At the town's health center, a doctor was applying burn ointment to Zhou Xiaojiu's face.
"Doctor, will I be disfigured?" Zhou Xiaojiu asked this question.
"The burn area isn't large. Remember to apply burn ointment every day after you get home, and avoid eating foods that may aggravate the condition. It shouldn't cause disfigurement, but the burned areas on your face might turn a bit dark. It mainly depends on how well it heals. Are you married yet?"
"My wife is due to give birth in two months."
"Once you have a wife, you don't have to worry. What does it matter if a man is a little ugly? You're a man, so what!" The doctor chuckled twice. "How come you burn your face when you pour hot water to drink tea?"
"The tea bottle suddenly exploded," Zhou Xiaojiu said guiltily.
"What tea bottle explosion? Someone just threw boiling water on him!" Mrs. Zhou, who had just finished getting her medicine, overheard the last two sentences of her son's conversation with the doctor. She angrily complained to the doctor that her son had just drunk too much and gone to the wrong house, only to be splashed with boiling water by the neighbor's indecent daughter.
In front of the doctor, Old Mrs. Zhou berated Song Yinhua for being immoral and seducing her son, and even threw boiling water in her son's face.
She embellished the fortune teller's words and repeated them.
What water, what poplar flowers, what selling meat, what broken shoes, what people do, what promiscuous, what mistresses.
The doctor told her not to make noise in the examination room, but Grandma Zhou kept cursing.
In the corridor outside the clinic, Wang Naiyun, who was accompanying her granddaughter to receive an IV drip, heard Song Yinhua's name, picked up her granddaughter, and pulled the portable IV stand over.
Grandma Zhou was still cursing.
"Mom, stop arguing, there are so many people here." Zhou Xiaojiu said guiltily.
"You spineless coward! When Song Yinhua threw boiling water at you, you still protected her. I scolded her. The fortune teller said she's shameless, likes to seduce men everywhere, and is a scourge that sucks away people's good fortune!"
Grandma Zhou suddenly paused, as if she had discovered something, and slapped her thigh, "Your good fortune was sucked away by her, that's why your face was scalded like this by boiling water! Her uncle's family called her a jinx, and they were absolutely right!"
"Big sister!" Wang Naiyun called out at this moment.
Everyone in the consultation room turned their heads at the same time. Wang Naiyun asked the old lady Zhou who was looking over, "Sister, are you also from Songzhuang Village?"
Grandma Zhou looked Wang Naiyun up and down, but didn't recognize the person.
Songzhuang Village is not big, and she can call out the names of almost everyone in the village.
"You're from our village too?" Old Mrs. Zhou looked puzzled, not remembering anyone like that. "You are..."
Zhou Xiaojiu recognized Wang Naiyun. "You're from Hanjia Village next door, right? Your son's name is Han Zhiyuan. He came to the village last month with Matchmaker Wang to go on a blind date with Song Yinhua. I've seen you before!"
“That’s right, it was us.” Wang Naiyun nodded. “Oh dear, what happened to your face? Did Song Yinhua splash you with boiling water when I heard you talking?”
"That's right!" Old Mrs. Zhou immediately got excited again. "The two families are neighbors. My son got drunk and went to the wrong house. That shameless girl from Song Erzhuang's family took the opportunity to seduce my son. When my son refused, she splashed boiling water on him! I must make Song Erzhuang's family pay me back!"
Grandma Zhou started bringing up the fortune-telling part again.
Some say that Song Yinhua was destined to be a scourge that harms people.
Wang Naiyun also started talking badly about Song Yinhua, cursing Song Yinhua for not liking her son and saying that she herself was just a restless person.
As if they had found kindred spirits, the two went outside the clinic and sat on chairs against the wall, gossiping about Song Yinhua in extremely vulgar and offensive language.
When Grandma Zhou returned home from the health center, she went to confront Song Yinhua about the score.
In the Song family's courtyard, Song Yinhua was sitting on a stool chopping vegetables and feeding poultry, while Song Caixing silently assisted her.
"Song Yinhua, you little slut, get out here right now!" Old Mrs. Zhou kicked open the gate of the Song family compound and shouted.
