Chapter 43 Chapter 43 Falling Sick
After leaving the Yu family, Yu Li did not return to the Fu family, but went straight into the mountains.
In the evening, she came out of the mountain, with a basket full of various ripe fruits in her backpack, and a few fish tied with straw ropes in her hands. When she passed by a bamboo forest, she also broke off a few bamboo shoots. It can be said that she returned with a full load.
Zhou was cooking dinner in the kitchen, and the two children were playing in the main room.
Seeing her come back, they rushed over happily.
"Aunt, you're back~~"
Yu Li put down the backpack, washed his hands, took out the wild fruits from the basket and handed them to them to satisfy their cravings.
"Thank you, auntie!"
The two children said obediently, put the fruit aside and went to pour her tea.
Zhou heard the noise and came out of the kitchen. She found that she had brought back a few fish. The fish were already dead and could not be kept. So she said, "I'll make pickled fish for you tonight. We have some fresh bamboo shoots. Add some bamboo shoots and cook together."
When the weather is hot, eating pickled fish can stimulate the appetite and relieve greasiness.
These bamboo shoots are sweet and delicious when cooked with sauerkraut and fish.
The rice on the stove was still cooking. Zhou hurriedly asked about the division of the Yu family's property. After hearing Yu's answer that it was fair, she hurried back to the kitchen to busy herself.
Then Yu Li picked some intact and ripe fruits, washed them, put them on a plate, and brought them into the house for Fu Wenxiao.
Fu Wenxiao prefers sweet things to sour things, and he especially likes to eat purely sweet fruits. He will frown if there is even a little bit of sour taste.
She loves both sour and sweet food, and she only picks pure sweet ones for him. This is her experience gained from eating them.
When he entered the room, Yu Li looked into the room and found Fu Wenxiao sitting at the desk by the window.
She was a little confused, so she walked over to take a look and found that he was holding a wolf hair brush in his hand, writing something quickly.
Fu Wenxiao noticed her coming in, but he didn't stop writing until he finished the last word, then he finally stopped writing.
He looked up at her and suddenly smiled, his smile was elegant and graceful, indescribably gentle and warm, like a gentleman on the street.
He said softly, "Li Niang, you're back."
Yu Li hummed, put the plate of fruit on the table, and looked at the paper.
This word is very beautiful.
Although she couldn't put into words what she thought was good, anyone with eyes could see that the handwriting was so exquisite and graceful, with an indescribable charm when written on the white paper that made it hard to look away.
In short, it looks good.
"Your handwriting is really beautiful." Yu Li praised, "It's as beautiful as the flowers my mother embroiders."
Whether it was this calligraphy or Zhou's embroidery, she just couldn't do it. If she were asked to write calligraphy, she felt that she might write something incomprehensible.
Fu Wenxiao: “…”
It sounded strange that she praised both her handwriting and her embroidery. Fu Wenxiao couldn't help laughing when he saw her sincere face.
After collecting the dried papers, he asked, "Is everything going well today?"
"It went pretty smoothly." Yu Li said, "Many wild fruits in the mountains were ripe, but no one picked them, so I picked them all."
Unfortunately, she still didn't encounter any prey. It seemed impossible to make some unexpected money by hunting.
Fortunately, she had found a job as a butcher, which somewhat made up for the regret of not being able to make money by hunting.
Fu Wenxiao couldn't help laughing, this was obviously not what he was asking.
However, when I heard her talk about things in the mountains, I felt a different kind of feeling. It seemed that the vast and deep mountains that stopped the villagers from going there were an inexhaustible treasure house in her eyes. It was also her territory, where she could come and go freely without any difficulty.
"How about the division of the Yu family?" Fu Wenxiao asked again.
Yu Li pushed the plate of fruit towards him, sat aside and ate a handful of fruit slowly, "It's fair."
She told him the result of the division of the Yu family.
Fu Wenxiao nodded slightly. It was indeed fair, so fair that it was unlike the Yu family's behavior.
His eyes fell on the girl who was eating fruit. Her mouth was puffed up, and there was an indescribable frankness and naturalness in her, and she suddenly smiled.
Mr. Yu was so fair, probably because he was afraid of her.
This is very good. He does not think that she did anything wrong. Good people are often bullied. If one wants to gain a foothold in this world, one cannot be kind without principles.
Kindness is for those who are kind and simple.
After talking about the Yu family, Yu Li put it behind her and asked him: "Why are you practicing calligraphy suddenly? Do you want to take part in the imperial examination?" She thought that he was practicing calligraphy just now.
Thinking that the Yu family had two scholars, she thought he also wanted to take the imperial examination.
I couldn't help but feel a little sympathetic. With his physical condition, even leaving the room is a hassle, not to mention going far away. I'm afraid he will die on the way.
Fu Wenxiao's expression was a little indifferent. "No! I feel better recently, so I want to copy some books and send them to the study."
