RPS – Chapter 35 The Baby Is Sick

When Li and the others came back that evening, Li Feng had already finished cooking. He and the baby, along with Mo, had already eaten. The food was left on the table, covered with a large plate — in this kind of weather, it wouldn’t cool down too quickly.

“How did the discussion go?” Li Feng asked casually as he played with the baby.

“We decided to split into two groups — one group will go to pick them up, and the other will stay in the tribe to continue hunting and protect the tribe,” Li answered while taking big bites of meat.

“And you?” Li Feng paused from teasing the baby and looked up at Li.

“Heh, don’t worry. Bu, Nuo, and I will stay in the tribe. The others volunteered to go, and the chief will pick ten more people to join them,” Li explained, pinching Li Feng’s soft earlobe.

“Hey, eat properly,” Li Feng said, finally feeling reassured. He quickly swatted Li’s hand away. Seriously, even during a meal he couldn’t behave. Besides, Bu and the others were watching, and there were two kids present too.

Li only laughed, then obediently focused on eating, making Bu and the others burst into hearty laughter.

Li Feng flushed with embarrassment. He just knew they were waiting to make fun of him. Next time I won’t cook for you guys! “By the way, will there be any danger for the group going to pick them up? Weren’t there already two casualties when Ka and the others came before?” Li Feng suddenly remembered what Ka had said.

“There shouldn’t be much danger,” Li said after gulping down his cornmeal vegetable soup. “Last time, Ka and the others weren’t familiar with the area. They were just trying to find the closest tribe without knowing about ours, so they got attacked by a pack of wolves. This time, Ka will lead them once he recovers. He knows the way now, and we’ll be sending more people and preparing better. It should be fine.”

“Oh, that’s good,” Li Feng said, feeling relieved. In this primitive society, everything was so backward, and life was harsh. Smaller tribes often couldn’t survive on their own and had to rely on bigger ones or form alliances to live safely together.

With all worries settled, and stomachs filled, Li Feng quickly became drowsy. There wasn’t much nightlife in the tribe anyway. Although the late-summer heat was still fierce during the day, the earthen houses were cool inside — much better at insulating than concrete walls. Plus, the walls here were built extra thick, making the houses warm in winter and cool in summer. Just sitting inside for a bit cooled him down, and the autumn night breeze brought a refreshing chill compared to the daytime heat.

Sure enough, after washing up, although he had planned to chat with Li and the others, he ended up singing a lullaby to the baby and, not long after, fell asleep himself. When Li came in, he found the three of them — “mom” and two babies — sleeping soundly on the bed. He covered them with animal skins, then climbed into bed himself, pulling the outermost Li Feng into his arms and falling asleep. Mo and the baby were sleeping inside, so Li got the advantage of snuggling against Li Feng and “stealing tofu” without restraint.

The next morning, the baby — who usually ate well and slept soundly — got sick.

When the baby was first born, so tiny and skinny, Li Feng didn’t have any milk and could only feed him fruit juice. Even though the baby often cried from hunger back then, he never got sick. Later, after they managed to catch some lactating female beasts, the baby grew even healthier, full of energy, constantly keeping them busy — either wetting his diapers, needing a change, or wanting to go out and explore.

But he had never gotten sick before, and it made Li Feng forget how fragile babies could be — especially when sick. It felt like a death sentence to him. In a society without any medical knowledge or treatment, getting sick could easily mean death.

Li Feng panicked.

Since that night when he and Li got together, Li Feng had the baby and Mo move to sleep in their place too. The baby was still so small. Just like always, when he woke up that morning, Li Feng leaned in to give the baby a good morning kiss — on the forehead, of course, careful not to wake him.

But today, when his lips touched the baby’s forehead, he immediately felt something was wrong — the baby felt hot.

Without a thermometer, he could only use the old-fashioned method, pressing his forehead and chin against the baby’s skin to roughly gauge the temperature. He was growing nervous. Li and the others had already gone out hunting. Only he, Mo, and the baby — who always woke up a bit later — were left at home. They usually had breakfast made from cornmeal and bean flour pancakes that Li Feng prepared ahead of time, so there was no need for him to get up early to cook.

