As the child grew, new problems came one after another like waves. The child started teething, gums became red and swollen, and the little mouth seemed to hold endless pain, causing frequent crying. Seeing her child's suffering, Lin Yue's heart ached, tears streaming down her face, as if a knife was cutting into her heart. She paced back and forth in the room, holding the child, sometimes gently rocking her, sometimes lifting her up, trying to find a comfortable position. Her eyes were filled with anxiety and helplessness, and she kept saying, "Baby, don't cry, Mommy's here, Mommy knows you're in pain."
Chen Yu was equally anxious. He inquired everywhere in the village about ways to relieve his child's teething discomfort. He asked everyone he met, whether they were villagers working in the fields or elderly people sunbathing at the village entrance; he didn't overlook anyone who might have a solution. His eyes shone with a firm determination, a resolve to do anything for his child.
One day, an elderly woman with white hair in the village told them that they could use a clean gauze dipped in salt water to gently wipe the child's gums. Chen Yu was overjoyed and immediately ran home to tell Lin Yue the method. Lin Yue quickly found a clean gauze and salt, and carefully wiped the child's gums according to the old woman's method. At first, the child resisted, shaking his head and waving his hands, and crying even louder. Lin Yue's heart ached, and tears welled up in her eyes, but she held them back and soothed the child in an even gentler voice: "Baby, it's okay, it won't hurt anymore after a little wiping, Mommy's here." With her patient comforting, the child gradually calmed down, and the swollen gums seemed to soothe a little under the salt water.
"Baby, Mommy knows you're uncomfortable. You need to get better soon," Lin Yue whispered to her child, her eyes filled with love and heartache. Her movements became even gentler, each wipe as if she were handling the most fragile and precious treasure in the world, afraid of hurting her child.
Besides the child's physical problems, feeding the child also became a huge challenge. In the 1970s, when resources were extremely scarce, Lin Yue's breast milk was sometimes not enough for the child. Whenever the child cried because of hunger, Lin Yue felt as if her heart was being tightly gripped by an invisible hand, filled with helplessness and self-blame.
"Chen Yu, the child isn't getting enough to eat, what are we going to do?" Lin Yue said anxiously to Chen Yu, her eyes filled with despair, tears welling up in her eyes. Looking at her child's little face, red from crying because of hunger, she felt like the most useless mother in the world.
Chen Yu was equally anxious. He paced back and forth in the house, racking his brains for a solution. "I'll go to the village and ask if any family has extra breast milk, or if there's anything that can replace it," Chen Yu said, and hurried out. He went from house to house, asking each family with hopeful eyes, telling them about the child's situation and hoping for some help. The villagers sympathized with them, but everyone was struggling financially and had no extra breast milk. Some villagers suggested trying to feed the child rice water, but rice water has limited nutrition and is far from enough for a growing child. Chen Yu returned home feeling utterly helpless and told Lin Yue about the situation.
Looking at her child's thin face, Lin Yue secretly resolved to find a way to increase her milk supply. She began inquiring everywhere about methods to promote lactation. She heard that eating pig's trotters could help, but pig's trotters were a rare commodity in this poor village and difficult to obtain. After learning this, Chen Yu, despite his exhaustion, would go hunting in the mountains every day after finishing his chores in the village, hoping to catch a wild boar and bring back some pig's trotters for Lin Yue to eat.
Once, Chen Yu worked on the mountain all day, not returning until nightfall. He was covered in injuries, his clothes torn in several places by tree branches, and his face and hands were covered in mud and scrapes. But in his hand, he tightly clutched a small wild boar, his eyes shining with hope. "Yue'er, we have pig's trotters. You can eat them to help with milk production," Chen Yu said with a weak smile, his voice hoarse from shouting and exhaustion.
Seeing Chen Yu like this, Lin Yue burst into tears. She dropped what she was holding, rushed to Chen Yu's side, took the wild boar from his hands, and said with heartache, "How could you be so foolish? What would happen to me and the child if something happened to you?" She cried as she helped Chen Yu into the house, quickly fetching water and towels to treat his wounds. Her hands trembled slightly, her eyes filled with heartache and reproach.
During this challenging process of raising their child, Lin Yue and Chen Yu diligently learned about childcare. They seized every opportunity to acquire knowledge, consulting with experienced elders in the village and listening to their stories of raising children. These elders patiently shared various childcare tips, such as how to determine if a child was sick and how to provide simple care. They also consulted with former educated youth who had returned from the city. The youths brought information about the outside world and childcare books; although these books were somewhat worn and yellowed, they were invaluable treasures to them.
Every evening, Lin Yue would diligently read parenting books under the dim light of an oil lamp. The flickering lamplight illuminated her focused face. She held a pen, carefully taking notes in the book, underlining or circling important points. "Chen Yu, look! It says here that children should get plenty of sunshine; it's good for their health and helps boost their immunity," Lin Yue excitedly told Chen Yu, her eyes sparkling with new hope. That light, like a star in the darkness, illuminated their arduous parenting journey.
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