Chapter 26

That person was just delivering a message and wasn’t from their village. After saying this, he changed direction and left the village.

Jiang Xi, who had just removed a needle from a patient, straightened up and heard these words with a strange look on her face.

Zhang Xiuyun was in good health. She had seen her yesterday, and she looked much better than before she got married.

Why did she suddenly get sick?

Before she could respond, Pei’s mother came over anxiously and pushed her to wash her hands: “Xiaoxi, the remaining illnesses are not an emergency. You should ride your bike to see your mother, or you can bring her over to stay for two days.”

The daughter-in-law had already had a very bad quarrel with her family before, and people in the village had said all kinds of things about her afterward. However, because she could treat illnesses, no one dared to talk about it to her.

They couldn’t let her be willful anymore.

Jiang Xi didn’t know whether to laugh or cry and dodged her push, yelling: “Mom, I know, I’ll take care of it.”

Mother Pei wanted to say something, but Jiang Xi looked at her and shook her head, still smiling, but there was no smile in her eyes.

Mother Pei’s heart skipped a beat, and she remained silent for a moment.

Jiang Xi did not leave either. Instead, she said to Pei Hejun’s cousin, who came to help build the house, the young man who had gone to marry on his behalf, “He Mai, come and help me. Ride your bike to pick up my sick mother.”

Pei Hemai was fifteen years old. He didn’t like to study. He went to work in the fields early and was very strong.

When the Pei family had some problems, he and his two brothers came here to work as laborers, trying to get the clinic built as soon as possible.

He liked riding a bicycle, but his father didn’t let him ride it too often, fearing that he would break it and make his cousin’s wife unhappy. Upon hearing this, he immediately threw away the wood in his hand, jumped over, and said with a smile: “Okay, that’s right, we have doctors and medicinal materials here. Why do we need to see someone else for treatment?”

Jiang Xi nodded in agreement: “That’s right, isn’t that a waste of money?”

She waved her hand and said, “Go quickly and come back soon. It’s almost time for dinner. If you delay any longer, you’ll be hungry.”

“Okay!” The young man grinned, revealing a row of big white teeth. He skillfully pushed the bicycle out, pushed with his foot, and the bicycle sped away.

He had to come back early for dinner.

Pei’s mother looked at her actions and felt that something was not right. How could she let someone else take over?

But just as she was about to speak, Pei’s father stopped her and shook his head.

Pei’s mother swallowed her words again.

Forget it. Xiaoxi has always been someone with her own opinions. After all, this is her mother. She can’t really not care.

Others didn’t think anything of it.

After all, Jiang Xi went to town to see a doctor and spent a lot of money, so of course, he came to her place. Didn’t you see? She also reminded the young man to pick her up early and come over for dinner.

If she isn’t her biological mother, who would care whether she has eaten or not?

Jiang Xi didn’t expect that one sentence could have two different meanings. She really just wanted to remind Pei Hemai to go early and come back early. It would be bad to let the child help and then go hungry.

Seeing that he had left, she clapped her hands and went to see the next patient.

Many of the people who came today didn’t show any signs of illness, but a pulse check revealed that each of them had health problems.

Jiang Ermei and Jiang Sanmei came back skipping because it was almost time for dinner. They had been in Peijia Village for a while, and with their eldest sister being a well-liked doctor, they were no longer excluded.

Normally, they had some money on hand, and they would use one or two cents to buy candy from the brigade’s sales point and share it with their friends. Now, they were even more popular.

If they hadn’t thought that the Pei family would be very busy today and needed their help, their friends wouldn’t have let them leave.

Jiang Sanmei was tired from playing. When she came back, she wasn’t afraid of seeing so many people. She moved a chair and found a place to sit, watching the house being built outside the yard.

Jiang Ermei was much more shy. She quickly ran into the house but didn’t sit for long. She listened to her elder sister talking to the patients about their conditions in the yard. She took a look, then sensibly went to pour some water, added some brown sugar to it, and passed it over.

Jiang Xi was thirsty, and when the sugar water was brought to her, she was pleasantly surprised: “Thank you, second sister.”

“You’re welcome.” Jiang Ermei’s face turned even redder. She handed the sugar water to her, and after she finished drinking it, Jiang Ermei took it back and poured water on it to let it cool aside.

The villagers that Jiang Xi treated sighed, “This girl is really thoughtful. Her husband is in a coma and can’t see. How will she get married in the future?”

Hearing this, an aunt’s eyes lit up: “By the way, Doctor Jiang, I like your sister very much. My son is twelve years old and is also well-behaved and sensible. How about we arrange a baby marriage? Then my son will definitely treat you as his own sister and respect you.”

Jiang Xi shuddered and quickly refused: “No, they are still young and need to go to school.”

The woman said disappointedly: “Ah? Does a girl still need to go to school?”

Jiang Xi suppressed her smile and said, “My father betrayed me. Now he is gone. Of course, I have to protect the remaining two as well. Otherwise, I am afraid my father will be so angry that he will die.”

The aunt laughed awkwardly, not daring to say anything more, and just agreed, “That’s right.”

Others who wanted to establish a relationship with Jiang Xi also gave up the idea.

_

Meanwhile, in Jiangjia Village.

The two families were not from the same brigade, so the news did not spread quickly. Zhang Xiuyun did not know that her daughter had become a village doctor.

She only heard from others that Jiang Xi was living a good life in Peijia Village and that her in-laws treated her well.

Zhang Xiuyun could tell this from the gifts Jiang Xi gave when she returned home.

It’s just that Jiang Xi was too generous, and she spoiled the nice return gift.

Zhang Xiuyun felt heartbroken when she thought of this, but this heartache also brought her back to her senses. She looked at her brother with some trepidation: “Brother, isn’t this a bad thing for us? If Eldest sister knew that I’m not sick, she would probably be angry.”

Zhang Hu sat in the house with his legs crossed, looking lazy. There had been no work to do recently, and he had no money. He couldn’t go out to play and stayed home all day, becoming lazier.

He always wanted to make some money but didn’t know where to get it. Everything was inconvenient these days.

Until yesterday, when Zhang Xiuyun brought over the snails, she talked about Jiang Xi and her two sisters and sighed, “This kid really takes good care of her two sisters. Although they are a little darker, they have some flesh on their faces.”

These words made his heart move.

Because of losing his share at a previous banquet, Zhang Hu deliberately forgot about it and hadn’t thought about that ungrateful person for a long time.

This reminder made him remember that so much time had passed, and those people might have forgotten what happened at the banquet. If Zhang Xiuyun fell ill at this time and the eldest sister didn’t bring the money back, he would go to their house and scold her for being unfilial!

As for the money that was taken back, of course, it belonged to him.

So, after hearing what the elder sister said, Zhang Hu didn’t feel worried at all. He just rolled his eyes and said unhappily: “What’s wrong? She lives such a good life, and you can’t even ask for some money?”