Chapter 613 Disease
Entering mid-September, as the mountain people say, the cold autumn rain begins to fall.
This kind of wind and rain will last for a full week or two. In such weather, all the mountain people can do is drink, sleep and beat their wives.
The rain pricked the thatch on the roof like needles, making a crisp popping sound.
Amidst this crisp sound, Ansel, who was surrounded by seven or eight mountain people and wearing a heavy hooded cloak, half of his body already soaked, knocked hard on the door of this small house.
"Lalor, it's me!" Ansel's voice rose above the sound of the rain, "I'm Ansel, open the door."
There were footsteps amid the sound of rain, and then the firewood door was opened. Lalor leaned out half of his body, his face full of weariness and exhaustion.
He glanced at Ansel and asked in surprise: "Brother Ansel, why are you here? It's not a good day to run."
"What have you been doing these days? It's September 14th, and you didn't come to the spinning payday yesterday. What happened?"
Lalor lowered his head, as if unwilling to answer, but seeing the seriousness on Ansel's face, he sighed helplessly and stepped aside to open the door: "You'd better come in, monk."
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A smell of wet earth and sour rot hit his face, making Ansel frown.
The remaining mountain residents filed in and stayed in the yard.
He walked quickly into the house, where only an oil lamp swayed faintly.
Ansel looked around and soon saw a figure lying on the wooden bed in the corner of the room.
He took a few steps closer and saw that it was a little girl who looked to be only twelve or thirteen years old. Her face was sallow and her eyes were sunken and lifeless.
Just as he was about to speak, he heard Lalor yelling harshly and kicking his crying son out of the house: "Don't come in, get out!"
Ansel frowned and looked at Lalor: "This is yours..."
Lalor closed the courtyard door forcefully, walked up to Horn, and whispered with numb eyes: "My eldest daughter is fifteen years old this year."
Only then did Ansel know why Lalor had not appeared in the church these days.
Taking a deep breath, he didn't say anything more. He just squatted by the bed and carefully checked the girl's condition.
Her arms were so thin that they were just skin and bones, her forehead was hot, but her lips were so chapped that they were bleeding. After asking Lalor a few times, Ansel already understood that it was dysentery.
Standing up, he frowned and looked at Lalor, with a hint of anger in his tone: "How long? Why didn't you tell me?"
Lalor leaned against the wall, her eyes full of bloodshot eyes and her voice hoarse: "It's been almost three days. She caught a cold while spinning all night, and all she pulled out was blood. What can I do even if I tell you?"
"Buy medicine, what can I do?" Ansel looked up at him, even in disbelief, "If you are sick, just buy medicine."
Lalor was silent for a moment and smiled bitterly: "We can barely survive on food, how can we have money to buy medicine?
Besides, you can just buy medicine for ordinary diseases, but this is dysentery, and even medicine may not cure it well, unless the monks in the monastery use magic, but how can I afford it?
We mountain people have always accepted illness as our fate. ”
"No, this is your daughter!" Ansel was stunned by Lalor's words. People in Pingyuan County will naturally have family members who are sick, and they won't be cured.
Especially after the Holy Armament Church was established, all the monks and witch doctors were required to go to the countryside for medical treatment. How could it be so difficult?
The few mountain people who followed did not dare to enter the house, but just stood under the eaves and nodded along.
Some people even whispered: "It's not that we don't want to save, haven't people in the mountains lived like this for hundreds of years? Life, old age, illness and death, how can we force it."
"We have long been used to it, so what's the use of struggling?" Another mountain man sighed, his eyes dim, "Children get sick, this happens every year, and there are some things we can't change."
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Ansel looked around and looked at the numb expressions of these people, as if he was meeting these people for the first time: "Don't you value family ties the most?"
No one answered him, only bursts of wry smiles.
Some people are even muttering: "You can't starve your whole family to death for one person, right?"
For mountain people, death always accompanies a person's life. When he was a child, his father froze to death and his mother starved to death. When he grew up, his wife died in childbirth and his children died of illness. When he went hunting for wolves, he might be bitten to death by monsters.
