Chapter 56: Drinking Medicine

The news that the second son of the Ye family was a pauper spread throughout the Hetougou Commune like wings.

Old Mrs. Cui at home couldn't sit still anymore.

Pointing at the hens in the yard, he cursed, "Ye Xiuhong, this unlucky star! I thought she was a phoenix that lays golden eggs, but it turns out she's just a hen that doesn't lay eggs!"

She said that the Ye family was so poor, how could they have any rich people?

"Bah! The poor fellow from Hong Kong is worse than the bachelor at the village entrance. He doesn't even have a house when he returns to the village."

Old Mrs. Cui put down the chicken feeder and went to the door to wait for Cui Erzhu to get off work. The more important thing was to give birth to a grandson as soon as possible.

As the sun was setting, Cui Erzhu returned home carrying the hammer.

"Erzhu, go to Xinghua's house to pick up the bride tomorrow."

"Mom, didn't we agree to pick Xiuhong up after she calmed down?"

Cui Erzhu had just returned from the fields. These days, he had been thinking about his mother's promise to bring Xiuhong back, and he was so energetic that he had to hoe the fields. He had long regretted letting his mother bully Xiuhong.

Old Mrs. Cui waved her hand in disdain. "Why are you picking it up? You thought it was inlaid with gold, but it turned out to be worse than a piece of broken copper and iron. Go pick the apricot blossoms tomorrow."

Mrs. Cui's indifferent attitude made Zhang Erzhu completely furious. He threw the hoe to the ground, his eyes red as he asked loudly, "So you lie to me every day, Mom! Is Xiuhong so annoying to you? I won't marry that flower. My wife is Xiuhong. If you want to marry someone, marry her yourself."

After saying that, he slammed the door and went back into the house.

Old Lady Cui chased after her son and said, "Is your head stuffed with donkey hair? What good is that weird woman?"

Old Mrs. Cui was angry alone in the yard. She knew that her son had been bewitched by that vixen and had lost his way!

When Old Man Cui came back from work, he saw his wife making a fuss again, so he quietly took a bowl, put some food on it, and went out to find a place to eat. If he couldn't afford to provoke him, he could afford to avoid him.

The next day, Old Mrs. Cui asked Cui Erzhu to pick up Xinghua early in the morning.

"Xinghua doesn't want a betrothal gift or a wedding banquet. All we need is a meal together. What a good deal! Why don't you go and pick her up!"

Old Mrs. Cui followed her son and tried to persuade him, but Cui Erzhu turned a deaf ear to her and ignored her.

He washed his face and picked up his hoe to go to work, saying, "I would rather be single than marry her."

"You unfilial son, you are going to piss your mother off to death!"

Old Mrs. Cui had no choice but to go ahead and pick the apricot blossoms herself, and asked Old Man Cui to give her two dollars and prepare a feast at home.

"Old man, don't go to work today. Take two dollars and cook a feast at home."

"Two dollars? Oh well, I can finally have a good meal." It was a rare occasion for Old Man Cui to get money from his wife, and he was so happy that he didn't know what to do.

After receiving the warm two yuan, Old Man Cui remembered Ye Xiuhong and said to his wife anxiously, "But our Erzhu hasn't divorced Xiuhong yet, so how can we bring Xinghua over now?"

Old Lady Cui spitted at the old man, "Pah! If we hadn't wanted to wait for her second uncle, we would have married Xinghua a long time ago. She might be pregnant now, why are we still waiting? We should just bring her home to have the baby first. We can't get a divorce until then!"

Old Lady Cui hardened her heart, dug a piece of pig fat from the jar, and wrapped it with half a pound of brown sugar, the only thing in the family, as a gift. She went out with full confidence, "I don't believe that if I marry my wife, he won't give birth to a grandson!"

Xinghua Family

"What's going on with the Cui family? They haven't come to pick us up even though the sun is high in the sky. I hope they don't cause any more trouble." Xinghua's mother looked at the door, feeling a little anxious.

They finally found a good-looking guy for their daughter, but her family didn't even ask for a dowry or a wedding banquet, and the Cui family even pushed it away.

Xinghua had put on some white powder today, and her two braids were tied with red hairbands. She was patching her lips with red paper. "Mom, his mother is obviously not a good person. She dares to embarrass us before we even get married. What a piece of shit!"

