“What?!”
Uncle Tian hurriedly stopped the donkey cart. Wang Lingling saw Wang Ying swiftly flip off the cart and, before it had fully stopped, scoop Shi Tou up into her arms.
A four or five-year-old child is treated like a treasure at home—Little Shi Tou had been fed well and was quite solid. Wang Ying even staggered slightly as she lifted him.
Wang Lingling’s voice cracked from shouting: “San Ya! What are you doing?!”
There was a clinic in town. What did it have to do with Wang Ying if Shi Tou had a candy stuck in his windpipe? Couldn’t they just have Uncle Tian turn the cart around and take him to the clinic?
Wang Lingling wanted nothing more than to rush over and snatch Shi Tou back. This was the team leader’s youngest son! If anything happened to him, did Wang Ying really think being a martyr’s daughter would earn her any leniency?
A hundred thoughts were racing through Wang Lingling’s head, especially when she saw Wang Ying lift Shi Tou, one hand clenched into a fist, the other wrapping over it, pressing rhythmically against his chest…
“San Ya! Put Shi Tou down right now and have Uncle Tian take him to town—”
Wang Ying thought to herself, take him to town? If they didn’t get the candy out soon, the kid would be dead before they even got there.
She ignored Wang Lingling and continued the rescue. Uncle Tian, despite the chilly spring weather, broke out into a full sweat. Er Zhu started crying loudly from the fright.
Wang Lingling panicked and went up to pry Wang Ying’s hands away.
If the kid died from this, what would they do if the team leader held them accountable? She was planning to marry Zhao Jun, and she’d need a letter of approval from the production team. If the team leader blocked her, how would she marry her future tycoon husband?
“Wang Ying, let go! This is none of your business… Ah!”
Wang Ying had already set Shi Tou down and was soothing him: “Alright, alright, the candy’s out. Come on, open your mouth, let big sister see if your throat’s okay?”
Shi Tou’s eyes were filled with tears from being choked. He couldn’t make a sound earlier, but now that he could, he immediately threw himself into Wang Ying’s arms and started crying, “Waaah… so scary…”
He crashed into Wang Ying so hard she almost lost her balance. The child seemed truly frightened, clinging tightly to her.
Uncle Tian, sweating profusely, leaned over. “Wang Ying, so… everything’s alright?”
Wang Ying, having worked up a light sweat herself from the effort, replied to Uncle Tian’s question: “It should be fine now.”
Seeing how clearly the child was speaking, his throat probably wasn’t too damaged. Just have him drink porridge for a few days and he’d recover.
Er Zhu, seeing that Shi Tou was alright, wiped away his tears and edged over to Wang Ying’s side.
The scene of Wang Ying saving Shi Tou just now had been so heroic that Er Zhu’s tear-streaked little face was full of admiration. He nestled cautiously beside Wang Ying like a little quail.
—That little horse was too scary. He never wanted to ride a cart pulled by that horse again.
Wang Ying couldn’t help but laugh and cry at the same time. She had to comfort the two kids clinging to her for a bit before they finally calmed down.
Uncle Tian also came back to his senses and thanked Wang Ying profusely. Thank goodness she had come along today. If she hadn’t saved Shi Tou in time, he would’ve had to watch helplessly as the child…
A chill ran down Uncle Tian’s back. How could he have explained that to the team leader?
“It’s alright, Uncle Tian. Let’s just hurry back.”
Uncle Tian replied, “Yes, yes, let’s go back right away!”
Everyone got back onto the cart.
“…Wait, where’s Lingling?”
Uncle Tian turned his head, looking around. It suddenly struck him that earlier Wang Lingling had tried to pry Wang Ying’s hands off. And then…
“Oh no, what happened to Lingling? Why is she lying here?”
What else could it be? She’d been knocked out when the candy Shi Tou coughed up hit her squarely on an acupoint on her head.
Uncle Tian looked at Wang Ying as if asking for help. “Wang Ying, could you take a look?”
Wang Ying walked over, lifted Wang Lingling’s eyelids, and immediately concluded, “It’s nothing. The candy hit an acupoint. She’ll wake up after a bit.”
Actually, it was just hypoglycemia. That wasn’t uncommon in these times. Wang Lingling had been faking illness for several days, obsessed with how to break off her engagement, barely eating. Today she’d only had one meat bun.
Wang Ying looked at the unconscious Wang Lingling without a trace of concern.
Since Wang Ying said it was nothing, Uncle Tian helped lift Wang Lingling onto the donkey cart and laid her flat. Rural folks didn’t know what hypoglycemia was, but if Wang Ying said it wasn’t serious, then it wasn’t.
After what had just happened, Uncle Tian now believed whatever Wang Ying said.
The donkey cart squeaked back onto the road, and this time, Uncle Tian was more cautious, preferring to go slowly rather than risk another bumpy ride like earlier.
“Wang Ying,” he said with admiration, “where did you learn that technique just now? Looked even better than the barefoot doctors in our commune!”
Wang Ying had prepared for this and lied smoothly, “My mother taught me a bit before she passed, including how to prepare traditional medicine.”
Her original mother had been a barefoot doctor in the village. In earlier years, anyone from nearby villages who had even minor ailments would come to her first. If it wasn’t serious, they didn’t even go to the clinic—just relied on some home remedies or folk prescriptions.
Sure enough, Uncle Tian was both surprised and excited: “Why didn’t you say anything sooner?! A few days ago, the commune was recruiting barefoot doctors. After much selection, they didn’t pick anyone from our village. If we had known you had those skills, we could’ve submitted your name!”
