This man is so handsome.
Looking up, he saw his second brother and his cronies. He was furious. His father was in the hospital, and everyone at home was frantic with worry. Yet his brother was still wandering around town. "Li Guojian, do you want to die? Dad is in the hospital, and you're still wandering around."
Second brother Li Guojian carefully observed the little beggar in front of him. He had heard from his friend that he was planning to swindle money from her, but he didn't expect it to be his little sister. He couldn't help but laugh and said, "Look at your smeared face, you stink to death. You'll never get married in this life." After saying that, he went to pull on the basket on Li Guorong's back.
"Let me see what's inside?"
Li Guorong tried to stop him, but he was no match for the grown man. Li Guojian's eyes lit up, and he pulled Li Guorong away, whispering, "Come with me, there's somewhere to buy this good stuff."
Upon hearing this, Li Guorong stopped struggling, widened his eyes, and said fiercely, "If you dare to lie to me, I'll have my brother break your legs."
Li Guojian sneered disdainfully, "That coward Li Guoqiang."
After passing through a deep, dark alley and through the courtyard of someone else's house, we arrived at a back door. The door was short and small, but it had a faint fragrance.
Li Guojian knocked lightly on the door, one long and one short knock. His cronies were watching from both sides of the alley to see if anyone would come to report him.
The door creaked open, and a child led them to the front hall.
An old man sat in the main seat in the front hall, one eye covered by an eye patch, the other eye gleaming with a sharp light.
A man sat in the guest seat, wearing a white shirt, black trousers, and gleaming leather shoes. His long legs were spread wide, and he had dark, inky eyes and a high, straight nose, a rarity among locals.
Li Guorong was a little embarrassed and hid his muddy shoes behind his back. This man was really handsome, as handsome as a Hong Kong star, even more handsome than Ye Fan when he was young.
Li Guojian was oblivious to his sister's budding romantic feelings. He quickly took the basket and placed it in front of the old man. "Old man Li, these are medicinal herbs that my sister climbed eight mountains and fought to the death with wild boars, wolves, and tigers to collect. I won't stand for it if you don't give me a good price."
Upon hearing this, the man in the guest seat raised the corners of his mouth slightly and glanced at the female fighter who was even more formidable than Wu Song with a teasing look.
Li Guorong's face turned red with anger, and he pinched his second brother's waist hard with his right hand.
Li Guojian, oh dear, oh dear, quickly shake off the little sister.
Old Li was casually flipping through the herbs inside, just some wild Solomon's seal, when suddenly a glint flashed in his eyes.
Li Guojian kept a close eye on Old Man Li's expression; there must be a high price involved.
Old Li lowered his only remaining eye, making his already unreadable emotions even more difficult to discern, and said in a low voice, "This yellow premium product is of average quality, but considering how hard your little sister worked to distribute it, let's just say 10 yuan per jin."
Li Guorong clenched her fists tightly. 10 yuan a pound, that would be enough for medical expenses and could also buy back the piglets that had been sold. She was about to nod.
Li Guojian quickly pulled out a piece of meat from his basket that was noticeably yellower and larger. "Old Li, what are you doing? You're trying to trick me. I'm going to sell it to Old Zhao."
When Old Man Li realized he'd been found out, he quickly said, "I was just joking with you, why are you getting so worked up?" He gripped his basket tightly; inside were several top-quality wild gastrodia elata, which could be sold for a lot of money.
Old Li chuckled as he picked out some gastrodia elata from the basket, saying, "I'll charge you 12 yuan per jin for these."
Li Guojian raised his head high and said, "Old Li, I see there are a few big and plump ones here, 12 yuan a pound. I'll go find Old Zhao."
Old Li looked embarrassed and divided the Gastrodia elata into large and small piles. "I'm offering a high price for Polygonatum sibiricum. This pile of Gastrodia elata, the small ones are 20 yuan per jin, and the large ones are 13 yuan per jin. There's no room for negotiation."
Li Guorong tugged at his second brother's sleeve and gestured with his eyes that it was enough; their father was still waiting to be saved.
He felt it was about the same and nodded, "Next time I have good medicinal herbs, I'll come to you again, Brother Li." Just a moment ago he was Old Man Li, now he's Brother Li.
The numbers on the scale kept changing, and Li Guorong silently calculated in her mind: 50 yuan, 39 yuan, a total of 129 yuan, which was 29 yuan more expensive than a big fat pig. She had no choice but to suffer.
