Back to 1984: Hunting in the Mountains

Chapter 78 The whole story of the rescue and poisoning of Production Team
"That's it."

Yu Qiutang quickened his pace, "Then you must have eaten the gray scrambled eggs, right?"

"How did you know?!"

The eldest sister was very surprised. The old lady who Wang Haofeng just called the third sister-in-law also came over and said, "What's wrong with the gray strips? It's not that gray strips are inedible. I have eaten them all my life. Is there any problem?"

Yu Qiutang shook his head. "Of course you can eat gray stripes, but there is a place where you can't eat gray stripes. Maybe you don't know that?"

"What are you saying? Why can't I understand?"

Yu Qiutang had no choice but to explain: "You can eat gray streaks casually, but if they grow in a place where they can't see sunlight all year round, you can't eat them. Gray streaks in such an environment contain a kind of toxin..."

Seeing that they still didn't understand, he simply said, "Forget it. You guys, just quickly find some freshly picked mulberry leaves, boil them in hot water, and pour the soup into everyone's mouth. Just vomit it out and it will be fine."

Seeing that they were still in a daze, he hurriedly shouted, "Go quickly, you guys are in a hurry, why are you standing here and not moving now?"

"Oh, I'll go, I'll go!"

The man quickened his pace and ran happily back to the village.

Yu Qiutang then felt relieved and explained the reason to several people.

Gray stripes is a common wild vegetable in the area. Yu Qiutang is not sure what its scientific name is. He only knows that this thing is originally green in color, and its leaves will gradually turn red when mature.

In the days when there were no vegetables to eat, it was considered a good wild vegetable, along with lichens, alfalfa sprouts, etc., and was a common food for nearby villagers.

But if the gray strips grow in a very dark place, its stems will turn into a dark brown color that is almost black. To eat this kind of gray strips, you need to boil them in hot water, put some alkali in it, and then take them out and wash them again before you can eat them.

If you cook food or make soup directly as you do at other times, the mild toxins in it will make people feel uncomfortable, causing vomiting and nausea at the mildest, and even coma in severe cases.

This kind of thing is actually very rare.

Generally speaking, there are few very dark places on flat ground, so even if some of the gray strips that people eat have problems, it will not have a big impact.

But if it is in the mountains, in the shade, you may not see the sun all year round, and the gray stripes that grow there are very toxic. Not only are they harmful to humans, even if antelopes eat them, they will be poisoned like being drunk.

Yu Qiutang also experienced this situation two or three times before he knew about it, saw the symptoms, and learned about the solutions from others.

Just used it today.

Therefore, every elderly person is a precious treasure. They have experienced many things that are hard for young people to imagine. Even though they seem to be useless on weekdays, they can always bring some surprises at critical moments.

Several people came to Production Team 7, and those who had problems gathered at the gate of an abandoned three-year primary school.

In the early years, there was a three-year primary school here. Later, when Wangzhuang Primary School was built, the organization here was disbanded and several houses were vacated, which were just right for team meetings or other activities.

Although they were from the same village, the people in Team Seven and Team Four were not familiar with each other. After Wang Haofeng introduced Yu Qiutang to them, everyone felt relieved and let him check some people's symptoms one after another.

Once again, he was convinced that his judgment was correct.

Fortunately, mulberry trees are a common tree here, and the mulberry leaves were quickly picked. The captain immediately arranged to boil water.

Yu Qiutang asked everyone to first squeeze the mulberry leaves into juice and then pour a little into the mouths of children with serious conditions.

People didn't have much trust in this young man, and they all trusted him for Wang Haofeng's sake.

Besides, they really have no other choice.

Just like that, after half an hour, the mulberry leaf water was finally boiled and served. Although it was very bitter, everyone insisted on drinking a big bowl of it each.

Then I saw many people's faces became more distorted, as if they had eaten rat poison. Not long after, a group of people squatted on the ground and began to vomit, with gray liquid pouring out of their mouths.

You spit and I spit, one after another, as if we were competing with each other.

During the process, those with mild symptoms vomited almost everything quickly, and after rinsing their mouths with clean water, the pain in their stomachs disappeared, and their condition improved visibly.

The most seriously ill child was vomiting and having diarrhea, which almost killed his parents. However, when they saw the child's face gradually turn from pale to rosy, they were willing to do it no matter how hard it was.

It was almost 3 o'clock in the afternoon when everyone finally felt comfortable. The children stopped crying and started snuggling in their mothers' arms to eat candy, although they were still not in a very good mood.

