TCFSRMR |Chapter 7

When she said that, the others also noticed that something was wrong:

“Eh, this wheat seems a bit off.”

When the ears are full, before the wheat is fully ripe, they all bend their heads, but the wheat in the field right now was all standing straight up.

Qiu Guihua was not without common sense either, she had just been too pleased with herself a moment ago, which was why she had overlooked this point.

By now, after looking closely, her eyes almost fell out. In a fluster, she hurried over to pinch the wheat in front of her. When she grabbed a handful of ears, Qiu Guihua used force to squeeze them, and the next moment she let out a roar as if someone had dug out her heart and liver:

“My heavens, which damned bastard stole our wheat!”

“Child’s father, Erzhu, Erzhu…”

The blow was too great, and she almost collapsed headfirst into the wheat field.

Niu Erzhu’s face also changed. He took three steps as two and went into the wheat field, refusing to believe it, pinched a handful, and after rubbing it hard a few times, that little bit of wheat could not even cover his palm.

“No, no, this isn’t right.” Niu Erzhu rushed into the wheat field and ran a lap from south to north, and in despair discovered that it was not just one or two ears of wheat like this, the entire patch of land was like this.

Niu Erzhu’s legs went weak, and he sat down on the ground with a plop.

“Was it you who did this?” Qiu Guihua suddenly got up from the ground and, with red eyes, lunged at Zhao Qiaoling, “I’ll fight you to the death!”

Zhao Qiaoling was also somewhat panicked, and hurriedly dodged aside:

“What are you doing? Didn’t you see me cutting wheat in the field today? I was only separated from you by two people! And even if I were stealing, why wouldn’t I steal it all? Why leave you a few grains on one ear? If you ask me, it’s clearly because you wronged Daya, and Heaven took it away from you in advance!”

The fact that wheat could not possibly be empty was something everyone knew in their hearts. Even in these past few days, when Qiu Guihua was showing off, she would occasionally pinch an ear and rub the wheat kernels out of it. Don’t look at it as just one ear, that far richer wheat fragrance than the wheat in the fields was enough to make people intoxicated beyond belief.

As for the rubbed-out grains, besides being slightly yellow, they also had a bit of translucence to them. Looking at the wheat, it was as if the nose was filled with the sweet fragrance of white steamed buns. Just looking at it made people insanely envious…

And yet now, every ear had only a few grains left!

“Could it have been eaten by birds?” Someone immediately thought of that possibility.

“Then why is the grain in the field fine?” Someone else objected.

And the ears were still growing on the wheat stalks. How many birds would have to come eat them to eat them into this state?

“Their wheat is tasty, that’s why… otherwise, what do you say happened?”

Unless it was an immortal, it was impossible to mess wheat up like this.

The villagers exchanged glances, and the more they thought about it, the more they felt that compared with the conclusion that someone had stolen it, birds pecking it away was obviously easier to accept —

Maybe it really was because this couple had gone against their conscience. Didn’t they say that the Cowherd and Weaver Girl were pitiable people, so Heaven let magpies build them a bridge of magpies; Daya was also pitiable, so Heaven let birds take back the wheat that had been bestowed on Niu Erzhu and his wife.

This was called, good is rewarded with good, evil with evil.

Hearing everyone talking over each other like this, Qiu Guihua only then felt that something was wrong:

“Where’s Daya? I told her to watch the crops, where did that dead girl run off to?”

In her heart, a sliver of hope also rose even more strongly — maybe Daya knew what exactly was going on with the wheat in the field.

Thinking this, she lifted her foot and rushed home.

This matter was really too strange, so the others all trotted after her. By the time they ran home, Qiu Guihua was dumbfounded —

They had searched the front and back of the house, the woodshed, and the kitchen, but there was simply no sign of Shi Ying.

“Could the child be in trouble?” Sister Cui Lian’s heart immediately lifted up — this morning, she had personally seen how those two husband and wife mistreated Daya.

Thinking this, the look she gave Qiu Guihua carried an accusing meaning:

“At noon today, did you two scold the child again?”

“Scold what?” Under the stress and rage, Qiu Guihua snapped back without thinking, “At noon, we didn’t even see her shadow!”

Cui Lian understood immediately when she heard that, and was instantly furious:

“So at noon, you two husband and wife remembered to come back and eat, but didn’t even call out once to Daya who was staying in the field?”

“They say don’t curse outsiders when you open your mouth, and don’t beat someone else’s child when you raise your hand. Back then, if Daya hadn’t brought you a son, would you have Xiaobao? Her own mother handed her daughter over to your care, and you not only didn’t say to treasure her more, you even made Daya work like an ox and a horse for you, and wouldn’t even let Daya have a single bite of food? You deserve it if your wheat is gone. I think even Heaven couldn’t bear to watch it anymore, which is why it let the birds take all the wheat away!”

