Outside the courtyard, Song Yueying and Wang Qianqian heard Song Rumeng's cursing.
Song Yueying remained calm and composed.
Wang Qianqian, on the contrary, was indignant. "This Song Rumeng is completely unreasonable. She's gone too far. How dare she insult you like that?"
"She's the one who's an ingrate, a heartless wretch."
"You already said she's being unreasonable, why are you still so angry?" Song Yueying glanced at Wang Qianqian with amusement.
"I'm just standing up for you, teacher. You used to be so good to her! Everyone in the village says..." Realizing she had let something slip, Wang Qianqian quickly shut her mouth.
The villagers didn't have a very good opinion of Teacher Song, which she shouldn't have mentioned.
“So, I’m not being nice to her anymore.” Song Yueying seemed oblivious to Wang Qianqian’s actions, saying as she walked, “She’s not used to this change right away.”
"That's understandable."
“But she’s not used to this change, and she can’t scold you!” Wang Qianqian said. “In my opinion, Song Rumeng is sick, and seriously so.”
Teacher Song's kindness to Song Rumeng was something she had heard from the older educated youth at the village's educated youth center on her very first day there. At the time, the older educated youth were just joking with her, the new educated youth.
Everyone says that no normal person would act like Song Rumeng, taking advantage of others and then acting innocent.
“Yes, she is indeed sick,” Song Yueying echoed softly.
Wang Qianqian didn't know how to respond, so she could only chuckle awkwardly. In her heart, she thought, "Teacher Song is so carefree."
The two walked towards the next room.
In the courtyard.
Song Rumeng walked to the door of the main room and saw that Uncle Song, who had been sitting on the long bench, was now lying on the ground. He was patting his chest with both hands, looking like he was in great pain.
"Dad, what's wrong?" Song Rumeng rushed over to help her uncle sit up, asking anxiously, "Dad, what happened to you?"
Uncle Song couldn't answer her question, gripping Song Rumeng's arm tightly with one hand. With his other hand, he pointed to the enamel water glass on the table, then to his own throat.
“Dad, you…” Song Rumeng was about to ask him what he meant when she saw her uncle’s bluish-purple face.
He looks like... he was eating too fast and choked on something.
Song Rumeng's gaze fell on the sponge cake on the table; there was nothing she didn't understand.
As she released Uncle Song's hand and stood up, she found her arm still being held tightly. Song Rumeng said, "Dad, with you holding my hand so tightly, I can't get you any water."
As soon as she spoke, Uncle Song immediately withdrew his hand.
Song Rumeng got up and walked to the square table, picked up the enamel cup, and luckily there was still more than half a cup of water in it.
She returned with an enamel mug, but as soon as she squatted down, Uncle Song snatched it away from her.
Holding the enamel mug in both hands, Uncle Song resembled a traveler who had been thirsty for a long time in the desert. He eagerly took a large gulp of water and swallowed it, washing away the sponge cake stuck in his throat.
Still worried, he drank large gulps of water until he had downed more than half a glass before Uncle Song felt like he had come back to life.
"Dad, how are you feeling?" Song Rumeng asked with a worried expression.
"It's alright, it's all over now." Uncle Song's heart was filled with the relief of surviving a disaster.
"That's good, that's good." Song Rumeng patted her chest, a look of relief on her face. "Dad, it's uncomfortable sitting on the ground, let me help you up."
“Okay.” Uncle Song reached out his hand, and Song Rumeng helped him stand up. “Slow down, be careful! Don’t hurt the injury on your calf.”
His daughter's words of advice brought comfort to Uncle Song, and he gritted his teeth and endured the pain in his calf.
With Song Rumeng's help, he walked to the square table and sat down. Uncle Song was sweating profusely from the pain.
As soon as he sat down, he placed his injured leg on the long bench and rolled up his trouser leg to check the injury on his calf. Earlier, when he choked on the egg cake, he struggled and fell to the ground from the bench.
He was having trouble breathing and hadn't paid attention to the injury on his calf, which was now in excruciating pain.
As the trouser legs were rolled up, the blood-stained gauze came into the father and daughter's view, and the smell of blood became even more pungent.
Uncle Song's face twisted for a moment.
Song Rumeng looked at the blood-stained gauze, her nose filled with the smell of blood. She almost vomited and quickly covered her mouth and nose with her hand.
"You get upset just seeing blood. You're definitely not cut out for studying medicine." Uncle Song gave her a disgusted look, his mind flashing back to the scene in the field where Wang Qianqian, her face pale, was stitching him up.
He can now understand why Song Yueying was willing to teach Wang Qianqian but not Song Rumeng.