Yu Li let out an "oh" when he realized that he had misunderstood.
At this time, he added: "It will be finished in a few days. I'd like you to help deliver it to the study in the county. The owner of the study will understand it when he sees it."
"Sure!" Yu Li had no objection. She didn't know how much money she could make by copying books, and the original owner didn't have any memory of it.
There are three scholars in the Yu family, and no one has ever heard of them making money by copying books. Otherwise, Old Lady Yu would have spread the news to everyone long ago. She would also feel sorry for them for copying books to make money and take care of their family in addition to studying.
I guess you can't make much money from copying books.
**
When Boss Yu left the village, he deliberately avoided people.
He was afraid of meeting people and being asked about the reason for the sudden split of the Yu family, which would remind him of the shame and unbearableness in his heart.
For this reason, he didn't even go to the riverside to take a boat, but chose to walk to the county town.
It was the hottest time of the day at noon and there were not many people on the road.
Few people would choose to go to the county town at this time. It's not even autumn yet, and the temperature is so high that it's hot enough to kill people.
Boss Yu also knew that the weather was hot and it was most difficult to go out at noon, but he always took a boat to the county town. No matter what time it was, he could sit comfortably on the boat and reach the county town in half an hour.
Besides, he was hiding from people now and was too embarrassed to see anyone, so he didn't think much about it.
He hadn't thought about how difficult it would be to walk to the county town at noon, and was very satisfied that he didn't meet anyone on the way.
Before they reached halfway, Boss Yu felt dizzy from the sun.
He hadn't walked to the county town for a long time. Ever since he started to learn, Mr. Yu and his wife felt sorry for him and let him take a mule cart or a boat every time they went to the county town. They rarely let him walk there with great difficulty.
As a result, Boss Yu had forgotten about walking to the county town at such an afternoon, and left empty-handed, without even a hat to protect himself from the sun.
By the time Boss Yu was halfway there, he could no longer walk.
I have been working as an accountant in the county town for many years, living a life of luxury and have long lost the physical strength I had when I was young.
Fortunately, an ox cart passed by and stopped when it saw him. Knowing that he was going to the county town, it kindly carried him half the way.
Even so, when Boss Yu arrived at the county town, he was already top-heavy. He finally managed to make it to the rented house, but after entering the door, he could no longer hold on and fell to the ground.
In the evening, when dusk covered the sky, the brothers Yu Jingde and Yu Jingli returned from the Chen family.
Although the Chen family was the brothers' maternal home, they only exempted them from tuition and did not provide them with accommodation or three meals a day. They still had to take care of their own food and accommodation.
It’s not that the Chen family is stingy, but their house is not big and can’t accommodate them all. Plus, the two big guys have big appetites, so they consume a lot of food.
The two brothers knew that their parents and two younger siblings had returned to the village to visit their grandparents yesterday. Before their parents left, they left them some money so that they could find a restaurant outside to eat out for the next two days.
They have been studying with their father since they were young. Their family has high hopes for them and does not require them to do any housework. Naturally, they don't know how to do things like washing clothes and cooking.
They think a gentleman should stay away from the kitchen.
The two brothers thought that their father would come back today and bring some prepared food from his home in the village as usual, so they would not have to eat out and could go straight home after school.
But they didn't expect that they almost tripped as soon as they entered the door.
When they looked closely, they found that the person lying on the ground unconscious was their father, and his face looked very ugly.
Both brothers Yu Jingde were frightened and quickly carried Yu Lao Da on their backs and rushed him to a nearby clinic in a panic.
After examining him, the doctor said that Boss Yu had heatstroke.
The summers here are long and the weather is hot and humid. Every summer, a large number of people suffer from heatstroke. Doctors are used to this and have experience in dealing with it.
First, he fed him a pill made by the pharmacy. Sure enough, Boss Yu's complexion improved a lot. Then the doctor prescribed some more medicine and asked the two brothers to take Boss Yu home.
It was getting dark, and the clinic did not allow patients to stay overnight.
Yu Jingli was a little dissatisfied, "But my father hasn't woken up yet."
He was worried that something might happen, so he decided to leave his father at the clinic, where he would feel more at ease with the doctor around.
The doctor said very experiencedly: "He just has heatstroke. Go back and boil a dose of medicine. Boil three bowls of water into one bowl and give it to him. He will wake up around midnight."
The two brothers had no choice but to give the money, take the medicine, and carry Boss Yu back home.
After returning home and settling Boss Yu down, the two brothers went to find a medicine pot to boil the medicine.
But they had never done anything like this before and they didn't even know how to start a fire. After struggling for a long time they finally managed to light the fire. However, they encountered difficulties when decocting the medicine because they didn't know how to control the heat. The fire was too strong and the medicine was over-decocted, thus wasting the whole medicine.
