"Little, what exactly happened yesterday? You can tell Grandpa later, but let's get the medicine on first," Chiang Songhai said, looking at her swollen hand and turning to his wife, "Did you prepare the herbal medicine I asked for before I left the house?"
Ge Liutao hurriedly brought over a bowl, inside which was half a bowl of dark green herbal juice and some already mashed herbal residue.
"Get some gauze as well."
Chiang Songhai took a medicine spoon and first wiped Chiang Xiao's hand with the herbal juice, then filtered out the smashed herbs and applied them to her hand, gently wrapping it with the gauze.
Such swelling, had it been someone else's child, would have at most been treated with cold water and some ointment, waiting for it to heal on its own. But, Chiang Songhai was indeed extremely protective towards his granddaughter. Plus, he knew about herbal medicine, and he naturally used whatever was available at home.
Chiang Xiao felt a cool sensation on her swollen palm and, looking at the carefully wrapped gauze, her eyes reddened again.
With her hand wrapped up like this, it meant she wouldn't have to do any work tomorrow.
Seeing her eyes turn red, Chiang Songhai softly said, "Little, bear with it for a while, it will stop hurting soon. I will go up the mountain tomorrow to look for a beehive. I'll get some wild honey for you to drink with water."
Grandpa was indeed just like she remembered, the kindest person to her.
But thinking about the hurt she had caused him in her past life, and the death of her grandfather, Chiang Xiao felt an extreme sourness in her nose and a severe pain in her chest.
She once again strengthened her resolve to take good care of her grandparents and lead them out of the mountain village.
Suppressing her tears, Chiang Xiao looked at him and said, "Grandpa, you can't go up the mountain tomorrow."
"Can't go up the mountain?" Chiang Songhai was puzzled. It had rained a week ago, and after a few more days, it was the prime time for the abundant growth of medicinal herbs. With Chiang Xiao sick, he wanted to dig up more herbs to sell at the market the day after tomorrow, to earn some extra money to buy her some meat.
"Grandpa, I wasn't joking when I said I would sue Ding Dani. I need to talk to you and Grandma about this," Chiang Xiao said.
Surprise showed on Ge Liutao's face, "Little, you said earlier that it was Da Ni who pushed you down. Why would she do something so cruel?"
"Yes, it was her who pushed me into the water," Chiang Xiao's eyes flashed with anger, "Yesterday I felt stuffy inside and wandered around, accidentally walking to Nameless Creek. That's when I met Ji Desheng."
"Desheng?" Chiang Songhai and Ge Liutao exchanged a glance, both feeling a bit uneasy.
Could it be that Guiying's nonsensical talk was true, that Little had entangled herself with Desheng in such a secluded place?
Of course, they trusted their granddaughter's morals, but that young man named Desheng was indeed very handsome, and it wasn't unthinkable for a thirteen-year-old girl to have a crush on a good-looking boy.
In Siyang Village there were several young girls who had a fancy for that young man. They were well aware of this.
Ge Liutao immediately became somewhat impatient, asking anxiously, "Little, you and Desheng..."
"Grandma!" Chiang Xiao interrupted her, "I have nothing to do with Ji Desheng. He actually came over out of concern, telling me it was getting dark and that I should head home quickly."
Ji Desheng had indeed come with good intentions.
"Then I don't know why Ding Dani was also there. She suddenly came running over, insisting that I was seducing Ji Desheng for a secret rendezvous by the creek!"
As she spoke, Chiang Xiao was also recalling the events. After all, this had happened to the real her seventeen years ago.