Chapter 25
Chu Jiujiu got hot-headed and ran back to her home. After she got home, she sat for a while and then calmed down.
She moved her right hand and found that the bleeding had stopped, but she still didn't dare to move too much. She carefully lifted some plantain and saw that there was a big cut on the joint of her thumb, which looked scary.
Chu Jiujiu hissed and covered the wound with the plantain again. She wanted to wash the wound. After all, it was cut by a sickle. If she got tetanus, her life would be over.
But if I wash the wound, what if it opens again? Wouldn’t that hurt even more?
Chu Jiujiu hesitated for a long time and decided to just wash the blood off her wrist.
Walking into the yard, she squatted beside the wooden barrel, looking at the dried blood scabs on her hands. She felt so distressed. How many candied dates would she have to eat to make up for the loss?
While washing, Chu Jiujiu's eyes fell on the vegetable patch next to her. When she saw it, she was stunned.
The green vegetables that she stepped on an hour ago have now stood up. They were almost completely broken before, with only the fibers still connected. Now they are only half broken, and the wound of the remaining half is slightly yellow. Chu Jiujiu has seen such wounds. Some vegetables will leave such a yellow mark after they grow back after being injured.
Chu Jiujiu stared at the vegetable for five minutes. After five minutes, her eyes fell on her right pocket.
In this world, the only things that can be described as "unscientific" besides myself is this necklace that can attract animals.
Similarly, if it wasn't me, then it was this necklace that brought this vegetable back to life.
This is not the first time that she has killed someone with such brutal force. Previously, fish, chicken, mushrooms and other things did not come back to life, and they never suddenly jumped around in the pot. It should be a problem with the necklace.
Thinking about what she had done before, Chu Jiujiu looked at the wooden barrel which still had a lot of water left.
Like a newborn calf that is not afraid of a tiger, Chu Jiujiu made a bold assumption but did not carefully verify it. She simply peeled off the plantain, scooped a little water from the wooden barrel with her right hand, and poured it on her injured left hand.
Chu Jiujiu waited for a while, but nothing seemed to change.
Am I really thinking too much...
Now that her hand had stopped bleeding, the plantain was no longer useful. Chu Jiujiu looked at the miraculously regenerated vegetables in confusion for a while, and couldn't help but wonder if the plant's own repair ability was too strong. When Chu Shao came back, she would ask him about it.
Thinking of this, Chu Jiujiu stood up and walked towards the river again.
But she couldn't stop mowing the grass just because she was angry, otherwise the team leader would be angry and the villagers would look down on her as a girl from the city.
Chu Jiujiu felt like she had only been delayed for a short while, but when she returned, Han Shengyi, the ox grass, and the sickle were all gone. She stood alone by the river, lost for a moment, then turned and walked back to the team headquarters, running into the women's director on the way.
The director of women's affairs stopped her and looked at her with concern. "Jiujiu, I heard you cut your hand. Which hand did you cut?"
Chu Jiujiu was stunned. "Director Xie, how did you know?"
"Shengyi told me. I asked Doctor Huang for some gauze. Come, let me take a look. If it's serious, I'll wrap it around you."
As she spoke, she pulled Chu Jiujiu's hand, looked at her right hand first, nothing, then looked at her left hand, wow.
Such a big wound will heal on its own if you don't bandage it.
Women's Director: "...Jiujiu, is this where you cut it?"
Chu Jiujiu was actually even more surprised than the director of the women's department. She was shocked in her heart, but she didn't dare to show it on her face, so she forced herself to say "hmm" calmly.
The director of women's affairs was a little angry. "Han Shengyi told me that you were bleeding a lot, so I hurried out to look for you."
Chu Jiujiu's hand froze for a moment. She lowered her head and pulled back, but didn't move. "I, I lied to him."
The director of women's affairs raised an eyebrow, then revealed a look of understanding, as if she had seen through Chu Jiujiu. "You, you, don't make such jokes in the future. You scared Han Shengyi and me too."
Chu Jiujiu listened humbly and said, "I'm sorry, I won't do this again. Director Xie, do you know where Han Shengyi went?"
