Chapter 25 – Hand treatment (1)

It was not far from the town to the village, just about six or seven miles away. Su Cheng sprained his foot. Although he said that he could walk by himself, Su Xiaoxiao still hired an ox cart.

The ox cart was from a neighbouring village. Old Li Tou was not here today.

A family of three was sitting on the ox cart. Su Xiaoxiao suddenly asked, “Who is the Fifth Master?”

When she was fighting with that group of gangsters, she heard someone yelling: “Surname Su, aren’t you afraid of offending the Fifth Master by doing this? Brother Dao is the Fifth Master’s people!”

“That’s right, who is the Fifth Master?” Su Ergou was also curious.

Su Cheng said with a nonchalant expression on his face: “The people who mingled on the street, they had some small influences in Fucheng. They have dealt with each other since the early years.”

“It sounds very powerful.” Su Xiaoxiao said.

Su Cheng said, “Don’t listen to Zhang Dao’s nonsense. He can’t inform the Fifth Master in time!”

“What if he can?” Su Ergou asked.

Su Cheng hummed: “So what! When the boat gets to the pier-head, it will go straight with the current1!  He has been beaten into such a mess that he has to stay in bed for months to recover from his injuries! By the time he goes to file a complaint, the dishes are cold2!”

1船到桥头自然直 / chuán dào qiáo tóu zì rán zhí.
When the boat gets to the pier-head, it will go straight with the current (proverb) : everything will be all alright.

2黄花菜都凉了 / huáng huā cài dōu liáng le. 
The dishes are cold (idiom) : to arrive late / to take one’s sweet time.

Su Ergou said weakly, “What if it’s not late?”

Su Cheng slapped his head and said, “Which side are you?”

Su Ergou felt wronged.

The driver of the ox cart sent the Su family to the nearby Xinghua Village. Before leaving, Su Xiaoxiao told him: “Please tell He Tongsheng’s family that I don’t care whether it is him or his family members who come. In short, when the three-days deadline comes, if I don’t see the money, they will see the blood!”

The man walked away trembling with fear.

Su Ergou gave Su Xiaoxiao a thumbs up, his older sister was very powerful!

“However, jie, he doesn’t seem to be from He Tongsheng’s village, but from Yangliu Village in the east.”

Su Xiaoxiao : “……”

  ……

When they entered the village, the three little cuties looked like three hungry little birds who cried piteously for food, fluttering their small arms backwards, and kept looking towards the village road.

Seeing them, the three little ones hurriedly ran over while panting.

“Dahu, Xiaohu, Erhu!”

Su Ergou’s eyes lit up, and intercepted the three little ones. He put one on his shoulder and two in his arms.

The three little ones with gloomy faces: “.…..”

Mrs. Wu timidly walked up to Su Xiaoxiao and whispered, “They, they are coming here to wait…”

The village entrance was windy and cold.

She was afraid that Su Pangya would blame her for not taking good care of the children.

“Thank you very much for today.” Su Xiaoxiao didn’t feel that there was anything wrong with what Mrs. Wu did. “They didn’t give you any trouble, did they?”

Mrs. Wu hesitated for a moment: “They didn’t give me any trouble.”

They were just making half of the village’s children cry…

Su Xiaoxiao smiled, “I just knew it, they are definitely very obedient.”

Mrs. Wu summoned up courage, and said, “… Yes, it was very easy to take care of your sons.”

They were not my sons… Forget it, even if it was explained, she wouldn’t understand. Just wait when Wei Ting recovered, he would leave and take the little guys away.

“These snacks, you can take them back.”

Su Xiaoxiao bought a few boxes of snacks from the town. Of course, they were not from Jinji.

Mrs. Wu didn’t want to accept it.

“Take it!”

Su Xiaoxiao said fiercely.

Mrs. Wu accepted it tremblingly: “if, if there’s nothing else, I will go first.”

Su Xiaoxiao looked at her little figure who was running away and thought, did she look so frightening?

“She’s also a pitiful one.” Su Cheng sighed on the side, and it was rare for him to not be stingy.

Mrs. Wu married Liu Shan’s eldest son, Liu Ping. Liu Ping’s mother had dystocia when she gave birth to him and died. Later, Liu Shan married a widow, which is today’s Grandma Wu.

Although they had the same surname Wu, But Mrs. Wu had no relationship with Grandma Wu.

Grandma Wu gave birth to a son and a daughter. The daughter had got married out, and the son was Niudan’s father.

Grandma Wu only loved her own son’s family. In addition, Mrs. Wu only gave birth to two daughters. And even Liu Shan, the biological father, also preferred his second son more.

Liu Ping and Mrs. Wu, one worked as an unskilled laborer in the town, and the other worked as a cow and horse3 at home.

3当牛做马 / dāng niú zuò mǎ 
Working hard like a cow or a horse ; working hard like a slave.