Chapter 23

"Oh."

Jiang Nian pretended to be calm and responded. She turned her head and faced Lu Yu, closed her eyes in annoyance, and roared with embarrassment and shame in her heart.

She took a breath and felt that her hands holding the money were sweating.

Lu Yu's eyes swept across Jiang Nian's slightly red ears, and a faint smile appeared in his dark eyes.

"The bath water is ready."

After saying that, he brought in the bucket and bathtub.

Jiang Nian quickly put the money and bills into the iron box, and didn't breathe a sigh of relief until the sound of water and footsteps disappeared in the room.

She closed the door and took a particularly long time to take a bath tonight.

She waited until the water cooled down before slowly drying herself, putting on her clothes and walking out of the house. Lu Yu heard the noise and came out of the house. Seeing that Jiang Nian was dressed properly, he strode into her room and poured out the bath water for her.

Jiang Nian felt more and more that it was better for Lu Yu to be at home.

During the two months when he was away, she had to run back and forth at night to fetch and pour the bath water, and she almost broke her legs while taking a bath.

Jiang Nian closed the door, took out the money and bills from the iron box, arranged them one by one, put the iron box away, and then lay down on the bed, looking at the dark sky and thinking about the future development. As she was thinking, she fell asleep.

Because of Lu Yu's presence, Jiang Nian slept better than last night. When she woke up and looked around, it was already drizzling outside. The yard was a muddy ground, and the rain had already formed mud.

This was the first rain she had seen since coming here.

Jiang Nian got up, put on her clothes, put on her cloth shoes and walked out of the house. She stretched out her hand to let the rain drip on it, which was icy and cold. There was a string of large footprints from the kitchen to the gate of the yard. She knew without a doubt that Lu Yu had gone to the team.

She raised her hands to her head, ran into the kitchen in the rain, opened the lid of the pot, and saw a plate of vegetables and two white flour steamed buns in the steamer, as well as a bowl of egg custard.

Jiang Nian: ...

Lu Yu really overestimated her appetite.

She couldn't finish it at all.

After Jiang Nian washed up and had breakfast, she washed the pots and bowls, went back to the house and took out the white cloth she had bought at the supply and marketing cooperative from the cupboard. She planned to embroider some patterns on it and make a curtain for her and Lu Yu's house.

Now that the weather is getting cooler, it would be better to hang a curtain.

She moved a stool to sit at the door of the house, took a needle, and threaded the needle. Just as she finished embroidering a pattern, there was a knock on the door.

"Jiang Nian, are you home?"

Jiang Nian put down the cloth and needlework, stood up and opened the courtyard door in the rain. Feng Mei wiped the rain off her hair and said, "I'll give you some of the cowpeas and cabbage I pickled myself."

Then she raised her hand to her forehead and said, "My mother said last month that it has been almost three months without rain. If it doesn't rain again, the Zhuang family will die of drought."

Jiang Nian took the plate and smiled, "Sister Feng, come in and sit for a while?"

Feng Mei waved her hand, "No, I'll go back and pickle the remaining cabbage."

Then she left.

Jiang Nian put the pickled vegetables in the stove room and went back to the house to continue embroidering the door curtain. She embroidered it for herself first, and it was a picture of snow plums.

The rain was getting heavier and heavier, and it was likely to rain the next night.

Jiang Nian prepared lunch and waited for a long time. It was past lunchtime and Lu Yu still hadn't come back. She lay on the wall in the rain, looking towards Feng Mei's yard, and shouted loudly: "Sister Feng, has Captain Song come back?"

Feng Mei heard the voice and ran out of the kitchen, holding the pot lid in her hand to block the rain: "He hasn't come back yet. I guess the bridge in the next village collapsed again. They Went to rescue."

Jiang Nian remembered a bridge she passed by on her way to the market. The bridge was made of wood and stone, but it had not been repaired for many years. Whenever it rained heavily, the bridge would collapse. It took a long time to repair it each time. She knew all this from the book. The hero went to rescue for two days. The heroine got a fever from the rain because she was worried that the hero would run to find him.

It was this plot that made the relationship between the hero and heroine go a step further.

Jiang Nian ran back to the house, wiped the water off her clothes with a towel, went to the kitchen to eat a few mouthfuls of rice, and warmed the remaining rice in the pot. When she turned and walked out of the kitchen, she couldn't help but sneeze twice.

She rubbed the tip of her nose and was suddenly stunned.

