Zhou Zhijun stepped into the doorway of the kitchen and gave a sharp shout that startled Liu Cuilan.
"This chicken belongs to my family!"
Liu Cuilan shivered and abruptly turned her head to look at Zhou Zhijun.
Wang Haichao was right! These two had hooked up a long time ago!
Her teeth itched with hatred, and her lungs were about to explode from anger, but her momentum was cut in half. "Your family's chicken? I don't believe it! It must have been stewed for her by some wild man!"
Hearing the commotion, Aunt Zhou hurried in with quick, small steps.
Seeing Liu Cuilan clutching a chicken bone in her hand and catching a glimpse of Chuntao's panicked and helpless look, her heart skipped a beat.
Her family had just lost an old hen, and now chicken bones appeared in Chuntao's house? Wasn't this a bit fishy?
Before she had time to think about it, she scolded Liu Cuilan, "Liu Cuilan, shut your stinking mouth! If you dare spout nonsense again, see if I don't slap your face!
Chuntao is my goddaughter. I told Zhijun to kill this chicken to nourish her body!
You're making things up out of thin air to ruin her reputation... What kind of black heart do you have?"
Liu Cuilan was so rebuked that her face turned green and white, and she opened her mouth but couldn't say a single word.
Hearing the noise from the main room, Wang Xiaohong immediately ran over. Seeing Liu Cuilan, she said crossly, "What are you doing here? You just come and make a racket. You might as well not have come!"
"You ungrateful dead girl!" Liu Cuilan spat fiercely, turning to go to the main room, but was stopped by Aunt Zhou, "Liu Cuilan, the money you owe my family must be paid back before the New Year!"
Liu Cuilan's heart sank. Pretending not to hear, she darted into the main room in a few steps.
Aunt Zhou chased after her and shouted, "Liu Cuilan, don't pretend to be deaf and dumb! If you don't pay it back, I'll go take your family's cow!"
Aunt Zhou had heard everything Zhou Zhijun had just said. Chuntao kept her head down, afraid to look at Aunt Zhou, let alone Zhou Zhijun.
Aunt Zhou walked over, took her hand, and sighed, "Girl, kind people get bullied, and gentle horses get ridden. Dealing with people like Liu Cuilan, you have to be tougher!"
Chuntao also wanted to be tough, but she had a soft nature by birth and had been timid and afraid of trouble since she was young. How could she change so easily?
After returning from Chuntao's house, Aunt Zhou's face instantly dropped. She looked at Zhou Zhijun coldly, "Our family lost an old hen. Did you really kill it?"
Knowing he couldn't hide it, Zhou Zhijun simply told the truth, "I killed it to nourish Chuntao's body."
The dozen or so old hens at home were of great use. They relied on them to lay eggs for money to buy oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar all year round!
Zhou Zhijun had killed one without saying a word, and Aunt Zhou was truly heartbroken.
"Don't you ever kill them blindly from now on!"
"Mother, when the weather gets cold, this old hen won't lay eggs and just wastes grain.
Next spring, we'll hatch more chicks, and they'll start laying eggs by autumn."
Although Aunt Zhou was heartbroken, she hadn't wasted it. It was all used to nourish Chuntao, so she didn't say anything more.
Thinking of Liu Cuilan's shrewish behavior just now, Aunt Zhou was full of anger again, "We must get back the money Liu Cuilan owes our family before the New Year, otherwise we'll take her cow to pay off the debt!"
As a grown man, Zhou Zhijun was willing to help the Wang family in the first place, and it was really hard for him to ask for the debt, so he could only leave it to his mother. He trusted his mother's ability.
"Okay, Mother. You can ask for it whenever you want."
Liu Cuilan ran into the main room and saw Wang Jieshi lying motionless on the bed. She felt both angry and pained.
She leaned close to the bed and cursed in a low voice, "Li Chuntao is really nothing. She must have hooked up with Zhou Zhijun a long time ago!"
Wang Jieshi had taken two packets of headache powder, and the pain in his body had lessened a bit. He closed his eyes, his face as pale as a sheet of white paper.
Listening to Liu Cuilan's words, his heart felt stifled.
