Chapter 21: Liangzi

  The next day, before dawn, Fang Mo Nan got up as usual to go for a morning run, but was stopped by his grandmother. She told him that the snowfall was too heavy, and it had already accumulated to over 10 centimeters deep, almost reaching his ankles. "Oh no!" Fang Mo Nan quickly put on his clothes and rushed to the backyard. He had to hurry up and sweep away the snow from the plastic film, or else it would collapse under the weight.

  Grandma saw her running out and also chased after her. Fortunately, the buns had already been steamed at this time. Mr. Lin saw the two of them running out and also hurriedly chased after them. The three of them together swept away the snow on the plastic film. Hopefully, the simple greenhouse in Shi Tou Jia's countryside home would be just as lucky and not collapse under the weight.

  When covering the kitchen, Dashengzi saw the simple greenhouse they covered and wanted to try it in his own vegetable garden. After returning home, he came again, bringing back seedlings, and came several times, bringing many seedlings back, it seems that he didn't forget the villagers when growing vegetables. Of course, these 'seedlings' were brought out after germinating in space and are cold-resistant.

  Lifting it up a bit, you can see that the Chinese cabbage, cucumber, bean sprouts, and tomatoes inside are growing very well. The scallions harvested at the winter solstice are now growing well again, just in time for use during the Spring Festival.

  After Fang Menger and the others finished, the sky was just bright. In the haze, the entire quadrangle courtyard seemed to have turned into a pink jade pavement, filled with poetic and picturesque fairy tale world. The jujube tree and pomegranate tree in the yard were hung with shiny silver strips, like crystal palace.

  They trudged through the snow, "crunch, crunch", and walked onto the corridor, stomping their feet. Old Man Lin also went back inside because it was too cold, and exercised indoors instead. If he slipped on the icy road, fell, and broke a bone, that wouldn't be good, so caution was best. So Fang Mernan sat on his bed, stretching his legs and exercising to loosen up his body. His grandmother went to the kitchen to see about preparing mantou (steamed buns).

  As soon as it was bright, Fang Mo Nan and Mo Bei went to the yard with Old Man Lin to build a snowman. They worked together, but most of the work was done by Old Man Lin, since they were too small to help much. After the snowman was built, they took charge of decorating it. Some snowmen had brooms stuck in them, looking like housewives; some wore "clothes" with buttons and even had a tie on, looking like elegant gentlemen; one was particularly creative, building a New Year's painting doll that looked incredibly lifelike; and there were two that looked just like Fang Mo Nan and Mo Bei, the sisters, which was absolutely adorable.

  As the saying goes: "A timely snow promises a good harvest", this heavy snow will surely bring a bumper harvest for this year.

  Now Fang Mengnan is thinking more about finding someone to go south to pick up the goods, who to find is really annoying, she was scratching her head when she heard the voices of Grandma and Liang's grandmother.

  "Liáng jiā mèi zi, what's wrong with you? You've been listless for the past two days." Grandma said to Old Liáng who was busy preparing steamed buns for lunch while cleaning up the kitchen.

  "Alas, it's all because of that troublemaker in our family, isn't it?" said Mrs. Liang, her eyebrows furrowed in distress.

  "What's wrong, hasn't Liangzi found a formal job yet?" Grandma asked worriedly.

  "Alas," she sighed and continued, "You also know what kind of situation he's in, having come back from labor reform. Who dares to invite him?" The old Liang family had shed countless tears that night.

  "Alas, who would have known he was being wronged back then?" Grandma sighed and wiped away a sympathetic tear.

  "Never mind, his father has been rehabilitated anyway. I'll ask someone to help me take a look." She said tearfully, secretly wiping away her tears.

  "Grandma Liang is crying." Fang Mosou took a surreptitious glance at her, then led Grandma by the hand into the house and asked cautiously, "What's wrong?"

  Grandma pulled her aside and sighed: "Alas, it's hard to say, but Liangzi is the son of your Aunt Liang. He was about 16 years old back then, just a big kid. If he hadn't seen his father being tortured to death by the rebels with his own eyes, he wouldn't have resisted and gotten into trouble. It was just a momentary anger that made him knock down the leader of the rebels, and because of this, they found an excuse to sentence him to prison. After the policy changed, his father was rehabilitated, and he was released too. But after all, he spent a year in labor reform camp, and his future was ruined. After he came out, he got into fights every day, although he himself wasn't hurt much, it's not a decent thing to do."

