Chapter 14: A Bloody Disaster
It rained again in the afternoon. It was quite cool. Rain caused the leaves to drift down. A black ant had hidden itself in some leaf, who knows where.
Jiang Mianmian was on her sister’s back, watching the rain.
Her sister’s back was not as broad as Mother’s. Her sister’s body didn’t have the scent of milk that Mother had either. Her sister’s shoulders were a bit thinner, and she didn’t smell of incense.
When her sister was with her, she would feed her, change her diapers, wash her bottom, do needlework, wash diapers, dry medicinal herbs, and clean up; in short, she was very busy and basically never stopped.
At this moment, in order to make carrying her more comfortable, her sister hunched her back and swayed from side to side. It made Jiang Mianmian feel as if she were in a cradle.
Jiang Mianmian involuntarily thought of that girl named Jiang Wan from earlier today. She was about the same age as her sister, graceful and slender, with a straight back, a long neck, and a slightly raised chin; surely, at home, she didn’t have to carry younger siblings or do so much work.
Her face was pressed flat against her sister’s back, feeling listless; she was hungry and wanted milk. That was until the courtyard gate was pushed open.
What came into view was a big tree? Uh… no, it was Mother. Mother was carrying a tree?
“Ya ya ya ya!” (Mother, Mother, it’s Mother.) Seeing the person in the rain was Mother, Jiang Mianmian was incredibly excited. She even lifted her own neck up.
Qin Luoxia was carrying the tree and heard the child’s cries as soon as she entered the gate. Her chest immediately felt tight with milk, but she didn’t pick up the baby, fearing she would pass on the dampness. She went into the house first to change her clothes.
Inside, Jiang Yu had already boiled hot water so she could wipe herself down. Qin Luoxia tidied up efficiently before reaching out to hold the baby and lifting her clothes.
Jiang Mianmian contentedly held her big rice bowl and swallowed in large gulps. Once she was full and had let out two milk burps, she finally had the mental capacity to think. Yet, she still didn’t want to leave Mother’s arms and clung tightly to her.
“Mother, where did you go today?” Jiang Yu asked circuitously, unable to wait to show Mother the things Jiang Wan had sent, but worried about getting scolded.
Qin Luoxia’s expression was a bit unnatural. She had gone up the mountain to pick herbs today and had waited all afternoon at the stone stool where she had fed Nannan that day. When it started to rain, she still hadn’t waited for the bear to bump into it again, and she had gotten soaked. Of course, there was no need to tell the children about such things.
However, she had encountered a tree on the road covered in red berries. Qin Luoxia thought Nannan would definitely like it, so she had brought the whole tree back to plant at the courtyard entrance.
“How were things at home today? Was Mianmian good? Was she easy to take care of?” Qin Luoxia asked.
“Mianmian was very good.” Jiang Yu was still stuttering and didn’t dare to speak up.
Jiang Mianmian had taken a nap in Mother’s arms, and when she opened her eyes again, her big brother and Father had returned home.
Jiang Mianmian had just opened her eyes, and they were still a bit blurry; she felt like she saw a patch of red before her. She rubbed her eyes, and it wasn’t an illusion; it really was a patch of red. Her big brother’s head was covered in blood, looking very frightening. Jiang Mianmian was so scared that she opened her mouth, but no sound came out.
Today was truly a day for nothing to go right; both her older brother and older sister had met with a bloody disaster.
Before Mother or Father could start scolding, she heard her sister Jiang Yu scold first: “Brother, where did you go messing around again? How did you end up like this?”
Jiang Feng’s head was still bleeding, yet he said nonchalantly: “I got into a fight and got hurt, but the other side didn’t fare any better.”
In reality, Jiang Feng’s forehead was throbbing with pain, but he didn’t want to let Mother and Father worry. He was hurt and bleeding; it must have been painful.
Jiang Mianmian felt like it hurt to death just looking at it, especially since it was the head; she was also worried about other sequelae. This was ancient times, and medical care was backward. She didn’t dare to cry, fearing she would add to the chaos. She just stared carefully.
At this moment, she was placed into a basin and saw the black ant again, but she was in no mood to tease it. She saw the whole family busy.
Mother and Father didn’t scold him, but instead cleaned the wound. Mother grabbed a handful of herbs and pounded them hard in a stone mortar. Father cleaned the wound using—of all things—her diaper. Perhaps the diaper was the softest cloth in the whole family. Father held the diaper in his hand, soaked it in boiling water, and then waited for the water to cool.
It felt as if her whole family was slightly versed in medical knowledge; her sister knew to use cold water to rinse and stop the bleeding when her foot bled. And Father actually had the awareness to use boiled water. Or was this aspect more common in this world?
Watching Father help her big brother clean the wound, she couldn’t see the details, and Jiang Mianmian grew anxious, unable to help but shout “Yi ya ya.” Her sister Jiang Yu came over to hold her. Jiang Yu was big-hearted; she really held her and watched her brother’s wound.
It was all bloody, with a gash broken open, but it wasn’t a knife wound; it should have been broken by some sharp object. Before Jiang Mianmian had transmigrated, she was a half-baked medical student who had just been assigned to a hospital internship and was still practicing stitching on banana peels. She understood some things but not everything. It wasn’t a large knife wound, so it shouldn’t need stitching. Even if it needed stitching, there were no conditions for it here.
Watching Mother slap the mashed herbs all over her brother’s forehead, it looked exactly like she had given him a seaweed forehead-wrinkle mask. There was no gauze to wrap it with, so they could only let her brother lie on the recliner.
After finishing treating her brother’s wound, Mother and her sister went to cook. Her sister must have felt guilty, so she had been following Mother all day; she likely hadn’t told her yet. Jiang Mianmian fell into Father’s arms. Father held her and sat on a small stool next to her brother.
“Who did you fight with? The reason? Did you win or lose?” Father asked slowly.
Although he wasn’t scolding, Father was very fierce in that moment. Jiang Mianmian lay in Father’s arms, thinking, it was fortunate she couldn’t speak yet, so she shouldn’t be able to cause any trouble.
Jiang Feng began to speak: “I ran into Jiang Rong in the county town. He said I stole clothes and shoes their family didn’t want, and said our whole family were habitual thieves. I hit Jiang Rong and his two lackeys. One of the lackeys had a black mole on the corner of his eye; I didn’t know him, but he was very fierce, skilled at fighting, and had a sharp weapon. I felt like I would be beaten to death; I couldn’t win. So I deliberately fought in a place where Yamen Runners would patrol. When I saw the Yamen Runners, I bumped my head into it. I got twenty-two taels of silver in compensation. I gave the two Yamen Runner brothers ten taels each, and I kept two taels.”
Hearing this inside the house, Jiang Yu finally couldn’t help but wail: “Mother, I didn’t steal it, I didn’t want it; it was Jiang Wan who sent it over.”
