Chapter 402: Master Niu’s Secret
Liu Zhihua then shuddered and stood up, holding onto the wall. He saw the old man who didn't know whether to live or die:
"Mist Grass, what's going on?"
Marshal Niu paced back and forth anxiously: "Send him to the hospital quickly. His face has turned black. I'm afraid he's really been poisoned."
Poisoned? It would be strange if he wasn't poisoned, Ye Xiaomei thought leisurely.
Liu Zhihua was quite helpful. He found a motorcycle, laid the old man on the back seat like a sack, tied him up with a rope like a dead pig, and rushed to the county hospital.
Marshal Niu then looked up and waited, and he breathed a sigh of relief after seeing the person leave.
Ye Xiaomei was moved and said, "Master Niu, you have such a kind heart."
"Ah... It's not that I'm kindhearted. Firstly, I'm worried that he'll die on my homestead, and secondly, it's my fault for what happened back then."
Ye Xiaomei's pupils shrank: "What do you mean, Master Niu?"
Marshal Niu returned to the kitchen and sat in front of the stove. He first added a bucket of water to the pot and then lit the fire:
"Come closer and warm yourself up. Ten years ago, my son was in poor health and had a date, but the other person disagreed because she thought my son couldn't do heavy work. At my age, I was naturally worried. I happened to meet a traveling Taoist priest, the old man.
He said his last name was Yuan, and he could tell at a glance that something bad would happen to my son in ten years. Didn't I get worried? I asked him what it was, and Old Yuan said it was a blood debt, saying that our ancestors had done something immoral, such as killing a lot of snakes, and they came back to take revenge.
But I didn’t know that my boss’s father had died long ago, so I believed it. But I didn’t really have faith in his ability back then, so I had some evil thoughts.
I thought, if it doesn't work, my son is the only child, so wouldn't his family line be cut off? So I asked Lao Yuan if he could get my son's girlfriend to marry him willingly without paying a dime.
This way, even if there is retribution ten years later, there will be something left. Oh... I didn't expect that."
Ye Xiaomei couldn't help but glance at Master Niu. Sometimes people's hearts are really hard to tell from their appearance, but everyone has selfish thoughts:
"Then Brother Niu got married ten years ago?"
Marshal Niu stared out the door with empty eyes. Snow had started to fall without him noticing:
"It worked. Old Xue asked for the girl's horoscope and my son's horoscope and drew a harmony charm. It worked. The girl actually took the initiative to look for my son, and they got married not long after.
Afterwards, I still felt very guilty. After all, my son was too weak to do physical work, and I felt that I had wronged the girl, so I worked very hard, hoping to make my daughter-in-law less tired. However, I forgot to ask Lao Xue how long the talisman would last, and it still worked all the time.
So a year later, my daughter-in-law suddenly ran away, and she was pregnant. When we found her later, she had already had an abortion in a black clinic and had bled to death. My parents-in-law brought a few people to my house and beat and smashed things.
"..." Ye Xiaomei's pupils shrank: "You mean, the talisman has expired?"
"Yes, I wasn't sure at first. I went around asking people who knew about it and found out that it was only a year."
At this point, the pain in Niu Dashuai's eyes was so intense that it was hard to look at:
"If I hadn't had such evil thoughts, none of these things would have happened, and my son wouldn't have been harmed by the snakes. At that time, the only thing on my mind was my son's family. I didn't believe that burying that black lump in the corner could change the feng shui and improve my son's health, so I didn't take it seriously.
Who knew that thing was still alive and had grown so big? So, the master felt that people’s greed and dissatisfaction were nothing but harm to themselves, and it had nothing to do with outsiders.
As Ye Xiaomei grew old, he finally understood why his son had been so emotional when he set fire to the snake cave that day.
Perhaps it was at that moment that he felt guilty and believed what Lao Xue had said about the blood debt, so he tried his best to stop people from killing the snake.
I'm afraid that Marshal Niu's son will never know the secret his father has buried in his heart until his death.
"What happened later? I heard you say before that you were building a new house and getting married." Ye Xiaomei warmed her hands over the flame of the stove.
The snow outside was getting heavier and heavier, and soon everywhere we went was covered in white where the sky and the earth met.
Marshal Niu rubbed his face vigorously, put his hands in his sleeves, and said helplessly:
"I was planning to find him another wife, a widow from Daqing Village with a little daughter. I planned to use all the money I had saved over the years to build a house and pay for the girl's dowry. I thought that I couldn't let this daughter-in-law down in the future and never do such a thing again. Who knew that the date was set in April when the weather was warmer and spring was coming... It's all my fault."
Later, his son died. Master Ye did not say this out loud, but it was clear from the way he sobbed.
Ye Xiaomei changed the subject: "Master Niu, I heard that you have two daughters. They come to see you every year and festival. It doesn't necessarily have to be a son to carry on the family line. There are many people in the world who don't have sons."
Grandpa Niu blew his nose and wiped it on the firewood: "Yes, every family has its own problems. Qijun is a good kid. Come back for the New Year."
"He said he would be back on home visit leave." Ye Xiaomei chatted with the eldest grandfather while warming herself by the fire.
But, come to think of it, the Chinese New Year is less than four days away, how come there is no news from Ma Qijun?
At least give me a call when you come back.
Most of the time she called, Ma Qijun was either in meetings or at the training ground.
"Glad you're back. The Ma family is blessed to have a daughter-in-law like you. It's just that I don't think much of Wang Lan..."
As he spoke, Grandpa Niu stood up with his hands behind his back, immersed in the heavy snow, picked up a broom from the wall and began to sweep the snow.
Ye Xiaomei stared in amazement. How could such a heavy snow be swept clean?
After sweeping this area and then that area, snow fell again on the area behind me.
"What's wrong with my mother-in-law?" Ye Xiaomei squatted at the door and watched Mr. Niu sweeping the snow. In fact, he might just want to find something to do so that his mind would not always stay on the painful memories.
In a few minutes, Mr. Niu's shoulders and head were covered with snow, but he kept turning around and sweeping it:
"I used to have a bad impression of you because of what your mother-in-law Wang Lan said outside. I thought you were the kind of lazy daughter-in-law who didn't care about the family. However, it made me understand a truth as I get older: seeing is believing, hearing is not, and people's hearts are hidden."
Ye Xiaomei snorted in her heart, she had known all this for a long time. If she didn't care about what others thought of her, she would have fallen out with Wang Lan long ago.
Niu Daye suddenly laughed at himself and said, "For example, I am like this. Others say that I am honest and a good person. When I was a butcher for someone before, if the person didn't have money, I would do it even if I didn't want the money. I just regarded it as a favor. So, girl, you must be more careful when you enter the society in the future. People who look like good people may not be clean. People's hearts are too complicated."
Ye Xiaomei's heart skipped a beat.
Just before noon, there was a sudden buzzing sound of a motorcycle. The brakes caused the wheels to fly up along with the mud and snow.
Liu Zhihua lost his balance and took off his helmet, saying angrily:
"Damn it, that guy said he can't be cured. Now the police are helping to find his family. You know him, so you can't keep it a secret this time. If you can't find the old man's family, I will be responsible. You can't watch me get hurt. At worst, I'm willing to pay part of the consolation money for your son's matter."
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