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

After lunch, Grandpa Ji and his two sons carried hoes and prepared to go to the fields to weed. They had only taken a few steps when someone stopped them and asked, "Second Grandpa, is it true that eating undercooked pork can cause some kind of pork disease?"

"Uncle Ji, what disease does this pork have?"

"Is this disease very serious? Will everyone get epilepsy like Uncle Ji Yongmei?"

"Uncle Ji, could you give my grandson a bowl of your deworming medicine?"

"My family wants some too, we need three bowls."

Grandpa Ji's head was buzzing from the noise of the women and wives who surrounded him. He pointed to his own house and said, "I can't say for sure. You'll have to go to my house and ask Ling'er. She knows."

"Yes, you'll have to ask my Ling'er about that; she knows a lot," Ji Manchuan said proudly to the villagers.

Ji Yongling is currently drawing pigpen and outhouse designs with a branch under the apple tree in her yard.

A group of people rushed into the yard, startling Ji Yongning, who was about to pluck chicken feathers to make darts. His hand trembled, and he pulled out a large handful of feathers. The rooster, whose tail was almost plucked off, pecked hard at Ji Yongzhou, who was helping to catch the chicken, in pain.

Immediately, the rooster flapped its wings and ran around the yard, clucking incessantly, while Ji Yongzhou covered his hands and burst into tears in front of Ji Yongning.

Upon hearing Ji Yongzhou's cries, Hu Xirong stormed out of her cave dwelling, broom in hand.

Seeing this, Ji Yongning shouted, "Yongzhou, run! Mother's broom handle is coming!" He then squeezed through the crowd and ran out of the courtyard gate.

After Hu Xirong came out, she saw so many people coming into the courtyard. She stopped chasing Ji Yongzhou and laughed, "Oh my, is there some great news? Why is everyone coming to my house?" Then she turned her head and shouted to Yang's cave dwelling, "Mother, people are coming."

Ji Yongling assumed the newcomer was none of her business, so she only glanced at him before continuing to draw on the ground without paying any attention.

Yang lifted the straw curtain and came out, hurriedly greeting everyone, "Oh dear, what wind blew you all here today?"

Several women, who were twisting straw ropes or sewing shoe soles, explained their purpose in a chattering manner.

After hearing this, Yang shook her body, straightened her chest, and the wrinkles around her eyes and forehead seemed to glow. She said, "Oh dear, this insect is quite formidable."

You didn't see it, but Shuanzhu's wife's younger brother had an epileptic seizure. He was convulsing like a twisted dough stick, and he looked like he was about to get seriously ill.

"Luckily, my Ling'er arrived in time, otherwise..." This pause, combined with Yang's expression, made it seem as if a murder had almost occurred.

A woman with a long face chimed in, "Auntie, I heard that Ling'er gave some kind of miraculous medicine that cured Shuanzhu's wife's brother and her nephew on the spot."

Another woman said, "They said that Shuanzhu's wife's younger brother was completely unrecognizable before, but after drinking the medicine, he immediately regained consciousness and came back to life. They said he was even stronger than before he fell ill."

"It's not that exaggerated." Ji Yongling couldn't stand it anymore. In just half a day, the rumors had spread like wildfire, so she quickly stood up and interrupted.

Yang glanced at Ji Yongling disapprovingly: "It's not that exaggerated. If you don't believe me, just ask Shuanzhu's wife. Oh dear, this young wife was so frightened by the incident that she probably doesn't even remember what happened."

A woman agreed enthusiastically, "That's right! I went to ask Shuanzhu's wife, and she said her mind went blank at the time, and she was so scared that she was dumbfounded. If Ling'er hadn't intervened, she said she would have gone with her."

Yang clapped her hands, about to perform, when Ji Yongling quickly interrupted: "This is pork tapeworm disease. People who get this disease will have stomach pain, loss of appetite, and diarrhea. If it is severe, the worms or eggs may go into the brain, which may cause headaches, paralysis, epilepsy, and of course, death is also possible."

With her arms crossed and a hint of pride on her face, Madam Yang said, "I told you this illness was serious. Listen to this, my Ling'er knows this illness best."

"God of Light, is it that serious!"

"My stomach hurt a bit yesterday, could it be that I've caught this disease too?"

"My grandson's maternal grandmother also couldn't eat and had diarrhea a couple of years ago, and then she passed away. Do you think she had this disease?" The people in the yard started to discuss noisily.

Hu Xirong, who was standing nearby, also joined the crowd. She had been busy in the kitchen yesterday and had not witnessed Hou Jianye's epileptic seizure, but that did not stop her from exaggerating her performance.

She was gesturing wildly as she spoke to people: "My Ling'er is more composed than the officials on the stage. Everyone in front of us is trembling with fear, but she is not afraid at all. She went up to the front, picked up a tree branch, and stuffed it into the mouth of Shuanzhu's wife's brother. Can you guess what she did?"

"Sigh, we all thought she was making Shuanzhu's wife's brother eat tree branches, but she just waved her hand and said it was for healing. Isn't that amazing? Who's ever seen healing like that before?"

Listening to these people's outrageous discussions and Hu Xirong's exaggerated performance, Ji Yongling stopped them in time, saying, "Not everyone who has a stomachache has this disease. Stomachaches vary from person to person, from situation to disease. Don't spread rumors. As long as you separate the pigsty and the toilet at home, you can prevent this disease."

"Ling'er, could you share some of your miracle deworming medicine with my family? I've been worried ever since I heard about it this morning, afraid that my child will get this disease. I'm so worried that I can't even eat," said a tall, thin woman.

