Chapter 32
Thinking It Through
Niu Tongsheng returned home. His wife, Madam Kong was still ranting away to the other women non-stop.
Niu Tongsheng frowned and quickly pulled Madam Kong back into the room.
Bewildered, the other women looked at each other, but they did not dare to say anything.
“What are you doing?” Madam Kong brushed Niu Tongsheng’s hand off when they were back in their room. “The village chief was just restrained by a young lad. How disgraceful! Aren’t you afraid of being a joke in the village? No matter how capable he is, he’s only a… blind man.”
Madam Kong’s voice became soft when he said the last two words. She saw the two pieces of silver that Niu Tongsheng had whipped out.
Madam Kong snatched the silver from him and bit on them. When she confirmed that they were real, she glared at Niu Tongsheng. “You old man. How dare you keep a secret stash of money?”
“Shut up.” Niu Tongsheng hurriedly covered her mouth. “Stop your nonsense. The Xie family has been forced into a corner. They’re just using me to scare off those ungrateful people.”
“Are these from the Xie family?”
“Yes. Shut your mouth when you see the Xie family next time. Don’t say anything you shouldn’t say. I’m warning you, you’ll regret it big time if you offend them! Chuchu said that she might be able to cure Xie Heng of his blindness.”
“Are you sure?”
“Why should I lie to you? Try to hang out with Chuchu more if you can. I can tell that this girl is not the same as before.”
“If she’s like what Zhao Zhizhi said, then she’s…”
“Do you think she will save you if she’s an evil spirit? Did you forget who was the one who cured us of the virus? It’s the Zhao family who are at fault. Zhao Zhizhi even wanted to implicate all of us. I suspect that the Zhao family is after Zhao Chuchu’s medical skills. That’s why they are so nasty to her.”
Niu Tongsheng’s face looked grim.
“Didn’t Xie Heng say he taught her how to read and write so she could read the medical book?”
“Do you really believe him? What kind of life did Zhao Chuchu lead before she married Xie Heng? And why was she not able to speak then?”
Madam Kong started to ponder hard when she heard that. Feeling aghast, she started imagining all sorts of possibilities to explain why Zhao Chuchu had become a different person.
“You’re right, we should get close to Zhao Chuchu. We were almost fooled by Madam Yang.” Madam Kong seemed to have understood everything.
She continued, “Now that the Xie family is having a hard time trying to survive, try to help them whenever you can. Chuchu is now a very important person to the government officials.”
“Then why did you lose your temper at us just now?”
“That’s because I hadn’t thought it through earlier.”
Madam Kong walked out of the room smiling after keeping the silver and having cleared her thoughts.
She caught a chicken and went to visit the Xie family personally.
The womenfolk in the village were stunned.
Normally Madam Kong kept a watchful eye on the chickens. When the women were feeding the chickens, they would be reprimanded by Madam Kong if something trivial happened to the animals. Yet now, she was so generous to pay a visit to the Xie family with one of those chickens.
As Madam Kong was an established authoritative figure in the village, they did not dare say a word.
Zhao Chuchu was thinking about building a fence when Madam Kong’s loud voice was heard from outside the house. “Chuchu, are you home?”
“Yes, I’m here.” Madam Kong had already entered the house when Zhao Chuchu stood up.
She gave the chicken to Zhao Chuchu. “Look at how skinny you look. Come, take this chicken and make some food. Get some nourishment for your body.”
Zhao Chuchu looked at Madam Kong in surprise.
In the original Zhao Chuchu’s memory, Madam Kong was not only a fierce woman, but she was also very stingy and petty. Now she was being surprisingly generous to give her a whole chicken. It was unbelievable.
“It’s all right. Thank you Madam Kong.”
“Just take it. You don’t have to be so polite to me. You are our savior. We will remember your kindness. My husband has a bad temper. But sometimes he cannot help it since he’s the village chief.”
“I understand. I’m very happy that the village chief helped me this time.”
“You’re a good girl. Feel free to approach me if you need anything in the future.”
“Oh, speaking of which, I do need your help on something.”