Chapter 2
The wind through the window startles the bamboos, and when I open the door, the mountains are covered with snow. It sounds beautiful, but in fact it is just freezing cold and deserted.
The Northwest is vast and sparsely populated. How sparsely populated are they? A large village has only about a hundred households. With so many families, large brick and tile houses are a dime a dozen. While there's plenty of land, much of it isn't suitable for farming. Villagers raise a lot of livestock.
It's already February, and it's still as cold as winter. Behind the village are bare mountains where you can still see unmelted snow.
The Zhou family's house was a small, three-room adobe house. Honestly, it wasn't considered shabby in Wangjia Village. Ye Jia walked from one end of the village to the other, noting that there were plenty of poorer families. The Zhou family's situation was considered respectable, with a black-tiled roof, a courtyard, and a well against the wall. These days, most families without wells fetched water from the river at the village entrance.
But considering the Zhou family had no one to fetch water, digging a well seemed like a good idea. Beside the well stood a wooden bucket, attached to a rope. A gourd ladle was placed along the edge. Stones were paved from the main entrance to the courtyard gate. The roof was covered with a layer of grass, but the wind didn't hold it in place.
No wonder it was raining heavily outside and drizzling inside. When the weather cleared up, she repaired the roof.
Ye Jia had been lying in bed for three or four days, but finally couldn't stand it anymore. Standing in the yard, staring at the rooftop, two girls happened to walk by arm in arm. Seeing Ye Jia get up, they were startled, stopped, and called out.
Ye Jia turned around and the girl looked her up and down, then covered her mouth and laughed.
"Oh, isn't that Jia Niang? Are you feeling better?" The girl had a pear-shaped face, narrow at the top and wide at the bottom. Her eyes were narrowed to a slit, and she glanced at me with a very mean look. "Why didn't you go to town today? I heard that Brother Cheng Feng came back the day before yesterday. What's the matter? Didn't he come to look for you?"
Ye Jia thought for a long time but couldn't remember who was talking, so he just stood there without saying anything.
"Why aren't you talking? You used to be sharp-tongued, but today you're like a mute..."
The square-faced girl next to her immediately cut her off, and the two of them moved stealthily. Not daring to look Ye Jia in the eye, she said, "I told you she was too tough to die. You insisted on coming to see me. Why don't you just stand there?"
"What are you afraid of? You just dropped it accidentally, not on purpose. Who can you blame for her losing her balance?" This was earth-shattering. Ye Jia raised an eyebrow and made eye contact with the square-faced girl. Suddenly, he remembered who this person was.
Zhang Chunfen, the younger sister of her eldest sister-in-law who was fostered in the Ye family, was also the one who pushed the original owner into the river that day.
Zhang Chunfen saw Ye Jia's eyes sweeping over her, and she lowered her head, wanting to leave immediately. But the girl next to her refused to give in. In the past, the original owner relied on his good looks to bully them. Naturally, she wanted to make amends whenever she got the chance: "And look at what she's wearing? Would Brother Cheng Feng have let her suffer like this in the past? It must be because she's disfigured that Brother Cheng Feng doesn't want her anymore!"
The girl was muttering to herself, glancing at Zhang Chunfen's clothes intentionally or unintentionally, unable to hide her jealousy.
Zhang Chunfen was about sixteen or seventeen years old. She wore a goose-yellow satin jacket with rabbit fur trimmings at the collar and cuffs. It was brand new, and she paired it with a red skirt. Silver earrings dangled from her ears, swaying as she walked. If it weren't for her dark complexion, she would have looked too polished to be a country girl. However, the dress was a little short on her, looking ill-fitting. Even so, the outfit was still startling.
Seeing Ye Jia's eyes looking over at her, she turned away. She tucked her hair behind her ears with one hand and said with a sullen face, "Are you leaving or not? If not, I'll leave first. I have something else to do!"
The girl wanted to say more, but Zhang Chunfen turned and walked away. The girl had no choice but to follow her, feeling frustrated.
Ye Jia watched them leave, his eyes slowly narrowing. Yu Shi had gone somewhere unknown. A child sat on a small stool at the entrance to the main hall, eating his meal obediently. Ye Jia glanced at the child's bowl again. It contained something dark and bitter.
A gust of cold wind blew over, Ye Jia tightened his clothes, stomped his frozen feet and went into the house.
