Chapter 29 Sick Cow
Seeing that Su Tong refused to give in, Wang Guilan jumped up and shouted at the people around her:
"Everyone is here today, please bear witness that this unfilial descendant has become successful and wants to leave the Wu family on his own!"
"If anything goes wrong, it's all her own fault. Don't involve our Wu family in this. And don't say that our Wu family is unkind..."
Wu Dongling tugged at Wang Guilan's arm and whispered, "Mom, let her go. The work points she earns will still belong to our family!"
Wang Guilan was stunned but didn't say anything.
There is little work to do on the farmland now, and these ten work points are equivalent to the work of their entire family.
Anyway, work points are calculated per household. No matter how arrogant this girl is, she still has to earn food for the Wu family. Just think about it and you won't be angry.
As they walked away, Wu Dongling came up and tugged at Wang Guilan's sleeve again, "Mom, do you think Wu Tong got hurt from bumping into the pillar? Why is he different from before?"
Wang Guilan said "Pooh" in that direction.
"Damn girl!"
"No matter how you change, you can't get out of my hands. Let's go and claim the prize money in a few days! I heard that the last time there was such a prize, the prize was several dozen yuan! Maybe this time there will be more prizes!"
"Mom, if she doesn't want to marry, what should we do with the betrothal money from Old Man Tian? We should really give it back to him!"
"Repay? Your brother used all the money to prepare the betrothal gift. What are you going to pay back?"
Wang Guilan snorted coldly, "Let this girl be arrogant for a few days. After I get the bonus, I will arrange a marriage for her. As long as she has the surname Wu in this life, she will never miss the betrothal gift from me!"
——————
The cowshed was built at the west end of the village, at the foot of Yunshan Mountain, for the convenience of grazing cattle.
There are five cows in the village, four big and one small. Now they are all lying sickly and weak.
Secretary Wu took Su Tong over and explained all the precautions, then said earnestly:
"Now these cows are handed over to you. The village chief has gone to the next town to find a veterinarian. I have to go to the commune to report the situation to the secretary and see if they can help think of other solutions."
After thinking for a while, he said, "These cows are national property and the lifeblood of Yunshan Village. Although you have just taken over, you must protect them carefully and there must be no mistakes!"
"This cow can't afford to die——"
Then he called Ma Daming over, "Daming, please pay more attention to the cowshed these days. Tongya is not familiar with it yet. Please help out if there is anything you can do."
After giving his instructions, Secretary Wu left in a hurry.
A house was built on the west side of the cowshed, with earthen walls and a thatched roof.
Su Tong was curious and looked over there a few more times. Ma Daming seemed to remember something and pulled Su Tong aside and whispered:
"There live two stinky old men, Lao Qitou and Lao Lintou. They will help clean the cow dung in the cowshed regularly. You should not go there or talk to them."
"Of course, they can be used when there is heavy work."
Stinky ninth?
Are they the intellectuals who were criticized?
Su Tong nodded without asking any more questions.
Ma Daming took Su Tong to the place where hay and feed were stored and took a look around. Su Tong nodded to show that he was familiar with it, and then he asked:
"Uncle Ma, how long have those cows been sick?"
Ma Daming is actually only in his thirties, but he and Wu Dashan are usually regarded as brothers, so he can barely be considered Su Tong's elder.
He touched the back of his head and grinned a little embarrassedly, "You've never called me that before, so I'm a little uncomfortable with it."
In the past, Wu Tong kept her head down when she met anyone. Even her family members rarely heard her speak, let alone outsiders.
Ma Daming finished laughing before getting back to the point. "Alas! The cow has been sick for five or six days. It has no other problems, but it just won't eat and has diarrhea. Later, it stopped diarrhea and still won't eat, so it just lies there."
"The village veterinarian came to see me, but couldn't tell what was wrong with me. He gave me medicine for gastrointestinal problems, but it didn't work after several days.
We can only be sure that it is not an epidemic, because infected cattle will have red eyes and become irritable, but these cattle do not have that.
The commune's veterinarian came today, but couldn't find anything wrong."
Ma Daming rambled on and on, "The veterinarian checked the feed and hay and said there was nothing wrong with them. Later, they even checked the water. Old Qi and Old Lin drank that water, so there was nothing wrong with it."
"The cows in the village are so precious! Old Wu has been raising cows for half his life. He is more professional in taking care of cows than people. Even in winter, he will find ways to cut some fresh grass and mix it with hay to feed the cows.
After Lao Wu died of a hair disease, the people on duty became more perfunctory, and they were lucky to be able to cut grass once every three to five days. "
Ma Daming kept talking until he felt there was nothing more to say, then he led Su Tong to a dilapidated earthen brick house not far to the east of the cowshed, and said hesitantly:
"This is the house where Old Wu lived before he died. Because he died in here, no one wanted to buy it. Secretary Wu asked if you were afraid..."
It is said that Old Wu was married when he was young, but his wife died early and he did not leave any children.
Because he served the animals well, he spent most of his life with them, until he died alone in the end, and his death was not discovered until several days later.
Su Tong took a look and found that the house was indeed a bit shabby. Only half of the roof was covered with tiles, and the other half was thatched, and some corners were collapsed.
But the house is not small, with three rooms: the main hall in the middle, the bedroom on the left, and the storage room on the right. There are two side rooms on the side, which are probably the kitchen and the woodshed. It is more than enough for her to live there alone.
"That's great! I'll live here, and it's convenient for taking care of the cows. Thank you, Uncle Ma!"
Su Tong agreed readily.
Seeing this girl being so straightforward, Ma Daming felt a little reluctant. He looked around to see that there was no one around, and then he lowered his voice and said:
"To be honest, everyone thinks that the cows in our village may not be saved. It's really amazing that you took on this task at this critical moment..."
Alas! You should be more diligent these days and go to the bullpen more often, at least show your attitude. Anyway, you took over late, and we will plead for you later, so that you won’t have to bear too much responsibility in the future.”
Having said that, Ma Daming himself felt guilty because a cow died in the neighboring village and the farmer was sent to a farm for forced labor.
Now this is not just one cow, but five.
Su Tong knew that Ma Daming was doing this for her own good, so she smiled at him and said, "Got it! Thank you, Uncle Ma!"
"Oh! And..."
Ma Daming scratched his head, as if he couldn't say anything. "If you just move out like this, the problem of food rations..."
Su Tong interrupted Ma Daming and said, "Uncle Ma, don't worry! I will take care of the food issue myself."
"Secretary Wu wants you to find your uncle and ask him to talk to your mother..."
"No!"
Su Tong smiled and said, "If my mother is willing to give it, would she wait until now?"
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