After lunch, Yue Chang Lu drove an ox cart and pulled a cart full of rice to the rice drying yard. There was a large drying yard in the middle of Cuifeng Village. In order to avoid any neighborhood disputes during the harvest every year, Cuifeng Village had stipulated the use range of the grain drying yard a few years ago. It was divided according to the amount of field each household had. Since Yue Family owned a lot of fields and Yue Da Fu had some face in the clan, the place for drying the grain was also quite large.
At this time, most of the grain were drying on the drying yard. Yue Chang Lu unloaded the grain from the ox cart and spread it out evenly on their own drying area for sun-drying. Then he looked back at You Zhu and You Luo and said solemnly: "If our family have one less grain, you two can eat one less meal. Understand?"
That's right. Grain-stealing incident had happened in the village before. So when Yue Chang Lu pulled the grain over, Yue Da Fu got him to bring You Zhu and You Luo, who was picking up rice ears in the field, here to watch the rice on the drying yard.
You Zhu held You Luo in one hand and nodded, "I understand."
In fact, You Zhu's temperament was the most like You Jin among the younger sisters. Compared with the younger sisters with easy tear ducts, You Zhu gritted her teeth and endured it even when she was beaten black and blue all over the body. Normally, she can help take care of the few younger sisters. So, You Jin felt relatively reassured.
After watching Yue Chang Lu lead the ox cart away, You Zhu continued to hold the sleepy You Luo who continuously rubbed her eyes with one hand and found a shady place to sit down: "Little Eighth, come and sleep next to Elder Sister."
You Luo was so sleepy that her little head kept nodding off. After hearing what Fifth Elder Sister said, she nodded obediently: "En!"
Then she sat on the ground next to You Zhu, laid on her side, and fell asleep after a short while.
You Zhu grabbed a big leaf in her hand and gently fanned You Luo to repel mosquitoes, while watching the grain that was being roasted by the sun on the drying yard in boredom. She was also a little sleepy, but she didn't dare to sleep. If she fell asleep, someone might come to steal their family's grain.
***
Yue Wen Wei merrily went to the mountain with his friends to find wild fruits to eat during the high noon. He circled around the foot of the mountain a few times but didn't even find a single ripe fruit. He returned with his few friends in disappointment. When passing by the drying yard, one of them nudged Yue Wen Wei with his elbow: "Wen Wei, aren't those two over there your second uncle's money-wasting things?"
Because of their relationship with Yue Wen Wei, the half-grown boys in the village, who were loose mouth like him, called You Jin and her sisters like this behind their backs. Yue Wen Wei was displeased about not picking any fruit. So when he heard Er Gou Zi mentioned his second uncle's money-wasting things, he casually glanced over and discovered that it was actually that stinky girl Yue You Zhu. He suddenly became interested, waved at the half-grown boys with a slight malicious smirk: "Let's go. We'll scare them!"
While coaxing her sister to sleep, You Zhu idly yawned. She didn't realize that the danger was coming quietly from behind: Yue Wen Wei and the others quietly snuck to a distance at You Zhu's behind and then grabbed some parasa consocia from the tree with a wooden stick. Looking at the black barbs at four corner around the wriggling parasa consocia, Yue Wen Wei revealed a wicked smile.
On the other hand, the boys who were with him hesitated: "Wen Wei, if one get stung by a parasa consocia, it will hurt for a long time. How about we just scare them."
After all, they were little girls. As men, it was a little embarrassing to bullying little girls.
Yue Wen Wei glanced at them with some contempt: "What? Are you afraid? No masculinity at all!"
Half-grown lads cared about this so called masculinity the most. Unable to swallow this breath, they patted their chest and stated, "Who said I don't dare!"
Yue Wen Wei let out a snort and responded, "If you really have the gut, then go and catch a parasa consocia. Let's go scare them together!" The few boys moved quickly. In few moves, they jumped up the tree and after a while, they got their hand on parasa consocia. Silently, they approached behind You Zhu.
"WAA!" Yue Wen Wei first shouted toward You Zhu's back. As expected, You Zhu turned around in response. Before she could react, Yue Wen Wei took the lead. The four-five boys threw their stick over!
You Zhu's face was stung by the first parasa consocia thrown by Yue Wen Wei. A fiery sting erupted. You Zhu gritted her teeth and endured the pain and hurriedly threw herself on You Luo. Thanks to those boys's pause, they threw it out half-beat later. Most of the remaining four parasa consocia fell on You Zhu's back. Only one fell on You Luo because she rolled up her trouser and the exposed her leg. In midst of her sleep, You Luo was awakened by the sudden burning pain and instantly began to sob: "Fifth Elder Sister! It hurts! It hurts!"
You Luo's cry attracted people who were also guarding the grain nearby. The two elderly auntie saw that the few boys were bullying the two little girls from Yue Family and hurriedly used a cane to drive them away: "Don't you know shame!? A group of half-grown lads bullying two little girls!"
Yue Wen Wei's goal had been achieved, however his original plan was to watch You Zhu making a fool of herself. Unexpectedly, the two old aunties came to chase them away, so he made a face at them: With a whoosh, he took the lead and ran away. When the boys saw him running away, they all dispersed. Leaving only You Zhu, who had been stung by parasa consocia in many places and fainted with pain, and You Luo, who was howling.