Looking down at himself, he saw a pair of washed-out homespun cotton trousers, and a jacket with patches on the elbows. The cotton lining had hardened, making it heavy and not warm at all. Ye Jia sighed, but without a change of shoes, he could only stamp his feet again. Ye Jia searched all the rooms thoroughly. Except for the room where Zhou Jingchen lay, he dug deep into the ground. But he didn't find a single penny, let alone a silver coin.
The small three-room room wasn't very big, just enough space to see the edge at a glance. The grain jar was placed in the small kitchen, locked with a small padlock. She went to open the lid, and to no surprise, there was only a layer of sorghum rice at the bottom.
No money, no food, no land, no sheep, in a poor village in the northwest, a widow, a child, and a man serving in the military. What do you call this? Targeted poverty alleviation? He sighed silently, and after a long mental effort, he swallowed the curse words that burst out of his mouth.
After sighing for a long time, Ye Jia turned around and went back to the bedroom. He finally dug out the small wooden box from the crack in the wall.
This was the original owner's jewelry box, and Ye Jia hadn't wanted to touch the items inside. It wasn't that he couldn't bear to part with them—after all, who would wear jewelry if they were starving? It was that these items had come from illicit sources; they were given to him by Cheng Feng. He should have returned them, but he couldn't think of anything else right now. When he opened it, he found two pairs of silver earrings the size of fingernails, a silver bracelet as thick as a chopstick, and a silver hairpin that felt heavy to the touch.
He picked up the silver hairpin and took a bite. He wondered if it was pure silver. If it was, it should be worth something. Gold and silver were always valuable currency in every dynasty. Ye Jia thought about going to the town to pawn the things. Suddenly, he heard Yu crying.
Putting the things in his arms, Ye Jia hurriedly lifted the curtain and walked over.
Speaking of which, there was a person lying in the next room. I had forgotten that Zhou Jingchen was also carried back a few days ago, covered in blood. I don't know what happened in the West Field, but he was brought back and couldn't breathe. They were husband and wife, so Zhou Jingchen shouldn't be lying in Yu's room. But the original owner disliked him because he was covered in blood and his clothes were dirty. She blocked the door and refused to let anyone carry him in.
Yu was a gentle woman with a weak tongue. When the original owner got ruthless, she couldn't win with either physical or verbal arguments. She could only wipe away her tears as she carried her son to her own room. Because the doctor had ordered him not to move, Zhou Jingchen lay down in the west room. His son was nineteen, and it wasn't appropriate for mother and son to sleep in the same room. Yu had no other options, so she took her little granddaughter and made a bed on the floor in the main room.
Ye Jia: “…”
She had to admit, thinking about this, she began to admire Zhou Jingchen's generosity. If anyone else dared to treat her mother or her niece like this, she would have killed them. But then she thought, in ancient times, divorce was a terrible punishment for women. Regardless of whether it was the woman's fault or not, if she was divorced, she would be criticized for her whole life.
Come to think of it, perhaps Zhou Jingchen saw the original owner as nothing more than a clown, a clown who jumped around all over the place. If she wasn't pleasing to the eye, then she certainly wasn't pleasing to the heart. He'd just let her do whatever she wanted, scraping off a few small amounts of money that wouldn't hurt her, just as a way to please his mother and fulfill his filial duty.
Well, if that's the case, it would be easier to deal with.
The west room had no door, just a curtain to block the wind. As Ye Jia lifted the curtain, the stench of spoiled blood filled the air. A faint herbal scent mixed with dust and the musty smell of rainy weather was unbearable.
The room was pitch black; upon entering, no one could be seen. Yu's frail body was hunched over, her cries silent. To the right, a wooden basin was used to wring out a damp cloth. Ye Jia realized that the ancient habit of locking doors and windows whenever someone was ill was a bad omen. This room was so stuffy it felt like a breeding ground for parasites. The mingled smells in the room were enough to stifle anyone who was alive.
A person lay on the bed. The light was too dim to make out their features, but I could vaguely make out they were quite tall. They lay motionless, their chest rising and falling, their breathing labored, as if they were choking.
Ye Jia immediately turned around and went to the window and pulled down the wooden board.
Bright light streamed into the room, along with a cold wind and the stench of rain. Yu jumped up in shock. She stumbled over, forgetting to cry, "Jia Niang, what are you doing? Close the window quickly! Yun An is still running a fever in this cold weather. He can't be exposed to the wind!"
