Jiang Dahai was thinking, where is Fan Xiaojuan, who should have gone to the hospital?
But he did not go to the machinery factory workers' hospital. Instead, after inquiring about the medical expenses, he ran back to his mother's home, which is Xiaoqiu Village next to Gu Dongmei's mother's home, Daqian Village.
"Mom, what should we do? Dachuan is crippled. The medical bill is 79 yuan. I can't afford that much money even if I emptied my family's savings. The nurse also said that Dachuan needs to be well taken care of for two or three months. We still need to feed him well. How are we going to get by in the days ahead?"
Fan Xiaojuan sat cross-legged on the kang, crying out of breath. A thin, somewhat hunched old lady sat beside her, comforting her in a low voice.
If you really count their relationships, Fan Xiaojuan's mother Miao Guifen and her mother-in-law Miao Sanfeng are still several levels of relatives. Their previous generation were cousins, but in fact, they have no relationship in this generation. They just have the surname Miao, are about the same age, and lived together when they were young, so they are often compared together.
Miao Guifen is short, has slanted eyes, and high cheekbones. She is not as pretty as Miao Sanfeng at all. When she was young, Miao Sanfeng was the golden phoenix of the village. She had a straight face, a smooth figure, and worked hard. People who wanted to marry her even trampled down the door of her house.
This made Miao Guifen, who was facing Miao Sanfeng's family, hate her from the bottom of her heart and wanted to suppress her. Of course, Miao Sanfeng didn't know all this, otherwise she wouldn't have let her son meet Miao Guifen's daughter.
"This is done."
Miao Guifen glanced at her crying daughter and felt a little distressed, but her own family was not having an easy time either.
Miao Guifen has two sons, both of whom are married and have children. The whole family still lives together because they have no money to build a new house.
With so many people, there is naturally more friction. Originally, Miao Guifen wanted to deduct some money from her daughter, but who knew that the second son of the Jiang family had a falling out with the old couple, and now there is no money at all. Not to mention the eldest daughter-in-law and the second daughter-in-law, even she, as a mother, sometimes feels dissatisfied when she sees Fan Xiaojuan returning to her parents' home.
"Little sister, you also know the situation of our family. Look at your eldest brother and your second brother, they are both fathers, but they don't even have their own houses. There is no extra money in the family to support your family."
The person who was speaking was Fan Xiaojuan's sister-in-law Lu Hui. Ever since Fan Xiaojuan went back to her parents' home to ask for food back, Lu Hui had been dissatisfied with her sister-in-law.
"I'm not saying anything bad about you, but Jiang Dachuan has already encountered such an incident, and the two old people in his family don't show any expression? Aren't all the money saved for the eldest? This is too unfair." Lu Hui came in after lifting the curtain, raised her eyebrows, and said to Fan Xiaojuan with dissatisfaction.
In her opinion, her sister-in-law was really stupid. She didn't take advantage of such a good opportunity, and offended others. If she were Fan Xiaojuan, she would have pestered him shamelessly. She loved the country and the party, and he was the grandson of the Jiang family. Could those two old people really watch their grandson starve to death?
Lu Hui's eyes flickered. In her opinion, Jiang Dachuan being injured might not be a bad thing.
"Those two old bastards are the most biased. Now that their precious eldest son has given them a grandson, how can they even give a second thought to our family? Look at these past few years, have they ever sent a single bite of food to the Patriotic Party? They fed it all to that little bastard. They have no heart at all."
Fan Xiaojuan had long forgotten how the two families fell out, and she didn't remember her fault at all. In her mind, the two elders of the Jiang family were biased and it was all their fault.
Fan Xiaojuan patted the kang and said angrily, "Besides, who knows if Dachuan's leg is really okay? If he can't go out to work, what should I and the child do--"
The more Fan Xiaojuan thought about it, the more miserable she felt her life was. She cried out at the top of her lungs, wishing she could shake the roof down.
Lu Hui covered her ears and looked at her crying face, feeling impatient.
"What did the doctor say? That his leg can't help him work?" Lu Hui came back halfway to drink a glass of water. She heard her sister-in-law's voice through the curtain. She only heard half of it. She didn't understand how Jiang Dachuan was injured and how serious the injury was.
"Yes, let your sister-in-law help you make a decision." Miao Guifen was completely coaxed by her eldest daughter-in-law. Seeing that Lu Hui seemed to have a solution, she hurriedly persuaded her daughter.
Seeing this, Lu Hui took off her shoes and sat on the kang.
