The village doctor was the physician from the former village health clinic, who had set up his own clinic after the system reforms.
Having finished feeling Lei Yihong’s pulse, he shook his head repeatedly. “This is truly miraculous. Before, his pulse was extremely weak, showing symptoms of heart failure. Although he is still frail now, his pulse is much stronger. I’ll prescribe a few doses of medicine to replenish his *qi* and blood. You can pick them up at the clinic in a little while.”
He then felt Tong Xiaoqian’s pulse as well and took a cold breath. Could warding off bad luck by marriage truly work?
The two of them had actually both recovered!
By the time the old doctor left, he was already beginning to question his life.
The Lei couple, on the other hand, were overjoyed, and Lei Wanqiang even specially ran to the riverbank to catch a fish.
Only now did Tong Xiaoqian have time to speak with Wang Yumei alone.
“Besides giving the Tong family the bicycle, television, and radio cassette player, did you give them anything else?”
Wang Yumei shook her head. “No, our family ran out of money too. Oh, right, your second aunt also brought up the matter of that house. I said it was impossible to give them the house—in case Xiaoya regained her sanity one day, she would have to make her own decisions. But I heard your second uncle’s family is tidying up that house again, planning to use it for their third son’s marriage.”
Tong Tieshan’s family had two sons and one daughter. The eldest son was married and had fathered three children, so the old house was left for them to live in.
The second child was a daughter who had also married, moving to a neighboring village.
The location of Tong Xiaoya’s family home was better than Tong Tieshan’s, situated on the village’s main road, unlike theirs which was down in the gully.
As soon as Xiaoya’s father’s funeral was finished, the couple took possession of the house.
All three of Tong Tieshan’s children were older than Tong Xiaoya. The third son was the same age as Lei Yihong this year, and since villagers married early, he had reached marriageable age now.
Tian Juhua intended to have the eldest son’s family live in the old house, while their couple and the third son’s family would live in Tong Xiaoya’s house.
The house originally built by Tong Xiaoya’s father, Tong Tiejun, was half red brick and half mud brick, which was considered quite good in the village back then.
Red brick for the bottom half and mud brick for the top half—everyone called this kind of style a fusion of local and foreign.
Even now, there were still households in the village that couldn’t afford to live in a house like that.
Moreover, a house in that location was very valuable nowadays and could be used to do business, like opening a convenience store or a video parlor.
Laixi Village was the largest and most vibrant village under Laibin City, so houses were naturally expensive too.
Even if Tong Xiaoya’s house wasn’t in a prime location, it was still considered silver tier.
On top of that, with the current implementation of the one-household-one-homestead policy in rural areas, families wanting to divide the household or buy a new house could only purchase local house plots within the village.
This wasn’t like later generations, where villagers migrated to the cities in droves, leaving vast areas of rural housing lying idle.
All of this was what Tong Xiaoqian gathered today from the mouths of the visiting women.
Previously, she had thought how valuable a house in a village could possibly be—one or two thousand yuan at the absolute absolute most.
She hadn’t expected that just like houses in the city, it was divided by location, and supply was even tighter than in the city.
Seeing Tong Xiaoqian bowing her head without speaking, Wang Yumei assumed she was aching over those lost items, so she hurriedly patted her. “It’s alright, those things can all be bought with money. From now on, you can be considered as having broken free from that family. I originally thought she refused to let you transfer your household registration just for that house, but I never expected she actually wanted to sell you for money.”
Thinking back on this matter filled one with lingering fear.
If Tian Juhua hadn’t come to look for her first back then, but had secretly taken the household registration book to register a marriage certificate with that lazy bum, the consequences would have been unimaginable.
Her family could find someone to directly get a marriage certificate registered, and Tian Juhua’s side could do the same.
She didn’t regret giving away those items one bit.
Tong Xiaoqian didn’t view it that way. If Tian Juhua’s family had been good people who raised the original body from childhood, taking this betrothal gift would be normal.
What right did they have now?
They had only raised the original body for a single year, and raised her like livestock at that.
Strictly speaking, it was even worse than livestock—livestock still had to be fed full before working.
For that year, the little fool had essentially lived on community charity, going hungry one meal and full the next.
If not for the kindness of the villagers, and later being adopted by the Lei family, she might have kicked the bucket one day—and even if she didn’t, she would have been bullied to death.
“I’m already married into the Lei family. Have you never thought about asking for the house back?”
Wang Yumei let out a sigh. “They are your maternal family, and you only have that one family of relatives left. Even as your mother-in-law, it wouldn’t be proper for me to fight with them over this…”
Tong Xiaoqian didn’t think so. “Why not fight for it? I wasn’t lucid before, and if you hadn’t raised me, I might have starved to death long ago. Do relatives like that still possess any familial affection? What difference is there between having them and not having them? Even if the house is sold, it can’t be given to them.”
Wang Yumei stared at her in shock; her personality after regaining her sanity was far too different.
Before, she couldn’t even speak smoothly, only able to utter repeated words or burst out two words at a time, with an IQ just like a child of a few years old.
Now she spoke crisp and sharp, like a completely different person.
Oh dear, she was even more reluctant to part with this girl now.
After finishing lunch, several more groups of people arrived one after another. The Lei family had such great popularity in the village that everyone came over to inquire about the situation.
On this day, the Lei family home was busier than the village committee.
Exchanging a single sentence with everyone left one’s mouth completely dry by the end of the day.
Tong Xiaoqian had also been tested with fingers gesturing at her count N times by people.
With the old women of the village gathered together today, she had also overheard a lot of village gossip news.
Without stepping out the door, she could master the top ten of the entire village’s trending searches.
Only when eating dinner did things finally quiet down.
After dinner, someone came to the house again. The person who arrived this time was the village chief, who was also the former brigade leader, Zhang Changhe.
Zhang Changhe was already over fifty years old. Because he enjoyed high prestige when he served as the brigade leader, he had been re-elected to the post of village chief continuously for all these years.
“Knowing your house was crowded with people today, and with me being busy as well, I only found free time to come over now. I heard Yihong and Xiaoya have both recovered?”
Lei Wanqiang nodded joyfully, “Recovered, recovered! Both recovered! Come inside and sit down quickly.”
This was the phrase he had spoken the most today.
The moment Zhang Changhe entered the room, he saw Lei Yihong sitting by the edge of the *kang* bed. He quickly walked over and hugged his shoulders. “Child, you’re finally cured at last! You worried your dad and mom to death!”
Lei Yihong smiled and greeted him, “Uncle Zhang.”
For him, this was an unfamiliar form of address.
When he was a child, he always addressed men older than his father as “Uncle.”
Zhang Changhe looked toward Tong Xiaoqian again. “Xiaoya is cured too, that’s wonderful!”
Tong Xiaoqian smiled and nodded. “Uncle Zhang, I’m better now.”
Having greeted him, she went to the kitchen to brew a cup of tea and set it down in front of Zhang Changhe.
Zhang Changhe rubbed the teacup with his fingers and asked another question, “Xiaoya, are you really all right?”
Tong Xiaoqian laughed. “Really all right. Or do you want to stick out your fingers and test what number I count too?”
Zhang Changhe laughed as well. “You know how to joke now, and there’s spirit in your eyes. Your parents can rest easy in peace now.”
He lowered his head and pulled a yellowed piece of paper out of his pocket. “This is the title deed to your house. Everything is being converted to property ownership certificates nowadays, but yours hasn’t been converted yet. I’ve been keeping it safe for you all this time. Now that you’re lucid, I’m returning this to you. If you need a name change, the village committee will write a letter of introduction for you.”