Chapter 343: Reborn in the 90s: The Tyrant Flower Chapter 344 Visiting

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Protagonist:

Chai Mi

After setting up the stall, Chai Mi and Song Qiushui rode the inverted donkey, creaking and squeaking toward the County Hospital. They were also carrying the canned fruit and slot cakes that Song Qingshan had insisted they bring.

Song Qiushui chattered all the way: "Chai Mi, do you think my dad has nothing better to do? He insisted I go see your Second Uncle, so why doesn't he go himself? These canned goods were what he made me buy at the little shop yesterday, spending my money! And then he said it was his thoughtfulness! Really something!"

Chai Mi held the handlebars, looking at the potholed road ahead: "Could we not go? Isn't there still your Second Uncle? Da Lao Song cares about face; if he doesn't go see his niece, how would you go to your Second Uncle's? If we go, we have to bring things. If the two of us go empty-handed, with Chai You Fu's mouth, who knows how he'll badmouth us. Stuff his mouth, save him from running his mouth everywhere."

"Stuff his mouth? I think he's a dog's mouth that can't spit out ivory!" Song Qiushui pouted. "Look at what he did, stole our chicken and blamed me! What was he thinking? My dad too, insisting on being the peacemaker..."

"Alright, say a few words less." Chai Mi cut her off. "Once we get to the hospital, watch my cues. No matter what ugly things he says, don't argue with him. Drop the stuff, take a look, and leave. Can he still climb up and bite you?"

"Bite me I'm not afraid of, I'm afraid I won't be able to hold back from slapping him!" Song Qiushui rolled her eyes. "You don't know, yesterday my dad sighed and groaned at home all night, saying 'after all they're in-laws', 'gotta keep up appearances', annoyed me to death! When Chai You Fu was stealing, why didn't he think they were in-laws?"

"Your dad's old, he thinks too much." Chai Mi turned onto the fork leading to the County Hospital. "But, handle it however it needs handling. If he pushes his luck, I have my own ways to deal with him."

Arriving at the little shop by the County Hospital entrance, Chai Mi bought four more bottles of canned fruit and two packs of spicy strips.

The spicy strips were for Chai Xiu.

Song Qiushui grinned as she watched: "Buying this much? Enough for him to eat for half a month! Feeding a dog would be better than feeding him!"

"Shut it." Chai Mi paid. "For show to outsiders. Let's go."

Pushing open the ward door, a mix of disinfectant and sour sweat hit the nose. Chai You Fu had one leg in a cast hanging up, his head also wrapped in gauze, leaning against the headboard gnawing an apple. Chai Min sat beside him peeling the skin.

Seeing the two of them enter, Chai You Fu's eyelids drooped, he snorted, and turned his face away. Chai Min's knife paused, she glared at them, but didn't make a sound.

"Second Uncle, feeling any better?" Chai Mi put the things on the bedside table, her voice flat.

Only then did Chai You Fu turn his face, squinting at the pile of things, speaking in a yin-yang strange tone: "Yo, Boss Chai struck it rich? Still know to come see this poor Second Uncle? Not easy! I thought you couldn't wait for me to die outside!"

Hearing this tone, Song Qiushui's anger flared, she was about to open her mouth when Chai Mi pinned her with a look.

"What's Second Uncle saying," Chai Mi pulled over a stool and sat down. "You're my real Second Uncle, you took a fall, how could I not come see?"

"Real Second Uncle?" Chai You Fu's voice suddenly rose, spittle nearly spraying Chai Mi's face. "You still know I'm your real Second Uncle? Look at what you've trapped me into! Huh? Leg broken! Head split open! All caused by you!"

Chai Mi's brow didn't move: "Second Uncle, those words aren't right. You climbed the wall in the middle of the night and fell yourself, how is that my fault? If you hadn't stolen from my house, would this have happened?"

"I stole?!" Chai You Fu slammed the bed board, shaking his hanging leg, grimacing in pain. "Ai yo... hiss... bullshit! Who stole? I took! Took a bit of chicken meat, so what? I'm your Second Uncle! Eating a bit of your meat is illegal? And it's all because of that jinx Song Qiushui! If she hadn't been badmouthing me at the door, would I have gotten mad? Would I have gone to take it?"

"Who are you calling a jinx?!" Song Qiushui exploded, striding to the bedside. "Chai You Fu, have you no shame? Your own hands and feet aren't clean and you blame me? What did I badmouth? Said Chai Min is dating and not learning well, did I wrong her? Huh? Your daughter's stepping on several boats at school, don't you have a clue in your own heart?"

"Bullshit!" Chai Min "teng" stood up, nearly throwing the apple and knife in her hand, face flushed red. "Song Qiushui, you're spitting blood! You're the one dating! Your whole family dates!"

"Tsk," Chai Mi clicked her tongue, pulled Song Qiushui back, eyes coldly sweeping over Chai Min. "Chai Min, adults are talking, what are you butting in for? Got any manners? Whether you dated or not, you know yourself, no need to shout here. Second Uncle, you heard it too, Song Qiushui just mentioned dating, didn't wrong Chai Min, right? And that becomes your reason for stealing? Your reason, a three-year-old wouldn't believe."

