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"You're here, come inside quickly."
Sister Ding and Sister Miao each carried a basket as they entered the house. Lin Cuicui went out to greet them.
"Oh dear, Cui Cui, don't come out now, let's go check on the two children."
Lin Cuicui's tears fell again when this was mentioned.
"I fell asleep as soon as I got back. I wasn't feeling well after I got back and rested for a while. When I called the two kids to eat, they could barely move."
Aunt Ding and Aunt Miao looked distressed and followed Lin Cuicui into the two people's room. They frowned as they saw their faces swollen like pig heads, making it impossible to recognize them.
Ding Lingzi, who couldn't hold back her words, exclaimed, "That's too cruel! The child is so young, how could they beat him like that?"
Sister Miao was also very angry, "This Li Qingzhu is becoming more and more outrageous."
As she spoke, she handed the basket in her hand to Lin Cuicui, "My family has saved up a few eggs, not many, but we'll cook them for the child to help him recover. This child has really suffered a lot."
Ding Lingzi pushed it over as well, saying, "My family is the same. We only raise two chickens. We really can't raise more even if we want to."
Lin Cuicui wanted to refuse, but seeing her two sons' miserable state, she couldn't bring herself to do it.
She wiped away her tears, "Sisters-in-law, this is too much. I know how kind you are. Since we arrived, your two families have helped us a lot. I'll pay for these eggs."
Don't say it's impossible; these days, no one has it easy. A single egg costs a fortune in terms of needles and thread.
Aunt Miao pushed the basket aside. "Cuicui, what are you saying? Isn't that being too formal? Who wants something like this to happen to a child? Let's not talk about such trivial things. There's only so much we can do to help. If you don't accept it, we'll pretend we don't know each other anymore."
"Yes, just like what Sister Miao said."
Ding Lingzi glared at Lin Cuicui. In the end, Lin Cuicui couldn't argue and accepted them all. She was already thinking about how to reciprocate. She couldn't keep accepting other people's gifts.
Sister Miao lifted Tang Dong's clothes and gasped when she saw his bruised stomach and back.
Ding Lingzi glanced at Tang Dong and then lifted Tang Nan's clothes. Tang Dong and Tang Nan didn't want them to see, but they were too weak to do so.
Lin Cuicui hadn't seen the condition of the two men before, and seeing this almost made her faint. A surge of anger rose in her heart.
Tang Yue quickly reassured her, "Mom, Second Brother and Third Brother are really fine. And have you forgotten about Li Qingzhu and the others? They're not much better off than Second Brother and Third Brother."
Lin Cuicui's anger subsided somewhat after hearing this, but she was still furious. So what if they were badly injured? How dare they harm her child like this?
"Dad, you should go to the army base with Tang Bei tomorrow. This matter absolutely cannot be left like this. I'm not willing to accept it."
Tang Dong struggled to hold Lin Cuicui's hand, sweat beading on his forehead from the pain, and gasped for breath as he pleaded with difficulty.
"Mom, Mom, you don't need to go. My second brother and I can handle it ourselves, okay?"
Lin Cuicui wanted to say no, but looking at Tang Dong's current state, she couldn't utter a single word of objection. In the end, she could only choke back tears and slowly place Tang Dong's hand back under the covers, making two soft "hmm" sounds.
Sister Miao sighed, "I heard those guys were also seriously injured. Before they even got home, all three of them passed out. They were taken straight to the clinic after they came down the mountain."
Ding Lingzi spat angrily, "Serves them right! They bullied other people's children for no reason, they deserve to be punished."
Old Mrs. Zhou was going to come and cause trouble again, but the village chief said that if she didn't go see her son soon, she might end up in jail, so she didn't come.
Lin Cuicui's eyes grew even colder. "Let her come if she wants. Last time she came to my house to cause trouble, we gave her face. This time, her son hurt my sons like this. If she dares to come, I will make her suffer the same fate my sons have suffered."
Ding Lingzi shivered. Usually, Cui Cui seemed harmless enough, but when she got really ruthless, it was as if they were no match for her.
Sister Miao gently patted Lin Cuicui's back, "Alright, don't worry. Take your time to recover. Children recover quickly, and you'll be fine in a few days. Don't worry."
Lin Cuicui nodded.
"Don't worry, sisters-in-law, I'm fine. You just got back from work, go home and cook dinner."
Ding Lingzi chimed in, "We were supposed to go up the mountain together today, but we had a lot of work to do this morning, so your older brother and the others went up, and we didn't. We didn't expect it to be this serious. We should have come back earlier."
Is there anything we can help you with at home? Just let us know, don't be shy.
"Yes, sisters-in-law, don't worry, I'm not being polite. It's really nothing. I'll definitely ask you for help if I need anything."
After the two left, several women and grandmothers from the village came to see the child. One family would give half a bowl of noodles, another would give two eggs. By nightfall, Lin Cuicui had collected quite a lot of things.
"Da Bei, write down all these gifts. We'll have to repay them later."
Tang Bei had already started memorizing them, fearing he wouldn't be able to remember them all by then.
It was already completely dark when the village chief arrived with his wife.
The village chief's wife handed a basket to Lin Cuicui, saying, "Oh, Cuicui, I'm so sorry. We didn't come to see the children back then because we had too many people at home. Please don't mind."
Lin Cuicui nodded; she understood what the village chief's wife meant. If Old Zhou's family found out, who knew how much trouble they would cause the village chief's family and how much they would get from them.
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