Feng Bigmouth already had a terrible back pain, and when she heard she had to pay six yuan to Yunyi, she hoarsely shouted, "Why don’t you go rob someone?"
Yunyi didn’t care about her complaints at all. She returned to her own plot of land and called out to the distant Branch Secretary, "Branch Secretary Yang, you told me to save her, and her husband agreed to the fee. Now that she’s been saved, you’re not going to let them renege, are you?"
Usually, he was addressed respectfully as ’Branch Secretary’ or ’Uncle Branch Secretary,’ but now she directly used his surname too.
The Branch Secretary knew that if this matter wasn’t handled properly, people might refuse to help during future village incidents. "Gao Chuanbei, are you going to fetch the money now, or should the production team front it and deduct it from your family’s account at the end of the year?"
He couldn’t be bothered to argue with Feng Bigmouth and simply gave them a choice.
In front of so many people, Gao Chuanbei dared not say anything else. "Branch Secretary, I’ll go fetch it right now."
When Feng Bigmouth heard her husband’s words, she reached out and grabbed the hem of his shirt. "We can’t let our family pay this money!"
Gao Chuanbei, seeing that she still wanted to cause a scene, said irritably, "If we don’t pay, who will?" Nᴇw novel chapters are publɪshed on novel⸺fire.net
While the Branch Secretary had been talking to Gao Chuanbei, their eldest daughter brought over some water. After drinking it, Feng Bigmouth’s throat wasn’t as sore, and it was only then that she considered how something foreign could have gotten into her throat. "Who’s throwing things around carelessly, almost killing me?" she shrieked. "Step forward!"
When Gao Chuanbei heard this, he also realized. "Yeah, how did something get stuck in your throat?"
Feng Bigmouth looked around suspiciously, thinking everyone seemed like a culprit.
Someone couldn’t stand it anymore. "Feng Bigmouth, even if you don’t want to pay the medical fee, there’s no need to look for such an excuse."
"What excuse am I making up? If someone wasn’t deliberately trying to harm me, how could that clump of dirt have just happened to fly into my mouth?"
"You said it yourself, ’just happened.’ You were the only one throwing your head back laughing. If it didn’t get into your mouth, whose mouth would it have entered?"
"Branch Secretary, I don’t care! Whoever threw that thing must be found. I can’t have suffered for nothing and then have to pay for it myself!"
The Branch Secretary grew angry. "It’s work time! If you keep causing trouble, I’ll dock your whole family’s work points for half a month, plus you’ll be cleaning the pigsty for half a month."
Gao Chuanbei feared the Branch Secretary would actually do it. "Branch Secretary, I’ll go get the money right now. Don’t listen to her nonsense. Even if someone did throw something, it can only be said that my wife here had bad luck."
Though there was an undercurrent to his words, the Branch Secretary didn’t press the issue. "Fine, as long as you’ve figured it out yourselves."
After the couple left, the people working in the fields started gossiping. "Who knows what’s happened to Doctor Gong or when he’ll be able to return to the village. The village really can’t function without him."
"Exactly! And that Chu Zhiqing charges so much. Who would dare ask her for treatment in the future?"
"That’s Feng Bigmouth’s own fault."
"True. I think that Chu Zhiqing did it on purpose."
"Don’t say that. Although Chu Zhiqing isn’t old, she’s really capable. If it hadn’t been for her kick today, Feng Bigmouth might have been in serious danger."
Seeing the Branch Secretary approaching, someone spoke up, "Branch Secretary, my husband’s painkillers are almost gone. When will the village health clinic open again?"
The Branch Secretary also felt troubled when he heard this. At noon, the Xue Family had sent word that Lin Fang likely wouldn’t be back for a while—at least not until her sister-in-law had finished her postpartum confinement period.
Even if Doctor Gong were discharged and returned to the village, he would need time to recuperate. They couldn’t expect him to work while injured.
He had considered asking Chu Zhiqing to work at the village health clinic, but he feared the Gong Family and Xue Family might object. This wasn’t something he could decide on his own; he had to see what the other production team cadres thought.