Just as she was about to reach out her hand, a pair of even rougher hands reached out. "I'll hold it for you, little sister," Li Guojian said slyly, wanting to take the money.
Li Guorong stomped on Li Guojian's foot and yelled, "Li Guojian, don't be a jerk!" He then snatched the money from his second brother's hand.
Li Guojian quickly pulled out 9 yuan. "I'll bring this to you. There are brothers guarding the door. Even if they haven't done anything great, they've still put in the effort." Li Guorong was furious. He pinched his second brother's flesh and shouted, "That's 9 yuan. That's enough for our family to eat for half a month!" Li Guojian didn't care. He took the money and ran away. Li Guorong chased after him to the door, but he couldn't catch up. Besides, their father was waiting at the hospital. He could only watch his second brother's disappearing figure with resentment.
"Little sister."
The deep, magnetic voice sent a shiver down Li Guorong's spine, and she turned around stiffly.
The man's gentle features asked, "Should I call you that?"
Li Guorong blushed. He had never spoken so gently in his life. He asked in a normal voice, "What's wrong?" If Li Guojian were here, he would definitely think that his little sister was possessed by a ghost.
The man took out a book from his pocket, pointed to a picture, and said, "Young lady, you are very knowledgeable. Have you ever seen this plant in the mountains?"
Li Guorong's expression hardened slightly as he carefully recalled that there were similar plants near where his father had collapsed, but that was in the deep mountains, which was too dangerous. "I've never seen them before."
The man narrowed his eyes and placed the book in Li Guorong's hands. "If you happen to find it, little sister, you can come and find me. If it's of good quality, I'll give you a discount of 120 yuan per kilogram."
Li Guorong's eyes widened. 120 yuan per jin, which is the price of an adult pig.
The man chuckled, "I'll be here for the next month. If you have any problems, just come to me. My name is Lin Shaocheng, but everyone calls me Brother Cheng." Without waiting for Li Guorong's reply, the man turned and went back to Old Man Li's house.
Li Guorong gripped the book tightly in his hand and hurried towards the hospital.
"Mom, Mom!" she called as she ran down the hospital corridor; even a dog could probably hear her excitement.
A young nurse walked by and scolded her: "What are you doing? A hospital isn't a vegetable market."
This finally calmed Li Guorong down. Wu Cuihua quickly came over to apologize, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, the maid at home is a little unruly." She hurriedly pulled Li Guorong into the ward.
"Little sister, what's wrong?" Wu Cuihua didn't scold Li Guorong. That's just Li Guorong's temper; he can't calm down for a moment.
Li Guorong's eyes lit up as he pulled 100 yuan from his pocket and exclaimed, "We can get Dad an X-ray now! We can get Dad an X-ray now!"
Wu Cuihua's expression changed drastically at this moment, and she asked, "Where did this money come from? We can't accept money that isn't legal."
Li Guorong felt extremely wronged. She risked her life to collect herbs in the deep mountains, only to be doubted by her mother like this. "This is the money I earned from collecting herbs in the mountains."
Wu Cuihua then noticed the scrapes on Li Guorong's body. She had thought they were just mud from playing with his friends, but she never imagined he had gone to the deep mountains. She raised her hand and gently patted Li Guorong's back, tears streaming down her face. "Why were you so disobedient? How dare you go to the deep mountains? There are wolves and poisonous snakes there. Your father has already had an accident. If something happens to you too, how am I supposed to live?"
Li Guorong threw herself into her mother's arms, her mind flashing back to the danger she had encountered in the forest. A sudden wave of fear washed over her; she had almost died on that mountain. Her body trembled slightly as she cried out, "Mom, I won't do it again."
Just then, the older brother came in and said, "The doctor is urging us to pay. If we don't pay, they'll take us back."
Wu Cuihua quickly took the money from Li Guorong and went to pay the fee.
The family waited beside the doctor, who carefully examined the X-ray, his brow furrowed, and said, "You need to go to the county hospital."
Li Guorong shouted, "The hospital ordered an X-ray, but I'm still not cured. They want us to go to the county hospital and get our money back for the X-ray."
The eldest brother pursed his lips tightly, making his already hunched back even more bent.
Wu Cuihua gently patted Li Guorong's hand and asked, "Why do you still need to go to the county hospital?"
The doctor coldly replied, "The town hospital has no capacity for craniotomy and no blood bank. The patient needs craniotomy."
Wu Cuihua felt dizzy and disoriented. Could a person survive with a cut on their head?
The eldest brother, Li Guoqiang, asked, "How much more will it cost to have this surgery at the city hospital?"