After Hou Jianye's incident today, Ji Yongling wondered whether to give some deworming medicine to the children in the village, but if she gave the medicine rashly, she might be mistaken for a swindler.

Since someone has asked, she replied, "The amount of this powder is not large, and not everyone needs to take it. I will discuss it with my family and give everyone an answer tomorrow."

Madam Yang glanced at her granddaughter, puffed out her chest even more, and said loudly to the people in the yard, "Everyone, go home first today. We'll answer you all tomorrow when my old man and Manchuan return."

Before the sun had set in the evening, Grandpa Ji and his family returned from the fields and gathered in the courtyard to discuss something. Before they could exchange more than a few words, the courtyard gate was pushed open forcefully, and standing outside was Zhao Yunxia, ​​Grandpa Ji's second wife, with a dark expression.

Ji Yongling thought to himself, "Who has offended my second aunt this time?"

Speaking of his second aunt, Ji Yongling really had a headache. Everyone in the village knew that Ji's second wife, Zhao Yunxia, ​​had a bad nickname: "Zhao the Stirring-up Dumpling."

Jiaotuan is a type of paste made from mixed flours. When making it, the sticky paste needs to be constantly stirred in a pot. Once cooled, it's a refreshing and delicious food. However, using "jiaotuan" to describe a person implies that they are confused, prone to making unreasonable demands, and prone to arguing irrationally.

So when Zhao Yunxia came to visit, everyone knew she was just there to cause trouble again.

Sure enough, as soon as Zhao Yunxia entered, she asked, "Father, Mother, aren't Yongbai, Yonghua, and Yongfei your grandchildren? Ji Manchuan, aren't Yongbai, Yonghua, and Yongfei your nephews and nieces? Ji Yongling..."

Upon seeing this, Ji Yongling immediately interrupted, "Second Aunt, please sit down and talk."

Zhao Yunxia showed no respect for Ji Yongling, still with a long face, standing under the apple tree in the yard, and continued to question: "You all treat Ji Yongchun and Ji Yongmei from the Sixth Aunt's family next door as relatives, but my Ji Yongbai, Ji Yonghua, and Ji Yongfei don't have the surname Ji, so they're not related to you, right?"

Hu Xirong pulled Zhao Yunxia aside: "Second Aunt, sit down and talk. Yongbai, Yonghua, Yongfei and Ling'er are all sisters. Who is talking nonsense again?"

"Hu Xirong, don't pretend to be innocent after taking advantage of us. Everyone knows that your parents favor you. That's why you live with us. We've taken care of the children and planted the crops for you. You've had it so easy!" Zhao Yunxia turned to Hu Xirong and said angrily.

"Second sister-in-law, what are you saying?" Hu Xirong was embarrassed, unsure whether to continue pulling Zhao Yunxia's outstretched hand or withdraw it.

"Second Aunt, who has offended you again?" Ji Manchuan couldn't stand Zhao Yunxia's way of harassing and pestering people everywhere, so he always had to give her a piece of his mind.

"Third Brother Ji, you can't have a son of your own. Don't think that just because you're always clinging to Fourth Brother and his wife, they'll give you their son to adopt?"

This ignited Ji Manchuan's anger. He gritted his teeth, clenched his fists, and stood up abruptly.

Grandpa Ji tapped his pipe on the ground and shouted sternly, "Get to the point! What's with all this nonsense?"

"Fine, you're all family, but the second son is just a stepmother! Poor second son runs around for you, and in this old courtyard, everyone thinks of the second son when it comes to any hard work, but when there's something good, they leave the second son far behind."

Ling'er is lost. The second brother ran east and west, searching all over the mountains and valleys. He wore out two pairs of straw sandals. Did any of you thank him? In the end, he didn't even get a bite to eat.

"Look, has the eldest brother come back? And who's been running around looking for him?" Zhao Yunxia became increasingly angry as she spoke, her face contorted with rage.

Ji Yongling was speechless for a moment. After that, no one else spoke.

Zhao Yunxia went to study for a few days on her own, while Ji Mantun didn't study for a single day. She kept talking about how the eldest son got more chopsticks than them when the family split up, and how Ji Yongling gave Ji Yongning, Ji Yongzhou, and Ji Yongmei deworming medicine. But she didn't expect that her family members Ji Yongbai, Ji Yonghua, and Ji Yongfei would also be affected.

Everyone then realized that the problem lay in the insecticide.

"Second Aunt, it's just a coincidence, we just happened to run into each other. I'll go get the medicine for Second Brother and the others right away." Ji Yongling quickly got up, pretending to go get the medicine.

“If I hadn’t come to your door, you wouldn’t even remember that there are Ji Yongbo, Ji Yonghua, and Ji Yongfei, right!”

Ji Yongling didn't want to listen anymore, so she turned and ran to her cave dwelling. A moment later, she returned with several small medicine packets wrapped in leaves and stuffed them into Zhao Yunxia's hands, saying, "Second Aunt, these wrapped in dried leaves are for Second Brother and the others. The ones wrapped in fresh leaves are for you and Second Uncle. One packet each, to be steeped in water. Look, my father and grandfather don't have any yet. You should take these and steep them in water quickly, otherwise the powder might get damp and lose its medicinal properties."

Zhao Yunxia initially refused to accept it and tried to return it to Ji Yongling. After several rounds of pushing and shoving, she finally pretended that she couldn't refuse and reluctantly accepted it.

Before leaving, Zhao Yunxia continued to nag at Grandpa Ji and his wife: "Ji Lao Er is just stupid. Your Ji family is only losing out because of Ji Lao Er. All he knows is how to bully our family."