Jiang Nian suddenly remembered another part in the plot. Because of the heavy rain, Song Xiangdong was trapped in the school. The school conditions were simple and the roof leaked when it rained. Song Xiangdong had a high fever and convulsions because of the rain. He had a severe cough and finally developed acute pneumonia. Captain Song borrowed a car from the military region to send him to the hospital, but the conditions of the county hospital were limited, so they were asked to go to the city.

Because of this disease, Song Xiangdong's body was not as healthy as before.

These plots are all shown from the perspective of the male protagonist. At that time, the male protagonist also went to the hospital to visit Song Xiangdong.

Thinking of Song Xiangdong giving her the reward he had won and calling her aunt with a shy smile, Jiang Nian felt very sorry. Although this disease did not kill Song Xiangdong, it left a root of disease in his body. Jiang Nian hesitated

for a moment, and finally knocked on Feng Mei's door in the rain.

Feng Mei said, "Why are you outside in such a heavy rain?"

Jiang Nian said, "Sister Feng, why don't we go to the school to pick up Xiangdong? I heard Xiangdong say that the roof of their school is not strong. Now we don't know when the rain will stop. It will be troublesome if Xiangdong gets caught in the rain. The child will suffer and the adults will be worried."

Feng Mei felt warm in her heart when she heard that she cared so much about her son.

Yu smiled and said, "It's not a big deal. Old Song and the others will take Xiangdong with them when they come back for rescue."

Jiang Nian said, "I don't think the rain will stop until tonight. Besides, the bridge can't be repaired for a while. Let's bring Xiangdong back first. This way, Captain Song won't have to worry about it and can focus on the rescue."

"Okay, I'll go get an umbrella and tell Xiang Hong to stay home."

Feng Mei glanced at Jiang Nian's wet clothes, then ran back to the house and got an old-fashioned umbrella. The two of them braved the rain and walked towards the school in the next village. On the way, they met several military wives who were going to the school in the next village to pick up their children.

After talking to them, Feng Mei realized that they were also worried that their children might catch a cold at school and get sick, so she liked Jiang Nian even more.

If she could become her brother's wife, it would be so perfect!

They left the troops and walked three miles, and suddenly saw Zhu Jun rushing back in the heavy rain.

Feng Mei yelled at the top of her voice: "Why did you come back?"

Zhu Jun was running out of breath, with sweat and rain mixed together. He raised his hand to wipe the rain from his eyelids, and panted and said: "Lu Zhijun broke his leg, I rushed back to the military region to borrow a car to send him to the hospital."

Feng Mei was stunned: "Why did he break his leg? Isn't he in school? Where is Captain Lu?"

Zhu Jun said: "Deputy Regiment Lu said that the roof of the school is not strong, so he asked me to send a few children back to the army first. Lu Zhijun is on the way with..."

At this point he paused and glanced at Feng Mei looked anxious and continued, "I had a quarrel with Song Xiangdong. I was holding another child at the time and didn't have time to separate them. The two of them fell down the slope together and Lu Zhijun broke his leg."

Feng Mei was furious when she heard this: "What about my Xiangdong? How is he?"

Zhu Jun hurriedly said, "Don't worry, Sister Feng, Xiangdong is fine. He just had a little skin scraped on his arm. But it's better to take him to the hospital for another checkup. I won't say anything more. Captain Lu is still waiting for me to drive over."

He ran away after saying that.

Feng Mei was anxious now. She threw the umbrella to Jiang Nian and ran away.

Jiang Nian also hurriedly chased after him, but in his heart he was thinking about what Zhu Jun had just said.

Why did Lu Yu ask Zhu Jun to send the children back to the army? According to the plot in the book, it shouldn't be like this. Is it really because of her intervention that the whole plot has gone off track?

The male and female protagonists who should have known each other are now strangers.

And the children should have stayed in school, but Lu Yu asked Zhu Jun to send them back early. In the book, Lu Zhijun didn't get into trouble, it was Song Xiangdong who got into trouble, but now everything is messed up.

When Jiang Nian and Feng Mei rushed over, several people were standing under the tree.

Captain Lu held the screaming Lu Zhijun in his arms. Lu Zhijun kept crying and cursing Song Xiangdong. Song Xiangdong stood with a few children. His right arm was scratched. He held his arm and lowered his head without saying a word. His expression was very aggrieved and self-blaming.

Feng Mei ran over and grabbed Song Xiangdong and checked him from front to back. Seeing that he was not injured except for the scratched arm, she breathed a sigh of relief, turned her head to look at Lu Zhijun who was still crying, and then looked at Captain Lu with a tense face. Finally, she asked Song Xiangdong: "What's going on? Why are you fighting again?"

