1983, Northeast China

Chapter 30 That's Where Deaths Are Buried

Chen Shi sat there, still waiting for Lao Wei to make his request.

Old Wei sat there too, remaining silent for a long time.

After a while, a section of the firewood in the hearth collapsed, so he took a stick and pushed it back in.

"Remember these three points."

Chen Shi looked up.

"Don't go into Laonangou at night."

Chen Shi nodded.

"Those who carry the stench will not enter Lao Nangou."

Chen Shi nodded again.

"Don't go into Laonangou unless you have a way to save your life."

This time, Chen Shi didn't nod. He knew that Lao Wei was right and wasn't bluffing. He was only saying these things for Chen Shi's own good.

Chen Shi said in a low voice, "I've got it."

Old Wei didn't press him to ask if he had really remembered it or was just making excuses. He just stared at him for a while, seemingly lost in thought.

Li Cheng held the bowl and drank the pine needle water in small sips. After drinking it for a while, he probably felt really warm and his courage returned. He was back to his carefree self.

"Uncle, you just said that Chen Shi's father also came to Lao Nangou?"

Chen Shi's fingers paused.

As soon as Li Cheng said it, he immediately regretted it, wishing he could smash the bowl over his face.

"I just asked casually," he stammered, his voice trailing off. "It really was just a casual remark."

Chen Shi stared at Lao Wei's right leg.

Perhaps it's a habit left over from a past life, or it might be related to Chen Mancang.

From the moment he entered the dugout until now, he has been keeping an eye on Lao Wei's movements.

Old Wei stood up and squatted down with a stiff and nimble movement, without uttering a single cry of pain.

But Chen Shi could still tell that every time he turned around, his right leg was half a beat slower than his left.

Especially when going down a step, I dare not put weight on the back of my knees. I always carefully probe with my toes first to confirm the position of my joints before my heels land.

That was definitely not a new wound.

After considering it for a moment, Chen Shi decided to temporarily give up asking about Chen Mancang and changed the subject, "Uncle Wei, your leg has been hurting for a long time, hasn't it?"

Who knew that these words carried more weight than a direct question to Chen Mancang, and the atmosphere in the room suddenly became tense.

Li Cheng held his bowl, not daring to drink any water, afraid that making any noise would draw the flames of war to himself.

Chen Shi pretended not to see his expression. "It hurts more at night than during the day, and it's even worse going downhill. It feels better for a while when you're warming yourself by the fire, but after a while, it gets worse, like someone is poking your bones with an awl, isn't it?"

Old Wei stared at him. "Who told you that?"

"I could tell," Chen Shi replied crisply.

"You can even treat patients?"

"No." Chen Shi shook his head, his expression calm and without the slightest hesitation. "I don't understand medical theory, I only know a few folk remedies passed down from the older generation. I can't guarantee whether they will work, but they are better than you directly roasting yourself by the fire, heating your skin and flesh while your bones remain cold."

Old Wei didn't speak, but his expression softened.

Chen Shi thought he had been persuaded, so he pressed his advantage and said, "Tonight, find some coarse salt, stir-fry it in a pot until it's piping hot, wrap it in a cloth, and apply it to the back of your knees and the sides of your leg bones through your pants. If you can find mugwort or old ginger, cut a few slices and stir-fry them together. With that hot and spicy heat, you can slowly force the cold out of the gaps in your bones."

"Remember, don't stick it to the flesh. If you get blisters, you'll suffer. If you come across any tendon-stretching grass or bone-penetrating grass when you go into the mountains in the future, I'll bring some back for you."

Li Cheng was stunned. He looked at Chen Shi, then at Lao Wei, and asked, "Chen Shi, when did you learn so much?"

Chen Shi glanced at him and smiled, "My sister is in postpartum confinement, so she's been paying extra attention to this."

That's not entirely untrue.