Chai You Fu was choked into heavy breathing, pointing at Chai Mi: "Good... good, Chai Mi! Your wings have hardened, ganging up with outsiders to bully your Second Uncle, right? Fine! You're tough! I'm telling you, this isn't over! This leg of mine, and the scrapes on my body, all go on your tab! You wait to pay up!"

"Pay up?" Chai Mi laughed, the smile not reaching her eyes. "Second Uncle, if you put it like that, it's no fun."

"That bucket of fried chicken, materials and labor, worth at least four or five hundred. You stole it, shouldn't that money be paid to me? Also, you climbed the wall in the middle of the night, scraped off a big chunk of mud from the courtyard wall, loosened the tiles too. The wall repair money, shouldn't you pay that too? We going to the Police Station to argue it out, or find the Village Chief to judge?"

"You... you..." Chai You Fu's chest heaved with rage, fingers trembling. "Don't use the Village Chief to scare me! Police Station? Let's go! You think I'm afraid? I'll sue you for harming me! If you hadn't set that damn trap, would I have fallen?"

"Trap?" Chai Mi said leisurely. "Second Uncle, the trap was in my own courtyard to prevent thieves. You, a Second Uncle, deep in the night not sleeping, climbing into someone else's courtyard, got caught by the trap, and that's my fault? When the police come, you think they'll believe you were stealing and got caught, or that I intentionally harmed you?"

Chai You Fu completely lost his fire, face turning pig-liver purple, panting heavily, unable to utter a single word.

"Second Uncle," Chai Mi stood up, tone softened a bit but brooking no argument. "Things delivered, thoughts delivered. You recover properly. As for the chicken stealing, let's turn the page. If you feel wronged, want to sue, want to make trouble, I, Chai Mi, will accompany you to the end. But ugly words upfront: if I hear you running your mouth outside again, or dare touch a single blade of grass at my house..." She paused, gaze scraping over Chai You Fu and Chai Min. "Then don't blame me for not considering family ties. Right now... my temper isn't too good."

Chai Mi didn't look at him again, said to Song Qiushui: "Qiushui, let's go."

Song Qiushui glared hard at Chai You Fu, snorted at Chai Min, and followed Chai Mi out.

Just at the door, Chai You Fu seemed unable to hold it in, throat hoarse as he roared: "Chai Mi! What are you crazy about? You really think you're something? I'm telling you, there are people who don't like seeing you bounce around!"

Chai Mi's steps didn't even pause, she pulled the door open and walked out.

In the corridor, Song Qiushui caught up to Chai Mi: "Chai Mi, what did his last sentence mean? Someone doesn't like seeing you bounce? Who? Who's he trying to scare?"

Chai Mi didn't stop, voice cold: "Whoever. Like it or not. Don't like seeing me bounce? Let them try bouncing one for me to see?"

Song Qiushui was still fuming: "Those two really are cast from the same mold, that dead girl Chai Min, just now her eyeballs nearly flipped to the sky! Like we owe her!"

"Let her flip however she wants." Chai Mi's tone had no waves. "Why lower yourself to her level? Lowers your value."

The two walked out the County Hospital main gate, a heat wave hitting their faces. Chai Mi pushed out the inverted donkey, Song Qiushui plopped into the cart bed, still muttering: "Just can't swallow this anger! Wasted those canned goods and slot cakes on them! Feed a dog and it'd at least wag its tail!"

Chai Mi mounted the bike: "Alright, just treat it as feeding invisible rats. Go, home."

Song Qiushui sighed: "Ai, true. Getting angry at this kind of person, wastes time. Right, Chai Mi, you think Chai You Fu's last sentence, could there really be someone harboring ill intent? With his reckless nature, he might really run his mouth and attract people's designs."

Chai Mi pedaled, looking at the dusty road ahead: "Designs? Designs on what? Designs on my family's bit of corn? Or designs on my fried chicken stall?" She sneered. "Survived the calf's illness, accepted the corn loss, and I'm still supposed to fear someone's designs? Soldiers come, generals block; water comes, earth dams. Anyone wanting to find trouble with Chai Mi, better weigh if their own bones are hard enough."

"That's true too!" Song Qiushui thought of how neatly Chai Mi had handled Liu Xiaochun, felt more at ease, swung her legs saying: "Hehe, still better think about what to eat at noon. Starving me, didn't even eat breakfast this morning."

"All you know is eat." Chai Mi complained verbally, but pedaled harder. "Go back, fry some chicken bone skewers, wrap you a few more steamed buns."

"Deal!" Song Qiushui perked up, sat straight in the cart bed. "Buy a new pot, eat fried chicken, this life, has prospects!"

Listening to her excited voice, Chai Mi's mouth curved up: "Hold on tight, road's bad."

"Got it!" Song Qiushui's voice drifted in the wind.

In the ward, Chai You Fu looked at the pile of things on the bedside table, face iron-green. Chai Min threw the peeled apple onto the bedside table with a "dong" sound.

