New Novel - Read Here
Seeing the villagers carry Grandpa Wang out of the ditch, I finally turned back to Little Fatty.
Little Fatty was lying face-down on the ground, in so much pain that he could not get up. The places where the chicken had pecked him were red and swollen, almost unbearable to look at, and his whole body was trembling as he lay there.
I had to admit, his appearance was quite… distinctive.
“Xiaojie… hurry and help me up. I want to go home…” Little Fatty was crying, tears covering his face. Only then did I remember what I was supposed to do, and I finally managed to help him up.
Because the places where he had been pecked hurt so badly, he could not even pull up his pants. I supported Little Fatty from the side while he hunched over and squatted in a strange horse stance, grimacing in pain as he slowly shuffled toward the village one step at a time.
When we reached the entrance of the village, we happened to run into a group of village aunties and older women who were returning from working in the fields with hoes slung over their shoulders.
When they saw Little Fatty's unique appearance, they all gathered around and asked me what had happened to him.
I told them that he had been pecked by a chicken.
The aunties and older women were instantly dumbfounded. They were so shocked that it was as if they had been struck by five thunderbolts at once. Even though they had lived for several decades, none of them had ever heard of such a thing happening.
A whole group of aunties and older women gathered around Little Fatty to examine him. Little Fatty had his butt sticking out while he endured being surrounded and stared at by all of them.
In the end, they came to a conclusion: I should take Little Fatty to the village clinic and have his injuries treated.
I had no choice but to continue helping Little Fatty toward the clinic. Along the way, we encountered quite a few villagers. Whenever they saw Little Fatty's appearance, they would come over to take a look. After finding out what had happened, every single one of them burst into laughter.
In modern terms, Little Fatty was experiencing a full-scale public embarrassment.
One person even said that although he sympathized with Little Fatty's situation, he simply could not help laughing.
I could understand that feeling too, but Little Fatty certainly couldn't.
I'm already in this much pain, and you people are actually laughing? Don't you have even the slightest bit of sympathy?
After supporting Little Fatty all the way, we finally reached the village clinic.
The so-called clinic in the village was located inside the courtyard of a local farmhouse.
The owner of this courtyard was surnamed Liu and was the second son in his family, so we all called him Second Brother Liu.
Second Brother Liu had graduated from a medical college two years earlier, and afterward, he took over the village clinic.
As soon as we reached the entrance, the big yellow dog belonging to Second Brother Liu's family came running out of the courtyard. It circled around Little Fatty and me twice before sticking its nose toward Little Fatty's butt to sniff it.
I immediately kicked the big yellow dog away.
Second Brother Liu was busy working in the courtyard. When he saw me supporting Little Fatty at the entrance, he hurried over and asked what had happened to us.
I told him that Little Fatty had been pecked on the butt by a chicken.
As soon as Second Brother Liu heard this, he laughed so hard that a bubble of snot came out of his nose.
Laughing, he said to Little Fatty, “So that scream just now was you, huh? That one yell of yours nearly made me sell out all my emergency heart pills. Come inside. I'll take a look at you.”
I helped Little Fatty into the courtyard and onto a long wooden bench, then had him lie face-down on it.
Second Brother Liu went inside the house and soon came back out with a bottle of gentian violet.
But when Second Brother Liu took another look at Little Fatty's wound, he covered his nose and said, “Good heavens, kid, did you not wipe your butt? What are all these yellowish things? No, I need to clean your wound first.”
As he spoke, Second Brother Liu told me to fetch a basin of water from the courtyard.
He then used tweezers to hold a piece of cotton, dipped it into the water, and began cleaning Little Fatty's wound.
Little Fatty lay motionless on the bench like a dead dog. He was both physically and mentally exhausted, so miserable that he wished he could just die.
However, while his wound was being cleaned, Little Fatty seemed to find it surprisingly comfortable and did not even cry out.
Soon, Second Brother Liu finished cleaning the wound. He then said to Little Fatty, “Little Fatty, bear with it for a bit. I'm going to disinfect it now.”
Afterward, Second Brother Liu began applying the gentian violet to Little Fatty's wound.
I took a look. Little Fatty's wound was red and swollen. That chicken had certainly pecked him viciously.
Unexpectedly, the moment Second Brother Liu applied some of the gentian violet to Little Fatty's wound, Little Fatty nearly jumped off the bench from the pain.
“Second Brother Liu, it hurts so much!” Little Fatty let out a miserable howl, tightly covering his wound with both hands and refusing to let him apply the medicine.
“You brat, hurry up and move your hands! This needs to be treated. What if it gets infected?” Second Brother Liu tried persuading him for quite a while, but Little Fatty simply refused to let go.
Second Brother Liu became anxious. He directly told me to go into the house and find some rope, then tied Little Fatty's hands and legs to the legs of the long wooden bench.
He even found Little Fatty's pig-slaughter-like howling too unpleasant to listen to, so he directly wrapped a strip of adhesive tape around his mouth.
In the end, still feeling that this wasn't secure enough, he wrapped several loops of rope around Little Fatty's waist as well.
This time, Little Fatty was completely unable to move. He couldn't even make a sound. Second Brother Liu finally succeeded in applying the gentian violet to Little Fatty's wound.
After disinfecting the wound, the big yellow dog from Second Brother Liu's house came running over again. Perhaps it was hungry, because it stood beside Second Brother Liu, wagging its tail incessantly.
Second Brother Liu glanced at the big yellow dog and said to me, “There are some steamed buns left over from last night on the table inside. Go get them and feed the dog. I'll go find some anti-inflammatory medicine.”
I acknowledged him and went inside to look for the steamed buns, while Second Brother Liu also went to find the medicine.
Unexpectedly, the moment the two of us left, Little Fatty's nightmare began.
Little Fatty couldn't move his body and couldn't speak, but his ears could still hear everything going on around him.
Suddenly, he heard a rooster crow. He turned his head and saw a large rooster standing on top of the courtyard wall.
It was precisely the same rooster that had deeply traumatized Little Fatty not long ago.
If Little Fatty had been able to move, then upon seeing this rooster, he would undoubtedly have been filled with murderous hatred at the sight of his mortal enemy. He would have rushed over to avenge that peck no matter what.
Unfortunately, Little Fatty was currently like a pig waiting to be slaughtered. He couldn't move at all.
What made Little Fatty despair was that the big rooster suddenly jumped down from the courtyard wall and staggered toward him.
At that moment, I had just found the steamed buns inside the house and happened to come back out, personally witnessing that utterly horrifying scene.
Perhaps the gentian violet applied to the Little Fatty's wound attracted the big rooster. It quickly ran behind Little Fatty and, with astonishing speed, pecked his wound three times in succession.
Although I saw what happened, it was already too late for me to rush over and stop it.
I didn't experience the pain myself, but at that moment, I could still feel it as though I had experienced it firsthand.
That kind of agony must have felt like a string of firecrackers exploding right on his butt.
I watched as Little Fatty's face instantly turned a deep purplish-red from the pain. Every muscle in his body tensed up, and tears streamed down his face like floodwaters released from a breached dam. A desperate cry escaped from his throat.
At that moment, I was dumbfounded too.
Poor Little Fatty had actually been brutally injured twice by the very same rooster, and in exactly the same place.
Just then, Second Brother Liu also came out carrying the anti-inflammatory medicine. He took another look at Little Fatty's wound and couldn't help but freeze.
“How did it get even more swollen than before?”
I said, “I really shouldn't have gone outside today. Granny Liu said that every three years, there's a calamity. Could it be that Little Fatty was the one who had to suffer my calamity today?”
(End of Chapter)