Chapter 4: This family was the best choice for a marriage. Two days later, Shi Qingluo wanted to drink some fish soup, so she walked to the river connecting the two villages to catch some fish.
Along the way, she even heard a few women gossiping.
“Shangxi village’s Elementary Scholar Xiao is really miserable. It wasn’t easy for him to get through the elementary scholar exam, but he fell down the mountain and fainted. I heard that his family didn’t have the money to buy medicine. Not sure if they are able to save him.”
“The Xiao family doesn’t care?”
“Haven’t you heard about their family affairs?”
“I just came back after going to town. What happened to the Xiao Family?”
“Elementary Scholar Xiao’s father went to military service and became a general. Some time back, he even brought a young lady with him.
“I don’t know what exactly happened. Scholar Xiao’s mother pushed that lady down, and she suffered from a miscarriage.”
“He was so angry that he wanted to demote his wife to a mistress. I don’t know what happened, but in the end they divorced.”
“Scholar Xiao and his siblings followed their mother, and parted ways with other relatives in the Xiao Family.”
“Scholar Xiao is a person with a conscience. I heard that General Xiao originally wanted to bring him and nurture him in the capital, but he refused to and chose to live alone with his mother and siblings.”
“This angered General Xiao, who wrote a letter to disown his kinship with Scholar Xiao and his siblings. He had already returned to the capital a few days ago, but the other members of the Xiao Family couldn’t be bothered.”
“In the past, when General Xiao went for his military service, his wife didn’t have a good life in the Xiao family either. She was often scolded by his mother-in-law and bullied by his sisters-in-law. If Scholar Xiao wasn’t present, she would have been tortured to death.”
“What a sin. They are really ruthless.”
“The people of the Xiao family are all ruthless. Ever since Scholar Xiao’s maternal family passed away, they became harsher on her mother and them.
“If Scholar Xiao didn’t excel in this examination through his perseverance, he wouldn’t have been able to make a decision for his mother this time.
“He passed the elementary scholar examination and had a general as his father. For what? He’s still going to die soon.
“In the past, he was famous within the town for being able to read. What a pity. Sigh!”
After hearing the gossip, Shi Qingluo walked towards the river.
However, she saw a child drowning in the river when she got close.
She ran over without hesitation and jumped into the river to save him.
After performing emergency resuscitation, the child opened his eyes after choking on a few mouthfuls of water.
“I’m not dead?” He asked in confusion.
He had wanted to catch fish in the river, but his legs suddenly cramped and he drowned.
He thought he was dead.
Shi Qingluo looked at his confused expression and patted his head with a smile.
“Of course, someone saved you. That’s why you didn’t die.”
Xiao Erlang raised his head and saw an elder girl drenched in water, looking at him gently.
He wasn’t stupid and quickly reacted. She had saved him.
“Thank you, sister. I will definitely repay you for saving my life in the future.”
Now, he was the only useful male in the family.
His brother was already unconscious. If he died too, his mother and sister would be heartbroken.
Shi Qingluo looked at the eight or nine-year-old child who was so sensible. He left a good impression on her.
“Okay, then I’ll wait for you to repay me in the future.”
For a child, it was good for him to have a goal.
“Where is your home? Let me send you back.”
Xiao Erlang wanted to decline politely, he felt too embarrassed to trouble her again.
However, his feet hurt as he stood up. He was embarrassed, “Then I’ll have to trouble you, sister. My home is in the neighbouring village.”
Shi Qingluo carried the child on her back and walked in the direction he pointed.
The child’s house was in Xiaxi village, just across the river. There was a wooden bridge that they could walk across.
Shi Qingluo chatted with him as she walked.
Only then did she realise with surprise that he was the younger brother of Scholar Xiao that the few women were gossiping.
His elder brother had injured his leg after falling down the mountain. He also had a high fever which did not subside.
His condition was still unstable after taking the medicine. In the past few days, he ended up in a deeper coma.
His first aunt and third aunt took advantage of his brother’s coma and stole most of their food inventory.
They did not receive any money when they separated from their paternal relatives. Now, their family could not even afford to buy medicine.
His mother went up the mountain every day to source for herbs and brewed them for his brother, while his sister dug wild vegetables for the whole family to fill their hungry stomach.
He saw that his brother was getting slimmer.
He heard that if there was more meat in his soup, he could still cling onto his life. Since the family could not afford to buy meat, he wanted to catch some fish to make fish soup.
However, he almost drowned.
After Shi Qingluo heard this, she pitied the child.
His family was in such a terrible situation facing successive unfortunate events.
Xiao Erlang’s family currently stayed in the old house of the Xiao family, which was near the mountain at the end of the village.
Shi Qingluo walked for more than half an hour with Xiao Erlang on her back.
A dilapidated small courtyard appeared. There were other families around, but were still a distance away.
When they pushed the door open and walked in, they heard two people crying.
A middle-aged woman with red and swollen eyes ran out when she heard the door open. Behind her was a twelve or thirteen-year-old girl with similarly red eyes.
Mother Xiao heaved a sigh of relief upon seeing her son had gone missing. At the same time, she could not help but ask, “Erlang, where did you go? You scared me to death.”
Xiao Erlang looked at his mother guiltily. “Mother, I wanted to catch some fish just now, but I drowned. But she saved me.”
When Mother Xiao heard this, her body relaxed a little.
Thankfully, her younger son was saved. Otherwise, how would she live on? Such events were breaking her heart.
She looked at Shi Qingluo and said gratefully, “Thank you, thank you so much.”
She wiped away her tears and pretended to be strong. She continued, “We will definitely repay your great kindness in the future.”
The events that had happened in the past few days had almost crushed her.
If it weren’t for the fact that she had a few children, she would have wanted to seek death.
Shi Qingluo looked at the fabled weak Mother Xiao and realised that she was indeed soft-hearted.
At this moment, she was also pretending to be strong and calm.
However, she could tell that she really loved her children. When she heard that her son almost drowned, her nervousness and almost hopeless expression was very real.
She smiled. “I just happened to meet him and saved him. Nothing much.”
Mother Xiao was more attentive.
When she saw that Shi Qingluo was still wet, she said, “If you don’t mind, you can put on my clothes first. I’ll help you wash and dry your clothes.
“The sun is scorching hot now, so they’ll dry quickly. Although it’s summer now, it’s easy to catch a cold with wet clothes.”
Shi Qingluo was indeed uncomfortable with wet clothes. She saw that Mother Xiao was wearing patched clothings, but her clothes were still very clean and neat.
Hence, she nodded. “Alright, I’ll have to trouble you then.”
Mother Xiao hurriedly waved with one of her hands. “It’s not troublesome, absolutely not!”
Then, she brought Shi Qingluo in to change her clothes. She took her best set of clothes for Shi Qingluo and took her wet clothes into the courtyard to wash.
After Shi Qingluo changed out of her wet clothes, she sat in the courtyard and waited. At the same time, she chatted with Mother Xiao and her younger son.
From this conversation, she managed to get a lot of information on their background. The three of them were just too naive.
If the person in a coma didn’t wake up, there was no one to protect her and she didn’t know how the three of them were going to survive.
A thought suddenly occurred to Shi Qingluo.
After Elementary Scholar Xiao’s family parted ways from their paternal relatives, they led very simple lives in the countryside.
They don’t need to squeeze together with a large family under the same roof.
There were no grandparents to suppress them, and no relatives or cousins to stir up trouble.
There would be less conflict between right and wrong, hence easier to get along with.
Such a family was the best choice for a marriage.