Chapter 49 (First published on Jinjiang Literature City)

Cheng Ying raised an eyebrow, surprised that her father was such a romantic, loving only her mother from beginning to end.

“I will tell Mei Shu what you said truthfully,” Cheng Ying said, then stood up and left.

"Wait a minute," Cheng Jiantong called out to her.

“?” Cheng Ying turned to look at him.

Cheng Jiantong hesitated for a moment and said, "I know that young man named Long Buxi is very good-looking, but his parents are both ruthless lunatics. People in their village are afraid of them, and many have grudges against them. He is in a very bad situation. Dad hopes that when you look for a partner, you will keep your eyes open and not just look at appearances."

"Why are you telling me all this? Do you think I would be interested in Long Buxi?" Cheng Ying laughed. "I admit, he is indeed handsome, but I have no feelings for him right now. He is the future clan chief of Pucang Village, and I am the postman. We are destined to be on different paths. Even if I do have something with him someday, what use is his good looks if he is unwilling to leave the village and marry into our family?"

Cheng Jiantong breathed a sigh of relief. “It’s good that you think that way. You’ve always been a person of your own mind. The people in Pucang Village aren’t very friendly to outsiders. You’re a government-sponsored postman, and they dare to use a curse on you. If it were an outsider, they might use a curse to kill them directly. That’s why I didn’t let your mother or your sister go to Pucang Village to look for you. Don’t blame your father for being heartless and not asking anyone to look for you after you fell down the mountain. I was afraid that outsiders who went to Pucang Village wouldn’t understand the taboos of the Miao people and would anger them and lose their lives.”

"I don't blame you. After all, in your eyes, outsiders are more important than me, your daughter." Cheng Ying said sarcastically, then walked out of the room without even looking at his expression.

Dinner was ready as it was getting dark.

Dinner was plentiful: a plate of tender, bright red cured pork cheek slices, thinly sliced ​​and stewed until tender; a plate of bright red, equally sliced ​​cured sausages; a bowl of tender, pale yellow steamed eggs; a bowl of fragrant, emerald green loofah soup; and brown rice with bits of corn and millet, cooked to a yellow and white hue. It all looked delicious.

As usual, the mother and her two daughters brought the food into the room where Wan Shuhui and her husband lived, placed it on a small square table, and ate and chatted.

Wan Shuhui was mainly curious about what had happened to Cheng Ying in the Miao village these past few days. Cheng Ying didn't want her to worry, so she concealed the fact that she had been poisoned by a curse and only mentioned a few things.

When Cheng Ying spoke of Mei Shu, Wan Shuhui was neither angry nor jealous. Instead, she sighed and said, "Mei Shu is a pitiful person. Back then, she fell in love with your father, but he didn't like her. Even when she used a love spell on him, he refused to give in and even took me to see her. After she was heartbroken, she removed the spell from your father. In the second month after I married your father, I heard from him that she had also gotten married. At the time, I thought she was just being stubborn with your father and that's why she got married. Later, I found out that her husband had used a love spell on her, forcing her to marry someone she didn't love and spend her whole life with him."

At this point, Wan Shuhui looked at Cheng Ying with a serious expression and said, "Xiao Ying, your father and I went to Pucang Village once. We know that the Miao people there, both men and women, are very good-looking, with striking appearances that easily make people like them. However, they are cunning, eccentric, and have backward, feudal, and stubborn ideas. They might use witchcraft on someone at the slightest disagreement, trying to kill them. Don't be fooled by the good looks of the Miao people in that village, don't easily believe what they say, and don't let them manipulate you. Also, don't have any improper thoughts about them, or they might use witchcraft on you!"

Cheng Ying ate a piece of cured pork head meat with alternating layers of fat and lean meat, which smelled of fruitwood. She savored the oily and salty taste on her tongue and nodded, "Mom, I know."

The people of Pucang Village are a unique presence in their county, not only because the Miao people are a minority and receive preferential treatment from the national and local governments, but also because they are all native Miao people who know how to make and use Gu poison. They are a force to be reckoned with and should not be messed with.

The Miao people of Pucang Village rarely leave the village, and outsiders are not allowed to enter it at will. If an outsider accidentally wanders into the village, they can leave as soon as possible and all will be well.

