The act of sprinkling salt on a wound is something that most people cannot do, but sprinkling Yunnan Baiyao on a wound is something almost anyone can do.
However, they do have one thing in common: they both hurt.
When Xia Ming first applied Yunnan Baiyao to the newly touched wound, it hurt so much that he trembled and almost threw the medicine away.
"Hiss," it really hurt, and Xia Ming's lips trembled from the pain. But the effect was remarkable, and soon the bleeding stopped.
At that moment, Xia Ming's father, who was taking a stroll in the village, came back. Seeing Xia Ming holding his left hand and walking around, he asked in a displeased tone, "What's going on? Did your hand cramp?" He placed the tea cup on the big table.
"It's not a cramp. I got a cut from a stone. Just applied some medicine, and it hurts," Xia Ming raised his left hand and gestured.
His father frowned, walked forward to inspect, and then said expressionlessly, "Such a small cut and it hurts like this? Bear with it, I'll find some gauze."
With his hands behind his back, he walked into the bedroom, but his pace seemed faster, and soon the sound of rummaging through drawers and cabinets could be heard.
"I couldn't find any gauze, so I'll make do with this for now," his father took out a long red cloth strip. Xia Ming felt a bit familiar with it, as if he had seen it in his childhood, but couldn't recall exactly.
But now, he couldn't worry about that.
He sprinkled some more Yunnan Baiyao on the wound, then layered a few paper napkins on it, and wrapped it with the red cloth.
The red cloth was excessively long, and when he finished wrapping it, Xia Ming's entire left hand had turned into a red ball, with only his thumb barely visible.
"Alright, it'll do for now. After eating, go to the village clinic yourself. You're so careless, tomorrow we'll go to town to meet someone," his father scolded while drinking tea, shifting the topic.
"Okay, after eating, I'll go. By the way, Dad, you're being too abrupt with the change of topic," Xia Ming admired his left hand, suddenly realizing.
"What's abrupt? I've already settled things, and you must go tomorrow," his father said sternly.
"Okay, okay, I'll go," Xia Ming helplessly replied. He was used to it.
"It's time to eat. Why are you just sitting there? Set up the small table and come over to serve the dishes," his mother shouted at his father from the front yard kitchen.
"Let's go, it's time to eat," he said and walked towards the kitchen in the front yard.
The structure of Xia Ming's house was a typical rural courtyard. There was a main house, a yard, a kitchen, and a flower bed with a well.
The main house had been renovated a few years ago, with the exterior walls freshly painted and the original brick joints covered with cement. The roof was now covered with red glazed tiles, and the interior of the hall had also been renovated. Overall, it looked brand new, except for some old furniture that was supposed to be replaced when Xia Ming got married.
But who knew that it would take several years, and there was no telling how many more years it would be.
Entering the kitchen, his mother immediately noticed Xia Ming's left hand, which looked as if he was wearing boxing gloves, and said, "Let's eat, why are you still wearing gloves?"
"I
got a cut on my hand, so I wrapped it. I'll go to the clinic this afternoon to rebandage it. Help me serve some rice," Xia Ming found a small stool and sat down, then grabbed the head of the dog, Wangcai, hiding under the table and said fiercely.
"Where do you think you're running? I'll catch you no matter where you go."
Wangcai whimpered a couple of times but didn't struggle.
"What are you doing to him? He's so filthy. Go wash your hands and eat," his mother scolded. "Hurry up and eat. Afterward, go to the clinic and make sure it doesn't get infected."
Xia Ming snorted, "I'll let you go for today."
Lunch was simple, steamed salty duck, salted pork, cabbage tofu vermicelli, stir-fried eggs with green peppers, and steamed and fried meatballs.
During each meal, Xia Ming's father would always have a bit of white wine, about one or two liang, never more or less.
"Dad, have you seen this before?" Xia Ming took out the stone tooth from his pocket and handed it to his father. "I dug it out from the reservoir. The bucket teeth of the excavator snapped because of it. This is what cut my hand."
His father set down his wine cup, took the stone tooth, examined it by turning it around, even put on his reading glasses and used the flashlight on his phone.
"Hmm..." his father fell into contemplation.
"Do you know what it is?" Xia Ming was a bit surprised.
"I don't know," his father said and handed the stone tooth to his mother.
Upon hearing this, Xia Ming almost knocked over his rice bowl, and his father scolded him again. "Can't you eat properly?"
What could Xia Ming say? He couldn't say anything. Everything was in the bowl. He forcefully scooped up a few bites of rice and slurped some vermicelli.
After his mother took a look for a while, she placed the stone tooth on the table and said, "I haven't seen it before. Look it up online yourself."
After taking a quick look, Xia Ming's mother placed the stone tooth on the table and said, "I haven't seen it before. Look it up online yourself."
With his left hand wearing boxing gloves, Xia Ming couldn't hold the bowl while eating, so he placed it on the table and struggled to eat bit by bit. It was uncomfortable, so he only managed to finish one bowl. He put the stone tooth in his pocket and headed to the village's medical station.
At the moment, Xia Ming didn't notice that the stone tooth was clean, without a trace of blood. When it cut his hand earlier, it was covered in fresh blood, but now there was no sign of it.
The medical station was a bit far from Xia Ming's home, about 3 kilometers away.
