"Laibao, be good, Laibao, tell your mother where you feel uncomfortable. Why are you crying? Are you hungry?" A woman with her head wrapped on the kang kept coaxing the baby, but the baby could not understand what she said. He just cried at the top of his lungs, a little louder than before.
The child's face turned red and he was still crying. The woman untied the patched swaddling clothes to check. He did not urinate or pee, so she simply unbuttoned his clothes and stuffed the bag of grain into the child's mouth.
The woman had enough money, and the grain bag was as big as a baby's head. When she stuffed the grain into the bag, the child's mouth was immediately blocked, and his nose was about to be covered. Tian Cai hurriedly reached out and moved it away.
"What are you doing?"
The woman looked up after she finished speaking and found that the person coming was a girl brought by her aunt. She then put away the dissatisfaction on her face, tilted her head and began to scold the girls next to her, "You little brats don't know how to speak when your aunt is here. Are you all dumb? You don't even know what you have mouths for!"
Old Lady Shi snorted softly, walked over, held the child in her arms, and after a careful examination, she began to lecture him. "You've given birth before, can't you tell whether he wants to breastfeed or not? How can you be a mother like this? My eldest brother only has this child, you have to take good care of him!"
The woman pursed her lips, lowered her head to button her chest, and said nothing.
The woman is the niece-in-law of Old Lady Shi, named Lu Xia. Her family is from Hongqi Commune. It cost a lot of betrothal gifts to marry her. People thought that the Shi family was well-off and she would live a good life after marrying into the family.
Unexpectedly, her mother-in-law's illness later cost her most of the family savings. Coincidentally, she had just given birth to two daughters at that time, and she didn't even dare to fart at home. She could only watch the Shi family father and son spend all the money on a person who was bound to die. She almost vomited blood out of anger.
After her mother-in-law died, the Shi family's conditions became very ordinary. At that time, they were already worse off than most families in the village. To make matters worse, her father-in-law fell ill again not long after. Even after he recovered, he could not do heavy work. Her husband was even more of a waste. Everyone at home and outside depended on her, a woman.
She had been married for more than ten years but had not given birth to a son for the Shi family. She could only stay at home and work hard. No matter what her father-in-law and her husband Shi Dazhu said, she dared not say a word against him. In order to have a better life in her husband's family, Lu Xia pretended to be very submissive on the surface. Sometimes when she was unhappy, she would secretly take out her anger on her daughters.
She didn't dare to leave obvious marks on her daughters' bodies, so she pinched them in places where no one could see, such as the roots of their thighs and armpits, often leaving them bruises. Several daughters were frightened by her, but they didn't dare to complain to Shi Dazhu and Old Man Shi.
Lu Xia felt that she had been living a life of humiliation in the Shi family. Perhaps God saw that her life was too miserable, so he gave her Lai Bao, allowing her to finally have a son!
After having a son, Lu Xia immediately became more assertive and no longer seemed to be as docile and obedient as before. However, only half a month after giving birth, she even dared to talk back to her father-in-law.
Her father-in-law doesn’t even take Lu Xia seriously now, let alone a mere aunt?
Old Mrs. Shi carefully carried the child to the side. The girl who looked the oldest was very considerate and took a small quilt from the kang to put underneath.
"Doctor Tian, please take a look at my little nephew. What's wrong with him?"
Tian Cai simply washed her hands and then used the back of her hand to test the baby's temperature. It was okay, quite normal, with smooth breathing and a stable heart rate. Although it was a premature baby, the baby was still healthy.
When checking the baby's abdomen, Tian Cai found that the child's belly was bulging. She patted it gently and found that it was very swollen.
Old Mrs. Shi was also a woman who had given birth, so she immediately sensed something was wrong.
"How many days has this child not defecated?" Tian Cai asked Lu Xia who was lying on the kang.
Lu Xia hadn't paid any attention to it these past few days. She was completely immersed in the joy of finally turning things around. When Tian Cai asked, she just frowned and said, "Only two or three days, or three or four days? I didn't pay attention to the details!"
Tian Cai saw that she was unreliable, so he asked Mrs. Shi, "How long has the baby been born? Half a month?"
"Not yet," Old Lady Shi counted on her fingers. Before she could finish, the little girl next to her whispered, "Laibao has pooped three times in twelve days. This time, he hasn't pooped in four days. Before, he didn't poop much either, and it was green."
Tian Cai felt that this girl should be more reliable than the mother on the kang, so he asked a few more questions and confirmed that the baby had not eaten much these days, often cried, and sometimes vomited. After so many days, her weight had not increased at all compared to when she was just born. The old man of the Shi family had watched several granddaughters grow up, so he was worried because he knew that this was abnormal.
"There must be meconium accumulated in the child's stomach, and he needs to excrete it." Tian Cai prescribed senna leaves. This thing can be fed to the child in small amounts, and the medication can be stopped after the child has excreted the meconium. It will not cause severe diarrhea.
Moreover, senna leaves were in Tian Cai's medicine box. She estimated the amount to be three grams, took it out, put it in the broken bowl that the little girl helped to bring, and added boiling water to soak it. Several people sat aside and waited for the medicine to cool down.
Tian Cai massaged the baby's belly and asked the girl who had just spoken, "What's your name? How old are you?"
Before the little girl could say anything, Old Lady Shi spoke for her, "This is his second son, Lai Di. Over there is the third son, Pan Di, and the fourth son, Xiang Di. By the way, Lai Di, how old are you?"
The little girl never took her eyes off Tian Cai's hand. When asked, she replied, "I am nine years old. My third sister is six, and my fourth sister is four."
After Tian Cai massaged his stomach, Laibao probably felt comfortable. He let out two loud farts, and his stomach shrank a lot. He yawned delicately, put his little fist under his chin, tilted his head and fell asleep.
Tian Cai hurriedly woke him up, "No, no, no, you can't sleep. Take the medicine first, then go to sleep. Quick, Aunt Shi, bring me the medicine."
The medicine was still a little hot, and Tian Cai didn't care. He blew on it while feeding it into the little guy's mouth. The taste of senna leaves was not bitter, but it was different from the taste of milk. Lai Bao curled his lips and frowned with disgust, but Tian Cai fooled him into swallowing a few spoonfuls.
Old Lady Shi asked cautiously, "Is that enough? Do I need to pinch my nose and drink some?"
Tian Cai shook his head and waited for a few minutes. He heard a few "puffs" and then a smell that was not unpleasant filled the room.
"It's coming, Laibao finally pooped it out!" Lai Di jumped lightly a few times and cheered. But he was afraid of disturbing the baby, so he quickly covered his mouth. His eyes turned into crescent moons when he smiled.
Seeing that Old Lady Shi was about to clean up, she hurried forward and pulled a piece of rag from the kang, "Auntie, let me do it, I know how to do it!"
Old Mrs. Shi didn't argue with her. She just watched her skillfully clean the slightly green poop on the baby's butt and put on a clean and fresh diaper.
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