However, if someone enters the village with ulterior motives and angers the Miao people, they may be poisoned by the Miao people and tortured to death. Even if the family reports the case to the police station, the police officers will not be able to find any trace of murder or who poisoned them. They can only close the case as if the person died of a parasitic infection due to delayed medical treatment.

Cheng Ying had never seen a Gu worm before. She thought that since she was a postman and a government-appointed cadre, the Miao people of Pucang Village wouldn't harm her. She believed that the secrets others kept about Pucang Village were just rumors.

Who would have thought she would fall for the Gu poison? After seeing the tens of thousands of insects at Long Buxi's house, she immediately became obedient.

Those Miao people are truly lawless, arrogant, unreasonable, and do whatever they want. They even dare to use witchcraft on her, a postman. What wouldn't they dare to do?

From now on, when she delivers messages to Pucang Village, she will never linger, lest she cause herself a lot of trouble.

After finishing their meal, Cheng Ying and Cheng Xue cleared away the dishes and squatted down in the left corner of the yard next to the water vat to wash them.

"Xiaoxue, how was things at home while I was away?" Cheng Ying asked, wiping the plates with an old loofah sponge.

Cheng Xue stood by the water tank, rinsing the dishes she had washed, and whispered, "Sister, you don't know, after the Cheng family found out you fell down the mountain, they were so gloating. They said a lot of sarcastic things to Dad and Mom. They said you ruined Cheng Chunfu's life, and even God couldn't stand it, so He stepped in to punish you, and you deserved to fall down the mountain... They also said that Dad doesn't have a son, and yet he gave you the postman's job, which is a complete waste of a good job... It made Dad and Mom so angry that Dad, unusually, joined Mom in cursing at the entire Cheng family, and they almost came to blows."

"They really can't shake their disgusting habits." Cheng Ying knew very well what kind of people the Cheng family were. Given their character, she would find it strange if they didn't cause trouble after she got into trouble.

What surprised her was that her blindly filial father, after experiencing a series of changes, finally saw clearly what kind of people his parents and brothers were, and finally stood on her mother's side, knowing how to protect her. Arguing with the Cheng family was a belated awakening.

The two sisters took the washed dishes to the cupboard in the kitchen. After finishing everything, they boiled water, took a bath, and returned to their room to go to sleep.

Before going to sleep, Cheng Ying sat on the edge of the bed, took out the jar of ointment from the mailbag, and evenly applied a layer of dark green ointment to her body. The room was filled with a strange smell of herbs and rotting insects.

Cheng Ying was skeptical of Long Buxi's ways, but that didn't stop her from using the medicine he made.

Regardless of Long Buxi's motives for saving her life, since his medicine could heal her injuries in a short time, she might as well use it.

Cheng Xue watched Cheng Ying apply the medicine with curiosity: "Sister, you said you fell off a cliff more than 80 meters high. When you woke up, your hand and foot were not broken, and your back and body were not seriously injured. However, you had this strange medicine on your body, and there were traces of insect bites all over your joints. Don't you think this is too strange? For ordinary people, falling from a height of 20 meters would result in fractures, broken hands and feet. You fell from such a height and were unconscious for only about a week. How could you be completely unharmed?"

Cheng Ying had also thought about this question. "Long Buxi said that he applied his special Miao medicine to me, which is why I recovered so quickly. But I know in my heart that no matter how good the Miao medicine in their village is, it is impossible to achieve the effect of repairing wounds at the speed of light and making wounds heal quickly in a short period of time. I am more inclined to believe that when he saved me, he felt that I was about to die from the fall. After feeding me his special Miao medicine, he also used Gu worms on me to heal my body."

“That’s possible.” Cheng Xue leaned over the bed, looking with interest at the medicine jar beside her. “If that’s the case, it would explain how you were able to move around unharmed after falling from such a height. I’ve heard many mysterious rumors about the Miao people, and most of them say that they are skilled at using poisonous creatures to concoct gu, poisons, and medicines. They usually use gu and medicine to harm people, and there are very few stories of them saving lives. If there really were such mysterious gu worms that could save people, would they have saved you?”

“Who knows?” Cheng Ying was also confused. “If not, I fell from such a high place and woke up completely fine, with insect bite marks on my arm joints. How do you explain that? And our dad, he also fell off the mountain and was more seriously injured than me, but he survived. If it were anyone else, falling from such a high mountain, they would have died long ago. How could they still be alive?”

