Chapter 11 Chapter 11 Just Wanting Donkey-hide Gelatin
Huo Xing worked at the dock. He was tall and strong, so he did more piecework than others and naturally earned more than others. For every thirty cents others earned, he could get fifty.
But Huo Xing still felt it was not enough. Miao Ying still needed medicine for his injury. He had not been able to take donkey-hide gelatin, so his illness was healing slowly. The Chinese New Year was coming soon, and he couldn't just eat radishes and cabbages during the New Year. He had to have meat.
Miao Ying might leave after the New Year, so we have to prepare some money for him. We can't let him go empty-handed.
As the Chinese New Year was approaching, the dock became even busier. Huo Xing hardly took a break the entire morning, constantly going back and forth between the ship and the land.
There are many people coming to receive the goods today, all of them are from the Fu family. The Fu family is one of the richest families in the county. The boats that arrived today are all New Year's goods purchased by the Fu family, all of which are fresh things.
Huo Xing didn't care much about what he moved, as long as he could make money.
"Be careful, you won't be able to pay for anything that gets broken."
So the workers became more careful.
After a while, the shore became noisy again. Huo Xing just took a look and then looked away. It had nothing to do with him. He carried a big box to the shore and found that it was the young master of the Fu family who came to supervise.
This is not uncommon. Whenever a ship arrives, someone will be sent to watch it to prevent any workers from doing something dishonest. However, this young master Fu is not a person who can sit still. He jumps around like a monkey, sometimes on the boat and sometimes running back to the shore.
As Huo Xing watched him approach, his steps became more steady, fearing that his hand would slip and hit the young master. If he hit him, his life would probably be over.
"Master, please take a rest." The servant beside him was afraid that he would be in danger, so he followed him closely.
After Fu Lingyao finished inspecting all of his family's goods, it was finally time to rest. At this time, everyone working on the boat breathed a sigh of relief and waited for the young master to get off the boat to rest.
The accident happened in an instant. The plank between the boat and the shore was not wide, and Fu Lingyao was tripped by a protrusion on it. In a panic, he grabbed his servant's arm. The servant was much smaller than him, and he staggered again after being pulled hard by him. His flailing hands grabbed the foot of a worker who was moving boxes behind him. The worker was moving several boxes, and after a series of actions, the box was about to fall on Fu Lingyao.
Huo Xing was not far away. He had just unloaded the goods on his back and was getting on the boat when he saw the chaos on the plank. Without thinking, he stepped forward and pulled Fu Lingyao away with one hand, who was about to be hit, and kicked the boy away with one foot. Finally, a few boxes hit his shoulders and knocked him to the ground.
The servant was almost frightened and didn't care about the kick Huo Xing had just given him. He covered his stomach and crawled to Fu Lingyao's side: "Master, are you okay?"
Fu Lingyao felt dizzy and only remembered that he was thrown away by a huge force. He turned around and saw that the person who had just saved him was lying on the side with a box on him.
The workers immediately stopped what they were doing and hurriedly moved the box off Huo Xing. Fu Lingyao also went over and watched them help Huo Xing up.
"Send him to the clinic quickly." He was also a little panicked. Something happened the first time he came here. He was afraid that his elder brother would not let him do anything in the future.
Huo Xing felt as if his arm was broken. The sharp corner of the wooden box had scratched his arm, which was already lightly dressed. Blood was now seeping through his clothes, but this was not the most important thing. The important thing was that he felt as if his bones were broken.
Fu Lingyao watched the workers helping Huo Xing to the clinic. Then he remembered something and took out his purse and handed it to Fu Rang, his servant. "Hurry up and follow him. Make sure he gets cured."
Fu Rang chased after him holding the purse. At this moment, the place became busy again. Fu Lingyao arranged the rest of the things and wanted to follow him to the clinic when he saw his elder brother in the distance.
Fu Lingyao had a bitter face. He made a mistake the first time he helped his elder brother. He walked forward with gritted teeth and found that his elder brother's face was also very bad. It was obvious that he already knew the whole story.
The eldest brother of the Fu family said in a deep voice, "This month's salary will be cut in half. Also, the medical expenses and medicines for the injured, as well as the compensation and thank-you gifts you should give, will all come from your own private treasury."
In the clinic, the doctor applied medicine to the wound on Huo Xing's arm and carefully examined his arm. He said that fortunately the bone was not broken, but he still needed to rest well. As the saying goes, it takes a hundred days to heal a broken bone. During these three months, he could not do any physical work.
Huo Xing had a bitter face. He had originally wanted to live longer and earn more so that he could have a better New Year. However, he didn't expect that he would be injured and unable to make money. He didn't know how to spend this New Year.
The two men who sent him to the clinic also felt very sympathetic towards him. Originally, those who came here to work were all from very poor families. The young master was very kind to give him the medical expenses. People like them would have no place to seek justice even if others ignored them.
After seeing that Huo Xing was fine, the two men were about to go back to work. As they reached the door of the clinic, they saw Young Master Fu coming over.