The women's director sighed. "Where else can he go? He's going to cut grass. There's grass for cattle over in the vegetable patch, but it's not as easy to cut as by the river. He also told me to tell you that you don't have to go. Just rest at home. He'll help you cut grass."
At this point, the director of women's affairs couldn't help but say something extra, "Jiujiu, look how good Han Shengyi is to you. Don't bully him anymore."
Chu Jiujiu: "...He bullied me!"
"Okay, okay, he bullied you," the women's director said, looking really helpless. "No matter who bullies whom, you can't joke about work or cut corners. This is just one incident today, and it won't happen again."
This feeling should be like the legendary feeling of a dumb person eating Coptis chinensis, unable to express the pain.
Chu Jiujiu agreed with a frustrated look, and the director of women's affairs immediately softened. Chu Jiujiu was so well behaved that she couldn't help but pat her head. "Okay, be more careful when you mow the grass next time. Let's go home."
After saying that, the director of women's affairs left in a hurry. Chu Jiujiu did not stand there any longer. She turned around and ran home quickly, but she was not listening to the director of women's affairs, but was worried about the half bucket of water still in the yard.
Today's experience was too unbelievable. Chu Jiujiu's heart was pounding. She didn't care about anything else. There was only one thought in her mind.
That is to never let others find out.
She was too young to understand the principle of "the innocent man is guilty of possessing a treasure." She only vaguely felt that the existence of the necklace and her own origins must not be known to this village, or even the world. Especially since the necklace had so many amazing functions. If someone with ulterior motives discovered it, they would come and steal it. Then, the peaceful life that her family had finally found would be shattered.
Chu Jiujiu ran back home and lifted the remaining half bucket of water with both hands. She stood in the yard and looked around, then struggled to put the bucket in the corner of the large room. Squatting beside the bucket, Chu Jiujiu touched the necklace in her pocket and began to ponder the bucket.
There is no doubt that the necklace is a treasure. In addition to attracting animals, it can also heal wounds. However, how exactly it plays this healing role still needs to be verified.
Chu Jiujiu glanced at her left hand. The wound was still there, but it had become very thin and the pain had disappeared. Looking at the wound, Chu Jiujiu's thoughts became wild and imaginative. She even imagined that the necklace was actually a piece of ultra-modern technology, and that after she was healed, she would have superpowers and become a necklace man from then on.
After imagining for a while how brave she would be while wearing the necklace and doing justice, Chu Jiujiu successfully made herself laugh. She rubbed her face and returned to reality. She patted her legs that were numb from squatting and stood up. She ran to the main room, brought over a few empty bamboo tubes, transferred the water in the wooden barrel into the tubes, pondered the rest for a while, and poured it all into her own vegetable garden.
This small vegetable patch is her experimental field. We will know tomorrow whether this water has any other uses.
After the bucket was clean, Chu Jiujiu put it back in the yard and looked up at the sky. Chu Jiujiu estimated that it was three o'clock in the afternoon and the weather was still very hot. She didn't know whether Han Shengyi had finished mowing the grass.
She could say to the women's director that she was lying, but Han Shengyi saw her wound with his own eyes and saw that she was bleeding a lot. If she went to cut the grass now, Han Shengyi would definitely notice something was wrong at a glance.
But Chu Jiujiu felt uncomfortable enjoying others working for her so comfortably.
It's not that I'm embarrassed, it's just that I don't want to accept Han Shengyi's favor anymore.
After thinking for a while, Chu Jiujiu turned back to the main room and took out the fish basket again.
——
Sixty kilograms of cattle grass were neatly stacked in the northwest corner of the Qingzhu Village threshing ground. There was also a cattle shed here, but this was a real one. Two cows stood inside, grazing leisurely. From dozens of meters away, you could smell the cattle's scent. After stacking the cattle grass, Han Shengyi moved some to the feed trough.
He was not the only one in the cowshed, there was another person shoveling cow dung in the back.
Zhang Fulai stood at the innermost part of the cowshed. The temperature was high in summer and the smell of cow dung was even stronger. He couldn't stand it after a while. But the team leader had said that he would have to shovel dung until the autumn harvest, and he would have to deal with dung for the entire summer. Zhang Fulai felt that he would go crazy if he couldn't wait until the autumn harvest.
