Chapter 3, The Old Daoist of Wuguniang Mountain

My father spoke with confidence, yet my mother's tense expression remained unchanged. Nevertheless, she still urged me to eat a little, and then took her medicine.

At this moment, my father replied in a gruff voice, saying, "What nonsense! This is my son; why should he be the one to take care of it?"

Although my sister was greedy, she had already become sensible at that time. So she glanced at my mother, but who would have thought that my usually calm mother would suddenly frown and scold my sister, saying: "Eat, eat, eat, what are you eating? Your brother has hardly had a few bites..."

Yesterday it was merely red, but overnight, scales unexpectedly appeared on one side of my neck. Many of the scales were unknowingly pulled off by me, and the cleansed wounds exuded a clear, viscous fluid, emitting a foul fishy odor. My father felt a wave of nausea upon smelling it; however, being his own child, he could not turn a blind eye. He instructed my sister to continuously apply a wet cloth to the area and then hurried back to his room to find his copy of the barefoot doctor’s manual.

My father remained silent for a while, and finally sighed, saying: "Alas, it's too late. When he was born, it would have been better to let that mad priest take him away. What's the use of saying this now?"

What just happened really scared me, but having my parents by my side did bring me some comfort. However, my neck feels hot, numb, and itchy, and it took me a long time to fall asleep after tossing and turning. Now, my drowsiness has significantly lessened. I don't know how long it has been since I heard my mother crying beside me, which made me wake up a bit. In a daze, I heard her say: "Old Chen, this is not an illness for Er Dan; he has been possessed."

On that day, I was restless, feeling a burning sensation in my neck, wanting to reach out and scratch it. My sister, however, was watching beside me; she resolutely adhered to our father's instructions before he left, absolutely forbidding me to use my dirty hands to scratch. Seeing me in discomfort, she gently wiped it with a damp cloth. At that time, in the countryside, we could not afford soft towels; the coarse cloth woven at home was stiff and rough, making me cry out in pain. My mother, watching from the side, was in tears, saying that this child was suffering, never having a moment of peace since birth.

My father scrubbed my neck for more than half an hour before it was finally clean. Upon closer inspection, I noticed a large area of bright red tender skin on the right side of my neck, covered with large grayish-white or gray-brown polygonal diamond-shaped scales. Most of them were circular, with the front end slanting into the dermis, arranged in an overlapping tile-like pattern beneath the epidermis. The edges had several rows of serrated protrusions, resembling the scales of a carp.

At that time, I sensed that something was off in the atmosphere, but a child cannot withstand hunger. My mother coaxed me a bit, and I finished that bowl of steamed egg mixed with corn rice. Drowsiness came over me again, and I dozed off until sunset, when my father finally returned from https://m.hetushu.com. It takes less than three hours to walk from Longjialing in Malishan to the village. The reason my father came back so late was that the village health station did not have the medicine he needed. According to my father, my illness is called ichthyosis, which requires Western medicine, specifically retinoic acid and some vitamin D. In these past two years, the situation has been chaotic, making it difficult to obtain medicines. He had to plead with everyone to finally bring back a little.

I nodded and said I felt uncomfortable, my neck was very itchy, so itchy that it was unbearable, and I couldn't help but want to scratch it

Life in the mountains is arduous; since I can remember, I have rarely eaten white rice. Corn and potatoes are often the staple foods in our pot. Sometimes, when we run out of supplies, we have to go up the mountain to dig a type of wild root to make a food called "mangba". Although we raise chickens at home, the eggs are taken down the mountain to be traded for salt. Life is quite frugal, and this egg custard is made with about three eggs, which is an extravagant treat for my family, who has not had meat for a long time. My sister can only lick her lips, drooling profusely.

At noon, my mother rarely made a bowl of steamed egg custard, prepared in a clay pot, served in a white porcelain bowl, glistening with moisture, tender and soft, making one salivate at the sight

I shouted loudly and suddenly jumped up from the bed, swinging my fists vigorously in front of me. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a white shadow by the bedside, which terrified me even more. Gritting my teeth, I lunged towards that white shadow, kicking and hitting with all my might.