At first, Li Feng thought Baby’s flushed cheeks were just from sleeping, but he hadn’t expected it to be a fever. He didn’t know how long Baby had been burning up, and there hadn’t even been any crying. Li Feng was so nervous he didn’t know what to do. Young children could easily develop serious complications from a fever. When he was little, there were many kids at the orphanage who had been abandoned by their families after getting sick — polio, meningitis, intellectual disabilities, or even death…

Since arriving in this world, Li Feng’s life had been relatively smooth, and he had almost forgotten about the cruelty of nature. Now, he was being forced to face it head-on. But what could he do? There were no clinics, no hospitals, nothing at all. What was he supposed to do?

Li Feng clutched Baby tightly, showering his burning forehead and cheeks with kisses, but the more anxious he was, the harder it was to think of a solution. In a moment of desperation, he slapped himself twice across the face to snap out of it. IV saline — right, saline! It’s anti-inflammatory. But how to make it? What’s the right concentration? He had no idea.

At that moment, Li Feng deeply regretted not studying medicine. Though, given his background, he would never have been able to afford medical school anyway. Still, he blamed himself. Why hadn’t he taken better care of Baby? Why hadn’t he learned anything about medicine?

From what he remembered, when you caught a cold, you either took medicine or got a saline IV. Wait, no — back at the orphanage, when there wasn’t money for medicine, the caretakers would use some old-fashioned remedies to treat minor colds and fevers. What were they again?

Right — first was physical cooling, wiping the body down with alcohol. But there was no alcohol here — only cool water. Li Feng quickly mixed some saltwater. It was a bit too salty — he remembered when he had an IV as a kid, it made his mouth bitter, so the concentration must have been high. Luckily, even if Baby drank a bit too much of this, it shouldn’t be dangerous.

Holding Baby in his arms, he sent Mo to fetch a basin of cool water. After feeding Baby the saltwater, he would wipe him down.

Mo immediately ran off to get water. Baby being sick was a huge deal, but there was nothing Mo could do except hope that Li Feng would find a way. After all, Uncle Li Feng was so smart.

“Baby, be good… come drink some water…”

Li Feng carefully spooned some saltwater toward Baby’s lips. Baby’s eyelashes were damp with tears, his eyes still tightly shut.

Gently, he used the spoon to pry Baby’s lips open and trickled the saltwater inside. Even though Li Feng was desperately anxious, he didn’t dare to rush.

“That’s it, Baby’s so good… just a little more…”

At first, Baby drank a little, but soon he started resisting. The saltwater was too bitter and salty, and he turned his head, refusing to swallow, letting out soft, kitten-like cries. The pitiful, hoarse sobs broke Li Feng’s heart — he wished he could take Baby’s suffering onto himself.

Baby was still so little. God, please — please bless him, keep him safe. Li Feng thought back to when he first woke up in this world, convinced he was doomed, only to be given another chance. Now, he begged heaven to give Baby the same chance.

Seeing that Baby was crying so pitifully and refused to drink more, Li Feng had no choice. He drank a mouthful of saltwater himself and gently passed it mouth-to-mouth into Baby’s mouth.  Bit by bit, he managed to get the rest of the bowl of saltwater into him this way.

Mo stood to the side, holding the water basin, not daring to disturb them, afraid of making a mistake. Only after Li Feng finished feeding Baby did he quickly set the basin down.

Li Feng found a small clean piece of animal hide, soaked it in cool water, and carefully wiped Baby’s sweaty, soft little body.

Li Feng knew there were two types of fever: one caused by cold (more common in winter, often accompanied by a runny nose) and the other by heat (more common during the rainy, hot seasons). He figured Baby’s fever was from heat — after all, it was still the tail end of the brutal autumn heat, and Baby wasn’t showing signs of a runny nose.

If he could stew some pear, that would help — but there was no rock sugar here, only plain pears. Fortunately, the tribe often went out to gather fruit, so they had plenty of pears in storage.

He quickly washed some pears, chopped them into small pieces, and started stewing them in a clay pot. He told Mo to keep an eye on the fire, not to let it die down, while he himself stayed to look after Baby, continuing to wipe his body down.

