Chapter 167: Chapter 167: Worthless Compensation Goods
Jiang Changhe was chopping wood outside the house when he saw Old Uncle Ge, soaking wet, holding a child and heading to his home. He suddenly looked surprised and asked, “Uncle Ge, whose child is that?”
“Your Zhaodi fell into the water. Hurry, take her inside, strip off her clothes, and warm her up on the heated brick bed,” Uncle Ge spoke rapidly.
Jiang Changhe’s face changed instantly, and without bothering with formalities, he took his daughter and rushed toward the second room.
While running, he also shouted, “Xiao Juan, hurry and heat the brick bed, Zhaodi fell into the river.”
Zhao Xiaojuan, who was washing vegetables in the kitchen, momentarily saw darkness before her eyes, then dropped everything and ran outside, with Da Ya closely following her.
Er Ya had initially wanted to go out too, but reason held her back, and she turned to start the fire and heat the brick bed.
Seeing that his help was not needed here, Uncle Ge didn’t stay long and, shivering, he hugged himself and returned to his own home.
In this harsh winter, he was dripping wet, and he should be careful not to catch a cold.
Zhao Xiaojuan saw Zhaodi lying on the bed with her eyes tightly closed and her lips blue and black. She instantly threw herself onto the brick bed and cried, “Zhaodi, my Zhaodi, my poor child, what’s happened to you? Please open your eyes and look at Mom.”
Da Ya and Laidi were also red-eyed, anxiously hovering around the edge of the brick bed.
“What are you howling about? She’s not dead yet, is she? Who are you crying for?” Zhang Guihua scolded with a grimace, berating Zhao Xiaojuan who was crying on the brick bed.
Chastised by her mother-in-law, Zhao Xiaojuan dared not wail loudly anymore and could only tightly hold her daughter in her arms, silently weeping.
Fortunately, Jiang Dashan was always reasonable, “Alright, the child fell into the water, there’s no use saying these things. Old Two’s wife, stop crying. Go to the kitchen and make some ginger sugar water for Zhaodi to ward off the chill.”
Upon hearing her father-in-law’s suggestion to make ginger sugar water for her daughter, Zhao Xiaojuan quickly put down Zhaodi, wiped the tears from her face with her sleeve, and headed for the kitchen.
The household’s brown sugar was usually reserved for the girls during their pregnancies so they could have something sweet.
Zhang Guihua, grudging about the brown sugar, complained tartly, “Raising a useless, money-losing piece, can’t even do some work without falling into the river, yet she demands my brown sugar. What sins did I commit in my past life to deserve this?”
Jiang Dashan ignored her complaints, turned to Jiang Changhe, and asked, “Second, who brought Zhaodi back?”
Jiang Changhe replied, “It was Old Uncle Ge who brought her back.”
Upon hearing this, Jiang Dashan instructed, “Laosan, you go and call Doctor Wang to have a look at Zhaodi. Also, take five eggs to thank your Uncle Ge for saving Zhaodi.”
“Okay, I’ll go now,” Jiang Changtao nodded and headed out.
Zhang Guihua sucked in a breath, her chest pain intensifying, “Second, look at this, because of this money-losing piece, our family has to give away more good things. It’s such bad karma, how did I end up giving birth to such a useless thing.”
Sun Lixia also felt pained over the eggs, silently cursing Zhaodi as a useless, money-losing piece. So many people were washing clothes by the river and didn’t fall in, yet only she had to fall in!
Jiang Changhe kept his head down, letting his mother scold him without talking back.
The girls in the second room tried their best to make themselves less noticeable, fearing Zhang Guihua’s anger might be directed at them.
After Jiang Dashan handed over the responsibilities, he turned around and went back to the main house.
Zhang Guihua cursed for a long time, and, tired from cursing, she also went back inside.
Twenty minutes later, Doctor Wang was called over. After a careful examination and giving Zhaodi an injection, he said, “If she doesn’t develop a fever, sleeping and sweating it out should do the trick. But if she gets a fever, take her to the hospital immediately.”