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“I reckon it’s true, or else there’s no need to keep it a secret for such a small matter,” Liu Shi agreed.
If it wasn’t their uncle’s family, then she was even more curious about who had done this.
Jiang Mixia looked puzzled.
“Don’t worry about it, wife. Someone did it, and that’s what matters,” Song Jingyun comforted. “Doing such a deed shows that they are a good person, and good people will surely be rewarded.”
There was no need to go out of their way to find out who the person behind this good deed was.
“Right,” Jiang Mixia nodded.
She agreed with this perspective.
Every good deed performed by a person, every bit of kindness released, would always come back in various forms, often unexpectedly.
“That’s right,” Jiang Youcheng nodded and slurped a mouthful of rice porridge. “Let’s finish our meal quickly; the workers will be here soon.”
The family continued their assault on the scallion pancakes, rice porridge, and pickled vegetables around the table.
As the sun rose high in the sky, Jiang Chunhe, eagerly awaiting the commotion at Jiang Youcheng’s house, was surprised. Instead of news about Jiang Datou causing trouble, he found that all the bamboo poles from Jiang Youcheng’s house had been cut and neatly stacked at their own gate.
Jiang Chunhe was dumbfounded.
Could it be that the person who went to cut the bamboo poles was Jiang Datou himself? This honest and simple-minded lad, perhaps he lacked the courage to cause trouble, or perhaps he wanted to do a good deed to avoid any resentment from Jiang Youcheng’s family. Or was it that he hoped to secure work at Jiang Youcheng’s place, especially after hearing about someone else gifting chickens and hurriedly went to cut the bamboo poles as a way to secure employment?
“This Jiang Datou, he’s such a coward…”
Muttering to himself, Jiang Chunhe looked down on Jiang Datou’s timidity and disdainfully went into his own room.
“Dad just called you to go and fetch the bamboo poles, why aren’t you going?” Wu shi called out to Jiang Chunhe as he sullenly entered the house.
“I’ll go later.” Jiang Chunhe, still upset, responded to Wu shi with an edge. “It’s just noon, and I haven’t even had my meal. Am I made of iron or something?”
“How can you behave like this? You’re a married man, and you don’t even care about your own family. All you think about is making money. Have you become obsessed with wealth?” Jiang Chunhe scolded Wu shi. She was stunned, tears welling up in her eyes. She didn’t dare say anything more, soothing the child to play in the yard before rushing to the kitchen to prepare lunch.
Frustrating!
Jiang Chunhe found Wu shi’s behavior utterly uninspiring, deploring her lack of backbone as he lay down on the bed.
“Clatter!”
A few rafters on the roof broke, and tiles came crashing down.
Before Jiang Chunhe could react, he felt a sudden darkness and a heap of tiles crashing down upon him.
His screams echoed, sounding akin to a pig being slaughtered.
…
In the evening.
“Do we have any meat left?”
As the workers had left for the day, Jiang Youcheng asked Liu Shi while tidying up.
“We have two pieces. One piece of pork belly, and the other is lean meat,” Liu Shi replied. “Mixia and Jingyan want to have shredded pork for dinner. I was thinking of stir-frying the lean meat with celery for the evening. Do you prefer lean or fatty meat? If you want the kind with fat, I’ll make you twice-cooked pork.”
“Forget about stir-frying. Tie up the pork belly with twine, and I’ll take it to the second house,” Jiang Youcheng said. “Chunhe’s roof collapsed, and a large section of tiles fell on him. It seems he was seriously injured. I heard the doctor stayed at their place from noon until sunset.”
Although our families are not harmonious, I still have to consider this family matter. I should go and check on them.”
After a moment’s thought, Jiang Youcheng said, “Forget it, let’s not give them all. The pork belly is quite a lot. Just give them half. Giving too much might make them uncomfortable.”
“I’ll go and cut it for you.” Liu Shi went into the house, found the meat, and placed it on the cutting board. She said she would cut it in half, but in the end, she only gave a third.
Jiang Youcheng didn’t say anything, seeing this.
The second household was not someone Jiang Youcheng particularly wanted to engage with, but given the circumstances…
Jiang Youcheng carried the meat and left.
Liu Shi reminded him to return early, then extinguished the stove and prepared the meal.
“The second uncle’s roof was just repaired last autumn. How did it suddenly collapse?” Jiang Mixia asked in surprise as she set the table.
“Who knows? When the roof was being repaired, your father lent a hand for a couple of days, mostly doing mud work. He didn’t pay much attention to how the roof was being fixed,” Liu Shi replied. “I suspect your second uncle, in order to save money, only replaced the tiles and didn’t check the rafters. I heard the collapse was due to the rafters breaking.”
The rafters broke?
Rafters are usually made of solid wood, embedded high in the roof, and generally not prone to breaking.
Could it be due to woodworms?
“Don’t dwell on it, wife,” Song Jingyun said, taking the cutlery from Jiang Mixia’s hands. “You’ve always said that many things are destined to happen. Perhaps this is the will of heaven? You’ve said before, ‘Good begets good, and evil begets evil.'”
Jiang Chunhe had tried to snatched their rabbits and even stolen from others, hardly a good person.
Since he’s no saint, it was only a matter of time before he got hit by roof tiles.
It’s a shame about that pork belly. Though not a large amount, it would have been enough for a meal, especially for making twice-cooked pork.
He had tasted his mother’s twice-cooked pork before – the meat was juicy, not greasy, with a pleasant chewiness. Even the garlic sprouts paired with it were delicious.
Now, the meat was to be given to Jiang Chunhe to eat…
Well, let’s just consider it as lost, as if it were taken by a cat or dog. That way, it won’t be so heart-wrenching!
That’s how Song Jingyun comforted himself.
Jiang Youcheng visited the second household briefly, only staying for a short while before leaving.
Jiang Chunhe was seriously injured. Numerous roof tiles struck his face, leaving him with a swollen head, and a shard of tile broke, causing a sharp edge to cut his mouth. When the tiles fell, he had tried to shield himself with his arm, and as a result, the bone in his arm was also injured.
The doctor had used a wooden board to stabilize the injury, but he mentioned that he wasn’t an orthopedic specialist and recommended seeking further treatment from a doctor in the county town.
Zhang shi was at home, crying profusely, lamenting their misfortune and expressing her disappointment that Jiang Youcheng, as the third uncle, had taken so long to come and check on his nephew, despite the severity of his injuries.