Chapter 27
Fan Changyu went to the market early in the morning, bought an old hen and brought it back to give to Yan Zheng as a supplement.
When she met someone she knew in the alley, she greeted them warmly as usual, but the other person seemed to be avoiding something and only responded reluctantly once or twice.
The women who were on good terms with the Song family rolled their eyes and kept their distance from her as if she were a monster. "She is really an unlucky star. Her uncle went to her house a few times and killed her. Her husband has also been ill all the time. It was all thanks to the elder sister of the Song family who went to match their horoscopes. Otherwise, if Song Yan really married her, who knows what would happen to the Song family!"
Some people who originally had a good relationship with the Fan family, after hearing this, quietly distanced themselves from her.
If the Song family had broken off the engagement and said that she was doomed to be unlucky, not many people would have taken it seriously. However, her family has been plagued by murders in the past two days. If the soldiers had not arrived in time last night, the old couple of the Zhao family might have also suffered the disaster. The neighbors couldn't help but feel jealous.
Under normal circumstances, Fan Changyu would have fought back long ago, but it was a fact that the Zhao family was almost implicated last night, and Yan Zheng was indeed injured.
She pursed her lips, carrying the chicken she bought and walked towards the Zhao family's house in silence.
Passing by the door of the woman who had spoken harshly just now, she had just walked past when the other party poured a basin of rice-washing water outside the door. A lot of cold water droplets splashed on Fan Changyu's embroidered shoes and the hem of her skirt.
Fan Changyu paused and looked at the other party with calm eyes.
The old woman's surname was Kang. She had been a neighbor of the Song family. After Song Yan passed the imperial examination, she had been trying to curry favor with the Song family. In order to make Song's mother happy, she would come to chat with her from time to time and say a lot of bad things about Fan Changyu.
Perhaps it was because she was still useful in chatting with Song's mother and relaxing, that after the Song family moved to the county town, she was the only person in the entire alley who had gone to the Song family's new house for dinner once.
Mrs. Kang was proud of this. After returning, she naturally boasted to everyone about how beautiful the Song family's new house was. There were servants in the house for Song's mother to order around. She praised Song Yan for his real ability and took the opportunity to step on Fan Changyu.
Seeing Fan Changyu looking over, Mrs. Kang directly poured the remaining half basin of rice-washing water out the door again, and cursed, "It's really unlucky so early in the morning. Find some dried pomelo leaves to hang on the door later!"
People say that rice water and pomelo leaves can remove bad luck.
Fan Changyu moved her lips, but she saw that other neighbors were either silent or moving away from her. Finally, she just pursed her lips tighter and walked quickly towards Zhao's house with her things in her hands.
The rice washing water soaked my socks, and the cold moisture stuck to my ankles, penetrating through the skin and flesh into the gaps between the bones, and making me feel cold in my heart.
When Fan Changyu entered the Zhao family's yard, Aunt Zhao was sweeping the snow in the yard. Seeing that Fan Changyu's skirt and socks were wet, she asked hurriedly, "How did this happen?"
Fan Changyu walked straight to the kitchen and said, "The snow on the road hasn't melted completely yet. I stepped on it and got wet."
Aunt Zhao frowned and stared at Fan Changyu's back, knowing that she must not be telling the truth.
Fan Changyu was very confused. After killing the old hen, he stewed it in a clay pot. Fearing that he would be questioned by Aunt Zhao, he went to the attic under the pretext of delivering medicine to Yan Zheng.
"Take the medicine."
Her voice was no longer as lively as before, but rather a little dull.
When Xie Zheng took the medicine bowl, he couldn't help but take a look at her expression.
She didn't seem to show anything, but he could tell at a glance that something was wrong with her and asked, "What happened?"
Fan Changyu just said it was okay: "Drink the medicine while it's hot. If you're afraid of the bitter taste, there's some Chenpi candy next to your pillow."
She sat on a low stool with her knees hugged, warming herself by the charcoal fire. She lowered her head, revealing her slender neck, making it difficult to see the expression on her face.
