Buried Rescue
Ran Yan recalled seeing that many walls of homes were made of layers of congealed mud paste when she was on her walk. The weather had been clear for a few days already so those walls should be dry.
“Go smash mud walls and bring me the soil!” As she said this, Ran Yan cleaned water, mud, and the likes from the child’s mouth and nose. She asked for Wan Lu’s handkerchief to wrap around her fingers as she pulled out the child’s tongue.
Since the courtyard walls were made from piled mud from the riverbank the cost was not high, only some physical strength was needed and not worth much monetary value. After hearing that they just needed to smash the courtyard walls, the villagers immediately ran home to smash their own courtyard walls too.
It wasn’t that they trusted Ran Yan blindly, just that Liu Shi only had this son left and was very pitiful. Besides Ran Yan’s calm and collected seriousness did not show any trace of jest giving people an unquestionable hope.
Wan Lu didn’t have time to inquire. Frightened by Ran Yan’s new demeanor, she momentarily drew a blank and did not know what to do.
The child did not recently fall into the water. He had already soaked for a long time and his body had grown rigid, his breathing stopped, so using normal first aid was not enough.
Ran Yan took this time to look at the finger she had bound just now. The finger swelled red, proving that there was still blood circulation. From this, Ran Yan was convinced the child was still alive and immediately started heart ma.s.sage.
When people came with soil on a carrying pole, she ordered people to lay a thick layer of soil on the ground and then to cover the child’s body with the dry soil only exposing the mouth and eyes.
Wan Lu did not know how to help so she helped people cup soil.
As the villagers worked, they became more and more doubtful. Finally, a big-sleeved, long-robed young scholarly man could not help but ask, “Didn’t we say that San Lang could still be saved? Why are we burying him?”
Ran Yan raised her head and quietly stared at him for two breaths. Though she did not say anything and only stared, she still made the scholar uncomfortable all over.
Really! Ran Yan thought this scholar was a total idiot[1]. If she were to bury a person on the spot, why would she bury in front of her own door? Thus, she felt no need to explain any of this to him.
After what seemed like an endless wait, Liu Shi’s crying subsided, only opening her eyes wide to firmly stare at her son. The others beside them thought this was some sort of witchcraft ceremony so they watched quietly.
In these Zhen Guan (early) years of the Tang Dynasty, the art of healing had already been used widely. But in reality, the doctors and shamans were not divided. The famous sage of medicine Sun Si Miao deemed the matter serious in “Prescriptions Worth a Thousand in Gold” where he recorded some material that was similar to witchcraft. Thus it was normal for the villagers having these thoughts.
For the moment, more than a dozen people held their breaths with rapt attention to the point no sound of breathing could be heard. Only the cicadas continued to chirp themselves hoa.r.s.e. As the sun gradually rose, the summer rays were intense—dazzling and scorching.
The head of the family and elders arrived in succession, as the villagers present grew in number but there were no kids.
These past few days the weather had gradually become brighter and the walls were only moist on the outside due to the morning dew, so the soil in the middle was very dry. With the addition of the sunshine, the water vapor inside the child was slowly absorbed dry by the soil.
Approximately half an hour later, the doctor called from town arrived. Dressed in a wide sleeved long robe, he urgently pushed aside the people, “Where is the patient?”
Someone promptly took the doctor to the dirt pile, “Still buried.”
The doctor immediately stomped his foot, “Who buried him! Drowned people should be quickly reverse their water intake, this is just……this is just……”
“It was I.” Said Ran Yan who was crouching on the ground. She softly said, “Zhou San Lang drowned in the water all night, this is the best method.”
The old doctor widened his eyes, expression filled with resentment. Don’t say drowned a whole night, just six to ten hours and the person would have already been thoroughly dead! The person who had rushed over from several kilometers away stubbornly brought him here, this was fooling him! Though the old doctor could understand the relatives of the deceased so he only sighed over and over, turning as if to leave.