The lush and dense trees were like a natural umbrella, providing them with a place to shelter from the rain.

Jiang Nian glanced at Lu Zhijun's leg, which had been hanging down and unable to move. It should be the same as what Zhu Jun said, that the bone was broken.

She pursed her lips and looked at Song Xiangdong.

Song Xiangdong lowered his head and said nothing, but Captain Lu, who was holding Lu Zhijun, said: "Sister Feng, don't blame Xiangdong. This matter is Zhijun's fault. He was the one who caused this suffering. It has nothing to do with Xiangdong."

Lu Zhijun couldn't scold anymore in the end, and only cried.

He felt wronged and angry. It was obviously Song Xiangdong who caused him to break his leg. Why didn't his father let Aunt Feng say anything to him?

Song Xiangdong kept his head down. Jiang Nian noticed that he was holding his schoolbag tightly. There were a lot of mud spots on the schoolbag. The boy in military uniform also had a layer of mud on his face. She frowned slightly and felt that the reason for the quarrel between Lu Zhijun and Song Xiangdong might be this schoolbag.

Sure enough, three children beside her confirmed her guess.

One of the children said, "Auntie Feng, it was Lu Zhijun who wanted Song Xiangdong's schoolbag, but Song Xiangdong refused to give it to him, so the two of them started fighting for it. Uncle Zhu was carrying me down the hill at that time, so I didn't notice it. I was the first one to see the two of them twisted their butts and rolled down the hill together."

After hearing this, Lu Zhijun closed his eyes and cried, "Nonsense, I didn't steal it!"

The other child said unconvincedly, "You did steal it! Ren Bao and I saw it. It was you who wanted to see the little boy on Song Xiangdong's schoolbag, and after you saw it, you still wanted to snatch it. Song Xiangdong didn't want to give it to you, so you fought with Song Xiangdong!"

"Yes, I saw it too."

Four or five children standing nearby said one by one.

When Lu Zhijun saw that everyone was speaking for Song Xiangdong, he started making nonsense, crying and shouting at the top of his lungs: "You are all bullying me! I want to tell my mother..."

"That's enough!"

Lu Guosheng's face was dark and ugly, especially when he was cold, his face was particularly scary. Lu Zhijun was frightened, and he looked at the father holding him with fearful eyes, his mouth was pursed tightly, and he did not dare to speak anymore.

He is not afraid of his mother, but he is afraid of his father.

If dad gets angry, he can be beaten hard with the stick inserted in the door.

Feng Mei just realized the situation after hearing it. She wanted to scold Lu Zhijun, but she held back when she thought about the kid's broken leg. Instead, she rubbed Song Xiangdong's wet hair and said, "I hope you're okay. When your uncle Zhu comes, I'll go to the hospital with you for a checkup." Although she felt bad about spending

money to get her son checked, she still had to pay. But she couldn't even think about paying for Lu Zhijun.

No way!

Lu Zhijun and his mother are the same. They both care about other people's things. How can they be so shameless?

Song Xiangdong raised his hand to wipe his tears and nodded obediently: "Yes."

Jiang Nian had not expected the disturbance caused by the embroidery on a schoolbag, but she did not have much sympathy for Lu Zhijun, a child who was almost misled by Zheng Hong.

Just because Zheng Hong did not buy him chocolate, he lied that his mother wanted to save money to marry Song Bai, causing Zheng Hong and Captain Lu to quarrel. Now he was making trouble because he failed to rob Song Xiangdong's schoolbag.

Song Xiangdong looked up at Jiang Nian, and rubbed his fingers on the embroidery of the schoolbag, trying to wipe off the mud spots on the embroidery. Jiang Nian walked to him, squatted down, and gently rubbed his head: "It's okay if it's dirty, just wash it at home and it will be clean."

Song Xiangdong smiled, then reacted and looked at Captain Lu. Seeing that Captain Lu was staring at the direction of the troops, he was relieved.

In fact, when Lu Zhijun just broke his leg, he was also afraid that Lu Zhijun's father would come and beat him, but he didn't. He just asked about the incident and hugged Lu Zhijun without saying a word.

After waiting for a while, Zhu Jun drove over.

Lu Guosheng held Lu Zhijun in his arms and got into the car first. Feng Mei led Song Xiangdong to the back of the car. The remaining children were taken back to the army by Jiang Nian.

Zhu Jun tilted his head and looked at Jiang Nian outside the car window and said, "Sister-in-law, the rain is getting heavier. You should take the children back quickly."

Feng Mei also waved at her, "Hurry back."