Song Rumeng was used to being disliked by her own father, but it still bothered her. She retorted, "What's wrong with me being unsuitable for studying medicine? How am I unsuitable for studying medicine?"
"I've only been exposed to such scenes a few times. Once I've been exposed to them more often and gotten used to them, I won't feel uncomfortable anymore."
"Do you think Song Yueying wasn't upset from the beginning?"
"You've always compared yourself to Song Yueying since you were little, always trying to be better than her in everything," Uncle Song said with a look of disdain. "But in the end, what did you get? You're still not as good as her."
"She married and moved to Beijing; she's a proper city dweller now, and her children will be city people too. What about you? Nobody wants you yet."
What her father said was true, and Song Rumeng couldn't refute it. She stiffly changed the subject, "Dad, your leg injury is bleeding again, you can't ignore it."
"I'll go next door and find Song Yueying to re-bandage you."
"If you were willing to listen to me and learn medicine from Song Yueying early on, my injuries would still need Song Yueying to treat them." Uncle Song rolled his eyes.
Is this going to continue belittling her? Song Rumeng gritted her teeth and held back her rebuttal, then quickly ran out of the house to find Song Yueying next door.
Uncle Song was cursing and swearing inside the house, staring at the sponge cake on the table. He reached out his hand, but then remembered the discomfort and despair he felt when he choked on the cake, and he decisively withdrew his hand.
It seems he won't be able to eat chicken cake for a long time.
The sponge cake doesn't keep well, so even if he couldn't eat it, he couldn't leave it for Wang Muxiang and Song Rumeng. He was injured and couldn't work, which would definitely upset the team leader.
Let's take this sponge cake to the brigade leader's house as an apology.
Just as I had figured out where to put the chicken cake, I saw Song Rumeng return looking dejected.
"Why did you come back alone? Where is Song Yueying?" Uncle Song asked. Before Song Rumeng could answer, he added, "Did you offend her again because you didn't speak properly?"
“You go over there right now and apologize to her. Even if you have to kneel down and beg her, you have to get her to come over and re-bandage my wound.”
"Also, exaggerate the severity of my wound."
Uncle Song spoke too fast and too densely, and Song Rumeng couldn't keep up at all.
By the time he finally finished speaking, Song Rumeng's face was ashen. To expect her to kneel down and beg Song Yueying—how could her father even think of such a thing? She would rather die than beg Song Yueying.
"What are you standing there for? Hurry up and go next door." Seeing Song Rumeng standing there motionless, Uncle Song was so angry that he wanted to hit her with an enamel cup.
He did just that, but his hand, reaching for the enamel mug, missed. Looking down, he saw nothing on the table except for a sponge cake.
Judging from Uncle Song's hand gestures, Song Rumeng knew what he was going to do.
She quickly explained, "I was speaking properly, but Song Yueying went out. She said that a new educated youth at the educated youth settlement was sick and asked her to go and treat him."
"What a coincidence!" Uncle Song was a little skeptical.
"It's just such a coincidence." Song Rumeng nodded vigorously, then, afraid of being scolded again, she changed the subject, "Dad, how did you manage to choke on the sponge cake before?"
"How would I know?" Uncle Song snorted, his words reminding him why he had almost choked to death.
He had just gotten a piece of cake stuck in his throat and was having trouble breathing; he felt like he was really going to die.
Lowering his rolled-up trouser legs, Uncle Song looked at Song Rumeng with a gloomy expression. He had clearly already invited Song Yueying into the main room.
Was her stopping Song Yueying unintentional or deliberate?
Song Rumeng felt flustered under his gaze; she was always good at putting on an act. She quickly put on a terrified expression and said in a choked voice, "Dad, I'm so glad you're alright."
"You have no idea, when I came in and saw you lying on the ground, I was really scared."
Seeing his daughter's pitiful appearance, Uncle Song couldn't bring himself to say anything to scold her.
Seeing that her father's expression had softened, Song Rumeng pressed on, "Dad, you have to be more careful in the future. You only survived because I was home today."
“During the double harvest season, Mom and I work in the fields all day long, so you need to take good care of yourself.”
"Alright, I understand." Uncle Song didn't want to bring up his embarrassing incident anymore. He was a grown man who almost choked to death while eating chicken cake; it was too shameful to even talk about it.
Uncle Song asked, "What were you yelling and shouting about outside?"
"It was Song Yueying. She brought that bitch Wang Qianqian to humiliate me, and they were just sitting there eating melon seeds and watching the show." Speaking of this, Song Rumeng had a lot of complaints.