“Senior please do not leave. When San Lang wakes, he still needs to trouble you to help him recuperate.” Ran Yan paused, turned her head and ordered, “Wan Lu, go fetch the treatment fee.”
Wan Lu looked as if she could not wrap her head around it. When did her Niang Zi learn to save a person using such a weird method? It’s best if the person could be saved, but if he dies, the people will remember the weird method that was used on the boy, and the criticism they will receive behind their backs will be unavoidable. Wan Lu was filled with remorse, she had somehow just believed Niang Zi’s methods. Now, she must continue to believe, in a flash she thought this over many times and promptly responded and went inside to get money.
“Ai![2]” The old doctor sighed. They had already gotten to this point, and they will do whatever they want anyways. He would just act based on his humane heart and wait here awhile.
Seeing the old doctor act in such a way, everyone knew that this Zhou San Lang was difficult to treat. Originally when they brought up Zhou San Lang, the stiffness had already penetrated his whole body, there was no exhalation or inhalation. Their efforts on one hand were due to Ran Yan’s seriousness about the matter, trying to see how far they can go against fate. On the other hand, they also wanted Liu Shi to accept reality.
“Ke![3]”
Just as everyone’s stomach was rumbling with hunger and gradually lost hope, there was a soft coughing sound from the dirt mound. Suddenly this stirred up everyone.
“San Lang!” Liu Shi immediately threw herself closer. Tears streaming from her eyes as she cried, “My son! You really scared your mother!”
Ran Yan crouched down and softly brushed away the dirt on Zhou San Lang’s face. Seeing his eyes open wide, she said, “For now, you just lay for a while. When all the water has been absorbed, you can come out.”
In a daze, Zhou San Lang only heard this very beautiful girl tell him to stay reclined for a while. Coincidentally, he was hurt and weak all over so he followed her instructions and quietly lay on the ground.
Liu Shi turned her head and solemnly bowed and touched her head to the ground to show great grat.i.tude. There were no words, she simply leaned on the ground and did not get up for a very long time.
This was the greatest form of respect in the Tang Dynasty. To pay respect one must first kneel. In the Qin Han Sui Tang periods, there were no formal chairs so the common practice was to sit on the floor. That is what was called kneeling with different types of sitting positions one had to maneuver before one could bow to pay deep respects.
Overly elaborate, only those with status knew and abided by these strictly. Normal village women would not be able to pay this respect. Perhaps they would only be able to bow at random while in kneeling position.
“Madam please rise.” Ran Yan helped Liu Shi stand.
Zhou village’s elders also came over to convey their grat.i.tude towards Ran Yan.
Villagers were momentarily shocked by the rising from the dead, seeing the elders express their thanks, this brought them back and the crowd boiled over thanking and praising in succession.
Ran Yan sighed. From the start she planned to first ask Wu Xiu He to be her teacher before acting, who knew plans could not keep up with change. Right after she had this thought, matters started appearing in front of her. Whether this was good or bad fortune one could not tell yet. Ran Yan only noted this and stopped thinking about this[4]. She bowed slightly to the crowd and headed into her estate with Wan Lu’s support.
Seeing things conclude, people promptly helped Liu Shi dig out her son and carried him home on a wooden board.
The old doctor stepped forward and took Zhou San Lang’s pulse. Although it still seemed weak, his life was saved. Couldn’t help but think it was unusual, he immediately wrote a prescription for Zhou San Lang and gave the fee to Liu Shi asking her to return it to Ran Yan.
[Footnotes]
1. The word “idiot” actually just uses the number “two” because two fifty (250) is slang that means someone who is incompetent/is an idiot. “Two” is the shortened version of two fifty.
2. “Ai” is a sigh sound
3. “Ke” is the sound of coughing
4. The wording is actually “She stopped herself from thinking about it” which shows that Ran Yan has a lot of self-control and acts logically – it is useless to stress over things that were out of her control.