Liu San wanted to go down to the yard and take a look in various rooms, but Sister-in-law Sun stopped her on the steps and said, "I want to go in and have a look."
However, Sister-in-law Sun Wu did not move away and said with a smile: "Master, this is the Qingjie Yuan. Even the biological mother and son are not allowed to stay in the courtyard until the boy is seven years old. There are widows living there. I'm afraid if I go in... I'm afraid.
..." Seeing that Liu San still had a confused face, Sun Wu's sister-in-law had no choice but to open the skylight and speak frankly, "...I'm afraid it will hinder the reputation."
Only then did Liu San understand why she stopped him. After thinking about it, he felt that there was no need to take a closer look. Although it was better here than outside, it was not much better. After all, Huanghua Temple itself was too dilapidated, and Puji
The management of the church is also very chaotic, and rectifying it will not take an overnight effort. There is no rush for this.
"In that case, please bring everyone in the courtyard, young and old, out. I want to see you."
Sister-in-law Sun wanted to refuse, but when she saw Mao Xiuyu winking, she felt that it was unwise to continue to disobey the new "Australian", so she had to say: "Please wait a moment, sir, I will summon you right now."
After saying that, he banged the wooden clapper under the eaves of the corridor.
With the dull and desolate sound of banging, many women came out of the clean rooms everywhere. The old one was already an old woman with chicken skin and gray hair, while the younger ones were still among young women. Some were holding young children in their arms, and some were dragging their children.
The girls, young and old, all wore dresses made of indigo cloth. No makeup or makeup, and white hair in their buns was their only decoration. They all stood in the courtyard with low eyebrows and kept silent.
When Liu San saw it now, he felt that this place still looked like a charity. At least the yard was neat and clean, and the women were not in rags and rags, like beggars.
"This is the new doctor," Sister-in-law Sun Wu said loudly when she saw that the person had almost arrived. "I'm just here to inspect."
The women all bowed their knees and said, "Hail, sir." Their voices were messy and weak.
Liu San took a closer look at these women who were "dedicated to keeping integrity". The complexions of these women were either pale and bloodless, or sallow. It was probably because they had been working in the house for a long time and rarely saw sunlight. Naturally, there were no fat people here. Although not
As for the tall and thin children, they all look thin. The children in the hospital have sallow complexions, dull eyes, and slow movements. Looking at Sister-in-law Sun, who is big and round, it is obvious that the food here will not be any better, but they will not starve to death.
If we look at it according to modern nutrition standards, all the people here are suffering from chronic malnutrition.
Liu San frowned and said, "How many meals are served here a day?"
"Report to the master: two meals a day. One meal and one porridge."
"Where's the child?"
"It's the same." Sister-in-law Sun Wu didn't know why Mr. Liu was so interested in the child.
"What a pity." Liu San said with emotion. These more than a hundred "chaste women" have been locked up in this living coffin-like yard for many years, looking at the sky in all directions, accompanied by the loom all year round. This kind of cruelty and
The waste is simply outrageous. There are so many strong, hardworking and hard-working men in Hainan without wives! It is simply against human ethics!
He thought that in Guangzhou Prefecture and Guangdong, there were probably many women who observed the same kind of strictness. This kind of culture that encouraged keeping the strictures needed to be severely punished.
Sister-in-law Sun Wu didn't know what was "a pity". She wondered in her heart whether Mr. Kunren had taken a fancy to some of the young widows among them. This was extremely unhelpful. She was thinking about what she would do if he really wanted to do such a thing.
Admonish.
Don't look at Sun Wu's ruthless nature in exploiting "chaste women". She takes "keeping chastity" as seriously as the sky. Really, "starving to death is a small matter, but losing chastity is a big deal." It is best not to even allow male sparrows in the courtyard.
One fell down.
Liu San was thinking about how to reform the entire Puji Hall, especially not to waste its human resources. Suddenly someone in the crowd screamed: "Master Classical Doctor! Help!"
Liu San was startled. The crowd, which was originally like a dry well, also rippled. He saw a woman squeeze out from the crowd, knelt down at the foot of the stone steps, and kowtowed repeatedly. The stone slabs banged against each other.
Sister-in-law Sun was shocked, and she quickly jumped down, grabbed the woman's hair, and cursed, "What the hell are you calling?!" She then tried to pull her back.
Unexpectedly, the woman refused to obey and continued to cry and scream: "Master, help me!"
Seeing this, Liu San felt something was fishy, waved his hand and scolded: "Don't pull her, let her talk!" Then he said to the woman, "What's the matter with you? Just talk."
Sister-in-law Sun Wu did not dare to be violent anymore and had to step aside. The woman then cried and complained that her child was sick and the hospital refused to treat her. Before the child died, she was thrown into the abandoned baby tower at the back.
"...Although there is no cure or cure, the child is still alive," the woman wailed. "The fifth sister-in-law insisted that she had smallpox, and if she stayed in the hospital, she would spread the epidemic, so she was thrown into the tower alive! Please!
The master is so merciful and compassionate, save my son’s life!”
When Liu San heard this, she immediately felt her energy and blood rising, her face turned red, and she said angrily: "Sister-in-law Sun Wu, is this really true?!"