  "He's foolish enough, in that chaotic era, he could have easily used the same tactics against him, posting big-character posters about him?" Fang Mennai said disapprovingly, "Who can't fabricate things?"

  "Oh, my little ancestor, can't you keep your voice down? You can't talk nonsense here." Grandma was so scared that she quickly covered her mouth and looked around.

  "Hmm... Hmm..." Fang Mo nodded silently, indicating that she understood. She gestured with her eyes for Grandma to let go of her hand. Once her mouth was free, she changed the subject and asked: "What's that young man's character like?"

  "Grandma thought for a moment: 'As for Liangzi's studies, it was all his father who taught him. I don't know what level he's at, but it shouldn't be too bad. He's very filial, and when he gets hurt outside, he doesn't dare come home, afraid of worrying his mother. At first, he even hid in our house a few times.'"

  "Ah," Fang Moei stroked his chin thoughtfully.

  Fang Mo Nan was worried that he wouldn't have the chance to meet with Liang Zi, but the opportunity came the next day. At dawn... it was time to enter the space again, she woke up thinking about entering the space, and heard a rustling sound coming from outside the kitchen. Since her training, her vision, hearing, and sense of smell had all become much more acute.

  At this time, who was in the kitchen, steaming buns still had an hour to go. Fang Mo Nan put on his cotton-padded jacket, cotton-padded pants and cotton shoes. He opened the door and walked towards the kitchen.

  Snowflakes drifted onto Fang Mo Nan's neck, "Ah" raised her head to look at the sky, and it was snowing again. On the snow in the corridor leading to the kitchen, there were black dots, and a faint smell of blood could be detected, clearly indicating that someone had been injured. Who was hurt? She stood at the entrance of the kitchen, hearing heavy breathing sounds coming from inside.

  Fang Mengnan opened the door and felt for the light switch. With a "click", the room lit up. At the sight, both of them were startled.

  Fang Mo Nan saw the man in the house, with half his arm exposed, struggling to put on his clothes. His arm moved slightly, and blood gushed out, soaking the bandage on his wound, making him look like a bloody person.

  "Who are you and why are you in my home?" Fang Mo Nan walked in, closed the door behind him, isolating the chill from outside, and asked in a low voice, but unfortunately his tone was too tender to carry any weight.

  The person in the house was also startled, and he came here to hide because of his injuries. Firstly, he was afraid that his mother would worry about him, secondly, it was warm here, if he were to spend a night outside in this weather, he might freeze to death. He didn't expect to be discovered, especially by such a delicate and refined little person.

  "You're the daughter of Big Yan Jie from Nanshan, right? I'm the son of your aunt in the backyard - Liangzi." He lowered his head, sucked in air twice, and then spoke softly again; "I came back late, didn't want to disturb my mom's rest. It's warm here, I was just taking off my clothes to rest for a bit, and soon my mom will be over to steam buns, so I'll just head home." He lied with his eyes wide open, trying to deceive the person in front of him.

  Fang Mo Nan was silent, his face pale, in his early twenties, lean and muscular, with iron-like arms. His hair was cut short, his eyebrows were thick and his eyes were large, his lips were pale, obviously due to excessive blood loss. Judging from the way he sat, he didn't seem to be of low stature. Although he tried to make himself look gentle and harmless, unfortunately, his eyes had a very deep murderous aura.

  "Nan Nan, good child, you should go back to sleep." He forced out a very ugly smile in an attempt to shoo her away, not wanting to scare the kid.

  "Don't try to hold on anymore, save some energy. The blood is coming out again." Fang Mo Nan's face sank as he watched the blood trickle down his arm and onto the ground.

  He hastily covered his left shoulder with his right hand. Fang Mo Nan walked forward and said in a low voice, "If you don't want your arm to be disabled, take your hand away."

  Liang Zi listened to her soft hums, his hands unconsciously dropped down, panting heavily. "You're quite bold, aren't you afraid?"

  "It's not like I'm the one who's hurt, what am I afraid of?" Fang Mo'nan gave a "you're so stupid" expression, looking at the blood oozing out, she slowly unwrapped the bandage.

