Quick Wear: Cousin, Come to the Bowl Quickly

Chapter 457: The Educated Youth Cousin in the Historical Literature (27)

Zhao Youde and his wife were confused by the group of people who suddenly broke into the yard. They stood there in a daze. Before they could come to their senses, Lin Xi's hoarse cry suddenly exploded in the yard, which scared them both and they all looked at her.

The girl was as thin as dried bean stalks in autumn, her thin shoulders heaving violently, her bony collarbone faintly visible under her tattered collar, her face flushed red, and even the base of her neck was abnormally bloody.

The two braids had been torn apart while running, and the wet hair stuck to the sweaty neck and cheeks, mixed with tears and sweat, and covered the whole face.

Her lips were trembling, and her eyes were red and swollen, but frighteningly bright, like a little animal that was forced into a desperate situation but had grabbed a life-saving straw.

Looking at Lin Xi's tearful, disheveled and desperate little face, Zhao Youde couldn't help but recall the scene a few days ago when she was sentenced to death by the county hospital and he drove a bullock cart to pick her up. She was pale and lying in the cart, barely breathing. He couldn't help but shudder.

"Oh my! This kid, if you have something to say, please talk to him nicely. Why are you talking about saving his life in broad daylight?"

Yang Guifen walked down the stairs, grabbed Lin Xi's hand, and turned to look at the group of male educated youth behind her, "What are you carrying on your backs?"

"It's my cousin!" Before Zhang Jianguo and the others could respond, Lin Xi had already grabbed Yang Guifen's hand and pleaded in a tearful voice, "Aunt Guifen, please save him!"

"Don't be impatient. Tell me what happened to your cousin first." Feeling the strength coming from her hand, Yang Guifen patted Lin Xi's back to comfort her. Then she turned around and called out to the male educated youth, "Don't stand around in the sun. Carry him into the house first."

Everyone suddenly woke up as if from a dream, and hurriedly crowded into the house. After putting the unconscious Song Guanwen on the kang, everyone gasped when they saw his appearance.

Song Guanwen was lying quietly on the kang, his long sleeves and trousers soaked with water. The wet clothes clung to his thin body, and tiny drops of water were still dripping from his cuffs, leaving a dark water mark on the mat.

His face was flushed unnaturally, and his forehead and neck were covered with fine red rashes, as if he had been burned. His pale lips were cracked due to lack of water, and dark red blood vessels were faintly visible in between, trembling slightly with his slightly rapid breathing.

Even in his sleep, his brows were unconsciously knitted, and his eyelashes trembled slightly from time to time, as if he was trapped in a nightmare from which he could not wake up.

Even though Song Guanwen was wearing a long shirt and long pants, everyone could still see at a glance that the skin on his exposed wrists and fingertips was slightly abnormally flushed, and there were a few faint scratches on them.

Although he didn't scream or cry out loudly, and looked quite calm, his breathing, which became heavier with each passing moment, still made everyone secretly worry for him.

Yang Guifen followed Lin Xi into the house.

On the way into the house, Yang Guifen had already figured out the whole story of how Song Guanwen became what he is today from the little girl's somewhat flustered but still clear narration, and she had a rough idea in her mind.

Speaking of Yang Guifen, she was originally a girl from Yangjiawan next door. Her ancestors were all barefoot doctors in the countryside who carried medicine boxes and went from village to village. Although her father's generation was in decline, she still learned some skills in understanding pathology and identifying herbal medicine.

Although the emphasis in recent years was on "destroying the four olds", she did not practice medicine seriously after marrying into the Zhao family. However, she had a family background in medicine and could still figure out how to treat common headaches and fevers.

The villagers are very smart. If they have a minor illness or disaster and are reluctant to spend money to go to the clinic, they always like to come to her secretly, grab a handful of herbal medicine or give her a couple of injections, which usually works.

However, the situation has been tense in the past two years, and her husband is the team leader. She is afraid that people will find fault with her and accuse her of practicing feudal superstition, so she doesn't treat patients easily.

The last time I prescribed medicine for someone was...

Thinking of this, she frowned, looked at the young man lying on the kang, and couldn't help but sigh, "What a sin."

Seeing everyone crowded in the room in a noisy manner, Yang Guifen couldn't help but wave the palm-leaf fan in her hand, and turned to her son and daughter-in-law who were squeezed behind the crowd.

"The second son, go get a bucket of cold water. His wife, go to the east room and get a packet of medicine from the third compartment of my cupboard. The one wrapped in yellow paper. Go to the kitchen and boil it. Once the water boils, turn the heat over twice and turn it over."

"Boss, take off his clothes and turn him over so I can see how badly his back is injured."

After assigning tasks to her family members promptly and efficiently, Yang Guifen said to the group of educated youth, "Alright, don't crowd in here. People who have been through the heat can't stand the heat. Go out first. I'll call you if there's anything."

When everyone heard this, although they were a little curious about what happened to Song Guanwen, they still obeyed and went out. Only Lin Xi stood there without moving.

Seeing this, Yang Guifen couldn't help but frowned and was about to open her mouth to drive the person away, but when she looked up, she saw the little girl's eyes full of tears and a nervous look, and she swallowed the words that were on her lips.

Here, Zhao Youde was trying to unbutton Song Guanwen's shirt with trembling hands. His thick, calloused fingers fiddled with the buttonholes clumsily, but the shirt material was slippery after being soaked in water, and the buttons were nailed tightly. He tried for a long time but failed, and beads of sweat rolled down his forehead in anxiety.

He struggled to unbutton the top two buttons, but he couldn't do anything with the third one. After working for a long time, he failed to unbutton them and ended up pulling Song Guanwen's collar askew.

"Tsk, the older you get, the less useful you become."

Seeing that he had been busy for a long time, not only had Song Guanwen's clothes not been taken off, but he had also made himself sweat with anxiety, Yang Guifen could not help but glare at him with disapproval, "Unbuttoning a button is more laborious than an old ox plowing the field!"

"You woman! Do it yourself!" Zhao Youde's ears were burning with what his wife said, and he rubbed his retracted hand on his trouser leg. He was an old man half buried in the ground, and he had never done such a thing as pulling off a young man's clothes. Besides, he didn't know how the young man was raised, with delicate skin and tender flesh, and his neck was so red. He was afraid that his rough hands and feet would hurt him.

"I'll do it, get out of the way." Yang Guifen fanned the palm-leaf fan in her hand twice, threw it on the kang, and was about to go forward and do it herself.