After Yan Ci left, Cui Jinxiu finally had time to ask her father:
"Dad, Yunchen and Zhennan went to look for you. Didn't you see them?"
Grandpa Cui said, "I didn't see the two of them; they might have gone the wrong way." After saying that, he closed his eyes to rest.
Cui Jinxiu was extremely anxious when her husband did not return. She looked around at the courtyard gate, hoping to catch a glimpse of him.
Yan Ci strode home and entered his own courtyard.
Wang Weiguo and Bai's father were processing roe deer and rabbits, Li Mingyue and Bai's mother were processing pheasants, and Bai Xiaoyue was boiling water.
Yan Ci pulled his wife into the inner room:
"Honey, could you take out some of the wound medicine we prepared?"
Bai Xiaoyue was shocked and was about to lift Yan Ci's clothes:
"Aci, are you hurt?"
Yan Ci hurriedly grabbed his wife's hand and said:
"Wife, don't worry, it's not me, it's that old Chinese medicine doctor who was sent down to the countryside."
He fell down the hillside, probably hitting a rock; his foot was badly injured.
He then told his wife in detail how he discovered Cui Jingzhi and how he carried him home.
Bai Xiaoyue breathed a sigh of relief:
“Aci, you’ve worked so hard, carrying Grandpa Cui for such a long way.”
Then, he took out the external wound medicine and asked Yan Ci to give it to Old Master Cui.
Yan Ci had just taken the medicine and reached the door when he turned back and asked Bai Xiaoyue:
"Honey, do we have any extra old quilts at home?"
Bai Xiaoyue asked, puzzled, "Yes, why?"
He immediately patted his head: "Oh, is it something that Old Master Cui needs?"
Yan Ci nodded: "I think his blanket is very thin."
Bai Xiaoyue found an old cotton quilt and also asked Yan Ci to bring over a few kilograms of flour.
She knew these veteran experts had been treated unfairly, and she wanted to help in any way she could.
Yan Ci delivered the external wound medicine to Old Master Cui. Xiang Zhennan and Cui Yunchen had already returned.
He handed the bedding and flour to Cui Yunchen, and then took out the medicine from his pocket and handed it to Old Master Cui.
"Sir, this is some wound medicine we usually keep at home. Please see if you can use it."
Cui Jingzhi looked at it and was very grateful:
"It works, it works, young man, this old man is extremely grateful."
Yan Ci: "Old man, there's no need to be so polite."
After saying goodbye to the others, he went home.
Cui Jinxiu exclaimed, "There are still many good people in this world! Look how kind this young man is!"
As she applied the medicine to her father, she said:
"Dad, I feel like I've seen this young man somewhere before. He looks familiar."
Grandpa Cui's foot hurt, so he squinted and ignored her.
Cui Yunchen said, "Jinxiu, how could you have seen him when you've been in Beijing all this time?"
Cui Jinxiu: "Oh dear, I think it's similar, but I'm too lazy to tell you."
...
Whenever he had free time, Wang Weiguo would learn from Yan Ci how to dig traps and how to hunt.
Bai Wenyi and Yan Xiaosong also went together a few times to hunt pheasants and rabbits, but they kept them for their own consumption and did not sell them.
Bai Xiaoyue divided the prey that Yan Ci had hunted into several portions, one portion for Bai's father, one portion for Bai Wen'an, and also had Chang Le take some to Ye's parents.
Although it's hard to buy things outside, the village receives a share of grain, and people rely on the mountains to hunt some wild game, so everyone's life is still manageable.
On the 26th day of the twelfth lunar month, Bai Xiaoyue made a lot of dumplings with roe deer meat and asked Yan Ci to send some to Old Master Cui.
As Yan Ci reached the door, he heard Uncle Bai's voice:
"Mr. Cui, I promise no one will cause you any trouble in the future."
Yan Ci listened outside for a while and found out that Grandma He from the village was sick.
