The neighbors in the courtyard are either Yu Hai and his wife's good friends, or the left and right neighbors who live close together. It is not uncommon for Zhang to hide when the second child of the Yu family is seriously injured and carried home, and Zhang will cry when the money for the consultation and medicine is mentioned.
Shuan Zhu's daughter-in-law couldn't help feeling sad. She heard the elders in the family talk about the Zhang family. Mrs. Zhang is old Yu's house filler. She and Yu Hai's deceased mother are cousins. Back then, Zhang's new widow was kicked out by her heartless in-laws, brother-in-law and sister-in-law, and it was Yu Hai's sick mother who kindly took her in. Later, Yu Hai's mother fell ill and passed away. Mr. Yu saw that Mrs. Zhang was doing her best in taking care of Yu Hai's siblings, so she continued to fill in the house.
The eldest, Yu Dashan, was brought here by Mrs. Zhang, and he is only two months older than Yu Hai. The third child, Yu Bo, and daughter Yu Caidie are the biological children of Mrs. Zhang and Lao Yutou.
When Yu Hainiang was around, Mrs. Zhang hypocritically treated Yu Hai's siblings better than her own son. When Yu Hainiang was dying, she would entrust her son and daughter to Mrs. Zhang. But not long after Yu Hainiang passed away, Zhang's true colors were exposed.
On the pretext of poor family conditions, they only gave Yu Hai siblings porridge and a small piece of bean cake every day. In front of Old Yu, he pretended that everyone ate the same food, but kept good things, and sneaked them in for his children at night.
Because of his hunger, when Yu Hai was young, he climbed trees to dig out bird eggs, picked wild fruits, and went to the seaside to pick up small fish and shrimps... When he was older, he learned to catch small wild animals such as pheasants and hares on the mountain without a teacher.
He is pure and filial, and he never enjoys the pheasants and hares for himself. He takes them home and asks his father to pack them up and eat them with the family. Mrs. Zhang picked out chicken legs and rabbit legs for her children to eat, and those places that didn't have much meat were the turn of the Yu Hai siblings. When old man Yu talked about her, she was plausible: the third child and the youngest daughter are young, the second child should let the younger siblings...
When he was a teenager, Yu Hai went fishing with Lao Yutou, and within two years he became one of the best fishermen in the village. Every time he went to sea, Yu’s family caught more fish than other families, and often caught rare fish species. , the big households and restaurants in the town like to buy his fish.
Yu Hai also often went hunting together with Zhao hunter in the village, and brought back some prey every time. Most of the time, Mrs. Zhang is reluctant to eat at home, and most of them are sold in the town for silver, and she keeps them tightly in her pocket.
Gradually, the Yu family moved out of the dilapidated ancestral house on the side of the mountain, and built five mud-tiled houses in the east of the village near the sea. In the past two years, they replaced the broken fishing boats with new ones. Because of Yu Hai's ability, the Yu family has jumped from a well-known poor family in the village to a relatively well-off upper-middle family.
Mrs. Zhang is in charge of the family's money, and no one can take a copper coin out of her hand. Even the money for vegetables at home is calculated and calculated. Every day, coarse grains, pancakes, bean porridge, pickles, or vegetables grown in the home garden are boiled in water, and they are not even willing to put oil. Except for the Chinese New Year, there is no trace of meat in the house.
Even the poorest family with the least labor in the village has better food and warm clothes than his family. Who in the village does not know that the old lady of the Yu family is a rat who drills the oil pot—the master who can come in but never come out.
The eldest daughter-in-law, Mrs. Li's natal family is close and her family background is good, and Ms. Zhang spent almost all of her family property as a dowry gift for her eldest son. Every now and then, Mrs. Li took the children back to her mother's home for dental festivals. When she came back, she always carried big bags and carried them secretly to her room. Mrs. Zhang just opened her eyes and closed her eyes. Therefore, both the mother and the child ate into the same shape—a spherical shape. How could it look like the second wife's daughter-in-law and the children's sallow and emaciated appearance
The Liu family was Yu Hai's own matchmaker, and he asked his father to ask someone to talk about him as a matchmaker. At that time, the fat, ugly and pockmarked daughter of the owner of the grocery store in the town fell in love with the tall, handsome and capable Yu Hai, and had already invited someone to tell Mrs. Zhang that no betrothal gift would be given, and thirty taels of silver would be offered as a dowry.
For an ordinary family like the Yu family in the fishing village, their expenses are only three to five taels of silver a year. Although the income from fishing every day is not bad, but the third child, Yu Bo, has to finish his studies and prepare the money for the future county examination. The youngest daughter also had to start saving her dowry... Thirty taels of silver was not a small amount of money for the Yu family at that time, so Zhang was of course tempted.
Just when she wanted to be the master and agreed to this marriage, the marriage between Yu Hai and Liu Shi had already been settled. Liu's family background is average, the marriages of several elder brothers have just been completed, and they managed to gather a few taels of silver for the dowry, which is naturally far worse than the thirty taels of dowry offered by the owner of the grocery store. The thirty taels of silver in his hand flew away like this, so Mrs. Zhang naturally felt that Mrs. Liu was not pleasing to her eyes.