Fan Xiaojuan was quite convinced by her sister-in-law, even though they had some unpleasantness because of the food issue before, but in her opinion, her mother's family was her mother's family, and only they would not harm her. After hearing what her mother said, she honestly recounted what happened last night.
"You said that before Dachuan was sent to the hospital, that stinky old man who was sent down from your village treated him?"
Lu Hui's eyes lit up: "This is definitely the problem of that surnamed Bai. Is there anyone in the world who can cure diseases with salt? He thought it was pickled bacon and used salt. Nonsense." Lu Hui sneered and nodded Fan Xiaojuan's head: "You are also stupid, letting that old man mess around."
"What can I do? Mo Dashuan is on his side, and the two old men from the Jiang family are silent. They also let Jiang Dahai suppress Dachuan and prevent him from moving. I am alone. Can I defeat all these people?"
Fan Xiaojuan also felt aggrieved. She didn't believe those who believed in nothing. In her opinion, isn't it nonsense to think that just picking some herbs from the mountain can cure people?
Fan Xiaojuan's idea is actually related to the background of this era.
In the past hundred years, there have been five debates on the survival of traditional Chinese medicine. The most recent one was the "unity of Chinese and Western medicine" proposed at the National Health Work Conference in 1950. This is one of the three major guidelines of my country's health work.
Unfortunately, this decree was misunderstood in the early days of its implementation. The merging of Chinese and Western medicine was understood as transforming Chinese medicine into Western medicine. Almost all Chinese medicine colleges and universities taught modern medicine, and the inheritance of Chinese medicine was almost cut off. By the time the higher-ups realized the problem, the decade had already arrived.
Because of the particularity of traditional Chinese medicine, many of its theories were attributed to the Four Olds. In the eyes of people at that time, traditional Chinese medicine was unacceptable and its theories needed to be eliminated.
During those years, many veteran Chinese medicine practitioners across the country were persecuted and many Chinese medicine books were burned.
Traditional Chinese medicine is in danger.
Of course, Fan Xiaojuan didn't quite understand all this. She heard it from the educated youth from Qingshan Village. Those educated youth were very disdainful of the fact that the people in Qingshan Village treated Bai Fangqiu as a treasure. Fan Xiaojuan dreamed of becoming a city dweller, so she naturally believed what those educated youth said and had long had a prejudice against Bai Fangqiu in her heart.
"Anyway, Dachuan's foot is already like this now, you might as well just push all the responsibility onto that Bai. If Dachuan has any problems in the future, let that Bai be responsible."
Lu Hui's eyes flickered. She heard that the man surnamed Bai used to be the director of a large hospital in the capital. He should have quite a lot of money. Perhaps her family would be able to take advantage of him then.
"Forget it—" Fan Xiaojuan curled her lips after hearing Lu Hui's idea: "That Bai guy is a penniless pauper. When he came to our village, he only brought a change of clothes, which were patched up. Now he lives on the food advance from the team. If we rely on him, our family will starve!"
Fan Xiaojuan and Jiang Dachuan had already observed the three people living in Jiang's house. They were all wearing the most ordinary cloth, which had been washed white and had several patches on it.
Moreover, when they first arrived, each of them carried a small package. On weekdays, they just ate cornmeal and sweet potato porridge with the Jiang family, and there was nothing special about it.
"That's impossible. Didn't he use to be the dean? How could he not save any money?" Lu Hui asked doubtfully.
Fan Xiaojuan rolled her eyes. "I asked around a while ago. They said that all the money was taken away by several relatives. Two of them are widows and one is a bachelor. Because they have ideological problems, their relatives took the initiative to sever ties with them. All the good things in the house were also taken away. Now they are all penniless paupers."
It was the first time that Lu Hui heard about this matter. After hearing what she said, all the thoughts in her mind disappeared immediately.
This doesn't work, and that doesn't make sense. If Jiang Dachuan really has any problems, then this sister-in-law's family will be a big trouble. Lu Hui thought that she couldn't leave this family of troublesome relatives behind, so she had to think of a way.
Lu Hui looked Fan Xiaojuan up and down. Fan Xiaojuan didn't look like Miao Guifen, nor her father, Old Man Fan. She looked more like her grandmother. Although she wasn't a great beauty, she was pretty. Otherwise, Miao Sanfeng wouldn't have chosen her for her son.
In the past few years, Fan Xiaojuan has suffered a lot. She has become a lot darker and her skin looks a little rough, but her appearance is still there. Even though she has given birth to two sons and is a little fat, with a little encouragement, she can still stand out among her peers.
