“It really hurts so much I could die!”
Chen Pozi’s old face was wrinkled like a chrysanthemum as she let out a miserable cry.
But the brigade party secretary, having been fooled twice in a row, didn’t believe her at all. He thought Chen Pozi was trying to throw a tantrum and act shamelessly. “What new trick are you trying to pull now? If you keep faking it, don’t blame me for having someone drag you over!”
“I tried to leave you some dignity, but you insisted on being shameless!”
“It’s not… really…”
A bitter taste filled Chen Pozi’s mouth, and she wished she had more mouths to explain herself. Her gaze fell on Su Nian as if looking at a savior. “Little Su, you’re a doctor, you know, I’m really not faking it! You’re the one who poked me with that embroidery needle and messed me up. It hurts so much!”
“My chest, and my stomach, oh my, one moment it’s a wrenching pain, the next it’s a throbbing pain. It’s killing me.”
Remembering Su Nian’s words about dying from the pain, Chen Pozi slapped her thighs, and old tears streamed down her face. “I admit I was faking it just now, but you have to hurry and find a way to save me!”
Reminded by Chen Pozi, the brigade party secretary recalled the needle Su Nian had used to wake her up.
Looking at the shameless scoundrel that was Chen Pozi, he fell silent for a moment, then sighed. “Little Su, just treat her. We can’t very well hold a struggle session against a patient.”
“It’s not that I’d watch someone die without helping,” Su Nian said, spreading her hands and shaking her head. “I’ve only read the first half of that medical book. I only know how to stimulate acupoints, not how to treat the aftereffects.”
“You dared to use it without learning the whole thing!”
Chen Pozi’s eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets. “You were trying to harm me on purpose, weren’t you!”
“I didn’t expect someone to fake fainting, either,” Su Nian retorted sarcastically, a glint in her eyes. “We should hurry and send her to the Commune Health Center. No matter what, she’s still my mother-in-law. I can’t just watch her die. I’ll go with her.”
“We have to go! Let’s go right now!”
The moment she heard Su Nian was going with her to the health center, Chen Pozi swallowed the angry curses on the tip of her tongue, her eyes lighting up.
Just a moment ago, she was still worrying about how to trick Su Nian into going back to the room to get money and coax her into going to town. She never expected Su Nian to be so foolish as to walk right into the trap!
The gold bars that belonged to the old Chen family could finally be retrieved!
So what if Su Nian didn’t expose her here? Once they got to town, it would be whatever she and her son said it was.
Chen Pozi’s heart warmed at the thought. Fearing Su Nian would back out, she cried even louder, “Aiyo… you caused this illness of mine… I’m going to die from the pain… You should be the one to pay for the doctor…”
Su Nian cooed at her baby, not responding.
The brigade party secretary couldn’t be bothered with Chen Pozi either. He pointed out two able-bodied young men, instructing them to help Su Nian take Chen Pozi to the hospital. After notifying the Chen brothers, he dispersed the crowd of onlookers.
“Secretary, Comrade Su has to take care of her child and run around. She just gave birth, so she’s practically a patient herself. I’ll go with them.”
The Women’s Director, thinking about Su Nian going to town with a baby and having to deal with Chen Pozi, felt a little worried and offered to go along and help. “When a comrade encounters difficulties, we cadres must take the lead to lend a hand and help our comrade overcome their hardship.”
Su Nian had already been planning to find a villager to go to town with her to witness the Chen family’s disgusting behavior.
Hearing the Women’s Director volunteer, she was overjoyed and thanked her profusely. “Thank you, Director.”
As a cadre, the Women’s Federation Director’s words would be more persuasive. She could also help look after Fubao for a bit, which would save Su Nian from having to bring Fubao to that place…
“Director, please wait for me a moment. I’ll go back to my room to get some money to cover the costs first.”
As soon as Su Nian entered the room with Fubao in her arms, Fubao immediately started kicking her legs toward the window.
【The big baddie is freezing stiff, hit him, hit him!】
She had almost forgotten that Chen Yaozu was still crouched by the back window, trying to peek at where she hid her money!
The corners of her lips twitched. Su Nian deliberately took out her dowry’s wooden chest, opened its hidden compartment, and made a show of taking something out and putting it into a cloth bag.
After ensuring that Chen Yaozu, hiding outside the window, had seen her actions clearly, she turned her back to block his view, quickly put the secret compartment back in, and returned the chest to its original spot.
Her rosewood chest had been specially crafted before she was sent down to the countryside. It required a mechanism to remove the hidden compartment, and the same was true for putting it back.