  He was interrupted by his own painful "cough... cough...", furrowed his brow, and hoarsely asked: "What are you doing?"

  "What's your take? Save some energy. You'll get yours soon." Fang Mo Nan gazed at the three-inch-long knife wound, his muscles bulging outward, exposing bone deep within.

  Fang Mo's wrist shook slightly as she quickly pulled out the needle, and two silver needles were stuck on both sides of the wound. The bleeding slowed down until it stopped. Then she said, "Wait a minute, I'll be right back."

  Liang Zi stared with wide eyes, his face full of incredulity as he watched her walk out. This was simply too magical, something only heard in the mythological stories his father used to tell. He couldn't help but think about why he had obediently listened to her, thinking about her profound gaze and words that didn't allow for any questioning, obediently following her orders, gritting his teeth and enduring the pain. Afterwards, he was also puzzled as to why he had listened to her, it was her aura, being subdued by her aura.

  Fang Mo Nan went out and closed the door, took out the medicine from the space, waited for about two minutes, then carried the tray back in.

  Fang Mo Nan put down the tray, rolled up a clean towel that was hanging on the stove and stuffed it into his mouth, "biting"

  "It's not necessary," he said stiffly.

  "Oh, great" Fang Mo Nan smiled slyly, waiting for him to get what was coming to him.

  Liang Zi felt a chill run down his spine as he looked at her smile. Then, she took out a small, dark brown ceramic bottle from the tray, opened it, and a strong smell of liquor wafted out. Before he could react, she picked up a silver needle and poured the liquid directly onto his wound. The searing pain made him want to curse.

  Fang Mo Nan looked at his twisted face, his mouth opening and closing, but he didn't make a sound. "Wine is used to disinfect" In fact, there were several medicines inside, but she didn't need to explain clearly to him.

  After finishing detoxification, Fang Mo Nan picked up the needle and thread on the tray and passed them through a small bowl of clear water on the tray, then looked at him with the needle and thread in hand.

  "What...what else do you want?" he stuttered, his eyes darting about.

  "You say the wound is very deep, how can it heal without stitches."

  Liang Zi this time automatically picked up the rolled-up towel on the stove, bit it in his mouth, took a deep breath, and choked: "Come on"

  Fang Mo Nan quickly inserted silver needles on both sides of his wound and the bleeding stopped. "Newcomer on the road, please advise."

  The process of stitching was slow and painful, from the bloody towel that Liangzi bit on, you can see how painful it was.

  Actually Fang Mo Nan was intentionally slow, stopping and starting, occasionally using the forceps to help pull the thread, one wound took forty minutes to suture. It's probably not going to be so torturous again, after this time he should get a lesson.

  The wound stitching was finished, and Liangzi broke out in a cold sweat, biting on the towel as he came out, leaning against the wall behind him, panting non-stop.

  Fang Mo Nan then sprinkled some medicinal powder on him and bandaged him up. She also treated the other minor wounds on his body. "Alright, don't get it wet, the wound will hurt a lot, but the medicine is very effective. I'll change the dressing for you again tomorrow evening."

  Liáng zǐ jiǎn jiǎn yǎn, biǎo shì zhī dào, tā xiàn zài yǐ jīng lián diǎn tóu shuō huà de lì qi dōu méi le.

  Translation:

  Liang nodded his eyes to show that he knew, now he didn't even have the strength to nod and speak.

  "I'll go first, you should leave quickly too. Old Lady Liang and the others will probably arrive soon." Fang Mo Nan said as he picked up the tray and walked out, disappearing into space with a 'whoosh'. An hour passed in a flurry of activity. If she didn't let him suffer a bit, it wouldn't be good for him.

  The beam in the kitchen, with great difficulty put on his clothes, looking at the bloodstains on the ground, and with difficulty washed them clean with a water scoop. He walked out, the sky was dark, big snowflakes covered up his bloody footprints. Thank goodness he didn't have to clean it up, now he just wanted to go home and rest well.

