Chapter 683 - 353: An Incongruous Surgery

Chapter 683: Chapter 353: An Incongruous Surgery

Juhua didn’t recognize the little boy named Li Jingshan and had no idea whose family he was from. Seeing him pinch his nose with two fingers, about to give it a big blow, she cried out in alarm, "Whoa! Don’t do that here! Wait, I’ll get you some paper. Go blow it somewhere farther away." As she spoke, she moved to get up and find some.

Yang Family gave her a strange look. Why was she even concerned with someone else blowing their nose? Li Jingshan looked completely bewildered.

Juhua fumbled in her clothes and found two sheets of rough paper. Handing them to the little boy, she said, "Didn’t you hear what Yun Ying said? You’re sick, so you have to remember to take the medicine she gave you. Blowing your nose just anywhere can easily get other people sick. Our little Hulu is at an age where he catches things easily, so you need to go somewhere far away."

’Are you kidding me? With a cold this bad, if he leaves a puddle of snot in the courtyard, little Hulu is sure to get infected—who knows how many germs are in that.’

The little boy, only half-understanding, took the paper and left. He didn’t know why blowing his nose would make little Hulu sick, but he could tell he was being shooed away. As he left, he gave Juhua a very reproachful look!

Juhua didn’t want to hurt the little boy’s feelings. ’Kids may be small, but they’re very perceptive,’ she thought. She quickly called out to him, "When you get home, remember to take the medicine Yun Ying gave you! Drink lots of hot water, don’t eat anything spicy, and your runny nose will be gone in a couple of days."

The little boy answered in a clear voice and disappeared into the distance.

Both Yang Family and Liu Yunlan asked Juhua in disbelief, "Blowing his nose will make Hulu sick?"

Juhua explained, "That’s what Doctor Yun said. Sometimes they get runny noses from catching a chill, and other times for different reasons. But think about it—kids love to play together, and often you’ll see a whole group of them with runny noses. That’s because one gets sick first, then passes the illness to the others, and before you know it, everyone has it."

She had wanted to use the word "contagious," but it sounded too frightening. Instead, she used the phrase "passes the illness."

Yang Family considered this and realized it made sense. The sight of a group of children playing together with runny noses was all too common. It was always like that, and who would give it a second thought? Adults only started to worry when a fever or cough was involved!

She looked at her rosy-cheeked grandson, wondering if she should be stricter from now on and not let him mix so freely with the other children. Sure enough, Liu Yunlan asked worriedly, "So what do we do now? We can’t just stop Hulu from playing with other kids, can we? Children always seem to have runny noses, don’t they?"

Juhua shook her head and smiled. "Of course not. Just be more attentive. Don’t let him drink unboiled water, teach him to wash his hands often, and make sure his food is clean. If he has a strong constitution, he won’t get sick so easily. The children who have runny noses all year are usually the frail ones. They grab food with dirty hands and drink unboiled water, which is why they’re always sick." Liu Yunlan nodded eagerly in agreement.

The conversation turned back to the earlier incident. Yang Family sighed. "Who knows which family’s daughter-in-law is having a difficult birth this time. It’s a good thing Doctor Qin is back, or it might have been another death of both mother and child. Now that he’s on his way, maybe he can save them both. If not, he can at least save one of them, whether it’s the mother or the baby."

Juhua paused what she was doing and asked hesitantly, "But no one said it was a difficult birth. They just said the man’s wife was dying. Maybe she’s just sick with something."

Yang Family shook her head. "If she were just sick, Doctor Qin could have gone alone. Why would they come for Doctor Yun as well? Plenty of village women die during childbirth, though some die from illness too." Seeing her daughter’s dazed expression and fearing she was getting worried, she added comfortingly, "Don’t you be scared. Daughters take after their mothers. Even if your constitution is a bit weaker, your maternal grandmother and I both had easy deliveries. I’m sure you will too. Besides, we have Yun Ying here, don’t we?"

Juhua snapped out of her daze and smiled reassuringly back at her. "I was never scared. I’m fine, Mom. I refuse to believe it—if other women can give birth, why can’t I?"

She said it so deliberately that it made Yang Family laugh. To hear her talk, giving birth was like shouldering a heavy pole—all it took was one good heave and you’d be on your feet.

The women finished preparing the eggplants and laid them out to dry. Then they went to the garden to pick cucumbers and pickling melons. They sliced them in half, scooped out the pulp, washed them, and set them out in the sun. Once the pieces were half-dry, they would be tossed into an earthenware crock of sun-brewing sauce to be pickled.

Amid their idle chatter, Juhua heard Liu Yunlan tell Yang Family that the next day, her parents were taking her younger brother, Yungen, to the home village of Shi Tou’s mother. They were going there for a matchmaking meeting with Shi Tou’s mother’s paternal niece.

"It’s about ninety percent certain," Liu Yunlan said. "Third Aunt mentioned that her cousin and his wife are very pleased with the match; all that’s left is for the two to meet. But I’m sure they’ve already sent people to make inquiries and had someone compare their birth-charts. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have set a date for the meeting."