Baozi Xishi's Struggle

Shen Yu prepared dinner early in the morning. After Li and the others left, she tied her hair up in a bun, imitating the way Yutao had done it for her in the past few days. She then found a piece of indigo cloth that was neither new nor old and wrapped her head with it. She changed into clean clothes, picked a few grown cucumbers, washed them, put them in a small bamboo basket, closed the gate, and walked towards Doctor Sun's house at the village entrance in the direction Yutao had indicated.

The village was quiet. All the villagers who could go out went to the fields to water the bean sprouts to save them.

Follow the path in the village all the way west until you reach the end, where you will see a stream.

Due to the drought and no rain for many days, the creek was only a thin stream of water, and only in a few deeper places did the grass grow lushly.

Walk about a mile north along the stream bank, and you will reach Doctor Sun's house, which has a big willow tree at the gate.

Looking inside through the half-man-high stone wall, an old man with gray hair was moving a large winnowing basket on a rack with his back to the courtyard gate.

Shen Yu went forward and knocked on the half-open courtyard door. The old man was holding a large winnowing basket in his hand. He put it high on the shelf and answered, "Who is it?"

Shen Yu hurriedly walked over and held the other end of the winnowing basket with his hand: "Doctor Sun, let me help you."

Doctor Sun looked to be about fifty or sixty years old. He was wearing a clean gray cloth suit and had a curled goatee. Although his hair was gray, he stood straight, strong and powerful. His dark, wrinkled face had a pair of shrewd and lively eyes.

He put the winnowing basket on the rack, and then he saw that it was Shen Yu. He smiled gently and called out: "It's Yuzhi girl, come in quickly, is your injury better?"

"Doctor Sun, I'm much better now. My head doesn't hurt as much anymore and the swelling has gone down. My sister said that you didn't charge me for my consultation or medicine. I was dizzy and couldn't walk for the past few days, but now I can. I came to thank you. The cucumbers at home are growing well, so I picked a few for you. It's hot, don't mind eating them, you can cool down with the heat."

As Shen Yu spoke, he placed the bamboo basket he had been carrying on the stone table in the yard.

Doctor Sun studied Shen Yu's face and nodded, "It looks much better. Some powders to reduce swelling and stop bleeding are worthless. They are all herbs grown in the mountains. Don't worry about it."

Shen Yu helped him put the remaining winnowing baskets away, and then they washed their hands and sat down at the stone table.

"This cucumber is good. It's hot, and I'm just craving for it. Yuzhi girl, you're so thoughtful."

Doctor Sun picked up the teacup on the stone table and took a sip. He pointed to the teacup in front of Shen Yu.

"Try it too. The mint I picked when I was gathering herbs is very refreshing when used to make tea."

Shen Yu was indeed thirsty after walking all the way, so he picked up the cup and drank it all without hesitation.

“It’s delicious, refreshing and cool.”

Doctor Sun looked at him and laughed, then picked up the pot and poured Shen Yu a cup.

Shen Yu looked at the winnowing basket full of herbs drying in the yard and said, "Doctor Sun, you have almost finished drying the herbs. When can we send them to the pharmacy in town?"

"The sun has been very strong these days. It will be completely dry in a day or two. Why, Yuzhi girl, do you have any embroidery work for me to take over?"

"Doctor Sun, ever since I fell on my head I have always been weak. I get dizzy after looking at the embroidery thread for a long time. I can't take on any embroidery work recently."

"You lost too much blood that day, so it's normal for you to be weak. Take care of yourself and ask your mother to make something good for you. Please sit down for a while. I'll go to the kitchen."

Looking at Shen Yuzhi's pale face, Doctor Sun seemed to remember something. He stood up, walked into the kitchen at the side, brought over a small bamboo basket, lifted the blue cloth covering it, and there were a dozen round eggs dyed with red dots.

"This was sent by Erlang, the widow of the neighboring village, when she had a grandson a few days ago. Erlang's wife has been married for several years but there has been no good news. She has been taking medicine for half a year here. This time, she gave birth to a big fat boy, and she specially sent me a happy egg."

"I can't finish all this by myself. You can take it back. It's hot and it won't keep well."

"I can't accept this. I came here to thank you, but I'm not going to take your things again."

Shen Yu refused again and again, and quickly said: "Doctor Sun, I came back this time, first, I want to thank you, and second, I want to ask you, when you go to town next time, can I go with you?"

"Oh? You're going to town, what's going on?"

"Since I was injured, I have always been nervous and weak when picking up an embroidery needle. I can't do this embroidery work for the time being. You can guess what the situation is like at home without me telling you. The food we eat now is all borrowed. I don't know how much autumn grain we can harvest this year. We have to pay it back if we borrow it. We don't expect to have much left after the autumn harvest to pay taxes and repay debts. In autumn and winter, there will still be no food to eat."

"After thinking it over, I realized that farming really doesn't offer any good prospects. I thought that when you go to town, I'll go with you to see if I can find a job and earn some cash to help support the family and make my mother's life easier."

Doctor Sun stroked his beard and nodded in agreement: "If you have food in your hands, you won't be worried. It's much better to earn it yourself than to borrow."

"But you are an unmarried girl. Will your mother agree to let you go out and work like this?"

"You must have heard the gossips of the aunts and grandmas in the village these days. I don't want to follow my mother to the fields. I am always pointed at and talked about. But I can't just sit at home and wait for food. I want to find a job in town and do it for a while to avoid it. My mother loves me and she will agree."

"I have also heard some of those groundless rumors. If you ask me, don't take those ignorant women's words to heart. Your father has had an old illness for many years. It has nothing to do with you if he is seriously ill and cannot be cured. If it is true that a single gram of poison can kill a person, then what about those families whose relatives have passed away? Are they all killed by their children?"

Doctor Sun thought about the discussions he had occasionally heard when he was seeing patients from the villagers the day before, and he began to feel indignant for Shen Yu.

Shen Yu hurriedly said, "Doctor Sun, you are well-informed, so you naturally don't believe these things, but not everyone in the village is as knowledgeable as you, so it's better to go out for a while. Although I am not as strong as men, I can still help wash rice and pick vegetables in the kitchen. Even if I become a fire-making girl, it is worse than being pointed at as soon as I go out."

"I don't know if I should go to a brokerage firm to find someone to help me in a restaurant, or go to the restaurant and ask around. I don't know how to do anything else, but I'm familiar with kitchen work, so I'm sure I can do it well."

"How about this, you don't have to go with me yet. When I go to town, I'll ask the shopkeeper Fan, who I know well, if he wants to recruit anyone. Once I have the confirmation, it won't be too late for you to go.

"Yuelai Restaurant is the largest restaurant in town. Shopkeeper Fan is a kind person. When I was collecting herbs, I occasionally shot wild rabbits and pheasants and sent them to him. He also paid a fair price. After a few visits, we became friends. In the past, there were always many customers, so I guess there was a lot of manpower."

Shen Yu was overjoyed, and hurriedly stood up and bowed solemnly, with a grateful look on his face: "You didn't think I was fooling around, and you were willing to help me, thank you so much."

"It's nothing. You are so young and yet you are already worrying about your mother. It's amazing how filial you are. I will go to town in two days. Come back then."

"Then I won't bother you anymore. I'll come back in two days."

Shen Yu said goodbye and went out. Doctor Sun saw Shen Yu off and closed the door. He turned around and saw a small basket filled with wedding eggs next to the stone table. He picked up the basket and ran out of the door, but Shen Yu was nowhere to be seen. He could only shake his head and take the basket back.