Wang Ying pretended to be troubled: “Uncle Tian, it’s just that I had other hopes… I wanted to try getting into college. But now… sigh, forget it.”
Uncle Tian had been in the village long enough to have heard plenty of gossip about how Li Chunjuan mistreated Wang Ying. Now seeing Wang Ying lowering her head, looking so dejected, he felt a pang of sympathy.
What a hard life for a girl without parents. On top of that, she was just a girl—getting mistreated by her aunt and not daring to say a word. He remembered when her mother was still alive, Wang Ying used to play outside. But these last few years, she barely stepped out of the house.
Uncle Tian made up his mind: once he got back, he was going to talk to the team leader, Tian Youfu! He had to visit the Wang family! If it hadn’t been for Wang Ying’s quick thinking, his own little Shi Tou might not have made it. Just for that, the girl deserved to have someone stand up for her!
And as for that Li Chunjuan—always gossiping, easily the most loose-lipped person in the entire village. It was like she wished she could hide under every bed just to eavesdrop on people’s conversations. She pampered her own kids, Wang Lingling and Wang Yaozong, making them as fair-skinned and well-fed as city children, while letting Wang Ying, the daughter of a martyr, become a skinny, sallow-faced girl. Did she really deserve those annual twenty yuan and two hundred work points given for raising Wang Ying?
When they arrived at the village, Wang Ying didn’t wait for the cart to stop before jumping off. Er Zhu and Shi Tou immediately rushed over and clung to her legs, unwilling to let go.
Wang Ying said helplessly to Uncle Tian, “I’ll help my sister back first. Don’t you still need to return the donkey cart? And remember to tell Shi Tou’s parents—his throat needs time to recover. Make sure they feed him soft foods these next few days, and don’t give him anything too hot to drink.”
Uncle Tian agreed, watching as the skinny and frail Wang Ying helped Wang Lingling up with surprising steadiness. “Alright then, be careful. Once you’re back, get yourself something good to eat and rest up. You really worked hard today.”
That kid Shi Tou was pretty solid, and it must have taken a lot of strength to keep doing chest compressions non-stop like that.
Something good to eat? Wang Ying sneered inwardly. More like she should serve her aunt a “good one” today.
Wang Ying helped Wang Lingling back home. Along the way, they ran into quite a few people. When asked, Wang Ying vaguely replied that Wang Lingling had fainted accidentally, which only piqued people’s curiosity even more. Some busybodies had already gone to find Li Chunjuan.
Sure enough, by the time Wang Ying had laid Wang Lingling on the bed and was sipping a bowl of spiritual spring water, her aunt Li Chunjuan came running in, accompanied by her signature shrill voice.
“My Lingling! My precious daughter! What happened to you?!”
Then she turned to see Wang Ying drinking water like nothing had happened. Li Chunjuan’s fury practically shot through the roof.
“San Ya! Get over here! Tell me, what happened to your sister?! Why are you fine, but Lingling came back like this?!”
As if Wang Ying not being injured was somehow an unforgivable offense.
Li Chunjuan grabbed the stick they usually used to stir pig feed and charged toward Wang Ying—whether Wang Ying was at fault or not, she was getting a beating to vent some steam first!
Wang Ying raised her hand to block the stick, letting out a sharp hiss.
Even though she had mentally prepared herself in advance, Li Chunjuan’s unreasonable behavior still managed to make her genuinely angry.
As a doctor, Wang Ying rarely lost her temper. After all, if a doctor had too short a fuse, their life would turn into an action movie pretty fast.
But just standing there and taking a beating? That wasn’t her style.
Wang Ying glanced outside. The Wang family’s house was located in a spot where the neighbors on both sides lived pretty far away. If she waited for someone to show up, it would probably take a while.
Since Wang Lingling was still unconscious, and her anger had flared, Wang Ying simply snatched the pig feed stick from Li Chunjuan’s hands.
Li Chunjuan felt her hands go empty, and her heart nearly skipped a beat. “San Ya! Are you trying to rebel?!”
Wang Ying tapped the ground with the pig feed stick and said, “Auntie, listen to yourself. You hitting me is supposed to be perfectly justified? And me not wanting to be hit is rebelling? What kind of petty tyrant are you? How come the revolution didn’t overthrow your royal throne?”
Li Chunjuan’s heart nearly jumped out of her chest at the way Wang Ying kept calling her a tyrant. “San Ya! What nonsense are you spouting?!”
Wang Ying glanced around the courtyard. “Auntie, I’m kind of in a rush. Let’s argue later. But open your eyes wide, alright?”
Li Chunjuan didn’t quite understand, but that didn’t stop her from witnessing what happened next—so shocking she nearly passed out on the spot.
Wang Ying went bang bang bang, taking the stick to the enamel washbasin, the wooden table, the big water vat, and the window paper—wrecking each one in turn…
Finding the pig feed stick not quite handy enough, she swapped it for a pair of fire tongs. She jabbed a gaping hole in the enamel basin, tore up the window paper, and smashed the water vat with a rock…
Li Chunjuan was on the verge of a breakdown. She thought Wang Ying had lost her mind: “San Ya!!!!”
That yell was loud enough to carry far. Wang Ying’s sharp hearing instantly kicked in—she could hear footsteps gathering, clearly headed this way.
Just at the right moment, Wang Ying shoved the fire tongs and pig feed stick back into Li Chunjuan’s hands, then picked a clean spot and half-laid down on the ground.
She cradled her bruised arm and cried pitifully, “Auntie, I really won’t dare do it again…”
I am just a novice translator and Chinese is not my native language. I try my best to translate the chapters as accurate as possible.
If there are any mistakes then kindly comment and remind me. Your support means a lot.
