Cheng Yu was not very old. He had suddenly been transported from the capital to the mountains. He had been trapped in the snow for the entire winter, and his desire to play could no longer be suppressed.
Wang Ying took her up the mountain. The girl was like a kite, jumping around and exclaiming all the time.
"Sister Ying, look, there's shepherd's purse here!"
"I just saw a little rabbit!"
"Oh, this is what you were talking about, it's called honeysuckle, right?"
…
Wang Ying watched Cheng Yu having fun with a smile on her face, thinking to herself, go ahead and have fun, you will be worried soon.
Cheng Yu ran like crazy for a while, and Wang Ying kept an eye on her. She found that although Cheng Yu ran like crazy, she was still smart. She could even sway between several trees, looking like a nimble little monkey.
Wang Ying was also relieved. It showed that the Kung Fu that Cheng Yu had learned before was not just fancy stuff. He could still protect himself and escape.
Wang Ying took Cheng Yu to several places she often visited and pointed out some common medicinal plants to her.
"This is gentian. It is best to pick gentian plants when they are more than three years old. The medicinal properties of plants less than three years old may not be that good. Be careful when picking them. Pull them up with the roots, wash the rhizomes, and then hang them up to dry in the shade..."
Wang Ying was talking while watching Cheng Yu's reaction. Cheng Yu had been memorizing lines from operas since he was a child. Although he was not well educated, he memorized things quickly. After a while, he repeated it to Wang Ying with a low error rate.
Wang Ying felt that she had found a treasure and that Cheng Yu was indeed a promising talent.
After she told Cheng Yu a few things, she tried to dig up a few and brought them to a soft but rarely visited place, planted some plants there, and secretly added some spiritual spring water.
Wang Ying said to Cheng Yu, "Move one or two of these plants first, and identify them. Once you have identified them all, I will teach you how to transplant them. We don't need to transplant a large area right away. This time we will mainly transplant three-year-old and two-year-old plants, so we only need to open two small areas."
Many medicinal herbs only need three-year plants. In other words, Wang Ying did not plan to start from scratch, but to start the experiment with this year's plants and stabilize the yield next year. This year's three-year plants can also be used to grow seedlings, and then they can be connected the year after next.
Cheng Yu listened very carefully. Wang Ying placed the medicinal field not far from the pond, which made it convenient for Cheng Yu to water it during the dry season.
Wang Ying brought Cheng Yu to the pond, and when she got there, Cheng Yu was dumbfounded.
"Sakura, Sakura sister, there are so many fish!"
Wang Ying: "Yes, your sister Ying told you all about the secret base."
Cheng Yu was stunned: "Sister Ying, you already knew it!"
Wang Ying nodded, pointed at the fish pond and said to Cheng Yu: "I discovered this place by accident, and no one around here knows about it. It should be connected to groundwater, so there are fish, quite a lot. But you should know that these fish are definitely not enough for all members to share, and it will be a problem if it is exposed."
Cheng Yu was very smart: "I won't tell anyone!"
Sister Ying told her all about the secret base! She couldn't let Sister Ying down!
Wang Ying: "Don't be so nervous. If this fish pond is discovered by someone, it will be discovered. I'm just telling you, if you are discovered, run quickly and don't let anyone target you."
Wang Ying never thought that the fish pond would remain there forever. If someone discovered it by chance, it would be normal. After all, her name was not written on the fish pond, so it was not her personal property.
"If you want to eat fish, just catch it yourself. It's best to catch it in the morning when everyone goes to work, or in the evening when there are not many people going up the mountain. After catching it, be careful when you eat it back home, and remember to wrap the fish scales well."
Wang Ying's family also did the same when eating fish, for fear that others would notice something. Xu Shuang would carefully collect the fish scales before cooking the fish, and bury them in the mountains when she was free.
Cheng Yu finally understood why Wang Ying sent her fried fish nuggets several times during the Chinese New Year. The fish nuggets were so delicious that she had the same taste in her dreams for several days!
After explaining everything to Cheng Yu, Wang Ying took Cheng Yu down the mountain. Cheng Yu would start herding sheep tomorrow. During the herding process, he would first pick some simple medicinal herbs that Wang Ying needed recently, and then try to transplant a few plants. Wang Ying also put some spiritual spring water in the pond, and asked Cheng Yu to remember to water the plants after transplanting.
In this way, Wang Ying felt more at ease. She would see patients and deal with medicinal materials during the day, and then go up the mountain every two or three days to check on the medicinal fields.
Cheng Yu, on the other hand, devoted himself to his career with great enthusiasm.
Herding sheep, collecting herbs, fishing, and warming up my voice in the mountains every morning.