She applied the medicine, closed the remaining jar of ointment, carefully put it back in the parcel, and turned to ask Cheng Xue, "When you and Mom saw Dad, did you see any insect bite marks on his body?"

Cheng Xue thought about it carefully, "When Mom and I found out that Dad had fallen down the mountain, we were both panicked. We hurriedly found an oxcart and took him to the hospital. He was covered in blood, and his body was covered with dark green ointment, which was similar to the one you used. The Miao people who brought him there said that their chieftain had applied the life-saving medicine to him. Mom and I were so anxious that we didn't notice whether he had been bitten by insects or not. Dad had already passed out, so he probably didn't know whether he had been bitten or not."

Cheng Ying arrived back in Qingshi County almost ten days after Cheng Jiantong fell off the mountain. By then, even if there were traces of insect bites, they had almost disappeared. In addition, she was in a great hurry and did not think about the Gu worms or pay attention to such things.

"Regardless of whether Long Buxi used Gu on me and Dad, it's an undeniable fact that he saved our lives. I have to find a way to repay this life-saving grace." After the ointment on her body dried, Cheng Ying climbed into bed to go to sleep.

Cheng Xue snuggled up to her, sleeping under her arm just like when she was little. "Sister, Mom said that most of the Miao people in Pucang Village are very good-looking. Isn't Long Buxi very good-looking too?"

"Hmm, she is quite pretty, she looks like a fairy, and it's hard to tell if she's male or female." Cheng Ying reached out and put her arm around her slender back, gently patting her back, just like when she was a child, to lull her to sleep.

Someone who can get their older sister to praise their looks must be incredibly good-looking!

Cheng Xue immediately became interested and, with great gossip, leaned her head close to her and asked, "Is that Long Buxi really that good-looking? What kind of good looks does she have? Tell me in detail, sis, so I can broaden my horizons."

"Just like that, with a nose and eyes..." Returning to her familiar home, smelling the soapy scent of freshly washed bedding, Cheng Ying's long-tense nerves relaxed, and drowsiness washed over her, causing her to speak incoherently.

Seeing that she was quite sleepy, Cheng Xue didn't want to disturb her any further, but she was really curious about the young clan leader of Pucang Village. In addition, she remembered something and quickly nudged the drowsy Cheng Ying, "Sister, the day before yesterday, that scumbag Wei Muchen came to our door wearing a military uniform, speaking with a Beijing accent, driving a military jeep, saying that he was your boyfriend, calling us Dad, Mom, Father-in-law, Mother-in-law, and Sister-in-law, and he even bought us a lot of nice things, saying he wanted to see you."

"What?!" Cheng Ying woke up instantly with a start. "Who did you say came?"

"Wei Muchen is the man you told us about in the hospital, the one who betrayed you in your dream, got involved with another woman, and wouldn't let you go, constantly harassing you and causing you a lifetime of pain. He is also the son of the old commander that our father saved on the battlefield many years ago."

At the hospital, your parents were skeptical of what you said, thinking it was all too absurd. But after what happened with Cheng Chunfu, your parents felt that what you said might be true. Perhaps it was the spirit of the Cheng family's ancestors, unable to bear seeing our family suffer, that's why they appeared to you in your dream to save us from misery.

When my parents saw Wei Muchen, they didn't like him at all. They told him directly, "You didn't tell us who you were dating, so he must have made a mistake," and turned him away. I heard from the neighbors that he seems to have found out you bought a house in town, and he's staying at the town's guesthouse now, probably waiting for you to come back.

Cheng Xue was about to pull the light cord and sleep with Cheng Ying, but after saying these words, she withdrew her hand. "Sister, judging from your tone, it seems like you don't like him?"

Of course, Cheng Ying disliked Wei Muchen, the scumbag who had haunted her for most of her previous life, indirectly caused the death of Cheng Xue's second husband, and coerced and tempted Wan Shuhui and her husband in various ways. Not only did she dislike him, she wished he were dead!

Fortunately, whether in her past life or this life, she never told her family about her relationship with Wei Muchen until they were completely certain that they wanted to spend their lives together.

In her past life, she dated Wei Muchen for nearly two years before agreeing to get engaged to him after he proposed twice, and then she informed her parents.

