Chapter 31: The Li Village

On the third day, the exploration team arrived at a Li village in the middle reaches of the Changhua River. This was the village where the guide’s maternal uncle lived. The team decided to rest here, inquire about the road ahead, and find another guide. The apprentice Wang was not very familiar with the road beyond the Li village.

This Li village was completely different from the one Mu Min had seen in Lingao. If it weren’t for the tattooed faces of the Li women at the entrance and their distinctive ethnic clothing, it would be difficult to distinguish it from a typical Han village.

The village was large, with nearly a hundred households, and the houses were neatly arranged. The flat land by the river outside the village was all cultivated with paddy rice, unlike the “shanlan” (mountain rice) grown by other Li people. It was clear that both their standard of living and agricultural production were higher than that of other Li people.

Upon closer inspection, although the houses of the Meifu Li were of Han style, they were more crudely built than those of the Han people. The men here wore their hair in a bun at the back of their heads and wore earrings. The women wrapped their heads with black and white checkered cloth scarves. Both men and women wore a black, front-opening, buttonless jacket.

“The origin of the Meifu Li is quite interesting,” Fang Jinghan said. “According to some materials I’ve read, it’s speculated that they are likely descendants of the earliest Han immigrants who came to Hainan Island during the pre-Qin and Han dynasties.”

The name of the Meifu Li also revealed that they were newcomers to the island. “Meifu” was their self-designation, meaning “guests living on the lower road,” which clearly indicated that their arrival was later than that of other Li people. The Meifu Li occupied better land on both banks of the Changhua River and were able to grow paddy rice instead of “shanlan.” Their textile technology was also superior to that of other Li people. Past ethnological surveys had also found that their looms were very similar to those of the Central Plains during the Han dynasty. The Meifu Li had few remnants of primitive communism, with obvious social differentiation, ancestral halls, clan genealogies, generational rankings, and even conflicts between clans.

Ye Yuming said, “Then they must speak Chinese?”

“Han dynasty Chinese? That’s a stretch!” Xiong Buyou said.

“This is just a speculation. They could also be descendants of other ethnic groups who were already Han-assimilated on the mainland. Besides, even if they are really descendants of the Han, it doesn’t mean they would speak Chinese.”

“I didn’t expect you to be so familiar with the Li people,” Mu Min was a little ashamed. She was a standard Li herself, but her knowledge of her own people was far less than that of this university graduate.

“This is also a course,” Fang Jinghan said, a little embarrassed. “It’s something I need for my major. I’m a sociology major.”

“That major sounds… very impressive,” Mu Min thought for a long time before coming up with such an adjective. “You can do ethnological research and stuff.”

“There are four classes in my major, with forty people in each class. That’s one hundred and sixty in a single year. There are at least twenty or thirty universities in the country that offer this major. Where would I go to do research?” Fang Jinghan said with a bitter smile. “So I—”

As Fang Jinghan spoke, a pang of pain shot through his heart again. A new beginning was not necessarily a good thing. After months of hard work, he once again found that he was not the protagonist. The transmigrator team was full of talented people: there were enough master’s degree holders to form a company, enough PhDs to form a platoon, countless returnees from overseas, and even a princeling who had flown planes and fired cannons in the United States. A person like him was still just a basic member of the masses. In the end, he was thrown into the exploration team as “waste material.”

“Why don’t you work with me in the future!” Mu Min waved her hand magnanimously. “My Li and Miao Affairs Office is short-staffed.”

“Hey, hey, boss, can you be a little more subtle when you’re poaching people?” Cui Yunhong laughed. “Am I invisible?”

“I’m telling the truth. It’s settled. I’ll handle the paperwork when we get back.”

Joking and laughing, they rounded the bend in the river. On the hillside ahead was a cluster of houses. The guide said, “Ahead is Qian Dui village, my uncle’s home,” his words filled with affection.

The slope seemed to run the horses to death. Although the Li village was in sight, it still took them another half an hour to reach it. The river here was already full, very shallow, but crystal clear. The banks were lined with tall trees. As they got closer, they saw large bean pods hanging from the branches. Mu Min was very curious and called everyone to look.

Cui Yunhong laughed. “These are soapberry trees. What’s so strange about them? There are plenty of them by the villages in my hometown.”

“Is it the one for natural soapberry shampoo?” Mu Min’s impression of soapberries was limited to that.

“Yes, soapberries were a natural soap in the past. Good for washing clothes and bathing,” Cui Yunhong stopped to look. This soapberry forest stretched from the riverbank up the slope of the hill, at least thirty or fifty mu. It was a truly excellent resource.

