The village secretary made a trip to the commune and truthfully reported the matter of Accountant Sun and Zhang Yanhong to his superiors. The commune leaders made their decision: Accountant Sun would be suspended from all duties pending an investigation. Red Flag Production Brigade was a sizable unit with four thousand people, and it couldn't go without an accountant and a point recorder. Since it was the busy farming season, they could only find temporary replacements and wait until after the autumn harvest for the members to vote on permanent picks.
The secretary thought the whole way back. Upon returning to the village, he called Xiao Mandong to the brigade office and asked her to temporarily take over the work of accountant and point recorder, with a new vote to be held after the autumn harvest.
He had no other choice. There were barely any junior high graduates in the village, and he simply couldn't find a suitable candidate. He'd heard that Xiao Mandong had once worked as a statistician at a big factory, so this kind of work shouldn't be too difficult for her.
Xiao Mandong thought it over. She could have her younger sister handle the point recorder duties while she did the accounting work. That way, they wouldn't have to exhaust themselves during the autumn harvest. Even if the work points weren't much, they didn't lack money right now. And the suffering of working the autumn harvest—that was truly something hard to endure.
Just then, someone came running up in a panic: "Secretary Liu, something terrible happened! Zhao Laosi's leg has been cut by a sickle, and it won't stop bleeding. What should we do?"
"Where is he?" Secretary Liu's temples throbbed. The barefoot doctor hadn't returned yet. A village this size with no doctor at all—how could that be allowed? The ox cart hadn't come back from town either, and the tractor had been borrowed by the neighboring village. This was enough to drive a man mad with worry.
"He's at the clinic entrance."
Secretary Liu hurried toward the clinic, with Xiao Mandong following behind. From a distance, she could see a crowd gathered around the entrance. A man in his forties lay on the ground, blood pouring from a wound on his leg inflicted by the sickle. The flesh was split open, a horrifying sight.
"Quick, go find the barefoot doctor from the neighboring village, and get a cart ready. With this much blood loss, he might not even make it to the hospital," Secretary Liu barked out orders.
No sooner had he spoken than the brigade leader came running over with the neighbor village's barefoot doctor in tow. A child in the village had been running a fever for two days, and the parents had called this doctor over. He had just finished seeing the child when he heard about the injury.
The doctor took one look at the wound and was startled: "This... this is too severe for me to handle. It needs stitches. Get him to the hospital right away. He's already lost this much blood—if we delay any longer, his life is at risk. I can try to apply pressure on two acupoints, but if the bleeding doesn't stop, don't blame me."
Zhao Laosi had gone pale, his lips drained of color. His gaze was unfocused, and his breathing had grown weak.
Xiao Mandong let out a sigh. "Secretary Liu, I can give it a try."
Secretary Liu recalled how Xiao Mandong had been able to tell at a glance that someone was pregnant, so maybe she really did have some skill. He nodded at her, and Xiao Mandong turned to the barefoot doctor: "Do you have silver needles?"
The doctor quickly pulled out silver needles from his medical box, along with a candle and matches. He lit the candle, and Xiao Mandong sterilized the needle over the flame, waited for it to cool briefly, and then inserted it directly into the Xuehai and Liangqiu acupoints.
The barefoot doctor couldn't believe the girl's boldness. He wouldn't have dared—what if she failed to heal him and got blamed for it?
Xiao Mandong only dared take the risk because she had the spiritual spring water.
She asked the crowd to open the clinic doors right away. She remembered that in brigades of more than two thousand people, barefoot doctors received specialized training, and most knew some basic suturing. Surely the clinic would have the appropriate tools.
The doctor had the key, but Secretary Liu ordered the door pried open.
Once the door was opened, the villagers helped carry Zhao Laosi onto the wooden bed inside. Much to her relief, Xiao Mandong found suture needles, silk thread, and a needle holder in the clinic's medical kit. She drew a ladle of water from the well in the back courtyard—though in reality it was the spiritual spring water from her space—and rinsed the dirt from the wound. With the combined effect of the silver needles and the spring water, the bleeding soon stopped. Zhao Laosi felt his pain lessen, and gradually some color returned to his face.
Xiao Mandong sterilized the needle and thread with alcohol, sewing a total of sixteen stitches across the wound. Finally, she sprinkled anti-inflammatory powder over it and bandaged it up.
"If he doesn't develop a fever, come back in three days for a dressing change. If he does develop a fever, come find me immediately. It's best if he drinks some brown sugar water," she instructed the injured man's family.
Zhao Laosi's wife gave thanks repeatedly, nearly falling to her knees in gratitude. The villagers gathered around murmured in amazement—had it not been for this Educated Youth Xiao, Zhao Laosi would surely have been in grave danger.
In fact, Xiao Mandong had studied traditional Chinese medicine. The reason she could suture wounds was that when Lu Na was studying medicine, Xiao Mandong often read her textbooks and practiced stitching at home with her. Over time, she had picked it up. Given the current level of medical care, her suturing skills were undoubtedly excellent.
Secretary Liu felt he had truly found a gem. He didn't know much about medicine himself, but watching her work so smoothly and skillfully, he could tell this was no ordinary ability.
He had the clinic's lock replaced and suggested that Xiao Mandong hold onto the key for now. She refused. Medicines in this era were precious and expensive, and she didn't want any trouble. She would only accept the key if all the medications were inventoried and accounted for first.
The neighboring village's barefoot doctor watched, utterly stunned. For someone so young to be this skilled—it was humbling. He shook his head and left.
Zhao Laosi was taken home on a cart, and Xiao Mandong, together with the brigade leader and the secretary, conducted a full inventory of the medicines.
The moment she got the key, Xiao Mandong also stated her conditions. She couldn't possibly take on several jobs at once. If they wanted her help, they had to give her proper benefits in return.
"Secretary Liu, my younger sister is a high school graduate. She'll have no problem working as point recorder and accountant. She can temporarily fill that role, and I'll help her when I'm free. I can also look after the clinic, but I don't have a barefoot doctor certificate, so you'll need to report that clearly to the commune. I don't want to get tangled up in any trouble over it. When the real barefoot doctor comes back, things can be rearranged. Is that acceptable?"
The village secretary certainly had no objection. He couldn't very well have Xiao Mandong do the point recorder job, the accounting job, and fill in for the barefoot doctor all at once—that would be unreasonable.
"Fine. Work as temporary point recorder is five to six work points a day. Add the accounting duties, and I'll give her twelve work points a day. For you, we'll follow the barefoot doctor's standard—ten work points a day. How does that sound? I'll head to the commune to report it as soon as I get a chance."
"Thank you, Secretary Liu."
Xiao Mandong was naturally pleased. She noticed the clinic had a small kitchen in the back courtyard, so she and her sister could cook their own meals and skip the field labor altogether. It went against her father's wishes that she had revealed her medical skills, but there had been no other choice.
She couldn't stand by and watch someone die, and besides, this was the only way she and her sister could survive better.
Xiao Manxue had been following her sister the whole time. When she heard she wouldn't have to work in the fields and could earn twelve work points a day, she couldn't suppress the smile on her face.
Still, she felt a bit nervous, afraid she might not do well. Fortunately, Xiao Mandong taught her step by step and helped when needed, and Xiao Manxue quickly got the hang of it.
