"The medicine is cold, why don't you drink it first?" A timid voice sounded, and he mustered up the courage to say, "Mr. Li said that as long as you take good care of yourself and take the medicine on time, you will get better."
The person who spoke was petite and looked to be no more than fifteen or sixteen years old. He was wearing coarse linen clothes and had a slightly protruding belly. He was carefully but clumsily bringing a bowl of medicine. The porcelain bowl he used had a chip.
When he walked into Ji Huai, he was submissive and timid.
He was leaning on the head of the bed, leaning against the earthen wall behind him. He looked around the room. It was in a dilapidated state, with cobwebs and dust everywhere. There were also debris piled in the corners. There was a simple straw mat under his feet, and a quilted bed next to him. A worn quilt with several patches.
His right leg was tied with a wooden board, and there was still bloodshot eyes in one place. The pain caused him to break out in cold sweat when he moved even a little. At this time, there was also a large scratch on his face, which made him look even more ferocious.
Seeing his expression, Tang Xiuer's hand holding the bowl shook slightly, and she took a small step back. She was afraid of him scolding her, so she held it back, but her face was already pale, and she felt a little afraid of him.
"Give it to me." Ji Huai raised his head and stretched his hand upward at the same time, his voice dry and hoarse.
Tang Xiuer endured her tensed nerves and moved over in small steps. She spoke in a low voice and said, "This medicine was just taken. They are all good medicinal materials."
He didn't even drink the medicine before, he just drank it and lost his temper at her.
Ji Huai didn't say anything. After taking it, he started drinking, gulping down the last drop. Seeing him drink it, Tang Xiuer breathed a sigh of relief and quickly took the bowl again, her eyes were red.
As long as he is willing to take the medicine, he will be fine soon.
At this time, Ji Huai leaned against the wall again, closed his eyes, and was absorbing the remaining memories and emotions.
In this life, he was a hunter. Ji's father died early, and Ji's mother worked hard to raise three sons by herself, pulling one after another to get the eldest son to marry a wife, then going bankrupt to let the second son marry a wife, and finally it was the turn of events. By the time he arrived, the family was no longer able to lift the pot, and Ji's mother was tired and sick because of it.
The eldest daughter-in-law and the second daughter-in-law did not support her and sent her to live with the third son.
As the third son, he had no abilities and had a seriously ill mother, so he was helpless. Later, Ji's mother asked him to follow Hunter Hu to hunt in the mountains, so that he could still earn some income.
When he was ten years old, he followed Hunter Hu up the mountain, and he continued to hunt for ten years. Later, when Hunter Hu passed away, he went up the mountain alone. All the prey he had caught over the years was sold for money to treat Ji's mother, which could not be sold for money. Take all the prey home to Brother Ji and Brother Ji's family.
Because he often went into the mountains to search for some meat and game, the two families who originally disliked them gradually began to feel better. Ordinary people can only eat meat once or twice a year, but their family is different. Every now and then, they are given half a pheasant, half a hare, and all kinds of game. The food is rich.
Both families have gained a lot of weight. The children born to Brother Ji and Brother Ji are all taller and stronger than the people in the same village.
Because he had been disliked since he was a child, he fawned over his two older brothers and sent them whatever delicious food they had, hoping that they would look up to him and his mother.
He has been sending benefits all the time, and the two families have treated him very well, and they have been living in peace in the past few years. The accident happened at the beginning of this month. He went into the mountains and encountered a big insect. When he was not paying attention, the big insect attacked him.
He fought a life-and-death struggle with the insect, but in the end he only managed to save his life in embarrassment. Not only was his leg broken, but he was also bitten. Misfortunes never come singly. Ji's mother suddenly became seriously ill, spent all her money on medicine, and died.
Before they died, Brother Ji and Brother Ji proposed to separate their families while holding a funeral for Ji's mother. The reason was that since their mother was gone, their family should also be divided. After all, they were both families, and he was about to have a child. Suitable for living together again.
