Chapter 72 Bad Luck
Wu Qiuyu said with a sad face:
"My grandma is actually going to celebrate Chinese New Year with us this year! Isn't that weird?
Today, my uncle came to my house and told me that my grandma will be moving here in the next two days! My dad and my brother have already gone to the dam, and I don’t know what my mom is thinking, she is so happy!”
Su Tong immediately understood that the old uncle must have persuaded Old Lady Wu. If they wanted to treat Old Lady Wu without letting Wang Guilan know, it would be best for her to live in his second uncle's house.
Wu Qiuyu's father, Wu Dajun, is Old Lady Wu's second son. He was a little dull since childhood and was not liked by Old Lady Wu. In addition, he married a wife who loved to take advantage of others and would quarrel over trivial matters, so he was separated from his family early.
In their early years, both Old Man Wu and Old Lady Wu were able to earn work points. It is said that they made a fortune when they were young, and their family was once very wealthy.
When it came time to divide the family's land and houses, they were divided into three parts: Old Man Wu and Old Lady Wu got one part, and Wu Dashan and Wu Dajun each got one part.
Although Wang Guilan didn't like the two old people, she still did her best to save face because of the fields and ancestral houses they owned as well as the family assets left by Old Lady Wu.
It was not until Old Man Wu passed away and Old Lady Wu became paralyzed and took charge of the household that she started to treat the old man in a perfunctory manner.
I don’t know what the old uncle did to persuade her this time, but after a few days, Old Mrs. Wu moved to Wu Dajun’s house next door and was given food rations.
Su Tong picked a night, brought a piece of fatty pork belly, and easily knocked on his second uncle's door.
These days, oil and water are scarce, and fatty meat is more popular than lean meat.
Old Mrs. Wu stared at Su Tong with her cloudy eyes, still looking unhappy, but she did not refuse to let her take her pulse and give her acupuncture.
Mrs. Wu's case is a typical case of hemiplegia caused by a stroke. The disease should not have been too serious when it occurred. If she had received timely treatment, she would not have developed into hemiplegia.
Now a year has passed, and the only treatment she can have is acupuncture, supplemented by Chinese medicine fumigation and massage. If she can recover one hand or one leg, the old lady's quality of life will be greatly improved, and she will be able to take care of herself in many things.
No need to lie down and look at other people's expressions.
But this made things difficult for Wu Qiuyu, as she now had to do all the work that used to be done by Wu Dongling.
She had to serve Old Lady Wu while she ate and took medicine, and she also had to wash and clean. The most important thing was that Old Lady Wu didn't like Wu Qiuyu. Not only did she have a bad face for her, but sometimes she would even deliberately poop and pee on the sheets.
In this cold winter, Wu Qiuyu washed her bedding twice in less than three days.
In addition to the massage and fumigation required for the treatment, it was later said that medicine would also need to be applied, which meant that I would have to stay around Old Mrs. Wu every day.
Qiuyu's mother is Li Cuixiang, who is famous for taking advantage of others. She has always been very mean and sarcastic to Wu Tong and never said a good word to him.
However, there are also advantages to taking advantage of small things. When Su Tong suggested paying five dollars a month to hire someone to serve the old lady every day, Li Cuixiang immediately stepped forward and patted her chest to agree to the job.
Su Tong glanced at Wu Qiuyu, and Wu Qiuyu also stood up and said, "Mom, I'm the one who takes care of grandma, how about... how about I pay for it!"
Li Cuixiang glared at him, "You are an inexperienced girl! How can you take good care of your grandma!"
joke!
Five dollars a month to make medicine and massage the feet of an old hag, that's like picking up money for free!
His father and his brothers together could not earn a few dollars even if they worked on the dam for ten days.
Besides, Wang Guilan knew that the old woman still held the family fortune in her hands, so she knew it.
The old woman offered to come to her house. What a good opportunity! She originally wanted to take the opportunity to coax the old woman into a good mood. Maybe the family fortune would be left to their family.
Then Su Tong suggested that she was afraid that people would talk about her if she failed to cure Old Lady Wu, so she asked Li Cuixiang to keep it a secret for her. Li Cuixiang agreed without hesitation.
As long as there is money to be made, it doesn't matter.
During this twelfth lunar month, apart from getting some food, there wasn't much work to do at home. Li Cuixiang drove Wu Qiuyu away and spent every day enthusiastically earning money and appeasing the old lady. The atmosphere at home was very harmonious for a time.
For the sake of the pork belly and wages, he temporarily "forgot" the bad luck of Wu Jia's daughter and did not object to Wu Qiuyu and Su Tong's relationship.
