Chapter 101

Xu Ran didn’t let Liu Tong go with him. At least, either of them had to stay at home. If both of them, who could make decisions for the family, were away at this time, the old man and their children would probably be bullied by Xu Cheng.

As for the workers of theconstruction team, they were all outsiders, anyway. Since this was Xu Village, they had no say here.

The two who went with Xu Ran were two Ge’ers, who were the acquaintances of Zhang Yue, and Spouse Chen. After all, Spouse Chen was the spouse of the village head, so his words were more impartial.

On the road, Xu Ran drove the carriage quite fast, shortening much of the time they usually spent on the way to town. Xu Ran didn’t know where there were good doctors in town. After all, it was Liu Tong who had used to buy medicine for him.

Fortunately, Spouse Chen knew the place, saying that he had been there once or twice. After arriving in town, Xu Ran drove the carriage into an alley according to Spouse Chen’s direction instructions. Next to the alley was a hospital, and a doctor was sitting outside to diagnose the patients’ illnesses. A lot of people were here to treat their illnesses, and they stood in a long line.

The two Ge’ers got out of the carriage first and ran to the gate of the hospital to call for a doctor. Xu Ran and Spouse Chen were behind. The two were carrying Zhang Yue down from the carriage slowly.

Although it was unsuitable for Xu Ran, a man, to appear here, he could not care about it now. After all, saving a life was more urgent.

Soon the doctor came with the call of the two Ge’ers walking ahead of them. Xu Ran and Spouse Chen just happened to have carried the patient to the door of the hospital. Many people saw the injury on Zhang Yue’s face. More importantly, when they saw the pregnancy mole at Zhang Yue’s ear, they began to whisper to one another. “I wonder what kind of ruthless man treated a Ge’er like that.”

The doctor was famous for being kind in town. He often gave away medicine for free when treating patients and had good medical skills, so many people in town came here to treat their illnesses. Initially, a few people were dissatisfied with the sudden arrival of the patient jumping in line, but when they saw that he was carried inside, they lost words to accuse him. After all, human life was exceptionally important.

The doctor gave Xu Ran and Spouse Chen an instruction. “Put him on the bed quickly! Let me take a look.”

As they heard the doctor’s instruction, Xu Ran and Spouse Chen put Zhang Yue on an empty bed and asked the medicine boy to bring the medical kit. After taking the patient’s pulse, the doctor instantly put acupuncture needles into him.

With a few needles put into him, Zhang Yue showed signs of waking up, but he didn’t wake up in the end. The doctor’s opinion was similar to that of Doctor Liu, but he had said that the person could wake up but needed some time as well as lots of herbs, with many of them being expensive. After all, Zhang Yue was so weak due to serious nutrient shortage.

Xu Ran nodded and said to the doctor, “Is it convenient for you to let him stay here for treatment for a while, doctor? If it’s convenient, we’ll leave him with you. We’ll find someone to take care of him, and I’ll pay you. What do you think?”

The doctor waved his hand and said, “It’s not troublesome to simply keep a patient here, but you need to ask someone to attend to him. After all, we only have young men here in this hospital, so it’s inconvenient for a Ge’er to be here, especially when he spends his daily life here.”

Xu Ran cupped one hand with the other to show his respect and said, “Thank you, doctor.”

Just as he finished speaking, he took out ten taels of silver from his inner pocket and handed it to the doctor. “This is the diagnosis fee and medicine payment. If it’s not enough, please tell me later.”

“OK, don’t worry!”

The doctor had not said how much money was enough, but Xu Ran knew that this amount was far from enough. Whether it was in the 21st century or now, the poor always couldn’t afford to treat their illnesses.

Those who had come here with him were three married Ge’ers. Since the other two were unwilling to stay, Spouse Chen had to stay. Xu Ran didn’t want Spouse Chen to stay because he was the spouse of the village head. But the other two were reluctant, so he had no other choice.

Although he looked quite generous when he paid the ten taels of silver, he knew that his family would have to live a little more frugal life from now on. He had already found the way to make money, but now such a thing had happened.

Xu Ran had no intention to pay all the money, and he could not afford it. Zhang Yue and Xu Cheng were not divorced yet, and the former was still a member of the Xu Family. Besides, his injuries from head to toe were the result of Xu Cheng’s beating. And Xu Ran didn’t want to get the bill for this man’s act. At most, he would do his best to help.

When the two Ge’ers were on his carriage, Xu Ran drove back to the village. After carrying them to their homes, he did not go home but went straight to the ancestral hall of the village.

There were many people in the ancestral hall. The elders of the village’s clans were all there, and so were Xu Houcai and Elder Daddy Xu.

When Xu Ran came in, all their eyes fell on him. He went to the village head and told him everything. When he spoke of his ten taels of silver, he emphasized it deliberately, for the sake of letting Xu Cheng and his companions hear. What he meant was obvious: he had shown his kindest heart by carrying the patient to town and paying the ten taels.

Others sighed as they heard his mention of the ten taels of silver, but Elder Daddy Xu reacted to it by shouting at Xu Ran, saying that Xu Ran would rather give the silver to the bitch than give it to them.

Xu Ran stood still and did not say anything. The thing had come to this point, but the family still didn’t have reflections. If Zhang Yue had really died, they would probably be too afraid to shed tears.

Elder Daddy Xu was silenced by the reprimands of the crowd. Rarely, Xu Houcai asked about Zhang Yue’s situation.