Little by little, Baby’s fever went down a bit, and he seemed a little more comfortable. He even fell asleep with soft, hiccupping sobs. When Li Feng saw Baby sleeping, he nearly had a heart attack, rushing to check his breathing — thankfully, it was slow and steady. Only then did he breathe a little easier.

If only there were scallions here! He remembered that, back at the orphanage, when kids got heat fevers in the summer or fall, the caretakers would boil scallion water for them to drink. But there were no scallions here, which made Li Feng so angry he nearly exploded. Once Baby got better, he swore he would go look for some.

Seeing Baby sleeping, Li Feng made himself a cup of chrysanthemum tea. Everyone knew chrysanthemum tea was good for cooling the body and reducing heat.

During the summer, he had dried a lot of chrysanthemum flowers, and he often forced everyone to drink the tea. At first, they had hated the taste, but eventually, they got used to it — and it was thanks to the tea that they hadn’t suffered from any heat-related illnesses despite eating so much meat.

Before his rebirth, Li Feng had been a food magazine reporter, so he had some knowledge of medicinal foods and flower teas. Chrysanthemum tea was helpful, but not enough on its own. What else could he use? Li Feng paced around the room, racking his brain.

Chrysanthemum, mulberry leaves, bamboo leaves… what else?

Right — mint and forsythia! But he didn’t even know what forsythia looked like, and he hadn’t seen any mulberry or bamboo leaves around here either.

For now, he could only brew chrysanthemum and mint together. He had stewed pears too, though from experience, stewed pears didn’t seem all that effective — but anything was better than nothing. He decided to go with a two-pronged approach: both stewed pears and flower tea. He could have Baby drink the tea in two rounds.

Baby, please get better soon. Daddy’s so worried. At that moment, Li Feng missed Li so much.
If Li were here, at least he would have someone to discuss things with. Now he was all alone, and that made the helplessness ten times worse.

Mo was just a child too — the moment he learned Baby was sick, he had been scared out of his wits.

Li finally decided to give the baby the decoction made from chrysanthemum and mint. After all, it counted as traditional medicine and should be effective. As for the stewed pear, he gave it to Mo to drink for prevention, so he wouldn’t catch the illness. He saved a little bit for the baby just in case.

Following the same method he used to feed the saltwater earlier, Li Feng fed the baby some milk first. After more than half an hour, he then carefully fed him some slightly warm medicinal broth. The baby’s temperature had stabilized and was no longer rising. After feeding the medicine, Li Feng coaxed the baby to sleep, softly singing a lullaby.

It felt like several years passed in that half-hour, but when he checked again, the baby’s fever had slightly gone down, though not entirely. Hopefully, it wouldn’t flare up again.

Around noon, Li and the others returned. Recently, they had been transporting the corn and soybeans they had discovered back to the tribe bit by bit, and now, they were almost done.

“Li!”

Seeing them return, Li Feng immediately rushed out and threw himself into Li’s arms. He had been so worried he felt like he was about to collapse. Although the baby seemed a little better now, he wasn’t out of danger yet. Now that Li was finally back, it was like a lifeline had been thrown to him. If anything happened to the baby, Li Feng didn’t think he could survive it either.

Since his rebirth, the baby was the first emotional anchor he had placed all his hopes on, the treasure he cherished most. It wasn’t that he was being overly emotional or weak—it was just that, under these harsh conditions, losing the baby was an outcome he couldn’t even bear to imagine.

“The baby is sick…”

Li Feng said this as he buried himself in Li’s chest, then quickly grabbed Li’s hand and dragged him toward the house. Bu and Nuo, sensing the urgency, hurriedly followed.

At first, Li was happy to see Li Feng being so affectionate all of a sudden, but once he heard what Li Feng said, his heart turned cold. Lowering his head, he saw Li Feng’s eyes were red—whether from crying or worry, he wasn’t sure. Before he could look more carefully, Li Feng had already pulled him into the house.

The tiny baby was wrapped snugly in animal skins. His usually fair little face was flushed red, and beads of sweat covered his forehead. Even though Li Feng had wiped it earlier, more had already seeped out.