Xinghua's mother checked the package she was going to bring for her daughter and snorted, "What are you afraid of? Can she be as unreasonable as your mother? After you get married, I'll go deal with Old Lady Cui."

The Xinghua family is a rogue family that has no rivals in the whole village.

After saying that, she was still worried and continued to instruct her daughter, "Don't bother with that old woman when you get there. Don't do any work. Her last daughter-in-law was pretty and good at managing the household, but she still drove her away. Old Mrs. Cui deserves to be punished. If she dares to provoke you, go to the village and cry. She wouldn't dare to divorce her son twice. Wait for your mother to come and support you."

Inside the house, Xinghua's mother was teaching her daughter how to suppress Old Lady Cui when someone finally arrived at the door.

"Hey, Sister Cui, why are you here alone? Is that Erzhu from our family?" Aunt Xinghua was waiting at the door to welcome the Cui family. After waiting for a long time, Old Mrs. Cui came. She looked behind and saw that there was indeed no one in sight.

"Well, Erzhu wanted to work a few more days so that Xinghua could live a good life. I came here alone today." Old Mrs. Cui explained to her new in-laws haltingly.

"Are you, the Cui family, showing off again? You can't stop showing off every day! You think you are the officials!" Xinghua's third uncle sat under the eaves, clenching his fists and looking at Old Lady Cui, as if he would punch her at the next second.

Frightened, Mrs. Cui waved her hands repeatedly, "How could that be possible? It's just that his wife wouldn't let go a few days ago, and Erzhu couldn't leave, so it's been delayed until today."

Xinghua's father, who had been silent the whole time, couldn't help but hear this.

"Her in-laws, this isn't how things should be done. Have you guys sorted things out with them? My daughter Xinghua can't just marry into that family without any clear plan."

"That's right. If you ask me, let's just get the divorce and marriage done today. Later, we'll go to the Ye family to find the daughter-in-law and her mother-in-law. You can also call Erzhu and we can handle the matter together at the Civil Affairs Bureau."

Aunt Xinghua thought her idea was good. The girl from the Cui family was so beautiful that even an old woman like her wanted to take a few more glances at her. They would not feel at ease unless they watched Cui Erzhu tear up the divorce certificate with their own eyes.

Old Mrs. Cui felt very miserable. If she could call her son, would she be able to stand here alone?

"Well, aunt-in-law, how about we get married today and go to the Civil Affairs Bureau tomorrow? One day off is too rushed."

Xinghua's mother, who had been listening from inside, walked out slowly and glanced at Old Lady Cui with contempt. "Her mother-in-law, what's wrong with your son? He wants to marry two wives. There's such a good thing in this world. Let's not get married today. Let's go to the commune and ask the leaders to judge the matter. I'll take you out to the street to learn from you."

Old Mrs. Cui was frightened by the thought of going to the commune. She was afraid that she would really be paraded through the streets. She agreed incoherently, "Let's do it. Let's do it all today. I'll go home and call Erzhu."

Xinghua's mother returned to the house satisfied and taught her daughter, "See? This old lady Cui is a bully who only cares about the weak and the strong. Don't be afraid of her when you go over there. If she's tough, you'll be tougher than her."

Xinghua has inherited her mother's skills since she was young.

"Mom, don't worry, I will definitely make sure this old woman is well taken care of."

"That's right, she's worthy of being my daughter. As someone's daughter-in-law, you have to be a bitch to live a comfortable life!"

Old Mrs. Cui hurried home. Now she didn't know what kind of person she had married with all the hardship.

When Old Mrs. Cui returned home, she thought about it for a long time but couldn't think of a way to persuade her son. Seeing Old Man Cui preparing the food for the feast, she slapped her forehead.

"That's right! Oh, I'm so clever."

He ran to the vegetable garden in the yard to find the pesticides for farming and secretly brought them into the house.

She opened the pesticide bottle and smelled it. The smell made Old Mrs. Cui see stars, so she quickly put the bottle back on.

"How do you drink this?"

Clutching the pesticide, she was worried her son would notice if she pretended to drink it, but she didn't want to really die. So she quietly found a teacup, filled it with water, unscrewed the pesticide bottle, and dripped a drop into it. Then she sat on the kang, looking at the teacup in her hand, thinking of her grandson. With a determined heart, she took a small sip, threw the teacup to the ground, and started shouting, "Ouch! I'm going to die! Ouch! Help!"