Xie Zheng noticed that there seemed to be wet marks under her skirt and on her socks, and said, "It snowed heavily in the second half of last night."
Fan Changyu uttered a vague "hmm".
Xie Zheng frowned. It didn't snow at all in the second half of last night. She was being too weird today.
She said nothing, and after Xie Zheng finished drinking the medicine and put the bowl on the round stool beside the bed, he also did not say anything.
After a long silence in the room, Fan Changyu suddenly said, "How about I find you an inn, give the waiter more money, and let him take care of your food and daily life?"
Xie Zheng pressed his fingertips on the edge of the bed with a little force and asked her, "Why?"
Fan Changyu said: "The government hasn't closed the case yet. I'm afraid those people will come looking for revenge again."
Xie Zheng asked, "Didn't you say that there were soldiers guarding this place in secret?"
After a few moments of silence, Fan Changyu looked up at him and said solemnly, "Then you should recuperate here first, and leave when you are well."
After she got up and went down to the attic, Xie Zheng twisted a piece of tangerine peel candy and tightened the corners of his lips. The tangerine peel candy instantly turned into powder on his fingertips.
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It was not until noon that Mrs. Kang, who lived in the alley, suddenly came to the Song family to ask for an explanation, swearing. Xie Zheng finally knew why she was acting abnormally today.
"Fan Changyu! Get out here!" Mrs. Kang had a loud voice and was very good at swearing.
After she yelled, many people gathered at the door of Zhao's house to watch the excitement.
When Aunt Zhao heard the knocks on the door, she rushed to open it. She saw Mrs. Kang and her grandson standing at the door in a dignified manner. She asked, "What's going on?"
Mrs. Kang pushed her grandson forward, put her hands on her hips and cursed, "Tell Fan Changyu to come out here. Her sister pushed my Hutou down the stairs and broke one of his front teeth. What do you think happened?"
Fan Changyu was stewing chicken in the kitchen. When he heard the scolding outside, he ran out to the yard.
I saw Mrs. Kang's fat grandson with swollen eyes from crying, with two strings of snot hanging from his nostrils. He sucked the snot in from time to time, but it fell out the next moment. His chin was swollen and he had indeed lost a tooth.
She said, "My sister has always been weak, and your grandson is several years older than my sister. How can my sister push him?"
When Mrs. Kang heard that Fan Changyu was still trying to shirk his responsibility, she immediately spit out saliva: "How can I lie to you? Why don't you call your Ning Niang out and ask her, then you will know if it was her who pushed the woman."
Seeing many people in the alley peeking in to see what was going on, Aunt Zhao advised, "If you have anything to say, go inside and talk. It's common for children to quarrel and stumble. If they make a scene at the door, it will be a laughing stock for the neighbors."
Mrs. Kang refused to give in: "I am here to seek justice for my grandson. Why should I be afraid of being laughed at?"
Fan Changyu knew that this Mrs. Kang was well-known in the alley for her harshness and cunningness. Her daughter-in-law was driven away by her. Even now, Mrs. Kang still called her daughter-in-law a slut whenever she mentioned her, saying that she ran away with a strange man. She had no sense of shame at all and didn't think there was anything wrong in treating her daughter-in-law like a beast of burden.
Later, his son fell in love with a widow, but she disliked the widow because she had been married before and her husband had died, so she might be unlucky in marriage. After this incident, the widow saw that the situation was not good and quickly broke up with her son. Her son is still a bachelor ever since.
Fan Changyu didn't want to waste time arguing with this man, and said coldly, "It's not up to you to ask for justice. I'll ask my sister first."
Fan Changyu called Changning: "Mrs. Ning, come out."
Little Changning walked out of the house reluctantly and stood behind Fan Changyu like a little tail.
Fan Changyu lowered his head and asked her, "Do you have a tiger head?"
Chang Ning pursed her lips, tightly grasped the corners of her clothes with both hands, nodded and shook her head.
Mrs. Kang said in a shrill voice: "Look! A child this young can tell lies. Your Fan family really has a good family tradition! She even nodded, and now she is shaking her head..."
