liu Weimin was just about to ask about the situation over there when he saw several educated youths cooking in the kitchen. Lin Zhaodi, who was standing by the door, opened it and peeked in to ask a question. Soon, Li Yan's voice came from inside.
"My ankle is swollen and my calf is a little sore, but it should be nothing serious, right?"
After the message reached this place, the old man thought about it for a moment.
"A swollen ankle could be a dislocated ankle, a sprain, or even a fracture. You need to see a doctor on the spot, and you can't take it lightly."
This person was their savior, so the old man showed more patience.
"Wait a bit, I'll go check on it once it gets warmer."
Just then, Old Chen, whom Liu Weimin had been talking about, arrived. He was also surprised to see Liu Zhen.
"Why are you calling me when he's right here? What are you thinking? Do you think I'm a better eye than him?"
In the surrounding villages, even among medical students, this old man is practically a patriarch, someone they can only worship. And yet, this person is here, and they're asking him to come and treat their illness.
Is Liu Weimin trying to harm him again?
What could Liu Weimin say? He hadn't even noticed who the injured person was, okay?
However, he was always tongue-tied at times like this, and didn't say anything.
"Do you think I can get out of bed? There's another injured person in that house, go and check on them."
Old Chen was led to the female educated youth's room in a daze. Although the separation between men and women was quite tense, the doctor-patient relationship and the presence of other educated youth made it somewhat understandable.
"Your calf injury is fine, but your ankle is badly bruised. Let me massage it for you and prescribe some medicine. Apply it a few times a day, but you absolutely cannot put weight on it for a month."
Before they could say anything, Old Chen started rambling on and on.
"It's just that at this time, there's not much work to do, so I can take good care of myself."
"If it were just a few months earlier or later, wouldn't that cause so much delay?"
"Ah, yes, yes, Uncle, I can't be lame, can I?"
Old Chen answered while straightening his muscles.
"That's not necessarily true. Anyway, the doctor's orders have been written. It depends on whether the patient listens to them or not."
"ah!"
Li Yan screamed in pain.
"Uncle, be gentle, be gentle, ah!"
Several female educated youths turned their heads away, unable to bear it, while Old Chen remained calm.
"Alright, stop moving. If you don't straighten it out, you'll be in pain every time you move. If it gets too long and they all grow together, you'll be crippled."
"Ah! Then, go ahead and smooth it out. I... I'm not afraid of pain."
Li Yan was flexible and adaptable. She immediately covered her mouth, trying not to make a sound, for fear that Old Chen would find her shouting annoying and abandon her.
After treating the wound on her calf, the remaining half hour was filled with screams, followed by muffled groans and intermittent cries of pain. When Old Chen finished and was packing up the tools, Li Yan's clothes, which she had just changed into when she came in, were already soaked with cold sweat again.
He spoke weakly and listlessly.
"Uncle, is it all sorted out now? Tomorrow, I just need to apply the medicine, right?"
Old Chen didn't stand on ceremony either.
"I'll come over and take a look tomorrow afternoon."
He went back to that room, told Liu Weimin and the others, and then prepared to leave.
The cornmeal porridge in the kitchen is ready. Although it's not a dry dish, after drinking a bowl of scalding hot brown sugar ginger water, a bowl of hot porridge now will make me feel comfortable from head to toe.
The two men repeatedly said they were fine and didn't need anyone to accompany them. Seeing how exhausted they were, Liu Weimin figured they couldn't do anything but sleep, so he left with his men.
Seeing that everything was alright here, Jian Dan also said goodbye.
"Keep an eye on her tonight. I'm heading back too; this has been quite a day."
"Why don't you stay here with us for the night?"
"I haven't been home all day, the house's all cold now, you'll have to reheat it when you get back."
A simple wave of the hand,
"No need, no need. When I went back to get the brown sugar, I lit the kang and the fire wall. It's been half a day, so it should be warm by now. You guys should rest well. I'm going back to wash up. I'm planning to sleep in tomorrow."
Lin Zhaodi and Tan Yajun looked outside; it wasn't too dark yet.
"Alright, let's go early then. It'll be pitch black soon, the roads will be slippery, and it won't be safe."
"Yes, that's what I think too. Li Zhiqing, you should take good care of yourself during this time, otherwise you'll suffer when things get busy in the spring."
Li Yan nodded repeatedly; she had been terrified just now.
"Yes, yes, I will be careful. It will be hard on Lin and Tan, but I can't do the underground work. I can do things that don't require going down to the ground. If you need any shoes or anything, give them to me and I will make them."
Other villagers said they were all making ropes, so shouldn't we do it too? Give me everything, I'll do it.
I smiled and said, "Sure, none of them are the type to take advantage of others. It's a kind of job exchange. As long as they're happy and there's no trouble, that's fine."
The house did get a little warm, but it was almost burned out. I quickly stuffed a few more pieces of wood inside, went inside to draw the curtains, took a hot bath at the base, threw my clothes into the washing machine, and then came out.
I drank a bowl of brown sugar water and a bowl of thin porridge. It was so thin it was just soup. I wasn't sure if I was full, but my stomach was definitely full. But it wouldn't feel right to have my mouth empty, so I thought for a moment, then took out a handful of chestnuts and threw them under the stove as a snack.
I took a small stool and sat by the stove to warm myself. Big pieces of wood burn better; they soon turned into large, red-hot charcoal. The chestnuts also quickly lost their greenness and started to crackle and smell sweet.
I couldn't quite say whether it was hunger or craving, but I grabbed a hook and rummaged through the scorching heat. Ignoring the heat, I picked one up and started peeling it with gusto, only satisfied when the sweet aroma filled my mouth. I couldn't help but sigh in delight.
"Ah, the taste of pure, natural flavor is still the best."
After finishing all the roasted chestnuts, Jian Dan's slightly empty stomach was completely filled, and she felt quite satisfied.
After a day of fussing and playing, the cold was especially noticeable. Even Jian Dan's small, underage body was a bit tired. Having eaten and drunk her fill, and with the kang (heated brick bed) warm, she quickly washed up and lay down completely.
"It's so comfortable. That's why they say a warm bed is perfect for a wife and kids. It's so comfortable to have a warm bed."
In stark contrast to the previous two days when her days and nights were reversed, this time Jian Dan fell asleep almost instantly and remained asleep until she opened her eyes the next morning, staring blankly at the faint sunlight streaming through the curtains.
A heated kang (traditional heated brick bed) is nice, but the temperature is unstable.
The warmth accumulated by the heated wall and kang bed on the first night dissipated almost entirely by the latter half of the night. In fact, it could be said that Jian Dan was woken up by the cold so early in the morning.
Touching her icy nose and then her head, she instantly felt a chill run through her body again. It was the kind of chill that wouldn't go away even if she pulled the blanket tighter or snuggled into the covers, because the warmth inside the blankets had almost completely dissipated.
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