I Became a Medical Genius in the 80s

Chapter 11: Chapter 11: Delivering Water

Mrs. Qin knew what she had picked. She had just glanced at it and saw her throw it into the pot. Her face immediately sank. Isn’t that a waste of water and firewood!

”Mother, I’m making porridge.” Beisitian said, turning her hand over the pot and sprinkling cornmeal bit by bit, while stirring with the other hand.

Seeing this, Mrs. Qin’s face improved a bit, and she no longer paid her any attention. After all, that stuff wouldn’t kill anyone, so she let her continue messing with it.

The Winter and Spring Ivy Root was brought back by Luo Anping. This time, Beisitian thought a bit more and didn’t draw it for him. Instead, she had him describe the place where he herded sheep to her.

Although the mountain village was a bit poor, there were indeed many good things on the mountain. After Luo Anping mentioned it, she discovered many good things, and this Winter and Spring Ivy Root was one of them.

The Luo family’s elderly, sick, and disabled had little nutrition in their stomachs. Even though the Winter and Spring Ivy root was just an ordinary Chinese medicine for supplementing qi, it was still very effective for this family, so Beisitian had been adding it in for the past two days.

In a few days’ time, there would be no visible effect. Unfortunately, there was nothing to pair with it, so it wasn’t really considered a medicinal dish.

Early in the morning, Luo Anping hadn’t gotten up yet, and the village’s loudspeakers had already started broadcasting.

”The water has come, each household please note, the water has come...”

Beisitian was startled, only then remembering that today was the day the water came. Mrs. Qin, however, hadn’t forgotten and had been guarding by the water pump, ready to press as soon as the water came.

The time for storing water was limited. Usually, after they had stored enough water, they would carry two more buckets to the old home. But after Beisitian got injured, Mrs. Qin turned a blind eye, and Luo Anping was still young, so they hadn’t carried water to the old home for the past two months.

Here, the old home referred to the previous generation, Luo Anguo’s mother, Mrs. Qin’s mother-in-law, who was already over seventy, living with her eldest son Luo Aiguo and his wife Qin Hongmei.

Qin Hongmei was the one who joined the crowd for entertainment last time.

Mrs. Qin forgot, but Qin Hongmei didn’t. Just as the loudspeaker broadcast ended, she ran over and shouted.

”Don’t forget to carry two buckets of water!”

It’s a son’s duty to carry water for his mother!

Mrs. Qin was startled and shouted back, ”Little Tian’er hasn’t fully recovered yet!”

Hearing this, Qin Hongmei paused on her way back and shouted over her shoulder, ”Well, isn’t she already out and about, so hurry up!”

With that, she hurried back. The day the water came was very important, and every household would stay at home.

Mrs. Qin was stifled in the yard; this completely disregarded Little Tian’er’s well-being!

In the past, it was always Beisitian who carried water to the old home. Seeing her wandering in the yard, Qin Hongmei ran over in a hurry to ask for water!

Two buckets of water weren’t a big deal, but it made Mrs. Qin angry. Although the two families had separated, they were still close brothers and lived not far apart. After Beisitian’s accident, she was afraid to borrow money from them, kept the door tightly shut, didn’t dare to say a word when they met, and even wished to avoid them. Now that she’s barely well, they come over asking for water!

Beisitian still couldn’t do heavy work, how could she carry a pole? A bucket of water was over ten pounds each, and after carrying these two buckets, wouldn’t she have to lie back in bed!

Luo Anguo couldn’t be relied on, and Luo Anping was too young to rely on either. Their family already had a bad reputation in the village, and they didn’t want to give people more to talk about. They had no choice but to have her feel her way over there.

Mrs. Qin’s body was good, and she was strong, but her eyesight was poor.

Before Qin Hongmei came, Beisitian was watching the big carp at the bottom of the water tank. This carp had been put in as a fry, and now the tank was almost too small for it to swim.

Luo Anping said that when it couldn’t swim anymore, it would be time to kill it and eat it.

Beisitian didn’t quite understand why they raised a fish at the bottom of the water tank. When she asked Luo Anping, she learned that it was a local custom, symbolizing having surplus every year!

Every time she thought about drinking water that had been soaked by the fish, she felt a bit uncomfortable. But then she thought, wasn’t the river water she drank full of fish too? It hadn’t disgusted her!

Thinking this way, she let go of her concerns.

The carp at the bottom of the tank could only be seen when the water was low. Normally, it couldn’t be seen, and she didn’t know when it surfaced for air.

As she was thinking about this, she heard Qin Hongmei’s shout.

Of course, Beisitian knew that it used to be her who carried water. Hearing these words, she snorted coldly in her heart. If her body were well, she would have carried it over as filial duty was paramount. But not now; health was more important than anything. If the old home were sensible, they wouldn’t have asked for water. She wasn’t going to be blindly filial!

Seeing Mrs. Qin’s stern face but her silence, Beisitian knew she must have planned to carry the water herself. Her eyes couldn’t see clearly, moving around the house was alright, but if she were to fall outside, it would only add to this family’s troubles!

Besides, Mrs. Qin was sharp-tongued but kind-hearted; otherwise, she wouldn’t have spent twice the price of the idiot crippled family to buy her back.

In the morning, every household was busy storing water. There weren’t many people moving around in the village, so Beisitian wasn’t in a hurry.

Mrs. Qin filled the water and went to the wood shed to get the carrying pole, only to be stopped by Beisitian.

”Mother, I’ll go find Uncle in a while, you don’t have to go.”

The ’Sichuan’ character on Mrs. Qin’s brow was very deep at the moment. She waved her hand and said, ”It’s just two buckets of water.”

Hearing Mrs. Qin say this, Beisitian changed her mind and said, ”Alright, Mother, I’ll go with you, just wait for me a moment.”

Beisitian went into the house to get the stick Luo Anguo used to move, seeing more and more people outside, she said, ”Mother, I’ll lead the way for you.”

At this time, there were quite a few people on the road carrying water to their old homes, and the women were standing at the door looking at each other. In those days, having a television at home was rare, and without any entertainment activities, they had no choice but to hang around.

Just before they stepped out of the door, Beisitian stuck the stick into the ground, propped it with both hands, and walked ahead of Mrs. Qin.

Mrs. Qin picked up the carrying pole, fixed her straight gaze on the figure in front and followed.

Luo Aiguo’s house and Luo Anguo’s house were only about a hundred meters away, but they were separated by a ditch. Whenever it rained, it would fill with water, and even if it was dry, Mrs. Qin had to take a detour while carrying the pole.

The ditch wasn’t long, just about fifty or sixty meters, and the two houses were diagonally facing each other, which made the road a bit longer.

The villagers saw this old and young pair, one leaning on a stick leading the way, the other carrying a pole with glazed eyes trailing behind, walking toward the opposite side.

”Isn’t that Luo Er’s family? Little Tian’er isn’t well yet, why rush to deliver water?”

”Do you even need to ask? Can this be voluntary?”

”I did hear Qin Hongmei shouting about delivering water. What’s wrong with the eldest family? Everyone else knows about Luo Er’s situation, can their own family not know? There are two big men at home, do they lack these two buckets of water or what!”