After Li Qiuhua finished her rambling, the room fell silent for a moment before Granny Zhao sneered coldly, "Still thinking of coming back? How do they have the nerve? They’re not part of the Xu family, so why should the Xu family support them?"
Li Qiuhua clapped her hands, her tone agitated as she chimed in, "Exactly! Besides, we can’t afford it anyway. Two taels of silver for a dose of medicine—what kind of precious person is she? A lady’s body with a maid’s fate. Only Third Brother is foolish enough to even think of pawning a silver bracelet to pay for the medicine. With that much silver, what couldn’t he do? Now look, it’s all gone to waste, not even a splash to be heard…"
Granny Zhao glanced at her. "Gu Shi took the medicine, but her health hasn’t improved?"
Li Qiuhua nodded eagerly. "I saw it with my own eyes. Her face was so pale, without a trace of color. Moving from the room to the doorway—just a few steps—and she was already gasping for breath. When she spoke, it was weak and strained, all forced effort. When we left, she couldn’t even stand up from her chair. Tsk, tsk. I think living is just suffering for her. It’d be better if…"
"Second Sister-in-law!" Xiao Zhaoshi interrupted. Some things were better left unsaid; speaking them aloud felt too heartless, making even those who overheard feel chilled.
Li Qiuhua rolled her eyes, her smile not reaching her face. "Oh, my mouth isn’t as sweet as Fourth Aunt’s. I can’t say those nice words, and I certainly don’t know how to flatter people…"
"Enough, why bring this up?" Granny Zhao defended her niece, her expression turning displeased.
Li Qiuhua forced an ingratiating smile. "Mother, I was just praising Sister-in-law."
Granny Zhao couldn’t be bothered to argue with her and turned to Xiao Zhaoshi. "What do you think?"
Xiao Zhaoshi weighed her words carefully. "Third Sister-in-law does look genuinely weak and frail. Her temperament is as soft as before. No matter what Second Sister-in-law said, she didn’t get angry…"
Granny Zhao didn’t trust Li Qiuhua’s mouth, but she believed her niece’s words. Hearing this, she felt reassured and said indifferently, "What right does she have to be angry? She can’t bear a son, and she’ll need someone to take care of her in the future… Let’s see how long she can hold on."
"What about the future…"
Li Qiuhua cut in, her expression exaggerated as she exclaimed, "With a fate as hard as hers, what future is there? Good heavens, I just realized—she’s cursed her parents and her child. Who knows, she might even curse her husband next…"
Even though she didn’t particularly like her third son, he was still her own flesh and blood. Granny Zhao frowned and scolded, "Shut up! How dare you say such things? Have you fed the chickens in the rear courtyard? Watered the vegetable patch? Cooked the meal?"
Li Qiuhua muttered under her breath, "So much work, and I have to do it all alone?"
Wang Suyun, who had remained silent until now, smiled and said, "I’ll go with you…"
Li Qiuhua couldn’t quite grasp her intentions but wasn’t foolish enough to object. "Alright, then I’ll trouble you, Sister-in-law."
The two left one after the other. When they reached the rear courtyard and were alone, Wang Suyun lowered her voice and asked, "Did you ask what Third Aunt has been eating these days?"
Li Qiuhua knew her eldest sister-in-law wouldn’t help without a reason. Sure enough, she was here to gather information. "I asked. She said Third Brother dug wild vegetables from the mountain."
Wang Suyun furrowed her brows, lost in thought.
Seeing this, Li Qiuhua’s eyes flickered. "Does Sister-in-law not believe it?"
Wang Suyun said, "It's not about believing or not, I just think, can a family of three survive so many days just eating wild grass? Third sister-in-law's health isn't one that can withstand much hardship."
Li Qiuhua replied with a half-smile, "Oh, so it turns out sister-in-law is also wondering if the Gu Family has hidden treasures? Then why did you refuse when I asked you to go with me earlier?"
Wang Suyun forced a calm demeanor, "You've misunderstood, I'm not wondering about anything. Besides, what treasures could the Gu Family possibly have? If they did, wouldn't Scholar Gu have given them to his daughter as dowry back then?"
Li Qiuhua couldn't stand her hypocritical attitude—just like her husband, putting on a righteous front. "If sister-in-law says she's not wondering, then she's not. Actually, even if you were wondering, it wouldn't matter because the Gu Family has nothing at all. Hehe, sister-in-law must be quite disappointed, right? Oh well, it seems we've all been wasting our efforts."
Wang Suyun, "…"
At noon, Xu Huaiyi returned, sweating profusely. As soon as he entered the RV, he grabbed a drink from the refrigerator and gulped down half the bottle before rushing into the bathroom to shower. While washing, he complained, "It's so hot, what kind of weather is this? It's unbearable. There's not a single breeze in the mountains, and it's as stifling as a steamer…"
Gu Huanxi responded, "Did you have any luck?"
"Ugh, it was even worse than last time. This time, I couldn't even find any wild vegetables…" Xu Huaiyi walked out wearing shorts and plopped down on the sofa. While drying his hair, he said worriedly, "The situation is getting worse and worse."
Gu Huanxi was busy preparing lunch in the kitchen. Without hesitation, she said, "Then you should go to town this afternoon."
"To town? There aren't any pawnshops there."
"First, go to the grain shop and ask about the current grain prices and whether it's easy to buy. Visit other shops too. We're too isolated from news. Go and gather some information so we can have a clearer picture. If things really don't work out, we should leave sooner rather than later."
"Alright, I'll go after lunch."
…
Xu Family Village wasn’t far from the town—only about seven or eight li away, a half-hour walk. However, in such scorching weather, no one ventured out under the midday sun.
Except for Xu Huaiyi.
Wearing a straw hat, he arrived in town with his back soaked in sweat. But after walking around, his heart turned cold—the grain shop had no grain left to sell! Its doors were closed!
Other shops were still open, but the prices were outrageously high. Was this a sign of chaos?
Xu Huaiyi hurried back to the village and went straight to the village well. When he arrived, he found someone standing by the well, lost in thought with a grave expression.
"Uncle."
Xu Maoyuan turned around at the sound, as if still lost in his thoughts, and said blankly, "Huaiyi, what brings you here?"
Xu Huaiyi replied casually, "Just came to take a look."
After saying this, he cautiously leaned over to peer into the well, and his brow instantly furrowed. He blurted out, "Why is the water level so low? Last time I came to fetch water, it wasn’t like this…"
Xu Maoyuan sighed, his tone heavy. "The water level is dropping day by day. For now, we can barely manage to fetch a few buckets to water the vegetables, but if it doesn’t rain soon, I’m afraid there won’t even be enough water for people to drink."
Xu Huaiyi fell silent for a moment before asking, "Uncle, what are your plans?"
Xu Maoyuan stood with his hands behind his back, gazing at the distant fields. At this moment, most of the crops in the fields were already beyond saving, and the remaining ones were merely struggling to survive. He closed his eyes for a moment, as if making an incredibly difficult decision. "If it doesn't rain within a month, and if the county government doesn't provide disaster relief within three months, we'll have no choice but to flee famine. We can't just stay here waiting to die."