Chapter 99

Chapter 99

The next day.

Once breakfast was over, Lu Wanxiao saw that the vegetables in the garden were growing too fast and way too many, so she picked up a basket and decided to pick some to take to Aunt Li's place.

Cucumbers, eggplants, beans, tomatoes... she picked any that would keep for a few days.

Then, seeing there was still room in the basket, she grabbed a handful of leafy greens. Seeing that the greens were growing far too lushly and they had eaten their fill in recent days, she simply took a knife, cut them off, and tossed them to the horses and chickens.

You know what? Even the horses and chickens had a particular fondness for these greens watered with spirit spring water.

Cang Wu was sitting under the pomegranate tree, pondering life. When he saw Lu Wanxiao tossing such good greens directly to the chickens and horses, he muttered:

"What a waste!"

As luck would have it, his words were heard by Qing Zhou, who was on his way to fetch water. Qing Zhou immediately shot back, "How is it a waste? You ate them this morning and didn't say a word!"

He's an outsider and even he ate them. The horses and chickens are our own—what's wrong with giving them some greens?

Besides, they had been feeding them this way for a while now!

This guy had clearly never seen the world!

Cang Wu hadn't expected that a casual mutter would be caught by Qing Zhou. He sighed inwardly and closed his eyes.

He couldn't outfight him or outtalk him; all he could do was keep out of his way.

Cang Wu closed his eyes, trying to recall if he had ever offended Qing Zhou at some point, wondering why the man seemed to find him annoying no matter what.

He silently prayed that Qing Zhou would hurry up and leave and go fetch his water.

Otherwise, he was afraid Qing Zhou would make him so mad he'd cough up blood.

Cang Wu wanted Qing Zhou gone, but Qing Zhou wasn't about to oblige. Seeing his silence, Qing Zhou set down his buckets and gave him a once-over, clicking his tongue twice. "Hey, don't tell me that all these years you've been a dog by that dog Luo Shao's side, you didn't even get greens?"

"A dog by a dog's side?!"

That description was enough to make a person die of anger!

Every word out of his mouth was a personal attack; Cang Wu felt like he was choking.

But he had no choice but to endure.

Yet Qing Zhou was far from done. He clicked his tongue again. "You couldn't even eat greens—you're worse off than our chickens at home. Tsk, tsk, how tragic!"

Then, as if he'd just discovered something earth-shattering, he stared at Cang Wu in shock and disbelief:

"You're not actually in love with Luo Shao, are you?" Otherwise, how could you stand being by his side all those years when you couldn't even get greens?

Besides, Luo Shao was hypocritical, selfish, and malicious at heart. What normal person could stand someone like that?

If it were him, he would have either killed Luo Shao or run away long ago.

But Cang Wu had stuck by him for years with no intention of leaving.

Thinking this, Qing Zhou's gaze at Cang Wu turned indescribably weird.

"Your taste in men..."

Cang Wu couldn't take it anymore. He opened his eyes and cut him off. "The people you killed in the past—were they actually talked to death?!"

To be honest, he had never imagined a killer could have such a venomous mouth, capable of pissing someone off to death.

And his imagination was vivid enough to write a novel.

"That's my skill!" Qing Zhou snorted coldly. "But a pathetic loser like you can only envy me."

"Oh, no, I mean, you can't even envy me—save your strength!"

With that, he gave Cang Wu a look of utter disdain, picked up his buckets again, and left.

Before leaving, he added, "Get your wounds healed quick, then take over all these chores that are yours."

Cang Wu felt he was truly on the verge of spitting blood. He closed his eyes and let out several heavy breaths, only then finally feeling a bit better.

To avoid facing Qing Zhou's verbal abuse again when the man returned with water, Cang Wu decided to go back inside.

He stood up, then realized this was Song Changting's house, and the room he had slept in last night was Qing Zhou's.

With a sigh, he turned his chair around, closed his eyes, and resumed pondering his life.

Meanwhile, Lu Wanxiao went to Aunt Li's house with the vegetables. Aunt Li felt bad to receive so many vegetables and insisted on giving her the few eggs she had saved over the past few days.

She said they were for Lu Wanxiao to take home and build up Song Changting.

