Early in the morning, before dawn, I was sleeping in a daze, when suddenly there was a loud shouting outside, which drove away the sleepy bugs in my mind.
I lay there for a while, then I heard the cook opening the door and going out, so I quickly put on my clothes and followed.
It was Meng Laoer from Xiaotao Village who came. He led a large group of people to block the door of his house. He shouted things like "pretending to be a ghost" and "seeking money and killing", saying that his wife not only failed to treat Well, the condition became more serious.
"You Liu family, please don't use your power to bully others. This time, my wife's medical condition has been damaged. No matter what you say, I will give you my money back!"
"That's right, refund the money, refund the money!"
"You also said that Master's teachings are first-class, but she is just selling melons and boasting about herself!"
Liu Ruxiang realized the seriousness of the situation and stretched out her hand to signal everyone to be quiet: "I, the Liu family of Yumen, have never done any evil deeds of bullying others. If there is any misunderstanding, everyone should be quiet for now. Second son of the Meng family, what do you want to say to your mother-in-law first? Talk about the problem.”
Seeing Liu Ruxiang's polite appearance, Meng Laoer was also a little embarrassed. He couldn't keep an aggressive look. He explained in a low voice: "It's like this. After you left, my wife recovered for a few days, but she didn't." After a while, the old disease suddenly relapsed, and for some unknown reason, it got bad again."
"What about your mother-in-law?"
"Carry it in the back."
Meng Laoer greeted, and the crowd made room for them.
It was a simple stretcher made of door panels. Inside, a human-shaped figure was tied up in various ways. His limbs were still twitching slightly, but they were covered by a thin red sheet, so the details could not be seen clearly.
"Hurry, put the person down and carry him into the yard for me to take a look."
He slowly opened the red sheet, revealing Fang Xiaomei who was tied up inside. Even though she was tied up, she was still struggling, moaning and screaming, looking very painful.
"How are you? Where does it hurt?" Liu Ruxiang squatted down and asked her.
"Ah! Uh-ah-"
Fang Xiaomei roared, and I couldn't stop retching as soon as I got closer. I immediately smelled a strong rancid smell, as if something was dead. I saw a kind of black dirty water dripping under the stretcher, and the smell came from here.
The crowd pushed away involuntarily, and Liu Ruxiang slowly lowered her head when she saw her expression of pain.
Dirty water dripped from Fang Xiaomei's crotch and had already stained her pants.
She was shaking all over and was in great pain.
"Does this smell mean that the child is dead?" Liu Ruxiang turned to ask Meng Laoer.
Meng Laoer shook his head and said nothing. He looked down at his mother-in-law and his mouth suddenly trembled.
"what happened?"
Under Liu Ruxiang's questioning, Meng Laoer recounted what happened last night.
It turned out that Fang Xiaomei's health was almost healed. The whole family thought that they would give birth to a big fat boy this time, but who could have imagined that the baby's movements in the belly were getting louder and louder.
Just last night, Fang Xiaomei suddenly complained of stomach pain, and then her lower body began to ooze foul-smelling pus. Meng Laoer thought the child was in danger, but when he put his ear to his belly, he heard strange cries and howls inside.
This is an unheard-of weird thing. The unborn fetus is actually crying in the belly? Before dawn, Meng Laoer went to find people in the village. Fang Xiaomei's family came over after hearing the news. They learned about what Liu Ruxiang had done to her before, and they brought people to make a fuss.
Liu Ruxiang frowned, took a deep breath, opened Fang Xiaomei's gown, looked at the red lines on her belly, touched it gently a few times, then lowered her head and put her ears against it.
Everyone present stopped shouting. After quieting down, Liu Ruxiang listened attentively to what was going on in her belly.
It's like the owner of a house hears a guest knocking on the door, and a subtle response slowly comes from his cold belly...
"Gao Gao——ouch——"
"Gao Gao——ouch——"
The sound was getting louder and louder. It was definitely not the cry of a child.
Liu Ruxiang's face turned ugly as she listened.
At this moment, Fang Xiaomei suddenly screamed, and then Liu Ruxiang clearly felt... as if something cold was touching her face gently.
She raised her head suddenly and took a closer look. It was Fang Xiaomei's belly that was touching her, and a bump like a goat's horn bulged out.
That small piece of belly was stretched out like rubber, as if there was a finger poking out from the inside. The skin was red and tight in an unnatural way, as if the contents of the belly were about to collapse in the next second. It will stretch out a claw and burst out of its belly.
Fang Xiaomei wailed as if she was killing a pig. All the blood supply in her body seemed to be concentrated on her body, which turned frighteningly red. Then her face turned completely opposite, without a trace of blood.
In broad daylight, this scene made me dumbfounded. The same was true for the people Meng Laoer led. They were all stunned, and their mouths could almost fit a fist.
Liu Ruxiang waved her hand and told me to go to the house quickly to get the box and save people.
I nodded repeatedly, got up, rushed into the house, and took out Liu Ruxiang's wooden box. A thin layer of cold sweat broke out on my back.
The cook took out a red cotton bellyband from the wooden box, threw it to me, and urged: "You little bastard, take it quickly and sprinkle it with child urine."
My mind was spinning rapidly, and I quickly ran to the corner of the yard with my bellyband, threw it on the ground and started to pour water.
Light yellow urine fell on the bellyband, and the cotton wick inside was filled with water.
I was a little disgusted myself, so I picked up a piece of thread and handed it to Liu Ruxiang.
The cook didn't think I was dirty, so she put a bellyband on Fang Xiaomei's belly. She patted it gently with her hand, and Fang Xiaomei on the stretcher breathed a sigh of relief.
I'm so good, my lord, how can I be so violent when I pee?
Meng Laoer and the others saw that Liu Ruxiang was busy with her work, and she didn't seem to have any real skills. At this time, they all closed their mouths and watched curiously as the cook continued to cook.
"Quick, you grown men, hurry up and carry this person to the big table in the main room."
Liu Ruxiang put on her master's robe and mask, holding something unknown in her hand, and followed the stretcher into the main room.
The big-bellied woman was carried to a tall and long table in the family room, leaning against the opposite wall.
Liu Ruxiang quickly lit the incense candle, took out the salted chicken, bacon, eggs, and uncooked rice from the cabinet, and placed them on the Eight Immortals table to open the altar. Then he showed the thing in his hand, which was a palm-sized black piece of wood with a layer of shiny patina on it, which might also be patent leather.
I didn’t know what it was. It wasn’t until Liu Ruxiang slapped the piece of wood on the table that I remembered that this thing was the gavel used by ancient county magistrates to judge cases.