Grandma He is a family member of a martyr. Her husband, He Shouxin, was a soldier, and her son, He Changming, was also a soldier.
Both of them sacrificed their lives for their country.
She is now all alone in the family, feeling utterly helpless.
The villagers respected her greatly, and whenever she needed help, everyone would rush to do it for her.
When Bai Wenli went to deliver something to Grandma He today, he found out that she was sick.
Uncle Bai and Old Wang drove her to the hospital for treatment.
Many of the older doctors at the hospital are not on duty now, and the younger doctors have told Grandma He to go home and recuperate on her own.
Uncle Bai had no choice but to take Grandma He home again.
Knowing that Cui Jingzhi was a traditional Chinese medicine expert with superb medical skills, he came to ask Grandpa Cui to treat Grandma He.
Cui Jinxiu and Cui Yunchen were worried that if the old man went to treat patients, people would find fault with him, so they didn't want him to go.
Uncle Bai assured them that they would not be harmed.
After a long silence, Old Master Cui said to his daughter and son-in-law:
"I have the utmost respect for those who defend our country, and I am very happy to be able to do my part for them now."
This proves the old man still has some use. If someone criticizes me for this, I'll take it.
Hearing her father say this, Cui Jinxiu and her husband dared not object any further.
Grandpa Cui then went to Grandma He's house with Uncle Bai.
After the old man left, Yan Ci gave the dumplings to Cui Yunchen.
Cui Yunchen expressed his gratitude repeatedly.
That evening, Yan Ci and Bai Xiaoyue lay on the kang (a heated brick bed), and he told his wife about how Grandpa Cui had gone to see Grandma He.
Bai Xiaoyue sighed:
"Grandpa Cui has a strong sense of justice. Even though he was treated unfairly, he still showed kindness to his patients."
Cui Jingzhi, as expected of an expert, took Grandma He's pulse, examined her condition, wrote a prescription, and asked Uncle Bai to buy the medicine.
Traditional Chinese medicine was hard to buy, so Bai Wenyi had to get it from the black market.
Grandma He took the medicine prescribed by Grandpa Cui and got better day by day. Before long, she recovered completely.
She was extremely grateful to Grandpa Cui's family and often brought them food.
Uncle Bai and Ye Jianguo turned a blind eye, pretending they hadn't seen anything, and no one else dared to say anything more.
After 1967, the spring of 1968 arrived.
The ground was still frozen and there wasn't much work to do, so Yan Ci and Wang Weiguo spent their days training the four children.
Chang Le is 12 years old, Ping Er is 9 years old, and Xiao Bai and An An are 5 years old.
Originally, we didn't want An'an to go, but who knew that this little girl really wanted to go and train, not afraid of hardship or fatigue.
Bai Wen'an returned and said that things were still very chaotic outside, and the work was not easy. Those people were always pointing fingers and making demands, and now Secretary Du could only swallow his anger.
Everyone fell silent after hearing this. Bai Xiaoyue and Yan Ci exchanged a glance and sighed.
However, Ye Changxing is doing very well and has already become a minor leader.
After Yao Dajun's death, he switched allegiance to Zeng Daming and is now considered one of Zeng Daming's confidants.
Since Yao Dajun died, Zeng Daming has been favored by Zhang Qingshan and can be considered the second-in-command.
Not long after, the Revolutionary Committee was established, and Zhang Qingshan became its director, while Zeng Daming rose to become its deputy director.
Ye Changxing was an officer under Zeng Daming, and thus became someone who worked for the country, receiving a salary and rations.
The eldest sister-in-law of the Ye family was extremely proud of herself. She couldn't walk all the roads in the village, and she would tell everyone she met how great her son was now.
She even came to Bai Xiaoyue to show off, and Bai Xiaoyue patiently watched her performance for a long time before finally offering her praise.
They showered her with praise, saying how well she had raised her child, how successful he was now, and how everyone envied him.
Only then did Sister-in-law Ye leave, completely satisfied.
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