Old man Cui, who was chopping cabbage in the yard, heard the sound and quickly ran into the house.

"What's wrong?"

In the room, Old Mrs. Cui was rolling on the kang, holding her stomach. There was a puddle of water on the ground, and there was an opened bottle of pesticide on the table.

"Old woman, drink this!" Old man Cui pointed at the pesticide bottle with trembling fingers and asked Old Mrs. Cui in disbelief.

Old Mrs. Cui was so engrossed in acting that she just kept holding her stomach and crying out, but in fact she didn't feel anything at all.

"Oh, I'd rather die. I've had enough of living. Oh!"

Seeing that she couldn't hear him, Old Man Cui hurried out to find someone to help carry the baby to the clinic, and at the same time asked someone to go to the field to call Erzhu back.

Old Mrs. Cui lay on the door panel and cried all the way. When she arrived at the clinic, the village barefoot doctor was so scared when he heard that she had drunk pesticide that he said he couldn't cure her. He gave Old Mrs. Cui some soapy water and asked Old Man Cui to take her to the commune hospital immediately.

The group rushed back to the village to borrow the team's tractor.

After hearing the letter, Cui Erzhu rushed back from the field and saw his mother lying on the tractor, rolling around in pain.

"Mom, what's wrong with you? Why did you drink pesticide?"

Cui Erzhu quickly supported his mother on his body to make her feel more comfortable.

"Erzhu, I've delayed you. If you want to find that vixen, go ahead. I won't care about you anymore from now on. Ouch, my stomach is sore."

Old Mrs. Cui leaned weakly on her son and gave Cui Erzhu instructions as if she was making arrangements for her last wishes.

Cui Erzhu felt so upset that his heart was about to break. He just wanted to get his wife back, so why was his mother so unwilling to let it go?

"Mom, I will listen to you. I will listen to you from now on. Please hold on. I won't look for Xiuhong anymore. I really won't." Cui Erzhu took off his cotton-padded jacket and wrapped it around his mother, carefully tucking in the collar.

At this moment, Mrs. Cui finally tasted the flavor, and her stomach really hurt this time.

"Oh my goodness! Oh my God! It hurts so much, ouch!"

She cried and screamed all the way to the commune hospital. After being sent to the hospital and receiving injections and gastric lavage, Old Mrs. Cui was completely exhausted and lay listlessly on the hospital bed.

The attending physician told Cui's family, "The patient drank a small amount, so he may have some mild side effects, but his life is not in danger. After all, it was pesticide. He needs to be hospitalized for another three or four days for observation."

"Doctor, what are the sequelae?" Cui Erzhu asked hurriedly

The doctor said, "It's hard to say. We need to observe further. There may be no sequelae, or there may be problems such as cognitive impairment, gastrointestinal damage, and impaired kidney function. But she drank little, so it's not a big problem."

Cui Erzhu didn't understand what the doctor said at first, and only breathed a sigh of relief when he heard the doctor say that it was not a serious problem.

"Thank you, doctor. Thank you, doctor."

Old Mrs. Cui was lying on the hospital bed, seriously ill and receiving an IV drip. Old Man Cui and Cui Erzhu thanked the villagers for their help and came in to see her.

"Mother of the child, why are you doing this? Is Xiuhong that bad?" Old man Cui sat aside and looked at his wife in confusion. Xiuhong was a very well-behaved child except that she couldn't give birth. Why did she look down on her?

Old Mrs. Cui was too lazy to pay attention to him. She turned to look at her son, waiting for the answer in her heart.

"Don't worry, Mom. Stop thinking about it. I will go get a divorce certificate from Xiuhong tomorrow." Cui Erzhu looked at his mother. He just figured it out. It was his great luck that he could marry the fairy-like Xiuhong. He was not worthy of Xiuhong at all. His family had used up all his luck.

"Oh, good, hurry up and divorce that unlucky person. The apricot blossoms are sure to give birth, so next year we'll have a big fat boy, which is better than anything else."

Old Mrs. Cui's eyes narrowed into slits as she laughed, and her silly son finally figured it out, why was his face a little wet?

"Old woman, why are you drooling while talking?" Old man Cui wiped her face with his sleeve.

Old Mrs. Cui quickly reached out and touched her face, and found it was covered with drool.

"What's going on?"

Old Mrs. Cui found that she couldn't control the saliva in her mouth when she spoke, and she couldn't close her mouth!

