“How are your legs?” Captain Song asked.
“They’re like this.” Song Qingfeng shook his head, the meaning was perfectly clear.
Captain Song exchanged a glance with the Old Branch Secretary. “Don’t worry. Qingshan has already gone to town to invite Elder Ma. He’s the most renowned doctor in this area. Let him examine you first before we say anything else!”
Song Qingfeng understood their good intentions and said nothing.
Aunt Song had already begun making plans for her nephew. “Old Branch Secretary, Qingfeng was injured like this while carrying out a mission. If he recovers, that’s one thing, but if he doesn’t, he’ll be like this for the rest of his life. Although the military has already applied for a monthly subsidy of fifteen yuan for him, raising children in the future will still be a heavy burden. You have to speak with the leaders and see if you can apply for a larger subsidy!”
“I’ll ask about it!” the Old Branch Secretary nodded.
Knowing the Old Branch Secretary’s character well, Aunt Song quickly turned to Qiao Nianyao, who had been standing silently to one side. “Yaoyao, did you hear that? Your Uncle will speak with the commune leaders. Besides the fifteen-yuan monthly subsidy, there will certainly be other benefits too!”
“It would naturally be good if they could take better care of us, but if not, that will be all right as well.” In front of these highly respected elders and relatives, Qiao Nianyao made her position clear. She glanced at Song Qingfeng. “As long as Qingfeng doesn’t drive me away, I won’t leave.”
She portrayed the image of a wronged young wife to perfection.
“Qingfeng is driving you away?” Captain Song was stunned. “He’s already in this condition, and he still wants to drive you away?”
The Old Branch Secretary, Zhou Dashan, Zhou Xiaoshan, Lin Xiaohong, Zhou Dong, Zhou Liang, Zhou Zuo, Zhou You, and Zhou Zhong all turned to look at Song Qingfeng.
Looking at his beautiful young wife, Song Qingfeng spoke before the elders. “That’s right. I don’t want you to stay. Leave. You don’t have to repay any of the money from before, and no one is allowed to stop you from leaving.”
“Qingfeng, what kind of nonsense are you talking about!” Aunt Song cried anxiously.
“That’s right, Qingfeng. Have you lost your mind? What are you saying?” Zhou Dashan hurriedly added.
“Do you even know what you’re saying?” Captain Song also said.
“I know very well what I’m saying.” Song Qingfeng’s expression remained unchanged as he looked at Qiao Nianyao. “Pack your things and leave.”
Qiao Nianyao secretly used her ability to stimulate her tear ducts. Tears immediately streamed down her face.
“Song Qingfeng, you’re really something. The moment you came back, you started saying you didn’t want to hold me back and wanted me to marry someone else. You’re such a great saint, but what do you take me for? You were the one who pulled me out of the river back then. The Qiao family demanded five hundred yuan like greedy lions. Just so they would never come back to bleed me dry again, you still paid them every last cent. How heartless and ungrateful would I have to be to abandon you and marry someone else just because your legs are injured?”
“Song Qingfeng, today, in front of all our elders, I’ll make myself perfectly clear. If you recover and someday find me annoying and want to drive me away, I won’t cling to you. I have my pride too. But if you don’t recover, then I’ll take care of you for the rest of my life. I will absolutely never abandon you or leave you to fend for yourself!”
With so many elders present, if she did not establish her persona now, then when would she?
The effect was remarkably good. The Old Branch Secretary, Captain Song, Aunt Song, the Dashan and Xiaoshan brothers, along with all the younger generation present, were deeply moved by her words.
Especially the elders like the Old Branch Secretary and Captain Song.
Previously, they had all felt that Song Qingfeng had spent such an enormous sum to marry this wife. Even if she were as beautiful as Xi Shi or Diao Chan, he had still been taken advantage of.
No matter how beautiful a woman was, once she married into the family, she still warmed the bed and bore children. An ordinary woman could do the same.
The function was the same, so why did the Qiao family dare demand such an outrageous bride price?
Yet even heroes found it difficult to resist beauty.
But now they felt that this daughter-in-law was truly outstanding.
As for Aunt Song, there was even less to say. She held Qiao Nianyao’s hand, her eyes red with tears, wiping them away as she repeatedly said with joy, “Good, good, good!”
As for Song Qingfeng himself, when he met Qiao Nianyao’s reddened, aggrieved gaze, the determination in her expression pierced into the darkness that imprisoned his heart like a sharp sword.
At that very moment, a tiny crack appeared in that dark prison.
A trace of bitterness spread through the heart that had long been filled with numbness and despair.
But he quickly concealed it, his expression returning to indifference. “I don’t need you to take care of me.”
“You brat, your wife has already said all this, so why are you still dragging your feet? Let me tell you this, if you dare drive her away, I don’t care if you’re injured, I’ll take a whip and beat you myself!” the hot-tempered Captain Song declared.
“That’s right!” the Old Branch Secretary agreed.
Husband and wife were said to be birds of the same forest, yet when disaster struck, each flew their separate way.
But a wife who was still willing to stay through hardship was someone one could not find even with a lantern!
“You really deserve a beating!” Aunt Song also felt that her nephew had completely lost his senses.
Her nephew’s wife had already spoken so sincerely before all these elders. She truly wanted to stay, yet he still insisted on driving her away!
Aunt Song also knew that Qiao Nianyao, her nephew’s wife, would suffer because of this, but people’s hearts were naturally biased.
She had always hoped the young couple would live well together, but there was simply no other choice under the current circumstances.
Her nephew’s wife absolutely could not leave, and her nephew truly could not do without her!
Yet Song Qingfeng ignored all of them. He remained determined to make Qiao Nianyao leave. “If you stay, your entire life will be wasted here.”
She would be dragged into his prison of darkness. By then, this vibrant young woman would gradually wither away, living like a soulless puppet.
She was still so young. There was no reason for him to burden her with his fate.
“Where’s the whip? Zhou Zhong, go, go to my house and bring me my whip. Let’s see if I don’t beat this stubborn mule to death!” Captain Song was the first to lose his patience, shouting angrily.
“He deserves a beating!” the Old Branch Secretary also said.
Aunt Song was so anxious that she hardly knew what to do.
Qiao Nianyao simply stood quietly to one side, looking thoroughly wronged without saying another word. She had already said everything that needed to be said.
“Father, I’ve brought Elder Ma!” Song Qingshan’s voice came from outside.
“Quick, come in, come in.” Captain Song immediately called to his son.
A sturdy man entered, leading a thin, elderly man inside. The sturdy man was Song Qingshan, Ma Guilian’s husband.
The thin old man carrying a medical case was Elder Ma from the commune clinic. He was the most renowned orthopedic doctor in the entire commune.
He had originally been a veterinarian who specialized in setting the broken bones of pigs, horses, cattle, and sheep. Later, he had taught himself how to set human bones. Every treatment proved successful, and somehow he had also obtained a medicinal wine recipe. After using the wine while performing therapeutic massage, the results were exceptionally effective. That was how his reputation had gradually spread.
Once he had grown old, everyone willingly made room for him out of respect.
Elder Ma first had Song Qingfeng lie down properly before pressing one of the major acupoints on his leg. “Can you feel this?”
“No.”
His legs had completely lost all sensation.
Elder Ma proceeded to test the other major acupoints one by one. Seeing that Song Qingfeng could not feel anything at all, he knew it was time to use his real skills.
“There are too many people in this room. His wife stays, everyone else goes outside,” Elder Ma said.