"Shut up!" Fan Changyu shouted coldly, his voice like a blizzard instantly covering up Mrs. Kang's sharp voice.
Mrs. Kang had been splashing the basin of rice water in the morning. Seeing that Fan Changyu remained silent, she thought she was someone who was easy to control. Suddenly, she was stunned by Fan Changyu's yelling. Then she screamed even more sharply: "Is there any justice in the world? Look at this, everyone. The Fan family is so arrogant. They threw my grandson to this point and they are acting so proud!"
In the attic, Xie Zheng's ears hurt from the sharp shouting and cursing, and he frowned impatiently.
Are all these old ladies in the market so noisy?
Just when he was feeling annoyed, he heard the woman's cold and sharp voice: "If you keep yelling, I'll throw you upside down into the sewage tank!"
There was a coldness in the corners of Fan Changyu's eyes and eyebrows. She had tolerated Mrs. Kang this morning because she felt really guilty about the misfortune brought about by her own enemy. Now Mrs. Kang wanted to take advantage of her, but she was not used to it.
Mrs. Kang was stared at by Fan Changyu, and she felt frightened for no reason. She quickly looked at the crowd watching the excitement and opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something else, using the onlookers to put pressure on Fan Changyu.
Fan Changyu seemed to have known about her tricks for a long time, and said coldly: "You and the old witch of the Song family have been plotting against me behind my back every day. Do you think I don't know? My reputation has been ruined to such an extent by you. You don't think I will still worry about what others think of me, do you? If I really want to take action, how many of these people do you think will rush out to stop me?"
These words dispelled Mrs. Kang's last thought. She swallowed her saliva, and her mouth, which used to curse all day long without taking a breath, now seemed to be sewn shut by needles, and she couldn't utter a single word.
Fan Changyu then squatted down and asked his sister: "Just now, my sister asked you if you pushed the tiger head, why did you nod and then shake your head?"
Chang Ning's dark and round grape-like eyes had turned red. His white and tender fingers grasped the corner of his clothes and said, "I did push him, but he was too fat, so I couldn't push him. He came after me, slipped and fell off the stairs, and broke his front teeth."
Mrs. Kang immediately started to yell again: "My Hu Tou said that it was you who pushed it..."
Fan Changyu glanced at her coldly, and Mrs. Kang fell silent again.
Fan Changyu continued to ask his sister: "Why did Ning Niang push him?"
Little Changning lowered her head, tears as big as beans rolled out of her eyes in an instant: "He pulled my hair, snatched my pine nut candy, and poured water on me, saying that his grandmother had just poured rice water on my elder sister to get rid of the bad luck that morning, and I am the sister of the unlucky star, so I also need to be poured with water to get rid of the bad luck..."
After hearing these words, Fan Changyu's face turned terribly cold.
Aunt Zhao was so angry that her eyes turned red. She asked why Fan Changyu's shoes and skirt were wet when she came back this morning. It turned out that the old woman splashed her with rice washing water.
The rice washing water was used to ward off evil spirits. She splashed the rice washing water on Fan Changyu after he passed by. How vicious was that!
Aunt Zhao gnashed her teeth and cursed: "You are a filthy old man who didn't even have a coffin when he died. If you don't do good deeds for yourself, do some good deeds for your children and grandchildren! Don't be afraid that you will be hooked on the tongue when you meet King Yanluo in the future."
Mrs. Kang felt guilty at first, but she had been used to being unforgiving in her words for decades, so she couldn't help but said aggressively, "How am I not doing good deeds? Did I kill her parents? Did I also kill those people in her family who died in the past two days? Who in this town doesn't know that she is a dead star? Only you and your old man, who have no one to see you off to the end of your life, would be so eager to take in the family of the dead star, and you are not afraid that one day you will be killed by her. In my opinion, the Fan family should get out of this alley as soon as possible. Who knows when her enemies will come looking for her again?"
"You..." Aunt Zhao was so angry that she was shaking.
