1983, Northeast China

Chapter 35: We need to prepare a first-aid kit.

Old Scarface took off his hat, shook off the snow, and cursed Li Cheng for being unethical, but couldn't suppress a smile on his face.

Li Cheng ran a few steps away, then circled back and hid behind Chen Shi, using him as a shield. "Uncle, I really didn't mean to. That snowball flew there by its long legs."

"Long legs? Then I'll make it grow long legs too."

As he spoke, the old scarred man bent down and made a snowball.

Seeing this, Li Cheng immediately hid behind Zhao Defa, saying, "Uncle Zhao, please do something about this. He's so old and he's bullying the younger ones."

Zhao Defa chuckled and agreed, but when the old scarred man looked up, he took a step to the side.

Li Cheng was immediately exposed.

The snowball in the old scarred man's hand landed squarely on the back of his neck and collar.

"Aww!"

Li Cheng jumped up and down from the cold, reaching behind his back to pull out snow, which only slid further into his clothes. "Uncle, how can you be so uncivilized!"

"It's windy," the old scarred man said in a serious tone, mimicking his manner.

Zhao Defa couldn't help but burst into laughter.

After this commotion, the tense atmosphere caused by the green-skinned creature immediately relaxed.

Chen Shi watched Li Cheng hopping around in the snow, then glanced at the pit he had dug.

All the kitchen scraps and odors were buried and compacted, and the loose feathers were picked up. The surrounding snow was then re-laid, which reduced the smell considerably.

It was lucky that we managed to scare the weasel away today. If it had come at night following the smell, anyone going out to relieve themselves might have run into it.

Zhao Defa watched him bury the last tuft of hair, "Alright, that's fine enough."

Chen Shi patted the dirt off his hands. "These are all tedious tasks. They can be done in a little time. If it's just a matter of luck, one try will be enough."

Back home, Xiaoman's soft sobs could be heard from the inner room.

Unlike other children who cry loudly, Xiaoman has never cried since birth. He only whimpers and when he does cry, it sounds like a cat's meow, soft and gentle.

Chen Xiulan held Xiaoman in her arms, while Yaya sat beside her, her little hands supporting her chin as she gazed longingly at her younger brother.

"Starting to whine again?" Chen Shi lifted the curtain and came in.

Chen Xiulan gently shook her arm. "She woke up as soon as I put her down after she finished feeding. I don't know if she was frightened during the day."

Aunt Wang followed Xiaoman into the house, looking at her with a helpless expression. "This little kid doesn't know anything about being scared. She just wants to be held. But your sister's health isn't good enough to be held all day long. She's such a troublesome child."

Chen Shi looked at the roof beams and then gestured towards the head of the kang (a heated brick bed).

The beams in the old house are sturdier than those in Han Changgui's dilapidated house. Chen Mancang used to hang hunting tools in the house, and two old iron rings are still left under the beams. They are a bit rusty, but they are still very secure.

"The roof beams here aren't as good as the ones in the old house," Chen Shi said. "Let's make a rocking bed for Xiaoman."

"My little brother is sleeping inside, can I rock him?" Ya Ya asked.

"Give it a gentle shake." Chen Shi gestured with his hand. "Don't shake it too much, or it will make him spit up milk."

Li Chenggang pulled the snow out of his back, and upon hearing this, he leaned closer. "I know how to do this. I even slept in it when I was a kid."

Aunt Wang glanced at him sideways. "You think you can just sleep with someone and then it'll be dry? You used to wet the bed when you were little, do you still do that now?"

Li Cheng was already immune to his own mother's sharp tongue. He looked at Chen Shi and asked, "Look at my mother's mouth. Do you want your mother or not?"

"Quite efficient," Chen Shi said.

"Stop your back-and-forth, you two." Aunt Wang scolded, but then turned to rummage through the old cloth. "The cradle needs soft cloth to support it; the child's bones are soft, and it can't be uncomfortable underneath."

Chen Shi went to the outer shed and found a few old birch branches.

The wooden strips were leftovers from repairing baskets before; they were completely dry but still flexible. I also found two pieces of thin pine wood, shaved them flat, and strung them into a small frame. I threaded hemp rope through the four corners and placed a faded old quilt underneath.

Li Cheng said he could do it, but when he actually tried, he was incredibly clumsy.

When asked to hold onto the wooden plank, he leaned to the side.

When asked to hand over a hemp rope, he handed over half of it.

Ya Ya watched for a long time, then pouted and shook her head, looking quite disappointed in him. "Uncle, you're not as good as me."

Li Cheng lost all sense of shame, "I'm giving your uncle a chance to prove himself."

Chen Shi used a knife to scrape the burrs off the wooden strips one by one, and then wrapped them in cloth and polished them repeatedly.

Seeing that the job was simple, Li Cheng felt he had finally found an opportunity to prove himself and eagerly said, "I'll do it, I can do it."

