Mrs. Chen hearing this started blaming Yun Jiao, rolled up her sleeves and stepped forward, spitting on the woman’s face, "Heartless stepmother!"
"Ah Tie got cured, not to mention others, all our neighbors are happy, yet you don’t pay the silver and even turn against us!"
"Our Yun Jiao heals people and still ends up being blamed?"
The woman wiped the spittle from her face, rolled up her sleeves, and seemed ready to fight with Mrs. Chen.
Mrs. Chen, with her thick brows raised and her hands on her hips, stared at her; when it comes to fighting, there’s no one in the village she feared.
At this moment, someone laughed and shouted, "Da Gen’s wife, you better not, you’re not a match for Sister Chen!"
"She hasn’t lost a fight in our village before."
The woman suddenly lost her steam, turned her head away, "Forget it, I can’t be bothered with you."
Shortly after, Zhao Lizheng was called over by someone.
Sun and her two daughters-in-law also came along to watch the commotion.
Ah Tie kneeled on the ground and bowed to Zhao Lizheng, who quickly said, "Child, get up and speak."
Ah Tie remained kneeling and bowed to everyone around, "Everyone here knows what kind of person I used to be."
"Ever since I got sick, I’ve seen countless doctors and taken countless medicines, but never got better."
"I knew I smelled bad; whenever I walked, I tried to avoid people as much as possible, fearing I’d bring discomfort to everyone."
Everyone nodded; someone said, "That’s true, Ah Tie is an aware child."
Ah Tie continued, "Later, my mother passed away, and my father remarried."
"Since my stepmother came in, I was driven out."
"From that time on, whenever my father thought of me, he’d send me a bowl of rice. If he forgot, I might not see a grain for three to five days."
"If not for the monks in the mountain temple taking pity on me and giving me food, I would have starved to death long ago."
Upon hearing this, everyone began to discuss, and Ah Tie’s father’s head lowered even more.
"It was Doctor Gu who saw my plight and cured me. It was like I was given a new life."
"Now I no longer smell bad; in the future, I want to live like a person."
"Today, I’m asking everyone to witness, and please ask Zhao Lizheng to help write a document; I want to sell myself to Doctor Gu, not asking for silver, I’ll be a slave to her this lifetime to repay her kindness."
Yun Jiao felt a tremor in her heart when she heard this.
Curing Ah Tie’s sores was merely a casual act for her, but she didn’t expect this child to be so grateful.
She was about to refuse when suddenly she narrowed her eyes.
Ah Tie’s stepmother looked utterly mean, clearly no good person at first glance.
Besides—she’s had a son!
Looking at the two-year-old child beside the woman, even if Ah Tie’s illness was cured, life in this household would not be pleasant; he’d likely be hungry and cold.
She was planning to go to the Prefecture City and open a medicine shop once Jiang Youzhi’s leg healed.
A medicine shop needed an assistant.
An assistant in the medicine shop is different from other shops; they need to recognize words and understand medicine!
It’s said Ah Tie’s mother cherished him, that he was the only child she had, and she had valued his education; he had studied for two years, reading should not be an issue.
Training him would make a perfect assistant.
If Ah Tie followed her as a medicine shop assistant, at the least, he’d never worry about food and clothing for the rest of his life.
When grown up, he could even marry a wife.
Thinking like this, Yun Jiao remained silent.
The more she looked at Ah Tie, the more satisfied she felt; he knows gratitude, and such a person can be trusted.