Fortunately, the doctor prescribed three days of medicine and other medicines, otherwise I would have to go to the clinic to get new medicines.
The two brothers struggled for a long time and finally boiled a bowl of medicine.
As for the process, it is hard to describe in words. After all this ordeal, the two brothers looked covered in dust and dirt.
Yu Jingde said, "I didn't expect that decocting medicine is such a big deal. In the past, when I saw my mother decocting medicine, it was obviously quite easy."
Yu Jingli nodded in agreement.
Because the medicine had just been poured out and was still steaming hot, it couldn't be fed to Boss Yu.
The two brothers sat in front of the bed and watched over Boss Yu.
"Brother, why did Dad suddenly get heatstroke?" Yu Jingli asked in confusion.
Yu Jingde shook his head. He didn't know either. He guessed, "It's hot in this weather. Maybe father got too hot from traveling so fast."
After the medicine cooled down, the two brothers fed it to the unconscious Boss Yu.
It was the first time for them to do this kind of serving work and they also had no experience. Fortunately, they had seen how their mother fed them medicine when they were sick in the past. They helped Boss Yu up, pinched his mouth open, and pushed the bowl directly to him.
Due to this careless action, not much of the medicine was fed in, and most of it was spilled on Boss Yu. As a result, a lot of the medicine also got on their bodies. The three of them, father and son, all exuded a strong smell of medicine.
The two brothers were in a panic and looked very embarrassed.
If they hadn't remembered that the unconscious man on the bed was their father, they might have wanted to quit.
After finally feeding the medicine, the two brothers finally breathed a sigh of relief.
At this time, their stomachs began to growl and the two brothers were very hungry.
It was almost midnight, and they had not eaten anything since lunch. Young people had strong digestive abilities, so they were naturally very hungry.
But the stove and pot were cold at home, and even if there was rice, they wouldn't know how to cook it. They might end up burning the pot just like they did when they were decocting the medicine just now.
In the end, I could only continue to stay with Boss Yu on an empty stomach and wait for him to wake up.
Just as the doctor said, Boss Yu woke up in the middle of the night.
The two brothers were very happy. They came to the bed and asked with concern: "Dad, how did you get heatstroke? How do you feel? Where do you feel uncomfortable?"
They were quite puzzled. The weather was hot, but people rarely got heatstroke after taking a boat all the way to the county town.
Boss Yu didn't say anything, his eyes were dull, and he looked as if he had been hit by something and his soul was almost gone.
The two brothers asked him several questions, but he didn't answer.
They looked at each other and couldn't help feeling a little worried, thinking that their father had a severe heatstroke. They wondered whether they should carry him to the clinic to see a doctor after daybreak.
Finally, Boss Yu interrupted them impatiently and yelled angrily: "Get out, don't bother me, all of you get out!"
Although he was ill, the Yu Jingde brothers did not dare to say anything when he looked unhappy.
The two brothers were shocked by his sudden rage. They felt that their current father was terrible and they didn’t know why he suddenly got angry.
You know, ever since they went to study at Chen's house, he rarely gets angry with them.
Yu Jingde said, "Dad, you take a rest first. My second brother and I will be guarding outside. Call us if you need anything."
The two brothers left the house and decided to take turns to guard the place. They would check on Boss Yu's condition after daybreak and send him to the hospital if he was not feeling well.
As for why Boss Yu was angry just now, they all thought that he was feeling sick, so he got a little angry, and they didn't think much about it.
**
The next day, Yu Li came to the butcher shop and was welcomed like never before.
"Sister Yu, you're finally here!" Zhang Yaoping said excitedly.
Uncle Luo served her a bowl of pickled vegetable and shredded pork noodles and said kindly, "Li Niang, eat more. We will need you to kill the pig later."
Yu Li held the bowl and ate noodles, looking at them and felt it was strange.
Zhang Yaoping ate his noodles while sighing, "Sister Yu, you don't know. If you weren't here yesterday, when we were slaughtering the pigs, they struggled so hard that we could hardly hold them down. They also screamed miserably. When the neighbors came to buy meat, they all asked me if we had abused them before slaughtering them. Couldn't we just give them a quick death?"
At the end, he had tears in his eyes. It was the first time he was misunderstood so deeply.
In fact, this is how pigs were slaughtered in the past. Isn’t it normal for pigs to scream miserably?
Otherwise, why do people always say that the sound of slaughtering pigs is unpleasant?
It's just that recently, with the arrival of Yu Li, they have experienced the easy process of slaughtering pigs. Even the neighbors feel that the noise of slaughtering pigs at Zhang's butcher shop is much quieter, allowing them to sleep well without being woken up by the squealing of pigs every early morning.
It has always been easy to go from frugality to extravagance, but difficult to go from extravagance to frugality. After having been relaxed for so many days, they suddenly returned to the previous situation, which made them a little flustered.
