Aunt Wang followed her into the kitchen. “There’s still plenty of meat left from last night. We’ll heat it up, steam a bowl of rice, and stir-fry a dish.”
Jiang Yutong quickly got to work. She put the rice into the pot to steam, then washed several sweet potatoes and placed them on top. There wasn’t enough rice or flour to eat these days, so they still had to rely mostly on sweet potatoes to fill their stomachs.
She then washed a radish and put it into the wild chicken soup from the previous day. There was also some rabbit meat left, so she took that out and heated it up as well.
Aunt Wang brought several potatoes out from the cellar. “Boil these huangpizi and eat them.”
Jiang Yutong’s eyes lit up. She hadn’t expected to find potatoes here. Back home, one of her favorite dishes had always been the shredded potatoes her mother made.
“Aunt Wang, leave them to me. I’ll make something different for you.”
The people here didn’t call potatoes “potatoes.” They called them huangpizi. Usually, they cut them into chunks, boiled them in water, and ate them once they were cooked. They didn’t taste particularly good, but at least they could fill their stomachs.
Seeing how quickly and efficiently Jiang Yutong worked, Aunt Wang went over to start the fire under the stove.
“All right, I’ll leave them to you.”
Jiang Yutong washed the potatoes, peeled them, and sliced them thinly. With quick, practiced movements, she cut them into fine shreds and then rinsed them in water to remove the excess starch.
By then, the radish stewed in the wild chicken soup was ready. Jiang Yutong heated some oil and stir-fried the shredded potatoes over high heat. She added a little of the vinegar that Aunt Wang rarely used, followed by a bit of chili.
Before long, a plate of hot-and-sour shredded potatoes was ready.
It was the first time Aunt Wang had ever seen potatoes prepared this way. She found it fascinating and immediately tasted some after it came out of the pan.
The potatoes were sour, spicy, and wonderfully crisp. She couldn’t help taking another bite.
“Mmm, delicious! I’ve never seen potatoes cooked this way before. Yutong, you really know a lot.”
Aunt Wang couldn’t help giving her a thumbs-up.
Jiang Yutong smiled and picked up her own chopsticks to taste some. It reminded her of her mother’s cooking.
Aunt Wang joked, “If I’d known huangpizi could taste this good, I wouldn’t have been feeding them to the pigs.”
To be honest, potatoes were the food she liked least. They were dry, hard to swallow, and had hardly any flavor. At least sweet potatoes were naturally sweet.
Jiang Yutong quickly finished preparing lunch. Doctor Li and Li Nanxing also returned.
They both praised Jiang Yutong’s shredded potatoes.
“This is a good way to cook them.”
Everyone ate the meal with great satisfaction.
That afternoon, Jiang Yutong went alone to the house at the edge of the village. She used some old cloth to wipe everything down, then looked over the many broken and damaged parts of the house that needed repairs.
She decided to hire some workers to fix it up.
After tidying everything, she headed toward the village head’s house.
The village head happened to be home. Jiang Yutong explained why she had come.
“Uncle Tao, the house I’m staying in needs some repairs. Could I trouble you to recommend a worker who can help?”
Village Head Tao sat by the doorway smoking his pipe.
“No problem. I’ll have a worker come over later to take a look. Do you know how much it might cost?”
“Labor isn’t cheap these days. Repairing a house will cost quite a bit of money. I think you should just make do with it for now.”
Jiang Yutong thought that she might be living there for quite a long time. She didn’t want to make things difficult for herself. At the very least, she wanted to live somewhere comfortable.
“I know you’re looking out for me, Uncle Tao. But since I’m going to settle here, I still want to have the house repaired.”
Village Head Tao didn’t say anything more.
“All right, then. I’ll find a worker for you later.”
Jiang Yutong’s most urgent task now was to make money.
She touched the ten taels of silver in her pocket. After repairing the house, there probably wouldn’t be much left.
After saying goodbye to the village head, Jiang Yutong kept thinking about ways to make money.
Maybe she could go into the mountains again and see if she could hunt something rare. She also needed to visit the market and have a look around. Her medical skills could come in handy too, but she hadn’t encountered any suitable patients yet.
However, opportunities had a way of appearing just when you needed them.
When Jiang Yutong returned to Doctor Li’s house, she found the place in an uproar. A woman’s desperate cries could be heard from inside.
“Doctor Li, please! Please save my child!”
Jiang Yutong pushed through the crowd and saw a five- or six-year-old boy hanging upside down over Doctor Li’s back. Doctor Li was walking around the courtyard, but the child showed no response.
Doctor Li finally put the child down and shook his head helplessly.
“There’s nothing more I can do. Please accept your loss.”
The child’s face had turned purple.
Jiang Yutong stepped forward and felt his pulse. There was still a faint heartbeat. She checked his pupils and quickly asked the woman, “Did the child choke on something he was eating?”
The woman looked as though the sky had fallen in on her. She nearly fainted, clutching her child and crying.
“My poor child! Why is your life so hard? It’s all my fault. Why did I give you dates to eat?”
Jiang Yutong pushed the woman aside.
“Let me try.”
The woman stared blankly at Jiang Yutong, still holding her child and crying as if she had lost her soul.
The people around them began whispering.
“Girl from the Jiang family, even Doctor Li couldn’t do anything. Don’t try to show off.”
“Exactly. Stop disturbing the child. The dead deserve peace. This isn’t something you should mess around with.”
“Even Doctor Li has given up. You don’t know medicine, so what are you doing?”
Doctor Li also stepped forward.
“Girl from the Jiang family, the child has already stopped breathing. You should let it go.”
He was mainly worried that Jiang Yutong would get herself into unnecessary trouble later.
Jiang Yutong said firmly, “Uncle Li, let me try. There might still be a chance.”
The child’s mother seemed about to say something, but in the end, she decided that there was nothing to lose and stepped aside.
Without giving herself time to think, Jiang Yutong lifted the child from behind. She made a fist with one hand and placed her thumb knuckle above the navel, in the middle of the abdomen. With her other hand, she pressed her fist rapidly upward and inward six to ten times.
After pausing for a moment, she continued the compressions.
Before long, a date pit came flying out of the child’s mouth.
The child let out a faint groan.
Then he began to cry.
Jiang Yutong finally breathed a sigh of relief.
The woman immediately burst into tears, clutching her child.
“He’s alive! He’s alive! I can’t believe the Jiang girl actually managed to save him.”
“Exactly! Even Doctor Li said there was nothing he could do, but she brought the child back.”
“Maybe she was just lucky. I’ve never heard that she knew medicine before.”
Everyone began discussing it among themselves.
The woman carried her child over and knelt before Jiang Yutong.
“Thank you! You’re like the child’s second parent! I’ll never forget your kindness for as long as I live!”
Jiang Yutong quickly helped her back to her feet.
“Sister-in-law Xing’er, please get up. As long as the child is all right, that’s all that matters.”
Sister-in-law Xing’er continued thanking Jiang Yutong profusely. After confirming that her child was truly out of danger, the crowd gradually dispersed.