In his past life, in order to save a few consultation fees, he often flipped through those old-fashioned booklets of folk remedies, yellowed from the smell of cooking oil.

Those remedies can't save lives, but they can be surprisingly effective at treating minor ailments like rheumatism and bone pain.

Old Wei shifted his gaze from Chen Shi's face back to his right leg.

When he spoke again, his tone wasn't as harsh as before, "A folk remedy..."

"There are many mud houses left by the older generation in Kaoshantun... The herbs in the mountains are not like the vegetable garden in your backyard, where you can just pick them whenever you want."

Chen Shi said, "Let's try our luck and see what happens."

Old Wei didn't respond, nor did he curse.

The rabbit meat in the pot was still simmering slowly, with only a slightly fishy aroma wafting out.

Old Wei picked up the rabbit skin that had just been scraped clean of grease, flicked it in his hand, then deftly rolled it up and stuffed it back into Chen Shi's basket.

"Take it back."

Chen Shi was taken aback, and subconsciously reached out to catch it. "The hide is for me?"

"If I don't give you the skin I peeled, who else should I give it to?" Old Wei's tone returned to its usual impatience, as if the warmth from before had never existed.

"Don't bake it right next to the stove, it'll burn easily. Find a place to air dry it in the shade, hang it up high, so your little yellow ear fungus doesn't snatch it away."

Li Cheng was displeased upon hearing this. He was afraid of Lao Wei, but not of him. He thought Lao Wei was a good person, "Huang Er wouldn't pick up things randomly."

He had only been back for a short time, but he liked Huang Er very much, especially after hearing about Huang Er's deeds. In his heart, Huang Er was the number one divine dog.

Old Wei glanced at him and said, "It's not interested, you are."

Startled, Li Cheng quickly buried his head in the water that was now just the bottom of the bowl and finished it off.

After Chen Shi finished tidying up the rabbit skin, the thoughts that had been suppressed in his heart surged up again.

He came today not only for Lao Nangou, but also for Chen Mancang.

Old Wei gave him a string, a deerskin rope, an ice chisel, and taught him how to skin animals. These were all real benefits, guidance from an elder to a younger generation.

But his statement, "When your father first entered Laonangou, he carried half a carcass of roe deer meat," was like a thorn in his side. He wouldn't be satisfied until he got to the bottom of it.

"Uncle Wei, when my father went to Laonangou, did he go to Sankesong?"

"despair."

Old Wei dropped the wooden stick he was using to stir the fire.

Li Cheng immediately sat up straight, like a wooden doll that had been acupunctured, not daring to move at all.

Old Wei slowly picked up the wooden stick and stirred the firewood. The firelight in the hearth illuminated every wrinkle on his face clearly.

"Who told you to ask about Sankesong?" Old Wei's head was bowed low.

"Nobody told me to ask," Chen Shi said. "I want to know for myself."

"What can you do if you know?" Old Wei looked up and asked, his eyes sharp.

Yeah, what can you do even if you know?

In his previous life, he knew nothing. The Chen family fell apart in a daze. Starting from his father's death, the Chen family was on the verge of collapse. When Han Changgui died, the Chen family was completely destroyed.

He also wondered why he wasn't allowed to be reborn before his father died.

"My father died under mysterious circumstances," Chen Shi finally spoke. "As his son, I have to find out the truth."

Old Wei's eyes seemed to see right through him, inside and out.

"Sankesong...is not some kind of treasure land."

"What is that?"

Old Wei didn't answer immediately. Someone had asked him this question before, and he hadn't answered it then. He had also asked himself the same question, but he couldn't give himself an answer.

Now someone with a face that looks a lot like him when he was young has asked the same question again.

He felt he should give an answer.

Old Wei bent over, and the posture looked somewhat strenuous.

He picked up the last piece of firewood, gently inserted it into the thick ashes, and pressed it down firmly.

Old Wei's gaze fell on Chen Shi's face again.

"That's where people are buried."