"I yelled at her because I was angry."
"Who knew she would just leave like that, not giving me any face at all, and not even coming in to check on your injury. It's really too much."
"Dad, I've already swindled almost all of the compensation money Song Yueying brought back. She's not listening to me anymore, so I guess I shouldn't keep playing along with her?"
"Fool." Uncle Song raised his head, looking at Song Rumeng with disappointment. "Song Yueying's man has come back to life; he'll only become richer in the future."
"If you can win her over, our family will have more money than we can spend in the future."
"Don't forget, she only came back to the village because her husband died. Now that her husband has come back to life, she'll go back to the capital with him sooner or later."
"If you want to marry into a wealthy family in Beijing and enjoy a good life, the only way is to cling to Song Yueying."
Hearing her father mention marrying and moving to Beijing, Song Rumeng recalled the words the man had spoken in Song Yueying's courtyard. Her face instantly contorted with rage. "Dad, it's no use."
"What's useless?" Uncle Song asked, puzzled.
"No matter how tightly I cling to Song Yueying, I will never be able to marry into the capital," Song Rumeng said resentfully. "It was Song Yueying's man who said it himself."
"Do you remember when Song Yueying went to Beijing for her wedding last time, I coaxed her to take me with her?"
Uncle Song nodded. He did remember that it was his idea to send Song Yueying to the capital to get married that he had suggested to his daughter. He just didn't know why his daughter hadn't been able to go.
Song Rumeng exhaled a breath of stale air before saying fiercely, "Song Yueying agreed, but I couldn't go because that man wouldn't allow me to come along."
“He made it very clear that he would not let Song Yueying and his family become my stepping stones.”
“It was him, he ruined my chance to marry into a wealthy family in Beijing. I hate him, I hate Song Yueying, I wish they were both dead.”
The more she thought about it, the angrier and more aggrieved she became, tears welling up in her eyes. Song Rumeng didn't let the tears fall; her hatred for Song Yueying and Qi Yanjue was undisguisedly displayed on her face.
"So that's why." Uncle Song suddenly realized, narrowing his eyes.
On the other side.
The educated youth settlement was located in the middle of the village, close to the dam where grain was dried, but far from the other houses in the village.
Led by a female educated youth, Song Yueying and Wang Qianqian entered the courtyard where the educated youth lived.
The female educated youth's surname was Zhang. She was the one who went to Song Yueying's house to say that one of the educated youths was sick. According to her, the educated youths had gone to work in the fields early in the morning and hadn't paid attention to anything else.
At noon, she and another female educated youth returned to cook for everyone, only to find that the newly arrived educated youth had not gone to work. Upon asking, they learned that the person was sick.
"Qianqian, are you getting used to learning medicine from Dr. Song?" Zhang Zhiqing and Wang Qianqian walked ahead, talking as they went.
She really wanted to talk to Dr. Song and get closer to him. Unfortunately, no matter what she said, he completely ignored her and just followed behind them.
They were taking a leisurely stroll, not coming to treat or save lives.
"It's alright." Of course, Wang Qianqian wouldn't be foolish enough to tell the truth; she had just seen it. This educated youth always seemed to be talking to the teacher, intentionally or unintentionally.
Zhang, the educated youth, said casually, "I remember you were very timid. When you first came to the educated youth settlement, you needed someone to accompany you to the toilet!"
"If you get injured while working in the fields and bleed even a little, you'll scream and yell."
“We were all quite surprised that someone as timid as you would be learning medicine from Doctor Song.”
"Hehehe, that was in the past!" Wang Qianqian chuckled awkwardly, though she was a little unhappy inside. Zhang Zhiqing's words were clearly meant for Teacher Song's ears.
Zhang Zhiqing seemed to realize that he had gone a bit too far, and quickly tried to make amends, saying, "I was just joking, Qianqian, don't mind me!"
"I don't mind, I don't mind, how could I mind?" Although she said she didn't mind, Wang Qianqian was terribly bothered by it inside.
She minded, she minded a lot.
This person was deliberately bringing up her past embarrassing incidents; he wasn't joking at all. She hadn't forgotten that when she was sewing up Uncle Song's wounds in the field, many people tried to steal her opportunity.
If these educated youths knew that she had learned medicine from Teacher Song and even made money, they would not only be envious and jealous, but would also target her in every way.
She didn't want to cause trouble for herself, so she had no choice but to endure it.
"Dr. Song, the male educated youth's residence is just ahead, we'll be there soon." Zhang, the educated youth, turned to Song Yueying and said. Seeing Song Yueying nod, he could only swallow the words he wanted to say.
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