Song Yueqin was no better off, originally staying at home and sleeping would have been so much better, but due to this commotion, she also lay down, each occupying one side of the k’ang, both running a high fever waiting for the doctor to come and see them.
Song Jincai was infuriated by the mother-daughter duo, but he couldn’t just watch them fall ill; after making sure the two were settled, he went to call the village doctor.
The village doctor hadn’t even gone to the clinic yet, so he didn’t wait and went to their door early in the morning, just past six o’clock.
Dr. Liu put on his clothes and came out, and upon seeing it was Song Jincai, he was sweating profusely, his face flushed red and spoke in a rush as if afraid that speaking too slowly would have someone steal his words, "Dr. Liu, come with me quickly, both people in our family are sick! They’re running a fever, over forty degrees."
"Oh dear, that’s dangerous." Dr. Liu didn’t even bother to wash his face; he just grabbed his medicine box and followed Song Jincai to his house.
Upon entering the courtyard, he saw manure slurry all over the ground, "What happened here?"
"Nothing, nothing." Family disgrace is not to be spread abroad, so naturally, Song Jincai was unwilling to tell.
Dr. Liu followed Song Jincai into the room, saw clothes soaking in a big basin, and caught a whiff of a foul smell, his face showing a confused look.
He didn’t say anything but went in to treat the mother and daughter.
As he entered the room, the mother and daughter were both convulsing from the fever. Dr. Liu was taken aback and quickly started an IV drip to hydrate and help them cool down.
After half an hour, the two began to sweat, and their body temperature gradually decreased.
Dr. Liu couldn’t help but mutter a few words to Song Jincai, "These symptoms of fever clearly show they’ve caught a chill. What happened with your wife and daughter? Did they take a cold shower? What’s with the manure slurry in the yard? Did they fall into a manure pit?"
"Ah, both of them sleepwalked and fell into the manure pit," Song Jincai, unable to think of a better excuse, blurted out a lie.
The scandalous act his wife and daughter had committed, if word got out in the village, they would never be able to show their faces again.
"Sigh, what is all this mess?" Dr. Liu shook his head and sighed for a long time, observed that the mother and daughter’s condition had stabilized, then left with his medicine box.
Good news stays within the walls, whereas scandals spread a thousand miles.
Dr. Liu was a chatterbox, and by late morning, half the village was abuzz with the story that Song Jincai’s wife and daughter had sleepwalked into a manure pit.
In the village, it’s not a matter of fear of incidents but boredom for lack of fresh gossip.
The story provided much amusement for the old women of the village, who couldn’t keep their mouths shut.
As it happened, over at An Hao’s place, things were also quite lively.
An Hao got up in the morning, opened the door, and was about to clean up when she saw the manure all over the ground. An Ping also came out and, seeing this mess, got so angry his nose was crooked. He stood at the entrance and shouted, "Which bastard is picking on us, dumping manure at our doorway in the dead of night!"
At his yelling, all the neighbors crowded around to see what the commotion was about.
Everyone knew that having filth blocking one’s door was a hugely inauspicious sign; who wouldn’t feel disgusted by it?
"An Hao, could it be your stepmother and stepsister?" one of the villagers immediately thought of the mother and daughter.
"How could I know that," An Hao pretended to be at a loss, "Everyone in the village knows I, An Hao, am without a mother, and with my father injured and unable to care for me, those heartless people come to bully me. What can I, a student, do about it!"
"Indeed, such people are despicable!"
"Right, one shouldn’t associate with such people! They should be drowned in spit for causing such mischief!"
With this commotion, half the village quickly found out.
When the people from both halves of the village came together and exchanged stories, they quickly concluded: The Song Family mother and daughter bullied others, throwing manure at An Hao’s house in the middle of the night but ended up covering themselves with filth and fell sick in bed, unable to get up.