By the river, several women were washing clothes, young and old alike.
It was evident that this stretch of river was where the villagers came to do their laundry.
Not far upstream, a wooden bridge spanned the water, and a few children were playing boisterously on it.
Clearly, these children had been brought by the women washing clothes.
Occasionally, when a child became too unruly, a woman would shout.
She used a dialect that Su Xiaotian couldn't understand.
Su Xiaotian respectfully found a large rock and began washing her clothes with water.
These women had never seen Su Xiaotian before, but some recognized Su Sangong.
Those who greeted Su Sangong were met with his smiling response.
Su Sangong even introduced Su Xiaotian's identity to the women.
They would be living here for twenty days, and building good relationships with the village women would make many things more convenient.
When the women heard Su Sangong say he had brought his younger sister, they smiled kindly at Su Xiaotian.
The atmosphere was quite harmonious.
"Third Brother, the ones washing clothes are all women. Won't you feel awkward, being a young man?" Su Xiaotian asked teasingly.
In this era, most household chores were done by women, and men rarely took the initiative to do housework, including washing clothes and cooking.
But Su Sangong was very nonchalant about it. "I used to come here to wash my own clothes. I didn't feel awkward."
He had visited a few times before, but each time his stay was relatively short.
When he first started coming to the river to wash clothes, he had indeed seen people pointing and gossiping, but after a few times, everyone seemed to have gotten used to it.
The most important thing was that Su Sangong also did housework at home, so he didn't feel awkward.
The siblings worked quickly. Summer clothes were light, and with laughter and conversation, a few pieces of clothing were washed.
The sky was gradually darkening.
After rinsing the last piece of clothing, Su Xiaotian and Su Sangong stood up, preparing to leave the riverbank.
Su Sangong stood up and gestured to Su Xiaotian.
"Xiaotian, the rocks by the river are slippery. Be careful!"
Before Su Sangong could finish speaking, the siblings heard a "plop."
They quickly turned to look and saw a child playing on the wooden bridge not far away had slipped and fallen into the water.
The children here grew up by the water and most of them knew how to swim. Even if they fell into the river, there was no need to worry; they could swim to the shore themselves.
Su Xiaotian was worried, but Su Sangong just watched with a smile.
"Third Brother, why are you smiling?" Su Xiaotian asked.
Third Brother wasn't the type to refuse to help others, so why was he smiling now?
"It's nothing. The children here grew up by the river. They'll be fine!"
Su Sangong quickly explained.
Su Xiaotian felt a little relieved, but then her expression changed.
A woman washing clothes by the river seemed to have just realized what was happening.
"Help! Little Liu doesn't know how to swim! Help!"
The cry came from a woman, who rushed frantically towards the river, but the child had fallen from the bridge and was in the middle of the river.
The woman's swimming skills were likely not good, and she was wearing clothes in the water. Swimming against the current, she couldn't get close to the child at all.
Su Sangong placed the basin in his hands directly on the ground, ran along the riverbank towards the wooden bridge, and stripped off his clothes, discarding them by the river.
Su Sangong was very fast. With a few strides, he reached the wooden bridge and jumped directly into the river, swimming rapidly towards the child.
Su Xiaotian watched her Third Brother's actions, and it took her a while to snap out of her daze.
The child in the middle of the river indeed couldn't swim. In a short time, his head had disappeared from view.
Su Xiaotian clenched her fists tightly, afraid of any danger to the child.
She also prayed that Third Brother would return to shore safely.
The woman was still struggling in the river. Several other women quickly called out to her to come ashore, saying someone was already going to help.
Soon, Su Sangong emerged from the water, holding the fallen child.
However, after choking on water, the child had lost consciousness.
The women washing clothes by the river now forgot about their laundry and crowded around.
"This one is probably beyond saving."
"Last spring, Da Zhuangzi fell into the river, and when they pulled him out, he couldn't be saved."
"And Little Douzi from the next village, it was the same."
"Poor thing, oh dear, how could such a good child fall into the water?"
The women looked at Little Liu, whose teeth were clenched shut, and speculated.
Su Xiaotian had also recovered from her shock. She pushed aside the people surrounding Su Sangong and Little Liu.
"Everyone, please make way. Let me take a look!"
The women were displeased by the young girl suddenly rushing forward to examine the child.
What was there to see in such a commotion?
But Su Xiaotian wasn't there to watch the excitement. She hurried to the child's side.
"Third Brother, we need to perform emergency resuscitation. First, get the water out of the child's stomach!"
Su Xiaotian directed Su Sangong to save the child while asking the crowd to step back a bit.
However, the onlookers were unwilling to retreat.
"There's an auntie still in the river. Go help pull her out. I see she's out of strength."
Since the crowd was not willing to step back voluntarily, Su Xiaotian thought of this method.
The woman who had jumped into the river to save the child was indeed out of strength.
She was a woman with poor stamina, and swimming against the current had consumed a lot of her energy. After seeing the child rescued, she had instantly lost all her strength.
A few women, reminded by Su Xiaotian, rushed to save her.
The younger one was beyond saving, but they couldn't just let the older one be swept away by the water.
Seeing the women rushing to save the woman, Su Xiaotian finally felt relieved and worked with Su Sangong to save the child.
Fortunately, the child had been in the water for a short time. Even though he had choked, after Su Xiaotian's emergency resuscitation, the child slowly regained consciousness.
At this time, the women had already dragged the woman who had jumped into the water to save the child ashore.
After reaching the shore, the woman ignored everything else and stumbled towards Su Xiaotian.
She had thought the child was truly beyond saving.
When the other women pulled her up, they had said the child had stopped breathing.
But now, she clearly saw Little Liu's eyes open.
Although he was very weak, he was indeed alive.
Little Liu even weakly called out, "Auntie!"
This call made the woman weep with joy.
"Little Liu, you scared your aunt to death! You really scared me!"
The woman hugged the just-revived Little Liu.
"If anything had happened to you, how would I explain it to your parents!"
The women nearby, who had thought Little Liu was gone, were now seeing him alive.
For a moment, they found it hard to believe.
How was this possible? In the past two years, several children had drowned in the village river, and none of them had been saved after being pulled out.
How could these people from the city be so capable?
Had they really brought the child back from the brink of death?