Gu Jiao bent down, picked up the crutch lying on the ground with her left hand, and offered it to Xiao Liulang.
Xiao Liulang tepidly took the crutch and hobbled to his feet.
He was about to grab the overturned bucket on the ground.
"You go." Gu Jiao told Gu Xiaoshun.
"Okay." Gu Xiaoshun trotted over first, picked up the water bucket before Xiao Liulang could
"Go get water." Gu Jiao told Gu Xiaoshun.
"Go get water!" Gu Xiaoshun beckoned a minion.
The thug's mouth twitched; he dubiously grabbed the water bucket and left to fetch water.
Xiao Liulang walked away expressionlessly without uttering a single word throughout the entire exchange.
It wasn't until he had walked quite a distance away that Gu Xiaoshun spoke again: "Sis, what happened? Don't dislike him anymore? And sis, how did you get so strong? What was the move just now? Show it to me again! I also want to try it!"
Gu Jiao shot him an icy glare.
Gu Xiaoshun shut up resentfully.
"Boss! Here's the water!" The thug quickly returned with a bucket full of water.
"Now take it back for my sister... cough." In the face of Gu Jiao's menacing stare, Gu Xiaoshun intercepted the water bucket, "It's fine, give it to me. Okay, everyone else, disperse!"
"But we're supposed to hit the neighboring village later..."
"What are you hitting! Scram! Get the hell outta here!"
The thugs dispersed.
Gu Xiaoshun grinned at Gu Jiao: "Sis, don't be angry. If you don't dislike my brother-in-law anymore, I won't bully him in the future."
"You bully him a lot?" Gu Jiao asked.
Gu Xiaoshun scratched his head: "Not...not often, just three or four times a month—four or five? Five, six, seven, eight?"
The more he went on, the quieter he got. He had a poor memory and didn't know how many times he'd bullied him.
"Let's go home." Gu Jiao suggested.
"Hey!" Gu Xiaoshun chuckled, hoisting the water bucket to follow behind Gu Jiao.
Suddenly, he paused, looking at Gu Jiao's rigid right arm: "Sis, is your hand injured?"
"It's nothing." Gu Jiao assured.
"What do you mean it's nothing! You're bleeding!" Gu Xiaoshun put down the bucket, grabbed Gu Jiao's arm, rolled up her sleeve, and saw a patch of red on her right wrist. "Was that from my stick just now?"
"I said it's nothing." Gu Jiao withdrew her hand.
"And what happened to your head?"
"I hit it when I fell into the water."
The wound was hidden under her hair, how sharp were this kid's eyes?
Gu Xiaoshun queried again, "You fell into the water? When did that happen?"
Gu Jiao walked away without looking back.
"Hey! Sis! Sis! Wait for me!"
When Gu Xiaoshun followed Gu Jiao home, he was amazed to see a young scholar standing at the door of the house. The newcomer was dressed in a long gown, cultured and elegant, with a somewhat arrogant expression between his brows.
"Who are you? What are you doing at my sister's house?" Gu Xiaoshun demanded, hands on his hips.
The newcomer didn't pay any attention to Gu Xiaoshun; instead, he stared at Gu Jiao coldly, "Did you let Xiao Liulang get bullied again? You vile woman!"
"You dare insult my sister?" Gu Xiaoshun dropped the water bucket, he raised his fist and lunged at the offender.
Notwithstanding he's only thirteen, he was actually pretty good in a fight; otherwise, he wouldn't be the number one thug in the area.
A weak scholar clearly stood no chance against him.
"Xiaoshun." Gu Jiao stopped him.
Almost simultaneously, Xiao Liulang, now changed into clean clothes, emerged from a room adjacent.
"My classmate." Xiao Liulang introduced the intruder to Gu Jiao and Gu Xiaoshun.
The classmate scoffed dismissively, walked over to support Xiao Liulang, and took the weighty parcel from his hands. "Let's go!"
Upon seeing Xiao Liulang with his belongings, Gu Xiaoshun was taken aback: "Where are you guys going?"
