Chapter 692: 688. Sunbathing and Moxibustion [Two-in-one]_1 Chapter 692: 688. Sunbathing and Moxibustion [Two-in-one]_1 After the first period of the hot season had passed, the heat in the air became ever more intense. Following a torrential rain at night, the sun the next day seemed to sear the skin right off people’s bodies.
Even for those accustomed to farm work, packaging spice packets in the yard became unbearable by eight or nine in the morning due to the heat.
Wu Lan’s mind, preoccupied with Zhang Yanping and Doctor Guo’s affairs, felt scorched by the rising temperature as well.
She kept thinking about how to get to the bottom of things without asking directly–what if the young people were shy, or perhaps hadn’t considered things that far ahead?
Looking again at Zhang Yanping, who seemed as if nothing had happened and continued as if everything was fine, Wu Lan couldn’t help but worry:
What’s with young people and their way of dating these days? No chatting, no seeing each other… Is this how a proper relationship looks?
But soon, she found an excuse.
There she was, scrolling through Douyin on her phone, when she once again came across a video about applying medicinal patches during the three dog days of summer–
In truth, people in their village weren’t very interested in this practice. But seeing it on her feed every day, and so many people applying them…
A thought struck Wu Lan, and she asked:
“Tantan, do you use the medicated patches for the dog days of summer? I’ll go ask Doctor Guo later if he has any, okay?”
Her manner in asking was so obviously feigned, it might have been better not to ask at all. Song Tan could tell from her tone–why would her mom fuss about these patches all of a sudden?
It was clearly an excuse to pry into things.
But she didn’t stop her–after all, there’s no harm in applying the patches; think of it as peace of mind.
So, putting aside her silly cousin’s safety, she calmly nodded her head:
“Sure, Mom, go ask if you like.”
With a legitimate reason to do so, Wu Lan couldn’t sit still even for a moment and joyfully put on a long-sleeve shirt and straw hat to head out.
It wasn’t yet 11:00 am, yet walking along, her face steamed like a red shrimp, which made her repeatedly wipe the sweat from her face, thinking:
For these kids, she’s way too concerned!
But just as she entered Doctor Guo’s yard without having the chance to greet him, suddenly there came the roaring sound of a motorcycle from behind.
Then, a man’s voice erupted, filled with panic and anxiety:
“Doctor Guo! Doctor Guo! Quick, come take a look, see what’s wrong with my Zhang Hong?”
Wu Lan instinctively turned to look and saw a middle-aged man anxiously stepping down from the motorcycle and turning to help a woman who was limp and pale.
–It was Zhang Hong, the one who had introduced Zhai Xiao’e up the mountain before.
To tell the truth, the way Zhai Xiao’e acted, she could have been used to swindling people on a regular basis, and after hearing what happened, Zhang Hong was so ashamed. It took quite a while for Wu Lan to console her.
But now, seeing her drawn and pale face, Wu Lan quickly extended her arm to help support her and asked:
Doctor Guo had already heard the commotion and quickly came running out of the house. Zhang Hong’s husband was babbling:
“I don’t know! I was fixing the hoe, and the wedge fell out… As soon as I heard something was wrong, she just collapsed right off the stool!”
They half-dragged, half-carried Zhang Hong into the house, and Guo Dong also moved her hand back quickly to grab medicine from the shelf while talking to her:
“Auntie, you’ve got heat stroke–on such a hot day, no matter what work needs to be done, you can’t be doing it now!”
She herself felt like she had almost shed a layer of skin walking in the sun, so how did Zhang Hong end up pushing herself this far?
After a dose of Huoxiang Zhengqi liquid, Zhang Hong finally regained a little strength and weakly said:
“I didn’t do much… I was just sitting on the stool, enjoying the sun…”
Hearing this, Zhang Hong’s husband immediately realized the cause and couldn’t help but scold her:
“I keep telling you not to follow those silly fads, and yet you insisted on talking about sunbathing to drive out the cold–If I hadn’t been home, you could have sunbathed yourself into a real mess without even knowing!”
Guo Dong couldn’t help but feel speechless.
It made sense to sunbathe to drive out the cold, but firstly, it definitely wasn’t to be done in the blazing midday sun, and secondly…
“Auntie, haven’t you been out working in the fields all year round? When have you ever lacked sunlight?”
With that said, Zhang Hong was taken aback.
Right, sunbathing was more of a trend among city folks who rarely see the sun, but out here…
Even though she was pale and weak, Wu Lan couldn’t help but feel both amused and irritated:
“What were you thinking, at your age, still trying to follow all those trends… Can’t you be a bit more sensible?”
Zhang Hong felt quite embarrassed: “It’s just that I caught a chill when I was younger and now I always feel a bit stiff in my arms and legs. I thought sunbathing might help drive the chill away… moreover, everyone’s doing it on Douyin. I see a dozen videos a day, it must be effective.”