Seeing Zhou Xiaowei's face blush to the root of his ears, Chuntao finally reacted to what he had just said, and her small face immediately turned thoroughly red.
She felt extremely awkward, and recalling the words Zhou Xiaowei had said to her on the way back from Qingshan Street that day, her heartbeat couldn't help but accelerate.
Zhou Xiaowei wasn't a bad person, but he was careless and outspoken. Chuntao thought he was just saying it without intention, and didn't think about it in any other way.
To ease the awkwardness, she struggled to stand up from the stool, "Xiaowei, sorry to trouble you!"
"No trouble, Sister-in-law Chuntao, Brother Jieshi is in poor health, just call me if you have any work to do in the future!"
Zhou Xiaowei raised his hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead, looking at Chuntao's flushed face, he wanted to say something more, but suddenly heard a messy sound of footsteps and talking outside.
Chuntao's heart tightened, and she quickly walked to the door of the kitchen to look outside.
She saw Zhou Zhijun pulling a wheelbarrow, with a person lying on it, who was exactly Wang Jieshi. His head and body were covered in blood, his eyes were tightly closed, and it was unknown whether he was dead or alive.
A group of laborers and Liu Cuilan and her daughter followed behind the wheelbarrow, and also hurriedly walked into the yard.
Seeing this, Zhou Xiaowei quickly walked out. Zhou Zhijun turned his head and caught a glimpse of him, his eyes colder than icicles, and Zhou Xiaowei couldn't help but shiver.
Aunt Zhou and Old Man Zhou also rushed over upon hearing the news. Seeing Wang Jieshi on the wheelbarrow, their hearts instantly jumped to their throats.
Wang Chunxiao was coming out of the kitchen with a rice bowl in her hand. Seeing this battle formation, she immediately shouted at the top of her lungs, "What's wrong? What happened?"
With this shout, the neighbors in the front and back yards all heard it and ran over here.
Chuntao stood at the door of the kitchen, expressionless, her whole body stiff, not knowing what she should do.
"You jinx! Jieshi is already like this, what are you still standing there for? Hurry up and call Zhao Qingjiang!"
Liu Cuilan looked at Chuntao at the door of the kitchen and roared fiercely.
Hearing this, Zhou Xiaowei quickly said, "I'll go call Uncle Qingjiang!" Saying that, he ran out of the yard and went straight to Zhao Qingjiang's house.
Seeing Chuntao standing motionless at the door like a fool, Aunt Zhou quickly went over to support her and helped her sit down on the stool in the kitchen.
She then poured a bowl of hot water from the thermos flask and handed it to her, "Drink some water to warm your body, you can't help much either, I'll go take a look!"
Several laborers hurriedly carried Wang Jieshi to the bed in the inner room, and here Zhao Qingjiang also came over with his medicine box, following Zhou Xiaowei.
Zhao Qingjiang was just a barefoot doctor. Seeing Wang Jieshi injured so severely, he was also a bit dumbfounded, and quickly asked, "How did this happen? Injured so badly?"
Wang Haichao intermittently told Zhao Qingjiang the process of Wang Jieshi falling into the ditch. Upon hearing this, Zhao Qingjiang's brows instantly twisted into a big knot.
He first checked Wang Jieshi's pulse, then flipped open his eyelids and took a look, shook his head and said, "Why didn't you go to the commune health center? The conditions here are limited!"
Liu Cuilan quickly said, "It's not worth going to the health center, you just prescribe some medicine and put up an IV drip and it'll be fine!"
"I have no certainty that I can make him wake up!" Zhao Qingjiang felt afraid in his heart.
Who in the village didn't know Liu Cuilan's temper? If anything untoward happened to Wang Jieshi, she would definitely extort him.
"Just treat him! Whether he wakes up or not depends on his good fortune, it has nothing to do with you!" Liu Cuilan hurriedly urged.
Wang Xiaohong was so anxious that tears flowed continuously, "Uncle Qingjiang, hurry up and treat my brother!"
Zhao Qingjiang usually treated minor ailments like headaches and fevers. With Wang Jieshi injured so severely, he simply didn't dare to take this risk.
"I think it's better to send him to the commune health center. The hospital has a full range of medicines and complete equipment. I lack everything here..."
Before he could finish his words, he was interrupted by Liu Cuilan, "Hurry up and treat him! Good or bad, I won't extort you, I'll leave this word here!"
"Uncle Qingjiang, hurry up and bandage my brother, he's still bleeding!" Wang Xiaohong cried and begged.
The Wang family's house was surrounded by people inside and out. Zhao Qingjiang scanned the crowd, sighed helplessly, "I can only try. Whether he can wake up, I really can't say for sure!"
Saying that, he went home to get two bottles of liquid medicine, and first hung an IV drip for Wang Jieshi.
