Chapter 147: A Meeting of Rivals

Chapter 147: A Meeting of Rivals

Ye Xiaoxiao: "He probably isn't in a condition to receive visitors right now."

Zhang Erni: "I don't even want to see him anyway."

As they were talking, the village doctor rushed past them carrying a medical kit.

Zhang Erni looked in the direction the doctor was heading. "So Li Deshu can't receive visitors because he's injured?"

Ye Xiaoxiao: "Let's talk about it back home. It's too cold out here."

Zhang Erni and Ye Xiaoxiao headed home together.

News spread quickly in the village, and even Miao Cuifang had heard about Li Deshu's return.

Miao Cuifang: "I saw Li Deshu's uncle rushing to find Old Liu. Did he get injured on his way back?"

Ye Changning: "He was in a hurry and fell into a ditch."

Miao Cuifang: "Did you bring him back?"

Miao Cuifang was skeptical. Her third son wasn't the type to repay kindness with kindness.

Ye Changning avoided eye contact and nodded vaguely.

"Yeah, yeah."

Miao Cuifang: "Huh?"

"It was indeed Third Brother who carried him back," Ye Changsheng said calmly.

Miao Cuifang let it go: "That's good. You've grown up and realized that acting on impulse doesn't solve problems. I was worried you'd beat him up when you saw Li Deshu."

Ye Changning: "I'm not that unreasonable."

Zhang Erni pulled Ye Xiaoxiao aside. "Quick, tell me what happened."

Ye Xiaoxiao then explained how Li Deshu and his wife had argued on the road.

Zhang Erni: "My dad said Li Deshu came back to sell his house. The family next door is willing to buy the property."

Ye Xiaoxiao: "It probably won't fetch much money."

Zhang Erni: "If he sells the village house, it means he's not planning to come back at all. But it is a bit strange because the houses in our village don't sell for much, and that amount of money isn't significant for the Li family."

Someone might be willing to buy the house just because they're too lazy to build one themselves.

After all, buying wood and bricks also costs a lot.

Li Deshu's courtyard is quite large.

Ye Xiaoxiao: "Maybe he really doesn't plan to come back."

In the original story, Li Deshu's family also sold their village house because they didn't plan to return to Baishi Village and were short on money.

It was precisely because they sold the village house that they ended up homeless when they couldn't make it in the city later on.

The family rented a small courtyard in the city, and Li Deshu, not being someone who could endure hardship, became increasingly despondent, spending his days drinking and gambling.

Hao Yanyan was accidentally killed by Li Deshu during one of his drunken episodes, and after her death, she was reborn.

By that time, they had been living together for more than ten years.

After reading the original content, Ye Xiaoxiao felt even more disgusted by Li Deshu.

It would've been better if he'd just fallen into the ditch and died.

Zhang Erni said, "It's good that he's not coming back, so I don't have to see him and want to punch his lights out."

Who told Li Deshu to say such harsh words to her back then?

...

Right then, Li Deshu's uncle's house was in complete chaos.

Old Liu said he couldn't fix the injury himself and they'd have to go to the county hospital.

Li Deshu's uncle was busy finding a cart to haul him.

Feng Yan, being a family member, naturally had to accompany them, so without even getting a chance to rest, she had to leave again.

"Uncle, I just can't walk anymore."

"You can stay home if you want, but do you have any cash? The hospital's gonna cost money."

Feng Yan rummaged through her bag and pulled out twenty bucks.

"This is all I have."

Li Deshu's uncle took the money, "We'll take this for now. If it's not enough, I'll get more from Deshu."

The uncle's thinking was straightforward: his sister and brother-in-law were in the county town, so even if he fronted the medical costs, the money wouldn't be lost.

Feng Yan had no choice but to stick around Baishi Village for the time being. She had already decided that as soon as she rested well the next day, she would leave this place immediately.

As for selling the house or anything else, she didn't care anymore.

Li Deshu was in such agony when the village doctor set his broken leg that he nearly passed out. After being jostled all the way to the hospital, he was half-dead.

Luckily, the county hospital was pretty professional. After taking X-rays, they reset Li Deshu's broken leg and casted it.

This meant Li Deshu wouldn't be able to move around for three months.

"Man, you're really unlucky. You've walked that road for years without a hitch, but today you just had to fall into the ditch."

Li Deshu felt a deep resentment.

Resentment towards Feng Yan started to grow. If Feng Yan hadn't made him carry her, would he have gotten hurt?

"Thanks, Uncle. I was supposed to head back today to talk about selling the house, but now it looks like that'll have to wait."

Uncle: "Your house is pretty nice. If you sell it, someone will definitely buy it, but the longer you wait, the less it'll be worth."

Li Deshu's anxiety made his leg injury worse.

"Ow..."

"Uncle, I still need to ask for your help with this matter."

"It's not a big deal, but how much are you looking to sell it for?"

Li Deshu: "At least three hundred bucks."

Uncle shook his head and said, "In our village, a hundred bucks is about the going rate. Any more than that, and folks would just build a new house themselves."

At this point, he couldn't help but be puzzled, "Is there something urgent at home that you need cash for? Why the rush to sell the house?"

Li Deshu could only say, "My dad's in a rush to go out of town for business lately, and my mom figures since we're not coming back to the village, we might as well sell it and be done with it."

"Go back and tell your mom, if you need cash, I can front you some. Hold onto the house in the village for now."

Li Deshu fell silent.

If he missed this chance, the house would definitely not sell.

But he couldn't care less about that now, the pain in his leg was getting worse, and all he could do was pray his leg would be okay.

...

Feng Yan spent the night in Baishi Village and decided to head back to the county town the next day.

Li Deshu's aunt looked at this delicate daughter-in-law and said hesitantly, "Xiao Yan, there's no one to give you a ride back now."

Feng Yan: "Auntie, isn't there a car in the village we can hire?"

"You saw the village road yesterday when we sent Deshu out—it was all pulled by people. Where are we gonna find a car now? The ox carts are in high demand; I saw them leave early this morning."

Hearing this, Feng Yan got anxious right away, "Then how am I supposed to get back... oh! Our bike is still on the road."

Auntie slapped her thigh, "The bike's probably been taken by someone else by now. Come with me quick to look for it—it's worth a lot."

Feng Yan: "..."

Why does Auntie care more about the bike than me?

Feng Yan packed up her things, ready to leave directly if she found the bicycle.

If she didn't find the bicycle, she would still have to leave.

The distance from the village to that stone slope is far, she couldn't walk that distance for nothing.

Auntie took Feng Yan out of the village in a hurry, and on the way, they met Zhang Erni.

Zhang Erni was also preparing to return to the county town, the hair salon where she worked was about to open.

Although there are fewer people getting haircuts in the first month, many people go there to wash their hair, so there are still customers.

Zhang Erni went a day early to earn an extra day's money.

"Erni, you're going back to the county town too, just in time to go with Feng Yan."

Zhang Erni looked at Li Deshu's aunt coming over to cozy up, she looked at Feng Yan with a half-smile.

Originally, Feng Yan was also a refined urban youth, but after yesterday's ordeal, she hadn't changed her clothes or combed her hair, looking very down and out.