Chapter 57: Like Home, Like Family

Aunt Zhou had only one son and one daughter, with her son, Houzi, being her only child.

Though life was hard and humble, the family lived together harmoniously, and in their unity, there was a sense of warmth and happiness.

If her grandson were to be lost, she would feel as though her life had lost all hope.

Both were young educated youth from the same village, and it was her who had saved her grandson.

At this moment, Houzi’s mother had also recovered a little and, holding Huzi, knelt down as well.

“You all…” Su Niannian really was the one who helped the elderly and then the young.

If she hadn’t just taken a few sips of the spiritual spring water, considering how exhausted she had been earlier, she wouldn’t have been able to help anyone at all.

“You are the savior of our family.”

“Thank you, truly, thank you so much.”

Houzi’s mother expressed her deep gratitude to Su Niannian. After all, a child was a mother’s lifeline.

“It’s only right, you don’t need to be so polite.”

As a physician from Huaguo, this was indeed Su Niannian’s duty.

However, to outsiders, Su Niannian truly seemed like an immortal.

She had brought a lifeless child, one with no breath, back from the clutches of death.

She performed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, breathing air into the child’s mouth and nose.

Without hesitation, without giving up, she had earned the admiration of all.

“The child’s clothes are all wet. It’s better to take the child back and let them rest, so they don’t catch a cold.” Su Niannian didn’t think what she had done was anything extraordinary, and she didn’t want to hear Aunt Zhou or the other women continue to praise her.

“Yes, yes, we’ll take the child back right away.”

After thanking Su Niannian once again, Aunt Zhou and Houzi’s mother hurriedly took the child back home.

They planned to warm the child up, and once Houzi’s father and grandfather returned and Houzi recovered, they would formally thank Su Niannian.

A life-saving grace was greater than the heavens.

After the others left, the onlookers began to discuss in hushed voices how Su Niannian had managed to save Houzi.

“You’re really amazing.” The young woman who had helped rescue Houzi sincerely spoke to Su Niannian.

“If you hadn’t jumped into the water in time to bring Houzi up, everything would’ve been too late,” Su Niannian replied seriously.

The two young women exchanged a smile.

“I’m Su Niannian,” she introduced herself.

“I’m Zhao Tian,” the other woman said.

The two women exchanged pleasantries for a moment before Zhao Tian left, as her clothes were also wet, and she needed to go home to take a hot shower and change into clean clothes.

“Su, are you okay? Let us walk you home,” one of them asked.

“Yes, yes, you looked like you were about to collapse earlier.”

“Don’t be polite, we’ll walk you back to the educated youth station.”

“Su, how do you know so much? Did you study medicine before?”

The aunts and women seemed unwilling to let Su Niannian go, clearly curious about her.

After all, Su Niannian’s actions had been so remarkable that they felt they had to build a relationship with her.

Kaoshan Village was a bit far from the county seat, and the villagers lived on simple grains and vegetables, often suffering from various illnesses. If someone had a headache or fever, it would be wonderful if Su Niannian could treat them.

“I previously learned some medicine from a traditional Chinese doctor who was a neighbor, and then I taught myself a bit,” Su Niannian explained.

“I can go back on my own. Aunts, you all can continue washing clothes.”

As she spoke, Su Niannian slung her basket onto her back, ready to leave.

However, the aunts and women still wanted to ask a few more questions. Su Niannian smiled and responded to them.

It wasn’t until she had walked quite a distance that they finally let her go.

They didn’t have any ill intentions; they were simply amazed by Su Niannian’s ability to bring someone back to life after they had drowned and had no breath. It was such an astonishing feat.

So, Su Niannian didn’t mind their “overly enthusiastic” behavior.

By the time Su Niannian arrived at Gu Nan’s house, it was already nearly five o’clock.

Gu Nan was chopping firewood in the yard. Earlier that morning, he had filled Su Niannian’s water bottle with some prepared wheat milk, but today, she didn’t go to work.

When he heard from Song Zhaodi that Su Niannian had gone to the county, Gu Nan felt a bit worried about the young girl. He wondered if he should get a bicycle, so that in the future, if Su Niannian wanted to go to the county, he could take her there.

Just as he was thinking about this, Su Niannian arrived.

At this moment, there were several pounds of pork in the basket on her back, meant to supplement Gu Zhi’s health.

Gu Ningning, who was gathering the wild vegetables she had dried earlier in the yard, saw Su Niannian appear at the door.

Before Gu Nan could react, Gu Ningning was already a step ahead and ran to greet Su Niannian.

“Sister Niannian!” Gu Ningning’s eyes were full of joy as she rushed over and hugged Su Niannian tightly.

Su Niannian had been kneeling on the stones earlier while saving the child. Although she had drunk a couple of sips of spirit spring water, her knees still ached slightly. She hadn’t used the spirit spring water to wash the area around her knees.

Noticing something, Gu Nan stepped forward and pulled Gu Ningning away.

“Second Brother?” Gu Ningning thought her second brother was even jealous of her hugging Su Niannian, and she immediately pouted her lips.

“Are you hurt?” Gu Nan ignored his sister and instead asked Su Niannian with some concern.

When Gu Nan had seen his little sister rush into Su Niannian’s arms, he noticed Su Niannian’s brow furrow slightly, clearly because she had bumped into something and felt some pain.

“I’m fine…” Su Niannian hadn’t finished speaking when Gu Zhi, who had been busy in the kitchen, overheard and immediately came out.

“Niannian, are you hurt?” Gu Zhi quickly walked out, hurriedly wiping her hands on the apron tied around her waist.

She came to Su Niannian’s side, looking her over from head to toe with concern.

“Niannian, where are you hurt?” Gu Ningning also realized at this point that it must have been when she hugged Niannian just now, and Gu Nan must have noticed Niannian was hurt, which is why he pulled her away.

“I’m fine, Aunty,” Su Niannian smiled as she spoke.

Even though Su Niannian said so, the worried gazes of the three of them didn’t ease in the slightest.

At this moment, looking at the three people in front of her, filled with concern for her, Su Niannian felt an incredibly warm sensation in her heart.

It had been a long time since she had experienced the care of so many people.

The scene before her made Su Niannian feel like she had found home again, the feeling of being with family.

Seeing that the three of them didn’t believe she was really fine, Su Niannian could only honestly explain what had happened by the river earlier.

She swore to herself that she had been as modest and understated as possible in her explanation.

However, even with her careful wording, the fact that she had saved a child who had drowned for over ten minutes, nearly twenty minutes, still left the three of them deeply shocked.

Gu Nan had been in the army before and had seen military doctors treating people who had fallen into water, but those were always cases where the person was rescued in time. They typically performed chest compressions and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

But someone like Su Niannian, who managed to save a child after such a long gap, was something he had never heard of.

Gu Nan looked at Su Niannian’s knee.

“Did you injure your knee?” he asked, wanting to pull up her pants to check, but then hesitated, unsure if it was appropriate.

“It’s from kneeling on the stones by the river. It probably hurt a bit,” Su Niannian explained, not wanting Gu Nan to worry. Sitting in the courtyard, she rolled up the legs of her pants slightly to show him.

Her knee was exposed, showing some redness and swelling, along with a few imprints from the pressure.