In this life, she and Wei Muchen had only been dating for a little over a year. Because Wei Muchen's personality was unpredictable, sometimes nice and sometimes bad to her, hot and cold at the same time, she subconsciously felt that Wei Muchen was unreliable. She did not choose to tell her parents about their relationship, so it was normal that Wan Shuhui and her husband did not know about their relationship.

Fortunately, Wan Shuhui and her husband believed the 'dream story' she had told them before and kicked Wei Muchen out of their home. They didn't give him any special treatment just because he was the son of Chief Wei, and they didn't keep him at home to 'clear up' the misunderstanding. She didn't have to see Wei Muchen's face and feel disgusted as soon as she came back.

The thought that this person was still in town, probably waiting for her to come back and shamelessly pestering her, gave Cheng Ying another headache.

She threw the thin summer blanket over her face, covered it, and said in a muffled voice, "That's a scumbag. In my past life in my dream, my whole family was harmed by him. The person you liked was killed by him, and you were depressed for most of your life because of it. I was also tormented by him for half my life. I not only dislike him, I wish I could cut him into a thousand pieces."

Cheng Ying had not told Cheng Xue these things in detail before, and Cheng Xue was shocked when she heard them. A refined and handsome face involuntarily appeared in her mind.

If what her sister said is true, that person will be killed by Wei Muchen. Cheng Xue will stand by her sister's side no matter what, and find a way to get rid of this scourge, Wei Muchen.

No matter the cost, she would protect that person, because he was a ray of light in her dark life; without him, she might not have survived until now.

She pulled the light cord and, in the dark room, snuggled up to Cheng Ying, asking her many questions. Cheng Ying answered them half-heartedly, and the two gradually fell asleep.

The next morning, Cheng Ying got up early and deliberately walked around the front door of Old Cheng's house. She didn't say anything, but she wanted to tell Old Cheng's family that she was back in good health and that if they dared to cause trouble while she was away, they should be careful, or she would deal with them.

When the Cheng family saw her return, they treated her with disdain and hostility.

They wanted to curse her, but they couldn't out-curse her; they wanted to fight her, but they couldn't beat her either. The only ones who could probably control her were Wan Shuhui and her husband, as well as the man who claimed to be her boyfriend, dressed in military uniform, looked very handsome, and said he came from the Beijing elite circle.

Thinking of that handsome soldier named Wei Muchen, Liu Guifen, the eldest wife, had a face bigger than a pancake filled with jealousy and resentment.

Cheng Ying, that wretched girl, is nothing but a money-loser. When she was little, she was beaten half to death by the Cheng family. She was often hungry and, like a stray dog, would take her crying sister and search for wild fruits to eat along the village roadside.

The Cheng family could manipulate the mother and daughter however they wanted, but who knew that this brat would change her personality after she turned ten and persuade her mother to separate from the Cheng family. After the separation, their lives got better and better.

On the other hand, after the second wife separated from the family, she did not give birth to a single daughter, but only two sons. In her mother-in-law Huang Cuizhi's eyes, the two sons were precious treasures. She usually couldn't bear to let them do any work and always gave them the best food first.

The Cheng sisters, who used to be treated like maids and had to do laundry and cook for everyone in the Cheng family in order to have food, are gone. These chores have fallen on her and Huang Xiaohong from the third branch of the family.

Huang Xiaohong was always good at shirking her duties and would find excuses not to work. She would spend all day wandering around the village with her child in her arms, only returning around mealtimes, leaving the work to Huang Xiaohong.

Huang Xiaohong was from Huang Cuizhi's hometown village. They shared the same surname and were related by blood. Huang Cuizhi always protected Huang Xiaohong.

She was resentful and tried to slack off with Huang Xiaohong, but her mother-in-law always caught her and scolded her severely, leaving her with no choice but to do it.

Ten years passed in this way, and Liu Guifen not only resented Huang Cuizhi and her mother-in-law, but also the second wife.

If it weren't for Cheng Ying's meddling back then, causing Wan Shuhui to separate from the family, all the housework should have been done by those two brats, Cheng Ying and Cheng Xue. But now she's doing all the housework. How can she be at peace with that?

Today, Liu Guifen's eldest son was arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment because of Cheng Ying's troubles, and he will never be able to get out.

She hated Cheng Ying to the core. When she saw that Cheng Ying had a son of a high-ranking official from the capital who claimed to be her boyfriend, her jealousy and anger were on full display.

