“You… you didn’t scold me.” After saying this, Mother Song quickly lowered her head.
It was as if that sentence alone had taken all her courage to say.
“Why would I scold you?” Song Yueying looked at her in confusion.
“Ah!” Mother Song was stunned. She didn’t know why her daughter would scold her. She only knew her daughter was very good at scolding people, and anyone who came to see her for medical treatment would get scolded.
She herself was often scolded by her daughter.
Mother Song’s thoughts were easy to read; Song Yueying could tell what she was thinking just by watching her expression change.
The original owner did have a strange temper, scolding people at the drop of a hat.
Other people had reasons when they scolded; the original owner didn’t. She was completely indiscriminate, scolding whoever she caught.
Mother Song spent the most time with her every day and was scolded the worst. As a mother, being constantly berated by her own biological daughter was truly pitiful.
“I won’t scold you anymore in the future,” Song Yueying said.
Since she was using the original owner’s body, she had to take responsibility for her actions, and she also had to take care of the original owner’s mother.
“Why?” Mother Song asked instinctively.
Not scolding her anymore still needed an explanation, Song Yueying was honestly speechless.
Seeing Mother Song waiting for an answer, Song Yueying took a deep breath and let it out slowly before saying, “There’s no why. Just remember what I said.”
Mother Song obediently nodded. “Alright, I promise. I will definitely remember everything you said, Xiao Ying.”
“Mm.” Song Yueying responded softly, then placed the jar containing the ointment into the wooden medicine box.
Her fingers brushed against the few solitary medicine bottles inside. She took them out one by one and looked at them; each bottle contained only a few Western medicine tablets.
Song Yueying knew people in this era were poor, but she didn’t expect them to be this poor.
“Can I really tell you if I’ve been wronged?” Mother Song asked cautiously.
Song Yueying’s thoughts were pulled back. She turned her head to look at Mother Song and nodded.
Mother Song asked again, “Can I really tell you too if someone bullies me?”
Song Yueying nodded again.
Mother Song started crying again. She reached out and hugged Song Yueying tightly. “Xiao Ying, where did you go? I looked everywhere for you but couldn’t find you. They told me you ran off with some wild man.”
“I didn’t believe it. You may have a bad temper and you often scold me, but you’ve never abandoned me.”
“You definitely wouldn’t leave me and run off with some wild man, right?”
After asking, Mother Song looked at her expectantly yet uneasily, afraid she would get angry, and even more afraid she would tell her she was leaving and ask her to stay home properly.
Seeing Mother Song’s uneasy expression, a faint bitterness rose in Song Yueying’s heart. To Mother Song, her daughter was her only support. Even if she spoke so firmly, there was still worry and fear in her heart.
Fear of being abandoned.
With a sigh, Song Yueying nodded and said, “I won’t abandon you.”
“Really? You really won’t leave me?” Mother Song broke into a tearful smile. Then, as if remembering something, her face fell again. “But… Xiao Meng and the others said…”
“Everything Song Rumei and those villagers said is a lie. Don’t believe them anymore,” Song Yueying cut her off. As she said it, she thought of the fact that she would eventually leave this place one day.
She added, “No matter where I go in the future, I will take you with me.”
Mother Song nodded heavily. The mother and daughter were talking inside the house when a heavy downpour suddenly began outside.
Rainwater poured down from the eaves in sheets, growing heavier and heavier. The roof tiles had long since been loosened by the wind, leaving gaps where rain leaked through into the house.
“It’s raining too hard, this is bad!” Mother Song quickly got up, ran outside, and soon returned carrying basins and buckets, placing them under the leaking spots to catch the water.
Watching her busying herself with collecting the rainwater, Song Yueying looked at the rain curtain outside with a thoughtful expression.
Summer storms came quickly and also passed quickly.
After the rain cleared, a rainbow arched across the sky, and smoke from cooking fires began to rise throughout the village. Song Yueying stood at the doorway of the main hall, gazing at the beautiful rainbow overhead.
Mother Song went to the kitchen to prepare lunch. Just then, she heard a knock at the door. Stepping across the muddy courtyard, she opened the gate and saw someone sitting right beside it.
From the clothing, it looked like a man.
“Wang Laicai, you hooligan, you still dare come to my house!” Seeing the man, Mother Song instinctively assumed it was Wang Laicai, the one who had been pestering her daughter, and anger flared up instantly.
Her eyes quickly scanned the surroundings until she spotted a medium-sized stone by the wall.
She picked it up and strode toward the man, cursing as she went, “Damn Wang Laicai, you toad-faced bastard, I’ll beat you to death!”
Hearing Mother Song’s furious shouting, Song Yueying’s heart jolted. Afraid something serious might happen, she hurried out across the muddy ground to stop her.
At the gate, Mother Song finally saw the man’s face clearly and abruptly stopped in her tracks. The motion of her raised arm, ready to throw the stone, froze in place.
The man rushing over to stop her caused Song Yueying to slip. She fell straight onto him.
“Ugh.” The man let out a muffled groan.
Mother Song was completely stunned.
At that moment, Song Yueying only wanted to curse herself for being utterly useless. She pressed her hands against the man’s chest to push herself up, but froze when she saw his face.
“How is it you?” That familiar yet unfamiliar handsome face belonged to Qi Yanjue.
She had only just returned to the village, and he had already followed her here. Song Yueying was so irritated that she even forgot to get up.
“Xiao Ying, you know him?” Mother Song asked, still holding the stone high in her hands.
“I do.” Song Yueying glanced back at Mother Song and happened to see the stone she was holding up. “Please put the stone down first.”
Given Qi Yanjue’s skills and reflexes, Mother Song would not even get a chance to throw that stone before it was kicked far away by him.
Mother Song always listened to her daughter and obediently threw the stone aside.
“Xiao Ying, how do you know him? I’ve never seen this man in the village before.” Mother Song was very puzzled. “Why is he lying at our doorstep?”
Ignoring her first question, Song Yueying directly answered the second one. “I don’t know him… no, that’s not right.”
Song Yueying suddenly realized that despite the heavy impact of her falling onto the man, he still hadn’t woken up. She reached out, lifted Qi Yanjue’s eyelids to check, and came to a conclusion.
“He’s not asleep, he’s unconscious.”
“Oh, so he’s unconscious!” Mother Song exclaimed, but her expression suddenly changed. Could it be that her daughter had knocked him out by falling on him?
No, absolutely not. She could not let her daughter be blamed for injuring someone.
“T-then… then… it’s fine, he’ll wake up on his own. Xiao Ying, don’t lie on him anymore, hurry up and get up.” Mother Song quickly pulled her daughter up.
She even dragged Song Yueying a step back.
Seeing Mother Song’s alarmed expression, Song Yueying asked in confusion, “What’s wrong?”
Mother Song said, “We don’t need to deal with him. Let’s go inside the courtyard quickly.”
“If we ignore him, it could very well cost him his life,” Song Yueying said plainly.
“What do you mean?” Mother Song asked, not understanding.
“I mean he could die,” Song Yueying replied.