Seeing that something wasn't right, the two old auntie hurriedly approached to take a look. They noticed that there were a good few parasa consocia slowly wriggling on You Zhu's back. An old auntie surnamed Zhang first used a stick to push away all the parasa consocia on her body and then the other old aunt, surnamed Zhou, turned You Zhu over. She saw You Zhu's left cheek had been stung swollen and red all over by the parasa consocia. It looked particularly scary!
At this time, You Luo couldn't care about her pain anymore. She grabbed You Zhu's arm in a panic: "Fifth Elder Sister! Fifth Elder Sister!"
Auntie Zhang saw how terrible the situation was and she reached out and called her granddaughter who was with her in the drying yard: "Go to Yue's house and find You Jin! Say something happened to her family's Little Fifth and Little Eighth!"
It was no secret that the Yue Family's second branch's several granddaughters weren't favored. Auntie Zhang naturally knew that if old Mrs. Chen was fetched, she will definitely ignore it.
"Ai!" A seven-year-old girl ran fast. So she disappeared in a blink of an eye.
You Luo was half-kneeling on the ground and crying so much that her tears were flowing: "Fifth Elder Sister! Fifth Elder Sister, wake up!"
You Luo didn't know what happened. Only that she was suddenly woken up from her sleep from pain. Then she heard the familiar sound of laughter from Third Elder Cousin Brother from Eldest Uncle's family. But why did Fifth Elder Sister suddenly faint?
Auntie Zhou had seen a child in their village who was stung by a parasa consocia and was in a coma for a few days before finally passing away. So looking at You Zhu's appearance, she was a little afraid of getting involved. She didn't say anything and moved away.
Auntie Zhang glanced at her disapprovingly. They were all from the same village. Something happened to a child! How could she ignore after seeing? First, she got to coax You Luo. She softly spoke to her, "Little Eighth, do you remember where Doctor Ma's house is?"
You Luo tilted her head. She recalled the Doctor Ma who grinned all day and then nodded vigorously: "En! Little Eighth knows!"
"Little Eighth is really amazing. Now your Fifth Elder Sister has fainted, Granny Zhang got to guard your fifth sister here. Can you go to Doctor Ma's house and fetch him? As long as Dr. Ma comes, your Fifth Elder Sister can wake up!" Mrs. Zhang looked at Little Eighth kindly and continued to coax: "Little Eighth is already four years old. You can go and find Doctor Ma, right?"
Little Eighth wiped away the tears on her face and tremblingly stood up while supporting herself up with the stone on the edge of the drying yard. Then she nodded and responded, "Little Eighth will go find Doctor Ma!"
Then she turned around and limped towards Doctor Ma's house.
Back to Mrs. Zhang's youngest granddaughter, Xiao Ke. She quickly ran to Yue's house, but did not find You Jin. Only saw You Bao sitting at the gate of the courtyard holding Little Ninth. Xiao Ke stood in front of You Bao with her hands on waist as she gasped for breath: "You Bao, where, where is your Third Elder Sister..."
You Bao was a little confused and asked suspiciously, "Why are you looking for Third Elder Sister? Third Elder Sister isn't at home. She's harvesting rice in the field in the west of the village!"
Xiao Ke managed to catch her breath and swallowed hard to moisten her hoarse voice: "It's your Fifth Elder Sister and Little Eighth. They got bullied at the drying yard. My grandmother told me to come find your Third Elder Sister! "
As soon as You Bao heard that Fifth Elder Sister and Little Eight were bullied, she anxiously stood up: "Who bullied them?"
Xiao Ke shook her head: "I don't know either. My grandmother told me to come here."
She was standing in front of her own drying yard at the time. From far, she saw a few boys laughing over there, but she didn't see clearly who they were.
You Bao looked at Little Ninth who had just fallen asleep in her arms and felt a little clueless. She looked at Xiao Ke with pleading eyes: "Xiao Ke, can you help me find Third Elder Sister? My mother's health isn't great. And Little Ninth has been a little well these two days. I can't leave them alone..."
Xiao Ke nodded: "Okay, then I'll quickly go find your Third Elder Sister."
After that, she jogged all the way to the west of the village to find You Jin.
Back to this end, You Luo stumbled all the way and had actually found Doctor Ma's house. Standing outside the door of Doctor Ma's house, You Luo raised her little hand and patted the wooden door hard: "Doctor Ma! Doctor Ma! Is Doctor Ma at home?"
When Doctor Ma was a young man, he worked in the county town and had saved some savings. The few acres of land bought by his family were rented out for others to plant. So he had no land to farm. Doctor Ma was taking a lunch break at home and snoozing when heard someone calling from outside. He got up at once and went to open the door to find a little girl who was only three or four years old crying. So he squatted down and stretched out his hand to dry the tears on her face. He asked in a gentle voice, "Whose baby are you? Why did you come here?"
"Fifth Elder Sister fainted, in the drying yard. Granny Zhang said, to find Doctor Ma, and Fifth Elder Sister will wake up soon..." Little Eighth cried as she ran all the way. She chokingly uttered the majority of Mrs. Zhang's words.
Doctor Ma initially had a smile on his face, thinking it was just a naughty child. But when he heard that someone fainted, he immediately stood up: "You wait here. Doctor Ma is getting the medicine box."