After Mrs. Liu moved in, the burden of cooking and washing, mowing grass and collecting firewood, feeding chickens and pigs, and clearing the two acres of sandy land all fell on her. Even when she was pregnant, Mrs. Zhang never let her idle, and even scolded and picked on her all day long.
When the youngest son, Shi Shi, was not yet confinement, he asked her to wash clothes in the frozen river, which caused the root cause of his illness. Every winter and rainy days, he coughed non-stop, sometimes he couldn't breathe, and his face turned purple. A few times, almost died.
For Mrs. Liu's condition, she has to see a doctor every year to take medicine, which costs a lot of money. In addition, Yu Xiaocao was born weak and fell ill every three days. It's like digging an ancestor's grave. The old lady pointed at Sang and scolded Huai every day, saying that she raised two medicine jars, Liushi and Xiaocao, and a bottomless pit...
In the past, for the sake of Yu Hai's ability to earn money, even though Mrs. Zhang was nagging, when it came time to pay for the medicine, she would not dare not take it.
But today, at the urging of Mrs. Zhang, Yu Hai followed Zhao Bufan, a good hunter in the village, to go hunting in the Western Mountains, and accidentally disturbed the Xiong Xiazi who had awakened from hibernation in the cave. In order to save Zhao Liehu, Yu Hai's legs were bitten to pieces by Xiong Xiazi, and his back was also scratched to a bloody mess.
He was also considered lucky, he could hold out until a doctor came from the town if his blood vessel was broken, he thought that the most famous doctor in the town would bring good news to everyone. But Dr. Sun from Tongrentang looked at it and shook his head repeatedly, saying, "Do your best to obey the destiny."
A dose of medicine costs nearly a tael of silver, and it may not be able to save the life of Yu's second child. How could Mrs. Zhang let the money she saved so hard go to waste? Think about it, if Yu Hai can't wake up, the family will be weak and sick, and it will be the burden of Yu's family from now on. If Yu Hai had his leg amputated and survived by luck, he would only become a burden to his family after losing a leg.
Shuanzhu's daughter-in-law has already seen through it: If Mrs. Zhang can make the decision, needless to say, she would wish to kick Yu Hai's family out immediately. Just come out.
well! How should Yu Hai make a living under Zhang's subordinates in the future? Shuanzhu's daughter-in-law couldn't help feeling worried for them!
There was a strong smell of blood in the air, Yu Hai lying on the bed was like gold paper, and he could hardly feel his breath. Last time he earned at least four or five hundred wen, his body was covered only with a worn-out quilt that had been washed and turned white and was sewn with patches.
The West Room is dark and cramped, a Kang occupies most of the space, a rattan box of some years is placed beside the bed, and a table that has been reinforced with many wooden strips is placed beside the bed, that's all. Yu Hai and his wife, who are the main laborers of the family, live in this room with several children.
Yu Hai is still here, the second wife is treated like this, if...
"Hurry up and give Dr. Sun money for the medicine!" Old Yu, who was pulled into the main room by Mrs. Zhang, suddenly became louder. The neighbors in the yard looked at each other in blank dismay—could it be that Mrs. Zhang wanted to tear off the last bit of shame, and didn't even give Yu Hai the medicine
"This is five taels of silver! The doctor also said that it may not be effective if you eat it!! Doesn't Xiaocao have Dr. You's medicine box? Grab some from it and eat it, just for peace of mind? Five taels of silver is enough San'er has written for a month!" Zhang's low growl sounded like a mother animal protecting her cub.
Old man Yu's voice came again: "How much money do you have, I still don't know? But if there is a glimmer of hope, we have to do our best. Otherwise, can your conscience pass? You are not afraid of Xiaocao , Shitou and the others blame you?"
Mrs. Zhang is not to be outdone: "It's not that I'm willing to die. The doctors have already said that taking medicine doesn't help much. Why spend so much money? Why don't we save some money and raise the child for the second child..."
The old couple were arguing endlessly in the house, and the neighbors in the courtyard looked at Westinghouse sympathetically and shook their heads.
"Uncle Yu—" A hulking, bloody heroic man walked into the courtyard of Yu's house. He was Zhao Bufan and Zhao Orion who was rescued by Yu Hai today.
When Mrs. Zhang heard his voice, she rushed out of the house with an "ow". She was thin and strong, but she grabbed Zhao Bufan's skirt and shouted at the top of her lungs:
"Okay, Zhao hunter! If it wasn't for you today, why would our family Yu Hai lie on the kang with unknown life or death? I don't care! Our second child is to save you from being injured, and your Zhao family should pay for the medicine! Also, if The second child is in case, if the second room is orphaned or widowed, don’t let your Zhao family let it go!”
To put it bluntly, Mrs. Zhang has never cared about Yu Hai's life or death. The only thing she cares about is money, money, money!
"Don't worry, Auntie! Brother Yu Hai blocked this catastrophe for me. If it wasn't for him, I would have died long ago! I, Zhao Bufan, stand upright and will never do anything ungrateful! The blind Xiong who hurt Brother Yu Hai, It has been beaten to death, I dragged it to the town and sold it... "
Before Zhao Bufan finished speaking, he was interrupted by the greedy Mrs. Zhang: "Brother Zhao, if you have something to say, please come in!"
A blind bear, don't talk about fur and gall, just talk about bear's paws and bear meat, which can't be sold in the town