Xingxing tilted her head with a grin, "It was in the dilapidated temple. When Dad put me down, a hard rock poked my foot. I picked it up and realized it was silver. I wanted to show it to you, but you were busy saving people, so I put it in my pocket."
"Why didn't you take it out at the clinic?" Zhao Guihua asked, both surprised and delighted.
"Because the clinic allows us to pay on credit, we can pay on credit first." Xingxing looked confused. Her parents were so happy when the doctor agreed to pay on credit, so she didn't want to spoil their mood.
I don't know what's going on in that little girl's head. She was reluctant to take it out just now, but suddenly she took it out now. She's so clever and mischievous.
Xingxing: I didn't think much about it. I just needed the money urgently, and my parents and brothers were worried, so I took out the money.
With the money, we can hire an oxcart for the section of the official road, but there's another mountain path back to Yegou Village, which takes half an hour to walk, and the road might not be safe then.
"Let's find a cheap inn to stay in for the night and go back tomorrow," Zhou Laoda said to Zhao Guihua.
Looking at the group of children, the seriously ill Chen Shunping, and his frail sister, the latter felt it would be better to return to the village the next day. So the group went to find an inn, asking at each one to see which one was the cheapest and staying there.
Finally, they settled into a secluded inn. After paying for the room, Zhao Guihua asked Zhou Laoda to go to the inn's kitchen to boil water. The inn was small and simple, with only a manager, a waiter, and a cook in the kitchen.
Guests have to boil water themselves in the kitchen for bathing, and they also have to fetch water from the well in the backyard. They have to buy firewood if they can't get enough firewood.
Old Zhou was boiling water to bathe Zhao Guizhi and the child, and also to clean Chen Shunping up when they entered the inn.
The shopkeeper was displeased when he saw that Zhao Guizhi and the other two were dressed as beggars. Later, Zhao Guihua gave them an extra fifty coins, and the shopkeeper didn't kick them out.
"Take your time washing, I'll go buy you some clean clothes." Zhao Guihua led Zhou Erfu and Zhou Sifu out.
He returned a quarter of an hour later, having bought three sets of clothes. Calculating the cost, he realized that the hotel stay, clothes, and dinner had already cost him one tael of silver.
With only four taels of silver left, Zhao Guihua quickly calculated the accounts in her mind. They were truly dirt poor. If it weren't for Xingxing's good luck, they wouldn't even be able to support themselves, let alone pay for Chen Shunping's medical treatment.
She was used to being frugal, so the three sets of clothes she bought were all made of coarse cloth, which was cheaper, but still softer than linen. She didn't order dinner at the inn, but bought pancakes and meat buns outside.
When Zhao Guihua returned, Zhao Guizhi had also finished showering and changed into clean clothes. Before she was clean, her older sister looked frighteningly thin, and now that she saw her, Zhao Guihua couldn't help but shed tears.
"Big sister, you've suffered so much." Zhao Guizhi was not only skin and bones, but she also had a centipede-like scar on her back, about an inch long. Although the wound had long since healed, the danger she had faced at the time was still evident.
Holding Zhao Guihua's hand, Zhao Guizhi's eyes were also red, and she said in a low voice, "Five years ago, I fled to Fengyang City with my master's family. Who knew that a year ago, Fengyang City was struck by an earthquake, followed by a locust plague. Although no one in the Chen family starved to death due to the natural disasters, we could no longer stay in Fengyang City."
The Chen family was a branch of a prominent family, so they knew some common sense. For example, many people died from the earth's upheaval, and a plague would soon break out. In addition, a locust plague would starve a large number of people to death. Therefore, they had to leave quickly and escape to the provincial capital where there was no plague.
However, during their escape, the Chen family's group encountered a group of vicious bandits. The Chen family's originally orderly group was scattered, most of the guards were killed, and in the end, the master and his servants fled for their lives.
Zhao Guizhi's mistress was the eldest daughter-in-law of the Chen family. During that escape, she was slashed by bandits and fell off a cliff. The eldest son was also missing. Zhao Guizhi was knocked unconscious and only escaped by being covered by the corpses of two maids.
"Chen Shunping used to be the master's servant. His father was the steward of the Chen family, and his mother was the cook. Unfortunately, they were both killed by bandits. That day, he was lucky to be slashed and lost too much blood, so he fell into the bushes and survived..."
When Chen Shunping woke up, he found that everyone except those who had escaped was dead. He saw his parents lying in a pool of blood, so he cried and moved their bodies aside, dug a pit and buried them.
Then he remembered Zhao Guizhi and started searching through the pile of corpses. He had fallen in love with Zhao Guizhi a long time ago and had already proposed to the old man. The old man had agreed to their marriage and said that he would give them a big gift when they got married.
Zhao Guizhi also had feelings for Chen Shunping and was just waiting for the day to get married. Who knew that so many things would happen later? Fortunately, when Chen Shunping found her, she was still alive.
Both of them were injured and were about to leave when they suddenly heard a faint cry of a child. After exchanging a glance, they quickly searched and finally found the Third Miss under the carriage that had been broken by the bandits.
That was the little girl who had been following them all along. She was the youngest daughter of the eldest son of the Chen family. She was only three years old at the time. The little girl was not injured, but she was so frightened that she lost her composure.
For a long time afterward, the little girl would scream and cry in terror whenever she heard the sound of fighting, and she was often awakened by nightmares in the middle of the night. It wasn't until the last six months that she got better.
Perhaps she had grown accustomed to the dangerous scenes on the road, or perhaps she was too young to remember what had happened, Zhao Guizhi didn't know whether these changes were good or bad. The little girl was no longer easily startled and screamed from time to time, but she seemed a bit dazed, as if she had been frightened to death.
He's become stupid.
"How did you get to the South?" Zhao Guihua asked.
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