Daily life of farming and supporting a family on the ancient Loess Plateau

Huo Zhenglian, who was about to leave with Huo Zhiyuan, heard the servant's report and immediately led the yamen runners out of the county yamen hall.

A constable pushed through the crowd, looked down at Zhu Gou Niu, called out a couple of times, and when there was no response, grabbed Zhu Gou Niu by the shoulder and turned him over.

Only then did everyone see that blood was gushing out rapidly from Zhu Gou Niu's thigh. The bright red blood gushed out, staining his clothes and the yellow soil on the ground.

The people around were so frightened that they shouted and backed away, leaving Zhu Gou Niu lying on the ground, his face pale.

At Huo Zhenglian's glance, the constables and head constables beside him quickly stepped forward, bending down to examine Zhu Gou Niu. Huo Zhiyuan, hiding behind a group of constables, stood on tiptoe, eager to try his luck.

The constable lifted his robe and squatted down to examine Zhu Gou Niu's thigh closely. He saw a small wooden wedge, about the size of a matchstick, stuck in one of his thighs, and the wedge had been soaked in blood and turned red.

The constable shrank back, stood up, and bowed to Huo Zhenglian, saying, "Sir, this Zhu Gou Niu was probably injured by a wooden wedge at some point, so he lost too much blood, fell down, and fainted."

"Is the person still alive? Go and get a doctor immediately."

"Your Honor, the man is no longer moving, and seems to have stopped breathing." The constable escorting Zhu Gou Niu knelt down in front of Zhu Gou Niu, reached out and checked his breath, and reported.

Huo Zhenglian frowned, thought for a moment, and said, "In that case, let's pack up the person and carry them away."

"Yes--"

Huo Zhenglian turned and left with his constables. Huo Zhiyuan followed behind his father, glancing back at the crowd but not finding Ji Yongling. He had no choice but to give up and return to the county government office with the group.

As Huo Zhenglian walked away, the constables looked at Zhu Gou Niu, who was covered in blood, with some disgust and hesitation, unsure of what to do next.

Ji Yongling squeezed forward slightly, looked down and squinted at Zhu Gou Niu, who had been lifting her up like a mountain, but was now a corpse.

He wasn't actually a corpse; he could have been saved. But perhaps only she could save him, though of course, she might not be able to.

After all, he was the one who stabbed him, and the stab was to the femoral artery.

No one saw that just as Zhu Gou Niu grabbed her, she swiftly pulled out and withdrew a needle, piercing Zhu Gou Niu's femoral artery with a steel needle.

Although it was a relatively thick steel needle, it couldn't compare to sharp weapons like awls. So after the "flying needle" stabbed him, only a thin stream of blood spurted out from Zhu Gou Niu's femoral artery, staining his already blood-stained blue-black trousers and flowing down his leg into his boots.

No one around him, including Zhu Gou Niu, noticed that blood was starting to flow from his groin, nor did they notice that his face was turning pale.

Ji Yongling scrutinized Zhu Gou Niu, examining his groin. It turned out that stab wounds to the femoral artery could indeed cause death so quickly.

In the past, she had rescued many patients with ruptured femoral arteries who were brought in by ambulances, but they were already on the verge of death or had already died when they arrived, and all rescue measures were in vain.

In one case, a patient was stabbed in the femoral artery with a keychain knife after an argument with a thug. The bleeding was extremely rapid. According to the person who reported the incident, the person was stabbed and collapsed in less than 30 seconds.

She even calculated the rate of bleeding per second using her total blood volume.

Back then, Corey's old colleagues repeatedly warned them never to fight with hotheads. As the saying goes, fights are scary when the fighters are armed, and those armed are scary when the fighters are reckless. These hotheads were the reckless ones.

Because they don't know the limits of their strength when they strike, they don't know where the vital points are or what to avoid, they don't know the consequences of killing someone, and they can't control their emotions; they can pull out a knife at the slightest provocation.

