On the third day of the first lunar month, Xiaoxiao and Yang Ming rushed home, only to find nobody there.
"Yang Ming, where has everyone gone?" Xiaoxiao found it very strange.
"Let’s go check the rented courtyard."
When they arrived at the courtyard, they sensed that the atmosphere was off. As soon as they entered, they heard sobbing. Their parents and Yang Qiu were all crammed into Yang Dong’s room. What on earth was going on?
There lay Yang Dong, motionless, as if deep in slumber. Could it be that he was on his last breath? She had only been away for one day!
Anxiously, Xiaoxiao stepped forward and felt Yang Dong’s breath. Thankfully, he was still breathing. "Mother, what in the world happened?"
"Third Son, Third Daughter-in-law, you’re back at last. We can’t wake up your fourth brother no matter how hard we try!"
"..." Unable to wake him? A healthy person wouldn’t sleep so deeply. Something was definitely wrong, terribly wrong. It was as if he had been drugged into unconsciousness.
Xiaoxiao felt unsettled, as though some disaster was looming. Exchanging a glance with Yang Ming, they silently agreed to inspect everything inside the courtyard.
The courtyard seemed normal, with nothing out of the ordinary. Just as they were about to return to the room, Xiaoxiao suddenly tripped over something. Yang Ming immediately went to help her. "Xiaoxiao, are you all right?"
"I’m fine, I’m fine." Xiaoxiao quickly waved her hand.
Looking down, they saw a scattered small paper packet. "Yang Ming, what is that?"
Alerted by her voice, Yang Ming picked up the packet, examined it, and took a whiff, furrowing his brow. Just as he was about to speak, he heard his mother’s shout, "Third Son, Third Son, hurry, your fourth brother has woken up!"
Yang Ming quickly tucked the item into his pocket and went into the house with Xiaoxiao to ask what happened. "Fourth Brother, what’s up with you?"
"Why are you all here? I’ve just woken up from sleep! Eh, Mother, I’m so hungry!" Yang Dong rubbed his head, feeling confused; it was still a bit sore.
"..." It seemed their fourth brother was fine and probably didn’t know anything. They couldn’t get any information out of him. "Father, Mother, since there’s nothing wrong, why don’t you all go back? Xiaoxiao and I will take care of the courtyard!"
After the four people left the courtyard, "Yang Ming, what’s going on with fourth brother? Why do I feel like he was unconscious?"
"What exactly was in that packet we found just now!?"
"Xiaoxiao, we might have been sabotaged. Your fourth brother was drugged. Someone might have tampered with our pickled vegetables. That packet just now—it was rat poison!"
"..." Rat poison? That was lethal stuff. With all those pickled vegetables, if they were all poisoned, how much silver would they have to compensate! Then her hard work for the past two months had been for nothing.
Despite her easygoing nature, she was after all a woman. Even though she had anticipated this outcome, the shock overwhelmed her, and she passed out on the spot!
"Xiaoxiao, Xiaoxiao!"
"Xiaoxiao, Xiaoxiao!"
Seeing his wife suddenly collapse, Yang Ming caught her and kept calling her name incessantly, but she wouldn’t wake up. Panicked and unable to think of anything else, he carried her straight to their own home.
"Father, Mother, Father, Mother!"
The family was inside the house having a meal with the fourth son when they heard the voice of their third son and sensed something was wrong. They immediately went out, only to see their son carrying his wife into the house.
"Father, quickly find someone to go to town and fetch a doctor! Xiaoxiao has fainted!"
"..." How could she faint just like that?