The eldest sister-in-law, Li, glanced at Xiaoyue, who was about the same age as her eldest daughter, her face still showing traces of blood through the gauze. Her eyes filled with heartache. "Mother, Xiaoyue is a year younger than my sister-in-law, so she probably doesn't know how to cook. Besides, Xiaoyue herself said that she did what you asked her to do."

Xiaoyue picked up the shoe and threw it back at Grandma Ge, laughing, "Grandma Ge, these are Erping's shoes, right? If you don't want them, throw a pair over here. What's the point of throwing a broken shoe?"

Ge Erping glared at Xiaoyue and shouted, "Who are you calling a slut? You're the slut!" He then pointed at Xiaoyue and started cursing.

Old Man Ge and Ge Dalin extinguished the fire with a few buckets of water. Seeing that half of the kitchen was blackened by the fire, Ge Dalin pulled out the rice bag and carried it to the main room. Old Mrs. Ge hurriedly took the rice bag, took off her shoes, and was about to hit Xiaoyue.

Xiaoyue hurriedly said, "Aunt Ge, don't be in such a hurry to hit me. Doctor Hu is still treating Third Sister-in-law in the west wing, and he's already asked for five qian of silver."

Hearing that the doctor would ask for five qian of silver for the consultation and medicine, and seeing that so much rice was missing from the rice bag, Old Madam Ge's face fell. Seeing that things were going badly, her sister-in-law quickly grabbed Old Madam Ge.

Even if they grabbed the person, they couldn't shut them up. They started cursing without using any words: "You jinx, you troublemaker, you come to visit and cause all this trouble. Get out of here, get out of here!"

Cursing and swearing, Xiaoyue sat down on the kang and cried, "What sins have I committed? Where did Sanlin bring this troublemaker back? Get out of here, get out of here! Oh, how am I supposed to live?" He beat his chest and stomped his feet while glancing at Xiaoyue.

Xiaoyue pretended not to see anything, stood at the door and teased Xiaodouding. Seeing the look of fear in Xiaodouding's eyes as she looked at her grandmother, Xiaoyue rubbed Xiaodouding's little face and whispered to her, "Grandma is performing an opera."

The little boy opened his eyes wide, peered through the door frame, and asked Xiaoyue loudly, "Aunt Xiaoyue, what opera is Grandma singing?" His clear voice could be heard throughout the house.

"You wretched hussy, just like your dying mother, neither of you are any good." Old Mrs. Ge pointed at the little boy and cursed.

The little boy was stunned by the scolding. He blinked his big eyes, tears welling up in them. Xiaoyue felt sorry for the child and said, "Little boy, go stay with your mother and don't come out."

The child obediently hid in the west wing and sat there quietly wiping away tears.

Xiaoyue went to the outer room and brought a basin of water to Old Madam Ge. She then poured all the water from the basin onto Old Madam Ge, saying, "Aunt Ge, this is to cool you down. You're getting old, and too much anger can easily cause a stroke." Xiaoyue carried the basin into the yard and said in a sarcastic tone.

When Ge Erping saw the old lady being bullied, he rushed to Xiaoyue without thinking twice. Without saying a word, he grabbed Xiaoyue's hair and pulled it. Xiaoyue was caught off guard and Ge Erping grabbed her hair.

Xiaoyue was half a head shorter than Ge Erping, so she was no match for him.

Ge Erping grabbed Xiaoyue by the hair and dragged her to the ground. He straddled Xiaoyue and was about to hit her when the goose heard the noise, spread its wings, stretched its neck, and flew over. It aimed at Ge Erping's face and pinched his cheeks hard with its flat beak until they turned purple.

Startled, Ge Erping hurriedly dodged the goose, giving Xiaoyue an opportunity to flip over, pin Ge Erping down, grab his hair, and slap him four or five times.

The whole yard was in chaos. Old Man Ge grabbed his cow whip and was about to hit Xiaoyue.

