Chapter 45

What’s going on?

Jiang Xi rubbed her eyes, wondering if she was seeing things. Did she really see over two thousand points?

She tried again, holding his hand and looking at the screen. The points were still over two thousand!

Not an illusion!

Jiang Xi asked silently, using lip language: “What’s going on?”

Fortunately, the system responded quickly: [The task the host completed recently ended yesterday. Since he participated, he earned points.]

Jiang Xi was surprised. She hadn’t expected this!

The points were enough to exchange for a famous doctor’s medical manual.

Excited but cautious, she didn’t dare to use the points right away, worried about the impact on Pei Hejun. Instead, she used 200 points to buy some medicinal herbs and then went to sleep.

Unexpectedly, as she fell asleep, Pei Hejun, who had appeared to be asleep, opened his eyes.

He glanced at Jiang Xi with surprise.

Despite his current condition, Pei Hejun’s military training made him alert. Her accidental touch had woken him up.

He wondered why she held his hand. Was she apologizing for her earlier response?

Pei Hejun wasn’t angry, just a bit disappointed. He had hoped she might be willing to join the army because of her feelings for him, as his mother had suggested.

But if she wasn’t willing, he understood. He could work harder to complete his tasks and try to get more vacation time to spend with her.

He secretly held her hand and closed his eyes, feeling at peace.

_

The following days flew by.

The harvested rice was threshed and sent to the town. After handing in the grain, each household received a portion based on their work, so everyone had more food.

After husking, rice becomes fine grain. People usually sell most of it and exchange it for coarser grains. Jiang Xi felt this wasn’t enough, so she exchanged a lot of fine grains.

Li Aimei also had her own food.

During the food distribution, Xisheng’s mother caused a commotion. But since the two families were divorced, the team leader had already separated Li Aimei’s work points for the year. Her fuss was in vain.

Because of this incident, Li Aimei’s parents found out about the divorce. They came to scold her, wanting her to remarry Xisheng or marry again to receive a betrothal gift. They also wanted her to take away the food she was allocated.

But Li Aimei refused.

Now she has food, money, work points, and everything she needs. Her life is much better than before. She no longer has a troublesome mother-in-law or an unfeeling husband. How could she be willing to go back?

If she had never lived a good life, she wouldn’t know such a life was possible.

Li Aimei was unwilling, and her family members tried to control her for a while. When they realized they couldn’t control her, they gave up.

People in the village also knew that Li Aimei lived in the small house the Pei family had vacated for Jiang Xi to see patients. They were extremely envious. They never thought a divorced woman could have such good fortune.

They were reluctant to send their daughters to study medicine with Jiang Xi, and ended up being taken advantage of by Li Aimei.

Some petty-minded people deliberately said that Li Aimei was living in the clinic built with funds raised by their village. 

But in fact, Li Aimei lived in Pei’s room, so before this rumor could spread, it was stopped by those who knew the truth.

Even if you talk nonsense, you have to look at the evidence!

The village was peaceful and quiet, except when the rice was harvested, when the Pei family became a little more lively.

Because Zhang Hu was there again.

But this time, he failed to persuade Zhang Xiuyun to come over. Ever since Jiang Xi made Zhang Xiuyun understand that she was not an obedient child last time, Zhang Xiuyun has been behaving herself.

During the slack season, Jiang Xi also asked Jiang Yu and Jiang Mi to bring some food to visit Zhang Xiuyun. After visiting them, the two always looked hesitant to speak, as if they wanted to say something to Jiang Xi.

I guess Zhang Xiuyun thought Jiang Xi didn’t go, so she said a few words.

But Jiang Xi ignored her, and the two children understood her temper, so they didn’t really say anything in front of her.

Zhang Xiuyun was obedient. No matter what Zhang Hu wanted to do, she didn’t dare do it even if she wanted to. She was afraid her eldest daughter would say those scary words again, so she was unwilling to come to Pei’s house.

Zhang Hu had no choice but to come over and ask to borrow fifty yuan. The child was about to start school and had no money to go to school, so he had to seek for help. 

But as an uncle, he was just an ordinary relative here. Jiang Xi directly drove him out without even saying hello, without giving him any face.

Besides, Pei Hejun was fine now. With such a tall man standing at the gate of the yard looking at him, Zhang Hu, who bullied the weak and feared the strong, did not dare act presumptuously and could only leave cursing.

Along the way, he said that Jiang Xi had no conscience.

But if anyone still believed Zhang Xiuyun’s words, Zhang Hu said, then everyone knows what kind of person he is and no one would pay any attention to him.

After the rice is harvested, wheat can be planted.

The team had just rested for two days before it became busy again. Jiang Xi took advantage of this time to tutor Jiang Yu and Jiang Mi, as school would start in September soon!

Jiang Yu is as well-behaved as ever and studies very hard.

Primary school courses are simple, so Jiang Xi thought she could directly enroll her in the third grade. However, Jiang Mi was much slower because she liked to be lazy and didn’t study much after class.

Jiang Xi didn’t mind. As long as she finished her homework, she didn’t care about anything else. She never thought about making these two sisters successful.

The only pity is that the child really doesn’t like reading, so she could only barely remember the medical knowledge and acupoints she gave her, but she couldn’t memorize the medical knowledge at all.

Jiang Xi gave up. You couldn’t force your child to study medicine, right?

