Chapter 2 I haven't gotten in the car yet
Although Zhang Yunniang heard the noise made by Mrs. Cai and Jin Bao behind her, she resisted the urge to look back.
Aunt Gu was just looking at the excitement and shouted to Zhang Yunniang who was running out with her child in her arms, "Yunniang, your stepmother has fallen, your nephew has been scalded, and your brother and sister-in-law are not at home. Don't run away, come back and check!"
Zhang Yunniang turned her back to Aunt Gu. She had a bad relationship with her natal family and didn't care about her stepmother and nephew at all. However, filial piety was the rule of the country and her husband had to take part in the imperial examination. The word filial piety weighed heavily on her. If she didn't care about this matter, she was afraid that her husband would be gossiped about.
But if she really wanted to intervene, she would definitely have to pay for the doctors for these two people. Not only would she not get the money back, but she would not even be able to owe them a favor.
For now, the only way to break the impasse seems to be for someone more legitimate than her to take charge of the matter.
Just as Zhang Yunniang was struggling, Niuniu in her arms suddenly uttered a cry, her face burning with pain: "It hurts..."
Zhang Yunniang's heart tightened, and she immediately threw all her worries out of her mind. She was afraid that the child would become confused due to the fever, so she decided to leave without caring.
Coincidentally, as soon as she took this step, two familiar figures appeared at the intersection. They were her younger brother Zhang Guangzong and his sister-in-law Xiao Cai.
This was really like a pillow falling asleep. Zhang Yunniang hurriedly said to him, "Mother is injured. Jinbao seems to have been burned. Go back and take a look."
As soon as Mrs. Cai heard that her beloved son was injured, she rushed home without caring about anything else.
Zhang Guangzong, on the other hand, stared at the child in Zhang Yunniang's arms with a gloomy look, stretched out his hand to snatch it away, and asked, "Where are you taking Niuniu?"
Zhang Yunniang had to be more tolerant towards Mrs. Cai, because she was her elder and she couldn't talk back to her.
But she was not afraid of this not-so-good brother at all. She acted like an elder sister and said loudly, "What can I do with your daughter? Of course I need to find a doctor for her! Am I going to watch a living person burn to death like you did?"
Zhang Guangzong was stunned by the eldest sister's sudden aggressiveness.
Unfortunately, there were too many villagers watching the fun around, and he considered himself a scholar, so it was not appropriate for him to argue with a woman in public.
Zhang Yunniang stood on the moral high ground and pointed fingers, scolding: "Zhang Guangzong, do you have a conscience? You are not worried about your own mother being injured. You are a scholar!"
These words were quite serious, so serious that Zhang Guangzong could not ignore them.
He glared at Zhang Yuniang fiercely, then hurried home with a frustrated look on his face.
After finally getting rid of all the trouble, Zhang Yunniang breathed a sigh of relief and rushed to the village entrance with Niu Niu in her arms, just in time to see Uncle Niu passing by with a ox cart.
"Uncle Niu, wait for me, I want to go to town!" Zhang Yunniang shouted towards the ox cart.
The ox cart stopped. It was so full that there was no empty seat.
But the aunties and young wives on the bus saw her holding the child with an anxious look on her face, and they squeezed each other and barely made room for her in a seat.
After Zhang Yunniang gave Uncle Niu a copper coin, Uncle Niu waved the whip and the ox cart started slowly.
Uncle Niu’s surname isn’t actually Niu. He’s just the only one in the nearby villages who drives a ox cart to carry people into the town every day, so he’s called Uncle Niu.
Several villages were close to each other, and there was an aunt on the oxcart who knew Yunniang. She said, "Are you Yunniang, the daughter-in-law of the old Gu family? My husband and your mother-in-law are cousins, so you can just call me aunt. You are so lucky. If the oxcart hadn't been delayed by something just now, the car would have left long ago and you wouldn't have been able to get on."
Zhang Yunniang said quickly, "Aunt, this is all thanks to the kindness of everyone who is willing to squeeze out a seat for me. Otherwise, I really don't know what to do with the baby in my arms."
She didn't think she was that lucky. She only hoped that the girl in her arms could get through this difficult time.