Jiang Nian watched the jeep leave, then held up an umbrella for the five children to squeeze together, so as to protect them from the rain. She led the children back to the army in the rain and sent all the children home safely.

Jiang Nian, who had not been caught in the rain for many years, was completely soaked this time.

She went home to boil some hot water, and when the water was ready, she ran back and forth to bring it into the house. Finally, she closed the doors and windows, put away the clothes that had been wrung out of the water, and took a quick bath with hot water, sneezing while washing.

"A-choo--"

Jiang Nian crawled into the quilt and sneezed three times in a row. After sneezing, her head was a little dizzy.

She listened to the sound of rain outside and fell asleep in a daze.

Jiang Nian slept for a long time this time. When she woke up, it was already dark. The room was pitch black, and she could hardly see her hand in front of her. She had a headache and a little nasal congestion. She knew she had a cold without thinking.

The rain continued to fall.

Jiang Nian got up and turned on the light cord in the dark. She could vaguely hear Xu Yan's voice in the rain, so she opened the door and walked out. She saw Xu Yan leaning against the wall with an umbrella and calling her.

Through the hazy rain curtain, Jiang Nian could see the worry in Xu Yan's eyes.

She smiled and said, "I just fell asleep."

Xu Yan said with a sigh, "I couldn't break down your door, and no one answered when I called you, so I thought something happened to you."

She asked, "Oh, by the way, where is Sister Feng? I heard Song Xianghong crying alone at home this afternoon, so I took her home to play with Jianye and Jianwu. It's dark now and she hasn't come back yet."

Jiang Nian recounted what happened this afternoon. Feeling a dry pain in her throat, she coughed and continued, "It takes four hours to drive from here to the city, and it's raining, so the speed will definitely be slower. I estimate she won't be back until tomorrow."

Xu Yan was stunned when she heard this, and then snorted coldly, "As the saying goes, like nature, like nature. The son of a mouse will dig holes."

Jiang Nian:...

She pursed her lips and smiled.

Xu Yan said, "Then I will take Xiang Hong with me tonight and let him sleep with Jianye and Jianwu."

Jiang Nian turned on the light in the yard, held up an umbrella and walked to the stove. She sat in front of the stove but had no energy to cook. She felt sore all over, dizzy and weak, and had no appetite to eat. She just ate a few corn cakes and went back to the house to lie down.

The doors and windows were closed, and the sound of rain coming in was much smaller.

Jiang Nian slept until the late night, and felt as cold as an ice cellar. She wrapped herself tightly in the thin quilt and fell asleep again.

The rain gradually subsided, and the sound of shaking clothes and stomping feet came from the yard. Jiang Nian blinked and tried to open her eyes, but her eyelids were too heavy to open. She could hear footsteps going to the kitchen, and then coming back after a while, followed by a deep and familiar voice.

"Sister-in-law, are you asleep?"

Jiang Nian woke up and fell asleep, thinking she was dreaming. Before Lu Yu could ask again, she fell into a deep sleep again.

Lu Yu stood outside the house, trying to push the door, but froze.

He turned around and went back to the kitchen, looking at the corn cake he had only taken two bites of and the cold stove. He hesitated for a moment and returned to Jiang Nian's room again. He stretched out his hand and pushed open the door. The room was pitch black. Lu Yu carefully distinguished from the sound of rain that Jiang Nian's breathing was not quite right.

He pulled the light cord and walked to the bed. Seeing Jiang Nian's red cheeks, he raised his hand to test her forehead. It was surprisingly hot.

"Sister-in-law."

Lu Yu gently pushed Jiang Nian's arm. The person on the bed hummed unconsciously a few times, and the breath exhaled from her nose was very hot.

He turned and walked out, closed the door, ran out of the family compound in the rain, and went to the health center. There was a nurse on duty at night. Lu Yu bought some antipyretic medicine and let Jiang Nian's fever go down first, and then took her to the hospital tomorrow.

Lu Yu returned home, boiled hot water and poured it into a ceramic jar, holding the water and the medicine, pushed the door and walked into Jiang Nian's room, put the ceramic jar and the antipyretic medicine on the pillow, and pushed Jiang Nian's arm again. She saw her eyelashes tremble, but there was no sign of waking up.

"Sister-in-law."

He called again, but the person on the bed did not respond.

Lu Yu pursed his lips, hesitated for a moment, and passed his arm under Jiang Nian's neck. He grasped her thin shoulders with measured hands, and helped her sit up with a little effort. He sat on the bed and let the unconscious Jiang Nian lean against his arms.