Chapter 327 - Chapter 327: Chapter 323: Flat on Board_1

Chapter 327: Chapter 323: Flat on Board_1

The next morning, the sky was clear at first, but suddenly a strong wind blew.

Immediately afterwards, dark clouds filled the sky, accompanied by lightning and thunder, soon followed by a torrential downpour.

The sudden gale blew away the mushroom shed in the courtyard, and many tiles flew off the roof of the house.

Yingbao and Yunniang’s second maid, Hong Xiao, were at home, looking out through the window.

“Will Second Brother be caught in the rain?” Hong Xiao was a bit worried.

Second Maid: “Second Brother usually sets off before noon; he should still be at home now.”

Yingbao was also very concerned whether his second brother would be on his way back to the county town. It would be awful if he encountered this kind of heavy rain.

Aside from that, this kind of thunder and lightning is very dangerous. If one is rushing in the rain, they could possibly be struck by lightning.

That Pei Shixian was doing a good deed; he should be able to save many lives.

In his previous life, when he occasionally heard about this, he was only an eight-year-old child. He didn’t realize the danger, he only listened to it like a story and didn’t have many feelings.

Thinking about it now, he had overlooked a lot.

The torrential rain accompanied by lightning and thunder raged on and off for two hours, finally ceasing in the afternoon.

As soon as the rain stopped, the aunt and her nephews and nieces rushed out to clean up the mess.

Fortunately, only the mushroom shed in their home was damaged, and there were no other losses. The edible mushroom and other things had already been brought indoors.

Zhang Yuying and Hong Xiao didn’t attend school as they had taken leave from the teacher at the school hall the previous day to stay at home.

“Xiaolang, don’t go out. There’s still rain outside.” Zhang Yuying saw her brother running to and fro to clean up the scattered items and asked him to stay at home.

Zhang Xiaolang pursed his mouth and smiled: “I’m not afraid of the rain.”

As the family was cleaning up the water accumulation in the courtyard, Jiang Cheng even took a shovel to clear the cat hole under the courtyard wall, allowing the accumulated rainwater in the courtyard to flow out as quickly as possible.

While busy, the courtyard door was suddenly knocked on, and someone outside yelled, “Mother! Mother! Open the door! Father is buried in the house, wailing.”

Jiang Yunniang recognized it was her eldest son’s voice, hurriedly opened the courtyard door, and saw her son soaked to the skin, and his body and head were all covered in mud. She couldn’t help but asked sharply, “What did you say just now?”

Zhang Yukun knelt down on the ground and cried loudly, “Mother, our house collapsed, father was sleeping on the bed, and he got buried in it.”

Jiang Yunniang staggered for a moment, pushing her eldest son, “If the house collapsed, hurry up and find someone to save lives. What are you doing here?”

Zhang Yukun sobbed, then finally got up from the ground.

Jiang Yunniang rushed out to grab a chisel, obviously going to rescue people.

Jiang Cheng and Zhang Yuying also quickly grabbed their tools and followed. They called back to Yunniang and Yingbao, “You two stay at home and cook. Don’t go anywhere.”

Yunniang and Yingbao nodded.

Yingbao hesitated for a moment, took out a bottle of medicinal liquid, and handed it to his eldest cousin, “If the injury is severe, drink this.”

Jiang Cheng took the bottle of medicine, nodded his head, turned around, and ran after his mother.

At that moment, Hong Xiao began to cry and then ran towards the Zhang Family.

Zhang Xiaolang hesitated and followed too.

After a while, they arrived at the Zhang Family’s house, and saw that the roofs of the three rundown rooms and the two thatched huts in the Zhang Family’s house had been blown away by the wind, and one of the thatched huts had completely collapsed.

Zhang Jia was originally living in the west room of the main house with his concubine. Later, after he ruined his body by taking Five Stone Powder and developed sores and pus all over his body, smelling foul all day long, his concubine who was very disgusted and used the excuse of looking after her daughter to move Zhang Jia to a thatched house.