The family had suffered a series of disasters. After his parents were taken to the commune, they were taken to town. Their fate was uncertain. The house was a smoky mess. Seven brothers and sisters slept on the same kang, a crowded and noisy kang, making every night a restless night. Even his grandmother didn't love him as much as she used to. Asking her for money only earned him a scolding.
Zhang Fulai couldn't understand why his family had become like this.
It’s all Chu Jiujiu’s fault. Ever since she came, I haven’t had a good day!
With resentment, Zhang Fulai hammered the iron shovel into the ground and looked at Han Shengyi, who was silently grazing cattle. He shouted, "Hey! Stinky Old Nine!"
The villagers didn't know who was imprisoned in the cowshed, so they simply called them "stinky old nine".
Han Shengyi heard Zhang Fulai talking, but his hands did not stop moving, and even his expression did not change, as if he had not heard anything.
Zhang Fulai's resentment grew even stronger when he saw this. Ever since Mrs. Zhang stopped giving him money, the boys who used to follow him around ignored him. He reeked of excrement, and his brothers and sisters avoided him. Sometimes, when his eldest brother was in a bad mood, he would make him sleep on the floor. Ironically, this was how he had treated Chu Shao before.
It would be fine if he had gotten to the point where even cats and dogs disliked him, but now even Han Shengyi, that stinky old man, dared to ignore him. How could this be tolerated!
"I'm talking to you, are you deaf?"
Click.
Han Shengyi stopped grazing the cattle, lowered his eyes and looked at his shoes.
A piece of cow dung fell on the edge of his shoe, only one centimeter away from his shoe. Although it didn't get on his shoe, it was still insulting enough.
Zhang Fulai was still arrogant inside, "What are you looking at? You're so disgusted! You stink more than cow dung! Cow dung is a good thing. It helps farmers. Everyone wants it. But you stink all over. You look like a pretty boy. Except for your face, everything else is black. Everyone avoids you."
Han Shengyi pursed his lips and continued to pretend not to hear.
Qingzhu Village was a good place. Although the conditions weren't great, the "five black categories" and other bad elements, who were widely condemned outside, could manage to live like human beings here. However, every place had good people and bad people, and Han Shengyi had heard worse things here.
He didn't want to get into a conflict, so he said nothing, but in Zhang Fulai's eyes, his silence was his cowardice.
Zhang Fulai was even more pleased with himself, and his words became more and more outspoken. "I'm right, aren't I? Even Chu Jiujiu is avoiding you. She's the daughter of a bad guy, a bad guy from birth. Even she looks down on you and doesn't want you. I really don't understand what the point of you living is. You two used to be together, and I thought you were a good match. Birds of a feather flock together. Things that don't show light are like this. Tsk tsk tsk tsk. Now she's ignoring you. Just how annoying are you?"
Han Shengyi stood beside the feed trough, which was full of green grass, and two sickles were leaning against the trough.
Han Shengyi's eyes fell on the two sickles. The people inside were still chattering, as if suppressing Han Shengyi with words was a proud thing. Even if he was despised by everyone in the village, even if he was a scoundrel, but he criticized Han Shengyi and pointed out Han Shengyi's mistakes, then he was a good man, a very good man.
Suddenly, an angry and childish voice interrupted, interrupting Zhang Fulai's complacent speech and hitting Zhang Fulai's head.
"Don't use the words you use to describe yourself on others. No one deserves them except you!"
As this sentence appeared, a sharp object flew by and hit Zhang Fulai on the forehead with a bang. He jumped up in pain and stepped on cow dung again, the freshest cow dung, and his whole foot sank into it.
Zhang Fulai covered his head and rushed out screaming. When he ran to the outside of the cowshed, he found Chu Jiujiu looking at him angrily. She was carrying a fish basket. Although she was still a little dwarf, her aura seemed stronger than that of an adult.
His head was buzzing and his hands were sticky. He knew there was bleeding without even looking. Zhang Fulai was shocked and angry, but he didn't know what she had hit him with. He turned his head and looked inside the cowshed. Zhang Fulai's nose was almost crooked with anger.