Because Yu Li was not there, they could only kill two fewer pigs.
Otherwise there won’t be enough time to slaughter the pig, and there won’t be enough time to deliver the goods.
Even Uncle Luo, who is usually steady, sighed that it was better when Li Niang was still around.
When Li Niang was around, not only were the pigs obedient, but she could also do most of the delivery work, so they didn't have to do it everywhere. Although there was a fee for running errands, it was really a strenuous job. Not only did you have to run around with your legs, but you also had to have the strength to carry the pork, which was not an easy task.
Zhang Fu had wanted to buy a mule cart to deliver meat. However, even if he had a mule cart, it could only be used by one person, and because the meat had to be delivered within a specified time, there were not many families that could deliver the meat.
You can't buy a few more mules just to deliver the meat, right? That's not worth it.
Ever since Yu Li helped with the delivery, they felt more relaxed and it didn't matter if they didn't buy a mule.
After hearing this, Yu Li said, "Then I'll deliver more today, you guys take a rest."
Uncle Luo immediately smiled, "That's not necessary. If you are tired, you can take a break."
Zhang Fu also came over with a bowl of noodles, and a group of people sat under the eaves to eat noodles. There was a table here, where they could sit and eat, and men and women sat together.
People who make a living in the market don't have so many rules to follow, and as long as everyone has the right intentions, there is nothing to worry about.
Everyone in Zhang’s Butcher Shop has good intentions. If they don’t, Zhang Fu won’t hire them.
Zhang Fu asked, "Li Niang, was the division of the family at your mother's house going smoothly yesterday?"
Hearing this, everyone else looked over with concern.
Although Yu Li had only been in the butcher shop for a short time, they had already accepted her from the bottom of their hearts and felt that this girl was not only capable but also had a pure mind. In the eyes of a man of Uncle Luo's age, Yu Li was almost like his daughter.
Yu Li swallowed the noodles in his mouth and took the time to reply: "It went smoothly."
"Why did your mother's family suddenly want to split up?" Zhang Yaoping asked curiously, "Aren't your grandparents still in good health?"
Everyone worked together and occasionally talked about their family situations, especially since there was Tu Lao Da and the people from Qingshi Village there, they also knew some information about the Yu family.
In general, they don't have a good impression of the Yu family.
The main thing was that when they first met, Yu Li looked so skinny that it was obvious that she was starved. The fact that the Yu family could be so cruel to a girl showed that the people in this family were not good people.
Even if you want to turn over a scholar, you can't deny your granddaughter enough food. Starving her like this will cause problems.
Before you pay for your children's education, you must first ensure that your family has enough food to eat.
You haven't even had enough to eat, and you still dream of producing a scholar?
Yu Li said briefly: "My uncle came home and something happened, so my grandfather said he wanted to divide the family."
Everyone heard this and thought that it was her uncle who did something that caused the elderly in the family to suddenly split up the family.
The crowd did not bother to find out whether it was true or not, and said one after another: "It's good to separate the family. After the separation, your parents and your sisters can be the masters of the family and eat whatever they want without having to worry about other people's faces."
"That's right."
-
After slaughtering the pig, it was almost time. Yu Li was about to deliver the goods. She turned to Zhang Yaoping and asked him to leave three pounds of meat for her.
"It's hard to separate, I want to bring some meat back to my sisters so they can have some meat to celebrate."
We have to eat meat to celebrate the separation.
Zhang Yaoping patted his chest and said, "Sister Yu is right, I will definitely keep it for you!"
After Yu Li returned from delivering the goods, Zhang Yaoping took out the meat reserved for her from the bucket and wrapped it in banana leaves.
Yu Li was about to pay when he saw such a large piece of meat and was a little surprised: "So much?"
"Not much!" Zhang Yaoping said with a smile, "This was specially cut by Uncle Qi. He said he wanted to let your sisters from your mother's side have a taste of our pork."
Yu Li wanted to give him money, but Zhang Yaoping refused to take it.
"This is a gift from your seventh uncle to your sister from your mother's family. He said it was to celebrate the separation of your mother's family and wish them a prosperous life in the future. This is for good luck."
Hearing this, Yu Li no longer insisted.
People in this world seem to attach great importance to auspiciousness, such as choosing an auspicious date for someone to get married, choosing a date for moving, and even choosing an auspicious day for going out.
Yu Li didn’t quite understand all this, but when in Rome, do as the Romans do. She thought she should follow Ji Li’s lead.
When Zhang Fu came back, she went to thank him specially.
Zhang Fu waved his hand, "It's nothing. After all, you are the most capable butcher in our butcher shop. The work you do alone is equivalent to that of several of us."
Hearing this, Uncle Luo, Zhang Yaoping and others all smiled without any grudges.
This was indeed the case. Yu Li's ability convinced them.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
