Lying on the kang (a heated brick bed), Zhao Daming was crying with tears streaming down his face, sobbing uncontrollably.
Lin Ying said to the group, "Treatment requires medicinal herbs and some other things. We don't have any here right now. I need to prepare some things."
Zhao Qinghuai also said, "We're leaving now. The house over there isn't finished yet, and we have no food or blankets at home. We need to get everything sorted out. We'll come back tomorrow."
Guo Qiaoling wiped away her tears, calmed herself down, and said, "We're already home, where else would we go?"
Zhao Qinghuai insisted, "No need, I'm going back to my own home."
Zhao Qinghuai's words froze Guo Qiaoling's smile on her face: "So you still hate us after all."
Zhao Qinghuai replied, "I don't hate him, and there's no need to hate him. So much time has passed. We're still relatives, so there's nothing wrong with lending a hand."
Zhao Qinghuai's words were a reminder to Guo Qiaoling not to think about things she shouldn't. They would help because even if he wasn't their child, he was still a relative. Helping him was the right thing to do.
But don't think about anything else.
Lin Ying and Zhao Qinghuai left Old Zhao's house. Seeing that Zhao Qinghuai was in a bad mood, Lin Ying didn't say anything.
“My parents didn’t treat me well, but my brother was very good to me. I’m the fourth child in my family, with two older sisters besides my eldest brother. My parents abandoned me simply because of my unlucky birth date.”
But my brother would secretly hide steamed buns for me to eat, and he would also take me up the mountain to find birds. The reason I went up the mountain to find food was because my brother taught me.”
Lin Ying felt a little heavy-hearted after hearing Zhao Qinghuai's words.
But after thinking about it, she still said, "I think there's something wrong with that girl."
Zhao Qinghuai snapped out of his grief: "What did you say?"
Lin Ying said, "I'm not entirely sure, but I have this suspicion. I didn't initially suspect it, but this child clearly has a congenital condition. Based on your mother's description, and considering your sister-in-law's difficult labor, the child probably won't survive. However, judging from your mother's demeanor, it seems the child was fine after birth. It was only after the child was brought back that the abnormality was discovered."
Of course, maybe I'm overthinking it. So, after taking the child's pulse and diagnosing her condition, I subconsciously glanced at the child's exterior. I don't know what your sister-in-law looks like, but it's strange that this girl doesn't resemble anyone on your side. She doesn't even resemble Shuanzi.”
Zhao Qinghuai pondered for a moment: "Let's leave it at that for today. Let's go find the village chief and exchange some grain and two quilts. As for the rest, you can use the excuse of buying medicinal herbs in the county to buy some pastries later. My sister-in-law's family is from Xiaxi Village. Tomorrow, we'll visit them to thank them for helping take care of the children. You can check it out then."
Lin Ying nodded: "Okay."
After discussing it, the two went to the village chief's house together. Fortunately, the village committee still had some grain, so they exchanged some refined grains for some coarse grains. Afterwards, they spent some money to buy some vegetables and then went home.
Fortunately, when they left, Lin Ying was worried that the food at home would spoil if they stayed out too long, so she brought along the hot pot ingredients and meat sauce that she had made at home.
However, there were no blankets. There were, though, wheat straw.
So Lin Ying took half a bag of grain, while Zhao Qinghuai carried a large bundle of wheat stalks back.
After returning home, Zhao Qinghuai borrowed a bucket from the neighbor to fetch water.
Lin Ying then started weeding the yard.
After Zhao Qinghuai returned with the water, he washed the water vat by the kitchen door. He poured water into it to make sure it was usable, then continued fetching water.
By the time Lin Ying finished weeding, Zhao Qinghuai had also finished fetching water.
When he returned with the bucket, he was holding a half-gourd-shaped skipping stone in his hand.
Zhao Qinghuai smiled and said, "It was given to us by Aunt Zhang next door. She said that since no one has lived here for so long, the water ladles in our house must be unusable."
Lin Ying smiled and said, "I'll clean up the kitchen. See if you can fix the outhouse wall first."
Looking at the row of outer walls, Zhao Qinghuai thought for a moment and said, "Wife, don't we still have a lot of meat sauce at home? Grind all the fine grains into flour, and I'll find a few people to repair the entire wall. How about we treat you to a meal?"
Lin Ying thought this was a good idea: "Sure, go and see if you can find someone. If not, you can pay them."
Zhao Qinghuai nodded: "Okay, I'll go ask."
After Zhao Qinghuai left, Lin Ying used spring water and water from the water tank to clean the kitchen.
They used the dirty water from washing up to mix the mud and build the stove.
After finishing all that, we were short of hot water, so we boiled all the dishes and utensils in the house. We finally soaked them in hot spring water before we were satisfied.
Because she had used water from her spatial storage, Lin Ying didn't dare to throw the dirty water away carelessly, so she could only pour the water from her spatial storage back into the space.
After finishing in the kitchen, Lin Ying went to clean the stone mill.
Since we have a stone mill at home, we don't need to go outside to grind wheat.
Lin Ying washed the millstone thoroughly with water and wood ash. Zhao Qinghuai arrived with his men.
Zhao Qinghuai said, "No need to make noodles. I've already told everyone that I'll give each person one yuan after I finish."
One dollar is a lot of money. Here, even factory workers only earn a few cents a day.
Lin Ying didn't object and nodded, saying, "Just do it your way."
Lin Ying didn't need to make noodles, but she planned to grind some flour anyway. However, there was no rush. She decided to clean the room first.
The room window wouldn't open, so Lin Ying opened the door. She grabbed a broom, but it broke after only a couple of uses. Frustrated, Lin Ying had no choice but to make a makeshift broom out of the grass she had just pulled.
Lin Ying first wrapped herself in clothes, then started from the top of her head, tearing down the pitted and uneven sorghum roof.
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