Chapter 54

When the news about Liu Yu’s situation reached Nie Xiaocui, she was so distressed that she almost fainted. Fortunately, Xu Huai was there to catch her.

After Nie Xiaocui recovered, she asked Liu Jianjia to go out and gather some money. With what they managed to scrape together, the whole family followed Xu Huai to the hospital.

When Nie Xiaocui saw Liu Yu lying in the hospital bed, she immediately rushed over, crying and wailing, “My poor daughter, why has she suffered such a great misfortune! My daughter is truly pitiful!”

Liu Ye and Liu Jianjia, due to their roles as her younger brother and father, couldn’t rush over and embrace her like Nie Xiaocui, but their faces showed anxiety and their hearts ached—she had been a lively girl before leaving, but now, in less than a week, she was lying in a hospital bed with her leg in a cast.

Liu Yu was tightly hugged by her mother. She knew her parents were heartbroken, but what happened couldn’t be changed. She could only comfort Nie Xiaocui, saying, “Mom, I’m fine. The doctor says if I rest well and don’t move my leg, I’ll be able to walk again after the splint is removed.”

Nie Xiaocui stopped crying as she wiped her tears and turned to Wang Changping, saying, “Young man, thank you for helping our Liu Yu! Aunty really doesn’t know what to say.”

Liu Jianjia also spoke to Wang Changping, saying, “I heard from Xu Huai that you covered the hospital expenses. How much was it? I’ll reimburse you.”

Wang Changping shook his head, “No need. Liu Yu has taken care of me before.”

Liu Jianjia disagreed, “You and we sent-down youths are supposed to have equal treatment. How can I let you use the money you’ve saved up to cover my daughter’s medical bills?”

Wang Changping was firm in refusing, and the conversation reached an impasse, creating an awkward atmosphere.

Liu Yu had something important to say. Her fall was no accident—someone had pushed her, and that someone was Sun Baoxiang, the girl with the pigtails. This was something Nie Xiaocui couldn’t know, or she would go after the person with a kitchen knife.

So, Liu Yu found an excuse to ask for some oil cakes. Nie Xiaocui immediately volunteered to go buy them, and she sent Liu Jianjia and Liu Ye to go along.

Liu Yu looked at the kind-hearted Xu Huai and also began looking for a reason to send him away.

However, Xu Huai appeared to be hesitant, as if wanting to speak but holding back. After thinking for a moment, his fair face seemed resolute, and finally, he spoke: “Liu Yu, I saw what happened that day.”

Liu Yu froze, unsure where to start, “What did you see?”

Xu Huai leaned forward slightly, his hand clenching into a fist: “I saw Sun Baoxiang push you from behind.”

Liu Yu had suspected it was Sun Baoxiang, but she had no evidence. Now, unexpectedly, Xu Huai had witnessed it!

This was like a paper-wrapped fire—it could never be hidden.

Liu Yu looked at Xu Huai and asked, “Can you testify for me?”

Xu Huai nodded, “Since I’ve told you, I’ll testify. I used to think that sent-down youths were idealistic and good-hearted, but there are also those who secretly harm others! If we ignore this, there will surely be another victim.”

Wang Changping spoke softly from the side: “I can’t let Sun Baoxiang go.”

Liu Yu turned to him: “You’re right! Once my leg heals and I’m discharged, we’ll slowly settle this.”

Healing from bone injuries takes time, and after staying in the hospital for more than ten days, Liu Yu was worried about her unattended “treasure bowl” and the hospital expenses. Wang Changping had already paid for all her medical bills with the money he had saved over the years, and the family couldn’t afford more.

Without hesitation, Liu Yu ordered to discharge herself and go home to recover.

Her bone fracture was still serious, and she couldn’t put weight on her leg, but Liu Yu didn’t want Nie Xiaocui to take care of her all day, so Liu Jianjia made her a crutch to help her walk.

When she got home, the first thing Liu Yu did was head straight for her little room. But when she opened the door, she was shocked by what she saw: the room was filled with grain!

To explain, the room was full of golden corn. Since the treasure bowl had been left unattended, the grains produced in the bowl had piled up, spilling out onto the floor. Day after day, night after night, it had produced half a room full of corn.

It was an incredible sight that would surely drive anyone mad.

Fortunately, the small area near the door was clear, so Liu Yu quickly shut the door. Then she walked into the sea of grain, buried up to her waist in corn kernels. The sensation was indescribably wonderful.

Grain was wealth, power, and fortune!

Liu Yu dug around in the pile, eventually finding the treasure bowl hidden under the bed, which had been buried under the grain. She hugged it and kissed it: “Ah! Good treasure, you’ve worked hard these past days!”

Then she started using her spatial ability to store the grain. The grain kept pouring into her space, but there was so much that it couldn’t all fit at once. Liu Yu spent half an hour cleaning up the room to restore it to its original appearance.

—

After some calculations, she realized that the treasure bowl produced about ten pounds of grain each night and another ten pounds during the day, totaling twenty pounds a day. Over the nearly twenty days she had spent in the mountains and the hospital, there were about four hundred pounds of corn in her space.

In addition, there were the sweet potatoes and sorghum she had produced before, making about five hundred pounds in total!

Liu Yu was ecstatic. Her father, a strong laborer and a team leader, only earned about this much grain in a whole year!

Moreover, Liu Yu now had white flour!

Though it was just a small amount, with the treasure bowl, it was like a seed—one handful would yield much more!

White flour was a fine grain and a precious commodity. A pound of fine flour was worth ten pounds of coarse grain!

With white flour, her family was now close to eating meat, and with meat, they could prosper and become well-off.

There was also the matter of the debts. Wang Changping had paid over forty yuan for her hospitalization, and Liu Dagang had lent ten yuan for her thermos. The time was almost right to pay those off.

Liu Yu carefully took the white flour from her space, placed it in the treasure bowl, and hid it back under the bed.

Tomorrow, she would go into town to check on the little fruit stand.