****

Lu Wanxiao really didn't want to accept them.

First of all, eggs were precious in Taoxi Village. People either saved them for hatching or to sell, and hardly ever ate them unless there were kids or someone who needed building up.

These eggs that Aunt Li had gathered were clearly meant to be sold—how could she take them?

Second, her family now had no shortage of eggs; they could eat them at every meal, even eat them as a meal.

But she couldn't say that.

In the end, unable to resist Aunt Li's persistence, Lu Wanxiao symbolically accepted five eggs.

Feeling bad about it, she used the excuse of drinking water to go to Aunt Li's kitchen. While Aunt Li wasn't looking, she scooped a large ladle of Jade You from her space and poured it into their water vat.

Jade You could strengthen the body, boost health, and even cure some ailments.

Though Aunt Li's family didn't suffer from any major illnesses, years of hard labor must have taken some toll on their health.

That one ladle of Jade You, along with the vegetables watered with spirit spring, would help take care of those problems.

Aunt Li's family had helped her and Song Changting a lot, and this was Lu Wanxiao's way of repaying them.

She was the kind of person who, if someone treated her well, would repay them tenfold.

And the reverse was also true.

After drinking water and chatting with Aunt Li for a while, Lu Wanxiao bid farewell and headed home with the eggs.

Aunt Li saw her to the door and, after hesitating for a moment, finally asked the question she had been wanting to ask.

"By the way, Xiao Xiao, how is Changting's leg now?"

"The doctor said back then that Song Changting's leg was incurable, and after so many years of delay, although Lu Wanxiao and Changting mentioned there was still hope when they returned that day."

"Aunt Li still wasn't entirely convinced. After all, it had been delayed too long and the injury was too severe."

"She was afraid that after all their efforts, Song Changting's leg wouldn't show any improvement, leaving her disappointed and sad, which was why she had been hesitating just now."

"Unexpectedly, Lu Wanxiao said cheerfully, "Thank you for your concern, Aunt Li. The doctor we visited last time is very skilled. He re-set Changting's bone and prescribed some good medicine, both oral and topical. Changting has been recovering well these days, but he still can't get out of bed. When we finish the current course of medicine in a few days, I'll take him to see the doctor again.""

"For Song Changting to retake the imperial examinations, his leg had to heal."

"This matter couldn't be hidden from everyone forever. Song Changting couldn't just stay home all the time or always appear before others in a wheelchair."

"It was good to give Aunt Li a heads-up first."

"Although Aunt Li wasn't a gossip, this wasn't something that had to be kept secret. Once she knew, her family would know, and soon the whole village would know."

"That way, when the day came that Song Changting suddenly stood before everyone without a crutch, it wouldn't shock everyone and cause all kinds of gossip that would cause a commotion."

""It's good that he's recovering well," Aunt Li said, happy for them. "A broken bone needs time to heal. Don't rush. Since you've found a doctor who can treat him, he will definitely heal. Take it slow, don't worry.""

""I understand. Thank you for your concern, Aunt Li." Lu Wanxiao nodded, and as she spoke, she stepped out of the gate. "Aunt Li, I'll head back now. I'll come visit another day.""

""Go on, in case Changting needs you and can't find you." Aunt Li waved her hand and closed the door after Lu Wanxiao had walked a distance away."

"Having received one hundred thousand taels of silver yesterday and gained another helper, Lu Wanxiao was in a good mood. As she walked, she began to hum a tune."

"But she hadn't hummed for long when she ran into Gossip Liu and her son Zhang Baofu, who were cursing each other."

"Lu Wanxiao silently cursed her bad luck and stepped aside to the roadside."

"Time was precious, and she didn't want to get entangled with these oddballs. She was afraid that if it came to that, she wouldn't hold back and would be too harsh."

"Heaven knows, she really wanted to let Gossip Liu off. As long as Gossip Liu didn't come to provoke her, she wouldn't give her a second glance, and she would let go of past grievances."

"But it seemed that Gossip Liu was unwilling to let her go."

"After Gossip Liu saw what she was carrying, she stopped chasing her son and cursing him, and instead came to a halt in front of Lu Wanxiao."