Pei’s father’s legs recovered quickly, but he couldn’t do heavy work for the time being, so he asked for leave from the team. Pei Hejun is still in the process of rehabilitation. He gets up early every day and first exercises the strength of his arms. After half a month, his arms are strong enough, so he starts to walk without anyone’s support and uses crutches to walk.

He walked back and forth, and if no one stopped him, he could walk for the whole morning.

For this reason, Jiang Xi had to remind him to rest more from time to time when she was teaching her two younger sisters and treating patients.

This kind of life is very fulfilling, which leads to the fact that among the Pei family, only Pei’s mother is able to work.

Jiang Xi felt embarrassed watching this and strongly requested Pei’s mother to choose the simple job of cutting grass for pigs.

Don’t earn those eight work points.

Pei’s mother was pestered and had no choice but to agree. When she went to tell the captain, Pei Sheng smiled with her cracked mouth: “You say it’s not good, but I think it’s good.”

“Xiaoxi is a good child. She is doing this for my own good. How can I not appreciate it?” Mother Pei said with a smile: “That’s it. I’ll leave first.”

Pei Shengcai nodded and smacked his lips enviously.

How nice it would be to marry a good daughter-in-law. I wonder what kind of daughter-in-law his son will marry?

* * *

Time flies.

September is coming quickly.

On August 30th, Jiang Xi took her two children to register in advance. She took the two children there on a bicycle with great effort. At that time, the tuition fee was one yuan and fifty cents per semester, and the book fee was one yuan, which added up to two yuan and fifty cents.

After paying the money and getting the textbooks, Jiang Xi walked around and saw the classroom where the classes were held.

The classroom was very simple, the textbooks were also very simple, the children were very lively, and looking around, you couldn’t find a child whiter than Jiang Yu and Jiang Mi.

Although this is because the two children have been using Jiang Xi’s whitening cream recently, and their skin has indeed become much whiter.

Another thing that surprised Jiang Xi was that there were a lot of children here.

The school was built by the commune and children from several surrounding brigades were gathered here. During the registration days at the end of August, there were many children on the playground, but there were few girls.

People like Jiang Xi who brought two girls to register surprised the teacher, who praised her for her high awareness.

After registration, Jiang Xi doesn’t have to worry about the rest.

There were several children in the village who went to school. Jiang Xi brought ginger fish, ginger rice, and some snacks to their homes and asked their children to take her two younger sisters to and from school. The other party agreed immediately.

At this time, children go to school on their own, and parents don’t pay much attention to them. This is the first time Jiang Xi has gone to a parent’s house to ask for help with taking care of a child.

So, everyone realized that Jiang Xi actually let her two younger sisters go to school!

The total cost for the two children was five yuan, not including the money for pens and notebooks.

Jiang Xi paid this large amount of money.

Everyone privately commented that the two elders of the Pei family were confused as they were so generous to two girls who were not their own children. Although they discussed this, they did not speak about it in front of Jiang Xi, so she pretended not to know.

In early September, Jiang Xi will also go to school.

She will attend the county hospital for further studies.

For this, Pei Shengcai arranged for someone to drive her there in a tractor.

This excitement led everyone to talk about the lack of a team doctor. To this day, the Sixth Brigade still doesn’t have a team doctor, and Jiang Xi is unwilling to be one. So, everyone has to visit Pei’s house to see a doctor and pays twice as much as the people in Peijia Village.

Every time they pay, people complain about Zhou Xin.

With hundreds of people in the surrounding villages, minor health issues are common, so the complaints never stop.

Jiang Xi sympathized and decided not to become a team doctor.

She studied diligently at the county hospital, and due to her rapid learning, she went from an ordinary student to a group leader in just one week.

The Ministry of Health was curious about her capabilities and wondered how she could be a team doctor.

But before Jiang Xi could explain, someone informed them about her situation. What happened in the Sixth Battalion was known to most surrounding battalions. Usually, gossip was minimal, but this was a notable exception.

Jiang Xi nodded quietly, looking very pitiful: “It’s okay. The vice-captain must have his reasons. Besides, my family situation isn’t suitable for being a team doctor.”

The official in charge of the training at the Ministry of Health came to the female dormitory to express his condolences. Hearing this, he said with a serious expression, “How is this possible? Aren’t you too busy as a village doctor now?”

He added, “I will report this matter. Being a doctor is a serious profession, and not just anyone can be one!”

Jiang Xi stopped talking. After the clerk left, she happily shared the snacks she had brought with others.

The team doctors studying with her were also pleased. They spoke up for what was right and enjoyed the delicious food. It was great!

The mood was perfect when someone said, “Doctor Jiang, your husband is here to see you!”

She was the only Jiang around, so when this was said, all the team doctors nearby looked over. They were studying in the county, not the town, and it was a hassle for them to travel there from their villages. No one had received visitors until now.

Unexpectedly, the first family member to come was Doctor Jiang.

Feeling self-conscious with so many people staring, Jiang Xi’s face turned red. It might have been just curiosity, but the term “husband” felt too intimate. Unable to handle it, she quickly handed the food to the person next to her and ran away.

The team doctor left holding the bag of food sighed: “Doctor Jiang runs really fast.”

“Isn’t it because she’s meeting her partner? I didn’t expect Dr. Jiang to be married at such a young age.”

***

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