It rained last night, and this morning the leaves of the pitaya tree are still covered with dew; even a slight touch will wet your clothes.
Fortunately, the sun came out, so the rain didn't feel cold on my body.
However, the clothes, mixed with dew and sweat, stuck to her body, making Pei Yao feel damp, stuffy, and uncomfortable.
There were plenty of thunder fruits in this area, and Pei Yao quickly filled a basket with them. She poured the harvested thunder fruits into an open space by the river.
After picking a large pile, she followed the villagers' example, breaking open the harvested pitai fruits, digging out the seeds, and collecting them, discarding the shells.
Two people came to Aunt Fang's house: Aunt Fang herself and her daughter, Li Juhua. The two had a clear division of labor: one picked the fruit, and the other processed the harvested Pili fruit.
Li Juhua was two years older than Pei Yao. When she saw Pei Yao coming over, a smile appeared on her honest face.
"Ah Yao, what do you need so many Thunder Fruits for?"
Li Juhua had always been curious about why the Pei family had so many Thunder Fruits. Of course, she wasn't the only one curious; everyone else in the village was also curious, but they all tacitly refrained from asking, since it was their way of making money.
Just as Li Ju asked the question, Aunt Fang, who had just brought over the freshly picked thunderfruit, heard this clueless brat asking Pei Yao. Pei Yao, however, remained silent, her head bowed as if deep in thought, and did not answer her.
She nudged Li Juhua with her elbow: "You child, always interfering with others, you can't even shut them up when they're doing chores."
Li Juhua was scolded, and now she looked at her mother with a somewhat aggrieved expression: "Mother, I was just asking out of curiosity, I didn't have any bad intentions."
Aunt Fang was too lazy to talk to her, so she just gave her clueless youngest daughter a big eye roll.
I don't know who this child took after, he's so clueless.
In the countryside, everyone has a way to make money, but they keep it a secret. Who would tell you? Why are you so bluntly asking people why they want to buy this?
What are you doing...
What are you doing...
Of course they'd sell it for money; they wouldn't just spend money to collect this thing for fun.
Aunt Fang wouldn't say that in front of Pei Yao, but she warned Juhua with her eyes not to ask.
Pei Yao listened to Aunt Fang's words and then looked up.
Actually, she was looking down not because she didn't want to answer Li Juhua, but because she was thinking about how the yard was full of all sorts of things, and she was wondering if she should ask Uncle Niu Er to rent an empty house in the village, tidy it up, and see if it could be turned into a workshop.
"Yao girl, don't take what Chrysanthemum just said too seriously. Just ignore it as if it were a fart." Aunt Fang spoke rather roughly.
Pei Yao looked at the mother and daughter in confusion. She hadn't heard their conversation, so why was she being told not to take it to heart?
Pei Yao was still pondering this question when, before she could figure it out, someone's voice came from not far behind her.
"Cousin..."
"My cousin...something's happened! My cousin..."
Pei Yichen ran and shouted, with Yunniang following behind him, both of them looking anxious.
For no apparent reason, Pei Yao's heart skipped a beat.
He got up and jogged over to them. The other villagers who were picking thunderfruit saw this and also put down what they were doing and followed him.
The Pei family lad ran off in such a hurry, something must have happened.
Pei Yao: "What's wrong?"
Pei Yichen was already panting heavily when he reached Pei Yao, but he didn't care about himself and looked at his cousin anxiously while panting.
But he ran too fast just now, and now he's panting heavily and can't say a single fluent word for a long time.
"Don't rush, catch your breath first." Although Pei Yao was also anxious, she was afraid that Pei Yichen would suffer from heatstroke when she saw him like that, so she helped him to sit under the shade of a tree and handed him the water bottle from her waist.
Pei Yichen quickly took it and gulped it down.
Yunniang came over from behind.
Yunniang's eyes were red and moist, clearly she had just been crying, and there were still tear stains on her face that she hadn't had time to wipe away.
Seeing her family's panicked state, Pei Yao's ominous premonition grew stronger.
But she calmly looked at her mother and asked, "Mother, what happened?"
Yunniang, who had been running slowly, had recovered by now. Her hands trembled as she held Pei Yao's hand, her eyes filled with tears: "Yao'er, your father and uncle have been found, but Qingshan said they were all seriously injured."
Yunniang finished telling the story in a trembling voice, and then tears welled up in her eyes.
When Qingshan came, he told her that Pei Erlang had been hit in the leg by a falling rock at the mine. Pei Dalang was worried about his younger brother, so he ran over to find him. As a result, the mine collapsed a second time, burying both of them underneath.
If their companions hadn't discovered them in time and immediately dug them out with tools, they probably wouldn't have survived.
"How did you know?" Pei Yao asked them calmly, though she was also worried.
Pei Yichen had caught his breath and looked up at Pei Yao, saying, "It was Erdan from Deyun Restaurant who came to tell us that the person is currently at the county clinic."
"Yao'er, what are we going to do now? I hope nothing has happened to your father and the others..." Yunniang looked at Pei Yao with tears streaming down her face, and Pei Yao looked at her mother.
He patted them on the shoulder reassuringly: "Mother, let's pack our things and go to the county to see what's going on."
Aunt Fang, who followed behind, also heard the whole story and comforted Pei Yao: "Yao girl, you guys go ahead. We'll help you take those Thunder Fruits you just picked back later."
The villagers behind her echoed her words, telling Pei Yao to go without worry. Aunt Niu Er also said, "Yao girl, I'll go back with you. I'll have Qingshan take you to the county clinic. If you need money or any help from the villagers, just have Qingshan come back and let us know."
Everyone echoed Aunt Niu's words, saying that the clinic was the most expensive place; once someone checked in, their money would slip out of their pockets in large wads.
They had earned some money delivering mountain goods to the Pei family these days, and now that the Pei family was in trouble, they all wanted to help them.
However, he didn't have much money on him when he went out to work, so he thought he would go back later and scrape together some to help the Pei family in their time of need.
"Yes, Yao girl, if you need anyone, just ask. This old woman may not have much money, but she still has the strength to serve people."
An older woman in the crowd said that her family had paid off their debts as soon as they made money recently, so they didn't have any extra money. But if the Pei family needed help, they wouldn't back down.
Pei Yao glanced gratefully at the villagers, but didn't have time to thank them. Her immediate priority was to get home, take Niu Qingshan's oxcart to town, and then rent a horse-drawn carriage to go to the county clinic.
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