Chapter 38 The Suffering of the Triplets
Inside the narrow, cramped stone house.
A six-year-old girl with deformed legs sat on the ground, crying loudly.
A girl of similar size, with sparse hair and a thin figure, was picking at the dirt on the wall with chopsticks and eating it.
Another little girl, who looked the same age as them, was holding half a moldy flatbread. She wanted to hug her younger sister, but found that she was too small to lift her younger sister who was the same age as her. She could only turn around and stop her younger sister from eating dirt.
Ling Huanwu and her aunt who came with her hurriedly went into the house. One of them picked up the child who had fallen off the bed, and the other picked up the little girl who was squatting in the corner eating and whose mouth was full of dirt.
The whole room reeked of feces, urine, and mold.
Ling Huanwu held the light-footed girl in her arms, touching her thin, bony body, and tears streamed down her face uncontrollably.
If there is suffering in the world, poverty is the original sin.
Children suffer mostly because they lose their parents.
Children without parental protection are like duckweed on the sea, without a home, only wind and rain.
Their mother died in childbirth, and their father risked his life at sea to raise them.
The only remaining grandmother worked day and night to support them, but she could only barely give them a bite to eat and was unable to take them to see a doctor.
Now, even their only grandmother has fallen ill.
Ling Huanwu felt a pang of sadness, but she smiled as she wiped the little girl's mouth, saying, "Little girl, you can't eat the dirt from the wall, it'll hurt your tummy!"
The aunt, who was carrying her second sister, who had polio, to bed, sighed and said, "This child is mentally challenged. The doctor also said she is malnourished and has pica. She can't understand what you're saying to her."
"There are quite a few children on this island with pica, and doctors say it's caused by malnutrition..."
Ling Huanwu held the child, her whole body ice-cold, as if she had fallen into an ice cave.
She thought she was approaching suffering.
Little did they know, this was only one aspect of their suffering.
The three children were given names arbitrarily by their father, who was uneducated.
Daya, Erya, Sanya.
A simple name, like a life without a future.
Ling Huanwu drew well water to bathe the three children. She saw that the children's bodies were covered with red welts from mosquito bites, and the fleas on their bodies had soaked the entire bathtub.
Since there was no shampoo to wash the children's hair, Ling Huanwu could only use soap instead.
As the first bucket of water was poured in, countless lice floated on the surface, accompanied by filthy, sticky soap bubbles.
I picked up a louse and squeezed it between my fingernails; the space between my nails was full of blood.
It's hard to imagine how much suffering the three children endure on a daily basis.
Its body, which already had very little flesh, had so much blood drained from it.
Ling Huanwu found a comb in the old drawer, intending to comb their tangled hair and remove lice.
The auntie, however, immediately pulled out a razor. "That won't work. It won't remove the insect eggs. You have to shave them all off."
After all that, the three already thin children looked even thinner, like bamboo sticks, with sunken cheeks and no flesh left.
The aunt explained to Ling Huanwu that it wasn't that the children's grandmother didn't take care of them.
It was truly difficult for her, an elderly woman, to support three children.
It's normal for children in the countryside to get lice like this.
However, Aunt Liu's family was really poor. Years ago, the mother of the child had a difficult childbirth and incurred debts, which they have been unable to repay all these years.
Ling Huanwu understood, of course, that the old man certainly didn't mean to neglect the child.
If her son were here, why would she, at her advanced age, be away from home day and night just to earn a few work points?
The aunt who came to help had her own children to take care of, so she went home first.
The three children sat in a row on the chairs, their stomachs growling with hunger.
Ling Huanwu couldn't bear to see her child hungry, so she searched the house for a long time but couldn't find anything edible except for half a moldy flatbread.
I remembered that among the medicinal herbs stored in my space was a dried herb that could be used to make black jelly.
She hurriedly went outside and entered the space in a corner where the children couldn't see her. She found a whole bag of dried grass jelly and a bag of white sugar from the pile of dowry. After leaving the space, she started cooking.
After boiling the dried mesona chinensis in a pot over high heat until it becomes a thick, black broth, the leaves are then filtered out using a cloth.
While cleaning the stove, the black broth was cooled by the sea breeze and gradually solidified into black jelly.
Ling Huanwu used a knife to cut the jelly in the pot into small pieces, put them in a bowl, and added some white sugar. Instantly, the sweet herbal aroma masked the salty smell of the sea outside.
On a hot summer day, a bowl of cold noodles like this is both detoxifying and refreshing.
The moment the three children saw the black jelly, even Sanya, who couldn't speak, their eyes lit up, and they all grabbed spoons and started eating it in big mouthfuls.
Ling Huanwu wiped the sweat from her forehead and watched the children eat happily, feeling even happier than if she had eaten meat herself.
Looking at the mosquito net with several large holes and the worn-out straw mat, while the children were eating and not paying attention, she took out a new mosquito net from her space, as well as a clean straw mat, quilt and pillow, and replaced everything on the broken bed where the children slept.
After the three children finished eating the sweet black jelly, they were stunned when they turned around and saw their suddenly brand-new bed.
"Fairy sister, do you know magic? Where did you conjure these things from?"
Daya blinked her big eyes, her gaze filled with surprise as she asked Ling Huanwu.
Er Ya has polio and doesn't go out much on weekdays. Although she's shy, you can tell she's happy.
Ling Huanwu carried the unresponsive Sanya to the bed and laid the three children in a row inside.
"This quilt is so soft, and this bamboo mat is so cool. If Grandma comes back and sleeps in this bed, she definitely won't be unable to sleep all night."
Even though Daya, who was sleeping at the very back, was so sleepy that her eyelids were drooping, she was still worried about her grandmother.
"Grandma went to buy rice for you. She said she'll steam rice for you tomorrow!"
"Really?"
Da Ya and Er Ya asked in unison, their lips licking as if they had already started eating rice.
"Of course it's true!"
Ling Huanwu touched Sanya, who had fallen asleep immediately beside her, and replied to them firmly.
Just like her unwavering heart at this moment.
Before the famine year arrives, she must ensure that the children on the island have enough rice to eat and new clothes to wear.
Diseases caused by poverty.
She will surely remove them one by one, like removing lice.
After the children fell asleep, there was a soft knock on the door.
Ling Huanwu tiptoed off the bed to open the door.
The silvery moonlight poured into the room, shining brightly and dazzlingly in Ling Huanwu's eyes.
But it was far less impressive than the radiant, childlike glow emanating from the tall, imposing man at the entrance.
The five-pointed star on his military cap shone with a sacred red light.
Just now, she finally understood why Zhou Jiuzhen insisted on coming to this island, which couldn't even be found on a map, to build.
Perhaps it was because he had seen the poverty here that he came here so resolutely.
All so that every villager can live a good life.
Ling Huanwu looked up and quietly gazed at the anxious expression on the man's face at the door. Finally, she suppressed her panic and asked the question that the child most wanted to ask.
"Nine tremors, is Aunt Liu alright?"
The children had lost their parents, and she didn't want them to lose their grandmother in the end.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