Ye Yuming said, “This resource is useless to us. We can make soap as soon as we get coconut oil.”

“Soapberries have many industrial uses,” Cui Yunhong said. “I forget the specifics. The advantage is that they are not corrosive at all, much gentler than soap. I also think they can be used as medicine.”

The group arrived at the village gate, where they were questioned by the village guards. With the apprentice Wang as their guide and the goods they brought, they easily entered the village.

The villagers, seeing the arrival of outside merchants, all gathered around to look at the goods. The Li territory was remote, and daily necessities like salt and needles all relied on peddlers. As soon as they arrived, the women of the village all came to watch, forming a large circle around them in front of the main house.

The exploration team quickly laid out their goods. The bags of white sugar, dazzlingly white, were unknown to most of the Li people. The guide Wang praised them on their behalf and sprinkled some on banana leaves for everyone to taste. It immediately sold well.

As for salt, needles, hooked knives, and farm tools, they were daily necessities and sold without saying. The exploration team also brought some goods specially developed by the trading company for trade with the Li, mainly perforated glass beads of various colors. They were made from the leftover materials from glass manufacturing, but they were dazzling and attracted many young women, who gathered around Mu Min, chattering and laughing as they chose their goods, full of youthful energy. Unfortunately, the Meifu Li also had the custom of face tattooing, which shattered the dreams of many young men who had fantasized about Li girls.

The Li people had no gold, silver, or copper coins. All trade was done by barter, and the things they brought out for exchange were varied. The exploration team’s original intention was to gather resource information, not to make a profit, so they accepted everything, whether it was leather, medicinal herbs, betel nuts, soapberries, kudzu cloth, or kapok cloth. They were also generous in calculating the value, so both sides were happy. The group was busy trading until the crowd gradually dispersed.

The guide Wang was also very enthusiastic and invited them to stay at his uncle’s house to rest.

The guide’s uncle’s surname was Li, and his name was Li Benqing. He had no land other than a dilapidated house and made a living by collecting medicinal herbs and hunting. At twenty-seven or twenty-eight, he could only live in the “guilong” (a communal house for unmarried men and women). He originally had a very low status in the village. Later, because he often went to the county town to sell animal skins and wild game and could speak Chinese, he was put in charge of all dealings with the government and merchants. He now had some standing in the village.

The group followed the guide to the front of the thatched hut. The bamboo-woven door was half-open. The inside of the house was dark, with only the faint glow of the fire pit.

A faint groan came from the small room.

The guide pushed the door open and went in. Cui Yunhong told everyone to wait outside and went in first with Xiong Buyou. On a bamboo bed, a middle-aged man was half-lying, without any bedding. Straw was scattered on and under the bed. A bamboo torch was burning in the room, sputtering red flames. In the firelight, the man’s hair was disheveled, his face was covered with a beard, and his face was flushed. Seeing people come in, he called out a few times.

The apprentice Wang quickly came out, took half a gourd of water from the mountain spring brought in by a bamboo pipe outside, and went in to feed him. He felt a little better after drinking. The nephew and uncle had a conversation, which the others couldn’t understand. Finding the room too crowded, they all sat on the ground under the eaves, drinking some mountain spring water with water purification tablets to quench their thirst.

After a while, the guide came out and said apologetically, “I’m so sorry, shopkeepers. I thought this was my uncle’s house, so it would be no problem to host you for a few days with good food and lodging. If you wanted to collect medicinal herbs, he’s also a skilled hand. But he’s been having a bout of ‘hanre bing’ (cold and heat sickness) recently, and it’s quite severe. I’ve neglected you.”

Everyone immediately turned their eyes to He Ping, who was sent by the Ministry of Health. This person had been doing odd jobs in the Ministry of Health since D-Day. Shi Niaoren, following the principle of “more hands make light work,” had taught him some basic and simple medical skills. After killing several rabbits and frogs and trying his skills on a few unfortunate native patients who fell into his hands, He Ping became a glorious “medic.” Seeing everyone looking at him, he knew they wanted him to show his skills and conquer the hearts of the ancients with modern medicine.

Providing medicine and treatment, though an old trick, was the most effective.

The so-called “hanre bing” in the Li territory of Hainan was, in nine out of ten cases, malaria. It was a common disease in the Li territory with a high infection rate. Some of the transmigrators had also been infected since D-Day. Fortunately, the malaria parasites here had not yet developed drug resistance, and the medicine was very effective. So He Ping was very confident in playing the role of a miracle doctor.