Xiaoyue had already seen Old Man Ge take the whip. Just as Old Man Ge came over and raised the whip, Xiaoyue rolled several times on the ground. The whip struck Ge Erping, who let out a howl and turned pale.

Xiaoyue had experienced the power of Old Man Ge's whip in her previous life; one lash was enough to make Ge Erping turn pale and roll on the ground.

Old Man Ge raised his whip and pointed it at Xiaoyue, but Xiaoyue circled around Ge Erping. When Old Man Ge realized he couldn't catch up with Xiaoyue, he raised his whip again, but Xiaoyue jumped over Ge Erping again, and the whip landed on Ge Erping's body.

Ge Erping was whipped until he was bent over like a shrimp, his face covered in snot and tears. He reached out and grabbed his father, crying loudly, "Father, please stop hitting me, please stop hitting me."

The physician couldn't examine Ge Erping's injuries because Ge Erping was still a virgin.

When Xiaoyue saw her sister-in-law Li enter the courtyard, she dusted off her clothes and went to greet her. Li smiled and said, "Come to my house for dinner, I've already prepared the meal."

As he spoke, he rushed to Ge Erping, who was lying on the ground, and tried to help him up, but Ge Erping was crying and couldn't get up.

Xiaoyue, with her hair all messy, stood in the courtyard and blocked the people who wanted to eat: "Aunt Ge, I haven't paid my third sister-in-law's medical fee yet. Brother Sanlin clearly left you three taels of silver when he left, and you're just going to leave my third sister-in-law sick and not treat her?"

"Besides, Ge Erping was beaten so badly by Old Man Ge, shouldn't we at least give him a check-up and buy him some wound healing ointment or something?"

Xiaoyue called out towards the west wing again: "Doctor Hu, can you cure Third Sister-in-law's illness? Is five qian of silver too much?"

When Old Lady Ge saw Doctor Hu in the courtyard, she slowly took out the copper coins from her pocket with hatred on her face and deliberately threw them all over the yard.

"Does the Ge family look down on you, Doctor Hu? Why did they throw the copper coins they gave you on the ground? From what I've seen in big towns, they only throw the money on the ground for beggars to pick up."

Grandma Ge rolled her eyes and quickly told her eldest daughter-in-law to pick up the copper coins. She counted out 500 copper coins before handing them to Xiaoyue.

Grandma Ge glared at Xiaoyue and said fiercely, "You and that little brat are not allowed to eat today."

Xiaoyue rolled her eyes at the old lady, thinking to herself, "You think you can just refuse to eat like that? There's still half a bag of rice in the pot, enough for us." Ignoring Ge Erping's reaction, she turned and went inside.

Xiaoyue gave five qian of silver to Doctor Hu. Doctor Hu looked at Xiaoyue with satisfaction, gave her the prescription, and told her to go get the medicine after she finished eating.

When Xiaoyue saw Doctor Hu off, Ge Erping was nowhere to be found. With no one in the courtyard, Xiaoyue quickly led the little boy to the kitchen to dredge the ashes from the stove.

They found the three potatoes, half-cooked and half-mushy, still warm. In the kitchen, they removed the mush from the potatoes, peeled off the skins, put them in a small bowl, and gave it to the little girl so she could eat with her mother.

Then they lifted the lid of the pot. The bottom was burnt, but the top was still raw. They used a spoon to scoop the raw and half-cooked food into a large bowl. There was a layer of cooked food on the burnt side, so they scraped that cooked layer off. That made three bowls for two people.

Xiaoyue went to Doctor Hu's house again to get a month's supply of medicine. When she returned, she started brewing the medicine.

...

The next day, before Xiaoyue even got up from the kang (a heated brick bed), she heard a loud banging on the door. Xiaoyue quickly hugged the little girl and comforted her, telling her not to be afraid.

Xiaoyue then put her own clothes on the child as well.

Lu Xiaomei started coughing painfully again in the room.

Xiaoyue picked up the potty that Xiaodouding had used last night, opened the window, and poured the liquid from the potty all over the person.