This made Wu Qiuyu very happy. She no longer had to look at Old Lady Wu's face every day, and she could interact with Su Tong openly without having to hide anymore.
But she was a little worried because five dollars a month was not a small amount of money. If her mother didn't see the money at the end of the month, she would probably make a big fuss.
Su Tong comforted her, "I can afford the money. Just consider it as a way to honor grandma. Besides, the money is not earned by outsiders. Giving it to your mother will make her feel better, and grandma will have someone to take care of her. The family will also be harmonious. It's a win-win situation."
Wu Qiuyu nodded repeatedly, full of admiration for Su Tong.
After giving Old Lady Wu an acupuncture treatment that day, Wu Qiuyu pulled Su Tong into her room, pulled out a wooden box from under the bed, and found several notebooks inside.
"Sister, this is what you asked me to keep before. You have your own house now, so you should take it over!"
Su Tong took it and flipped through it. He seemed to remember this. It seemed that Wu Dongling always liked to look through Wu Tong's things, so Wu Tong put the notebook with Qiuyu.
Although she had memories of Wu Tong, they were always vague and not very clear in the distant past.
Most of these books are Wu Tong’s school notes. Although a bit messy, it’s obvious that he took them very seriously.
The bottom one was a plastic-covered notebook, which was considered high-end these days. I opened the cover and saw a red stamped “Prize” on it, which seemed to be a prize from an exam.
Su Tong flipped through the contents of the notebook. Most of them were excerpts from articles and red quotations, but occasionally in the gaps he would see some casual diaries. They weren't really diaries, as they were written in a messy manner, more like an emotional catharsis.
She flipped through it roughly and saw similar words.
"I can't hold on any longer. Why is it so hard to live a good life?"
"I'm so scared! I saw the shadow again and I had the nightmare again!"
"It's not a dream, it's real, it's real!!!"
"He grabbed my neck today and I almost thought I was going to die!"
…
Shadow? Nightmare? Him? Although she couldn't understand the specific meaning, she was filled with fear and terror. This girl never felt safe.
Su Tong tried to recall it carefully, but his memory was blank and he couldn't match these words with each other. However, apart from Wang Guilan's scolding, the most profound impression he had was probably Wu Jiafu's beating.
This brother, who was a little younger than her, treated her as the main target for venting his anger and frustration. It was common for him to pinch her neck, kick her, and pull her. Most of the time, she could only endure it silently.
Su Tong felt angry and depressed. When he was about to close the book, he found a few lines of bold words on the last page. He opened it and saw three lines of bold words written in pen:
"I just want to live a normal life!"
"I hope that good people like Brother Xing will be rewarded!"
"I hope grandma is in good health!"
Su Tong sighed. This girl only dared to write her wishes in a notebook.
After thinking for a while, he asked Wu Qiuyu again: "Qiuyu, recently... has anyone else suffered bad luck because of me?"
Wu Qiuyu was still rummaging through other things in the box. Upon hearing this, she looked up at Su Tong and seemed to be about to say something.
"What? Is there anything you can't say to me?" Su Tong said.
"Sister, you don't know, in the past everyone would consider their own situations, but now anyone who encounters something unpleasant will blame you!
A few days ago, the lonely old lady at the entrance of the village had a headache. She lay on the kang and groaned every day. She told everyone she met that it was you who caused her headache! She has had headaches for decades, and it's amazing that she could come up with such a plan! "
Su Tong smiled, "Okay, it means that my power has improved! From now on, I can defeat anyone I want, and I don't have to only defeat those who have been close to me!"
Wu Qiuyu seemed to remember something and continued:
"Hey! I heard that something strange happened in Aunt Dequan's house a few days ago. It was said that she bought a piece of meat to marinate for the New Year, but it was lost after hanging it under the eaves for a long time. Finally... it was found in their manure pit!"
"Tell me if this is immoral or not! This piece of meat cost several dollars. Now the meat is found, but it's not right to throw it away! Aunt Dequan has been sitting at the door and cursing for the past two days!"
"And there's more! Aunt Dayou's chicken was lost, too. It was also pickled and hung under the eaves, and later found in a manure pit! Her daughter caught that chicken from her husband's house for her to celebrate the New Year. She had raised it for a long time and was reluctant to kill it. It was only two days after she killed it that it turned out like this."
"Wait... Speaking of this, I suddenly remembered that on the day of our village's award ceremony, the two of them were called by Secretary Wu to take care of Aunt Cuifen. They should have met you!"
Wu Qiuyu was so excited about the analysis that she felt like she had seen something extraordinary.
"Look! Look! It's proven once again - it's really bad luck to come into contact with you!"
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