Were they really leaving because he'd hit them?
The classmate had no interest in addressing Gu Xiaoshun.
Gu Jiao didn't question further, she just silently walked into the room.
As she brushed past Xiao Liulang, he caught a glimpse of her stiff right hand.
Gu Jiao quickly used her sleeve to cover her hand, obscuring the fresh blood dripping down her wrist.
Despite having gone inside, Gu Jiao overheard the cold voice of Xiao Liulang from behind: "I'm going to the town."
"To treat your leg?" Gu Jiao asked involuntarily.
For some reason, Gu Jiao thought of that dream, she didn't really believe in it, but...
"Are you having an exam in three days?" Gu Jiao looked at him.
A light flicker of surprise passed through Xiao Liulang's eyes, but he nodded nonetheless: "...Yeah."
The classmate grumbled in displeasure, "Why are you telling her these things? Be careful she'll stop you from going! Have you forgotten how you missed your last exam because of her? And your leg, if she hadn't locked you at home, you wouldn't have missed out on Dr. Zhang!"
Gu Jiao turned to look at Gu Xiaoshun.
She couldn't recall any of these incidents.
Gu Xiaoshun pointed at his nose and said, "Can you even talk? What do you mean my sister stopped him from going? My sister got sick, it was not right for him to abandon my sister right after they got married, right?"
When this was brought up, Gu Jiao remembered that the original owner did fall ill shortly after their marriage, but it wasn't a real illness, she was pretending. Because someone told her that if Xiao Liulang left, he wouldn't come back and she would become a young widow like Xue Ningxiang.
She didn't want to become a young widow, so she confined Xiao Liulang at home.
She didn't know that Xiao Liulang had missed the exam of six months ago and his only chance to treat his leg because of this.
Gu Jiao looked at Xiao Liulang's leg, "Well, here's the thing ..."
"Brother Xiao, let's go! The carriage is still waiting at the entrance of the village!" The classmate interrupted Gu Jiao's words and led Xiao Liulang toward the entrance of the village without a second glance.
"I want Osmanthus Cake!" Gu Jiao suddenly stepped forward, looking at Xiao Liulang, "From Liji! Only their house! If you don't bring it back for me, I won't let you in! Then I'll burn all your books!"
"Vile woman!" The classmate gritted his teeth and helped Xiao Liulang into an old horse-drawn carriage at the village entrance. "Brother Xiao, don't listen to her! Liji's is a well-known store, their Osmanthus Cake is very hard to get! By the time you finish buying, Dr. Zhang will have left! He is a doctor from the Capital City, more formidable than the town's doctors, only he can cure your leg, you mustn't be held back by that vile woman!"
"That's my sister, she should boss him around like this!" Gu Xiaoshun gave Gu Jiao a big thumbs-up.
Gu Jiao rubbed her forehead, "Do you know where the marketplace is?"
Gu Xiaoshun nodded: "I know, sis. Why do you ask? Are you going? What for?"
"To sell chicken."
"Chicken? Sis, where did you get chicken?"
"Wild chicken."
She didn't mention that she had forcibly pocketed it as consultation fee.
Gu Xiaoshun took it for granted that his sister had caught them herself: "Sis, I've found you've changed, you're more amazing than before!"
It wasn't that she wasn't silly anymore, but that she was even more formidable than before. In Gu Xiaoshun's mind, he had never treated the original owner as an idiot.
Gu Xiaoshun told her the direction of the marketplace - the marketplace and the medical hall were both located in the town, only on opposite sides - one in the west and the other in the east.
Gu Xiaoshun insisted on accompanying her, but Gu Jiao declined.
The Gu family didn't like Gu Xiaoshun being too close to Gu Jiao and said that Gu Jiao, being foolish, would influence him the same way.
Gu Jiao went back to her room, opened the first aid kit, took out iodine to clean the wound, and then applied some antibacterial ointment.
She was really hungry.
Gu Jiao went to the kitchen.