He grabbed the wooden strip and swiped it downwards, but after only a couple of swipes, he hissed.

"What's wrong?" Aunt Wang immediately looked over.

Li Cheng put his hands behind his back. "Nothing."

"Take it out."

"Nothing really happened."

Chen Shi immediately noticed a red spot on the web of his hand. "Did you get a thorn stuck in your skin?"

Li Cheng was embarrassed and coughed, "It's nothing."

"Let me see what's going on. He's screaming like he's been carried off by a sly." Aunt Wang grabbed his hand.

A thin splinter pierced the edge of Li Cheng's hand, with only the black tip sticking out. The more Li Cheng tried to pretend it didn't hurt, the more his face scrunched up.

Chen Xiulan sat up straighter on the kang (a heated brick bed), "Don't rub it, the more you rub it, the further it goes in."

She handed Xiaoman to Aunt Wang, then got off the kang (heated brick bed) and rummaged through her sewing basket to find a thin needle.

Chen Shi took it casually, heated it over the stove fire, and then rinsed it with the hot water in the bowl.

He did it so naturally that Chen Xiulan glanced at him a few more times, but didn't ask any questions. She just took the needle and bent down to pick out the thorns from Li Cheng's body.

"Don't move," she said.

Li Cheng seemed carefree and easygoing, but he was obedient. Upon hearing this, he immediately sat up straight and said, "I didn't move."

With a gentle flick of the needle, a splinter was revealed.

It wasn't that painful, just scary. Li Cheng was hissing and panting, and every now and then he would catch his breath and praise her, "Sister Xiulan, your skills are really solid."

"Shut up," Aunt Wang scolded him. "Your hands shake when you talk."

Chen Xiulan pinched the splinter and pulled it out, a small splinter was pulled out, bringing with it a drop of blood.

Li Cheng immediately breathed a sigh of relief, as if he had just escaped the gates of hell.

"This skill is good enough to get injections at the clinic. It doesn't hurt, not at all." He looked at the splinter and suddenly perked up.

"If it doesn't hurt, why are you yelling so loudly? Anyone who doesn't know better would think you're being stabbed in the mouth," Chen Shi said.

Li Cheng said seriously, "Then you have to treat my mother first."

Aunt Wang was holding something and it was inconvenient, so she could only kick it with her foot.

Li Cheng dodged faster than a rabbit, darting to the door curtain in a flash, almost pulling it down with him.

Ya Ya laughed so hard she lay on the kang (a heated brick bed). Xiao Man, perhaps hearing the commotion, stopped crying for a moment, moved her mouth slightly, and then hummed twice.

The room was filled with warmth, laughter, and children's whimpers. Chen Shi's gaze fell on the needle.

Even a single splinter requires turning over a needle and thread basket.

The needles had to be burned on the spot, the saline solution was just makeshift, and there wasn't even any decent liquor. Today they were pricking a splinter, but what if tomorrow someone cuts themselves while chopping firewood, Huang Er gets bitten by a wild animal, the child develops a fever in the middle of the night, or the sister catches a chill after giving birth?

When people are poor and have limited resources, a single illness can wipe out half their livelihood.

"Second Aunt, Sister." Chen Shi put the needle that had been used to remove the thorn back in its original place. "We need to keep an emergency kit at home."

Aunt Wang didn't understand. "What bag?"

"It's for emergencies," Chen Shi said. "Clean old strips of cloth, cut them, boil them, dry them in the sun, and wrap them up separately. Also prepare some coarse salt, find a small bottle to put liquor, and put mugwort leaves, old ginger, bamboo strips, and wooden boards together. Minor injuries can be washed and bandaged, and twisted or bumped wounds can be immobilized, so that you don't have to search the whole house when you need them."

Chen Xiulan listened attentively and thought her brother made sense. "I have some old fabric. I can take apart two old undergarments that I can't wear anymore, clean them, and see if that's okay?"

Aunt Wang frowned. "We need liquor too? That stuff isn't cheap."

"We don't usually need that much, just a small bottle is enough," Chen Shi said. "If you really get cut, it's better than just wrapping it in a dirty rag. And needles, sewing needles, are fine for picking off splinters, but you can't just stick them into people."

Li Cheng asked, "Then what kind of acupuncture do you want? Like the kind Hua Tuo used for people?"

"Yes, proper acupuncture needles," Chen Shi said calmly. "They come in different lengths and thicknesses, can be boiled, and can be stored properly. If you encounter an emergency, having these tools in hand gives you peace of mind."

Aunt Wang looked him up and down. "Are you going to switch careers and become a doctor? Don't even mention our village, even in the commune, doctors are highly sought after."

"I wouldn't call myself a doctor." Chen Shi picked up the sharpened wooden strip again. "My sister has health issues, and we have children. We'll still be going up and down mountains and valleys in the future. We need something for emergencies."

Chen Xiulan looked down at Xiaoman on the kang (a heated brick bed) and softly hummed in agreement.