Chapter 80: Girl, Where Are You Hiding?

In fact, the condition of Hu Yaozu and Zhang wasn’t serious at all.

Hu Dashan’s real goal was to scam money, and of course, this was all instigated by Yang.

However, Hu Zhaodi was not falling for his trick.

As long as it didn’t involve the Ji family, she couldn’t care less whether the Hu family lived or died.

But after Hu Dashan repeatedly tried to set traps for her, she had finally had enough.

With a cold expression, Hu Zhaodi said, “Hu Dashan, I don’t owe your family anything, so stop coming to the Ji family with your problems.

If your wife and child are sick, go find the village doctor or take them to the county clinic.

From now on, even if you come to me with silver in hand, I won’t treat any of your Hu family members.

Now leave!”

Auntie Ji and his three sons had also come into the yard and were all glaring coldly at Hu Dashan.

Auntie Ji’s eldest son spoke up, “Hu Dashan, didn’t you hear us tell you to leave? If you don’t, don’t blame us for being rude!”

Hu Dashan flinched, shot Hu Zhaodi a fierce glare, and turned to leave.

Hu Zhaodi rolled her eyes and went to start heating water for a bath.

In the middle of the night.

Just as Hu Zhaodi was finishing up and about to sleep, the quiet village suddenly became noisy.

The sound of hurried footsteps grew closer, and soon someone was knocking on the door.

Outside, Yang’s anxious voice could be heard. “Ji Kaiyang, help! Yaozu and Zhang are about to die!”

Bang, bang, bang… The knocking continued.

Auntie Ji got up, put on his clothes, lit the oil lamp, and opened the door.

“Hu Aunty, are you and your family never going to stop?” he asked, his tone dripping with annoyance.

Yang looked genuinely worried, and this time, it didn’t seem like a false alarm. “Ji Kaiyang, Yaozu and Zhang really are on the verge of dying!”

Auntie Ji sighed helplessly. “Hu Aunty, if Yaozu and his mother are sick, why didn’t you take them to the clinic? Why come to me? I’m not a doctor.”

“But you’re the village head!” Yang said, nearly in tears. “If I don’t come to you, who can I go to?”

“So what if I’m the village head? I can’t heal the sick. Yaozu and his mother are ill, and you didn’t see a doctor. Now you want me to work miracles? Do you think I’m a deity?”

Yang choked on her words, crying, “We don’t have the money to pay a doctor! We’ve been delaying, but we didn’t expect things to get worse.”

Mrs. Ji laughed bitterly. “No money? Do you expect me to believe that? When Zhaodi cut ties with your family, she gave you three taels of silver. Did you already spend all that?”

Yang didn’t dare look Auntie Ji in the eye. She stammered, “No, not all of it. I… I kept some aside for Yaozu’s schooling.”

“So you still have silver?” Auntie Ji scoffed. “What’s more important, life or education? If you’re dead, you can’t attend school, can you?”

Yang cried even harder. “It’s all my fault, I was foolish. But now, even if I had the silver to send them to the clinic, it might be too late.”

“Ji Kaiyang, you’re the village head. Doesn’t Zhaodi know medicine? She’s staying at your house, why not have her wake up and help Zhang and Yaozu?”

Hu Zhaodi rolled her eyes when she heard this. It seemed the Hu family was determined to scam her out of more silver.

They wouldn’t let her rest, even in the middle of the night.

The Ji family’s house wasn’t very tall and had no attic.

So, she simply got out of bed and went to the corner of the room. After a quick run, she jumped up, using the wall to propel herself, and grabbed hold of the beam with both hands.

With a strong pull, she did a perfect chin-up, hooking her feet onto the beam, and then used all her limbs to flip and land smoothly on the beam.

Once perched on the beam, she listened carefully to the sounds coming from the main room.

Auntie Ji sighed helplessly and said, “Zhaodi lives in my house, but whether she’s willing to help Zhang and Yaozu is up to her. Even though I’m the village head, I have no reason to force her.”

Yang suddenly knelt with a loud thud, crying as she begged, “Kaiyang, please, let Zhaodi help Yaozu! He’s really close to death!”

Seeing the genuine desperation in Yang’s expression, Auntie Ji hesitated but asked one more time, “Are you sure you’re not lying?”

“No, I swear I’m not lying! He’s my only grandson. No matter how bad I am, I would never curse him to death!”

This was true. Yang cared for Hu Yaozu like her own life. No matter what kind of person she was, she wouldn’t wish death upon her own grandson.

Auntie Ji’s heart softened. He sighed and walked to Hu Zhaodi’s bedroom door, knocking. “Zhaodi, Zhaodi, Yaozu is about to die! Get up and take a look!”

Hu Zhaodi, thinking about the original owner’s death, remained silent, sitting atop the beam.

Auntie Ji knocked for a long time but received no response. He figured that Hu Zhaodi must have been too tired from the day to hear. Being a man, he couldn’t just barge into her room in the middle of the night, so he decided to ask Uncle Ji’s wife  for help.

 Uncle Ji wife quickly put on a coat and came out, knocking on Hu Zhaodi’s door. Still, there was no answer, so she pushed the door open.

The faint light of the oil lamp illuminated the room. The bed was neatly made, but Hu Zhaodi was nowhere to be seen.

Uncle Ji’s wife was startled. “Where is Zhaodi? Why isn’t she in her room?”

Uncle Ji, who had followed her, stuck his head into the room and was stunned.

“This is strange. It’s the middle of the night. Where could Zhaodi have gone? When did she leave?”

Yang, overhearing this, couldn’t believe that Hu Zhaodi wasn’t in the room.

She rushed into the main hall of the Ji house and into Hu Zhaodi’s room, searching everywhere.

She looked behind the door, under the bed—every possible hiding spot—but couldn’t find her.

Uncle Ji and his wife were panicked, searching the hall with the oil lamp but still came up empty.

“What should we do? It’s so late, where could Zhaodi have gone?” Uncle Ji’s wife asked, her voice trembling with worry.

“I don’t know. When I got up, the door was still latched from the inside. How could she just disappear?”

“Quick, we need to go out and search. We can’t let anything happen to her.”

Yang, still fixated on finding Hu Yaozu, reluctantly gave up and left.

Uncle Ji and his wife, had dressed, prepared to search for Hu Zhaodi outside.

At that moment, Hu Zhaodi’s voice came from behind them. “Uncle, Auntie, don’t go out. I’m right here.”

With a quick leap, Hu Zhaodi landed from the beam and walked over to the couple.

Uncle Ji and his wife stared in disbelief.

“Girl, where were you hiding? You scared the life out of me,” Uncle Ji’s wife said.

Hu Zhaodi chuckled and patted Uncle Ji’s wife ’s hand. “Auntie, I was hiding on the beam. I just didn’t want to get involved with the Hu family and cause trouble.”

Auntie Ji looked up at the beam, his expression incredulous. “Girl, how did you get up there? There’s no ladder in your room!”

Hu Zhaodi smiled awkwardly. “Uncle, would you like me to show you how I did it?”

Auntie Ji looked up at the beam again, disbelief on his face. “You want me to see? There’s no way you could have gotten up there!”

Hu Zhaodi walked over to the wall, and, under the wide-eyed gaze of Uncle Ji and his wife, demonstrated how she climbed the beam once more.