Cui Erzhu hurried to find a doctor.

"Doctor, please go see my mother!"

The doctor examined Mrs. Cui and said, "It's a minor aftereffect of drinking pesticides. Facial nerve damage. Simply put, it's because of pesticide poisoning that your mother can't control the muscles in her mouth, which causes her to drool when she speaks."

"What! From now on, I will drool every time I open my mouth. I will be worse than a two-month-old baby!" As Old Mrs. Cui spoke, her saliva flowed down to her chin again. She quickly closed her mouth and wiped the saliva with her sleeve.

"Doctor, can this be cured?" Cui Erzhu asked the doctor.

He's going to be laughed out loud if he does this.

"It's hard to say. Take medicine to control it first. It may be cured after a few months, or it may be a lifelong condition." The doctor said to Cui Erzhu while prescribing medicine.

Old Mrs. Cui was already wailing loudly on the bed. "Damn Ye Xiuhong! It's all her fault. If I hadn't married her, how could I have gotten this strange disease! Damn the good daughter born to the old Ye family!"

When Cui Erzhu heard that she blamed Xiuhong for this, he frowned and walked out with the medical prescription.

No wonder Xiuhong can’t stay in this house anymore, it’s impossible to communicate with her mother!

After staying in the hospital for three days and spending twelve yuan on medication and injections, the distressed old lady Cui said she would not stay any longer and packed up her things and insisted on going home.

Cui Erzhu and his father couldn't persuade her, so they had to ask the doctor to prescribe medicine for her saliva for a month, and borrowed the brigade's tractor to take her home.

As soon as they got home, Old Mrs. Cui drove Cui Erzhu to Xiahe Village to ask Ye Xiuhong for a divorce.

Ye Xiuhong was about to go to the fields with her mother, and she ran into Cui Erzhu as soon as she went out.

"Hey, isn't this Mr. Cui who is going to marry a concubine?"

When Jin Fenglian saw her ex-son-in-law, her anger rose from her feet to her head.

Cui Erzhu looked at Ye Xiuhong without blinking.

She was much prettier than when she was in Cui's family. Perhaps it was because she had been doing well and living comfortably in Ye's family recently, Ye Xiuhong had turned back into the girl she was before, with red lips, white teeth, shiny black hair, and a bright smile on her face, like an unmarried girl of eighteen or nineteen.

"Hey, hey! Hey, what are you looking at? Do you think you can see it? Go home and look at your apricot blossoms! Tell me what you are doing here!"

Seeing him looking at her daughter with a crazy look on his face, Jin Fenglian put her fat body in front of her daughter and chased him out like a hooligan.

Cui Erzhu quickly said, "Mom, I'm here today to get Xiuhong a divorce."

When Jin Fenglian heard that he was here to get a divorce, she stopped trying to chase him out and said, "Then wait here. Xiuhong, come inside with mom first."

Cui Erzhu looked at Ye Xiuhong eagerly, but Ye Xiuhong didn't even glance at him from beginning to end and followed Jin Fenglian into the house.

Jin Fenglian walked into the room and saw Ye Laosan still eating, so she walked up to him and knocked his chopsticks away.

"What are you eating! That bastard is here. Hurry up and ask for leave from the brigade. Let's take Xiuhong to get a divorce."

Along the way, Cui Erzhu tried to find an opportunity to talk to Ye Xiuhong, but was blocked by Jin Fenglian like an old hen protecting her chicks.

When he arrived at the Civil Affairs Bureau, he didn't say a word to Ye Xiuhong.

At the entrance of the Civil Affairs Bureau, the Xinghua family was already waiting.

"I knew the guy in front of him was handsome, but I didn't expect him to be so handsome. He's the best in the area." Aunt Xinghua looked at Ye Xiuhong and made a pertinent comment.

"This Old Lady Cui is really a troublemaker. She's not even satisfied with such a daughter-in-law. Xinghua, you can't be nice to her when you go there. Ye Xiuhong has a good temper, and that's why she's bullied by Old Lady Cui. You have to control her." Xinghua's mother worriedly warned her daughter.

Xinghua looked at the swan-like Ye Xiuhong and couldn't help feeling inferior. Her mother was right. She was not as pretty as Ye Xiuhong and could not win over Cui Erzhu. She had to use some tricks to control Old Lady Zhang.

"Don't worry, Mom. It's not easy to deal with an old woman!"