"Don't be afraid, I'm a doctor, let me take a look." Li Xiyue comforted the little girl and went to check on the fainted Erniu. She found that she fainted only because of hypoglycemia.
He took out a silver needle and pricked Erniu with it. After a while, Erniu slowly woke up.
She took out a White Rabbit candy from the space, peeled it, and fed it to Erniu, "Just some candy will do."
Erniu didn't know what was happening at first, until she smelled a milky and sweet taste in her mouth, then she understood and began to suck greedily.
The little girl beside her kept swallowing her saliva, her misty eyes full of the desire to eat.
Li Xiyue gave her another one and said, "Take it and eat it."
The little girl instinctively reached out, but then she thought of something and held back, "My mom said I can't take other people's things."
"It's okay, my sister gave it to me, so it doesn't count as taking it carelessly." Li Xiyue peeled off the candy wrapper and stuffed the candy into her mouth.
The little girl couldn't refuse the sweetness she had never tasted before. She took one end of the candy with her dirty little hands, licked it, and squinted her eyes happily.
Li Xiyue handed her the candy wrapper and said, "Your hands are dirty, so wrap it in the candy wrapper and eat it."
The girl timidly took the candy wrapper, wrapped the candy but refused to eat it, and put it carefully in her pocket.
Li Xiyue asked: "Why don't you eat anymore?"
"I want to save it and eat it slowly." The girl lowered her head shyly.
This was her first time eating candy, and she didn’t want to finish it all at once, but if she said that, would her sister laugh at her?
Li Xiyue saw that they were thin and small, their clothes were patched, their hair was dry and yellow, and their faces were sallow and haggard. It was obvious that they were suffering from long-term malnutrition.
"What's your name? How old are you?" Li Xiyue asked after straightening the girl's hair.
The girl replied crisply, "My name is Lai Di, and I'm eight years old."
"I'm seven years old." Erniu said vaguely with candy in her mouth.
She was so thin that her chin was pointed and her eyes looked particularly big.
Children aged seven or eight look like they are only four or five years old, and can be described as skinny.
And just by hearing the name Lai Di, you can tell what the family situation is like.
Li Xiyue looked at the two skinny girls with pale faces and felt very sad. She asked about their family situation.
Erniu's family was poor. Her mother died of illness when she was very young. Her father married a stepmother and left her to her grandparents. Her grandmother was not in good health and had to take medicine all year round.
Under the control of her stepmother, her father didn't care about her and her grandparents at all.
The family could only rely on grandpa to work in the fields to earn work points, but grandpa was old after all, and the work points he earned were not enough to feed a family of three.
Lai Di's family is not poor, but they favor boys over girls. She has two older sisters and a four-year-old brother. All the resources in the family are given to her brother first, and Lai Di can only eat half full at every meal.
Although Lai Di could eat half full, she was beaten every day at home. Her body was covered with new and old wounds, which was frightening to see.
"My younger brother always blames me when he does something wrong. My mother never asks why and just picks up a broom to beat me..." Lai Di cried aggrievedly.
Li Xiyue was very angry. Isn't this mother too biased?
Although favoring sons over daughters is very common in this era, conscientious parents will certainly favor their sons, but at least they will not be too harsh on their daughters. Conscientious parents like Lai Di's family do not even try to save face. They openly abuse their daughter and favor their son, which is too much.
"Don't cry." Li Xiyue wiped the little girl's tears and coaxed her softly.
Lai Di was very well behaved and really stopped crying.
Li Xiyue felt very distressed when she saw the pitiful appearance of the two girls and felt that she should do something to help them.
After thinking for a moment, she asked, "Do you want to have a full meal?"
"Yes!" The two girls nodded heavily.
"Sister has a way to feed you, but you have to work to get the food. Are you willing?" Li Xiyue asked again.
"We do."
They are not afraid of working, but they are afraid of going hungry.
Li Xiyue nodded in satisfaction. "Okay, next time you go to pick grass for the pigs, you can help me dig some herbs, and I'll exchange them for food, okay?"
She was not short of money or food, and she could also give them some money and food directly, but she could only help them once, and her kindness might turn into hatred. She was also afraid that they would develop the habit of relying on others.
It is better to teach a man to fish than to give him a fish.
Let them get paid for their own labor while also learning skills. When they have more skills than others, they will not be bullied at will.
It would be even better if they were interested in studying medicine when they grow up. With these skills, they can at least support themselves.
"Okay!" the two children said in unison.
Lai Di was older after all, and she suddenly thought of something and said, "But sister, we don't know any herbs."
The light in Erniu's eyes dimmed a little. Yes, how could they dig it out if they didn't know it?
"Sister will teach you." Li Xiyue looked around and pulled some grass over. "This is called Fei Peng, a kind of herb."
"We recognize this, it's pig grass," said Lai Di.
Erniu's eyes flickered. "Is this pigweed a herbal medicine?"
"Yes, many of them are medicinal herbs. You just don't know them." Li Xiyue showed them a few more. "You must be familiar with this plantain, right?"
The two children nodded, "I know them."
"And this dandelion, too."
"Oh, right, you've seen cockleburs. They're the little green fruits covered in thorns that get stuck to your skin and are hard to remove."
"I saw some knotweed on the ridge of the field, and there's also this goosegrass next to us."
The two children's eyes gradually regained their brightness.
They have seen all of what my sister said, and quite a few of them.
In addition to herbs, Li Xiyue also told them about some common insects in rural areas. "If you have cockroaches or centipedes at home, you can bring them here, but you can't pick them up with your hands. You have to use a net to catch them. If they bite you, you will be poisoned."
"Bombshells, millipedes, mud crawlers, earthworms, dung beetles, gnats, crickets, etc., you can bring them all to me."
In the eyes of traditional Chinese medicine, everything in the world can be used as medicine.
The countryside is vast and rich in resources, with a wide variety of species. As long as you know them, you can easily get a lot of medicinal herbs.
"Sister, we remember it." The two children were very happy. They often saw these things everywhere, and they could actually exchange them for food. Wouldn't they have endless food?
"Hehehe..." The two girls were young and couldn't hide their thoughts, so they burst into laughter.
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