The cousin's aunt also noticed the child in her arms. Seeing the red face, she reached out and touched it, saying, "Is it too hot? Don't let the child get confused by the heat. Is this your daughter? I remember that your family only has sons, so where did the daughter come from?"
Zhang Yunniang explained, "She was my niece from my mother's family. She had a high fever and I took her to the town to see a doctor."
My cousin's aunt was a little surprised when she heard this. After all, life was hard in the countryside. Some poor families might not be willing to hire a doctor even if their own sons were sick, let alone a girl, especially when the child was just her niece.
"This child is lucky to have an aunt like you who loves her so much." Although the aunt said this, she felt in her heart that Zhang Yunniang gave too much to her mother's family.
Although Zhang Yunniang was an uneducated country woman, she knew the lethality of reputation. She continued without hesitation, "If she was really lucky, I wouldn't care. This child is a simple-minded person. Her brother fell into the water because of mischief. She was so small, but she dared to rush into the river to save him. I don't know where she got the strength to lift her brother out of the river. It took her a long time to be fished out."
"Her parents don't care about their daughter at all. I can't bear to see such a good child burn to death. Now I want to send her to the town to see a doctor."
Zhang Yunniang couldn't help feeling sad when she talked about this. Niuniu was clearly trying to save her brother, but she was accused of being a jinx by Mrs. Cai.
After hearing this, my cousin wiped away her tears and said, "Oh, from what you said, this child is really a good one. Your brother and his wife are so cruel!"
Zhang Yunniang knew that telling these things was basically the same as ruining her brother's reputation, and she did it on purpose.
She couldn't swallow this.
Just thinking of Niu Niu's pitiful appearance lying in the woodshed, not knowing whether she was alive or dead, she felt as if she saw herself who was sick and was driven into a corner by her stepmother to die, and she immediately hugged the child tighter.
"By the way, speaking of your brothers from your mother's side, isn't that Zhang Guangzong who picked ginseng in the mountains a few years ago?" asked your aunt.
As soon as these words were spoken, everyone in the car instantly stretched their heads over, even Uncle Niu, the driver, pricked up his ears.
A few years ago, Zhang Guangzong's story of picking up a hundred-year-old ginseng caused a sensation in several local villages. The villagers rushed to the Daqing Mountain to try their luck, but all returned empty-handed.
After seeing Zhang Yunniang nod, the cousin's aunt became even more excited and said, "I heard that he used the money from selling ginseng to build a big house. Logically, he should not be short of money. Why didn't he save his daughter? If I had such a good daughter, I would hold her in my hands and cherish her so much that I couldn't bear to ignore her."
"Yes, yes, this kind of person can pass the examination and become a student!"
Facing the chatter of the crowd, Zhang Yunniang smiled bitterly at the right time. She never mentioned that Niuniu was an adopted daughter. Instead, she said, "Her parents only spend money on themselves when they have money. How could they be willing to spend money on their daughter?"
Everyone immediately expressed their disdain. After all, if they had no money, it would be fine, but if they had money, who would be willing to watch their daughter die?
"Uncle Niu! Uncle Niu!"
Hearing the faint shouting, everyone turned around and looked towards the entrance of Qingshui Village. They vaguely saw three adults holding a child standing there, but they were too far away and could not see their faces at all.
Uncle Niu stopped the cart hesitantly and said to Zhang Yunniang, "There are quite a few people from your village who are going to the town today."
Zhang Yunniang heard the familiar voices and immediately knew that these people were her brother's family. Before she could figure out how to stop them, the people in the car were already unhappy and said, "Uncle Niu, do you see if there is any room in this car? Why are you still carrying people?"
When Zhang Yunniang got on the bus, there was still room for her to sit down even though the bus was crowded. But now there is really no space at all.
Uncle Niu said with a simple and honest face: "Just squeeze in, the space will be available."
The hot-tempered country lady never lost out on anything, so she confronted him on the spot and said, "Where are you squeezing in? Just squeeze us all off! If you want to take more people, then give me back my money. I want to get off!"
