Sweet Rebirth: The Little Healer

The village barefoot doctor came to check on them daily, and each day he reported they had high fevers. Wang Dadan didn’t quite believe it. ’What kind of fever lasts this long? If it kept up, they’d have been left brain-damaged or dead by now.’

When he went to feel their foreheads for himself, they were scalding hot. It gave him a start—the barefoot doctor hadn’t been lying.

Li Guihua and Miao Dahai were worried as well, but after observing for a few days, they found that even with the fevers, the newcomers were perfectly lucid. They privately asked them how they felt and if they were in great discomfort.

The group was evasive and didn’t say much, only that their bodies could handle it and that it wasn’t as unbearable as one might think.

And so, the fevers burned on for nearly twenty days. Wang Dadan, his mind brimming with malicious schemes but with no outlet for them, could only take out his frustrations in the bedroom. Thus, Widow Qian gained a frequent visitor.

Hua Yusen had been very worried, too, but after speaking with them in detail and learning that their bodies were holding up well, he was finally able to relax a little.

Seeing that enough time had passed, Zhao Nuanyue gave them more water boiled with Dragon Beard Grass. Only then did the elders slowly begin to recover.

After nearly a month of rest, their health improved significantly. Even the injury on the middle-aged man’s broken leg had mostly healed.

Over this period, Zhao Nuanyue had earned the trust of the elders. She learned that the old couple were researchers who had been framed for leaking information, and they also seemed to know Hua Yusen. The middle-aged man with the broken leg was a painter named He Qiang. There was also a taciturn, sharp-eyed old man whose every word and action suggested he was a former soldier; his name was Gu Qingyu. The last one was a gaunt old man who, to her surprise, was a National Doctor named Sun Haoran.

He was extremely curious about what had happened to them. They had clearly been running high fevers, yet they hadn’t experienced the debilitating discomfort that typically accompanies such a condition. It was a puzzle he couldn’t solve.

Though they had been sent here to suffer, he felt the experience hadn’t been entirely without its rewards. This time, he was determined to find out why.

Zhao Nuanyue was a little worried at first. But then she realized these events were beyond the scope of ordinary human comprehension; there was no way Sun Haoran could figure it out anytime soon.

Meanwhile, Wang Dadan was fuming. Frustrated, he once again headed to the home of Li Siming and Liu Lanhua.

”Li, just look at this mess I’m in!” Wang Dadan had already had a fair bit to drink, and his words were slurred. ”I went to all that trouble to get those people here just to make life difficult for Miao Dahai and Li Guihua. And what happens? I’m the one the whole village is pointing fingers at. Ugh, you can’t get anything done around here anymore.”

”Tell me about it! Ever since that Miao fellow put me on the spot last time, I haven’t dared to openly bring anything home from the collective.” Li Siming pointed his chopsticks at a plate on the table. ”These are just some little dried fish I managed to scrounge up a while ago.”

He used to be able to skim benefits from the village commune pretty regularly, but things were tight now, and life at home was suffering for it.

Liu Lanhua was even more dissatisfied, but since she had failed to help Wang Dadan ”handle” the two young newcomers, she didn’t dare speak much whenever he visited, fearing he’d bring up her failure.

Thwarted in his village schemes, Wang Dadan had naturally turned his attention to women. The fact that he had Widow Qian to occupy him and hadn’t come looking for her was a small relief to Liu Lanhua.

”You still haven’t delivered on what you promised me,” Wang Dadan said, turning his gaze on Liu Lanhua. ”But I kept my end of the bargain. Your Shanzi has already started at his new work unit.” He was looking to collect his due. ”So, what are you going to do about it?”

”Dadan, you can see for yourself,” Liu Lanhua said, her face a mask of grievance. ”Those young people just hide in the Dragon King Temple all day. They never come out. It’s not like I can just kidnap them! And with nothing going on in the village, I have no excuse to get near them. Besides, there’s nothing interesting happening that would lure those young women out.”

Hearing this, Li Siming’s eyes brightened. ”Who says there’s nothing new? What about the movie screening? The film crew should be reaching our village in a few days. Back in the day, when they showed movies, it wasn’t just for us. Our village, the neighboring ones—several in the area would take turns hosting. The young folks love that sort of thing. And then we can...”

Though Li Siming left his sentence unfinished, both Liu Lanhua and Wang Dadan understood exactly what he was implying.

”Well now, Li, you’ve got a sharp mind!” Wang Dadan praised, raising his cup. ”That’s a scholar for you! Your brain just works faster, always full of ideas!”

”Haha, you’re too kind!” Li Siming said humbly, beaming. ”I only thought of it because I know what you like, Dadan. You helped me out, so it’s only natural that I look out for you.”

”Good brother! To us!” Wang Dadan raised his cup and drained it. ”We’re in the same boat now. We have to stick together and take down Miao Dahai and Li Guihua.”

”We have to team up against them,” Liu Lanhua chimed in, her voice full of resentment. ”Look at how they’ve monopolized all the village affairs. No one else gets any of the benefits.” She and Li Guihua had married into Nianqiao Village one after the other, but Liu Lanhua felt that in everything—from having children to managing her household—she always came up short compared to Li Guihua. For someone as proud and ambitious as Liu Lanhua, this was a constant source of irritation.

Wang Dadan noted Liu Lanhua’s resentment. His small eyes darted about as a sly grin spread across his face. ”You know, Lanhua,” he said, ”I think you’re one of the most capable women in this village. Every bit as good as that Li Guihua, if not better. You’re more than qualified to handle the Women’s Federation work.”

The Women’s Federation?

’Wow.’ That position meant managing all the women in the village—arranging their work, mediating petty squabbles, planning weddings and funerals. It was a position of real prestige.