Chapter 356

The village chief’s premonition was quickly confirmed. Wang Xiujin and Li Linshan arrived at the village chief’s home carrying the baby. Li Linshan swiftly unbundled her outer layers to wrap the infant in softer material. Because of Wang Xiujin’s ready-made garment business, the Li family's clothing was predominantly made of soft fabrics, highly suitable for a newborn. As they wrapped the child, everyone finally noticed that the rescued infant was a girl. The village chief’s suspended heart dropped with a sigh of relief, while Wang Xiujin’s expression turned grim.

Who could be so cruel as to abandon a baby in the dead of winter? If they did not want her, they should not have given birth to her in the first place. At this thought, Wang Xiujin suddenly remembered that this era had far too few contraceptive methods. Generally, women in brothels and pleasure houses drank medicinal decoctions while men simply sought their own pleasure. Yet, in this era, not everyone paid attention to hygiene; a momentary lapse could result in contracting illnesses. With the medical standards of this era, even anti-inflammatory treatment was impossible, let alone curing venereal diseases.

In the countryside, married women had even less concept of contraception. In their minds, spending money on medicinal decoctions was far worse than saving it up; with enough savings, they could buy a mu of land. Consequently, every household had numerous children. Having three children like the Wang family was considered a small number; which family didn't have four or five? Moreover, in the countryside, women mostly gave birth in the winter so that their bodies would be more or less recovered by the time spring plowing arrived, not delaying farmwork in the slightest.

Wang Xiujin thought of the eugenics and optimal childcare of his past life, then compared it to the reckless birth and careless rearing of the present. If they could not afford to raise them, they sold or abandoned them—it was truly exasperating beyond words, yet completely helpless. Those abandoned or sold were mostly girls, and the rare boys were only let go if the family truly could not make ends meet or if the child was not their own. Wang Xiujin was powerless to prevent it and unable to change it; he could only learn to adapt and grow indifferent.

The physician arrived at the village chief’s house in a horse-drawn carriage. Along the way, he had been wondering how the Li village could possess such wealthy residents. Seeing the items inside the carriage, even prominent noble families in the city could not compare. Upon entering the courtyard and seeing the two men of extraordinary bearing, the physician finally remembered that the Li village had produced a general; these two men probably came from the capital.

The village chief was well acquainted with the physician. Upon seeing him, he immediately pulled the physician over to Wang Xiujin. The baby in Wang Xiujin’s arms was still shivering, her complexion and lips purple. The physician glanced at the child and ignored the cup of hot tea handed over by the village chief’s wife, instead taking the infant’s pulse.

"First, use high-proof liquor to wipe the child’s body, then wrap her back up. Repeat this every quarter of an hour. If she breaks into a sweat, she will be fine and must be carefully tended to from now on. If she cannot sweat, I am afraid she will not live much longer."

Upon hearing the physician’s words, Wang Xiujin’s face turned green with vexation. How could he have forgotten about using high-proof liquor to reduce a fever? He immediately instructed a servant to fetch the fine wine he had prepared for the village chief. To waste it on the village chief seemed a bit unworthy; if it were a boy, saving him would be one thing, but a little girl? If she died, she died! Why bother saving her? However, these words were not something he dared to voice aloud. A wealthy family had the money and was willing to spend it, and he could not stop them. Wang Xiujin had no excess energy to pay attention to the village chief, but Li Linshan asked the village chief with an unfriendly tone whether the child had been abandoned by someone, or stolen and then abandoned, and why the child was missing yet no one seemed to be searching for her.

The village chief could not quite gauge Li Linshan’s attitude. He hesitated for a moment before speaking slowly. "Little girls are worthless, and they are money-losers in the future. Families with many children who cannot afford to raise them know that even if they raise them to adulthood, they won't fetch a high price, so they discard them while the children are still small."

Although there was no excessive emotion in the village chief’s tone, it still sounded grating to Li Linshan. How could it sound so matter-of-fact? He cast a cool glance at the village chief and refocused his attention on the baby girl. Because of that sweeping glance from Li Linshan, the village chief felt the temperature drop, wondering if he had said the wrong thing or if he had caught a chill outside.

Wang Xiujin felt the village chief’s house was not a suitable place for the child to stay and decided to rush back to the capital that very night. After wiping the child with high-proof liquor twice, the carriage was already harnessed. Since no one was looking for the child, she would belong to them from now on. Li Linshan told the village chief directly that they were taking the child and she would be entered into their branch of the clan genealogy. If the village side found it troublesome, it did not matter, as they had a copy of the genealogy in their capital household anyway. He instructed that if anyone came looking for the child, the village chief should simply act as though he knew nothing; since no one had sought her out by nightfall, it meant the other party had already assumed the child was dead.

Upon hearing this, the village chief was dumbfounded. He had meticulously calculated to have his grandson adopted by the Li family of the capital, hoping to lean on the Li family as a great mountain. How could his plan suddenly be displaced by a random baby girl from the roadside?

"This, this... whose child this girl is remains unknown. If she is not of the Li family’s bloodline..."

The village chief wanted to use bloodline as an argument, but Li Linshan cut him off with an icy glare.

"Bloodline? When so many girls were sold, why weren't you worried about the bloodline leaking out? Those who were abandoned—why didn't you remember that they also carried the blood of the Li family?"

Even if the village chief were foolish, he knew Li Linshan was angry. He hurriedly offered timid apologies, inwardly lamenting his wretched luck. Not only had his scheme fallen through, but he had also offended the Li family of the capital. Just as his relationship with the capital's Li family had slightly eased, he had inadvertently caused offense once more. The village chief regretted it so deeply his intestines were turning green. Not daring to say another word, he respectfully escorted them to the carriage.