In fact, the Wang Haichao brothers didn't take him to the East Mountain to see a doctor at all, but to tell fortunes.
Wang Jieshi didn't know until he got there that he had been completely fooled by Wang Haichao and the others.
The fortune teller was a blind old man. When they went, there was a group of people waiting to have their fortunes told. Listening to the discussions of others, Wang Jieshi learned that this blind man was quite accurate.
Since he was there, he thought he might as well get his fortune told.
The blind old man felt his hand and immediately stated his situation, which amazed Wang Jieshi and made him believe his words even more.
The blind old man said, "You will experience two women in your life. If you want to keep this family, you must have your own child."
Hearing this, Wang Jieshi lost hope. He was a cripple himself and couldn't perform in that aspect. Where would a child come from?
It seemed that this so-called "family" couldn't be kept. He sighed and asked, "When will this family of mine fall apart?"
The blind old man said slowly, "I can break this situation for you and guarantee that your family remains intact."
Hearing this, Wang Jieshi quickly took out all the money in his pocket and gave it to the blind old man.
The blind old man came up with a plan for him—"borrowing seed to have a child."
He originally thought of coming back to discuss it properly with Wang Haichao and the others and implement this plan, but he didn't expect to fall into a ditch on the way.
Now his arm and his only remaining leg were broken. Even if he recovered, he would be left with a disability.
By then, wouldn't Zhou Zhijun and Li Chuntao bully him even more? Wang Jieshi felt like a large stone was pressing on his heart, and his breathing suddenly became heavy.
Wang Haichao had also told Liu Cuilan about the "borrowing seed" plan.
"This is a great thing that satisfies both sides! When Li Chuntao gives birth to a child, no one will dare say it's not Jieshi's.
Don't the villagers all say Jieshi is crippled? Having a child will shut their mouths, and you can stand tall in front of others too."
Liu Cuilan was only good at talking nonsense and shouting blindly. In fact, she was brainless. She was coaxed into a daze by Wang Haichao and naturally agreed.
Whether it was Wang Jieshi or Liu Cuilan, they both hated Zhou Zhijun to the bone.
They would rather let Chuntao borrow from someone else than let her have any involvement with Zhou Zhijun.
Wang Jieshi lay in bed for a whole month, burning with anxiety, but he just couldn't get up.
It wasn't until Wang Xiaoming came back for winter vacation that he could help him slowly shuffle two steps in the room. But before he could walk for a while, his leg would hurt agonizingly, and he could only lie back on the bed.
He knew that this time he was truly crippled. Even if he had a thousand dissatisfactions and ten thousand resentments towards Chuntao in his heart, he could only hold them in his stomach for now.
Seeing that the New Year was approaching, every household was busy buying New Year goods, pounding rice, and grinding flour, bustling with activity.
But Chuntao didn't have a single penny in her hand. A family of four could make do without eating meat for the New Year, but the fruit boxes for visiting relatives had to be packed in advance.
She wanted to go to Aunt Zhou's house to borrow some money, but she really couldn't open her mouth.
Over the past few months, Zhou Zhijun had bought her quite a few nutritional supplements, stewed chicken for her, and helped her with work... Chuntao understood his intentions.
She would have to repay the favor she owed him sooner or later, so she stayed up late to make a pair of cotton shoes for him, thinking that repaying a little was better than letting it pile up more and more.
That day, she finished sewing the cotton shoes she made for Zhou Zhijun, tucked them in her arms, and braced herself to go to Aunt Zhou's house.
Chuntao thought both Aunt Zhou and her husband were at home, but when she walked into the yard, she didn't see them. She only saw Zhou Zhijun chopping wood in the east room.
Chuntao suddenly felt a pang of regret. It was broad daylight; if Zhou Zhijun started getting handsy with her again and someone saw them, what would she do?
"Where is godmother?" she asked softly.
Zhou Zhijun set down the axe in his hand and replied, "She's in the north room staying warm in bed."
Chuntao finally felt a little more at ease. She turned around and headed toward the north room.
But just as she stepped inside, Zhou Zhijun followed right behind her. Reaching behind his back with a sharp click, he bolted the door shut.
