Old Liu was a town resident who worked at the pig slaughterhouse. He loved wild game and occasionally went into the mountains to hunt, which was how Jin Yao had met him.
Originally, Jin Yao had planned to find work outside after the autumn harvest this year and leave with his wife and daughter.
Every day he saw the old woman and Mrs. Xu bully Dujuan, he felt immensely furious and deeply pained that Dujuan had to suffer such grievances for his sake.
However, the moment he spoke up for Dujuan, the old woman and Mrs. Xu would take advantage of his absence to bully her even more ruthlessly. He was on the verge of losing his patience, so he had quietly told Dujuan that he would take them away.
Liu Dujuan had naturally been longing to leave with him all along, which was why she had endured it again and again.
“The bear hide sold for two taels. The two of us split eight hundred wen each and gave four hundred wen to Shopkeeper Qin. The processed meat is currently stored in their ice cellar!”
“I put five hundred wen in your clothing bundle—save it for our future use. Buying the rice, flour, seasonings, pork fat, and paying the deposit earlier this morning cost three hundred wen in total.”
“Sounds good!” Hearing his words, the smile on Liu Dujuan’s face grew even brighter. Putting down the shovel, she went back into the house to hide the money.
This house was not secure. Yesterday, she had discovered a loose floorboard beneath the wooden daybed; lifting it up revealed a space below where a small jar could be hidden, so she hid the money there.
Otherwise, if they weren’t home, someone might kick the door open and walk right in.
After digging the hole, the couple discussed what kind of tree to plant.
Liu Dujuan suddenly remembered what Jinjin had said and told Jin Yao. Jin Yao nodded, “All right, once Jinjin wakes up, we’ll head over together to take a look and retrieve all the medicinal herbs she dug up. The child worked hard all morning; we can’t let it go to waste.”
While the family of three here was enjoying a peaceful and harmonious afternoon as if nothing had happened, things were not going so well over at the Jin household.
After Jin Yao carried Jinjin away, the old man and the old woman stared at the shattered pieces on the ground with scowls, remaining silent for a long moment.
“What did you mean by those words earlier? Was that broken bowl among the things that wench brought back?”
The old woman suddenly raised her head and asked the old man in a cold voice.
The old man frowned and gave a heavy, rumbling “Mm.”
Gnashes her teeth in anger, the old woman cursed, “Back then, after that wench died, I told you to throw all those things away, but you wouldn’t listen! Look now! Because of that broken bowl, the whole household is in turmoil, and the back of my head is still throbbing with pain!”
Saying this, she suddenly seemed to feel dizzy and wanted to return to her room. However, after taking just two steps, her body swayed, and she collapsed onto the ground with a loud thud.
The old man was startled. Hurrying over to check on her, he quickly shouted loudly for Jin Shi.
“Jin Shi! Come out quick! Your mother collapsed!”
Inside the house, ever since she went in, Mrs. Xu had been cursing non-stop in anger. However, she didn’t dare open the door, fearing Jin Yao would come in and beat her. Only after hearing Jin Yao and the others leave did she finally breathe a sigh of relief.
Jin Shi was lying flat on the kang, glaring at her gloomily again and again. Hearing her repeat the same few insults over and over, he cursed irritably, “Shut your mouth and go fetch Doctor Qiao right now!”
Mrs. Xu procrastinated, peeking outside through the door crack. She wanted to wait until the old man and old woman returned to their room before stepping out, as she was also afraid they might hit her.
By the looks of it, that bowl was quite important. She had acted out of a moment of anger, but after smashing it, she grew terrified of getting a beating, which was why she had dragged Haohao into the room to hide.
At least Jin Shi didn’t dare lay a finger on her—otherwise, if her elder brothers came over, they would tear the Jin family household apart.
Hearing the old man’s shouts and learning that his mother had fainted, Jin Shi gritted his teeth, dragged himself up, shoved Mrs. Xu aside, and headed out into the courtyard.
Mrs. Xu was unprepared for his push and stumbled backward into a chest on the side. Her temple struck the handle of the chest door right on target, and with a roll of her eyes, she collapsed to the ground, unconscious.