The physician was returning to the city as well. As he passed by the village chief, he murmured under his breath, "Looking down on baby girls? Whose mother birthed you? Did you pop out of a rock?"

At these words, the village chief’s body stiffened. Combined with the fact that he had not given a direct response to Li Linshan’s demands earlier, he felt utterly miserable. Wanting to step forward to pledge his loyalty to Li Linshan, he either misjudged his stride or was still rigid from earlier, causing his whole body to lurch forward and crash straight onto the ground.

Just as Wang Xiujin turned around while holding the child, he glanced at the village chief’s panicked and fearful appearance and calmly said, "The village chief is an elder. Even if a bow were necessary, there is no need to perform such a grand kowtow; this junior cannot accept it."

After finishing, Wang Xiujin stepped back, turned, and climbed into the carriage, holding the heavily wrapped baby girl.

The conditions at the village chief’s house were indeed decent, but heating remained subpar. Although several braziers had been added specifically for their arrival and the kang bed had been stoked extra hot, the indoor temperature was still not as warm as the carriage.

The village chief scrambled back up, ignoring his pain, and hurried to the outside of the carriage. He repeatedly assured the closed cabin door that this matter would never be leaked to outsiders and promised to enter the baby girl's name into the ancestral registry during the next ancestral hall opening, requesting that her name be sent back at the earliest opportunity.

No sound came from within the carriage cabin. The village chief broke out in a cold sweat in the freezing weather, anxious and at a loss. Sighing, vexation, regret, and entanglement all welled up inside him—words could not describe how deeply annoyed he felt.

Originally, the physician had not approved of taking the child away in the middle of the night. However, once inside the carriage and feeling a warmth that surpassed even his trip to Li Village, the physician concluded that leaving offered the infant a far better chance of survival than staying at the village chief’s home.

The physician disembarked from the carriage at the city gates. The carriage carrying Wang Xiujin and Li Linshan sped all the way back to the capital, squeezing through the gates just as they were being closed for the night. Once inside the city, the driver alighted and walked over to the city guards who were organizing a patrol. Upon presenting a token, the guard took one look at it, immediately calmed down, and respectfully bowed to the token.

Entering the city proper, a servant alighted from the carriage to seek out a reliable physician in the capital, while Li Linshan and Wang Xiujin brought the child straight home.

Before they had even stepped past the front courtyard gates, the head steward had already spread the news throughout the entire Li estate that the two masters had returned holding a baby.

As soon as they entered the chambers and finished wiping the baby girl down with high-proof liquor, all the members of the Li family currently at home gathered around. Emerging from the inner room, the two men promptly greeted their elders.

Sniffing the heavy aroma of high-proof liquor lingering in the room, Grandfather Li asked, "What is wrong with the child you brought back? Why use such potent liquor?"

Li Linshan quickly recounted the entire sequence of events. Grandfather Li’s expression turned pitch black. "Bastards! A pack of beasts! How could they be so cruel?" As he spoke, Grandfather Li slammed his walking stick against the floor.

Aside him, Li Linfu quietly wiped away tears. Previously, their little nephew had suffered, and now a little niece had met the exact same fate—how could there be so many ruthless parents in this world?

Yachang looked curiously toward the inner room; he wanted to catch a glimpse of his little sister.

Eldest Master Li and Shopkeeper Mi told the two young men not to worry about other matters and to focus entirely on saving the child; they would look into the situation at Li Village themselves. As for a name, Grandfather Li quickly thought of one: Yayou, hoping the heavens would bless this child so she might survive.

The physician was escorted into the general's mansion by a servant. After taking the baby's pulse, he examined her tongue coating. Pinching the baby's mouth probably caused some pain, as the infant let out a very faint whimpering sound. She produced a voice, her body had gained some warmth, and her complexion was no longer purple.

The physician prescribed no medicinal decoction, only instructing them to continue wiping her with high-proof liquor. Once the alcohol evaporated, she did not need to be wrapped up immediately; she could be wrapped again after the heat dissipated. There was no need to worry if a fever arose, but if the temperature had not dropped by nightfall, they should decoct the medicine according to a specific formula—starting with high heat, then simmering on low...

The physician explained the details of decocting the medicine meticulously, repeating three times precisely when to add each ingredient. Finally, he added, "Judging by her physiognomy, she is a person of great fortune. She will be fine."

Whether it was because of the physician's stern demeanor or his deadpan tone, his words finally allowed Wang Xiujin to breathe a sigh of relief. Dispatching a servant to fetch the herbs, Wang Xiujin and Li Linshan personally wiped the child's body with high-proof liquor, refusing several offers of assistance from the servants. Because their newly recognized younger sister was in poor health, Yachang stubbornly refused to leave his parents' bedchamber; he insisted on watching until his sister was completely safe before going to sleep.

With their minds entirely focused on the baby, Wang Xiujin and Li Linshan paid no attention to their son's stubborn persistence. Only after following the physician's method and bringing the infant's temperature back to normal did the two of them finally relax completely.

A servant brought over a bowl of warm goat's milk prepared on Shopkeeper Mi's orders by the kitchens. Once the child's condition improved, she would inevitably be hungry. Finding a wet nurse today was out of the question, so they had to make do with the goat's milk—which Wang Xiujin often praised as being exceptionally nourishing for children—as a temporary substitute, while dispatching men at the crack of dawn the next morning to find a trustworthy wet nurse.