Seeing that Song Xia was in no major condition, Granny Wang and Grandpa Wang returned to continue working on their own plot.
Realizing Song Xia’s state, Shen Daniu felt it inappropriate to keep having her plow the field with him. He sighed upon seeing Shen Chunming nearby and muttered to himself that Song Xia’s household really seemed to be in quite a sorry state.
Song Xia felt quite helpless as well; she hadn’t expected her body to be this fragile. Over the past few days, going to the county town and picking fruit up the mountain with Ah-Ming, she had felt her physical condition improve quite a bit. However, the moment she started proper physical labor in the fields with Brother Shen, the gap immediately became apparent.
“Brother Shen, I’m truly sorry, I…” Song Xia looked apologetically at Shen Daniu.
“It’s nothing, go rest properly first. If your body breaks down, having all the land in the world won’t do you any good,” Shen Daniu comforted her. He had already mentally abandoned the idea of borrowing Song Xia’s curved-beam plow, figuring he would study it properly once the wheat planting was finished and he had some free time.
“Then I’ll head over to my side first, and I’ll come back later to help you fetch the plow.” Having made up his mind, Shen Daniu didn’t delay any further, as his own family’s fields still needed to be cleared in these last few days!
“Alright.” Song Xia wasn’t one to put on false airs, so she nodded in agreement.
Noticing Shen Daniu’s departure, Shen Hu in the neighboring field glanced at the two people left behind and went back to burying himself in his work.
Song Xia didn’t notice Shen Hu’s small gesture. Instead, she leaned against a tree, slowly recovering her stamina amidst Shen Chunming’s incessant chattering, and replenished her fluids in small, slow sips.
Once she felt she had recovered enough, Song Xia dragged an unwilling Shen Chunming back into the fields to plow.
Song Xia and Shen Chunming had similar physical stamina and pacing, making them a perfect match. They took turns—one would pull the plow for a while, and then they would swap.
However, Shen Chunming couldn’t quite figure out how to master the direction and width, so the plot they plowed ended up crooked, winding, and completely messy.
Shen Hu grew annoyed just watching them from the side.
When he saw Shen Chunming acting spoiled and whining about being too tired for the third time, Shen Hu could no longer restrain himself; he wanted to go over and teach the two of them a lesson, because farming shouldn’t be treated like child’s play.
Just as he stood up, he saw a child running toward them at full speed. Taking a closer look, he realized it was his second son, Shen Weiqiang.
“Dad! Dad!!” Ah-Qiang started shouting from far away. Shen Hu couldn’t hear what he was yelling, but a bad premonition surged in his chest, sending his heart dropping. Could something have happened to Ah-Li… Thinking of this, Shen Hu dropped his hoe completely and dashed toward the edge of the field.
Hearing the commotion next to them, Song Xia stopped as well, exchanging a glance with Granny Wang and the others in the adjacent field, knowing instantly that something had gone wrong.
“Dad! Dad! Hurry home! My older brother! My older brother… is dying!” Ah-Qiang’s voice grew closer and closer, and everyone heard exactly what had happened!
“Where is your mother?!” Shen Hu ran forward, intercepting the breathless Ah-Qiang and asking urgently.
“Mom… Mom has passed out!”
Hearing Ah-Qiang’s words, Shen Hu threw all caution to the wind and sprinted wildly in the direction of his home!
It was only then that Song Xia noticed Ah-Qiang had lost one of his shoes while running, leaving bloody scrapes on his foot, and was currently supporting himself by his knees, gasping for breath.
Ah-Qiang wanted to turn around and run home immediately, but he was simply too young; running this whole distance had pushed him to his absolute limit, and right now he didn’t have an ounce of strength left in his body.
Song Xia quickly stepped forward to support Ah-Qiang, while Granny Wang and her husband hurried over as well to steady the boy.
“Ah-Qiang, what’s going on? What’s wrong with your older brother? Where is your mother?” Granny Wang asked with a worried expression, helping wipe away the dried tears and sweat on Ah-Qiang’s face.
“Granny Wang!” Ah-Qiang burst into loud tears.
Through the sentences he managed to choke out between intermittent sobs, the others finally understood what had happened.
It turned out that yesterday Shen Hu’s eldest son, Ah-Li, had been feeling unwell, so Shen Hu told him to go to sleep early, thinking a night’s sleep would cure it. To his unexpected dismay, by midnight Ah-Li had started running a high fever and talking nonsense, followed by severe diarrhea and vomiting until he had nothing left to throw up.
By this morning, he was so sick he couldn’t even get out of bed.
Shen Hu’s wife had originally wanted Shen Hu to take Ah-Li to the county town to see a physician today, but since wheat planting was imminent, Shen Hu couldn’t bear to leave his own fields. Figuring that every child gets sick and has diarrhea from time to time, he didn’t take it seriously. He went to find his father in the village to get some anti-diarrhea medicine for Ah-Li to drink, and then hurried back to the fields.