As long as Chen Yaozu opened it, he would never be able to put it back!
The bait was set.
As Su Nian was preparing to leave with the Women’s Director to take Chen Pozi to town, her gaze unintentionally swept over the chamber pot in the corner that she hadn’t had time to empty and the pile of diapers next to it. A glint flashed in her eyes.
It was fate! Such fine things couldn’t be wasted!
She dashed over in a single bound, opened the window, emptied the chamber pot, threw the diapers, and shut the window. The movements were swift, fluid, and completed in one go!
Thinking of the mysophobic Chen Yaozu’s devastated expression with a head full of filth, a gleeful smile appeared in her eyes.
A filthy person deserved to be with filthy things!
【The big baddie stinks, and his face stinks too! Serves him right!】
Fubao was right, Chen Yaozu deserved it!
Su Nian slung the small bag over one arm and held Fubao in the other as she locked the door, her heart soaring with satisfaction.
In the courtyard, the gossiping villagers had mostly dispersed.
“Director, please wait for me a little longer. Mother-in-law is in so much pain, she’ll probably have to be hospitalized. I’ll go to her room and pack a couple of changes of clothes for her.”
A glint flashed in Su Nian’s eyes. After letting the Women’s Director know, she turned and headed for the East Room where Chen Pozi lived.
Pushing open the door to the East Room, she held Fubao and looked around, feigning a troubled expression.
“Chen Pozi swindled so much money from me. I wonder where she hid it all. If only I could find where she hid the money and take it back now.”
【Baby knows!】
【Bad grandma hid all the money in the pocket of the underwear at the very bottom of the cabinet!】
An underwear pocket?
Su Nian’s expression froze.
This was the first time she had ever heard of someone sewing a pocket onto their underwear!
The thought of Chen Pozi counting her money before stuffing it back into her underwear made Su Nian feel as if she had swallowed a fly.
Putting it in her underwear, wouldn’t it have a strange smell?
But that was her money. Even if she had to throw it away, she wouldn’t let the Chen family benefit!
Placing Fubao on the kang, Su Nian suppressed her disgust and used a handkerchief to fish out the underwear with the hidden money. From inside, she pulled out a thick stack of cash and ration tickets.
There were only a few tickets left, but the stack of cash was exceptionally thick.
She counted it. There were three hundred and seventy-two yuan!
That was even more than what she had been swindled out of!
It was probably the Chen family’s entire savings!
Su Nian raised an eyebrow. After putting the money into her Space, she casually grabbed two pieces of clothing, stuffed them into her bag, and picked up Fubao, ready to head to town.
Chen Pozi was being supported as she was moved into the trailer of the tractor outside the courtyard.
Su Nian glanced at Wang Chunhua, who was standing in the middle of the courtyard, and instructed her, “Aunt Chunhua, when you see Chen Yaozu, tell him we’ve taken Mother-in-law to town first. Tell him to get dressed and come find us soon.”
Wang Chunhua replied with an “Okay.”
As she watched Su Nian’s figure trot out the gate, she was just wondering why she was being so agreeable and was so easily tricked into going to town when Chen Yaozu shot out from the woodshed, covered in yellow filth. A shit-stained diaper was draped over his shoulder, and a foul stench emanated from his entire body.
“Aunt Chunhua, what are you doing standing in my yard? Hurry up and go home, I’m locking the gate.”
“Yaozu, you… retch… did you fall into a cesspit?” Wang Chunhua backed away, clutching her nose, gagging from the stench. “Stay away from me, retch…”
His heart pierced again, Chen Yaozu’s hands, hanging at his sides, clenched into fists, the veins on his forehead bulging.
“Wang Chunhua, get out! I’m locking the gate!” His suppressed voice was hoarse and filled with malice, making one’s hair stand on end.
“Got it.”
Wang Chunhua replied meekly. After jogging out the gate, she spat a thick glob of phlegm on the Chen family’s courtyard gate.
“Pah! What a piece of work. You’ve done too many bad things and now you’re getting your just deserts! Serves you right for falling into a cesspit!”
Meanwhile, on the muddy road, the tractor clanked along, heading toward town under the rising morning sun.
【The big baddie is washing off the stink,】
Fubao, nestled in her swaddling clothes, continued her mental commentary, one sentence after another.
【The big baddie is rummaging through Mama’s chest, and he’s cursing Mama!】
Hearing this, Su Nian glanced back in the direction of the village, a sarcastic curve forming on her red lips hidden beneath her scarf.
It was good that he opened the chest.
Her things weren’t so easy to take