Like that thug, who probably didn't intend to kill the other person, but impulsively stabbed them in the femoral artery. Unless there's an experienced field medic on the scene who can perform a life-or-death rescue, the stabbed person has virtually no chance of survival.

A ruptured femoral artery... In just a few dozen seconds, it can take a life.

And now, she has become the hothead who stabbed someone in the femoral artery.

Ji Yongling lowered his head and squinted, clearly seeing that the small wooden wedge, now stained bright red, was indeed stuck in Zhu Gou Niu's bleeding leg, but not in the femoral artery. Normally, it would only cause a little bleeding, but now, mixed with the gushing blood from the femoral artery, it seemed like a fatal wound.

Actually, the needle stabbing she just did was just an impulse when her feet left the ground and blood rushed to her head; it wasn't premeditated.

She did want to punish Zhu Gou Niu, that scumbag, but her soul was that of a fine young woman raised in a society governed by the rule of law in the future. She clearly knew what she should and shouldn't do.

Just as even the high-ranking county magistrate could not immediately execute Zhu Gou Niu.

But when Zhu Gou Niu lifted her up, the opportunity came at just the right moment. Without any thought, the steel needle flew out and then came back in, and everything was settled.

Has anyone noticed? Even if they have, so what?

The steel needles have been returned to the storage compartment. How can we prove that she was the one who pricked herself, and not that Zhu Gou Niu already had needles on him and accidentally pricked himself? Or perhaps, Zhu Gou Niu was trying to strangle her, and it wouldn't be unreasonable for her to put up a little resistance?

Besides, Zhu Gou Niu collapsed in a crowded place; who could say for sure?

Of course, everything depends on the county magistrate's attitude, whether he wants to investigate, and whether he is willing to investigate. If he does investigate, he will examine the competence of the coroner and the doctor.

However, judging from Huo Zhenglian's already turned and left, he probably won't investigate any further.

Ji Manchuan and his group surrounded Ji Yongling and led him to the mule cart. Hu Xirong, seeing Ji Yongling looking dazed and silent, assumed he was still shaken by Zhu Gou Niu's death. She took out some copper coins and handed them to Ji Manqing, saying:

"It's getting late, everyone's had a long day and must be hungry. Today is my first time selling thread, so I'll treat everyone to some white flour buns. Go buy some. Oh, and don't forget to buy some for your family too." As she spoke, she gave Ji Manqing a few more copper coins.

"Damn it! Honey, you're so generous!"

Ji Manqing happily ran to the roadside, bought a few steamed buns, and gave one to each person. However, after the farce that had just happened, everyone felt that the white flour steamed buns didn't taste as good as they had imagined.

Ji Yongling held the steamed bun in her hand, tearing it into pieces and mechanically stuffing them into her mouth. The bun, which was originally sweet and had a wheaty aroma, tasted no different from wood chips when she chewed it.

Hu Xirong pushed her onto the mule cart and said, "Ling'er, it's a good thing we're not at home, otherwise your grandfather would hit you on the head with his pipe if you ate steamed buns like that."

Ji Yongling looked at Hu Xirong with a blank expression and nodded habitually.

The group finally embarked on their journey home.

Along the way, the mule cart swayed and rocked, and the sun was already hanging in the west, casting long shadows of the group.

As Ji Yongling gazed at the endless expanse of yellow earth, she felt that her heart, like the vegetation on this land, was covered with a layer of grayish yellow dust, neither visible nor easily erased.

Li Shi, the wife of Gou Niu, must have had a name in her maiden home, perhaps called Li Hua or Li Cao... but she was definitely not Li Shi, nor was she the wife of Gou Niu.

However, throughout this marriage, she never even appeared with her full name. Even at the end, in the courtroom, the magistrate's verdict was simply: "Zhu Gou Niu killed his wife, Li Shi."

As a woman, she was not entitled to own the family property. Even taking two steamed buns to her own mother without her husband's consent was considered stealing family property.

As a woman, she was not worthy of having her own name. From her appearance to her death, she was merely changed from Gou Niu's wife to Li Shi.