Xu Ran answered honestly. It would need a lot of money to cure the patient—both keeping him at the hospital and hiring someone to attend to him needed payments. And they had to pay for all the expenditures.

When Elder Daddy Xu heard that it would need so much money, his legs lost strength, and he started to curse, but his voice was much lower.

After thinking a bit, Xu Ran said to the village head, “Village head, it’s best to send someone to inform Zhang Yue’s dad, daddy and his other family members. Their Ge’er is like this now. No one can tell what will happen next. His dad and his family members have the right to know it.”

The village head pondered it and knew that what Xu Ran said was quite right. If Zhang Yue passed away like this, Zhang Yue’s dad and daddy didn’t know the reason, and Xu Village couldn’t give an explanation, the consequences might be even worse. If Zhang Yue’s family said something outside, the village’s reputation would be ruined.

The village’s reputation could not be ruined by Xu Cheng. The village head knew what was more important and his own choice.

Elder Daddy Xu wanted to say something again but was stopped by Xu Houcai, so he could only glare at Xu Ran.

Elder Daddy Xu and Xu Houcai had not defended Xu Cheng’s act upon arrival, so Xu Cheng’s crime was a fact.

Finally, the village head gave his opinion: he would ask someone to tell Zhang Yue’s family to come here; Xu Cheng should be locked up in the ancestral hall, and Xu Houcai and Elder Daddy Xu should go home to scrape together the silver. If Zhang Yue died, Xu Cheng would be imprisoned or beheaded, not simply to be locked up in the ancestral hall.

As long as the couple wanted Xu Cheng to live on, they would have to gather all the money even if they had to sell everything they had.

In the end, the thing was settled. Xu Ran went home directly, and the construction team did not join in the fun but went back to work.

Liu Tong took their two kids out to cut grass, while Mr. Hu was alone at home to watch the fire and smoke the dried bean curd.

The four dogs chased each other and rolled in the yard. Probably, it was Tangtang and Guoguo who had made them stay.

Xu Ran knew that he had never been to the strawberry field since his return, so he wanted to go and take a look with the time he had today.

The ten mu of land were connected so Xu Ran couldn’t see the end of them, but only a large piece of greenery.

When he went near, he then found that some strawberries were blooming, but some were dead, and he pulled out all the dead strawberries. When the other strawberries had new sprouts, he would cut some and replenish the empty spaces with them.

The blooming strawberry seedlings were good, but most of them were not in bloom. Besides, Xu Ran also saw speckles on some of their leaves. He remembered that strawberries would get a disease. Although he couldn’t recall its name, he knew that the consequences would be serious if he didn’t make it under control.

There were no agricultural chemicals here. The only way Xu Ran could think of was to scatter ash on them. With this done, the pests wouldn’t climb to their leaves.

No sooner said than done. Immediately, he went home and got a bamboo dustpan of ash from the back of their house and then scattered it from field to field, but he didn’t scatter much to any of them.

After all, it was not good to scatter too much. Ten mu of land were a large field. No doubt, Xu Ran couldn’t finish it alone, so he did it while pulling the weeds, doing as much as he could manage. As for the rest, he would deal with it after digging the bamboo shoots.

Xu Ran stayed in their fields for about four hours and then realized that the sun was setting. At this time, he finally remembered that he hadn’t eaten lunch, or that his family hadn’t eaten lunch.

Xu Ran thought that he had found something so eventful because it had been a long time since such a thing happened. Then he wondered, “Do the two kids and Mr. Hu feel hungry?”

Xu Ran quickly picked up the empty bamboo dustpan and rushed home.

When he got home, he found that Liu Tong was busy in the kitchen, Tangtang and Guoguo were lying face down on the stools, and the four dogs were lying prostrate without strength on the ground. Probably, they were all hungry.

Xu Ran himself didn’t feel hungry. He walked over and touched the heads of Tangtang and Guoguo, saying, “You are all hungry, right? Is there anything to eat at home?”

Tangtang and Guoguo shook their heads weakly and said, “No.”

“Wait a while, then. Let me help your daddy cook.”

Xu Ran walked into the kitchen while speaking. Mr. Hu was watching the fire, and Liu Tong was chopping vegetables nosily. When he saw Xu Ran, he raised his head and wiped the sweat on his forehead. “You are back! You must be hungry! We can eat in a while.”

Xu Ran rolled up his sleeves and went to help him wash the vegetables. “I don’t feel hungry, but the two kids are quite hungry. I guess Mr. Hu is hungry, too.”

Liu Tong said with an ashamed smile, “It’s my fault. I forgot the time.”

“Hey, Tongtong, that’s not right. I don’t feel hungry, either. You forgot because you were too busy.”

Mr. Hu seemed to be afraid that Xu Ran would blame Liu Tong. Therefore, he had begun defending Liu Tong before Xu Ran could speak anything.

Xu Ran said smilingly, “Right! I also forgot it, didn’t I?”

Then he remembered that he had invited Wu Mei’s and others’ families to come here to eat tonight, so he asked Liu Tong, “Have you cooked the meal for Wu Mei and all others?”

“Yes, Ran. You ask them to come here. I guess now they haven’t started cooking yet.”

“OK, I’m going, then. I’ll be back to help you later,” Xu Ran said.

“Go!” Liu Tong nodded and said.