He asked the apprentice Wang to move his uncle out of the house and onto the porch. Only then did everyone realize that this “uncle” was not old, only in his early thirties. He Ping observed his symptoms: flushed face, rapid breathing, congested conjunctiva, hot and dry skin… These were all typical symptoms of the febrile stage of vivax malaria. Without taking his temperature, he judged by touching his forehead that his temperature was at least 39°C.

“How often does it happen?” He Ping asked.

“Every other day,” Li Benqing was burning up and in great pain. “It comes on once, then I’m fine for a day. Then it comes back again. It lasts for ten days or so—” he gasped for breath.

“This should be vivax malaria. It’s a benign type of malaria.” He Ping’s diagnosis, however, made everyone uneasy. Cui Yunhong whispered, “How sure are you? If you kill him, we’ll be in a passive position.”

He Ping was greatly displeased. “I didn’t say I wanted to treat him. You guys were the ones who brought it up. We can stop now. Anyway, vivax malaria will naturally resolve after 5-10 episodes—”

Seeing the patient groaning in pain, Mu Min was filled with pity. “Treat him. He’s a human life too. It’s just malaria. We can’t accomplish anything if we’re so timid.”

Seeing that no one objected, He Ping took out four tablets of chloroquine from his medicine box and gave them to him. This was the most effective anti-malarial drug the transmigrators had. It was fast-acting, had a short course of treatment, and was much less toxic than quinine.

“Take it with water, go back and sleep. Come back for more tomorrow,” He Ping instructed. According to the lesson Shi Niaoren had given him, this disease would be cured after three consecutive days of medication.

The nephew and uncle were skeptical. There were Han doctors in Changhua town, but they had never heard of them being able to cure this “hanre bing.” How could this group of peddlers casually take out a few white tablets and claim they could cure the disease? But the attack was so painful that they decided to take a chance and took the medicine.

Seeing the patient fall into a drowsy sleep, the group was uneasy. This was not Lingao, where the transmigrator group was the absolute ruler and even if they killed a person or two, it wouldn’t be a big deal. In this unfamiliar Li village in Changhua, if someone died, it would be difficult to clean up the mess.

The apprentice Wang didn’t have so many thoughts and busied himself with preparing to cook for them. Xiong Buyou repeatedly said it wasn’t necessary; they had their own dry rations. He only asked him to help boil some water. The group ate some of their “Grassland” series dry rations with the boiled water. The apprentice Wang felt bad that they were so polite, but the Li village was poor and had nothing to offer. He decided to hunt some game tomorrow to treat them.

The exploration team temporarily set up a shed with bamboo poles in Li Benqing’s yard and spread a lot of new straw on the ground. He Ping also went to the riverbank outside the village to collect a lot of artemisia and lit it at the edge of the shed. The damp plants caught fire, and the choking smoke made everyone cough.

“This is a malaria epidemic area. Repelling mosquitoes is an effective way to prevent infection,” He Ping said. “Artemisia smoke is very effective at repelling mosquitoes. A good smoking like this will last all night.” Although all the members of the expedition team had been taking anti-malarial drugs for two weeks before leaving the Zhenhai as a preventive measure, mosquito prevention was still the most effective means in a malaria-endemic area.

Ye Yuming remembered, “Can’t artemisia also treat malaria? Artemisia is everywhere. It would be very convenient to treat the Li people. If we promote it, it will be easier to work with the Li and Miao people.”

“This is Artemisia annua, not Artemisia apiacea,” He Ping said. “Artemisia annua is useless.”

“Doesn’t Hainan have Artemisia apiacea?”

“Of course it does, but just boiling Artemisia apiacea is not enough to prevent or treat malaria.” He Ping used to work in a pharmaceutical factory. Although his major was in electromechanics, he was very familiar with the drug production process. “Without extraction in a pharmaceutical factory, the active ingredients of artemisinin cannot be extracted at all. With our current industrial level, it’s probably impossible to utilize this drug. We’d better just honestly plant quinine.”

Fearing an accident, Mu Min decided that the team would take turns on duty to add fuel to the fire and keep the artemisia burning all night. It was also to prevent anyone from having any ill intentions.

The next morning, Li Benqing no longer had a fever. He Ping was greatly relieved—this meant the diagnosis and treatment were correct. He then had him take two more tablets. With three consecutive days of treatment, he would be fully cured.

The exploration team sounded the depth of the Changhua River outside the Li village. The deepest part was already one and a half meters, generally deep enough for boats. There were carpenters in the village, and also simple dugout canoes, but the boats were very small, each only able to carry two or three people. Cui Yunhong decided to build bamboo rafts here and prepare to go upstream along the river. The next target was San Cha He (Three-Fork River).