Ah Jiu's jaw dropped, her eyes fixed on Madam Wang.
"Sister Ah Jiu, you're here, please come in and sit for a while."
It wasn't until the little maid tugged at Ah Jiu's arm that she snapped back to attention.
Her steps heavy, she allowed the maid to pull her into the main hall.
A dark atmosphere immediately assailed her, and she realized that all the doors and windows of the house were sealed shut.
"Sister Ah Jiu, please sit." The little maid brought over a stool and wiped it with the sleeve of her garment.
Ah Jiu surveyed the room's furnishings. There was only one word for it: poverty. It was even more dilapidated than her own home in Xinghua Village.
However, there were quite a few iron objects, even the legs of the chairs were iron.
The little maid stood directly in front of Ah Jiu with her head bowed, "We don't have any food at home, nor water. There's nothing to offer you, Sister Jiu'er."
Ah Jiu's heart ached at her words, such an understanding child. "It's alright, no one has much water at home these days."
"It rained a while ago, I... I collected some, but it was all used to wash my mother's body."
"To wash her body? You're very filial. Here, Sister is giving you something good. You mustn't tell anyone, okay?"
Ah Jiu couldn't resist and took out a pomegranate from her spatial storage.
The little maid's eyes lit up as she looked at the round pomegranate. To Ah Jiu's surprise, she turned and ran into the side room, "Mother, Mother, Sister Jiu'er gave me a pomegranate! Mother, I'll peel it for you to eat."
Ah Jiu looked at Madam Wang. Madam Wang pretended nothing had happened and turned her back, as if to say: You decide for yourself, I've given you the opportunity.
Ah Jiu understood her grandmother's meaning and got up to enter the room.
As soon as she entered, she was stunned.
Was that a person lying on the bed?
Her body was ulcerated in many places, her sparse hair revealed her scalp, and the person was shriveled and thin. No, "thin" wasn't the right word, she was a mere skeleton.
Was this what the warm disease looked like?
"Mother, Hui'er will help you up. This is Sister Ah Jiu, she's the one who kindly let me exchange our family's tools for grain. Hui'er planted it today."
Hui'er seemed extremely happy as she helped the skeleton sit up.
The woman turned to look at Ah Jiu. As her dry lips curved into a smile, Ah Jiu was startled.
That face was no longer human-like. It was just skin and bones, her eye sockets were sunken, making her cheekbones appear particularly prominent, and her eyeballs were bloodshot.
"Thank... thank you..." The two words felt exceptionally strenuous to utter from her mouth.
Ah Jiu felt she was about to die.
She didn't understand the cause of this disease and had no idea how to help. Feeling uneasy, she turned to leave.
"Just take a look. If it's not treated, she'll die anyway. If it is treated, she might just live?" Madam Wang's words made Ah Jiu stop in her tracks.
Leaning against the doorframe, she turned to look again at Hui'er's mother, who was so thin that her gender was indistinguishable. She pulled her lips into a smile.
"Auntie, don't worry. Hui'er is a very sensible child, and my mother really liked those tools. If you need any help, the villagers won't stand by and watch."
"Yes, Mother. The village head saw I'm small and find farming difficult, so he even found people to help me. We'll have a harvest next year and won't go hungry again."
Hui'er's smile was incredibly pure.
But in Ah Jiu's eyes, could her mother live to see the harvest?
A voice whispered in her mind, Meng Jiu'er, try. Grandma was right, you'll only know if you try.
Didn't she still have that needlepoint book, "Eight Forms of the Spiritual Turtle"? If heaven had compassion for all life, perhaps there was a method for treating warm diseases in this book.
"Ouch!"
Hui'er's mother suddenly spat out, a mouthful of pomegranate juice like blood.
Ah Jiu stepped forward and patted her back, "Auntie, did you choke?"
Hui'er, however, smiled and said, "My mother can't eat much, but tasting the pomegranate in her mouth is good. She hasn't eaten anything so delicious in a long time."
Ah Jiu heard this, unable to eat much? Hui'er was just letting her taste the flavor.
"Mother, do you want to try again?" Hui'er peeled more pomegranate and offered it, lifting her sleeve with one hand to wipe the pomegranate juice from her mother's lips.
The woman lay back weakly, waving her hand, and with great difficulty uttered those few words: "Hui... Hui'er, don't eat. Mother... Mother ate it, it's a waste."
Ah Jiu watched, her heart aching intensely.
"Auntie, how about I give you a few acupuncture treatments?" She gritted her teeth. At least she was most proficient in auricular acupuncture, and she knew where the reflexes for the stomach and intestines were.