90: Chapter 89 Speak Frankly 90: Chapter 89 Speak Frankly That night, Lin Dong and Lin Chun slept in the Western House.
Only after taking off his clothes did Lin Dong truly see the dark purple bruises covering his older brother’s back and arms, so of which had already scabbed over severely.
Lin Dong frowned with distress and dared not ask loudly, “Big brother, does it still hurt?”
He knew all too well how ruthlessly their father could strike.
In the past, he too had suffered the lash of the heavy leather belt.
Lin Aiguo didn’t care where his blows landed—whether on arms or back—it didn’t matter to him.
It was one thing for the boys to endure the beatings, but his mother and older sisters had also been on the receiving end.
“Dongzi!
It’s nothing!
It’ll heal with so rest!” Lin Chun didn’t wish to share with anyone how he spent the previous night lying on the cold kang, starving and shedding tears through the pain.
If he spoke of it, his younger brothers and sisters would surely feel even more distressed and angered.
Why make them all suffer and seethe with him?
Lin Dong silently vowed in his heart that he would definitely beco strong in the future, to protect his big brother and two older sisters.
Lin Xia’s illness ca on fiercely, and that night she developed a high fever again.
She felt as if she was trapped in one bizarre dream after another, clearly knowing they were false but unable to wake up.
She could feel soone placing sothing cool on her forehead and hear the sound of the door in the inner room opening and closing, as well as voices whispering in her ear.
She wanted to see who it was, but her eyelids were as heavy as a thousand pounds, and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t open them.
Eventually, she managed to open her eyes and saw three worried faces looking down at her.
She beca fully awake at once.
“What happened?” As she spoke, she realized her voice was hoarse and her mouth dry and parched.
“You have a high fever!
Xiaoxia, ah!
Should we go to the hospital?” Lin Chun said as he looked at his younger sister’s fever-red face, his heart filled with worry and fear.
There had been soone in their neighborhood who suffered brain damage from a fever.
“Yeah, sister!
Let’s pack up and go have it checked out quickly!” Lin Qiu was genuinely afraid for her sister, “We don’t have any liquor at ho, otherwise rubbing so on you could’ve provided so relief!”
Lin Dong paced back and forth on the floor anxiously, “Where can we possibly buy anything at this dead hour of night?”
Lin Xia sat up, smiling at them in reassurance, “It’s okay!
Why go to the hospital?
It’s just a fever.
I must have caught a chill in the car!
I’ll sweat it out soon.
Xiaoqiu, get so water to drink first!”
As Lin Qiu went to get water, Lin Chun and the others still wanted to say sothing, but Lin Xia sent them back to bed, “Big brother!
You go back to sleep, I’ll have Xiaoqiu take care of !”
Lin Chun and Lin Dong, the brothers, had no choice but to return to the Western House, yet they kept an ear out for any noise from the Eastern House.
Lin Xia asked Lin Qiu to find a five-cent coin, wash it thoroughly, apply so fragrant balm to her back, and scrape her to reduce the fever.
Lin Qiu followed Lin Xia’s instructions and scraped her back.
Lin Xia endured the pain, while Lin Qiu, seeing the sha appear, was initially hesitant to proceed.
“Sister!
Maybe we shouldn’t scrape anymore!”
“Keep scraping!
What is there to fear?
Once we get the sha out, my cold and fever will pass!”
After the scraping was done, Lin Xia drank a large cup of warm water and imdiately felt much better as she lay down again.
She thought to herself that the slickness of the fragrant balm on her back was rather uncomfortable.
Seeing that Lin Xia’s breathing seed less labored than before, Lin Qiu was finally able to relax.
She too took off her clothes and climbed onto the kang to lie down.
When Lin Xia woke up, the daylight was already bright.
Lin Qiu was sitting on the edge of the kang, and upon seeing her awake, she imdiately ca over to ask, “Sister!
