The next morning, Zhou Lin and Zhou Lei came over to carry Zhou Quan to the outhouse, and Zhou Quan glanced at Li Mai.
Li Mai understood, smiled helplessly, and turned to go to the kitchen to help make breakfast.
Zhou Quan then went inside the kang (a heated brick bed), picked up the chamber pot, and moved it to the edge of the kang.
The Zhou brothers, Zhou Lin and Zhou Lei, silently turned their heads away.
Zhou Lin felt sorry for his older brother. He must have felt very inferior in front of his sister-in-law. He figured that his sister-in-law must have helped him get the chamber pot last night.
I overlooked this matter.
"Brother, shall I bring it back for you before you go to bed tonight?" After going to the outhouse, Zhou Quan emptied the chamber pot, and Zhou Lin helped him rinse it with water before placing it in a corner outside the outhouse, asking Zhou Quan.
"Alright, I was suddenly woken up by the urge to pee last night, and I had no choice but to ask your sister-in-law to get it for me, but I was too embarrassed to ask her to pour it!" Zhou Quan could at least say some things to his brothers.
Since he returned from his injury, no one in his family has ever looked down on him. His younger brothers have been helping him, making his life much more convenient. Unlike other paralyzed people who have to relieve themselves, sleep, and eat on the same kang (a heated brick bed), he is much more comfortable.
He was most grateful to his younger brothers. He had no hope before and thought he could leave this world as soon as possible so as not to trouble them anymore. Especially since Xiaolin was growing up, he didn't want to be a burden and not be able to find a wife.
But after meeting Li Mai and seeing the hope of standing up, he thought more deeply. He wanted to stand up, not only for Li Mai, not only for his parents, but also for his younger siblings.
Once he recovers, he will no longer be a burden to his family. He will strive to become even better, to be their support and pride, and to help them live a better life.
In the morning, word spread throughout the village that a thief who stole silver had been caught the previous night, and the clan chief invited families who had lost silver in the past few days to come and claim the amount of silver they had lost.
Eight people were caught, all of them young men from the village.
Their names are Zhou Chun, Zhou Ju, Zhou Erleng, Zhou Yuan, Zhou Ermao, Zhou Sanmao (two brothers), and Zhou Xiaohu and Zhou Xiaoniu.
The first four people always hung out together, and the last four people always hung out together.
The four of them remained troublemakers in the village, but fortunately their parents were still alive and could keep them in check.
This time, they secretly stole the silver without their family's knowledge. It wasn't until Zhou Erleng and his friends pointed it out that their family found out, and they were beaten half to death by their parents.
In an instant, all the Zhou villagers cursed these people mercilessly, and their parents were especially subjected to being called out by name and criticized behind their backs.
In the end, the clan chief took the eight people to the Zhou Clan Ancestral Hall, where they were given ten strokes of the cane, forced to kneel for three days to repent to their ancestors, and warned that if people found out they had harmed or stolen from the villagers again, their entire families would be expelled from the village and removed from the clan genealogy.
This statement may not seem so serious to some villagers.
However, only those who have experienced wandering outside know that people without a hometown or clan are not well-regarded.
Even most ordinary people believe that those who fall on hard times and leave their ancestral home are those who have committed a mistake and have been removed from their ancestral home.
Besides your ancestral home, your identity card will be taken back. Unless you are very rich and buy your household registration from the government, you will become an unregistered person without a household registration. This is a very serious matter for ordinary people.
They would think that from then on they had become outcasts, unable to do anything decent, and could only sell themselves into slavery.
Just like how high-ranking officials in the capital were demoted to lowly status and exiled to barren frontiers for making mistakes, it was a very despised and lowly thing.
Of course, for those who have become successful and live a good life, leaving their ancestral home is a promotion, a high position, and something many people admire. In short, it all depends on whether you are rich or poor.
The parents of those people trembled with fear upon hearing the clan chief's words, and some even wished they could beat their own sons to death.
Once they are driven out of the village, they will have no house or land. Other villages will certainly not want them. They will have no place to stay in the surrounding area and will have to wander in foreign lands. They may die on the way, be robbed by bandits, or wander indefinitely without finding a place to stay. These are all possible scenarios.
Ordinary people live for warmth, stability, and to avoid going hungry.
Although Zhou Chun and his three companions failed last night, the clan chief grouped them together with Zhou Ermao and his three companions, punishing them equally.
He believed that the four men had already intended to steal, and that they even had weapons, which could potentially harm someone if discovered. Therefore, the four men were unforgivable.
The clan chief forced Zhou Ermao and his three companions to return the silver they had stolen to the family who had lost it.
When Li Mai heard about Zhou Chun and the others being punished by kneeling in the ancestral hall, she was just waking up from her afternoon nap and massaging Zhou Quan's legs and feet.
Zhou Tao sat to the side and told Li Mai the whole story.
After saying that, she sighed regretfully, "Sister-in-law, why did I sleep so soundly last night? I should have fought the bad guys with you."
Li Mai chuckled, "No, our daughter is better off being quiet and gentle, otherwise it will be hard for her to find a husband."
Her words made Zhou Tao blush, "Sister-in-law, you said that again!"
After saying that, he turned and ran away.
Li Mai smiled. These ancient girls are really innocent; they blush just talking about finding a husband.
Zhou Quan smiled and glanced at her. He realized that Li Mai liked to tease people and enjoyed seeing others feel shy and embarrassed.
After being teased by her a few times, he finally grasped a bit of her personality.
He liked this wheat very much because it was cheerful and lively.
He was originally a quiet and reserved person. When he saw lively people, he would unconsciously envy them, but he didn't dare to get too close. If he encountered them, he would avoid them if possible.
This time, Li Mai opened the door to interacting with people. When she laughed, he wanted to laugh along; when she made a fuss, he wanted to make a fuss with her.
Suddenly, he felt a tickle on the soles of his feet and wanted to sit up and scratch them.
Seeing that he was about to sit up, Li Mai asked, "What's wrong?"
"My soles feel a little itchy, and I want to scratch them!"
After Zhou Quan finished speaking, he realized something was wrong and quickly looked at Li Mai.
Li Mai couldn't believe it either, "Where does it itch?"
Zhou Quan subconsciously looked at the soles of his feet and said uncertainly, "It looks like the soles of my feet?"
Li Mai was delighted and quickly took out a silver needle from her acupuncture kit. She pricked his big toe and asked, "How is it? Does it hurt?"
"It doesn't seem to hurt, but I can feel you pricking me with that thing." Zhou Quan looked at his foot in disbelief. Did this mean it was getting better?
"Xiaomai, isn't this a good thing?" Zhou Quan asked excitedly, grabbing Li Mai's sleeve.
Seeing his nervous expression, Li Mai smiled and gave him a very affirmative answer, "Yes, this shows that our treatment direction is correct. Tomorrow we will go to my master again and ask him if we need to change the treatment plan!"
"Okay, thank you, Wheat!"
Looking at Li Mai's smiling face, Zhou Quan felt his eyes sting. Was she getting better?
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