Chapter 21: Separation
A quarter of an hour later, Xu Lei called the village head and the clan leader! A large group of villagers followed him for unknown reasons. They just heard Xu Lei calling the village head and the clan leader to help preside over the separation of the family from the second branch.
They were so curious! The Xu family actually wanted to separate the Su mother and daughter? Oh, how rare! You know, the Su mother and daughter worked hard in the Xu family.
The mother and daughter have taken good care of the Xu family. Now the Xu family is willing to separate these two important labor forces?
But when they all arrived at the Xu family's yard, they were scared to death when they saw the red spots on Xu Zhiyi's face.
"Daya, what's wrong with your face?"
"Yeah! It's kind of scary, it's all over the face."
Xu Zhiyi: "I don't know either. I woke up like this!"
Old Mrs. Xu, who was standing by, saw the head of the village and the clan leader coming over and cried out, "Head of the village, Third Uncle, you are here! Our Xu family is now dividing the second branch, and we need your help in writing the separation document."
Village head: "Separate the second room? Are you sure?"
The clan leader frowned when he heard what Old Lady Xu said. He looked at Old Man Xu and advised him, "Danniu! If you separate the second house at this time, aren't you trying to force the mother and daughter to death? These days, it's very difficult for a widow to raise a young daughter!"
Old Man Xu was about to respond, but Old Lady Xu beat him to it.
Old Mrs. Xu: "Uncle, if you don't separate the second branch, I'm afraid that our whole family will die! Do you know that Su's mother and daughter have smallpox? It is contagious."
"What? Smallpox?"
The villagers who came to join in the fun were so frightened that they all retreated outside the gate!
"It's actually smallpox? That can kill people."
"It's not smallpox. You young people haven't seen it, but we elders have. The red spots of that smallpox are not like the ones on Daya's face. That smallpox is bigger, more like abscesses. Daya should have some kind of rash, right?"
As soon as he finished speaking, other older villagers who had seen smallpox before observed and identified it and found that it was indeed not smallpox, but they could not tell what kind of rash it was.
Upon hearing this, the clan leader looked at Xu Zhiyi's face and could tell at a glance that it was definitely not smallpox, because he was the one who had smallpox and survived thanks to the blessing of his ancestors. Then he looked at Old Man Xu and said:
"Daniu, Third Uncle is sure it's not smallpox, it should be a rash. How about asking Doctor Li to take a look?"
Xu Zhiyi looked at the village head and the clan leader, and quickly knelt down in front of them: "Village head, clan leader grandpa, please save my mother first, my mother has a fever."
Upon hearing this, the village head looked at the villagers outside the door and said, "Who can help invite Doctor Li?"
"Hey, I'll go"
After Doctor Li came over, he looked at Xu Zhiyi's face, quickly took out a handkerchief, put it on Xu Zhiyi's hand, and then concentrated on taking his pulse.
At this moment, Su woke up in the room! She came out of the room and saw that the head of the village was in the yard, and Doctor Li was taking Daya's pulse.
When he saw his daughter's face, he cried out in surprise.
Su: "Ah! Daya, what happened to your face? How did it become like this? Woohoo, please don't scare me!"
When the Xu family saw that Su's face was indeed infected and had red spots, they were more convinced that it was smallpox! They wanted to kick her out as soon as possible.
Xu Zhiyi: "Mom, are you awake?"
Doctor Li withdrew his hand from taking the patient's pulse and shook his head.
Xu Zhiyi felt nervous. Could it be that Doctor Li had concluded that it was caused by the medication he had taken?
When everyone looked at Doctor Li's expression, their hearts sank to the bottom. Was it really smallpox?
Old Man Xu: "Doctor Li, what is the reason?"
The head of the village was also a little worried. If it was really smallpox, the Su mother and daughter might not be able to stay in the village. The villagers certainly didn't want to leave these two dangerous people in the village.
Doctor Li stared at Xu Zhiyi and saw the look in her eyes. He knew that she didn't take the medicine accidentally, but was probably doing it on purpose.
After thinking for a while, he sighed and said, "I can be sure that the red spots on them are definitely not smallpox, but when I took their pulses, they sounded very strange. I can't tell what disease it is!"
"Well, I'll write a prescription for you two. You can take the prescription and go get the medicine and try it. It might work."
Xu Zhiyi: "Then I'll trouble you, Doctor Li!"
Doctor Li: "Oh, I hope you are okay!"
Hearing this, Song cried in fear: "It's not smallpox? Then why did it infect my second sister-in-law? We also... um..."
Xu Le, who was standing by, knew what Song might say next, so he quickly covered her mouth and whispered, "You're the only one who talks too much!"
Old Man Xu: "Village head, Third Uncle, although it is not smallpox, it is indeed contagious, and we don't know if it will kill people. We dare not keep them mother and daughter in the Xu family, so today we still plan to separate the second house."
Upon hearing this, the clan leader knew that Old Man Xu was determined to separate the second branch. He sighed, looked at Su and asked, "Hey, Su, what do you think of your father-in-law's proposal to separate the family? Just give it a try..."
Su: "What? Split up the family?"
Then she looked at Old Lady Xu and Old Man Xu and cried, "Dad, Mom, my daughter-in-law doesn't want to split up the family. Please don't chase her away. If you two separate us in this famine year, you'll be asking for our lives!"
Hearing this, Xu Zhiyi pulled Su and said, "Mother..."
Su pulled Xu Zhiyi and whispered, "Daya! The drought is severe now. Even if we divide the land, we can't grow food. Now the price of food has increased several times. Even if we have a few taels of silver now, it won't be enough to survive for long at the current price of food!"
"Mom, don't worry about this, I will definitely find a way"
Mrs. Su wanted to say something but was interrupted by Old Lady Xu!
Seeing that everyone was present, Old Lady Xu had to pretend: "Su, there is nothing I can do about this, right? But don't worry! If you have any difficulties in the future, we will definitely help you."
When Su heard this, she knew that the two elders would never change, and she immediately covered her face and cried.
Seeing that there was no room for reversal, the village head had no choice but to look at the Xu family and ask, "How should this family be divided? For example, the land?"
When Old Lady Xu heard this, she hurriedly said, "Since the second branch has no son, the land will not be divided. So, aren't there a few thatched houses of our Xu family at the head of the village? Let the Su mother and daughter move there!"
Hearing this, Xu Zhiyi said in a cold voice: "Grandma, is this considered dividing the family? A thatched hut? My mother and I are penniless. Are we going to wait for death in that thatched hut?"
The clan leader beside him also frowned and said, "Niece-in-law, you are really going too far! You don't want to divide anything. Do you want to wait for the Su mother and daughter to starve to death?"
Old Man Xu: "Give them another thirty kilograms of food!"
Not only did the clan leader and the head of the village feel that something was wrong, but the villagers who were listening outside the door also began to discuss the matter.
"How long can thirty kilograms of food last? The Su mother and daughter will have no land in the future, so they will run out of food sooner or later!"
"That's right! How can this be called a separation? This is clearly a disguised way of kicking someone out of the house."
"Hey, you say, the Su mother and daughter have worked hard for the Xu family for so many years, but they didn't expect that in the end, they got nothing."
Xu Zhiyi looked at everyone in the Xu family and said loudly: "I don't agree to divide the family, Grandpa, Grandma, if you divide me and Mom like this, we will die sooner or later, so it's better not to divide it at all. No matter how you drive me away, I won't leave."
Old Mrs. Xu: "You...you have to leave even if you don't want to."
Xu Zhiyi: "It's okay for me to leave, but it depends on how you divide this family!"
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