Chronicle of the 70s
Chapter 122 - 119 Xu Wu at first night watch

Chapter 122: 119 Xu Wu at first night watch

After the meal, Li Xianglu carefully washed the child’s hair. When the shampoo touched the wound, she saw him shivering, but he endured the pain. Li Xianglu felt so heartbroken that she quickly cleaned it off and wiped his hair dry with a towel.

The child sat by the fire to dry his hair. Li Xianglu measured the size of his feet and realized they were too big for her own shoes. Her grandfather had an old pair of cotton military boots, worn and patched up. Li Xianglu disliked how they looked and wouldn’t let her grandfather wear them after she made him new ones. She then had Xu Wu wash his feet and put on socks and the boots.

Being a ten-year-old child, he happily walked around in his new shoes, staring at Li Xianglu for a long while before asking, "What’s your name!"

Li Xianglu smiled and said, "You can call me Sister Xiangxiang."

Xu Wu frowned upon hearing this and continued, "What’s your name! Your real name!"

Seeing the child’s stubbornness, Li Xianglu chuckled and shook her head, "I’m Li Xianglu, from Li Family Village. What about you?"

Hearing this, Xu Wu’s tightened lips finally relaxed, "I’m Xu Wu, I will repay you in the future!"

Li Xianglu found the child’s seriousness amusing and shook her head, "No need, I’m being kind to you not because I want you to repay me."

Xu Wu frowned and insisted, "No, I must repay you!"

Not wanting to argue with his stubborn nature, Li Xianglu just nodded and quickly used scissors to cut off the hair around his festering wounds, finding lice among the ugly long hair, making her hands itch.

Qin Xi came in, saw the mess, and frowned, "Keep your distance. I’ll go find someone to shave his head, otherwise the people at the sanitation department won’t even want to treat him."

Li Xianglu looked at the messy hair and asked, "Would you like to have your head shaved?"

Xu Wu, not understanding why he was even asked for his permission, nodded.

Li Xianglu sighed in relief, grateful that the child was willing. Some children are protective of their hair, just like she was when she was young; she was most afraid of getting haircuts, let alone being shaved bald. That would have been a disaster.

After shaving, both old and new scars were visible on his head. Qin Zhen entered, surprised, with his mouth wide open, "My goodness, you’ve had it worse than me!"

Li Xianglu, annoyed, smacked his shoulder and scolded, "What are you complaining about? You eat a pound of flour each meal. Which family is as cruel to their kids as yours?"

Xu Wu, touching his own shaved head, his big black eyes sparkling, asked, "A pound of flour?"

Li Xianglu, amused, said, "Come on, let’s check your head. It’s festering. We need to go to the sanitation department."

Qin Xi had already arranged for a mule cart since the child was rescued from their village and no one knew which family he belonged to. Qin Xi had inquired around and decided to take him to the clinic, fearing that if the child died, the police would ask questions. Originally reluctant, Li Dafu agreed quickly when he heard about the potential police inquiries and even gave them two yuan.

The cart was driven by Li Erfu, wearing a cotton jacket Li Xianglu had brought from Shanghai, looking much more spirited than before. He smiled kindly at Li Xianglu but didn’t speak.

When they reached the sanitation department, Qin Xi and Li Xianglu took Xu Wu in for treatment, while Qin Zhen rushed off to buy buns. Li Xianglu gave him two yuan and two kilograms of food tickets.

The clinic was already open. The nurse was startled by the egg-sized scars on his head, realizing she couldn’t treat this herself and called for the doctor.

The doctor examined him and frowned, "Why did it take so long to bring him here? This is a head injury."

Infection can be deadly, and even though these two were dressed well, they seemed to have no medical knowledge at all.

The person was pressed onto the bed, and the doctor said worriedly, "Hold him down, he can’t move. I need to cut open the wound, release the pus and then clean it, it will be very painful."

Qin Xi nodded, sitting beside the bed, while Li Xianglu, sitting opposite, held his hand to comfort him: "Don’t be afraid, sister is here."

The child’s eyes suddenly brightened, and he nodded seriously: "I won’t move."

The process was extremely cruel; there was no anesthetic for a head injury, and the doctor directly cut it open. Initially, the child trembled a bit, then simply closed his eyes and lay motionless, as if he was not the one being cut.

Li Xianglu, watching the alcohol cleaning at the end, was so scared she trembled, but the child lay there quietly. If not for his hand tightly gripping hers, she would have thought he had passed out.

After the cleaning was done, the doctor applied medicine and then bandaged it up, wiping his sweat and couldn’t help but exclaim, "This child is strong."

Li Xianglu quickly removed his cotton jacket, revealing some injuries on his body, and said to the doctor: "This child was found by our team on the river bank, covered in wounds. Doctor, please have a look and prescribe some more medicine."

The doctor’s expression turned cold upon seeing the wounds: "Was he beaten?"

Li Xianglu nodded, "Yes, it looks like he was beaten."

The doctor said, "Then report this to the police. It’s not right just to bring him here; what if someone beats him again?"

Qin Xi spoke up from the side, "It was his own family who beat him."

The doctor pursed his lips and stopped talking—it was a family member, and the police wouldn’t handle that. He sighed, prescribed medicine, told them to pay and get the medicine, and advised when to change the dressing.

After picking up the medicine, Li Xianglu carefully placed an old hat that belonged to Qin Zhen on the child’s bald head.

When they found Li Erfu, Qin Zhen had also returned, carrying two paper-wrapped packages, happily saying, "There are rice cakes today, I bought a pound."

Li Xianglu smiled and nodded, "Good, we’ll have Saozi Noodles for lunch."

Qin Zhen was thrilled to hear they’d be having Saozi Noodles at noon.

Li Erfu, seeing his daughter who had grown taller and plumper, smiling sweetly, felt a bittersweet sensation in his heart.

At the cart stop, Li Xianglu took out two lukewarm buns from a paper bag and thrust them into Li Erfu’s hands. Without waiting for a refusal, she pulled the foolish Xu Wu and walked ahead.

Li Erfu, looking at the two big white meat buns in his arms, felt somewhat at a loss. Although he often ate the food that San’er brought back and knew it was from his little daughter, this direct act was the first since he had officially adopted her as his daughter.

He took a bite, and tears streamed down his face—so delicious!

When they got home, Li Xianglu kept her promise and made Saozi Noodles with pure white flour. The meat was pork, specifically the back leg of a pig that Qin Xi had brought back, leftover from the New Year celebration. Li Xianglu had secretly hidden it in the Storage Ring; it was still very fresh, not cut into small cubes, but into thin slices that tasted delicious when eaten whole.

What surprised Li Xianglu was that Xu Wu, who had eaten five or six pancakes in the morning, actually managed to eat a pound of noodles, along with some rice cakes and buns. Li Xianglu was simply astonished by his appetite. It was even more ferocious than Qin Zhen’s. Qin Zhen, feeling defeated having not eaten as much, puffed up his stomach declaring he would eat even more next meal, frightening Li Xianglu, who couldn’t help but glance at the flour jar, wondering how she could manage with such eating habits.

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