Jin Shi had already gone outside to check on his mother, completely unaware that Mrs. Xu had knocked herself out.
Haohao, who had been cowering in the corner earlier when he heard his father scolding his mother, saw his father go out and his mother lying motionless on the ground. He ran over, squatted beside Mrs. Xu, and shook her.
“Mom, get up and make food for Haohao, okay? Haohao is hungry!”
Yet after shaking her several times, Mrs. Xu showed no response. Haohao could only go out to the courtyard to find his grandmother, only to see his father and grandfather carrying his grandmother into the house.
Haohao followed behind to watch the commotion, asking as he walked, “Dad, why is Grandma sleeping?”
“Haohao, don’t come over here. Your grandmother fainted. Go find your mother and tell her to go call the doctor right away.” Enduring his back pain, Jin Shi helped his father carry his old mother into the room.
Haohao looked back at his house door in confusion, pouting his lips as he said, “But Mom is lying on the floor sleeping too, and Haohao is hungry. I can’t wake Mom up!”
“What?”
Just as he was carrying his old mother through the doorway, Jin Shi’s hands trembled at Haohao’s words, causing his mother’s head to bump right against the doorframe. The impact caused the unconscious old woman to twitch several times in pain.
After Jin Shi and the old man carried the old woman back inside, they examined the back of her head; the bleeding spot had already scabbed over and stopped bleeding.
“I’m going back to check on Mrs. Xu, and then I’ll go fetch Doctor Qiao in a moment. Dad, go start the fire and boil some water.”
Jin Shi instructed the old man before hurrying back home to check on Mrs. Xu.
He knew he had used a bit too much force just now—could he really have knocked her out?
Jin Shi rushed back inside the house to check on Mrs. Xu, only to find a large, swollen lump on her temple, and she was already unconscious.
Glancing at the handle on the chest, Jin Shi cleared his throat guiltily, dragged Mrs. Xu onto the kang, and then shuffled out the door bit by bit to fetch Doctor Qiao.
All along the way, Jin Shi muttered under his breath, cursing Jin Yao for being subhuman—causing a scene and leaving, only to leave the household in complete chaos.
When Doctor Qiao arrived and examined all three family members, he told Jin Shi to follow him to fetch the medicine.
All three needed medicine, which required spending silver. Left with no choice, the old man retrieved the key from the old woman, unlocked the chest, and pulled out silver for Jin Shi to fetch the medicine.
Taking out one tael of silver this time, the old man rubbed the silver with heartache before handing it to Jin Shi, warning him not to lose it on the way.
Haohao was so hungry his stomach stuck to his spine, and he squatted at the doorway crying.
“Boo-hoo, I’m so hungry! Is anyone going to take care of me? My tummy is so hungry!”
When Jin Shi returned with the medicine, he saw Haohao squatting at the doorway crying, so he quickly started a fire to cook.
While cooking, he casually turned his head to look at the pile of shattered bowl fragments on the ground—only to find that they were gone.
The old man came out to light a fire on the dirt stove on the other side to brew the medicine. Jin Shi asked him if he had swept up the bowl fragments and thrown them out.
The old man said no. Seeing that the ground was completely clean, the old man turned to look at Haohao.
Seeing that he was still crying, the old man had an intuition that Haohao hadn’t swept it up.
Seeing his father’s reaction, Jin Shi frowned, “Dad, you didn’t sweep it?”
“No!”
Jin Shi’s expression turned somewhat grim, and he quickly asked Haohao, “Haohao, did you see who swept up the shattered bowl pieces on the ground?”
Haohao raised his head, glanced over, wiped his tears, and said, “Suddenly, *whoosh*, and it just vanished!”
What?
The expressions of both the old man and Jin Shi instantly turned ugly.
How could it suddenly vanish into thin air?
“Dad, what on earth is the deal with that broken bowl? Do you actually recognize it? What does that bowl have to do with Jin Yao? All this mess in our house today was caused by that broken bowl!” Jin Shi said furiously.