To his surprise, not long after he left, Ah-Li’s condition suddenly worsened. He began passing blood, vomiting, and even suffering from epileptic-type convulsions, his eyes rolling back just moments ago. Seeing such a terrifying sight, Shen Hu’s wife had fainted dead away on the spot.
Right now, Ah-Li’s grandmother and aunt were watching over him at home, and had sent two children to the fields to call the men back.
Hearing this, Song Xia immediately guessed that Ah-Li must have contracted dysentery!
Sure enough, the moment the thought crossed her mind, Granny Wang over there slapped her thigh and cried out, “What a disaster! This is a terrible affliction! Diarrhea can kill people! That Shen Hu! Why is he still coming to the fields! They need to hurry and take him to a doctor in the county town!”
Hearing that his older brother’s illness was so perilous, Ah-Qiang immediately wiped away his tears and tried to run back home.
Worried, Granny Wang decided to go with Ah-Qiang to take a look, and asked Song Xia, “Little Song, are you going?”
Concerned for Ah-Li as well, Song Xia decided to bring Shen Chunming and accompany Granny Wang to Shen Hu’s house, hoping to see if there was any way she could help.
“Grandpa Wang, I’ll leave my things in the field here in your care. If Brother Shen comes by to pick up the plow later, just tell him it’s fine for him to take it,” Song Xia entrusted her things to Grandpa Wang.
“Alright, don’t worry, hurry along now,” Grandpa Wang nodded in agreement.
With that, the group hurried toward Shen Hu’s house.
Just as they reached the village, Song Xia suddenly remembered that she still had some medicine back home. She could go back and check if any of it was usable, and bring it along just in case it might come in handy! She told Granny Wang and the others, “Granny Wang, you go ahead with Ah-Qiang, I’ll run back home to get some medicine!”
Granny Wang was startled for a moment, then nodded eagerly: “Ah, right! You have medicine at home! It’s good to grab some!”
Without wasting any time, Song Xia took Shen Chunming and hurried back toward her house, racking her brain to figure out what suitable medicine she might have.
As she reached the neighbor’s doorway, Sister-in-law Xing was hanging laundry in the courtyard and greeted her warmly upon seeing her.
“Xiaxia, why are you back? What happened?”
Song Xia had no time for pleasantries with Sister-in-law Xing. In ancient times, dysentery might not be an incurable disease, but it was an acute emergency that could kill!
Song Xia simply waved a hand at Sister-in-law Xing, dropped a quick “Talk later!”, and rushed past in a hurry.
Seeing Song Xia rush by so quickly that she didn’t even have time to speak with her, Sister-in-law Xing was somewhat baffled.
“What’s going on with her?”
Shen Chunming, on the other hand, wasn’t in a rush.
He strolled leisurely to the entrance of Sister-in-law Xing’s house, stayed behind to vividly recount what had just happened, and even repeated Song Xia’s hypothesis to her.
“Oh my! Ah-Li is such a good child!” Upon hearing this, Sister-in-law Xing grew anxious too, clapped her hands, and hurried back inside her room to rummage through her belongings for anything useful.
Meanwhile, Song Xia rushed into her house like a gust of wind and began searching through boxes and cabinets for medicine.
“Where is it? Where is the medicine at home? How come there’s only Shen Huaijing’s medicine?”
Before Shen Huaijing even fully registered what was happening, a young woman with her hair completely disheveled rushed into his room. His face turning cold, he walked over intending to drag her out.
Yet as he approached, he noticed that the clothes the young woman was wearing looked very familiar.
“Song Xia?” Shen Huaijing asked with a puzzled look. “Weren’t you and Ah-Ming going to the fields?”
“Right, Shen Huaijing, I need to borrow some of your medicinal herbs. I’ll return them to you later!” Without waiting to explain, Song Xia directly pulled out all of Shen Huaijing’s medicine.
She remembered packing two packets of common medications when she first arrived here, but at this critical moment, she couldn’t find them anywhere!
Muttering a silent curse, Song Xia had no choice but to take Shen Huaijing’s medicine first, borrowing a portion of it to save a life, and promising herself she would go to the county town later to buy replacements and return them! Surely Shen Huaijing wouldn’t refuse?
“What happened?” Hearing this, Shen Huaijing’s tone turned serious. Borrowing medicine? Was she sick? Or was Ah-Ming sick? But judging by her appearance, she didn’t look sick at all. Could it be Ah-Ming?
Just as Shen Huaijing was thinking this, Shen Chunming sauntered into the room.
“Brother,” Shen Chunming greeted Shen Huaijing and went to grab a cup of water.
“What happened? Why is your sister-in-law taking medicine?” Seeing that Song Xia was too busy to answer him, Shen Huaijing called Shen Chunming over to question him.
