Chapter 88: Memories with Wan Lu (I)

In the small Jiangnan village where Xia Cheng lives, there are many people who don’t read, and she is one of them. But it’s not that she doesn’t read, it’s that she can’t afford to read.

I was admitted to university, but I sighed because I couldn't afford the tuition, travel expenses and living expenses.

After Xia Cheng received the admission letter, she sat in the room for a long time before walking out.

Grandma is old and uses a cane. She can't see clearly because of cataracts. She has to run the stall to make wontons. Xia Cheng can't imagine her grandma living alone after she really leaves.

She didn't tell anyone that she had been admitted to a good university, and just stuffed the admission letter into the deepest cabinet.

She only responded to other people's questions with a smile, so the villagers naturally thought that she had not passed the exam. Some aunts who were not very close to her even tried to arrange a marriage for her.

Xia Cheng refused them one by one.

Others said, "Chengcheng, with your family conditions, you need a breadwinner who can make money."

Xia Cheng smiled softly. She hated being told that, but she wouldn't argue. She turned her back silently, thinking, "I'm the backbone of the family. I'm going to work in town in a few days and give all the money I earn to grandma. When she gets better, I'll go back to the city and make a lot of money!"

Unfortunately, Xia Cheng didn't get this chance. Her grandmother suddenly suffered from hypotension because she hadn't eaten breakfast and had been squatting by the river for a long time washing buckets. She fell in and never woke up again.

The person who discovered it was a village woman who went to the ditch to wash clothes.

When Xia Cheng heard the news, she was still selling wontons. The heat meant little business, and she was drenched in sweat and smelled like sour food. She rushed to the hospital but couldn't even afford the handling fee. She knelt on the ground, her hands shaking, tears streaming down her face.

The villagers raised money for her to bury her grandmother. From then on, Xia Cheng no longer had to worry about being left alone at home when she went far away.

Because she is the only one left at home.

Xia Cheng took out the admission letter from the closet and decided to go to college, just as her grandmother had told her when she was a child, to leave this backward and poor village.

But where would she get the money to go to college?

Xia Cheng originally wanted to go to a big city to work with her classmates. Coincidentally, a new milk tea shop opened in the town. When she accompanied her classmates there, she saw the recruitment information. The salary was unexpectedly considerable, so she went for an interview immediately. The boss saw that she had good qualifications and kept her.

In early June, the college entrance exams were over. In mid-June, my grandmother passed away. At the end of June, Xia Cheng started working, and the progress bar seemed to be moving forward at double speed. Xia Cheng felt somewhat fortunate to have found a job here.

However, her happiness did not last long, as an unexpected visitor disrupted her entire life trajectory.

The high summer temperature seemed to distort the air. Even the warm evening heat made Xia Cheng, who was tired all day, even more depressed. She rode her old blue and white bicycle, creaking back to a small bungalow. She first blew in front of the electric fan for a while, and then slowly went to boil water.

In order to save electricity, she used a wood-burning stove. When she rolled up her sleeves and trouser legs while putting firewood in the stove, her fair skin was bitten by mosquitoes and had several bumps.

She stamped her feet in itchiness and turned back to get some firewood, but was stunned to see that there was nothing in the urea bag.

It was dark, and many wild birds were flying in the sky. The villagers went to bed early. Xia Cheng hesitated for a while, took the urea bag and went out, locked the door, and prepared to pick up some firewood.

Her hair was wet with sweat and stuck to her forehead. Xia Cheng smelled her own sweat and walked into the woods to collect firewood without any concern.

When it got dark, she lit the miner's lamp, which her father brought back from outside when he was still alive. It was surprisingly durable, but it was a little too big for her head and always pressed against her nose, which was not comfortable at all.

She picked up some firewood and was about to go back when she heard the sound of dry leaves being stepped on behind her.

Is there a cat?

She looked back, but didn't see the cat. Instead, she saw a more sneaky figure, dressed in white and with black hair. She was so frightened that she didn't dare to look any further. Cold sweat broke out, and she moved hurriedly, making the branches under her feet crackle.

"Save me..."

A weak female voice prayed softly, with helplessness and despair, and kept slapping the fallen leaves, as if crushing the grove and making Xia Cheng dizzy.

"Save me... Please, save me, my child."

Hearing this, Xia Cheng turned around suddenly. What she was afraid of in the first place was not ghosts. What was so scary about ghosts? She just didn't want to meddle in other people's business. The village was remote and there were few people living alone. This woman was not a familiar face, and she couldn't tell whether it was good or bad if she was involved in something outside.

But the woman talked about her child.

Child, Xia Cheng couldn't just sit there and watch. She turned back and knelt beside the woman. Only then did she notice her bulging belly and the blood that kept flowing out from under her body.

"Save me..."

"I, I'll find someone to help you call the police and find a doctor! You wait here!"

"No, no." The woman shook her head and turned her head away because of Xia Cheng's light. "Don't go to the hospital, I will die..."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

Xia Cheng wanted to ask more questions, but the woman didn't answer her. She tilted her head and seemed to have fainted. Her thin face was covered by black hair and was pale.

She will die if this continues.

Having lost her grandmother, Xia Cheng had no way of turning a blind eye to the death of others. She gritted her teeth, threw away the urea bag in her hand, and held the woman's shoulders to carry her on her back, but the woman's belly was too big, so she could only carry the woman and run.

Only then did Xia Cheng notice that the woman was not unconscious, and her legs were moving as she supported her.

The darkening night swallowed up the two thin figures like a curtain.

There was no one on the road, so Xia Cheng breathed a sigh of relief. His hands were shaking as he unlocked the door, and he almost fell into the yard with the woman to feed the mosquitoes.

She helped the woman to the room where her grandmother used to live. The bedroom was small, and the room was immediately filled with the smell of blood, which wouldn't go away. When the window was opened, mosquitoes came in. Xia Cheng looked at the redness and swelling on the woman's arm and thought, if mosquitoes sucked a few more mouthfuls of blood, she would go into shock.

So she closed the doors and windows again and brought a small electric fan. The woman soon screamed in agony, even more miserable than a wild cat trapped in a trap.

"I'd better call the police!"

"No! Please, don't!" The woman was anxious to stop Xia Cheng, and she fell off the bed and rolled to the ground. Her thin arms hit the cold, hard and wet mud, and her body sank into the uneven ground. The blood under her body seemed to be unstoppable, covering the mud.

"I will die, and he will die too!"

"?" Xia Cheng thought she was talking about the baby in her belly and became anxious. "But you're bleeding all the time!"

"I'm about to give birth, please help me, please help me deliver the baby!"

"Me? I can't do that. I've only delivered sows, not humans."

"Help me!" The woman gasped for breath, her face covered in sweat, and a haggard expression of deep helplessness. "In the future, I will give you a lot of money!"

Xia Cheng swore that even if the woman didn't say this, she would save her.

But Xia Cheng was short of money. She had to go to college, and she wasn't sure if the money she earned from her summer job would last her a month after paying for accommodation and travel.

The village chief offered to sponsor her to go to college, but before going to college, she had to marry his son who had vitiligo. It was not that he looked down on the disease, but Xia Cheng hoped that the love she had never experienced would be sincere in the future.

She licked her dry, chapped lips and asked hesitantly, "How much?"

The woman held up a finger.

"Ten thousand!" Xia Cheng exclaimed, standing up. "I'll get some hot water and scissors to deliver your baby!"