Cheng Shufen didn't know if it was because of the fish caught by Cheng Yu, but as the weather got warmer, her cheeks were no longer as pale as before, but instead had a blush on them.
Cheng Shufen: "Now I move more every day, eat better, and feel much better than before."
She had lived a very hard life in the two years before she was sent down to the countryside. Although she was working in the Peking Opera Theater at that time, she didn't get paid much and was often hungry.
On the contrary, after coming here, although she didn't have enough to eat in the winter, she never woke up hungry in the middle of the night. Now that Cheng Yu got food for her in the mountains every day, she felt that life was much better than in the city.
Wang Ying felt relieved to see that she was in good spirits.
After the weather got hot, Cheng Shufen was called to the commune by the Revolutionary Committee for criticism twice. During the meeting, people from several nearby brigades were required to attend. Some women watched the criticism as if it were a movie. They dragged their children, cracked melon seeds, and moved small stools to sit there, just like listening to a peep show. Cheng Shufen was forced to read her self-criticism over and over again. She was not paraded through the streets with a sign because she admitted her mistakes with a good attitude, and others did not make things difficult for her.
Wang Ying was worried that Cheng Shufen would be depressed during those days, but fortunately, Cheng Shufen was very content with her current life. She had Cheng Yu to take care of her, Old Lady Xu to come over occasionally to exchange embroidery skills with her, and friends like Qian ** who could work with her. She quickly got through the most uncomfortable period and found joy in her suffering.
By mid-March, Wang Ying felt that the time was about right, so she took the herbs she had transplanted to the hospital purchasing station. The other party did not question the quality of the medicines at all, and even praised that this batch of medicines was obviously better than the previous ones.
Wang Ying immediately felt relieved, knowing that her medicine field plan should be successful.
Now that her career is stable, Wang Ying has time to think about other things.
She asked Doctor Wu, who was collecting medicine, "Doctor Wu, I want to ask you something. Three years ago, there was a mudslide in the suburban commune of Beijing. Do you remember it?"
Doctor Wu answered while weighing the medicine, "How could I not remember? There haven't been many major incidents in our county. That incident and another one where one commune and another commune fought over water caused a big fight. Dozens of people were sent here both times. Even I was transferred to receive the wounded."
Wang Ying's heart ached: "Do you still remember how many people died at that time?"
Doctor Wu thought about it and said, "Two people died during the mudslide, and three people were seriously injured during the fight over water and could not be saved."
Wang Ying asked quickly: "Can you help me find the doctor who was in charge of the two people during the mudslide?"
Doctor Wu was puzzled as to why she was so persistent in asking about the past, but he still answered, "I don't think so. The hospital was in a mess at that time. There was no one-on-one doctor at that time, so they just took one. The two you mentioned were not managed by the same doctor. It was a mess, so who would have noticed it?"
After hearing what Doctor Wu said, Wang Ying knew that she was embarrassing him, but she had to settle the account of the original owner's mother with Wang Yongshun, so she asked, "Can you find me which ward these two people were in? I don't mean anything else, but one of them is my mother. I came a little late at that time, and I want to find someone to ask if my mother left any words before she died."
Doctor Wu didn't know that Wang Ying had such a past, and immediately showed sympathy: "We can find it, but we may not be able to give you the information of other patients. We also have to consider whether they are willing to be disturbed."
Wang Ying's eyes lit up: "Don't worry, I don't want detailed information. At that time, the same group of people sent by our brigade should have been living next to each other. The person in the same ward is most likely also from our brigade. I just want to know more."
Doctor Wu thought about it again and again before reluctantly agreeing: "I'll check the hospitalization records. If the registration shows that it's from your team, I'll tell you. If not, you'd better not ask any more questions. We also have rules and regulations."
Wang Ying hurriedly thanked him. It was a pleasant surprise to find a breakthrough in the hospital. If the hospital had not been in such a mess that even Tian Youfu could not remember who was in the same ward with him, she would never have come to the hospital to bother Dr. Wu.
Not long after, Doctor Wu came back. He did not look relaxed. He sighed to Wang Ying, "What a coincidence. The ward registration showed that the ward had been changed twice."
Wang Ying:
Doctor Wu looked serious. "The first one was a pregnant woman from the county. Later, we saw that all the patients were injured and their families didn't want to see her so we changed the ward. This shouldn't be her. The second one was a child, also a victim of the mudslide. He passed out when he was brought in. Later, his family took him to another ward. The last one was from your brigade."
Wang Ying: “Who is it?”
Doctor Wu recalled the name: "It's Tian Gousheng."
Wang Ying: …
Tian Gousheng, everyone in the team called him Old Dog.