Chapter 158 - 148: Taking a Plane
Chapter 158: Chapter 148: Taking a Plane
While Mo Shuixia and her siblings were chattering and gossiping, Xiao Man’s mind raced, and she quickly figured out what was going on. ’In this life, Liu Fengying failed to ruin me. Since she couldn’t produce any photos, she must have found a disfigured child to take my place!’
’If you want to stir up trouble, go right ahead. When some people are perfectly happy to be deceived, there will always be others who are willing to play along for their own benefit. Otherwise, where would all the swindlers in the world come from?’
Soon, it was the New Year again. The two little black pigs Grandma had raised had long since grown into fat hogs, reaching their maximum size. One was sent to the commune’s food purchasing station, while the family kept the other. Early on the morning of the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth lunar month, Grandpa called over a few strong young men to butcher the New Year pig!
Zheng Shaolian couldn’t make it, but he demanded to have some of the little black pig’s meat!
Squad Leader Xiao Zhao was away for training, so he had passed on the trick of calling the village brigade’s phone to Zheng Shaolian. Whenever Zheng Shaolian called, he would ask Grandpa for food and drinks. Before butchering the pig, Grandpa had called Zheng Shaolian. Since he couldn’t come back, Grandpa decided to send half a carcass to him so his comrades could also taste the pork from their own farm.
That day, they invited relatives and neighbors over for a "pig-butchering feast." Three tables were set up for the young and old. The pork bones were stewed until they were fall-off-the-bone tender and then handed out to the children, who happily gnawed on them one by one. There were blood sausages, pork liver, and all sorts of offal. The palm-sized cuts of pork belly, an inch thick, filled a large pot on every table. Stewed for half a day until incredibly soft, it was a favorite of both the elderly and the children. If you couldn’t pick it up with your chopsticks, you just speared it, like catching a fish... Everyone ate until their bellies were full and their intestines were slick with grease, all of them groaning about being stuffed, yet still not satisfied! Seeing their simple, happy faces, Xiao Man couldn’t help but laugh. She knew it would be like this, which was why she had prepared Digestive Tea in advance.
’What had that fat pig been eating since it was a piglet? The flavor must be incomparably delicious. It’s just a shame the other one had to be turned in. Wouldn’t it have been great to keep it and eat it slowly ourselves?’
That evening, Grandpa hitched the ox cart, loaded it with wine and pork, and set off for Wancheng. Xiao Man wanted to go along, but Grandma wouldn’t let her. She had Mo Chengfu accompany Grandpa instead.
Xiao Man stayed home with Grandma to prepare the pork for curing. It was a six-hundred-jin pig, which would yield at least four hundred jin of meat. Half went to Wancheng. Of the remainder, some was eaten, some was given away as gifts, and some was sold to neighbors who came knocking. As they were old neighbors from the same village, they had to sell it. In the end, the family was left with only seventy or eighty jin. They cut off a piece with a good fat-to-meat ratio to save for making steamed pork belly for the New Year. The rest was cut up, rubbed with salt for curing, and after a few days, taken out and washed with hot water. Then, using sugarcane bagasse, rice straw, alpine firewood, and some natural plant-based aromatics, it was slowly smoked over a low fire for three to four days to create the semi-finished cured meat.
The next day, Grandpa returned from Wancheng. Besides a large package, he also brought back a letter.
The letter was from Zheng Shaolian. Xiao Man smiled as she opened it. ’This guy got his meat, what more could he possibly want?’
Zheng Shaolian told Xiao Man that the package contained new clothes for the New Year that he had asked Gu Shaozhen to buy for her in Beijing. He also mentioned something else—the previous afternoon, Gu Shaojun had made a very brief phone call to him, asking him to pose a question to Xiao Man: could she, and would she, treat an old man who had suddenly collapsed and fallen into a coma?
Zheng Shaolian wrote in the letter that he had also just found out his maternal grandfather in Beijing was suddenly critically ill. He said he had already explained the specific situation to Grandpa. He knew Xiao Man was studying medical books and learning acupuncture but had always assumed it was just theoretical, that she had no real skill. But the fact that Gu Shaojun had asked her this suggested that maybe, just maybe, Xiao Man really could do it. He urged her at the end of the letter, "If you’re confident, please agree. Save my grandpa!"
