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

Ji Yongling went down to the ravine and came to the bend in the riverbank that Ji Yongning had mentioned. She saw that there was indeed a small patch of Stemona japonica. She carefully examined the branches and leaves of each plant, estimated the number of seeds that could be harvested, and finally dug up only a few plants before leaving with Ji Yongning.

Ji Yongning asked, puzzled, "Sister Ling'er, aren't you going to dig them all up and take them back?"

Ji Yongling tapped his head: "Didn't the old folks always say, 'Leave a small plot of land for your children and grandchildren to cultivate'? When we dig grass or cut down trees, we should leave some for others. We can't be too ruthless!"

"Oh, oh—" Ji Yongning nodded.

"Ling'er, what are you doing digging up that pockmarked area? It's poisonous!" On the hillside, Tie Dan Nai stood at the fence in front of her house and shouted at Ji Yongling.

Tie Dan and his grandmother depended on each other for survival, living in this area at the end of the village. Their cave dwelling was dug on the hillside, and it was still a long walk to get to the fields on the plateau, but it was close to the river, making it easier to fetch water.

“Grandma, we’re not digging it up to eat, we’re using it for medicine,” Ji Yongling replied.

As they were talking, Ji Yongling arrived at Tie Dan's door.

Iron Egg was still a little worried and warned, "This stuff will kill any animal that eats it. You must never eat it, and you must never give it to the pigs. Oh dear, you little kids can't tell which grasses are poisonous and which aren't. You can't just pick and eat any grass outside. You must ask an adult first."

Ji Yongling nodded and agreed, "I understand, Grandma. Please keep an eye on this patch of land for me; I'll need it later."

Iron Egg Milk shook his head helplessly, not taking it seriously, and said, "Nobody digs for this except for you ignorant kids, so don't worry." He turned and went into the yard.

Ji Yongning waved to someone behind a tree and whispered, "Tiedan, Erdan—"

Tie Dan and Er Dan glanced at Tie Dan's yard, and the cat quietly walked over.

"Sister Ling'er—" Erdan scratched his butt through his clothes, sniffled, and called out to Ji Yongling.

Ji Yongling looked at him and asked, "Yongning said you're itchy. Where does it itch? Let me see."

Erdan reached into his clothes to scratch his lower back and said, "It itches in so many places: my armpits, stomach, waist, inner thighs, and buttocks. It's incredibly itchy, and I can't sleep at night because of the itching. It's so uncomfortable!"

Ji Yongling broke off a small twig from the side and said, "Lift up your clothes and let your sister see your stomach and waist."

As Erdan grabbed something, he lifted his shirt to reveal his stomach and lower back.

Erdan's stomach and lower back were covered with tiny papules and blisters, with red scratch marks on them, some of which had even been broken open.

Ji Yongling used a twig to lift Erdan's clothes, making them rise a bit, and examined them carefully. Then he made Erdan put his clothes down and asked, "Is your father's clothing the same as yours?"

Erdan sniffed, reached into his clothes to scratch his belly, and said, "My dad's is even worse than mine. He uses a small stick to poke corncobs and rubs his body with them. His chest and back are all raw from rubbing."

Ji Yongling understood.

Based on the distribution, extent, and characteristics of the rash on Erdan's body, it should be scabies. It's possible that someone else infected his father, and then his father infected him.

Scabies is a contagious skin disease caused by the scabies mite that parasitizes the skin. It was relatively common in rural areas in the 1970s and 1980s. Later, as sanitation conditions improved across the country, the incidence of scabies decreased significantly.

However, Ji Yongling did encounter one such case in his clinical practice.

At that time, she was rotating through the emergency department. One night, while she was on night shift, an ambulance brought in an elderly man who had been poisoned by organophosphate pesticides.

The old man felt unbearable itching all over his body and couldn't sleep at night. He thought his dog had given him lice. Later, he found that he had developed a rash. He remembered that someone said that "Dichlorvos" could disinfect and kill bacteria, so he used cotton to soak up some "Dichlorvos" to wipe his skin to relieve the itching. After wiping his body, he used the remaining "Dichlorvos" to wash his clothes.

In less than an hour, the old man felt weak all over, dizzy, nauseous and wanted to vomit. The pungent smell on his body was also unbearable, so he called 120.

She recalled the old man lying weakly in his hospital bed saying, "Doctor, I really can't stand the itching all over my body. I've tried all sorts of anti-itch creams, but nothing has helped. I heard that applying 'Dichlorvos' is incredibly effective, so I thought I'd give it a try. I know that drinking 'Dichlorvos' can cause poisoning; people who didn't want to live in our generation loved to drink 'Dichlorvos.' But I thought wiping it on my body would be fine, so I used cotton to apply some. I even diluted it with warm water before applying it, thinking that this would definitely be okay."

The poor old man, based on hearsay, tried using "Dichlorvos" and ended up in the hospital.

At the time, scabies patients were rare in Ji Yongling's city, so the old man's skin lesions were used as a typical case for teaching, attracting waves of interns to visit. Therefore, Ji Yongling was quite familiar with scabies.

Seeing that Ji Yongling remained silent, Ji Yongning anxiously asked, "Sister, is this a 'rotten head' on Erdan's body? Can Erdan use the 'Papuzi'?"

Ji Yongling nodded and said, "It's 'scabies,' also called scabies. Papuzi can cure it."

Ji Yongning glanced at Erdan happily and urged Ji Yongling, "Sister, then tell me quickly how to treat it. This 'papuzi' is poisonous and can't be eaten. How do we treat this 'rotten head'?"

Ji Yongling wanted to boil some water with Stemona japonica to wash the affected area, but then she remembered the old man who had been poisoned by using dichlorvos to wash his body, so she decided it was safer to tell Erdan's father.

So the group went to Erdan's house.

Erdan's father was carrying a load of water home. He gripped the carrying pole rope tightly with one hand and used a stick to poke corn cobs inside his clothes with the other, grimacing as he did so. The carrying pole swayed a few times, and the water in the buckets spilled out.

As soon as he arrived at his doorstep, he saw Ji Yongling and the others coming over, so he put down his carrying pole and stopped rubbing himself. He asked, "Why are you kids coming to my house? Erdan has a rash that can infect people. Don't let it infect you, or your parents will come to cause trouble."

Erdan scratched his buttocks with one hand and rubbed his waist with the other, saying, "Dad, Yongning's sister said she can cure these 'rotten heads' on our bodies."

Erdan's father tucked his arms between his legs, twisted his body a couple of times to relieve the itching, and said, "Yonglingwa, I know you learned something from that old woman from the south and want to cure the sick and save people. That's a good intention. As the saying goes, being able to cure the sick and save people is a great virtue. But Erdan and I will recover on our own soon. There's no need for treatment. You should go back now."

Erdan sniffed, pouted, and said angrily, "Dad—, how can this 'rotten head' of ours heal on its own? You've been itchy for days! You can't sleep every night because of the itch. I wasn't itchy before, but you've caught it from me. If you won't treat it, I will!"