Fan Changyu wiped the tears from his sister's face with his thumb, then slowly stood up, his eyes as sharp as ice: "Even if I want to defeat you, I have to defeat you first, you old immortal!"
She sneered, "Why do you want me to move out of the alley? Do you think you can gossip about me? If you are so scared, why don't you move out by yourself?"
Mrs. Kang was speechless. She pointed at Fan Changyu and wanted to curse back, but she heard Fan Changyu continue, "Also, keep a close eye on your grandson. If he dares to touch my sister's hair again, I will chop off whichever hand he used to do it!"
When Mrs. Kang's grandson met Fan Changyu's ferocious eyes, he was so frightened that he burst into tears with snot and tears flying all over his face.
Mrs. Kang protected her grandson behind her and said sternly, "It's nothing to scare a child..."
Fan Changyu raised the corners of his lips coldly: "Scare me, I'm not bluffing."
As she spoke, she glanced coldly at the arm of Mrs. Kang's grandson: "I can cut off a pig's elbow with one knife, so it's even easier to cut off an arm."
Mrs. Kang's grandson subconsciously covered one of his arms and pulled Mrs. Kang back crying: "Grandma, go home... I want to go home..."
Seeing her grandson so frightened, Mrs. Kang was anxious and angry, but she didn't dare to use force against Fan Changyu.
She had no choice but to walk back with her grandson cursing. When she walked down the stairs in front of the Zhao family's house, her knee suddenly hurt for some reason. She screamed "Ouch" and fell down the stairs. Her chin just hit the last step. She didn't get up for a long time. She kept screaming and her mouth was full of blood.
The people watching the excitement in the alley looked at each other in bewilderment.
Fan Changyu was also stunned for a moment, and subconsciously looked up at the Zhao family's attic. As expected, he saw a piece of navy blue clothing flash by.
After being shocked, Aunt Zhao quickly said, "This is retribution in this life! You all saw it. Changyu and I didn't even leave the house. This old woman fell down by herself! This is retribution in this life!"
Mrs. Kang was old, and she had knocked out several teeth in the fall. She crawled up and sat on the ground crying, pointing at Fan Changyu: "It was her! It must have been this dead star who kicked me!"
The neighbors who had been watching the excitement for a long time did not see Fan Changyu make a move. Seeing that Mrs. Kang was making such a fuss, they could not help but help out: "Okay, Mrs. Kang, everyone is watching. Changyu stood there without moving. You just slipped and fell!"
Mrs. Kang wanted to argue again, but she heard Fan Changyu snort coldly: "You have done too many things that make you feel bad, it's just a ghost pushing you!"
As people get older, they are more likely to believe in superstitious things.
These words frightened Mrs. Kang. She really felt as if her knees were hit hard by something and she fell. Thinking of Fan Changyu's fate of being the unlucky star, her lips trembled immediately. She pointed at Fan Changyu and shouted, "It's you, the unlucky star, who brought me down!"
Fan Changyu crossed his arms and said, "If you don't get out of here quickly, I might kill you in a moment."
Mrs. Kang was really scared at this moment. She covered her bloody chin and left the Zhao family's gate with her grandson Langxiong.
"She really brought this upon herself!"
"Who in this alley hasn't been scolded by her? This is karma!"
The people watching the excitement smiled and chatted a few words, then left, shaking their heads.
After the courtyard door was closed again, Fan Changyu squatted down and looked at her sister at eye level, and said earnestly: "From now on, if Ning Niang is bullied outside, you must tell me first, understand?"
Changning nodded obediently.
Aunt Zhao thought of the words that Mrs. Kang had cursed at her and couldn't help but secretly cry for Fan Changyu.
Fan Changyu said a few words to comfort Aunt Zhao, his eyes fell on the piece of stale candy at the gate of the courtyard, and he found an excuse to go upstairs.
She pushed the door open and saw that Xie Zheng was no longer in bed. Instead, he was sitting on a bamboo chair by the window. Although his face was still a little pale, it was much better than the previous two days.
Before she could say anything, the other person glanced at her calmly: "You told me all that this morning just because of a few words from others?"
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