At this time, Yu Qiutang became the object of everyone's gratitude.

The captain of the seventh team was Wang Jianye, a simple and honest man in his forties. It was his younger brother who was holding a wedding banquet for his daughter, and the girl who was getting married was his niece.

It was also because he had a good relationship with everyone, so when he invited someone to do the job for his daughter's wedding, everyone gave him face. Who knew that this kind of thing would happen in the end.

The regret in his heart was simply beyond words.

Thinking about it now, I am really scared. What if something happens and someone else's child is hurt?

Wouldn't you be a sinner yourself?

Fortunately, he had Yu Qiutang, his savior, who helped him solve the big problem and prevented the harm from spreading to a wider scope. Now he was so grateful that he wanted to kneel down and kowtow to Yu Qiutang.

"Fengzi, what was your brother's name?"

"Uncle, my buddy's name is Yu Qiutang."

"His surname is Yu," Wang Jianye seemed to be thinking about something, and then asked, "Do you know Yu Dejin, the carpenter from Team 4? There seems to be only a handful of people with the surname Yu in our Wangzhuang Village."

"Yu Dejin is my father."

"No wonder," Wang Jianye was delighted when he heard it. He took Yu Qiutang's hand and said happily, "I was wondering whose young man is so kind-hearted. It turns out he is Carpenter Yu's son. I know his father very well. I remember that we once cut down trees together in the mountains."

Yu Qiutang smiled.

It was a long time ago that his father cut down trees, and he didn't remember it clearly. However, from Wang Jianye's tone, it can be seen that he did have a good impression of his father.

This was also what he expected.

In his previous life, he knew that his father was a two-faced person. At home, he seemed unreasonable and unkind, but outside, he was well-liked by people around him.

I think he is not only a good person, but also an upright person.

When Yu Qiutang grew up in his previous life, he reflected on his father countless times and felt that he had both merits and demerits.

He basically inherited the good aspects of his father, but completely abandoned his father's violent side.

At this moment, an old lady suddenly ran out from behind the crowd, holding a little girl of seven or eight years old in her hand. She pushed the crowd aside and came in, directly pulling her granddaughter to kneel in front of Yu Qiutang.

"Yaya, kowtow quickly, kowtow to the doctor!" As she said this, she kowtowed to Yu Qiutang first with her white hair.

Yu Qiutang almost jumped up from his stool. It was really frustrating for him.

Yu Qiutang didn't notice it at first. He was still looking at the side. When he reacted, the old lady had already hit her head on the ground.

He was stunned.

I jumped up subconsciously.

This old lady looked to be at least eighty years old. Kneeling to him like this would only shorten her lifespan.

Wang Haofeng, who was standing nearby, saw this and hurried forward to help the old lady up, "Sixth Grandma, what are you doing?"

The old lady pushed Wang Haofeng's hand and cried, "Feng, let go of your Sixth Grandma and let her kowtow to the doctor. If it weren't for him, my child wouldn't be alive today. She is my life. If anything happens to her, how can I explain to her dead parents?"

Yu Qiutang looked at Wang Jianye for help, and Wang Jianye was full of sympathy. "Qiutang, this is an elderly widower in our team. There was a flood a few years ago, and his son and daughter-in-law were trapped in the mudslide. When they were dug out, they were gone, leaving behind a granddaughter..."

Wang Jianye didn't say anything. Yu Qiutang could imagine what was going on behind the scenes, and he felt a little uncomfortable.

He is just that kind of person. He can't stand seeing others feel pity. He asked Wang Jianye to ask someone to persuade the old lady to leave, but the old lady insisted on taking him to her home for dinner.

No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't get away from it.

In the end, there was really no choice but to agree and let Wang Haofeng accompany her.

Before leaving, everyone he had saved expressed their gratitude, saying that from now on, whenever he arrived at Team 4, he would be a guest of Team 4 and would be warmly received in any house he entered.

This made him feel a little accomplished.

In my entire life, I had never received so much respect and love from so many people.

It seems that sometimes if we do good things for others within our ability, we can get a lot of happiness.

However, there was an episode before leaving.

When someone saw him leaving, they wanted to walk him a little, so they rushed to help him carry the shoulder pole. However, who would have thought that the bucket and the shoulder pole were so heavy that they made the other person grimace in pain.

There was no other choice, so several people were replaced, but they all felt it was too heavy.

This aroused the interest of many men in the village who considered themselves strong men, and a few more came forward. However, the most they could do was carry the water and walk around. As for walking a long distance to fetch water, they shook their heads at the thought.