Sister-in-law Sun Wu didn't expect that the seemingly gentle Kun Ren would suddenly become so scary. It was a common practice to throw seriously ill children into the Abandoned Infant Tower. No one ever said anything, but this Kun Ren master would be so angry... She couldn't help but knelt down with a pop.
She fell to the ground and said in a trembling voice: "Master, master, this is the custom in the hospital. Her son has smallpox, and the hospital will definitely not allow him to stay..."
"Fart." Liu San roared, "Get up and take me to the Abandoned Infant Tower!"
Sister-in-law Sun quickly got up and went out. She wanted to turn back and lock the door. When she saw Liu San's face full of anger, and the guards' expressions even worse, they no longer cared about being "stricter" and crawled ahead to lead the way.
The so-called Abandoned Infant Pagoda is located at the back entrance of Huanghua Temple. It was originally the temple garden, but now it is deserted and dilapidated. It is full of bat droppings, spider webs, wild honeycombs, and fox footprints. The back door is open, and next to it is
Abandoned Baby Tower.
The Abandoned Baby Pagoda looks like a Buddhist pagoda and is less than a foot high. There is a small door on the wall of the tower that requires bending down to enter. There is a filthy wooden basin in front of the tower.
Mao Xiuyu said that all children who died in the hall would be burned here and their ashes put into the pagoda. People's children who died young could also be brought and placed in this wooden basin, and then cremated in the hall and put into the pagoda.
When he walked to the tower, he already smelled a putrid smell - this was the smell of rotting corpses. Liu San couldn't help but frown secretly, took out a mask from his pocket and put it on. When he lowered his head, he saw that he was less than five or six steps away.
Lying in the thorn bushes was a naked corpse of a child, no more than four or five years old. The body already looked like a giant, with flies flying all over it.
In the nearby grass and thorns, you can see many scattered young bones everywhere. A small hand that has turned into white bones is exposed outside the grass. It looks like a baby less than one year old.
Looking at this scene that was like a horror movie, Liu San felt his blood surge up. He held on to the tower to calm down, pointed at the bones, and said in a trembling voice: "What... is going on?!"
Sister-in-law Sun Wu did not dare to talk to her, but Mao Xiuyu plucked up the courage to say that these were all children who had died in common people's homes, and some had fallen down while being carried from the street.
"...Most of them ask widowers to bury the children. They don't care about their conscience. It's troublesome to go to the cemetery, so they can just leave it here."
"You are so conscientious, why don't you bury the child's body?!" Liu San was furious, "Just let his body be exposed in the wilderness. I saw the word benevolence and righteousness hanging on the door here - I saw all the way up to now, there is no half benevolence anywhere."
Righteousness! Your benevolence and righteousness have gone into the dog's belly!"
Mao Xiuyu did not dare to say anything and remained as silent as a cicada.
Liu San was getting angry when he suddenly heard the faint sound of a baby crying. He stopped and listened carefully. It seemed that he was in the abandoned baby tower, so he put his ear close to the wall of the tower - this time he heard it more clearly. It was indeed a child.
Crying in the tower.
He turned to the door of the tower and bent down to get in. The guard squad leader quickly stopped him: "Chief, don't go. I'll go in! It's too dark inside!"
Liu San realized something was wrong when he reminded him, and said: "You prepare a torch for me, I will go in by myself."
The monitor refused, and finally went in with him.
As soon as we entered the pagoda, we smelled a strong rotten smell. It was not as dark as expected. There were several small skylights on the top of the pagoda that let in light, so we could barely see clearly without lighting a torch.
I saw that the middle layer of the tower was full of small clay pots, piled higher than people. Most of the ones below had been crushed and cracked. There was a thick layer of broken pottery shards and ashes and bones on the ground, and many of the broken bones were not
After cremation, they were obviously thrown in directly. Among this horrifying pile of bones, a child wearing an indigo cloth coat was crying, his voice was hoarse, and he was about to die. Liu San quickly picked up the child, and the monitor said:
"Chief, this child is sick. I'm afraid it may be contagious, so I'd better hold him."
Liu San didn't say a word, and carried the child out of the abandoned baby tower. Seeing the bright sunshine outside, he said to the guard squad leader: "Put your hat on to cover him."
He used the squad leader's copper basin hat to shield the child from the sun, so as not to suddenly enter the sun in a dark place and burn his eyes. If you look closely, this is a boy, about one year old. Although his face is sallow and thin, he is clean and tidy. It is obvious that his mother is very dedicated.
Liu San saw that there were no acne on his face, but he also saw that there were many blisters on his little hands and arms, and there were pimples on his scalp. He knew that this was not smallpox, but chickenpox.
Chickenpox is not a serious disease and can usually be cured on its own as long as you take good care of it. However, in this time and space, children are malnourished and have poor immunity, which often leads to high fever or pneumonia complications - which were fatal in the 17th century.
The child's hands and feet were indeed feverish, and the body temperature was not low. But the lungs were not infected from the cry, so the treatment was not difficult. He ordered: "Go! Go to Qingjie Hall!" He then said to Sister-in-law Sun: "You
Go and prepare a basin of cold water immediately! Let’s make some rice soup!”
Sister-in-law Sun Wu agreed repeatedly and hurried away. (To be continued.)