  Lying in the warm quilt, Liangzi still had some doubts about her medical skills. After seeing the silver needle stop bleeding, he let her treat him with peace of mind. He was happy too early, for a whole day, not to mention sleeping, his wound hurt like ants crawling on his heart, both painful and itchy, and hot, in agony, truly worse than death. Just as he had finally fallen asleep from exhaustion, he was woken up by the pain. He vowed never to fight again, even if he did fight, he couldn't get injured, this taste was enough for him to have experienced once.

  It was late in the evening when the snow that had been falling intermittently for three days finally stopped. Fang Mo Nan, wearing rubber shoes and walking slowly, headed towards Liang Zi's home.

  At that time, the layout of Liangzi's house was similar to that of his maternal grandmother's siheyuan, only a bit smaller. The blue bricks and black tiles made it look quite decent from the outside.

  Fang Mennai pushed open the door, and the room was empty, with a large black umbrella hanging on the wall, an iron shovel standing in the corner, and a plowshare. Apart from these two long objects, the whole room could only be described as bare and empty, with nothing but four walls.

  Fang Mo walked into the south bedroom, and the reflection of the snow outside shone through the window. She could see the situation in the room very clearly. A brazier was burning, and Liangzi was leaning against the wall on a simple wooden bed board, his hair wet as if he had just been pulled out of the water.

  "What are you doing here again?" Liangzi glared at her with wide eyes, his expression vicious. If it weren't for her, he wouldn't be suffering so much.

  Fang Mo Nan looked at him, her eyes dark and her face pale. "I've come to change your dressing." She held up the white porcelain medicine bottle in her hand. Without waiting for him to speak, "If you want to continue hurting, then I'll leave now." She said and turned around to leave.

  Liang Zi listened to her words and hurriedly stopped her. "Wait..."

  "Consider yourself lucky." Fang Mo Nan moved a small stool to the bedside, unwrapped the bandage. "Hmm, the wound is healing well, indeed a strong vitality." After cleaning the wound and applying medicine from the white porcelain bottle, he re-bandaged it. "Alright, doesn't hurt anymore, does it?"

  Liang Zi smelled the refreshing fragrance emitted from the white porcelain bottle, and after sprinkling the medicine on, he suddenly felt his body refresh a lot, the wound no longer hurt like ants crawling in his heart. "Hiss..." He took a deep breath, and finally came back to life again.

  Liang Zi thought of two completely different medicinal effects, "Are you doing this on purpose? Do we have any grudges that would make you want to torture me like this?"

  "Hehe... I guess you won't dare fight again after this?" Fang Mo Nan asked with a smile, "How does it feel?"

  "I want to know if I can try it myself." Liang Zi felt that he had gained some strength now, the wound felt cool and refreshing, very comfortable, and he shifted his body to find a suitable posture.

  "It seems like the new medicine is working well, you're already in a good mood and arguing with me."

  "You're using me as a test subject, aren't you?" As soon as Liangzi heard her words, his mouth slipped and the words came out. He regretted it immediately, but unfortunately, it was too late, and the consequences were immediate.

  Fang Mornan maliciously patted his wound heavily with his hand and unexpectedly heard his gasping sound.

  "Ah...... Ah...... You've murdered me with pain!" Liangzi exclaimed exaggeratedly. "You wicked woman," he muttered to himself.

  "A good person won't die, but a scourge will last for a thousand years. You're thick-skinned and won't die easily." Fang Mo got out of bed and put on her shoes, turning around to say: "Don't let the wound get wet, don't exert yourself. Here's some medicine for you." She took out a brown ceramic bottle from her pocket and placed it on the bed along with the white ceramic medicine bottle. "The white ceramic bottle is for external use, change the dressing once a day; the brown ceramic bottle is for internal use, take it twice a day, morning and evening, and you'll be fine in seven days. Don't remove the stitches, the skin will absorb them automatically."

  "Oh, right, come to my place seven days later," Fang Mo Nan said.

  Liángzi watched her walk away calmly from in front of him, and then left. Seven days later, he went to find her, but she didn't care about him anymore.

  "By the way, I forgot to tell you that the medicine in the brown ceramic bottle tastes very bitter, but it must be taken." Fang Mo Nan said as he was about to leave.

  Bitter can be so bitter, after eating, Liangzi finally knew that it was to be more bitter, more bitter than Huanglian. For seven whole days, even the food in his mouth was bitter, as if the bitterness spread all over his body and couldn't be dissipated, and could be smelled from afar.