"Yes, if it was just one person it would be fine, but there are three or four of us. I'm afraid I'll be squeezed off halfway! If someone falls, you're going to pay? Give me back!"
Everyone in the car was talking at once, expressing all their dissatisfaction.
Uncle Niu was so annoyed by their noise that he could only say helplessly, "Okay, okay, I won't go up anymore!"
After saying this, he ignored the Zhang family members who were heading towards here, waved the whip, and the ox cart headed towards the town.
The three adults and one child who were far away were overjoyed when they saw the ox cart stopped. It takes an hour to walk from Qingshui Village to the nearest town, but only half an hour by ox cart. The adults were fine, but the little child Jinbao kept shouting "it hurts", which made the adults feel so distressed.
They hurried towards the ox cart carrying the child, but before they had taken two steps, the ox cart suddenly moved again.
The whole family was so anxious when they saw this. Zhang Guangzong didn't even care about being a scholar. He ran and shouted, "Uncle Niu, wait a minute, we haven't gotten on the bus yet!"
But this time, Uncle Niu acted as if he didn't hear anything and swung the whip a few more times at the urging of everyone.
Zhang Guangzong chased for a long time, but saw that the ox cart was getting farther and farther away. He was so angry that he couldn't help but wonder if Uncle Niu, the driver, was deliberately playing a trick on him. He kicked hard on a clump of weeds on the side of the road in anger.
But the next second.
"ah!"
Zhang Guangzong jumped up on the spot holding his right foot. He didn't see clearly just now and kicked the tip of a stone hidden in the grass, and suddenly felt a piercing pain in his big toe.
Little Cai was holding Jinbao in one hand and supporting Mrs. Cai with the other. She was already having a very hard time holding on and was counting on Zhang Guangzong to help. However, she didn't expect that her good husband would get into trouble even faster. At this moment, he was covering his feet and performing the "Golden Rooster Stand" pose, his face twisted with pain.
The ox cart had gone far away, and they had no other choice but to support each other and slowly walk towards the town.
The place where Mrs. Cai's forehead was hit was still aching. Thinking of the bad luck that had happened all day, she felt that all the bad luck was brought by Niuniu, and asked angrily, "Did you find the person who brought that unlucky star to her?"
Zhang Guangzong didn't say anything. He was never willing to expose himself to such dirty deeds.
Little Cai replied, "Mother, my husband and I asked around. Mr. Wang's youngest son died yesterday, and he just needs a little girl for a ghost marriage. But he wants to see someone first, and he has decided to find a good-looking girl for his son."
Mrs. Cai curled her lips and said, "It's really a bargain for this girl to marry into such a good family. Mr. Wang is so picky, how much can he offer?"
"Five taels of silver."
Mrs. Cai was very unhappy when she heard this and scolded Little Cai: "That's all you're giving us? We spent a lot of food raising a child like this! Didn't you bargain for the price? I knew you were useless. You've only given birth to a child in all these years, and now you can't even handle such a small matter!"
Although Little Cai was the niece of Mrs. Cai, she did not have a high status in the family. She swallowed her anger and explained to her mother-in-law, "This year, the weather is dry and the price of grain is high. Only our Qingshui Village, which is backed by the Daqing Mountain, can still make a living. People outside can't survive. Children are sold everywhere. Even the living can't be sold at a high price, let alone the dead."
Mrs. Cai was still very dissatisfied, and kept muttering and blaming little Cai for not being able to do things.
Mrs. Cai turned around and glanced at her husband, but Zhang Guangzong just limped forward as if he didn't hear what she said.
The ox cart drove on the country road for half an hour and finally arrived at the town. Before getting off the cart, Zhang Yunniang habitually touched Niuniu's forehead. She was stunned for a moment, then grabbed her aunt's sleeve and said, "Aunt, can you help me touch the child's forehead? Has the fever gone down?"
The cousin's aunt had touched Niuniu's forehead before, and was immediately surprised. She said, "Yunniang, this child is really well-behaved. The fever subsided as soon as she arrived in the town. This is to save you money. If you really go to the clinic, I don't know how much money you will spend!"
New book, please collect and click, muah~
(End of this chapter)
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