People in Pingyuan County still have black markets and medicines, but what do people in the mountains have? Even if they have money, they still can't afford medicine. As for the priests, they have no hope. They can only sell magic, which costs 3 gold pounds at a time.
Even if you are an armed farmer, just one visit to a child or adult in your family can ruin your life.
In Lalor's eyes, even if Ansel could arrange magic for 3 gold pounds a time, those monks would not come to the mountains in such a rainy weather.
Once a flash flood breaks out or a mudslide blocks the road, even monks will not receive the blessing of the Holy Lord.
"Humph!" Ansel was so angry that many mountain people sneered.
"You don't understand... The money for medical treatment is enough to buy a new wife..." Some of the mountain people outside the yard were snarling.
Regardless of these objections, Ansel stood up and turned to look at Bryson: "Go get some sugar, salt, and find some clean water."
Bryson was stunned and subconsciously asked: "What do you want sugar, salt and water for?"
"At least it can relieve dehydration and stabilize her condition." Pulling the brazier closer, Ansel continued to command regardless of what you were doing, "otherwise she won't survive the night."
Although he had no choice but to nod, Bryson ran out of the house and went outside in the rain. Soon, he took a small bag of coarse sugar, a pinch of salt and a bag of water from the horse bag.
Ansel quickly mixed the sugar and salt into the water, stirred it well with a wooden spoon, and then carefully scooped up a spoonful and handed it to the girl's mouth.
"Drink it, don't be afraid." He said warmly, "Brother will bring you medicine back soon."
Opening half of her eyes, the girl glanced at her father. Lalor was struck by this glance and her whole body trembled as if shaking.
Staring blankly at the sugar salt water in front of her, the girl struggled slightly, but finally took a small sip with Ansel's comfort.
She wants to live! She still wants to live!
Lalor and the surrounding mountain people stared blankly at this scene. No one spoke, they just lowered their heads silently.
"Bryson, you and Lalor watch her, and feed him sugar and salt water every once in a while." Ansel's order seemed to others to be a pointless struggle, but he still followed the order in his own way.
"Don't move around here. Don't let anyone come in or out of the yard. Except for the caregiver, don't have physical contact with her. I'll go find the superior order to get medicine."
"Brother Ansel..." Bryson said hesitantly, "The rain is getting heavier and heavier. Flash floods may break out in the creeks and springs in the mountains. It is too dangerous to go out at this time."
"The most dangerous time for me was when I jumped from the roof to the knight's horse." Ansel put on his cloak again and ordered the people around him, "What is this danger?"
"Even if you get the medicine from the Xiangtang Church, with her current condition, she probably won't be able to survive your return." Several old mountain residents advised.
But Ansel didn't seem to hear it: "Bryson, ask someone to bring my donkey."
If he had accepted his fate, Ansel would have starved to death outside the Castle of Joan of Arc.
If His Majesty Sheng Sun had not accepted him as a boy soldier, he would have been a withered skeleton on the roadside.
"I was also suffering from dysentery back then. I was on the verge of death. Why didn't I die? Didn't the Holy Sun save me?" Ansel stubbornly wore a poncho and cloak. "How could the Holy Sun save me? I How to save her!”
"But this road is not easy, you..." Bryson wanted to persuade him again, but was interrupted by Ansel.
"Remember to give her water every once in a while, and don't give her anything to eat. If the candy is used up, I still have it in the house."
Riding on the little donkey that was brought outside, Ansel turned his head and glanced at the crumbling thatched house, took a deep breath, and quickly disappeared into the rain.
In the room, everyone was silent for a long time, but an old mountain man whispered: "As for it?"
Lalor did not answer. He walked slowly to his daughter's bed and gently stroked her dry hair: "It's okay, it's okay..."
Bryson was holding the wooden bowl and didn't dare to answer. He just looked outside the door, and the sound of wind became louder and louder in his ears.
(End of chapter)