But at this moment, with the grain from her own plot suddenly lost, Qiu Guihua was in a state of complete hysteria and didn’t care that Cui Lian was the team leader’s wife at all. She shoved Cui Lian aside with one hand:

“Get out of the way, today I am definitely going to beat that dead girl to death, and nothing anyone says will work.”

Even if it wasn’t Daya who stole it, if she hadn’t been playful and run off to the side, would those wheat ears have gone missing?

Thinking this, she casually grabbed a stick and was about to charge toward Cui Lian’s house:

“Is Daya hiding at your place? Daya, Daya, get out here for me…”

Unexpectedly, just as she stepped into the gate of the Gu family, a lump of dirt came flying at her. Qiu Guihua was caught off guard and was hit squarely. Looking up, she saw it was the three Gu Weihong brothers.

Because Daya had left, the three children had been listless all day, and Little Tiger had even cried at noon before falling asleep.

Although the three children did not know whether Daya could find her biological parents, they were united in believing that the reason Daya refused no matter what to stay here was because Daya’s parents had treated her too badly.

“Little Tiger told auntie where Daya went… Daya, get the hell out here!” Having been covered in dirt from head to toe, Qiu Guihua was even more infuriated. But with so many people watching, and Little Tiger not being that old, she couldn’t really hold it against a child, could she? So she vented all her boundless rage on the one she had already decided was the culprit, Daya.

She did not expect that Little Tiger would show no intention of restraining himself at all. If it weren’t for Cui Lian hurrying to stop him, he probably would have picked up more clods of dirt to throw at Qiu Guihua. Even so, he still stuck his head out from behind Cui Lian and spat at Qiu Guihua:

“You’re a bad person. Big Sister Daya doesn’t want to be your daughter anymore, and Big Sister Daya will never come back again! I’m not telling you where Big Sister Daya went! When Daya’s biological parents come, let them beat you hard!”

“What biological parents…” Qiu Guihua spat on the ground in anger, and the next moment, she shivered all over from a cold sweat —

Biological parents, could it be…

Turning around, she just happened to see her mother-in-law peeking out and in from beyond the crowd, so she hurriedly asked:

“Mom, did any outsiders come to the house today?”

The mother-in-law, suddenly called on, was stunned for a moment and subconsciously denied it:

“No, no one came to our house…”

“Daya didn’t come back to see Xiaobao either?”

“Xiaobao?” Just as Granny Niu was about to shake her head again, she suddenly realized something was wrong. Oh no, Xiaobao. She had only been looking at the excitement, and had actually left Xiaobao at home alone.

Thinking this, she hurried home. As soon as she stepped through the door, she let out a shrill cry:

“Xiaobao?! My heavens, Erzhu, Guihua, hurry over here, something terrible has happened!”

Qiu Guihua was so frightened that the stick in her hand clattered to the ground, and she turned around and rushed into her mother-in-law’s courtyard.

Once inside, she immediately saw the wet and dripping Xiaobao, who had been fished out of the bucket by his grandmother —

Before, when Xiaobao had fallen asleep, Granny Niu had taken advantage of that time to carry back a bucket of water. Before she had even poured it into the vat, she heard the noise from Qiu Guihua’s side.

Wondering what had happened, she came out to look, and who knew that in just that bit of time, Xiaobao had actually woken up and, for some reason, crawled over to the water bucket and plunged headfirst into the bucket of water she had carried back.

“My Xiaobao!” Qiu Guihua was practically scared out of her wits.

Fortunately, the barefoot village doctor happened to be there too, and quickly came forward to help rescue him. He picked up Niu Xiaobao and patted him, pressed him, and after quite a bit of effort, the child finally spat out a few mouthfuls of water.

After catching his breath, Niu Xiaobao started bawling his head off. Everyone said he must have been frightened.

At this point, Qiu Guihua no longer had the mind to go find Shi Ying to vent her anger. All her attention was on her son. First, according to the advice of the village elders, she boiled ash water for Niu Xiaobao to drink. When he kept crying, she went to the Nüwa temple, which had been knocked down until only half a wall remained, to burn incense and kowtow.

After being tormented like this until midnight, Niu Xiaobao finally stopped crying, but then he developed a high fever. In a panic, Qiu Guihua ran to the village doctor to get some pills, and on the way back she also went to the Nüwa temple and kowtowed more than ten times.

Although she was worried about her son, she thought that a fever was not a big deal, and besides, she had been so sincere in kowtowing so many times to Nüwa, and she had also fed him medicine, so he should get better very soon.

The next day, after handing Niu Xiaobao over to the mother-in-law, she and Niu Erzhu went to work as usual.

Unexpectedly, around midday, Granny Niu ran to the fields carrying the unconscious, feverish Niu Xiaobao. Only then did Qiu Guihua and Niu Erzhu panic. They borrowed a bicycle and hurriedly went to the hospital.

It was not until they had stayed in the hospital for three days that the child’s fever finally went down, but Qiu Guihua and Niu Erzhu were met with a terrible fact —

Because the fever had been too severe before, and they had not sent the child to the hospital in time, the child’s brain had actually been burned damaged.