CHAPTER 49: CHAPTER 48: LEAVING THE YU FAMILY (PART 2)

Old Madam Yu tugged at Old Man Yu’s clothes, "No way, we have to let them go. This house still needs to be cleaned up for the third son to live in!"

Old Man Yu glared at Old Madam Yu, "Weren’t you the one who said they stole your silver?"

After searching thoroughly without finding anything, Old Madam Yu was also uncertain now.

"I saw Mrs. Sun bought so many things, I thought she stole it. But we didn’t find anything, did we? Let’s just let them go, and from now on, we’ll pretend we don’t have this second son."

Old Madam Yu glanced at Mrs. Sun and Yu Xiaolian again, seeing that they had nothing on them, not even a bundle, she said, "If you want to leave, let me search you, then I’ll let you go."

Since the silver was in the space, she wasn’t afraid of Old Madam Yu searching them. She just wanted to rush Yu Changhe to town for treatment quickly. If they delayed, she was really afraid Yu Changhe might be bedridden for life.

Though on the surface, they seemed to be miserably bullied by Old Madam Yu, Yu Xiaolian was actually eager to leave this lousy place.

With her supermarket space and silver, not to mention going to town, she could take Yu Changhe and Mrs. Sun to Yangcheng and they could live happily there.

This year there was little rain and a drought, the harvest was sure to be worse than previous years. But what Old Madam Yu didn’t know was that next year’s harvest would be even worse, and by the year after, even drinking water would become an issue.

By then, the whole Northern Land would be migrating to Jiangnan to escape the famine.

People like these could be left to be dealt with by Heaven; she didn’t want to dirty her hands.

She was supposed to live in River Bay Village until she was twelve, but unexpectedly everything was rushed because she stole Old Madam Yu’s silver.

The rush was good, she could now take Yu Changhe and Mrs. Sun to buy a courtyard and live a peaceful and harmonious life, staying far away from these absurd people, which was the proper way to go.

Old Madam Yu searched all of them, including Jiang Lin and Yu Changhe, she even had Old Man Yu search him, ensuring none of them had a single copper coin before letting them leave.

Mrs. Sun took Yu Changhe’s independent household registration with her.

In this era, having no household registration was a problem. This thing was akin to a modern ID card, needed everywhere you went.

Only the head of the household holds this, and in a family, the man is the head of the household.

When the son of the head of the household grew up and separated from the family, he would establish an independent household, just like Yu Changhe did.

Daughters had no right to be heads of households. At home, the father was the head, upon marriage, her registration would be transferred to her husband’s, where her husband was the head of the household.

After putting Yu Changhe on the ox cart, Jiang Lin asked Yu Xiaolian where to go. If she had nowhere to go, she could stay in his family’s west room, and he would share a room with his father.

Yu Xiaolian had Jiang Lin drive the cart to town, directly to Huichun Hall, and she said she’d catch up with them later.

Mrs. Sun sat on the ox cart holding Yu Changhe’s head cautiously, afraid he’d bump it. Seeing that Yu Xiaolian refused to get in the cart and instead ran in the opposite direction, she was startled.

"Xiaolian, where are you going?" She had an ominous feeling.

"Mom, the Luo Family broke my dad’s leg. They can’t get away with it. You follow Jiang Lin to town to get my dad’s injuries treated, I’ll catch up soon."

Mrs. Sun deeply resented the Luo Family, but at this moment she was more worried about Yu Xiaolian. She was still just a child, what could she do?

Mrs. Sun said sternly, "I forbid you to go, get on the cart immediately."

Yu Xiaolian ignored Mrs. Sun and told Jiang Lin, "Brother Jiang Lin, please take my parents to Huichun Hall in town to see Doctor Zheng."

Jiang Lin, knowing that Yu Xiaolian had the ability to take care of herself, wasn’t worried. He whipped the ox gently to get it moving, deliberately driving slowly, waiting for Yu Xiaolian.

As Jiang Lin led Mrs. Sun and Yu Changhe out of the village, they coincidentally saw the Luo Family returning from burying Luo Da and Luo Er in the back mountain.

Mrs. Ma was wailing, her eyes red from crying.

Her proud five sons were down to three.

Her eldest son had married only a few years ago, and her young grandchild, who was just babbling, now had no father.

After finishing the funeral clothing grave for the eldest and second sons, she turned to see her third son leering at his sister-in-law, making Mrs. Ma almost faint in anger.

Seeing Yu Changhe and Mrs. Sun, who had been driven out of the village, brought a slight comfort to Mrs. Ma.

She was about to speak a few mocking words when her youngest son shouted, "Mom, it looks like our house is on fire."

Mrs. Ma craned her neck to look and indeed saw their thatched house ablaze.

Instantly forgetting Yu Changhe and Mrs. Sun, she called to her sons and brothers and hurriedly ran toward the village.

The Luo Family had many children, and thus, many houses, but they were all worthless thatched ones.

Thatched houses were good, yes, very good. Yu Xiaolian initially thought the lighter wouldn’t catch, so she took out the barbecue alcohol blocks to ignite it.

Turns out, they weren’t needed at all.

With the Luo Family house empty, she found a piece of Mrs. Ma’s clothing, lit it with a lighter, and tossed it onto the thatched roof.

Wildfires burn uncontrollably, spring winds bring them back to life.

Several adjoining thatched houses, with a gust of wind, burst into fierce flames, raging like mad, wildly and recklessly consuming everything.

Done and on her way.

Taking another path, Yu Xiaolian avoided the returning Luo Family and on her way to town, caught up with the ox cart that was intentionally waiting for her.

After helping Yu Changhe inside, they realized Doctor Zheng was not there, having gone to treat the old Madam of the Pan Family. Fortunately, Zheng Yuanfeng was there. Though his medical skills were not as good as his father’s, he was adequate for treating injuries like this.

He treated Yu Changhe’s external wounds, applied medicine, and after examining his leg, his expression became grave. From Zheng Yuanfeng’s expression, Yu Xiaolian could tell that Yu Changhe’s leg injury was severe.

Damn that Mrs. Ma, truly wicked people come from wretched lands.

She had only casually remarked that day that they would face retribution for their misdeeds, but she didn’t expect Mrs. Ma to really take it to heart and blame her for her two sons’ deaths.

Speaking of it, Yu Changhe had been unjustly beaten, all for her sake.

Yu Xiaolian silently vowed to heal Yu Changhe’s leg, even if it couldn’t move as freely as before, he must be able to ditch the crutch.

"The most severe injury is on the previously wounded leg, the other leg is fine, it’ll heal with time. For the injured leg, I’ll apply some Bone Healing Ointment, then splint it for a while, and see how it recovers."

Zheng Yuanfeng continued, explaining the Bone Healing Ointment was quite expensive and came in small quantities, estimating that Yu Changhe’s situation would need at least three boxes.

Yu Xiaolian didn’t mind the cost, saying to go ahead with the treatment as long as it worked; she had money.

Zheng Yuanfeng had long recognized that Yu Xiaolian was the little girl selling ginseng slices and had heard from Lai Shun that she later sold several more pounds, earning hundreds of taels of silver.