Chapter 217: Old Flame
Zhang Yingdi sized up Meng Xiaoya and nodded, saying, “I know. He wasn’t in good health before and couldn’t even get out of the wheelchair. Unless someone came to visit him, he wouldn’t see outsiders. I’ve taken care of him for so many years and haven’t seen you. I know you haven’t been in contact for a long time.”
Su Yaoguang gave Zhang Yingdi a thumbs up in her heart.
It turned out that her maternal aunt wasn’t a soft persimmon either. She was quite capable of dealing with this kind of woman who appeared pure on the outside but was scheming. Look, with this one sentence, if she had any sense of shame, she should know not to come and pester anymore.
Meng Xiaoya’s eyes reddened, and she said aggrievedly, “I know Brother Huanzhi has had a hard time these years, but as a woman, I can’t decide things for myself. Wuwu…”
Wang Huanzhi came out with Jiang Jing and saw Meng Xiaoya crying like a pear blossom in rain, while Zhang Yingdi’s expression was very unpleasant. He asked, “What’s wrong?”
“It’s nothing, nothing.” Meng Xiaoya looked nervous and uneasy.
Zhang Yingdi rolled her eyes: “She said you two haven’t been in contact for years. I said I know, after all, I’ve taken care of you for ten years and haven’t seen her. Then she started crying there, and I don’t know what she’s crying about. Our Peach Blossom Workshop is a place for doing business. We can’t stand crying sounds; it feels inauspicious. You tell your old acquaintance that if she wants to cry, she should go somewhere else and not cause trouble for us here.”
Wang Huanzhi looked at Meng Xiaoya: “Xiaoya, the child will be fine. You don’t need to be so anxious. This is Doctor Jiang. Let her take a look at the child!”
Jiang Jing said to Meng Xiaoya, “Take the child to the consultation room inside.”
“Brother Huanzhi, can you accompany me? I’m afraid.”
“I…” Wang Huanzhi looked at Zhang Yingdi, then turned back and said, “Xiaoya, Doctor Jiang is also a woman. You can tell her anything directly. There’s nothing women can’t say to each other. After all, I’m an outsider and shouldn’t always pry into your family matters. If you’re short of silver, as a fellow townsman and neighbor, I’ll lend it to you. You can pay it back whenever you have it.”
“Brother Huanzhi, are you still blaming me?” Meng Xiaoya choked up.
“I don’t blame you. Everyone has the power to choose happiness.” After Wang Huanzhi finished speaking, he chased after Zhang Yingdi. “Madam… what do you want to move? Let me do it.”
Meng Xiaoya watched Wang Huanzhi’s figure, her eyes full of unwillingness.
Wang Huanzhi’s body had recovered very well. Now he had gone to take the local imperial examination, and it wouldn’t be long before he became a Juren scholar master.
As for her, not to mention that she had just been widowed, even if she hadn’t, she had been beaten black and blue by that man all over her body these years.
She and Wang Huanzhi were childhood sweethearts who grew up together, and their feelings were very good before. If Wang Huanzhi’s body hadn’t had problems, it would be her by his side now.
Ever since marrying that man, Meng Xiaoya had regretted it every single day. That man had said nice things before the wedding ceremony, but once he had her, he immediately changed his face.
Everyone knew about her previous engagement to Wang Huanzhi. At that time, everyone said they were a golden boy and jade girl. The man she married also knew about it and said he didn’t mind, but after marriage, he always used it as an excuse to torment her, making her suffer unspeakably.
Since fate had toyed with her, now it should let her return to her rightful place.
As for that woman, she didn’t believe Brother Huanzhi really liked her. When Brother Huanzhi liked her back then, he wished to see her every moment and was very warm and sincere. Brother Huanzhi wasn’t like that with that woman—no such passionate feelings, calm like a pool of stagnant water, as if just going through the motions of daily life.
“Qiao’er’s mother, Qiao’er’s mother…” Jiang Jing called to Meng Xiaoya.
Meng Xiaoya came back to her senses and asked, “How is my daughter?”
“How long has she been burning like this without the fever going down?”
“Two days.”
“Two days and you only brought her to see a doctor now?”
“I didn’t want to, but there was no silver at home, and no doctor was willing to see my daughter.” Meng Xiaoya’s eyes reddened. “Doctor, how is my daughter?”
“She’s too hot right now and needs to have her fever brought down first, or her brain will be damaged.” While Jiang Jing spoke, she wrote a prescription, then said to Jia Chunni, “Take this prescription to get the medicine. After getting it, arrange for a shop assistant to decoct it. We’ll use this medicinal soup to bathe the child and see if we can get her fever down sooner.”
“Okay.”
Meng Xiaoya held the little girl in her arms tightly and wouldn’t let go: “Doctor, she won’t be burned into an idiot, right?”
“Don’t hold her so tightly. Also, you’ve dressed her too much. You should take off a few layers of clothes; just put the outer garment on properly. She’s this hot, and you’re wrapping her up like a furnace. How can she dissipate the heat?”
Zhang Yingdi moved the goods out from the warehouse.
Wang Huanzhi helped move the goods nearby.
Actually, they didn’t need to do this kind of chore at all. The shop had so many shop assistants who could do the heavy labor, but at this moment, Zhang Yingdi just wanted to avoid it to spare herself the embarrassment.
She wasn’t really indifferent.
That woman’s words were deliberately meant to stimulate her, and of course she knew it and knew how to retort. But after retorting, she felt herself become so pitiful.
That was her husband, yet she was arguing with an unrelated person about who was in her husband’s heart.
“Husband…” Zhang Yingdi put down the things in her hands and looked at Wang Huanzhi.
She had made up her mind.
She wouldn’t wait for the local imperial examination results.
Anyway, this matter would have to be said sooner or later, so it might as well be said early to give him his freedom and spare him the difficulty.
“Let’s divorce!”
The thing in Wang Huanzhi’s hand slipped and fell, smashing onto his foot.
“Ah…” He felt the pain.
“Are you okay?” Zhang Yingdi quickly supported him. “This cargo is very heavy. How could you be so careless? Quickly take off your shoe so I can see if it’s injured.”
Wang Huanzhi grabbed Zhang Yingdi, his pale face full of pain: “It hurts so much… I think my bone is broken.”
“Someone… someone…” Zhang Yingdi shouted loudly.
The shop assistant heard the sound and hurried over.
“Third manager, what’s wrong?”
“My husband is injured. Quickly carry him out to Doctor Jiang.”
The shop assistant hurriedly carried Wang Huanzhi and strode outside.
Wang Huanzhi shouted in his mouth: “Madam, it hurts so much… Madam, where are you?”
“Stop shouting. I’m right behind you.” Zhang Yingdi said.
Su Yaoguang saw them rushing over in a panic, with Wang Huanzhi keep shouting in pain and Zhang Yingdi’s face deathly pale. She asked, “What happened?”
“Your uncle-in-law accidentally smashed his foot while moving cargo. One box of goods weighs dozens of pounds, and he’s a frail scholar just recovering from a serious illness. Who knows if this will cause problems.”
Su Yaoguang thought about the goods in the box and imagined the scene of it falling on the foot. She muttered to herself, “Although that cargo is packed full, they’re all small boxes, at most fifteen pounds per box. It shouldn’t be enough to cripple someone, right?”