Having just downed a cup of water to moisten his throat, Shen Chunming repeated to Shen Huaijing everything he had just told Sister-in-law Xing.
Only then did Shen Huaijing’s expression soften. Seeing Song Xia’s anxious movements, he walked over.
Shen Huaijing walked over and helped Song Xia unwrap the individually bundled packets of herbs so she could pick out what she needed. The medicine he took every day was numerous, mixed, and of many varieties; surely she could piece together a prescription for that child.
“Don’t panic, that child will definitely be fine with you all helping him like this,” Shen Huaijing stood by Song Xia’s side and whispered words of comfort.
Hearing this, Song Xia froze for a moment. When she looked up, she happened to see Shen Huaijing’s profile as he earnestly helped her unpack the medicine.
“He… actually…” With her almond-shaped eyes wide open, Song Xia stared blankly at Shen Huaijing.
Song Xia hadn’t expected Shen Huaijing to say something like that. She had only thought from their daily interactions that he wasn’t a cold-hearted person, and thus wondered if she could borrow some of his medicine. She never imagined that Shen Huaijing would not only agree, but also comfort her so gently. Song Xia was deeply moved.
His medicine could practically be considered Shen Huaijing’s lifeline; he could go a day without food, but not a day without his medicine. Yet right now, not only did Shen Huaijing help her unpack all the medicine, he even unbundled the few packets she had deliberately set aside earlier.
These medications of Shen Huaijing’s were the ones he had brought along when the family property was split, amounting to just over a month’s supply. Up until now, the estate had never sent anyone else to deliver more medicine, meaning his own supply was already very scarce. Yet today, Shen Huaijing had unbundled all of them.
“Saving a life is urgent, I’ll be fine,” Shen Huaijing said with a gentle smile as he caught Song Xia looking at him like that.
For some reason, a sudden sourness pricked at the bridge of Song Xia’s nose.
Quickly lowering her head to mask her emotions, Song Xia re-wrapped those two packets of herbs and pushed them back into Shen Huaijing’s arms. “No need, these are enough. This is just for emergency first aid; he still needs to go to a medical clinic to see a proper physician.”
The village adjacent to Song Xia’s experimental fields back in her day had been a medicinal herb village, where almost every household engaged in herb-related industries. Thus, after seven years of exposure, Song Xia wasn’t a formal traditional Chinese medicine doctor, but she was certainly a junior apprentice who knew how to dispense herbal prescriptions.
Therefore, even though the herbs had been sliced very finely, Song Xia was still able to accurately distinguish the various medicinal ingredients. Her fingers nimbly picked and chose, separating the usable herbs she needed.
Just as she was sorting through the ingredients, Song Xia suddenly noticed that one particular herb looked deeply suspicious.
Strange, why does this herb look a bit odd? Song Xia looked with puzzlement at the pile of finely sliced medicine before her. Since these were prescribed by a physician, they shouldn’t make such low-level mistakes, right?
“What’s wrong?” Seeing Song Xia’s movements slow down, Shen Huaijing asked with a hint of confusion.
“Nothing, maybe I recognized it wrong.” Song Xia shook her head, shaking the chaotic thoughts out of her mind, bundled up the selected herbs, and prepared to head to Shen Hu’s house.
“Don’t rush, I’ll go with you.” Shen Huaijing stood up, intending to accompany Song Xia.
Turning back to see Shen Huaijing looking at her with a mild expression, Song Xia paused for a second, then turned and ran back into the room.
Just as Shen Huaijing was wondering what she had forgotten to take, Song Xia emerged carrying a thin cloak and shoved it directly into his arms.
“Put it on, you mustn’t catch a cold.” This guy! He really knows how to give people extra things to worry about! Song Xia’s earlobes turned slightly warm as she muttered a quiet complaint to herself.
Looking down at the cloak in his hands, Shen Huaijing pressed his lips together and smiled.
Shen Hu’s house was in a state of absolute chaos right now.
Because Shen Huaijing walked slowly, Song Xia had asked Shen Chunming to accompany him at a slow pace, while she and Sister-in-law Xing hurried all the way to Shen Hu’s house.
As soon as they approached Shen Hu’s place, they heard a large crowd gathered inside the courtyard, shouting and making a racket.
There were the cries of women and children, the cursing of men, the babbling advice of villagers shouting over one another, and Song Xia even spotted a local shaman performing ritual dances.
When Song Xia squeezed her way to the front, she happened to see that dancing shaman force-feeding a bowl of pitch-black talisman water down Ah-Li’s throat.
Seeing this scene, Song Xia felt a buzzing in her head as her blood pressure skyrocketed instantly. Charging straight forward, she knocked the bowl of talisman water flying with a sharp swat of her hand.
The room erupted into instant uproar!