Since the electric tricycle at home was borrowed by someone in the village, Xia Ming had to walk the entire way, taking Route 11.
Xia Ming initially thought he would have to walk the entire distance, but luckily, he encountered someone from the village going to town for errands, who gave him a ride for a short distance. Soon, he arrived at the medical station.
The medical station was located where Xia Ming used to go to school as a child. The elementary school was now abandoned as there were fewer and fewer children in the surrounding villages. The school's location was shifted to a more distant one to consolidate teaching resources.
But it was still fine because now grandparents would ride electric tricycles to pick up and drop off the children, making it more convenient.
Xia Ming entered the medical station. The large iron gate outside was open, but the room door inside was closed. Looking through the window, he saw no one, but the computer was on. So he shouted, "Is anyone here?"
"Coming, wait a moment."
After waiting for a while, an ordinary woman opened the door and asked, "What's wrong? What do you need?"
"My hand was scratched while working. I came for first aid and dressing," Xia Ming raised his fist to signal.
"Oh, the injury seems serious. I can't handle it here. You need to go to the county hospital," the doctor was taken aback by the boxing gloves and thought it was severe.
"No, it's fine, it's just a minor injury. There's a small cut on my palm. It's just that the dressing was a bit excessive," Xia Ming said with a wry smile.
So, with Xia Ming's assurance and sincere eyes, the doctor carefully unwrapped the layers of bandages. After completely removing them, the doctor burst into laughter.
"It's really just a minor injury. I thought it was much worse with how tightly you wrapped it," the doctor couldn't believe it.
"It's just a minor injury."
"Alright, I'll apply medication again and rebandage it. Take some anti-inflammatory medicine. Remember not to get it wet. It will heal quickly," the doctor examined Xia Ming's left hand and quickly finished the procedure.
On the way back, Xia Ming looked at his newly dressed hand. His five fingers could finally move again. His left hand had transitioned from a boxing glove to a fingered glove. He could now hold a rice bowl steadily and eat.
Initially, Xia Ming thought of walking while waiting for a ride back to the village on the snowy road for about three kilometers. But by the time he reached home, there was no vehicle in sight.
He didn't consider the time and the fact that it was right after lunch. Who would be loitering outside at such a time?
Upon returning home, he found the gate tightly locked. His mother and father were probably playing mahjong somewhere. In winter, there wasn't much to do in the
countryside, so playing mahjong was a normal form of entertainment. It was no big deal if they won or lost a hundred yuan throughout the day.
Even Wangcai, the dog, was not at home. He was probably going wild in the village.
As is well known, in the countryside, people usually don't carry keys to lock their doors. Instead, they put the key in a seemingly hidden but actually quite conspicuous place that everyone knows. So, when you come home, you don't have to worry about not having the key to open the door.
So Xia Ming took out the key from the doorframe and unlocked the gate.
After walking for three kilometers, Xia Ming was feeling a bit hot. He was about to take off his down jacket when his phone rang. Seeing that it was his cousin calling, he answered, "Hello, cousin, what's up?"
"Cousin, if you're not using the excavator anymore, I'll rent it out. There's a job available, and I need to meet my year-end targets."
"I'll finish using the excavator this afternoon. Afterward, I'll bring it down from the mountain, and you can send a flatbed truck to pick it up. By the way, one of the bucket teeth broke off," Xia Ming said.
"No problem, those things break frequently. Just weld it back on. When do you estimate you'll finish?"
Xia Ming thought for a moment and said, "Around 4 o'clock."
"Alright, see you at 4 then."
After hanging up the phone and about to put his phone down, Xia Ming suddenly felt something was off.
It seemed like the stone tooth in his pocket had disappeared. It was there just a moment ago when he entered the village and even when he opened the door. How could it disappear while making a phone call? It was truly baffling.
Xia Ming quickly searched his pockets and, to his surprise, found it. However, the stone tooth had completely transformed. It had shrunk to about four centimeters in size, resembling a pendant.
Although he didn't understand, Xia Ming knew he had come across something valuable. This stone tooth might be some kind of rare treasure. Perhaps, because it was soaked in his blood earlier, it had recognized him as its owner.
Xia Ming wasn't just an idle reader of online novels. He could be considered a seasoned enthusiast of web novels. Even before the current popular online platforms, when it was the Fantasy Literature Association, he was already a loyal fan.
[Regarding the slow update of new chapters, there is now a solution available on an app that supports multiple sources. You can download the Huanyuan App from huanyuanapp.org to switch sources and check the latest chapters of this book on multiple platforms.]
He had read so many web novels that he could hardly remember how many he had read. Some of them, he didn't even remember the plot anymore. However, it didn't affect his yearning for various powerful plot devices found in novels. Now he had one, he just didn't know what to do with it.
After studying it for a while, he couldn't make sense of it.
"Well, I don't know now, but I'll figure it out eventually."
Xia Ming found a red string and tied the stone tooth securely, turning it into a pendant. He hung it around his neck.
"Since unlocking the lock, I haven't hung anything around my neck. Unexpectedly, now I'm hanging something again, and it's a tooth. Tsk tsk."
After locking the gate, Xia Ming hiked up the mountain, determined to finish the remaining work as quickly as possible.
By the time he sat in the excavator's cabin again, it was already
around 2 o'clock in the afternoon. He had only about an hour and a half left, so he had to hurry.