Chapter 13

One day, Ning Guan went to sell herbs. On the way back, it started to rain heavily. He asked to ride a cart back to the village, even though he usually walked. Because of the bad road, the cart overturned and crushed Ning Guan, who couldn't jump off in time. The others who rode in the cart were all badly injured. Ning Guan was the most injured because he saved a child from being crushed by the cart like him. By the time someone came to help Ning Guan back home, his condition was already very serious. Xiao Shui went to ask Lan Jiu for money to take her husband to see a doctor. "Sob... Mother, I beg you. Please give me money to take Ning Guan to see a doctor. Otherwise, he will definitely not be able to endure it." "Huh! Why would I help him? If he dies, that's good. Then I won't have to waste food anymore. He's been unfilial to me often. You've seen it yourself." "Mother, but Ning Guan is your son. Don't you think you can help him? Even though he supports the whole family.”

“So what if he’s my son? I hate that he’s preventing me from having children. My husband has been estranged from me and divorced me. You really don’t know anything. Go, go, go wherever you want. Don’t let him die in my house and bring bad luck.”

Xiao Shui could only cry. Why was her mother-in-law like this? She didn’t know that her husband was saving money for emergencies. It was just that Ning Guan had been unconscious for a few days and didn’t know that his wife had asked his mother for money.

Ning Qing, who had woken up a few days ago, went to ask the village headman for money and then returned it to him later. Ning Qing also found an old cart in the house and loaded her father to the village headman’s house.

When the village headman found out, he could only scold Lan Jiu and quickly took Ning Guan to see a doctor. The doctor in the village said that Ning Guan had a broken leg and ribs. He would need at least six months or a year to recover before the bones would heal. Right now, he mustn’t let him have a fever. The doctor adjusted Ning Guan's bones and wrapped a cloth around her body to prevent her broken ribs from piercing her internal organs. Then, the doctor ground up some medicine for Xiao Shui and her son to boil for Ning Guan to drink to heal her internal organs.

After receiving the medicine and paying for it, Ning Qing thanked the village headman. Now, she had to be the pillar of support for her mother and younger siblings. She knew how cruel her grandmother was to them. When Lan Jiu found out that they had borrowed money from the village headman, she went on a rampage, saying that they had made her look bad in front of everyone in the village. She even beat Xiao Shui to vent her anger. Ning Qing couldn't take it anymore.

"If Grandma hurts my mother and us again, I'll go and tell the authorities to move out. I remember that Grandma divorced Grandpa a long time ago, and Grandpa wouldn't let you come back. Do you still want to hurt us?"

"Hmph! You ungrateful little girl! I'm your grandmother! Do you dare to go and tell the authorities?"

"Why wouldn't I dare tell you? Since we have suffered from your physical abuse all this time, the scars on our bodies can be evidence of how long you have abused us.”

“You little brat, if you dare to report it to the authorities, I will kill you.”

“If you dare, come and kill me. Mother, go and tell the village head that my grandmother wants to kill me. I have only just recovered from her abuse a few days ago.”

Lan Jiu did not dare to do anything drastic like her words. She could only get irritated and walk into her room. As for her first uncle and second uncle’s family, they did nothing. All she saw all day was them lazily lazing around waiting for food. This made Ning Qing really want to move out of the house and live far away from these parasites. She was so depressed that her father was still injured. She had to wait until he recovered before she could do what she had planned to do.

Fortunately, Ning Qing had a room in her condo with cold and anti-inflammatory medicine, so she brought it to her father without anyone knowing. As for the decoction, her mother was boiling it. Otherwise, her father's wound would definitely become inflamed. She had heard that nowadays, many people died from inflamed wounds. She was afraid that her father, who was the pillar of her family, would die before she could show him any gratitude as the old Ning Qing's spirit had requested. Now, Ning Qing had to be the pillar of her small family, replacing her father who was still injured. Although she was only thirteen years old, her body was like a ten-year-old's because she had been abused by Lan Jiu often, which made her body system not as strong as her siblings. Now, Ning Qing herself had to take good care of her body so that she could take care of everyone equally. After making up her mind, Ning Qing talked to her mother about separating houses. Otherwise, she would not be able to take good care of her father. Ning Guan happened to wake up and heard this. He thought about his daughter and thought that it was a good idea for him to take this opportunity to separate houses. However, his father did not tell him to take care of this house. Only the many properties he had buried were told by his father to take good care of. Now, he would have to use those properties to treat himself. But the money he had secretly saved was not small. He should wait until all the money had run out before telling his daughter to go dig for treasure. Ning Qing, who did not know that her father had woken up, had a serious discussion about the details of the separation with her mother. She would earn money to help with the rented house. After all, she had been taught about herbs for a long time, so she could grow an herb garden like she had done here. She planned to pull the herbs and plant them in the new area where they would live. This way, they would be able to earn money like before. Ning Guan, who was pretending to be asleep, saw that his daughter was thinking more maturely than her age and could only be glad that he had been teaching her all along.