How are you feeling, still unwell?” while not forgetting to pour a cup of warm water for her.
She got up in the morning and felt her sister’s forehead, relieved that it wasn’t really hot anymore.
Lin Xia took over the cup of water, “It’s nothing!
Just a burning sensation in my throat, it’s dry!
Drinking so water will do,” she tried the temperature, not too hot, and guzzled it down.
Only when her throat felt much more comfortable did Lin Xia ask, “Where are big brother and the other one?”
“Dongzi went to school, and big brother went to buy liquor!
He was worried you’d still have a fever without any alcohol!” Lin Qiu advised her after learning from her, “Sis!
You should really rest up this ti, don’t rush to sell goods!
I think you got sick because you’ve been too tired lately, there’s never a mont of rest!”
“Okay!
I’ll wait until I’m completely better before I start selling again!
Besides, we don’t have many scarves in the stock this ti, and the hairpins don’t depend on the season, so it doesn’t matter if I wait…”
Lin Xia also understood that she indeed had been overexerting herself, constantly running up the mountain or taking train trips, which could wear anyone out.
Her fever had returned yesterday, and apart from the cold, it was also partly due to the worry and anger over her big brother’s issues.
And so, Lin Xia stayed ho to recover for three or four days.
Aside from a slight headache and an occasional cough, she didn’t have any major problems and planned to sell goods the next day.
This ti, there weren’t many scarves in stock, mainly hair clips and headbands, which weren’t seasonal, but it was still better to sell them early and get the money.
Besides planning to go to the floor tile factory, Lin Xia also intended to visit other factories if she couldn’t sell everything.
She rembered Old Lady Zhao bringing her radish balls the other day, and now that she was better, she planned to visit her whenever she had the ti.
Originally sick, she dared not go over, fearing she’d infect her little grandson.
However, Lin Xia didn’t know that Old Lady Zhao’s family was talking about her.
It was during dinner when the Zhao family mbers were gathered around the table, enjoying their al.
Xu Haihua entered the house with a stern face, catching everyone by surprise.
“Brother Mingyuan!
I have sothing to discuss with you, can we step outside for a mont?”
Jiang Mingyuan continued picking up his food without a pause, “Just say whatever you need to say right here!”
He wouldn’t even bother with Xu Haihua if it weren’t for Xu Haiguang’s sake.
At this ti, Old Lady Zhao also spoke up, “Just spit it out, we’re in the middle of dinner here!”
She hadn’t had a particularly strong feeling about this eldest daughter from the old Xu family, but now she truly disliked Xu Haihua.
What she thought of her family’s second son was obvious; at her age, there was nothing she couldn’t see through.
She would not accept soone like that as her future daughter-in-law!
Xu Haihua pursed her lips, “Auntie, you all don’t know that we were robbed?” She thought, since they were neighbors and got along well, they would have heard about it by now.
“We didn’t know!” Jiang Mingyuan was slightly taken aback; he really hadn’t heard about it.
Old Lady Zhao put down her chopsticks excitedly, “When did this happen?
We haven’t heard anything about it!”
Xu Haihua was pleased with their reaction, “I only found out when I got ho from work just now; our house was robbed this afternoon.
Although nothing was lost, the house was turned upside down.”
“Is your mother okay?” asked Old Lady Zhao anxiously.
“My mom’s fine!
She was over at Aunt Liu’s place, and in such a short ti, it must have been soone familiar!” Xu Haihua stated with conviction, “I suspect it was Lin Xia’s family who moved out; it couldn’t have been anyone else!”
In fact, she had said the sa thing at ho, and her mother scolded her for it, later she sneaked out while using the bathroom;
it was to talk to Jiang Mingyuan and ntion this incident, so that he would know what kind of person that Lin Xia was.
Unexpectedly, he wouldn’t even step outside now.
Xu Haihua thought resentfully, Brother Mingyuan must have taken a liking to Lin Xia; he never used to treat her like this before.
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