Chapter 52: Laughingstock
Uncle Su shouted, "Mother, I can’t take it anymore, just give it to her!"
Grandpa Su’s face was bloodless, clutching his stomach in agony: "Old woman, we already gave her two taels of silver, another hundred cents doesn’t make much difference. Oh, I’m dying, I’m dying..."
"Grandma, I don’t want to die... boo hoo... I won’t eat rabbit again..." Su Dabao cried sadly.
Grandma Su held her stomach, trembling, and took out a string of copper coins, cursing: "You damned woman, daughter-in-law of my second son, enticing Dabao to steal rabbits for no reason. This month, no, two months, you’re not allowed at the table. Ouch... the pain..."
At that moment, her stomach was in pain, but her heart ached even more.
For just these two rabbits, they lost two taels of silver and a hundred cents, how many rabbits could they have eaten!
Su Yaoguang collected the money, weighed it, and walked away.
"Where’s the medicine? Hurry and give us the medicine." Grandma Su, seeing her about to leave, gestured to grab her but was evaded by Su Yaoguang.
Su Yaoguang covered her mouth and nose, and said with a smile, "This little illness doesn’t need medicine, you just need to go to the outhouse. Hurry up, or you’ll soil your pants."
"Then why did you charge me a hundred cents!" Grandma Su glared at her, her eyes fierce.
"The method may be simple, but it’s still a prescription. If you go to see a doctor, don’t you have to pay for diagnosis and prescription?" Su Yaoguang said, "I’m leaving, take your time."
"Su Yaoguang, you damn girl... ouch... I won’t let you get away with this... ouch..."
Su Yaoguang left Uncle Su’s yard triumphantly.
As she passed by several households, a few figures flashed, and seeing her walk away, they emerged, each looking at her back warily.
"Did you see that? This little girl is not to be messed with, never provoke her."
"We have no grudges, why provoke her and her mother? But this little girl is truly frightening."
Su Yaoguang handed the silver to Zhang Zhaodi.
Zhang Zhaodi put it in the box, smiling: "Let’s see if they dare steal from our house again. Daughter, you really have a way."
"Mother, you must hide this box well. Our family is too dilapidated, if a thief breaks in, there’s no way to guard against it. I think it’s better to separate the money, don’t hide it in one place."
"Yes, yes, Mother will split it into several boxes and hide them in different places," Zhang Zhaodi said. "When we make more money, we can build a big house."
"Let’s earn a bit more and then rent a house in the city! Far from troublesome relatives, far from these annoyances," Su Yaoguang said. "If we rent a house in the city, we can do business there. But this money isn’t enough yet; we should rent a good location, with a shop in front and residence in the back."
"How much money do we need for that!" Zhang Zhaodi said, "What about our fields?"
"As long as we can make money, we can sell these fields cheaply to others. Mother, we’re two women, we can’t farm for a lifetime, we need to rely on other businesses."
The next morning, Su Yaoguang rented an ox cart to go to the city.
Today wasn’t market day, so she had to rent it privately to get to the city.
Upon arriving at the clothing shop, Chun E was sighing there. Seeing Su Yaoguang come in, she quickly came over.
"I’m sorry, sister, my cousin’s wedding plans changed, I made you come for nothing today."
"What happened?" Su Yaoguang asked.
"Don’t mention it," Chun E sighed, "The wedding was supposed to be today, but who knew the groom backed out last night, it’s infuriating."
"Sister, don’t be angry, maybe there’s a misunderstanding?"
"What misunderstanding could there be? My cousin developed many pimples half a month ago, he must have heard and didn’t want to marry someone with a damaged appearance, so he broke off the engagement."
"Didn’t you see a doctor?"
"The doctor checked, gave her a prescription, and after taking it, there were effects, the pimples were gone, but her face was left with marks that won’t disappear. A perfectly fine young lady, now with marks on her face, looks like she’s got pockmarks. I originally wanted to ask you to use makeup technique to cover it up, make her a beautiful bride, now there’s no chance."
Su Yaoguang comforted Chun E for a few moments, thinking she wouldn’t visit for nothing, she went to the bookshop to select some books. She chose some medical books, intending to create beauty and skincare face creams by combining medical techniques.
"Such a poor little girl, selling herself to bury her father at such a young age, truly pitiful!"
"Brother Li, you’re well-off, why don’t you buy her?"
"She’s so ugly, what use is she?"
As Su Yaoguang left the bookshop, she noticed a crowd ahead. Based on their conversation, she understood and went over to take a look.
A thin girl knelt there, with a blade of grass stuck in her hair. Behind her lay a tattered mat rolled up, and from the exposed foot, it was clear there was a corpse inside.
The girl hung her head, but the birthmark covering half her face looked a bit frightening.
"Too ugly, who would buy her?"
"Exactly."
The words "selling herself to bury her father" were written before the girl. Below those large words was a small self-introduction. When she saw the words "skilled in medicine," Su Yaoguang was astonished.
These words seemed familiar, and so did the introduction.
"Can you lift your head?" Su Yaoguang asked.
"Oh, little girl, you’re a girl too, and you want her to lift her head? Are you thinking of buying her?"
"No need to lift her head to see how terribly ugly she is!"
The girl heard Su Yaoguang’s voice and lifted her head, revealing a face half white and half covered with a dark birthmark.
Su Yaoguang’s eyes were filled with shock.
It was her.
Her best friend from her previous life, Jiang Jing.
In her past life, when she met Jiang Jing, she was already the Champion Scholar’s wife, and Jiang Jing was a well-known female doctor. She mentioned her difficult past but never mentioned selling herself to bury her father.
In her previous life, she spent her days revolving around Xiao Yanci and didn’t meet Jiang Jing early. Yet, in this life, they met so much earlier.
"I’ll help you bury your father, you come with me!" Su Yaoguang said.
Jiang Jing kowtowed to her: "Thank you, benefactor."
"Stop kneeling, get up," Su Yaoguang helped Jiang Jing up. "Where do you plan to bury him?"
"We’re refugees, with no home, no place to return to. I only want him to rest peacefully in the earth," Jiang Jing said with reddened eyes, "It doesn’t matter where."
Both Su Yaoguang and Jiang Jing were girls, so handling a burial themselves wasn’t possible. They spent money to buy a coffin from a public charity and rented a funeral team to carry out the ceremony for Jiang Jing’s father.
After this ordeal, it was getting late, and they had to hurry back to the city. Once Jiang Jing finished bidding farewell to her deceased father, Su Yaoguang took her back to the city and rented a carriage to return to the village.
"This great kindness, Jiang Jing has no way to repay, except to serve you as a slave to express my gratitude. From now on, you will be my master, and I will be your servant," Jiang Jing said, kneeling in the carriage.
"No talk of masters and servants, I don’t practice that. I was touched by your filial piety and didn’t want you to be bought by someone with bad intentions, so I wanted to help you. If you have nowhere to go, stay at my house, and we’ll be sisters. You’re younger than me, so I’ll call you sister. In the past, it was only me and my mother supporting each other, and seeing you and your father’s situation made me feel a shared misfortune," Su Yaoguang said, holding Jiang Jing’s hand.