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

Helpless, Zhang Sheng could only send his children to call the women in the village.

Unlike Lao Ji's courtyard, Zhang Baoqing's courtyard was a pit-style courtyard, meaning a courtyard with three cave dwellings dug out of flat ground, and another cave dwelling was carved out to connect the courtyard to the village road outside. Therefore, if there was any noise in the courtyard, people outside wouldn't know what was happening unless they came in through the doorway.

A moment later, Zhang Sheng's wife came running over, panting, and asked, "What's wrong? I was stacking wheat in the field when the child came crying and calling me. What happened?"

Zhang Sheng said urgently, "Baoqing and his wife are sick. I happened to run into them on the road earlier, but I didn't have time to tell you to bring them back... Oh dear, we'll talk about these things later! Quickly grab Baoqing's wife and let my niece take a look at her."

Upon hearing her husband's words, Zhang Sheng's wife quickly squatted down and tightly gripped Zhang Baoqing's wife's arms with both hands, turning her body to the side.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Ji Yongling stuck the chicken feather into Zhang Baoqing's wife's mouth and quickly stirred it against the pharyngeal arch and posterior pharyngeal wall.

Zhang Baoqing's wife immediately let out a "whoosh" and bent over to vomit into the basin beside her, spewing out several large mouthfuls. After vomiting, her eyes seemed to clear up a bit, at least she recognized who was in front of her.

She said to Ji Yongling, "It's my niece! Auntie is in so much pain, please help me!"

Ji Yongling instructed the child next to her to bring over a bowl of water so that Zhang Baoqing's wife could rinse her mouth before drinking it.

Zhang Baoqing's wife's hands were shaking so badly she couldn't hold the bowl. It was Zhang Sheng's wife who helped her bring the bowl to her mouth. She quickly drank a bowl of water and seemed to regain some strength.

Ji Yongling stepped forward again and said, "Auntie, bear with it, let's do it a few more times until you throw up everything you ate, then you'll be fine."

Zhang Baoqing's wife's eyes trembled, and she nodded with a pained expression.

Ji Yongling stimulated her three or four times in a row. Seeing that the stomach contents that Zhang Baoqing's wife vomited had become clear and that she was not shaking as badly as before, she was obviously much better. So he let her drink a few more bowls of light salt water and continue to rest against the tree.

Then she went to see Zhang Baoqing.

Zhang Baoqing still held onto Zhang Sheng tightly. He had just vaguely heard his wife vomiting, which made him want to vomit too, but he could only feel nauseous and couldn't vomit at all.

Ji Yongling took a chopstick and said a few words loudly to Zhang Baoqing, telling him to open his mouth.

Zhang Baoqing looked around blankly, not knowing where to look. He only heard "open your mouth," so he obediently opened his mouth wide and waited.

Ji Yongling put chopsticks into Zhang Baoqing's mouth and stimulated his throat several times, but Zhang Baoqing could only make "vomiting" sounds and could not vomit anything no matter what he did.

Zhang Sheng said anxiously, "Niece, are the chopsticks not working well? Why don't we replace them with chicken feathers?"

Ji Yongling shook his head. This wasn't a matter of chicken feathers and chopsticks.

She brought over a bowl of salt water and poured it into Zhang Baoqing's mouth, saying, "Uncle, swallow it quickly, and we'll try again."

Zhang Baoqing gulped down the salt water, and Ji Yongling used chopsticks to stimulate the back of his tongue, but Zhang Baoqing still made retching noises and couldn't vomit anything.

Ji Yongling was anxious. If he couldn't vomit, he needed to have his stomach pumped immediately, but there were no gastric lavage tubes in ancient times, so how could he do it?

At this moment, Ji Manqing, who was watching intently, asked, "Ling'er, did you prepare your Uncle Zhang's big fat pig this way last time?"

Pig? The pig from last time.

Ji Yongling immediately remembered that Zhang Baoqing's pigs had been poisoned last time because they had been fed wild onion (Veratrum nigrum) powder, so she hurriedly asked Zhang Sheng, "Uncle Zhang Sheng, can we find wild onions around here?"

Zhang Sheng nodded hurriedly and said, "Yes, yes, there are plenty along the edge of the ditch ahead. What do you need wild onions for? These things are poisonous; even pigs and cows won't eat them."

Ji Yongling knew, of course, that Veratrum was poisonous. She once encountered an old man in the hospital's emergency department who cooked Veratrum as if it were wild spinach and drank it. He became unconscious and went into toxic shock, and almost didn't survive.

However, Veratrum does have an emetic effect, and now we are doing extraordinary things in extraordinary times.

Ji Yongling explained, "Uncle, there's no other way. Let's try it first. We'll only use a little bit, not more."

Seeing that Zhang Baoqing's wife had recovered somewhat, Zhang Sheng nodded and said, "Alright, I'll go and pick some back."

Ji Yongling was also afraid of making Zhang Baoqing even more poisonous, so she said to Zhang Sheng, who was already running out, "Don't give me too many, one plant is enough."

Soon, Zhang Sheng ran back with a stalk of gourd and asked Ji Yongling, "Niece, what should we do with this?"

"Crush the leaves and roots, pour them into the water, and let my uncle drink some," Ji Yongling hurriedly instructed.

Just as Zhang Baoqing took a sip of the Veratrum nigrum water, Ji Yongling's chopsticks were thrust into his mouth again. After the chopsticks stimulated Zhang Baoqing's throat twice, he suddenly spat it out with a "whoosh".

Next, Ji Yongling induced Zhang Baoqing to vomit four or five times in a row until he could vomit no more, and then stopped.

Zhang Baoqing's wife had also recovered. Leaning against the tree, she slowly said, "Oh my God, this almost killed me. I was nearly taken away by the King of Hell. In all my life, apart from the pain of giving birth to my first child, I have never suffered so much."

Zhang Baoqing's hearing and vision gradually recovered, but he was still feeling unwell. He said, "Oh dear, I'm lucky to be alive. I almost died because of that folk remedy. My goodness, I really owe it all to my niece."

Seeing that the two were gradually recovering, Ji Yongling stood up and instructed them, "Uncle, Aunt, you still need to rest more tomorrow. If you have sugar at home, drink more sugar water; if not, lightly salted water will do. Also—"

Ji Yongling wanted to say that we should rest well in the next few days and not do too much activity, because if it is indeed poisoning caused by taking too much thyroid hormone tablets, then premature activity may cause the condition to relapse.

But considering that the wheat harvest is in progress, how could two strong laborers possibly rest, unless they paid to hire migrant workers to come and help?

Seeing that Ji Yongling was only halfway through her sentence, Zhang Sheng asked, "Niece, if you have anything else to say, just say it. If they don't listen, I'll deal with them."

Ji Manqing said lazily, "My niece is probably thinking that you two are lucky to have met such a miracle doctor like her, who was able to pull you back from the brink of death. If it were anyone else, well, they would have been preparing straw mats and digging a hole overnight to bury you."

Ji Yongling frowned and called out, "Fourth Uncle—"

Ji Manqing stretched his neck and shouted, "What's wrong? Did I say something wrong? Brother Baoqing, since you also have the character 'Qing' in your name, we're destined to be together."

Let me tell you, throw away that precious folk remedy of yours! Don't spread it around anymore, or you might harm someone else. Others might not be as lucky as you to have their names crossed off the King of Hell's Book of Life and Death.