Shen Huaichuan looked at her from afar, his face expressionless, and simply nodded slightly.
Then, he gently patted Zhou Qiqi's hand on her lap, stood up nimbly, and walked outside.
Not long after Shen Huaichuan left, a series of rustling footsteps and hushed voices could be heard outside.
As soon as the curtain was lifted, Village Chief Xu led seven or eight villagers in single file.
There were men and women, including elderly people with gray hair, as well as middle-aged men and women in their thirties and forties.
The last one to come in was Wang the Cripple, carrying that old, worn-out wooden box.
The room suddenly felt a bit crowded.
These farmers, who usually had loud voices, were now standing timidly on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), glancing at Zhou Shuhua lying on the kang, and then at Zhou Qiqi and Shen Huaichuan sitting by the window.
Finally, it fell on those few people dressed in olive green and looking like cadres. They didn't know where to put their hands and feet, and didn't dare to breathe loudly.
"Don't just stand there, sit down! It's small, but you can squeeze in, even sit on the kang!"
Shen Huaichuan greeted them.
"Uncle, aunt, elder brother, and sister-in-law, don't be nervous. I've invited you all here today to chat and talk about my wife's parents, Zhou Shuisheng and his wife, and what happened back then. I know that Qiqi received a lot of help from you all when she was a child in the village. I'm her husband, so we're family. Just say whatever you want, don't be shy."
His honest words were like a taut string being untied.
The villagers looked at each other, their tension easing somewhat. At the invitation of Village Chief Xu, they found places to sit, some on stools, others on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed).
Village Chief Xu cleared his throat and rubbed his rough hands together: "Then...then shall I go first? I know more."
“Okay, go ahead.” Shen Huaichuan nodded.
"Shuisheng and his wife..."
Village Chief Xu had barely begun when Lei Yuhua abruptly interrupted him:
"Wait! Uncle Village Chief, Shuisheng? My uncle's name is Zhou Jianbang! Not Shuisheng!"
Village Chief Xu paused for a moment, then shook his head somewhat blankly:
“Zhou Jianbang? We’ve never heard of such a person in our village. We only have one person with the surname Zhou, named Shuisheng, Zhou Shuisheng.”
Shen Huaichuan raised his hand to signal Lei Yuhua to calm down, and said to the village chief:
"Uncle, please continue. Tell me about Zhou Shuisheng, whom you know."
"Okay, sure."
Village Chief Xu composed himself and continued,
"Shuisheng and his wife... sigh, actually, it wasn't just the two of them who came back then, it was three people! It must have been... it must have been over twenty years? I wasn't the village chief back then."
Aunt Zhang, who was wearing a blue headscarf, chimed in, "That's right, you're not the village chief, but your father is! It's no different!"
This remark drew a few low chuckles, and the atmosphere instantly lightened up.
Village Chief Xu scratched his head sheepishly:
"Yes, yes, I followed my dad around. Back then, there was a drought! A severe drought! Many places suffered from the disaster, and a lot of people fled here. Shui Sheng and the other two were among those who fled here."
One was a man named Shuisheng; another was a woman named Qi Lin, Lin Meizi, who was very pretty; and the third was Lin Meizi's mother, whom we all called Third Sister Qi.
"The three of them came to our Xu Family Village to find their relatives. Third Sister said she has an older sister who married into this family and is called Second Sister. Their hometown suffered a disaster, and they couldn't survive there, so they wanted to come and seek refuge with their sister. But who would have thought..."
Village Chief Xu sighed.
"When we finally found out, we learned that Second Aunt's family had moved away years ago, and no one knew where they had gone or heard from them. The three of them were desperate and had run out of food. Third Aunt Qi begged my father to see if they could stay in our village because they were too tired to walk any further. My father was kind-hearted and agreed."
"The aquatic situation was extremely bad at the time!"
Wang the Cripple, who had been silent all along, stood up and took over the conversation.
"When I was called over to check on him, he was unconscious, and he had such a big, bloody hole in his head!"
He gestured with his hand to indicate the size of a bowl.
"His skin and flesh were torn open, covered in blood, and he had a high fever; he was burning hot to the touch! He was barely clinging to life!"
Wang the Cripple looked at Zhou Shuhua on the kang (a heated brick bed) and Zhou Qiqi by the window, his tone tinged with a sigh:
"Lin told her mother that they found the baby aquatic creature on the riverbank after a flash flood while fleeing famine. He was badly injured from being submerged in water, and his head had hit a rock. It was the two of them who used traditional remedies, chewing herbs and applying them to the wound, that managed to stop the bleeding. They carried and dragged him all the way to our village. If it weren't for them, he would have died on the riverbank!"
"It took a lot of effort to rescue him, but he had been in the water for too long, and the blow to his head was too severe."
Wang the Cripple pointed to his temple.
"The aquatic man was rescued, but he can't remember anything! He's confused and doesn't know his surname or his given name. Lin Meizi read the surnames of the Hundred Family Surnames to him one by one, and he only responded to the character Zhou, so he became Zhou. Then, because he was found in the water, Qi San Niang gave him the name Shui Sheng, which together means Zhou Shui Sheng."
At this moment, Zhou Shuhua, her voice hoarse, asked urgently:
"Village Chief Xu, Doctor Wang, what year and month are you referring to?"
Village Chief Xu scratched his head: "This... I don't remember very clearly. I only heard it from my mother later."
"I remember!"
Aunt Zhang slapped her thigh, her voice ringing out.
This chapter is not finished yet. Please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com