In the cowshed lay a cone snail the size of half a palm, its tip as sharp as an awl. Needless to say, it was this thing that had just struck him on the forehead. Zhang Fulai had never seen such a large cone snail in his life. This must be the ancestor of cone snails!
The first time they met, Chu Jiujiu threw stones at him. Now, Chu Jiujiu threw snails at him. Next time, should she use a kitchen knife?
Zhang Fulai shouted angrily: "Are you sick?"
Chu Jiujiu sneered, "I'm not sick, I'm treating you. If there's something wrong with your brain, you should smash it to see if you can fix it. Other people's brains are full, but yours is hollow. You can't even see what your brain looks like with a magnifying glass. Talk less and move less in the future. If one day it falls into your nose and you sneeze, then you won't have a brain anymore, right?"
Zhang Fulai: "You're talking nonsense! I, I..."
He also wanted to give a long speech like Chu Jiujiu, but he didn't even know how to refute. In fact, he needed to wait a while before he could understand what Chu Jiujiu said.
But Chu Jiujiu wouldn't give him time to understand. She covered her mouth, made a surprised and apologetic expression, and said in a particularly provocative tone: "Oh, sorry, I forgot. It doesn't make any difference to you whether you have a brain or not. After all, you never use your brain. Well, in a few decades, our brains will be worn out, but yours will be brand new. It will definitely shock the whole world!"
Zhang Fulai: “…”
He was so angry that he almost died.
Han Shengyi seemed to have never seen such an arrogant and cute side of Chu Jiujiu. He lowered his eyes, suppressed the urge to laugh, and when he looked up again, he found that Zhang Fulai wanted to take action.
He is not his mother. He was so angry that he didn't know how to fight back. If he couldn't win the argument, then he would just fight. He is just a grown man. Is he afraid of Chu Jiujiu, who is powerless?
Zhang Fulai didn't care about the fight. He swung the shovel and was about to hit Chu Jiujiu. Seeing this, Chu Jiujiu wanted to hide, but before she could hide, a hand grabbed her and blocked her behind it.
Zhang Fulai missed the first strike and tried to strike again, but Han Shengyi grabbed his weapon tightly before he swung it halfway. He stared into Zhang Fulai's eyes and asked sternly, "What do you want to do?"
Zhang Fulai: "Get out of my way! I'm going to beat her to death!"
Han Shengyi wanted to snatch the iron shovel, but Chu Jiujiu, who was behind him, heard this and pushed him away.
Standing in front of Zhang Fulai, Chu Jiujiu was even more arrogant than before. "Alright, come on, beat me to death. I've already sent your parents to the farm, so I don't mind sending you as well. Yeah, your parents were convicted of human trafficking, and they'll get a few years in prison at most. You committed intentional homicide, so you can't be sent to the farm. You can only be shot."
Chu Jiujiu knew that Zhang Fulai would not dare to do so. He was a coward who only knew how to say harsh words. When Zhang Fulai heard her say that, he began to get scared, but he was too embarrassed to do so. Han Shengyi saw his expression, snatched the iron hoe, and threw it on the ground.
Zhang Fulai lost his weapon and hesitated for a moment before saying to Chu Jiujiu, "Just wait!"
Then he ran away.
Han Shengyi and Chu Jiujiu kept watching his back as he left. Only after he left the threshing ground did Chu Jiujiu turn her head and look towards the cowshed.
She was looking at the big cone snail she had touched today. She had originally wanted to take it back to show Chu Shao, but now she couldn't look at it anymore.
Chu Jiujiu secretly felt sorry, when suddenly, a gentle voice sounded above her head.
"You shouldn't have provoked him."
Chu Jiujiu looked up, exchanged glances with Han Shengyi, and then looked away.
In fact, thinking back now, she felt a little regretful. Zhang Fulai was not a human trafficker, nor was he Mrs. Zhang, and he posed little threat to her. But when she heard what he said, she was furious, and when she became emotional, she could hardly control herself.
Come to think of it, she is quite similar to Chu Shao in this respect, maybe it's a family inheritance.
Although she knew she was wrong, Chu Jiujiu didn't want to admit her mistake in front of Han Shengyi. She just whispered, "It's none of your business."
Han Shengyi looked at the back of her head and pursed his lips. "There's something I said before that was wrong."