The doctor replied, "It will cost at least 300."
Li Guorong gasped. 300 yuan—even selling the house wouldn't be enough to raise that much. She remembered the herb that seemed to be needed by city men. She reassured her older brother and mother, "Brother, Mom, you two find a car to take Dad to the city first. I'll definitely be able to raise enough money to take Dad to see a doctor."
Upon hearing this, Wu Cuihua understood immediately and quickly grabbed Li Guorong's hand tightly, saying, "Sister, you can't go to the mountains anymore. It's too dangerous. We can't let your father's life be at risk!"
Li Guoqiang wiped away his tears, completely lost and bewildered.
Li Guorong forcefully said to his elder brother, "Brother, why don't you hurry up and take Mom and Dad to the city!"
Li Guoqiang seemed to have just come to his senses and hurriedly went to complete the transfer procedures.
Li Guorong broke free from Wu Cuihua's hand. "Mom, there's no danger. It's just outside, the place where Dad fainted last time. We can't just watch Dad die."
Just then, the second brother returned, looking quite worried, and asked, "How is Dad?"
Knowing Li Guorong's stubborn temper, Wu Cuihua said to Li Guojian, "You and Mom go to the city to transfer your father to another hospital. Let your eldest brother and Guorong go back to borrow money." She didn't mention the matter of making money by collecting herbs for her second son, Guorong, as that would be considered speculation and profiteering, and her second son had a group of unreliable people around him.
Li Guojian said, "Mom, you're still hiding this from me. I found all the buyers. My little sister and I went to the mountains. My older brother was the only one who could take care of Dad. He's such a coward. I was counting on him to protect my little sister."
Li Guorong didn't want to go up the mountain with her second brother. With his temper, he would definitely take money from his brothers' food, drink and entertainment. The family needed money right now. She shouted, "Big brother is taller than you. How is he a coward? You're the one who runs away when there's danger."
Wu Cuihua knew that her second son was cunning and would never do anything he didn't want to do, so she could only say, "Okay, but if your sister loses even a single hair, you can forget about acknowledging me as your mother."
Second brother Li Guojian said to Wu Cuihua with a grin, "Mom, you still don't trust me? I'm the most reliable person!"
Li Guorong had no choice; she preferred to go alone, but her mother absolutely refused, and could only glare fiercely at Li Guojian.
Late at night, Li Guolan tenderly applied ointment to Li Guorong's wounds. When she applied it to his chest, she asked in surprise, "Little sister, why do you have three red moles on your chest?"
Li Guorong took out the mirror next to her and observed it carefully. The red mole looked like an equilateral triangle tightly surrounding her heart. Seeing these moles, it was as if a strange warm current flowed into her heart. It felt very familiar.
She replied, "I don't know, it just suddenly grew out."
With tears in her eyes, Li Guolan said, "Going up the mountain is too dangerous. Let me go in your place, little sister."
Li Guorong shook his head, "No one in the family has a better sense of direction than me. There's no one in the surrounding villages who never gets lost like me. You're going up the mountain because I have to come and rescue you."
Li Guolan gripped the medicine bottle tightly, lowered her head, and said, "Then you should stay close to the second brother and go to sleep early. I'm going to take care of the younger brother."
Under the cover of darkness, several unpleasant meows came from under Li Guojian's window. Li Guojian opened the window, and the group whispered among themselves before quietly leaving.
The darkness concealed unspoken thoughts. As they approached a dilapidated cabin deep in the mountains, a burly man was polishing his machete, while a shorter man was adjusting his hunting rifle, which looked old but was well-maintained.
A mournful wolf howl echoed from the mountain, seemingly filled with boundless grief and indignation. The two exchanged a glance.
The shorter man broke the silence first, "Shuanzi, will we be able to find Panda if we break down the door tomorrow? The delivery date is approaching." The taller man didn't reply, rolled up a cigarette, and silently smoked it.
The short man continued, "After this job, I'll stop. That'll cover the kids' school fees." He then lay down on the bed to rest and prepare for his trip into the mountains the next day.
The tall man remained silent, thinking of his mentally challenged son who couldn't find a wife. If he could just finish this job, he would have the money to buy his son a wife from the mountains. It was truly a case of humans being worse off than animals; even a little panda was more precious than a human. He touched the wolf pelts under the bed. Even if he didn't find a panda, these wolf pelts would be enough to live on for several years.
A bluish mist hung over the mountains and villages, like the blue curtain of an arena about to be drawn back.
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