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Chapter 171: Conscience is like a fairy
Yu Xiangnian and Xiao Jie watched the hoof trimming for most of the day. As they checked the time, they realized Cheng Jingmo and the others would be finishing work soon.
They said goodbye to the hoof trimmer and started walking home.
“Auntie, look at that person!” Xiao Jie pointed ahead. “He looks hurt!”
Yu Xiangnian looked over and saw a thin boy, around eleven or twelve years old, walking about ten meters ahead. He was holding his head with one hand, and blood was seeping through his fingers, staining his hand and shoulder red.
It was clear he had a head injury and was bleeding heavily.
Suddenly, the boy collapsed to the ground.
Yu Xiangnian and Xiao Jie froze for a second before rushing over.
The boy lay on the ground with his eyes closed, half of his face covered in blood. He had a seven to eight centimeter long wound on the right side of his head.
“Auntie, is he dead?” Xiao Jie asked, worried and scared.
Yu Xiangnian checked the boy’s carotid artery. “No, he’s just fainted.”
She quickly determined that the boy had likely fainted from blood loss.
Yu Xiangnian pulled a handkerchief from her pocket and pressed it tightly against the boy’s wound. “Xiao Jie, go find help!”
Five minutes later, Xiao Jie returned with two middle-aged men.
One of the men looked tense. “Isn’t this Monkey? What happened to him?”
Yu Xiangnian replied, “He fainted from blood loss. We need to get him to the hospital immediately. You carry him, and I’ll keep pressing his wound to stop the bleeding.”
One of the men picked up the boy while Yu Xiangnian kept her hand firmly on his wound.
The four of them hurried towards the village clinic.
On the way, Yu Xiangnian learned from the men that the boy’s real name was Cheng Baoquan, but because he was small for his age, the villagers called him Monkey. Monkey’s mother had died, and he lived with his paralyzed father.
Unlike other kids who were still dependent on their parents at his age, Monkey had started working three years ago to earn work points.
“Monkey is a pitiful child,” one of the men sighed.
Yu Xiangnian thought of Cheng Jingmo and felt a pang of sympathy for the boy.
The village leader felt sorry for Monkey and usually assigned him lighter tasks. Recently, during the spring plowing, the leader had Monkey guide an ox to plow the fields.
Today, the ox had suddenly become agitated and knocked Monkey away with its head. Monkey’s head hit a tree, and a branch had cut his scalp open.
The leader told Monkey to go home and rest, but he fainted on the way.
At the clinic, two middle-aged female doctors looked at Monkey and shook their heads. “No, no, he needs to go to the county hospital.”
The village doctors usually trained for a few months in the county hospital and could only handle minor ailments. They weren’t equipped to deal with serious injuries that required stitches.
One of the men panicked. “It will be morning by the time we get to the county hospital, and we don’t have a vehicle to get there!”
The doctors were troubled too. “The wound is too severe for us to handle.”
Yu Xiangnian carefully lifted her hand to check the wound. The bleeding had stopped. Her handkerchief was soaked, and her hands were covered in blood.
“I’ll do it,” Yu Xiangnian said firmly.
She instructed the men to wake Monkey and asked the doctors to prepare iodine and a needle and thread.
Without surgical sutures, she would have to use regular sewing supplies.
Monkey was roused, and Yu Xiangnian told him, “Your wound is too large and needs stitches. We don’t have anesthesia, so you’ll need to bear with it.”
Everyone present was shocked and doubtful.
Who was this woman? She looked so refined.
Could she really stitch Monkey’s head? The doctors couldn’t do it, but she could?
“Oh,” Monkey said, “go ahead and stitch it up. I’m not afraid of pain.”
For some reason, he had an inexplicable trust in this woman.
Yu Xiangnian washed her hands, disinfected them, sterilized the needle and thread, then started to stitch the wound.
As everyone watched Yu Xiangnian expertly stitch up the wound, they were all dumbfounded.
Xiao Jie thought: How come he didn’t know his aunt could stitch wounds?
For a moment, he felt his aunt was the most amazing person in the world, knowing everything and able to do anything!
Yu Xiangnian’s technique was skilled, and she quickly finished stitching the wound and bandaged it with gauze.
“All done,” Yu Xiangnian said. “Don’t let the wound get wet for the next few days, and come to me in ten days to have the stitches removed.”
“Oh, and I’m Cheng Jingmo’s wife, so come to our house to find me. If you feel unwell, you can also come to me.”
Yu Xiangnian then asked the doctor to prescribe some anti-inflammatory medicine for Monkey to take home.
Everyone finally snapped out of their shock.
So this was Cheng Jingmo’s wife!
She looked as beautiful as a fairy and had a heart as good as a fairy’s too!
Yu Xiangnian also bought a bottle of hydrogen peroxide and some anti-inflammatory drugs, paying for everything.
As they left the clinic, Monkey twisted his clothes nervously. “Auntie, I’ll owe you the money for today. I’ll pay you back in a few days!”
Yu Xiangnian smiled warmly. “You don’t need to pay me back. Just help me with something when I need it in the future.”
Of course, Yu Xiangnian had no intention of asking him for help; she was just saying it to make him feel better.
It was obvious that Monkey couldn’t afford to pay her back. At his age, having to care for his paralyzed father, it was good enough if he could fill his own stomach.
Monkey asked, “What do you need me to do?”
Yu Xiangnian thought she might ask Monkey to run an errand in a few days.
“Let’s wait until you’re healed. My matter is not urgent.” She added, “Don’t worry, I won’t ask you to do anything bad.”
“Oh…”
The supply and marketing cooperative was near the clinic, so Yu Xiangnian said, “Wait here for a moment!”
She quickly ran into the cooperative and bought some eggs and brown sugar, making two packages.
One package was for Monkey, and the other for herself.
Yu Xiangnian handed one package to Monkey. “You’ve lost a lot of blood. Drink a bowl of brown sugar water with an egg every day for the next few days.”
Monkey took two steps back. “I don’t want it.”
At that moment, Cheng Jingmo arrived.
He had come home and didn’t see them, so he went out to look for them. On the way, he heard they were at the clinic and came to find them.
Seeing Monkey with a bandage around his head and blood on his clothes, Cheng Jingmo quickly understood what had happened.
Yu Xiangnian was trying to give Monkey the package, but Monkey was refusing it.
As they were arguing, Cheng Jingmo walked over, took the package from Yu Xiangnian, and handed it to Monkey.
“Take it. You need to take care of your own health first so you can take care of your father.”
Monkey’s eyes reddened, but he stubbornly shook his head.
“You don’t need to feel indebted to us.” Cheng Jingmo took Monkey’s hand and placed the package in it. “Just be a good person, do your work diligently, and when you have the ability, help others. That’s how you can repay us.”
Monkey choked up, “You’re all good people.”
“Go home now; it’s getting late,” Cheng Jingmo said.
Monkey carried the package and walked home slowly.
Cheng Jingmo turned to call Yu Xiangnian to go home, only to see her looking at him with a teasing expression.
“Brother Jingmo, what you just said was so wonderful!” she said in a coquettish voice.
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