Song Caixing was so frightened that she ran into the house.
"Grandma Zhou, who did you just curse?" Song Yinhua paused in her chopping.
Zhou Xiaojiu quickly pulled the old lady aside and whispered, "Mom, there are some things you can't say carelessly. Song Erzhuang has a fiery temper. If he finds out, he'll probably tear our roof off. We're here to ask for compensation, not to argue with them."
Grandma Zhou was persuaded to stop by her son.
She just wants the money; there's no need to cause trouble for herself. She'll get the money first.
"You burned my little Jiu's face like this, how are you going to compensate me? If you don't give me an explanation today, I'm not done with you! I have ten sons, and they're not to be trifled with."
Song Yinhua stood up. "Grandma Zhou, who did you just call a slut?"
When Zhou and her son saw Song Yinhua holding a large cleaver, they instinctively took a half-step back.
If they dare to splash boiling water on someone's face, what wouldn't they dare to do?
"You misheard me, who insulted you!" Old Mrs. Zhou said irritably, her eyes full of disgust and aversion. "Yinhua, we are neighbors, living so close by. My son was drunk and mistook the house for hers. Look what you've done to my son's face! How could you throw boiling water on my Xiao Jiu? How are you going to compensate my family?"
As soon as the Zhou family mother and son arrived, some villagers saw them and ran over to see what was going on.
Grandma Zhou said to the villagers who had gathered to watch the commotion, “Look at my little Jiu’s face. The doctor at the town’s health center said that my little Jiu is disfigured. It was all because Er Zhuang’s eldest daughter poured boiling water on him. My little Jiu was just drunk and mistook the house for someone else. Er Zhuang’s eldest daughter was so vicious that she poured boiling water on my little Jiu!”
The villagers who had come to watch the spectacle started discussing it.
"It's no big deal if someone gets drunk and mistakes the door for another one. Why would you throw boiling water on them?"
"Yeah, that's boiling water, how did they even think of that?"
"If someone is drunk and mistakes the door, just kick them out. Why be so cruel? This eldest daughter of the Erzhuang family is too reckless."
Public opinion overwhelmingly sided with Grandma Zhou.
"Yinhua, tell me how you're going to compensate my family!" Old Mrs. Zhou asked. "The busy farming season is just around the corner, and you've injured my son like this. He can't work in the fields, and his wife is about to give birth and needs someone to take care of her. There are also his medical expenses. How are you going to compensate us? Give me an explanation!"
Song Yinhua retorted to Old Lady Zhou, "Who's compensating whom? Your son pretended to be drunk and climbed over the wall in the middle of the night to steal chickens and dogs from my yard. He even went to the back wall and knocked on my window. I thought it was some petty thief, so I threw boiling water on him! Now I'm missing several hens. It must have been your son who climbed over the wall and stole them last night. I was just planning to go to your house to get them back after I finished chopping the vegetables, and you're already making false accusations!"
Grandma Zhou's heart skipped a beat. Er Zhuang's family was the poorest in the village, and the whole family was easy to bully. His eldest daughter was also an honest person. How come she suddenly became so talkative?
Some villagers who were watching said to Old Lady Zhou, "Your son climbed over the wall to steal things and even knocked on the window of an unmarried girl. Why don't you tell the truth?"
"When did my son Xiao Jiu ever steal your old hen? Don't frame my son!"
“I have more than a dozen big, fat hens in my coop, and they lay several eggs every day. Your family has been eyeing my hens for a while now, hasn’t they? A few days ago, Zhou Xiaojiu came to me saying that his wife was about to give birth and asked me to send him two hens, saying that his wife needed to drink chicken soup to nourish her body during her postpartum period. I didn’t agree and told him to buy them if he wanted them. I never expected that he would climb over the wall in the middle of the night to steal them!”
"Song Yinhua, you're talking nonsense! I never asked you for an old hen!" Zhou Xiaojiu retorted immediately in a hurry.
"If you didn't climb over the wall to steal my old hens, then what were you trying to do by climbing into my yard in the middle of the night? And why are several of my old hens missing by such a coincidence?"
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