As a result, a rainstorm destroyed the house and Zhang Jia was buried in the rubble.

Jiang Yunniang ran over and started digging through the ruins, crying as she dug.

The eldest and second son were shoveling with Hong Xiao. Even five-year-old Zhang Xiaolang dragged what he could.

The concubine and her niece stood by the window of the main house, watching with detached amusement.

Jiang Yunniang was so agitated she began to shovel faster.

The wing of the house was mere thatched, and if the people underneath hadn’t been directly hit by beams, there was a good chance they would survive.

In no time, debris near the bed was cleared, revealing Zhang Jia, soaked in muddy water and filth.

However, one of his legs was hit badly.

Jiang Cheng handed the medicine bottle from his younger cousin to his aunt, saying: “This is from my cousin. She said if the injuries are severe, make him drink this.”

Without hesitation, Jiang Yunniang took the bottle. She cleaned Zhang Jia’s face with her clothes and made him drink the medicine.

Zhang Jia was lucid enough to recognize his ex-wife. He couldn’t help but start crying, stuttering: “Yunniang, I… I am sorry for… for everything I did to you.”

Tears streaming down her face, Jiang Yunniang turned and left.

After Jiang Cheng helped move Zhang Jia from the rubble, he also left. Hong Xiao and her siblings stayed behind along with Zhang Xiaolang to wash and dress their father.

Zhang Jia’s leg was injured, but it wasn’t broken since it was covered by a quilt. However, the area that was hit was bruised and swollen. His existing illness made his condition worse.

Fearing that their father wouldn’t survive for long, Zhang Yukun and his wife didn’t even prepare a bed for him. Instead, they laid a board on the floor for him to lie on, covered him with an old quilt, then started preparing mourning clothes.

After all the hustle, Zhang Yukun stopped caring about his father and went to sleep.

On the floor of the living room, Zhang Jia lay on the board in his shroud, quietly awaiting death.

But he didn’t die the next day.

During the whole day, except for the small bottle of medicine that Jiang Cheng gave him and a bowl of porridge that Hong Xiao fed him, he didn’t have anything else.

Not to mention, no one tried to get him any medical help.

Zhang Jia had a clarity he had never experienced before. He lay there for a whole day and suddenly realized a lot of things.

At such a time, a son is useless, and the woman he thought was his true companion showed no real affection.

The woman passed by him numerous times throughout the day, but never once did she bend down to look at him or even offer him a sip of water.

His ex-wife, whom he had always detested, came to his rescue and dug him out of the debris.

At that moment, Zhang Jia was struck with regret, regretting everything he had done.

So when his current wife saved him and then left without looking back, Zhang Jia suddenly didn’t want to live anymore.

He thought, if he died, she would come to see him one last time, and perhaps she would shed a tear for him.

If so, he would be content.

By evening, Hong Xiao came from the Jiang Family with her second brother Zhang Yuying and younger brother Zhang Xiaolang. They brought a bowl of porridge and a salted duck egg to feed their father.

The concubine came out from the room, coldly saying: “Stop pretending to care. Let him die peacefully. He is in pain every day he is alive. What’s the point?”

Hong Xiao was instantly furious: “My father is still alive and his complexion is getting better. Are you refusing to let us feed him because you want him to die soon so you can remarry?”

The concubine was enraged. She stepped forward and fiercely slapped Hong Xiao: “Shut up!”

Pointing accusingly at Zhang Jia lying on the board, she scolded: “Does he look like he will survive? You, like your mother, always interfere with good intentions. And you dare to accuse me? Feeding him eight meals a day won’t extend his life for a few more days!”

After being slapped, Hong Xiao was stunned for a moment before regaining her senses.

Zhang Yuying had already rushed out in anger, fists prepared to hit the concubine, “Dare to hit my sister? I’ll fight you!”