Chapter 52: Laughingstock
Second Uncle Su shouted loudly: “Grandma, I can’t take it anymore, give it to her quickly!”
Grandpa Su was pale, clutching his stomach in agony: “Old lady, we’ve already given two taels of silver, one hundred copper coins more or less won’t matter. Ouch, I’m dying, I’m dying…”
“Grandma, I don’t want to die… wuwu… I won’t eat rabbit anymore…” Su Dabao cried sadly.
Grandma Su clutched her stomach, trembling as she took out a string of copper coins, cursing: “Second Uncle’s wife, you damned thief of an old woman, stirring up trouble for nothing to make Dabao steal that rabbit. This month, no, for two months, you’re not allowed to eat at the table. Ouch… it hurts…”
At this moment, her stomach hurt, but her chest hurt even more than her stomach.
Just for two rabbits, they lost two taels of silver and one hundred copper coins. How many rabbits could that buy!
Su Yaoguang took the money, weighed it in her hand, and walked out.
“Where’s the medicine? Give us the medicine quickly.” Grandma Su saw her leaving and moved to grab her, but Su Yaoguang dodged.
Su Yaoguang covered her mouth and nose, smiling as she said: “This minor illness doesn’t need medicine. Just find an outhouse and let it out. Hurry up, or you’ll soil your pants.”
“Then why did you take my one hundred copper coins!” Grandma Su glared at her with fierce eyes.
“The method is simple, but it’s still a prescription. If you go to a doctor, don’t they charge for seeing a patient and prescribing medicine?” Su Yaoguang said, “I’m off. Take your time.”
“Su Yaoguang, you wretch… ouch… I won’t let you get away… ouch…”
Su Yaoguang left Second Uncle Su’s courtyard smugly.
Passing by several households, a few shadows flickered, only emerging after she was far away, each looking warily at her back.
“See that? This little girl is not to be trifled with. Never provoke her.”
“We have no grudge against her or her mother. Why provoke them? But this little girl is really scary.”
Su Yaoguang handed the silver to Zhang Zhaodi.
Zhang Zhaodi put it in the box, smiling as she said: “See if they dare come to our house to steal things again. Daughter, you’re the clever one.”
“Mom, we need to hide this box well. Our home is too rundown; if a thief breaks in, we can’t guard against it. I think we should split it up and not keep it all in one place.”
“Yes, yes, Mom will divide it into several boxes and hide them in multiple places.” Zhang Zhaodi said, “Once we earn money, we’ll build a big house.”
“Let’s earn a bit more money, then rent a house in the city! Away from those wicked relatives, away from all these headaches.” Su Yaoguang said, “If we rent a house in the city, we can do business there. But this money isn’t enough; if we’re renting, let’s get a good location, with a shop in front and living quarters behind.”
“How much would that cost!” Zhang Zhaodi said, “What about our farmland?”
“As long as we can earn money, we’ll cheaply sell that bit of farmland to someone else. Mom, we’re two women; we can’t farm forever. We need to rely on other ways to make a living.”
The next morning, Su Yaoguang rented an ox cart to go to the city.
There was no market today, so to enter the city required renting separately.
She arrived at the ready-to-wear clothing shop, where Chun E was sighing. Seeing her come in, Chun E hurried over.
“Sorry, sister, my cousin’s marriage had a change; you came for nothing today.”
“What happened?” Su Yaoguang asked.
“Don’t mention it.” Chun E sighed, “She was supposed to marry today, but who knew the groom came last night to call off the wedding. It’s infuriating.”
“Sister, don’t be upset. Is there some misunderstanding?”
“What misunderstanding could there be? My cousin broke out in many pimples half a month ago. He must have heard about it and didn’t want to marry someone whose appearance was ruined, so he called off the marriage.”
“Didn’t you get a doctor to look?”
“The doctor saw her and gave a prescription. It worked; the pimples went away, but they left marks on her face that wouldn’t fade. She was such a fine young lady, but now with those marks on her face, it’s like she has smallpox scars. I wanted to ask you to use makeup technique to cover them and make her a beautiful bride, but now there’s no chance.”
Su Yaoguang comforted Chun E a few words, then since she was already there, went to the bookstore to pick some books. She chose some medical books, wanting to combine medical skill to make some beauty and skincare face cream.
“What a pitiful little girl, so young and selling herself to bury her father. So pitiful!”
“Brother Li, your family is well-off; buy her!”
“So ugly, what use would she be if I bought her?”
Su Yaoguang came out of the bookstore and saw many people gathered ahead. From their conversation, she learned the reason and went over to look.
A thin girl knelt there, with a stalk of grass in her hair. Behind her was a tattered mat rolled up; from the exposed feet, it was clear there was a corpse inside.
The girl hung her head, but the birthmark on half her face looked somewhat frightening.
“Too ugly, who would buy her?”
“Exactly.”
In front of the girl were the big words “selling myself to bury father,” with smaller words below as a self-introduction. Seeing the words “knows medical skill,” Su Yaoguang was shocked.
This handwriting looks familiar, and this introduction too.
“Can you lift your head?” Su Yaoguang asked.
“Yo, little girl, you’re a young lady yourself, and you want her to lift her head! Don’t tell me you’re buying her too?”
“No need to lift her head to see her face is hideously ugly!”
Hearing Su Yaoguang’s voice, the girl lifted her head, revealing a face half fair-skinned and half covered in black birthmark.
Su Yaoguang’s eyes were full of shock.
It was her.
Her best sister from her previous life, Jiang Jing.
In her previous life, when she met Jiang Jing, she was already the Top Scholar’s wife, and Jiang Jing was a somewhat famous female doctor. She had mentioned her life had been rough, but never said she’d sold herself to bury her father.
In her previous life, she revolved around Xiao Yanci all day and didn’t meet Jiang Jing early. This life, they met so much sooner.
“I’ll help you bury your father; come with me!” Su Yaoguang said.
Jiang Jing kowtowed to her: “Thank you, benefactor.”
“Don’t kneel; get up quickly.” Su Yaoguang helped Jiang Jing up. “Where do you plan to bury him?”
“We’re refugees, no home, no place to return to. I just want him laid to rest now.” Jiang Jing’s eyes were red, “It doesn’t matter where.”
Su Yaoguang and Jiang Jing were both girls; two people alone couldn’t handle the laying out, so they spent money at the charity hall to buy a coffin, then rented a funeral team with gongs and drums to bury Jiang Jing’s father.
After all this, it was getting late; they needed to return to the city. After Jiang Jing bid farewell to her late father, Su Yaoguang took her back to the city and rented a horse-drawn carriage to return to the village.
“Benefactor’s great kindness; Jiang Jing has nothing to repay it with but to serve as servant or maid. From now on, benefactor is Jiang Jing’s master, and Jiang Jing is benefactor’s servant.” Jiang Jing knelt in the carriage.
“None of that master-servant talk; I don’t do that. I saw how filial you are and couldn’t bear for you to be bought by someone with bad intentions, so I wanted to help. If you have nowhere to go, stay at my home; we’ll be sisters from now on. You’re younger than me, so I’ll call you younger sister. In the early years, it was just me and my mom depending on each other; seeing your situation with your father, I felt the same pity.” Su Yaoguang held Jiang Jing’s hand and said.