Lu Hui's eyes swept across her sister-in-law's plump upper body, and then glanced at her fat buttocks. Although she was a little old, she had given birth to two sons before, and there were many old bachelors willing to marry her. By then, she could earn a lot of dowry money.
There was a gleam in Lu Hui's eyes, and Fan Xiaojuan couldn't help but move her butt, as if to get away from this sister-in-law, but Lu Hui grabbed both her hands.
"Xiaojuan, I'm your sister-in-law. I also hope that your life can be better. Dachuan is in this state now. If the old couple of the Jiang family are really cruel and leave him alone, have you ever thought about how you are going to live in the future?" Lu Hui said earnestly, as if she was really worried about her sister-in-law.
Fan Xiaojuan was immediately bewildered by her appearance, and said with a mournful face, "What else can I do? Marry a chicken and follow the chicken, marry a dog and follow the dog, what else can I do?"
When she thought about her future life, she wanted to cry twice more.
"Have you ever thought about divorcing Jiang Dachuan?" Lu Hui's eyes flickered, and she seemed unaware of what bombshell she was saying.
"Lu Hui, this is your fault. How can you instigate your sister-in-law to divorce? If Xiaojuan comes back, you will support her. Isn't this nonsense?" Miao Guifen slapped her eldest daughter-in-law on the back angrily, looking dissatisfied. "I asked you to come up with ideas, not bad ones."
Nowadays, it is very rare for couples in rural areas to divorce. If a family has such a person, people will talk behind their backs.
"Sister-in-law, what do you mean by this?" Fan Xiaojuan did not get angry. Instead, she lowered her eyelids and asked tentatively.
When Lu Hui saw her expression, she knew that Fan Xiaojuan had already had this idea in her mind, and she was much more confident of making this happen.
"This marriage is not so easy to get a divorce. Dachuan is in this state now. If I ask for a divorce, the spit will drown me." Fan Xiaojuan is selfish by nature. As early as when Jiang Dachuan got into the accident, she didn't want to live with him anymore. Now he still owes the hospital so much money. Why should she live a hard life with a cripple?
"Xiaojuan, why did Jiang Dachuan appear in the fields so late at night? What are the hoe and urea bags for? He is misappropriating collective grain! Moreover, he stole so much grain and didn't take it home. He must have secretly taken it to the city to sell it. This is another crime. Engage in capitalism and cut off ties with such people. What's wrong with you? You are responding to the Chairman's call to draw a clear line between yourself and the bad elements. Anyone who dares to say that is standing on the side of the bad elements."
Lu Hui spoke so forcefully that even Fan Xiaojuan couldn't help but be moved by her words.
"But...but that food..." Fan Xiaojuan was unable to say it.
Fan Xiaojuan also knew that Jiang Dachuan went to the fields to steal sweet potatoes every night, and the sweet potatoes he sold on the black market also went into the family's stomach. If Fan Xiaojuan used this as an excuse, she was afraid that Jiang Dachuan would implicate her, wouldn't that be bad?
"What are you afraid of? You haven't been caught red-handed. If Jiang Dachuan dares to implicate you, it's slander and revenge. If he dares to say that your family knows about this, has he ever thought about loving his country and the party? Isn't he afraid that his two sons will also be criticized?"
"Don't worry, just come back home after you divorce Dachuan. Your brother and I won't have to worry about you being left alone." Seeing that she was moved, Lu Hui patted Fan Xiaojuan's hand and said softly.
Seeing her like this, Fan Xiaojuan was so moved that she burst into tears. Although she said nothing, she began to plan Lu Hui's plan in her heart.
*****
"You missed a day of class today. You have to make up for all the training you missed today in the next few days."
Jiang Yilu was lying on the kang, drinking corn porridge in small sips, when he saw Huo Wu walk in, stand in front of him and speak to him.
"Uncle Dawu, you mean I still have a chance!" Jiang Yilu was so happy that he almost jumped up, but the burning pain on his butt made him lie down again obediently, but he could not hide the surprise in his eyes.
He thought that since he missed the exercise this morning, his bet with Huo Wu was invalid.
A hint of smile flashed across Huo Wu's eyes, but his face was still serious and his words were stiff: "This is the last time. If you dare to do this again in the future, I won't give you another chance."
"Sure, sure." Jiang Yilu nodded like a chick pecking at rice, fearing that Huo Wu would go back on his word.
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