When Chu Jiujiu heard the word "wrong", her ears twitched. She thought Han Shengyi was going to apologize to her, so she turned her head back and asked with a stern face, "Which sentence is wrong?"
Han Shengyi pulled the corners of his mouth and showed a gentle smile. He spoke slowly and steadily, which made people feel comfortable listening to him and couldn't help wanting to listen for a while longer.
"I used to say that the villagers didn't let you leave the Zhang family because you and Chu Shao could survive there. At the time, I thought this idea was wrong, but then I thought about it and realized that from a certain perspective, the villagers were right. Living a good life is the most important thing. Nothing is more important than being a person."
Chu Jiujiu was a little disappointed when she found that it was not the apology she expected. After listening to his words, she thought for a while and said to Han Shengyi: "I don't understand."
Han Shengyi: “…”
Chu Jiujiu really couldn't understand what was right or wrong. She could only understand superficial words. If it was a little more profound, she would be confused and need to think about it for a long time before she could understand the deep meaning.
Han Shengyi was silent for a moment, then changed his words to something more understandable: "Don't let yourself get hurt again in the future."
Chu Jiujiu's frown relaxed. She finally understood that Han Shengyi was worried that she would hurt herself because she had been too extreme. Chu Jiujiu snorted, turned her head away, and whispered again, "It's none of your business."
The atmosphere became quiet. Chu Jiujiu didn't want to stay any longer. She put the fish basket in her right hand next to Han Shengyi and returned to the cold war state. She said stiffly, "You cut grass for me. This is your reward. We are even now. No one owes anyone anything."
The fish in the basket were still spitting bubbles half-deadly. Looking at the basket, the smile that had just appeared on Han Shengyi's cheek disappeared again. He felt a little dry in his throat. It was like shooting himself in the foot. It was he who asked Chu Jiujiu not to look for him again. It was he who wanted Chu Jiujiu to be even with him. Now that he had got what he wanted, he could not feel any change.
I am still as irritable as before, or even more irritable than before.
Han Shengyi raised his eyelids slightly and looked at Chu Jiujiu's left hand. He had already seen that Chu Jiujiu's left hand was wrapped with a piece of rag, which just wrapped around her thumb. There was no blood on the cloth, and it seemed that the wound had already coagulated. Children's injuries healed quickly. Chu Jiujiu's hand might be healed in three or four days.
Han Shengyi half-knelt down and picked up the wet fish basket. He smiled again and nodded, "Okay, there are too many fish. I'll help you catch them until your hand recovers."
Chu Jiujiu was still thinking about the necklace, so when she heard Han Shengyi say that, she didn't argue with him. She just nodded casually and turned to leave. Han Shengyi stood in front of the cowshed for a while before slowly taking a step forward.
——
Chu Jiujiu gave all the fish to Han Shengyi and forgot to leave two for her own family. She picked a few beans from the vegetable garden and added wild onions and wild ginger found on the roadside to make a refreshing stir-fried bean dish. The aroma of onions and ginger lingered in the pan for a long time. Chu Jiujiu stir-fried it for a long time until she was sure that the beans were really cooked, then she served the dish.
Afterward, she cracked the two eggs Third Aunt had given her into a bowl, sprinkled them with salt, and placed them in a steamer to make a bowl of egg custard. Free-range eggs are different from those from farmed chickens. The yolks are larger and a deep orange, resembling little suns, and they taste incredibly good. While steaming the egg custard, Chu Jiujiu also added some leftover steamed bread and heated it up for a while.
The paint on the dining table finally dried this morning. Chu Jiujiu brought the prepared food to the table. She quickly ran to the cupboard and took down a bamboo tube filled with water and a dish cover. After covering the food, Chu Jiujiu sat on the bench and guarded the bamboo tube.
Finally, footsteps were heard in the yard. Chu Shao came back from work. He had just put the sickle next to the fence when an unidentified object rushed out of the house.
Chu Jiujiu rushed to him, circled around him, and looked at him expectantly, "Grandpa, the sun is so strong today, you must have gotten sunburned again, right? Come on, let me take a look!"
Chu Shao: “…”
Unfilial descendants.
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