Ye Jia ignored it, took the wooden board aside, and let the wind blow into the house.
Yu Shi might have given in to her other matters, but when it came to her son's life, she couldn't be soft. Now, new and old grudges surged up in her head. She pointed at Ye Jia's nose, wanting to curse but unable to. Her lips trembled, and she was so angry that tears streamed down her face.
Ye Jiaxin thought that this woman was too weak.
He turned his head and looked at the bed. Half of the person's face was hidden in the shadows, only a graceful chin and slender neck were visible. The exposed skin was burning red from the high fever. Fresh air poured into the room, and the heaving chest gradually calmed down. Ye Jia pointed at the person on the bed: "He was so stuffy just now that he couldn't breathe. Now his breathing has evened out."
Yu was surprised and confused, but when she saw that her son seemed to have calmed down, her expression suddenly became a little dull.
Ye Jia didn't care: "Open the window for some fresh air first, then close it when it gets cold."
Yu didn't say anything, but lowered her head to tuck in the corner of the quilt.
Seeing her like this, Ye Jia frowned in annoyance. She hadn't wanted to intervene, but she couldn't just stand by and watch someone die. "You stay home and take good care of the child. I'll go to town and get a doctor."
After saying that, without caring about Yu Shi looking up, Ye Jia went behind the door, grabbed an umbrella and walked out of the house.
Yu Shi didn't feel kindhearted when she heard her say this; instead, she suspected she was looking for another excuse to go to the second son of the Cheng family. Yu Shi didn't say anything, but that didn't mean she didn't know. Her daughter-in-law had connections in town. She usually played dumb and didn't get angry, firstly because she didn't want to provoke the locals, and secondly because she hoped Ye Jia would change his mind and, considering her unwavering service, would keep quiet.
Let’s not talk about it now, let’s just say that when she chased out of the house, Ye Jia had already walked a long way out of the yard.
Wangjia Village is two or three miles from the town, and it takes about a quarter of an hour to walk if it's not raining. But when it rains, the road is difficult to walk on, and it takes an extra cup of tea.
In this bitterly cold land, this small northwestern town wasn't particularly prosperous. The houses were only slightly better than those in the village, made of brick and tile. But they were a far cry from the buildings depicted on television in later times. There weren't many shops on the street, and even more were closed on rainy days. Ye Jia had to work hard to find a pawnshop, where he pawned everything he had found from the cracks in the wall.
The silver earrings were pure silver, but the bracelet and hairpin were mixed with something else. All in all, they were pawned for three taels and two qian of silver. Ye Jia wasn't quite sure about the local prices and wasn't sure if it was fair. He simply took the silver and went to see a doctor.
This town is called Beili Town, a small county seat under the Beiting Protectorate and a military fortress. It's a dozen miles from Fang County and the westernmost town in Dayan. Not only is it poor, it's also highly vulnerable to foreign invasions. During the cold winter, grassland tribes often come south to plunder. Ye Jia walked and looked around. There weren't many other shops on the street, but there were several knife shops and blacksmith shops.
After walking quickly all the way, we finally found the only clinic in town.
The clinic was still open. A child was pounding herbs at the door, while a gray-haired old man was flipping through the herbs. He put down his things and walked out only after seeing someone come in.
Ye Jiayan briefly explained the situation, and the old doctor followed him out without saying a word, carrying his medicine box on his back.
Ye Jia couldn't afford to delay saving lives, regardless of whether this was a book or not. A delay could cost a life. Considering the doctor's age and inconvenience, she gritted her teeth and hired a donkey cart.
With a car, they could get there faster. They arrived in the village in less than a quarter of an hour.
Ye Jia led the old doctor into the house quickly. Seeing that she had really asked the doctor to come back, Yu Shi finally put down her worries. She quickly took the child away to avoid blocking the way and told the old doctor to go in quickly.
The old doctor first took his pulse and then checked for any external injuries. After a long moment, he turned and scolded, "You've delayed it until today. You want him to die!"
Mrs. Yu's face turned pale, her limbs weakened, and she could barely stand. The old doctor, while administering acupuncture, lamented, "If she keeps burning like this, her head will be burned out, and her body will be dried up. If she's a few days later, you wouldn't have to pay for a doctor. We could just wrap her in a straw mat and carry her out. In her current state, even if she's saved, she'll probably die young."
Yu burst into tears. Ye Jia glanced at the person on the bed and said nothing.
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