Xiao Man folded the letter and thought for a moment. In her past life, when she had gotten together with Gu Shaojun, both of the Gu family’s elders were already gone. Among the family photos hanging on the wall, two of them included Mr. Gu, but he was in a wheelchair. That meant Mr. Gu would survive this time, but he would be paralyzed.
Now, Mr. Gu had been in a coma for several days, which had apparently frightened the Gu family. Gu Shaojun knew about this, and the only reason he was willing to have Zheng Shaolian ask Xiao Man was because he had eaten those lotus seeds and experienced their miraculous effects for himself!
’He probably doesn’t believe I have any great medical skills, but if I have one or two more miracle remedies like those lotus seeds and I’m willing to give them up, his grandfather can be saved!’
Xiao Man discussed it with Grandpa. He frowned and sighed. "A healer should have the heart of a parent. It’s right to save someone in a crisis, especially since it’s your sworn brother’s elder. But can you really do it? You haven’t really accomplished anything yet, just read a few books and practiced with a few needles. You haven’t even had a master guide you for half a day, nor do you have any real experience... Don’t make things worse instead!"
Grandma pursed her lips, silent for a moment before speaking. "Tomorrow is the twenty-ninth, and the day after is New Year’s Eve... It’s so far away. It must take a week just by train, right?"
Mo Chengfu, sitting on a small stool, spoke up after Grandma finished. "You have to go to Wancheng to catch a train, and with all the transfers, it would take at least a week, wouldn’t it? Uncle, I think Xiao Man can do it. Look at me, my hand. She only performed acupuncture on it once, then she taught me how to do it myself. Even though I still can’t use much strength, I can already hold things steadily!"
Grandpa looked into Grandma’s eyes, then at Mo Chengfu’s hand, which was twisting back and forth. He nodded, then turned to Xiao Man. "You decide for yourself!"
Xiao Man said, "Grandpa, Grandma, don’t worry. I can’t make any promises about other things, but my acupuncture skills are solid. I also have prescriptions that I can only use myself and cannot share... He is Brother Shaolian’s maternal grandfather. I’ll just go and take a look."
Grandpa said no more and hurried to the village brigade office to call Zheng Shaolian.
In the middle of the night, a vehicle pulled up and stopped outside the courtyard gate. Zheng Shaolian jumped out and told Xiao Man to just pack whatever she needed for the treatment. She didn’t even need to bring clothes. Someone would pick them up in Wancheng, and they would reach Beijing in just a few hours!
Once they were in Beijing, anything she needed would be prepared for her.
Hearing that she would be taking a plane, Grandpa and Grandma were astonished. Mo Chengfu had never even heard of being able to reach Beijing in just a few hours by plane, and his jaw dropped so wide you could have fit a duck egg in his mouth.
Xiao Man had Grandpa and Mo Chengfu help her pick out some herbs from the medicine room and pack them up. She packed her green satchel herself and put it on. Grandma packed two sets of clothes for her in a travel bag, nagging that no matter how well-prepared others were, newly bought clothes could never be as comfortable as one’s own freshly laundered ones.
Xiao Man agreed, holding Grandma’s arm and giving her own instructions: listen to Grandpa at home, eat well, look after the house, don’t run around, and wait for her to come back with presents. She managed to make Grandma laugh, but her grandma still wiped her eyes and sighed repeatedly.
Zheng Shaolian and the PLA soldier who came with him took turns driving. It was nighttime and close to the New Year, so there were hardly any other vehicles on the road. The jeep tore along at high speed, heading directly for the small airfield in Wancheng. By the time they arrived, a helicopter with its lights flashing had already been waiting on the grass for over ten minutes.
Someone ran over to meet Xiao Man. Zheng Shaolian wrapped her up tightly in a military greatcoat and said, "Don’t be afraid. The pilot is Zhang Qingwan. You’ve met him before."
Xiao Man waved goodbye to Zheng Shaolian and was escorted onto the helicopter. The person in the pilot’s seat turned his head to greet her. "Hey, little girl, still remember me?"
The helicopter was incredibly loud. Xiao Man shouted to Zhang Qingwan, "Hello, Brother Qing Wan!"
Zhang Qingwan smiled, nodded, and gave her a thumbs-up. Someone next to her helped Xiao Man into a seat, fastened her seatbelt, and said reassuringly, "Don’t be nervous, you’ll be fine! Sit tight, we’re taking off now!"