1983, Northeast China

Chapter 51 Delivering Medicine to Laonangou

When Chen Shi returned home with the firewood, Aunt Wang was chopping kindling with a wood-splitting axe.

She shaved a birch log into three or four pieces and neatly stacked them next to the stove.

"Did you bring back the red seal?"

Chen Shi handed over the note.

Aunt Wang didn't recognize the words on it, but she recognized the seal.

She held the paper up to the window and, in the light streaming in, examined it several times before carefully handing it to Chen Xiulan. "Keep it safe, don't let those two clumsy girls lose it."

Chen Xiulan took it, first looking at the red stamp, then at the place name on it, "East of the old timber road, outside the front ditch... Can't we go to the back ditch?"

"Not yet," Chen Shi said. "The forest farm said there are wolf tracks over there, and for safety reasons, they won't let us go."

Ya Ya sat on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), holding the white-tailed dog in her arms. After listening for a while, she asked, "Is this a firewood ticket?"

"Almost." Chen Shi smiled. "With it, we can properly gather firewood."

Ya Ya thought for a while, then tucked the white tail tip's claws into her arms. "It can't bite them, or we won't have any firewood to burn."

White Tail Tip couldn't understand. When she grabbed its paw, it thought it was playing and opened its mouth to nibble on her sleeve.

Chen Shi stood at the door, Liu Erhe's incoherent words still echoing in his mind.

"When Captain Tian returned to the forest farm, there was another person in the car."

Liu Erhe didn't say who that person was. Chen Shi didn't ask either. He only said half a sentence because he was afraid of becoming a scapegoat. If he was forced to say the rest, he could pretend he hadn't said a word.

After finishing gathering firewood in the afternoon, Chen Shi felt like he had forgotten something, until he saw Chen Xiulan taking a needle and thread and starting to make clothes for Ya Ya for the New Year.

He took out the medicine packet, next to which were two bottles of medicinal wine and the wooden box containing acupuncture needles. The box was wrapped in cloth and placed at the very back.

Chen Xiulan saw him rummaging through his medicine bag and asked, "Are you taking this to Uncle Wei?"

"Hmm." Chen Shi retied the medicine packet. "He can't keep relying on the fire to support his leg. I'll go to Lao Nangou tomorrow and check on the weasel while I'm there."

"Old Nangou is deep," Chen Xiulan said with some concern. "It's almost New Year's, do we really have to go tomorrow?"

"If you delay, the medicine will still be medicine, but your legs won't wait for you."

"Are you really going to give him acupuncture?" Chen Xiulan asked.

"Don't prick me randomly, don't worry. Let's see if he'll allow it." Chen Shi closed the needle box.

Aunt Wang didn't seem as worried as Chen Xiulan. "You're only seventeen, you're really brave. If you dare to hold a needle, then you're fine. I think you can do it."

"I'll go too! I'll carry the medicine!" Li Cheng puffed out his chest. "I've been to Old Wei's place before!"

Hearing Lao Nangou's voice, Ya Ya also peeked over the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed) and asked, "Grandpa Wei, does your leg hurt?"

"It hurts." Chen Shi put the medicine packet on the kang table. "So I have to take the medicine over."

Ya Ya thought for a moment, then took out half a peach shortbread that she hadn't been willing to eat from her small cloth bag. "Then I'll give this to Grandpa Wei too."

Li Cheng reached out to take it, but Aunt Wang knocked it away with her chopsticks. "This is for Lao Wei, not for you to fill in your teeth on the way."

Li Cheng rubbed the back of his hand. "I was just helping you carry it."

"What you take away, you end up putting in your stomach."

The next morning, Chen Xiulan wrapped two cornbreads and a pinch of pickled vegetables in a cloth, and then stuffed the old handkerchief into Chen Shi's hands.

Chen Shi took it. "Sister, keep this note safe. If Uncle Zhao comes asking, just say I went to watch the road with Lao Wei."

Aunt Wang wrapped an extra scarf around Li Cheng's neck, muttering as she did so, "Don't let him freeze and go blind halfway there, making Uncle Wei laugh at you."

Li Cheng was being strangled so hard he stretched out his neck. "Mother, I'm going to the deep mountains, not to have my postpartum confinement."

"Get lost! You're a much harder woman to take care of than a new mother. Be careful on the road."

The road in Laonangou is difficult to travel.

The further in you go, the farther away the sounds from the village become; the wind pushes the snow outwards from the gully, hardening the snow.

Li Cheng wanted to say something at first, but as soon as he reached the second slope, his mouth was frozen by the cold wind.

Old Wei's dugout wasn't very noticeable in the mountains. The two of them had only remembered the general location last time, and it took them a while to find the right direction.

As he approached the slope leading to the underground dwelling, he leaned against a tree, catching his breath. "Old Wei lives here. Aren't you scared when you hear noises at night?"