Li Feng didn’t know whether this was good or bad—whether the medicine was working and helping expel the fever, or if the fever was still worsening.

Mo was kneeling beside the baby, crying as he gently wiped the baby’s forehead with a piece of soft hide.

Li Feng’s eyes stung at the sight.

Baby…

He leaned down again, pressing his forehead and chin against the baby’s forehead to feel the temperature. Although the baby’s fever had gone down a little earlier, Li Feng hoped he could fight even harder. Recently, they had fed the baby lots of milk, so his resistance should have strengthened.

Baby, Daddy’s precious one, please keep fighting. We’re all so worried, but we can only stand by helplessly. Please, just a little more effort—chase the sickness away!

Li Feng’s tears fell onto the baby’s still-warm forehead, cool drops against hot skin.

“Baby, you’re awake, come let Daddy hold you…”

Li Feng quickly wiped away his tears, joy filling his heart as he saw the baby open his eyes, making soft “ah ah” sounds while reaching for him. He immediately scooped him into his arms, showering him with kisses while gently patting his little head to cool him down.

Li sat beside them, wrapping his arms around father and son. He didn’t say anything—his deep black eyes were filled with worry. Illness was dangerous for children here. Every year, many babies in the tribe died because of it. His heart was heavy with worry and helplessness, but there was little else he could do besides silently supporting them.

“Li Feng, the baby will be fine.”

Li said solemnly, enunciating every word with force, “Believe me. Our An will be strong. You named him An [meaning ‘peace’], remember? He will definitely pull through safely.”

Li Feng stared at the handsome man in front of him, dazed. In that moment, he suddenly believed—this man’s words would surely come true.

Li was their pillar of strength, their mental support. Li Feng was truly exhausted. The tight string holding him together finally snapped. He leaned against Li, soaking up his warmth, finally allowing himself a little relaxation.

Lifting his head away from Li’s chest, Li Feng smiled—a bit tearfully but with real courage. “You’re right. Baby will definitely be fine!”

Watching them from the side, Bu and Nuo finally relaxed a little too. Li Feng’s earlier panic had truly frightened them—they had never seen him so close to collapse before. Although the baby hadn’t fully recovered yet, seeing Li Feng’s spirit come back gave them hope. Now, they could better focus on caring for the baby.

Childhood illnesses were extremely dangerous in the tribe because they didn’t know any medical techniques. They could only try to feed the sick children and hope they survived. That’s why everyone was so worried about the baby.

Li Feng, now more composed, told Li to watch over the baby carefully, not letting him catch a chill, while he went to prepare more medicine—more chrysanthemum and mint tea, and saltwater as well. Luckily, the baby’s temperature had stabilized, so it seemed the treatment was working.

That entire afternoon, the baby’s temperature neither rose nor fell. Everyone took turns caring for him. As night fell, they forced themselves to eat a simple meal. They needed strength to stay up all night to watch the baby—even if they had no appetite.

Li Feng was most afraid that the fever would rebound during the night, so he kept checking the baby’s temperature with his hand. Human skin was very sensitive, and he could pretty accurately detect changes.

Sure enough, just when they thought the baby might be getting better—around midnight—the fever surged again. The baby whimpered unconsciously, worrying everyone to death.

Li Feng quickly grabbed the medicinal broth he had kept warming over a small flame and fed it to the baby. He also wiped the baby’s body down with the medicine-soaked cloth.

Slowly, the fever subsided again. The baby whimpered a few times in Li Feng’s arms and fell back asleep.

The four adults stayed awake until dawn. They had coaxed Mo to sleep earlier, but the four of them stayed up, their eyes bloodshot from exhaustion. Thankfully, after that one relapse, the baby’s fever slowly but steadily dropped.

Finally, they could breathe a little easier.

Li Feng was overjoyed. Even though the baby wasn’t completely out of danger yet, he had survived the most critical moment. As long as the fever kept going down, he would be mostly recovered.

Relieved, Li Feng’s body gave out. His vision went black and he collapsed, luckily right into Li’s waiting arms.