There are three rooms in the small courtyard, and each person lives in one. He was naturally assigned to the shabbiest utility room. As for other food, he didn't get much. His two brothers gave him a small bag as a "charity". m.
Over the years, he has been hunting and selling to make money. He has not grown any food, and he has no share of the land at home. How can he know how much food his family has? Ji's mother was often bedridden and could not help much, let alone confront her two daughters-in-law.
Although Brother Ji and Brother Ji still gave him a sum of money when they separated, saying they would give him medical treatment and medicine. They also said that each family had no money, and that was all.
How many medicines can you take with that little money
Anyone with a discerning eye can see that this is because he dislikes him for not being able to hunt, and without Ji's mother, he is even more indifferent to avoid dragging himself down.
But Brother Ji doesn't care. Don't you think he still has Tang Xiuer? They are just a couple.
Speaking of Tang Xiuer, it was the two taels of silver that Ji's mother secretly saved, and she went to the next village to buy him a child bride. The Tang family gave birth to six daughters before giving birth to a son. These six daughters were given away and sold. Tang Xiuer was raised by Mrs. Tang until she was five years old. If Mrs. Tang is gone, no one will raise her. After Tang's mother took her home, she took Ji's mother's two taels and sold her to Ji's family to be his child bride.
In the Tang family, Tang Xiuer did all kinds of work. She used to help Brother Ji and Brother Ji with laundry and farm work. She has always been a maid. After becoming his wife this year, she became pregnant again. Ji's mother felt that he was too old and didn't have a child yet, so she was afraid that she wouldn't be able to keep the pregnancy, so she didn't let her work.
In his previous life, after he was seriously injured, he overheard Sister-in-law Ji saying that he was afraid that he would become a cripple in the future. From then on, he would not drink the medicine Tang Xiuer gave him, and would even knock it over with his hand, and his face remained expressionless. Very sinister.
The little money that was donated when the family was separated has long been gone, and now the money for medicine is earned by Tang Xiuer who stayed up all night embroidering and weaving bamboo baskets.
Last time she spilled a bowl of medicine and she went out and cried for a long time. He was a hunter and hunted all year round, so his anger was stronger. At this time, he gave up on himself, and vented all his anger on Tang Xiuer.
Later, his legs really didn't heal. After limping, he became paranoid and completely disappointed in life. He often cursed Tang Xiu'er.
Sister-in-law Ji is also a troublemaker. When she came in, the Ji family only had one girl, Tang Xiuer. The three sons of the Ji family treated her well. Brother Ji also treated Tang Xiuer as his little sister. Plus, she was not her biological sister. There would be some pity. This made Sister-in-law Ji dissatisfied.
She was not a good person. Sister-in-law Ji only gave birth to two daughters, but by virtue of having two sons, she often dominated the house and ordered Tang Xiuer to do work.
After he became a cripple, Tang Xiuer had to make money to support the family while pregnant with the child. As a woman, Tang Xiuer's facial features are pretty good, and her figure is much plumper after she is pregnant with a child. Men will more or less be interested in her and talk behind her back.
It was passed around, and Sister-in-law Ji found out about it, and she relayed it to him when she got home. It was ambiguous and extremely unpleasant. He was already deeply shocked, and immediately became furious, thinking that Tang Xiuer was stealing people behind his back. His self-esteem was greatly hurt, and his dignity as a man also made it difficult for him to swallow this breath. He was already ridiculed, and his resentment was accumulated to the extreme, and he carried out the murder on Tang Xiuer. Violent, the other party lost his footing and fell, causing heavy bleeding. In the end, her life was saved, but the child died not long after birth.
Sister-in-law Ji was on the side at that time, and she didn't stop her. She just shouted a few words as she watched the excitement. When she saw Tang Xiuer fell down and the blood from the root of her thigh continued to flow out, she panicked.