"I don't know. Ask him when you see him later," Chen Shi said.

"Do you think I dare? If I lived here, I'd be up in the middle of the night if a mouse farted."

Chen Shi brushed aside a patch of snow that had been flattened by the wind, revealing a thin crack underneath, where the snow was darker than elsewhere.

Just as Li Cheng was about to step forward, Chen Shi grabbed him by the back of the neck.

"Look at your feet."

Li Cheng looked down at it for a long time, "Isn't this just snow?"

"There was a waterline below. I stepped into the void, and half my leg went in."

Li Cheng took a step back. "How did you figure that out?"

"Old Wei mentioned it last time."

"Oh, how come I don't remember?"

Chen Shi knocked on the door frame, and Lao Wei's voice came from inside.

"Who?"

"Uncle, it's me, Chen Shi."

"And that chatterbox?"

Just as Li Cheng was about to agree, Chen Shi lifted the curtain and went inside.

There wasn't much heat in the dugout, and the fire pit only had a little bit of charcoal burning down.

Old Wei was sitting on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), his trousers rolled up to his knees, rubbing the tendon next to his leg bone. Hearing Li Cheng come in, he pulled his trousers down.

"You guys know how to time things right."

Chen Shi placed the medicine packet on the kang table. "The medicine should have been delivered a long time ago, but we were moving house a few days ago, so it was delayed."

Old Wei glanced at the oil paper package and said, "I'm still in good health, I don't need you to bring me medicine like it's a funeral."

Li Cheng had been freezing outside, but when he came in and warmed up, he shivered. Hearing this, he wanted to laugh, but Lao Wei glared at him and stopped him.

Chen Shi ignored Lao Wei's stubbornness, separated out the angelica, safflower, and clematis, and poured half a bowl of medicinal wine.

"Soak it for a while first. Once it's warm, I'll massage it in for you."

"You really think you're a doctor?"

"That's what I was thinking." Chen Shi untied the needle box, revealing needles of varying lengths inside. "Since no one else would let me test the medicine, I had no choice but to come to you."

Old Wei stared at the box of needles for a while. "You really haven't used it on anyone else?"

Chen Shi smiled, recalling his past life, "I've used it before, don't worry."

"Didn't it get damaged?"

Li Cheng couldn't help but say, "Uncle Wei, that's a really bad question."

Old Wei grabbed a piece of bark and threw it at Li Cheng, who ducked away.

After the fire was reignited, Chen Shi warmed the medicinal wine in a water bath and first massaged it on Lao Wei's knees and leg bones.

At first, Lao Wei was still tense, but when he massaged the knot on the outside of his knee, Chen Shi could hear the sound of him gritting his teeth.

Chen Shi stopped. "Does it hurt?"

"I don't feel anything."

"Then I'll make it a little heavier."

Old Wei reached out to hit him, but then lowered his hand halfway through, saying, "Go easy on me."

After kneading, Chen used liquor to rub the needle, then heated it over a fire. He took only a short needle and inserted it shallowly along two points below the knee. He then warmed it with a ball of mugwort leaves and ginger slices.

Li Cheng saw the needle box open, stared at the row of needles, and moved his stool back half an inch.

"Afraid?"

"What am I afraid of?"

Li Cheng said that, but his eyes never left the needle tip.

Old Wei stared at Chen Shi's hands as he untied the needle box, wiping the needle and warming it with fire. His movements were unhurried and slow, unlike those of a seventeen-year-old.

After Chen Shi finished needlework, he pulled down his trouser leg. "Not bad, it didn't cripple me."

Li Cheng whispered, "Your legs weren't very strong to begin with."

"If your mouth isn't so fluent, you might live a few more years."

Old Wei looked down at his knee, pressed the spot where he had been stabbed, and suddenly chuckled.

A man who had lived in the mountains for most of his life finally had Chen Mancang's son prick him with needles, and it seemed to actually work.

If this gets out, who the hell would believe it?

When Lao Wei got down, he first tapped his foot on the ground.

Li Cheng, with his sharp eyes, noticed. "How are you feeling? Any better?"

"Yeah, not much difference." Old Wei stubbornly insisted, but Chen Shi noticed that when he stood up, the hand he was using to support his knees didn't seem to be exerting much force.

Chen Shi put the needles away. "Don't go too deep today. Your legs have just been massaged open. Getting chilled will only make things worse."

Old Wei picked up a wooden stick near the door. "I won't go any deeper, or I'll have to check your weasel's hideout. If you stay in this room any longer, you two will inhale all the medicine's smell."

Chen Shi pushed the remaining medicine packets over, "Angelica dahurica, safflower, and Clematis chinensis—you can soak them in medicinal wine or stir-fry them and apply them externally. Don't just sit by the fire anymore; try acupuncture next time."

Li Cheng immediately perked up, "It can't be empty, I had a feeling last night that it would definitely be there this time."