"Dad! You just let Chai Mi leave like that? What did her words mean just now? Still threatening us?" Chai Min was so angry her face twisted.

Chai You Fu waved his hand irritably: "Alright alright! You say two words less! Can't you see I'm annoyed!"

"Annoyed? What use is annoyed!" Chai Min wouldn't let up. "What is Chai Mi anyway? Just relies on earning a bit of stinky money? Look at her crazy look! And that Song Qiushui, badmouthing me every other word! Dad, this can't just end like this!"

"Not end like this, then what can we do?!" Chai You Fu roared.

"Then... then can't let her scold us for nothing!" Chai Min shrank her neck from the yell, but still unwilling. "What right does she have to say I'm at school... she's talking nonsense outside, how will I face people later?"

Chai You Fu glared at her: "She's talking nonsense? What you did yourself, don't you have a count in your own heart?" He paused, looking at Chai Min's face instantly turning white, said angrily: "Alright! Restrain yourself from now on! Don't let people catch you with evidence! If you hadn't gone back running your mouth, would I have lost my head and done that?"

Chai Min poked in the sore spot, face alternating red and white, mouth still hard: "I... what did I say? I just said Song Qiushui was badmouthing me at our doorway! Saying your daughter dates!"

"Are you just talking trash?" Chai You Fu slapped the edge of the bed in anger, "Did you add fuel to the fire and say I'm useless, that I can't even protect my own daughter? Otherwise I could..." He didn't finish the rest, only feeling his face burning hot.

Chai Min said nothing, head bowed as she picked at her fingernails.

The more Chai You Fu thought about it, the more aggrieved he felt; the more he thought, the more useless he felt. Stealing chickens only to lose the rice, a large chunk of flesh torn from his leg, medical costs still unknown how to handle, and now Chai Mi was pointing at his nose scolding him, and he didn't dare fart. When had he, Chai You Fu, ever been this useless?

"Damn it..." he cursed in a low voice, looking at his suspended leg, that evil fire in his heart had nowhere to go, so he turned on Chai Min, "What are you standing there for? Only know how to peel apples! Go ask the doctor when my cast can come off! Lying around all day, where's the medicine money coming from? Does it fall from the sky?"

Chai Min pouted aggrievedly, "What's there to ask? Didn't the doctor say during morning rounds that he still needs to be observed for a few days? Medicine money... isn't there Rural Cooperative Medical Care..."

"What medical care? I've never heard of it! Who's going to reimburse us?" Chai You Fu got even angrier, "The little money your mother had was all spent on your schooling, how many mouths are there to feed at home? That dead girl Chai Mi is stingy to death; last time Chai Youqing and his wife came, she only threw out two hundred, and Chai Mi is even more bizarre—coming to visit someone and only knowing to buy some broken canned food and slot cake! She doesn't even mention the word money!"

Chai Min's eyes lit up, and she tentatively said, "Dad... how about... we go find Third Uncle to talk about this?"

"Find your Third Uncle?" Chai You Fu was like he'd had his tail stepped on, "Go to him for what? To let him laugh at me? That bastard Chai Youde hopes I have bad luck! You just behave and take a nap, I'm annoyed just looking at you, get out!"

Chai Min gritted her teeth and went out.

On the other side.

After Chai Mi got home and tidied up, she walked to the cowshed; the calf was lying on its side, and Su Wan was holding a baby bottle feeding it. The little guy was still listless, but his small mouth sucked with strength, and his eyes were much more spirited than yesterday.

"Mom, how is it?"

"Much better!" Su Wan had a smile on her face, "He can suck with his own strength now, and there's not as much blood in his stool. Look at this spirit."

Chai Mi squatted down and touched the calf's back, which was already a bit warm: "Mm, as long as he's recovering."

Chai Youqing squatted beside her, holding warmed medicine water in his hand; seeing Chai Mi look over, he hurriedly said, "Medicine... medicine is warmed, wait until he finishes the milk to feed it."

Chai Mi grunted an "mm" and didn't say anything else. Chai Youqing had been honest these past few days, feeding cattle and medicine without causing any more trouble.

"By the way, Chai Mi," Su Wan remembered something, "around noon, Liu Zhanggui came to the house."

Chai Mi's movement paused: "What did he come for?"

"Saying he came to see if the calf was better." Su Wan lowered her voice, "Actually it's about you bringing people to beat up Liu Xiaochun, coming to sound things out. In other words, we're all from the same village, out of sight out of mind, it's enough to just let it be, don't make things too stiff."

Chai Mi grunted: "He sure knows how to be a peacemaker. When Liu Xiaochun was stealing corn, why didn't he go persuade Liu Xiaochun to let it be?"

Song Qiushui came over and pouted: "Exactly! The Village Chief only knows how to fire shots after the fact! Liu Xiaochun was so arrogant back then, he even dared to talk back to my father! He deserved the beating!"

Chai Mi stood up: "Ignore him. Let him think whatever he wants. As long as Liu Xiaochun behaves and doesn't come bother me anymore, I'm too lazy to deal with him. Alright, give the cow another shot in a while, then check on it, and then we'll eat."