One of Wang Jieshi's legs and an arm were broken. Without professional plaster boards, Zhao Qingjiang could only find a few flat wooden boards and clamp them to fix him.
In addition to two fractures, there were also many abrasions on his body. Zhao Qingjiang asked Wang Xiaohong to bring some warm water, and used a piece of old cotton cloth to dip in it to clean him up, and then applied homemade anti-inflammatory ointment.
After doing all this, Zhao Qingjiang said to Liu Cuilan again, "You hurry up and think of a way to send him to the commune health center, I'm afraid it'll be too late if you delay!" Saying that, he carried his medicine box and left.
Once Zhao Qingjiang left, the onlookers also dispersed while discussing.
Liu Cuilan and the Wang Haichao brothers walked out of the main room. When passing by the door of the kitchen, seeing Chuntao still sitting there, she became angry from nowhere.
"You dead useless thing! Your man is already like this, and you're still sitting there motionless?"
Aunt Zhou was also in the kitchen. She originally couldn't stand Liu Cuilan's unreasonableness, and couldn't help but retort, "Isn't there you, a mother, here? How does it fall to her, a weak woman, to come forward?
Besides, doesn't Chuntao, this girl, usually serve Jieshi? You, a mother, went to hide and relax, and now you're picking faults!"
Liu Cuilan was about to talk back, but caught a glimpse of Zhou Zhijun walking over with a dark face. Her momentum instantly weakened by a few points, and she muttered "her man, if she doesn't care, who cares", and hurriedly left.
Zhou Xiaowei walked to the door of the kitchen, originally wanting to say a word to Chuntao, but seeing Zhou Zhijun there, he didn't dare to make a sound either.
He only said to Zhou Zhijun, "Second Uncle, I'm going home!"
Zhou Zhijun followed him out of the yard, and said in a deep voice, "Xiaowei, what were you doing in the kitchen just now?"
"Sister-in-law Chuntao's sow broke out of the pen, I went to Hanzhuang to find Old Man Han for help..." Zhou Xiaowei answered honestly.
Zhou Zhijun's eyes darkened, and he said coldly, "In the future, show off less here!" Saying that, he turned around and walked towards his own yard.
Zhou Xiaowei frowned slightly, muttering in his heart, I was just helping out, how did it become "showing off" in Second Uncle's eyes?
On the bed in the inner room, Wang Jieshi's face was pale, his eyes tightly closed, motionless, like a dead person.
Wang Xiaohong sat by the bed keeping watch. Chuntao boiled sesame leaf bean noodles, brought it over and handed it to her.
"Xiaohong, drink a bowl of rice first to warm your body!" Her voice was very light, with a trace of imperceptible trembling.
Wang Xiaohong looked at her, her eyes turning red again, "Sister-in-law, what if my brother never wakes up?"
Chuntao also didn't know what to do. She had no money and no strength, so she could only brace herself and comfort her, "He will wake up, maybe he'll wake up after the IV drip is finished!"
The two bottles of liquid medicine were continuously infused until the latter half of the afternoon before they were finished. When it was almost finished, Wang Xiaohong got up to call Zhao Qingjiang to remove the needle.
Walking halfway, she saw the Zhou Zhaodi sisters and Huang Meili huddled at the base of the wall, peeking into the yard.
Seeing Wang Xiaohong coming over, the few people lowered their voices, but those words still clearly reached Wang Xiaohong's ears.
"If Wang Jieshi dies, it'll be even more convenient for that Li Chuntao to mess around with men!"
"The way I see it, this might just be Zhou Zhijun and Li Chuntao working together..."
Her brother was hurt so badly, yet these people were still gossiping behind his back! Wang Xiaohong was so furious she felt like she could explode.
She rushed over, glaring at the group with bloodshot eyes. "What did you just say? Say it again if you have the guts!"
Zhou Zhaodi sneered and stiffened her neck. "It is my mouth, and I will say whatever I want. What does it have to do with you?"
Huang Meili joined in the mockery, sticking her tongue out. "Your brother is already in that state. Instead of hurrying to find out who hurt him, you are here policing what we say?"
Wang Xiaohong gritted her teeth and clenched her fists. If Wang Jieshi was not still in the house waiting to have his needles removed, she really would have torn into them.
She had no choice but to swallow her anger and go call Zhao Qingjiang over to remove the needles for Wang Jieshi.
Looking at Wang Jieshi, whose face was as pale as a sheet of paper, Wang Xiaohong choked back a sob and asked, "Uncle Qingjiang, when exactly will my brother wake up?"
Zhao Qingjiang looked grave and sighed. "It is hard for me to say..."
As he spoke, he reached out once more to check Wang Jieshi's pulse. The moment he felt it, his own face instantly turned deathly pale.
