39: Notes from a Paranoid Educated Youth 8

The wild boar was quickly carried to the threshing ground, where several old hunters expertly bled and skinned it, while Zhou Linchuan was surrounded by the crowd and sat by the millstone.

Although the wound on his shoulder had been roughly treated, it was far from enough.

"We need to disinfect it quickly!" The production team leader, Old Chen, wrung his hands anxiously, "The health clinic is twenty li from here, what should we do?"

Wen Ci suddenly pushed her way through the crowd, holding a coarse porcelain bowl, "First, clean the wound with salt water."

Since it couldn't be disinfected earlier, it needed to be done as soon as possible now.

Her voice wasn't loud, but it instantly quieted the noisy crowd. Zhou Linchuan looked up at her, realizing she had taken off her straw hat at some point, revealing her exceptionally bright and captivating face and a pair of calm eyes.

The same composure she had shown when sprinkling chili powder from the tree earlier.

Old Chen was skeptical, "Will this work?"

"When I was studying in Jinghai, a professor taught me." Wen Ci had already knelt in front of Zhou Linchuan, gently lifting his blood-matted cuff with her fingertips, and rinsing the wound, along with all the hemostatic powder, clean. "Wild boar tusks often carry mud, and if not cleaned thoroughly, it will fester."

Zhou Linchuan's muscles tensed.

The stinging pain of the salt water on his wound made the veins on his forehead bulge, but he didn't make a sound.

The clamor on the threshing ground gradually faded, everyone wide-eyed, watching Wen Ci calmly treat the wound.

She neatly tore off the hem of her cotton shirt, and under the astonished gazes of the crowd, wrung out a strip of cloth soaked in sorghum wine, then gently pressed it onto Zhou Linchuan's wound.

"Bear with it," her voice was very soft, yet her fingertips were as steady as if she had done it a thousand times.

Zhou Linchuan stared at her downcast eyelashes, still a little damp, clearly from her 'over-frightened' state earlier. But now, as she pursed her lips and treated the wound, where was there any hint of delicate weakness?

It was all an act.

Little liar.

When Aunt Chen handed over a needle and thread, Wen Ci shook her head, "The wound can't be stitched, use this instead." She pulled out a small paper packet from her pocket, which unfolded to reveal several dried herbs. "Sanqi powder, it's best for stopping bleeding."

Zhou Linchuan had seen it before, but the others hadn't.

The surrounding aunties' eyes widened, "Comrade Wen Ci knows this too?"

"And Comrade Wen Ci actually has everything?"

"My mother studied abroad and learned Western medicine from a German doctor." Wen Ci lowered her head to bandage Zhou Linchuan, her loose hair falling to cover a faint smile in her eyes. "As for these things, I always carried them with me, just in case of any unexpected situations."

Of course, she was making it up.

It was actually hemostatic medicine exchanged from the System Mall.

That was the only use for the system.

The people around nodded in surprise, suddenly feeling that this capitalist young lady wasn't as bad as they had imagined.

Just as they were talking, a cry of alarm suddenly came from the edge of the threshing ground.

"Sister Xinghua! Sister Xinghua, what's wrong with you!"

The crowd rushed over, only to see the scorekeeper's daughter collapsed on the ground, her face ashen, a pool of dark red blood beneath her. She was in too much pain to even speak.

"A miscarriage?!" Someone gasped.

"What nonsense are you talking about?"

Wen Ci pushed through the crowd and rushed over, pressing her fingertips to the girl's wrist, then suddenly let out a sigh of relief, "It's dysmenorrhea." She looked up and shouted, "Bring more clothes to cover her!"

The weather was cold now, and it was very likely caused by uterine cold.

As everyone fumbled, she had already untied her already torn cotton jacket and wrapped it around Sister Xinghua's lower abdomen. At the same time, she gave her a painkiller and gently massaged the girl's lower abdomen clockwise with her palm. "Relax, breathe with me, inhale, exhale..."

Twenty minutes later, Sister Xinghua's pale face finally regained some color, and she miraculously found that her period, which used to make her wish she were dead, didn't hurt today?

"Sister Wen Ci! You're my lifesaver!" Sister Xinghua's eyes lit up like light bulbs as she looked at Wen Ci, her face flushed with surprise.

She practically wanted to kneel down to her.

"Don't touch cold water when you go home." Wen Ci tucked the remaining bit of brown sugar into her pocket, then turned to Aunt Chen and said, "Aunt Chen, can you find some thick cotton cloth? I'll teach everyone how to sew sanitary pads."

That night, except for Lin Hongying, who was still unconvinced, all the women in the village looked at Wen Ci differently.

"Comrade Wen Ci has such a kind heart, she even teaches us about things like this..."

"She's a young lady who studied abroad, and she doesn't find us countrified at all."

"Captain Zhou is so lucky!"

When that last sentence drifted into Zhou Linchuan's ears, his footsteps paused, and his eyes darkened.

On the way back to the room, Zhou Linchuan's injuries had all been treated; now he just needed to rest quietly.

His gaze fell on Wen Ci walking beside him. Her steps were light, and occasionally she would turn and smile at him, her eyes as bright as stars.

Zhou Linchuan narrowed his eyes, and the corners of his lips curled up imperceptibly.

This little liar was far smarter than he imagined.

And far more interesting than he imagined.

He truly was... lucky.

Suddenly realizing what he was thinking, Zhou Linchuan cleared his throat guiltily.

Back in the room, the lamp was lit.

The kerosene lamp flickered by the kang, casting their shadows on the mottled wall.

"Let me check your wound again."

After washing up, Wen Ci knelt directly beside Zhou Linchuan. After helping him take off his outer clothes, she looked at the blood-stained gauze, her eyes filled with a hint of distress.

Zhou Linchuan keenly caught it, and his body stiffened.

"Don't move," she pressed down on his hand, which instinctively tried to pull away, her voice softer than cotton gauze, "Just one more application of medicine and it will be fine."

Zhou Linchuan pursed his lips, his gaze fixed on her face.

Her eyelashes, like two small fans in the lamplight, trembled gently with her breathing. A few drops of water still clung to the wisps of hair on her forehead, having run down from washing her face, and they swayed gently with her breathing.

Her movements were so gentle, and her eyes were so gentle, entirely focused on caring for him.

She even... felt distressed for him.

This feeling was unfamiliar yet warm.

As the medicine powder sprinkled on the wound, the stinging sensation made his muscles tense. Wen Ci suddenly leaned in and gently blew on the wound, "Just bear with it..."

"Does it hurt?" After applying the medicine, she looked up and asked softly, his reflection in her moist, large eyes, her lips slightly pursed, as if she were the one in pain.

No one had ever asked him if it hurt.

This feeling made Zhou Linchuan's eyes well up slightly.

He suddenly reached out and brushed away the strand of hair on her forehead that still had water droplets.

"It doesn't hurt."

His voice was so low it was almost inaudible.

Wen Ci's eyes widened slightly in surprise. Zhou Linchuan's fingers froze, suddenly realizing what he was doing, and he withdrew his hand as if electrocuted.

His Adam's apple bobbed, and he turned his face away.

His heart rate quickened uncontrollably.

He didn't understand what was happening to him.

So strange.

"I'll boil you a bowl of brown sugar water."

Wen Ci's heart was also beating a little fast. She got off the kang and went to the stove to start a fire.