CHAPTER 50: CHAPTER 49: "BRILLIANT" MEDICAL SKILLS

Qian Yongfu and Qian Duoduo, father and son, felt somewhat uneasy when they first entered Miao Village, thinking about how to ask for help. Seeing Yezi’s mother willing to come forward to rescue, their confidence returned. What’s the big deal about Miao people? They still have to flatter the Han people when they see them.

"What are you looking at? Do you still want to save people or not? Sincerity is the key, and here you are, needing others to carry your own wives and mothers. What does that look like?" Yezi’s mother changed into a meticulously crafted Miao skirt of white cloth tie-dye and also wore a silver hair accessory to ward off evil spirits, truly assuming the air of a Miao Family Witch.

Qian Duoduo and his father were scolded by her, so they had no choice but to tough it out and roll up their sleeves to carry their respective wives. The mountain paths in the village were difficult to navigate, filled with large blue stones. Having been idle officials for several years and seldom engaging in farm work, the two men trembled as they walked, like two large toads, their shoulders swollen and raw from the rope of the carrying poles.

A dozen or so people from Ge Village followed Yezi’s mother, turning this way and that, not toward Yezi’s suspension house but finally stopping in front of a wavering grass house that looked like it would collapse with a kick, emitting a foul smell from inside.

"What did you just discuss with Mama?" Yezi brought Xiao Xian home, also uncertain. His mother, although she had learned gu poison from the Great Wizard for over a decade, seldom used it after marrying his father. Everyone in the family knew that Mama was at most capable of helping pigs and cows with birthing. Saving people was out of her league. But today, the people from Ge Village were lucky. Li Quqi had gone to the silver workshop to inspect this year’s new silverware designs, and father was not at home, which is why Yezi’s mother dared to agree.

"We discussed how to save them," Yezi, close and warm even in the cold, let Xiao Xian cling to him.

"Save them? So why have we come here?" The place Yezi’s mother brought everyone to was an outhouse that the Miao family had abandoned for many years. Decades ago, every household in Dongnan Miao Village used this public outhouse before they had their own, but now that conditions in the village had improved, the outhouse had fallen into disuse.

"Put them down," commanded Yezi’s mother. The Qian family father and son relieved their load, and before they even had time to wipe off sweat, Yezi’s mother fetched two long-handle pots, "Go inside and scoop two ladles of golden water, and feed it to your wives."

The Miao family’s "golden water" was merely a euphemism for the wastewater from the outhouse. Upon hearing this, Qian Yongfu and Qian Duoduo were stunned. How could they pour such a thing into someone’s stomach? And besides, how could they, father and son, do such a thing themselves?

"Father, you are used to farm work, you do it," thought Qian Duoduo, who considered himself an educated and dignified person since he had a technical school degree and was stationed at the town government. If news of him scooping golden water in Miao Village spread, how could he show his face?

Qian Yongfu’s face sagged, looking even uglier than when his mother died. In his heart, he cursed his unfilial son, "Your face is thin-skinned, but does that make your old man’s face rough as tree bark, to be humiliated?"

"I’m telling you, Yezi’s mother, this is feudal superstition. My Qian family doesn’t believe in these things. Just make sure you don’t worsen the condition of the patients. Son, let’s leave the mountain. Even if the car is at the bottom of the mountain, it’s better than suffering and losing dignity here," Qian Yongfu didn’t believe in superstition, figured that the Miao Village people were trying to take advantage of this opportunity to humiliate him. He, Qian Yongfu, was a living signboard of Ge Village, a dignified person.

"If you’re going to carry them down, better do it soon. Don’t let them die here, dirtying our place," Yezi’s mother scoffed, making way.

Qian Duoduo stepped forward to move his wife, and as he lifted, he touched her hand. In just a short while, Wang Chun’s and the child’s mother’s hands were ice cold, feeling like a pig that had been slaughtered three days ago.

"Dad, it’s no use, I’m afraid it’s too late," Qian Duoduo could no longer worry about his dignity, taking the lead, he grabbed the chamber pot and rushed into the latrine.

Decades old, even in the dead of winter the latrine reeked with a dizzying stench, the warm swamp gas rising made white maggots crawl all over the floor. Qian Duoduo held his breath and scooped out the golden water.

Several men from Ge Village were smoked out by the stench, all retreating to the side, while Xiao Xian and Yezi watched nearby, barely holding back their laughter, their faces puffed up like two longevity peach buns. Zhu Shijun frowned, yet the corners of his mouth suspiciously curled up.

The village chief Jin Dafu paced restlessly on the spot, muttering, "Trouble indeed comes from the mouth, trouble comes from the mouth."

Once the smell of urine and feces entered the mouths of the two women from the Qian family, their legs kicked, and their hands flailed desperately, but the men of their family were relentless; one held the head to force-feed while the other held down limbs - there was no escaping it. The chamber pot was spilled, and after entering the stomach, it was vomited out, splashing filth all over the father and son’s body and face.

"They vomited, they really did! Look, the mother and daughter have both come to their senses," the watching villagers shouted. The two Qian women vomited stomach full of yellow water, Yezi’s mother winked at Xiao Xian and then pulled some roughly wrapped medicine from her bosom, "The evil water is all out, take these medicines home, boil two bowls of water down to one." Inside the medicine wrap were just some Cassia Leaves for diarrhea and a small handful of mung beans. What Yezi’s mother referred to as golden water, though mostly a ruse, was not entirely just for mischief; anyone who drank that stuff would vomit clean everything they previously ate.

"Let’s disperse, you’ve all seen enough excitement," Yibar came over with a man, everyone from Dongnan Miao Village wore traditional Miao attire; the women wore wax-dyed pleated skirts, embellished with silverware. The men often wore indigo cross-collared jackets and wrapped turbans.

The man Yibar brought also dressed as such, with a square-shaped face and piercing eyes. The years of working with the silver workshop’s charcoal fire had smoked the man’s face to a cured red color.

"Father," Yezi called out, and only then did Xiao Xian realize that the man was the famous silver master, Li Quqi from the Miao family.

"It hurts," Yibar was wronged for a second time today, cringing as Yezi’s mother pinched his arm, "Elder sister, it wasn’t me who told brother-in-law, he couldn’t find you and Yezi at home so he came by himself."

Seeing her husband, Yezi’s mother was like a mouse seeing a cat, wishing she could vanish along with the puddle of golden water and the grim-faced Qian father and son.

"Yezi, take the guests home for a bit. Mama, come with me," Li Quqi had listened to Yibar’s big mouth detailing many things along the way, and hearing that the visitor was the secretary from Ge Village, he knew his wife was early displeased with the father and son duo; today, she probably wanted to give them a lesson, so he rushed, but it was still a bit too late.

"That’s bad, Zhu Xiaoxian, you go back with my uncle first, I’ll go find Granny Hong," Yezi also knew, this time father was probably going to blow his top, and he needed to quickly get reinforcements.