Originally, Liu Guifen was gloating when she learned that Cheng Ying had fallen off Ayi Mountain, thinking that evil had been punished. Now, seeing Cheng Ying wandering around the Cheng family's doorstep unharmed, she was filled with hatred. She kept plotting how to get revenge on Cheng Ying, to expose what kind of person Cheng Ying was in front of her good boyfriend, to break up her good marriage, and to vent her anger for herself and her eldest son.

Cheng Ying had no idea what she was thinking. After returning to the second room and having breakfast, Cheng Ying took Da Huang to town.

Today is the weekend, and it's her day to rest after finishing her mail delivery. She wants to go back to her house in town, rest alone for a while, and then confront Wei Muchen face to face, telling him to get as far away as possible. She doesn't want to be entangled with Wei Muchen for the rest of her life, causing her family unrest.

When Cheng Ying arrived at the East Street in town, the house she had bought, it was already around nine o'clock in the morning.

As soon as she reached the door, Old Yu's granddaughter, Yu Lingling, ran over from the alley and called out to her, "Sister Xiaoying, you're back."

Yu Lingling is eleven years old this year. She has a small face, fair skin, and a thin figure. She wears two braids, which are somewhat withered and yellow, making her look like a malnourished bean sprout.

She was eleven years old, but looked like a seven or eight-year-old child. It was obvious that Old Yu, as a grown man, wasn't very good at taking care of children.

Cheng Ying turned to look at her and smiled slightly, "Yes, you're back."

Yu Lingling stepped forward and said, "Sister Xiaoying, I heard that you fell down the mountain and were seriously injured. You've been recuperating in Pucang Village. Are you feeling better now?"

That's the downside of small towns; whatever happens, the whole town knows about it.

Cheng Ying reluctantly took out her key, opened the door, and walked into the house. "I'm fine, I'm basically all better. I'll continue delivering mail tomorrow. While I'm gone, you'll have to look after the house and feed Xiao Hei."

After entering the house, she looked around. The yard was spotless, and the household items were dust-free. Little Black, who had been sleeping under the grapevines in the yard, immediately stood up when he saw her and Yu Lingling enter. He walked towards her with his tail held high, nuzzling her and Yu Lingling's legs and purring affectionately. It was clear that Yu Lingling had been cleaning the house for her almost every day while she was away.

"Sister Xiaoying, you can go and do your mail delivery without worry. I'll take good care of things at home for you." Yu Lingling followed her into the living room. After seeing her put down the mailbag and sit down to rest on a wooden chair, she quickly went to the kitchen to light the stove and boil some water for her.

Seeing her movements, Cheng Ying quickly called out to her, "Lingling, don't bother. I'm not thirsty, I just want to rest. If I want water, I'll boil it myself."

"Sister Xiaoying, you can rest. I have nothing to do anyway, I just need to boil some water, I know how to do it." Yu Lingling quickly lit the coal stove, picked up a large palm-leaf fan, and fanned the bottom of the stove to make the honeycomb briquettes burn more vigorously, while talking to Cheng Ying.

Old Yu never did any housework when he was young; his wife always did the laundry and cooking while he was responsible for earning money to support the family.

After his wife died, the housework fell to his son and daughter-in-law.

Later, Yu Lingling's parents died, leaving young Yu Lingling to be cared for by him, so he had to learn to do laundry and cook.

However, his cooking skills were really poor. Even he himself found the food he made difficult to swallow. In addition, as he got older, he became less and less mobile, and his eyesight deteriorated. He often misread the seasonings and put the wrong seasonings in. The food he made was either too salty, too sweet, or sour. He also often burned the food. His hands trembled so much when he chopped vegetables that he would cut his own hand and bleed all over the cutting board.

Yu Lingling couldn't bear to watch, so at a young age she learned to do laundry, cook, and do housework, keeping the house clean inside and out, and taking good care of herself and her elderly husband, Mr. Yu.

Ever since Cheng Ying bought her house, Old Yu told Yu Lingling that he had entrusted her to Cheng Ying, and that if he died, Cheng Ying would raise her in his place.

Although Yu Lingling had met Cheng Ying a few times and thought that this older sister was a very nice person and treated her very well, she always felt like a dependent in Cheng Ying's house because she had lost the protection of her parents and her grandfather's lifespan was uncertain. She couldn't help but do some chores that she was good at to please Cheng Ying.