Chapter 228: Leaving the Seclusion
The children glanced at each other, then sat back down, heads bowed, continuing to process the spiritual herbs, not daring to utter a single sound. They might be children, but in a poor family, children take on responsibility early. How could they not know what was happening with the Tian family? Tian Liu lay in the second courtyard, and the only ones left in the Tian family were Du Yiniang, who had suffered from tuberculosis, and her injured, nearly paralyzed little daughter.
Without Tian Liu, the mayor would not be kind enough to exempt them from farming. The money Du Yiniang earned from weaving was not enough to buy rice for the family.
The heavy atmosphere almost crushed Ma Xinghua's heart. She hurried over and tried to take the basket from Du Yiniang, but Du Yiniang gently pushed her away. Du Yiniang's face, half covered with spots, still had a considerate smile: "Tian Liu is staying here, and you've taken care of him and given him free medicine. How can I bother him any more? Go and do your work, don't worry about me, I'll go see him."
Ma Xinghua opened and closed his mouth several times before finally speaking with difficulty: "...Okay, Que'er will help there too."
"Thank you for taking care of Que'er." Half of the things in Du Yiniang's basket were clothes for Du Que'er, and the rest were some pickled vegetables she had made as a thank you gift. She was a little nervous and hesitated for a moment before asking, "Has Que'er's matter really not affected you?"
Ma Xinghua shook her head quickly. She held Du Yiniang's frail hand and said firmly, "Don't worry, it's okay. No matter what, even if they don't consider how many people I saved in the army, they still have to give my master some face. That Dai Ming guy wouldn't dare do anything."
"That's good, that's good. You're helping out out of kindness, and we, the Du family, can't put you in an unjust position." Du Yiniang's brow remained gloomy. "I heard that the Dai family kid's arm was broken by Que'er. Although he was healed by the immortal master residing in the mayor's household, given his temper, I don't think he'll let it go."
At this point, Du Yiniang politely declined Ma Xinghua's offer of help and laboriously carried the basket toward the second courtyard. A fine layer of sweat dripped from her head as she finally reached the rowhouse. As she set the basket down, Du Que'er came out, surprised to see her, and said, "Auntie? Why are you here? Come inside and wipe your sweat."
Seeing that Du Que'er was still in snow-white mourning clothes, Du Yiniang looked at her with concern: "You should go and rest. You are weak and can't eat anything during the mourning period. I came to see your uncle and take your place for a while." She was tough for once and forced Du Que'er to sit in the house.
Du Que'er, however, was fidgeting and kept urging Du Yiniang to sit down. She tensed up and hesitated, "Aunt, didn't you really encounter something?"
Seeing that she seemed to be suppressing her anger, Du Yiniang soothed her softly, "It's nothing. I was worried that the Dai family kid would come and harass you again. I hope you stay with Doctor Ma."
"This villain just relied on his sister's marriage to Li Zhiyan to bully others with his status as the mayor's brother-in-law. Uncle Dai Ze is such a good man, but he chose to go astray." Du Que'er looked weak, but said coldly in a weak voice.
Du Que'er's family suffered a series of misfortunes this year. Her parents passed away one after another, and her brother died in the battle to recover the northern border that year. She had nowhere to go and had to come to Guhu Town to seek refuge with her aunt Du Yiniang.
One day, she went to the field to deliver food to Tian Liu and was noticed by Dai Ming. Dai Ming wanted to take Du Que'er to Gaotian Yejian, but Du Que'er got angry and hit him with a stone. He barely blocked it with his arm, but he survived, but his arm was broken.
She fled back to Du Yiniang's place. Knowing she couldn't protect Du Que'er, Du Yiniang and Tian Liulai came to beg Ma Xinghua for help. Du Que'er had always been grateful to Du Yiniang. Moreover, after that, Du Yiniang's youngest daughter, Tian Le'er, was beaten and paralyzed in bed by the mayor's servants for stealing rice ears. She always believed that the grudge she had with Dai Ming must have played a role.
Du Que'er had advised Du Yiniang many times before, and this time she brought up the old matter again and advised her again: "Aunt, now that Uncle is also in Xinghua Courtyard, why don't you and Le'er move in together? It will be more convenient for you to take care of Uncle. Besides, there are more people eating in the courtyard now, and the kitchen is always short of staff. I can't cook, so I always have to trouble Xinghua or Brother Ma to cook for me."
"You know our skills. It's hard to cook rice properly. We can't let the patient eat half-cooked rice all the time."
This made sense, so Du Yiniang didn't refuse immediately this time. She suddenly thought of something and glanced outside: "Is that alchemy immortal your Uncle Tian mentioned at the end of last month also living here? Are you also feeding her half-cooked rice? This won't do!"
Although Du Yiniang misunderstood, Du Que'er did not explain. Just as she was about to continue to perform, she suddenly heard a loud "boom", as if the sky was cracking and the earth was shaking. In an instant, the whole house seemed to shake!
The two stood up, bewildered. The earthquake stopped, and everything returned to normal. Du Que'er carefully distinguished the sound and exclaimed, "It came from the backyard. Did something happen to Master Xuanyi?"
At the mention of Luo Xuanyi, the two exchanged glances. Du Yiniang still had the spiritual coins Luo Xuanyi had given her at home, enough to buy two months' worth of rice. To her, this money was life-saving money. Like Tian Liu, she had long been grateful to Luo Xuanyi. She immediately joined Du Que'er's arm and hurried around the flower wall, just in time to see Luo Xuanyi striding towards them, her robe shrouded in thick fog.
"My Lord Immortal, are you okay?" Du Yiniang asked anxiously.
Luo Xuanyi glanced at her, smiled while leaning against the porch pillar, and gently brushed off the dust on her body. She didn't look embarrassed at all.
"Nothing, the pill exploded."
Second update~
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