My sister worked hard for most of the night, exhausted to the point of near collapse, and after receiving a beating from me, she sighed in relief upon hearing this and went to sleep in the next room, while my parents stayed in the room, coaxing me to sleep

I have heard from the villagers that when I was born, an incident occurred that nearly cost me my life. However, this matter is a taboo in my own family, and we are not even allowed to mention it. At that time, I was in so much pain that I felt dizzy and had no inclination to inquire about it. Nevertheless, I was able to endure the pain and did not allow the local children to mock me.

My father remained silent beside me, not expressing any opinion. After a while, my mother spoke again: "That crazy old Taoist once said that Er Dan's life is too tough for us to sustain, and it would be better for him to be taken away. It seems that this prophecy has come true."

The child was drowsy, tossing and turning all night, scratching without feeling anything at all. When he woke up in the morning and saw the blood on the pillow, he was so frightened that he began to cry

On that day, my father did not even have a bite of breakfast. After discussing for a long time with my mother in the main room, he hurried down the mountain and went to the town to buy medicine

I felt annoyed, tossing and turning, unable to settle down. Suddenly, I opened my eyes, ready to curse, when I unexpectedly saw a pair of white eyes staring intently at me

My sister was obedient and quickly went to fetch a cloth and a basin of hot water. My father held me, changed the bedding, washed his hands thoroughly, and then carefully helped me wash away the blood from my neck

When I was young, I was very close to my sister. I took a big spoonful and swallowed it, so delicious that I almost swallowed my tongue. Seeing my sister looking at me eagerly beside me, I offered her a bite.

After scratching all night, many of my wounds have scabbed over, and the blood has dried, making it difficult to clean. If the water is too hot or if I apply too much pressure with my hands, I tremble in pain. My father, who appears to be a rough and tough man on the surface, is nonetheless pained for his son. Every cry I make seems to pierce his heart, causing him to furrow his brows and handle me with increasing gentleness.

I raised my right hand to show my father, and there was a lot of dried plasma on it. The nails, which had grown long overnight, were filled with flesh residue, looking quite terrifying. My father is a barefoot doctor in the mountains. Apart from having undergone training in the county, he also inherited some traditional Chinese medicine knowledge from his ancestors. Upon seeing that my pupils were not dilated, he felt relieved, noting that although my body was weak, my spirit was still relatively good. He then asked my sister to bring a basin of hot water from the kitchen.

After taking the medicine, I felt somewhat more comfortable, and the patch of scales on my neck was not as itchy. I dozed off again, but I did not sleep for long. I felt someone blowing air near my ear, cool and refreshing, as if someone had placed ice shards inside my neck. In the distance, I could faintly hear the sound of a child crying, ... it was the kind of whimpering from a three- or four-year-old child, accompanied by books, wailing softly, ... However, I did not sleep for long before I felt someone blowing air near my ear, cool and refreshing, as if someone had placed ice shards inside my neck. In the distance, I could faintly hear the sound of a child crying, ... it was the kind of whimpering from a three- or four-year-old child, accompanied by books, wailing softly, ...

Ah ... ...

My mother, usually a very kind woman, appeared extremely serious at this moment, her face tightly drawn. My sister could not bear the tension, her eyes reddening, and she turned her body and ran out.

My father had another daughter before me, named Dafeng, who is my older sister, three years my senior. At that time, she used to sleep beside me. When she heard me crying, she also woke up and saw my neck covered in blood and flesh, which frightened her to death. She cried out loudly, saying, "My brother is going to die, my brother is going to die, father, come quickly!" After calling out several times, my father ran up from the yard below the stilted house, making a "thud thud thud" sound. He rushed into the room and saw that half of my neck was covered in blood, and the pillowcase stuffed with straw was also soaked in blood. He was so scared that his soul almost left him. He patted my face and asked if I was in pain.

I looked down and saw that the white figure was indeed my sister. I need to keep applying water to the illness on my neck, and she was holding a cloth in her hand, taking care of me. Upon realizing this, I felt completely weakened. At that moment, my father and mother hurried into the room, and after understanding the situation, they asked my sister to sleep in their room while they kept watch over me

My mother cried again, saying that she raised you, and isn't this all your son? Do you really want to just watch your child be taken by that evil spirit? How can you be so heartless?

As a result, I had not kicked a few times when the white shadow shouted: "Brother, brother, it's me, I am your sister!"