One of the two men was the one who was almost hit by the cargo that was delivered just now. He felt guilty when he saw Young Master Fu and hid to the side, fearing that the young master would cause trouble for him. But Fu Lingyao didn't even look at them and went straight to Huo Xing.
The doctor repeated what he had just said, and Fu Lingyao's expression improved a little. Then he remembered what his elder brother had said, and looked at Huo Xing with a complicated expression: "You saved my life, and I am not the kind of person who will not repay a favor."
He looked at the doctor and said, "Give him all the best medicine."
The doctor naturally agreed happily and told the medicine boy to get some medicine. Huo Xing stood up and said to the doctor, "I don't need such good medicine. Can you only give me some donkey-hide gelatin?"
"Well, you're in good health, so donkey-hide gelatin would conflict with your health." The doctor's expression remained unchanged, but in his mind he had already associated him with those blackmailing scoundrels. "Just take the usual medicine."
Huo Xing quickly shook his head: "My husband...is also sick at home and needs this donkey-hide gelatin. I don't need to take medicine, I just want to switch to donkey-hide gelatin."
The doctor glanced at Master Fu, who waved his hand and said, "Give him more."
Huo Xing's expressionless face finally showed a change. He stood up and bowed to Fu Lingyao: "Thank you, sir."
Fu Lingyao waved her hand. Seeing his patched clothes, she remembered what he had just said about her husband being sick and unable to afford even a single serving of donkey-hide gelatin. Now that he was injured, life at home would probably be even more difficult.
In the end, it was still his fault. Fu Lingyao remembered his elder brother's words and immediately said, "I can't repay you for saving my life. I can't give you anything else, I can only repay you with some valuables."
Before Huo Xing finished speaking, Fu Lingyao took his purse from Fu Rang's hand and flipped through it. He didn't bring much with him before going out today, a total of five taels of silver, and he spent more than one tael on medicine, and most of the money was spent on buying donkey-hide gelatin.
Realizing that the remaining four taels of silver were not enough to pay the reward, he reached out to Fu Rang and took his purse. However, Fu Rang was just a servant at home and only had one tael of silver on him.
Just when he was at a loss, another person came to the clinic. It was Fu Lingyao's second brother Fu Lingzhi.
"Second brother! It's great that you're here. Lend me some money." He leaned in front of Fu Lingzhi and said, "I'll pay you back when I get home."
Fu Lingzhi handed him the purse. Fu Lingyao poured out the silver from the purse and added his own money, making a total of ten taels of silver. He handed the silver to Huo Xing and said, "This is for you."
Huo Xing was frightened by the heavy silver and quickly declined it, saying that he would save anyone today.
Fu Lingyao was unhappy when he heard this: "Are you saying that my life is not worth ten taels of silver?"
Huo Xing had no choice but to accept the ten taels of silver.
Fu Lingyao breathed a sigh of relief and just accepted the money. Their elder brother had taught them since they were young that if something can be solved with money, don't ask others to repay you with a favor.
Fu Lingzhi took her purse back from him and said, "Let's see if you dare to be so careless next time."
After Fu Lingyao solved the problem, he felt much more relaxed. He looked at Fu Lingzhi's purse and said, "Your purse is quite novel. I want one too."
Fu Lingzhi snorted: "This is hard to buy now, I'll give it to you after I buy it."
The two men walked out of the clinic, talking and laughing. The two men from before hadn't left either. They had been lamenting that Huo Xing had no way to make money, but then he turned around and got ten taels of silver! Ten taels of silver was enough for their expenses for a year. If they had known earlier, they would have rushed to carry the box for the young master.
It’s a pity that this is the only chance.
Huo Xing was also a little overwhelmed by the sudden money. He was stunned for a long time, took the medicine given to him by the doctor, and slowly walked out of the clinic.
He injured his arm, but with ten taels of silver in his pocket, which he might never earn in his lifetime, he felt a little dazed as he walked through the bustling streets.
Looking at the medicine in his hand, remembering how bitter Miao Ying had felt when he took the medicine before, he first went to the snack shop, used the money he had earned before to buy some candied fruits and some snacks, and then carried the things home.
He felt guilty spending the money that was not earned by his own labor.
His arm was still aching slightly. When he got home, Miao Ying and Huo Xiaobao were pulling radishes in the vegetable garden. Huo Xiaobao was small, and a radish was very big, so he couldn't pull it up. When he tried to pull it up, he sat down on the ground.
Miao Ying burst into laughter, pulled Huo Xiaobao out of the ground, and sang the famous nursery rhyme about pulling radishes to him. When he sang the part about "Little friend, come quickly," Huo Xiaobao pointed him on the road and then opened his eyes wide and called him "Big Brother."
Miao Ying also turned around and saw Huo Xing walking on the road, holding something in one hand and the other hand hanging abnormally at his side.
He ran over with Huo Xiaobao and saw that Huo Xing's arm was tied up. Miao Ying was shocked: "How did you get hurt?"
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