She didn't think about killing anyone, but when Tang Xiuer looked at her with hateful eyes, she felt that the other party deserved it. What did it have to do with her? Isn't it because the other party stole someone
Later, more and more shit was thrown at Tang Xiuer's head, and he firmly believed that she had stolen someone, and insults became commonplace. Tang Xiuer was so disheartened that she chose to commit suicide by throwing herself into the river.
She screamed, he was left alone, and he only knew how to hunt. After his injured foot, he had difficulty moving, and he was decadent. Why would he want to hunt? Moreover, I almost lost my life when I encountered a big insect. I was so scared inside that I didn't dare to go into the mountain even a step for fear of death.
After Tang Xiuer died, no one in the family made any money. He lived in a utility room. When he was very hungry, he went to beg for some food from his eldest and second brothers. He was looked down upon by others. When he fell ill, people thought he was unlucky. He couldn't stop coughing, and no one came in to ask a question.
For the next two days, he lay in bed, unable to move. He could still hear Sister-in-law Ji standing outside the door, quietly asking Brother Ji, "Are you dead?"
Brother Ji listened carefully again and said, "I don't know. How about waiting for another two days?"
The other party's tone was normal, as if he was discussing today's climate. He already had a high fever, and his mind began to become unclear. In a daze, he began to recall some things.
He remembered that when he was injured, Tang Xiuer and I helped him bandage and change his dressing without any disdain, and stayed up late doing embroidery to exchange money to buy him medicine.
She was his child bride. Ji's mother told her since she was a child that he would be her future husband and her god.
He still remembered the wedding night, when she looked at him with nervous, frightened and helpless eyes, and timidly called him, "Brother Ji."
While growing up, Ji's mother repeated in her ears over and over again: When she grows up, she will be his wife, so she should like him, and she can only like him.
In the past, when she saw him coming back with prey, she would be very happy to welcome him with joy on her face. When he entered the mountains in the morning, she would also look at him with great concern and ask him to pay attention to his safety.
And he also likes her a little bit, but since he was a child, he has been used to pleasing Brother Ji and Brother Ji, and he is eager to get the other's approval. If he has any good things, he will give it to those two families. How can he think about Tang Xiuer? It was just his child bride, bought for two taels of silver.
Ji's mother knew that Tang Xiu'er didn't dare to have any objections and felt sorry for her grandchildren, so she turned a blind eye and kept an eye on her two sons if she had anything delicious to eat.
When he was terminally ill, he missed the days of living with her. Tang Xiuer was always so easily satisfied and never lost her temper with him.
If he only brings back one hare, Brother Ji and Sister-in-law Ji will feel that it is not enough and think that he is lazy. However, as long as he brings back a few eggs to Tang Xiuer, the other party's eyes will light up and he will greet him with a smile.
On the day he found out she was pregnant, he took out six bird eggs. Ji's mother thought she should replenish them, and he also thought she should replenish them, so he didn't give them to Brother Ji and Brother Ji's family, and cooked them all for her.
She was so happy that time that she peeled it off for them, but neither of them ate it, leaving it all to her.
Although Xu had his child, he still felt distressed at that moment and felt that he should leave some for her next time, but soon the idea disappeared and he continued to send things to Brother Ji and Brother Ji.
Tang Xiuer didn't eat anything good even though she was pregnant, and he was injured again soon after, which made it even harder.
He still remembered the way she woke up and looked at him when the child died, staring at him with tears streaming down her face, filled with despair. He also regretted it at that time, but was stubborn. Ji's mother had warned him since childhood that Tang Xiuer was The child bride he bought with money,
Since she spent money, even though she was a wife, there was nothing wrong with being a maid. Do you want him to apologize to her? He didn't give her a good look at that moment, and even said bad words to her.
This became the last straw for Tang Xiuer. She jumped into the river without hesitation. Before he died, he suddenly realized that his two brothers did not take him seriously at all, and the feelings he gained from begging were empty. How could there be any Warmth? It's even less likely that people would treat him as a family member.
Tang Xiuer and his child who died in infancy were his home, and he lost his home.