Chapter 221: Chapter 219: Father Di comes to visit, knowing his son better than anyone else
“Naturally, I’ll tell her directly that I accidentally fell off the cliff and injured myself. Miss of Gan Family seems to be quite reasonable; she will certainly understand my situation. Don’t worry! Once my body recovers, I will personally explain it to her and resign from this errand.”
Di Yelei whispered, lying on the bull-cart.
“That’s right! Your health is most important. We’ll discuss other things after you recover from your injury.”
Liu Sisi nodded slightly and couldn’t help but carefully hold the painting scroll to her chest.
The thing that made her the happiest during this journey was getting this painting scroll.
She had looked at it countless times, loving it more with each glance. After Ye Lei’s injury improved, she would definitely find a time to have this painting properly mounted and hung up in her bedroom for appreciation.
“Hey! Speaking of which, Ye Lei, your little sister is really interesting! You’ve suffered such a great injury, and those two didn’t mention a word about it after they returned to the old house from the Zen temple. I heard they grabbed their baggage and left hurriedly without explaining why they left so quickly. It seems the injury you suffered is in vain!”
Zhang Peng said, amused.
Wasn’t it in vain? Does he expect compensation from someone who doesn’t even mention it?
Liu Sisi secretly frowned, hiding the anger in her eyes. At the same time, she saw Di Yelei’s face full of pain.
“It was also good that they left…” Di Yelei whispered.
Exactly what was good, and good about what, he did not say.
Liu Sisi scoffed in her heart, with no hope for Di Ruoning anymore.
Zhang Peng drove the bull-cart while shaking his head with a smile: “Ah, it’s indeed good that they left. These days, the situation at your old house is about to turn upside down. It’s chaotic every day. If you guys go back, maybe you could catch Di Ah-bao’s engagement banquet… ”
“What engagement?”
Liu Sisi instinctively felt it was up to no good.
“On Mid-Autumn day, Di Ah-bao went out with Ruoning and others and then disappeared. After going out and returning, he snatched all the remaining silver of your father and went to Yihong Courtyard to see that Little Cui. As a result, when he came back, he threatened to die, saying that Little Cui was pregnant with his child. He slashed his own neck with a knife, causing your father to faint again. When he woke up, he had no choice but to borrow silver from other villagers and finally gratified him. It is said that Little Cui will enter the house by the next Double Ninth Festival. Ha! There will be lively things to watch at that time… ”
Liu Sisi remained silent. Only a person like Di Ah-bao would do such a thing.
Zhang Peng shook his whip, hurriedly driving all the way, and finally arrived at the foot of the mountain before noon.
Di Yelei’s injury made it impossible for him to move, so Zhang Peng and Li Wu, who were waiting at the junction, helped carry him up the slope.
Xuan’er and YingEr were already waiting at the crossroads. As soon as they saw the group appear, the young ones immediately pounced on them. After crying and parting, they finally returned home.
“I boiled some hot water, and I also stewed a wild pheasant. This was brought by Brother Li Wu. Brother Ye Lei, have a bowl while it’s still hot. It’s good for your health!”
Guihua busied in and out of the room, helping with the arrangements.
“Thank you, Gui Hua… You have worked so hard these days! I… ”
Liu Sisi tightly held Guihua’s hand, and tears flowed before she could speak.
“Don’t be sad! As the saying goes, ‘build your fence by day and lock your door by night, but for thieves within the family, there is no guard.’ I knew Di Ruoning was no good from the start. I’m not surprised that Ye Lei would suffer in her hands.”
Guihua lightly patted Liu Sisi’s hand, sighed, and motioned for her to be at ease.
On the other hand, Zhang Yun was also very active in helping out, handing Di Yelei a towel to wipe his face, and busy serving chicken soup. He even occasionally answered YingEr’s strange questions.
Seeing the scene before him, Di Yelei couldn’t describe the feeling in his heart.
This girl is so young, yet she already belongs to another family! An inexplicable sense of sorrow spread.
The news of Di Yelei’s injury quickly spread throughout Upper Village.
The first person to visit from the old house was surprisingly the struggling Elderly Mr. Di.
Since suffering from three bouts of fainting, and having not been properly taken care of, Elderly Mr. Di was left with post-stroke symptoms, and could no longer smoothly climb up and down the mountains. A crutch was now needed to help him get around.
This time, Elderly Mr. Di came by himself. In his hand was a bamboo basket filled with some odds and ends, as he hobbled over slowly with the support of his crutch.
As soon as he entered the courtyard, he was startled by a burst of barking!
Ah-Huang and Ah-Hua rushed out from inside and barked at him.
He was so alarmed that he wanted to run, but he couldn’t, and his attempts to drive the dogs away were feeble. All he could do was lean on the entrance of the courtyard and weakly call out for Di Yelei: “Third Child…”
Liu Sisi was slowly simmering a rabbit over a low heat.
That rabbit was one of the baby rabbits that had grown up, and now each one was plump and sturdy. The mother rabbit had given birth to two more litters, so killing one amounted to a whole pot of stew.
She was just about to scoop out a portion to bring to her father when she heard the barking of Ah-Huang and Ah-Hua. She rushed out immediately.
At a glance, she saw her father leaning against the entrance of the courtyard, unable to move forward or backward due to the barking dogs.
“Dad, were you hurt anywhere?”
Liu Sisi aimed two kicks at Ah-Huang and Ah-Hua, who seemed to realize that they had done something wrong. The two dogs retreated into the firewood room with their tails tucked between their legs, whimpering and refusing to show their faces.
“Dad! How did you come over here by yourself? If I had known you were coming, Sisi would have gone to meet you.” She quickly went to take the bamboo basket from him and helped him up.
“It’s okay… I happened to be tired, so resting on the doorstep is fine.”
Elderly Mr. Di took the opportunity to catch his breath and, with Liu Sisi’s help, walked into the hall: “I heard… Third Child was injured, so… I came to see…”
His tongue was clearly not as agile as before and it was difficult for him to speak.
“Ye Lei has been recuperating these days and is much better now. He is in the inner room; Sisi will help you in.”
As Liu Sisi explained, she helped him into the inner room.
Inside, Di Yelei wanted to sit up when he heard his father’s voice but couldn’t because of his heavy injuries.
“Dad! How did you come here? Ye Lei was just saying that he would go see you once his body is better.”
“Don’t move! —— Third Child, lie down and rest…”
Elderly Mr. Di looked at Third Child wrapped up like a sticky rice dumpling, and his eyes became a little red.
He thought of Di Ruoning, who had done something wrong and ran away hastily, and the heartless Di Ah-bao. Now that his only able Third Child had also been injured and considering his current situation, he couldn’t help but wonder if the Di Family had recently offended some god of wealth, causing them to run into such bad luck.
“Dad! Don’t worry. As you can see, I’m fine. It’s just some superficial injuries, they’re not a big deal.”
Di Yelei hurriedly reassured him.
Elderly Mr. Di couldn’t help but shed old tears, choking on his words: “A father knows his children best… I understand the nature of you, Ruoning, and Ah-Bao…”