Finally, Yu Qiutang took the carrying pole, put it easily on his shoulder, and walked with ease. His relaxed and comfortable posture surprised everyone who tried.

I thought to myself that he was worthy of being a doctor who knew such niche knowledge as poisonous wild vegetables. He was so strong at such a young age. I really didn't know what he ate to grow up.

"Tangtang, you've been in the spotlight today." Wang Haofeng watched the old grandmother pulling her granddaughter's feet to run to the front to prepare things, and poked Yu Qiutang with a smile.

"What kind of limelight is this? I just happened to know... By the way, I haven't asked you yet, why did you think of looking for me? I'm not a doctor. Shouldn't you have gone to find a doctor right away?"

"I have my own thoughts."

"Oh, then tell me about it."

"I heard that they had some wild game from the mountains, including wild vegetables, before the wedding. I thought at the time that maybe I had eaten something I shouldn't have."

"Haha, you are quite clever."

"You're not looking down on me," Wang Haofeng said complacently, "Then I thought, the last time you went into the mountains, you said you knew a lot about the situation there, so I thought, maybe you know what's going on.

How about it? My guess was right. You really didn't let me down. Now you have helped the people on our team, made yourself famous, and also brought me some glory. When I find someone to introduce me to a date, they will definitely be more enthusiastic. "

When Yu Qiutang heard him making such a big calculation, he smiled knowingly. He thought that his buddy was a man of good character, cheerful personality, hardworking and down-to-earth. It would actually be quite good if a girl could marry him.

"Come on, come on, come in, come in and sit down."

At this time, we arrived at the old lady's house.

The little girl ran and hid behind the door, only sticking her head out to look at Yu Qiutang.

"This child is so rude to hide from his benefactor." The old lady grabbed Yu Qiutang's hand and pulled him into the room.

From the outside, Yu Qiutang's house seemed to have been built not long ago and looked very new, but when he walked inside, he found that the walls had not even been plastered for the third time.

When people built houses in those days, they couldn't paint them white like in later generations.

At that time, people used "earthen base (a common building item in the northwest, made of dried loess, in a rectangular shape, which can be imagined as an enlarged version of red bricks, but without kiln firing)" to build houses, and then used loess, wheat straw fragments and live mud to plaster the walls.

Apply three times in total, front and back.

The first two layers of mud contain more wheat straw and are called coarse mud.

The last layer does not require wheat straw, but is applied directly with mud, which is called fine mud, also known as sweet mud.

The walls that have been smeared with sweet mud are very smooth and will not fall off. They will not dirty your hands when you touch them.

The old lady's house should have only been covered with two layers of mud. Although the soil base is no longer visible, there are pieces of straw all over the walls, which obviously shows that there was no third layer.

"Come, sit down, I'll get you something to eat."

The old lady pulled Yu Qiutang to sit on the chair next to the eight-immortals table, turned around and fumbled under the pillow to take out a key, walked tremblingly to the box in the corner, opened the general lock, rummaged inside for a long time, and found a bag.

When it was mentioned in front of Yu Qiutang, he realized that it was actually a bag of pastries, which some people call egg cake.

This is a very rare thing.

Nowadays, people only think of bringing a bag of biscuits or egg cakes when visiting relatives and friends during the Chinese New Year. However, they are usually passed back and forth among relatives, and the plastic bags are worn out until they have no color and the printed words on them can no longer be seen, but no one is willing to open them and eat them.

Countless children dream of having an egg cake. If they are lucky enough to get this favor, they will usually eat it slowly in very small bites. They are reluctant to chew each bite, and let it slowly melt with their saliva, and then flow into their stomachs very reluctantly.

After eating the egg cake, I would lick my hands as usual. My hands were covered with saliva and there was no sweetness left. Then I would reluctantly savor the taste and start to have sweet dreams for the next time.

Yu Qiutang remembered that the old lady was now a widow, and thought that probably no one would bring her anything on a daily basis. This must be the treasure she saved for the New Year and was reluctant to eat.

"Eat it. Come, I'll open it for you to eat."

Seeing that Yu Qiutang didn't move, the old lady actually wanted to do it herself. Yu Qiutang had no choice but to take it. In this situation, if he continued to refuse, it would make the old lady very uneasy.

I am her benefactor in her eyes. Only by giving good things to her can I release her gratitude.

But as soon as he took the egg cake, he suddenly smelled a moldy odor and immediately had a bad feeling. He turned it over and saw the expiration date on the cake bag. It was November 1983, which was almost a year past the expiration date.

(End of this chapter)