Seeing both of them dressed so formally, Si Xiaohui looked displeased. If this were ancient times, it would be the gap between a lady and her maid.
Regrettably due to their poor family situation, Lin Fengying had never bought her good clothes. The clothes she was wearing were bought two years ago to keep up appearances, and she could hardly bear to wear them at home.
Her good mood instantly plummeted, and Si Xiaohui sarcastically asked with a stern face, "We're just going into town, not matchmaking. Why all this pomp?"
"I usually dress like this." Zhang Lijuan smiled and looked at Tong Yao, "My sister-in-law is all dolled up though, you must be going to meet Chen in town, right?"
Had she not known about Zhang Lijuan's feelings for Si Chen, Tong Yao would not have found anything wrong with her comment. But knowing that Zhang Lijuan had her sights on Si Chen, the words didn't sound right.
"I didn't dress up on purpose, it's just that my figure is slim and I look good. My temperament can't be hidden."
Si Xiaohui's face was filled with disgust as she muttered, "So shameless." Who would boast about themselves like that? Shouldn't normal people be modest?
Zhang Lijuan always heard Si Xiaohui gripe about how Tong Yao was lazy and idle at home. Hearing Tong Yao's self-praise, she burst out laughing. To the older generations, Tong Yao was a ditz, not catching the underlying meanings in what people said.
Zhang Lijuan had envied Tong Yao for her beauty before, but now she felt much better.
"Let's not stand here any longer. My uncle will be here soon with his tractor, let's wait for him at the entrance of the village!"
Lin Fengying saw the three of them off to the entrance of the village, constantly reminding Si Xiaohui and Zhang Lijuan not to run around in town and not to talk to strangers. She treated them like children. Si Xiaohui was somewhat impatient whereas Tong Yao felt warm. In her previous life, she grew up in an orphanage, and no one truly cared about her.
"Mom, stop nagging, just go home! We're not kids anymore." Si Xiaohui impatiently pushed Lin Fengying to go back. She had always been watched over by her mother, and going into town felt like a bird flying out of its cage. She was overjoyed at the newfound freedom and wished she could fly straight into town.
"You child." Lin Fengying was somewhat helpless. She instructed Tong Yao to be careful on the road before reluctantly going back home.
"Your mother-in-law is really nice to you." Zhang Lijuan commented with discernible envy.
"Well, yeah, I'm her daughter-in-law." Tong Yao deliberately emphasized the last three words.
"Just because you are now, doesn't mean you always will be." Without Lin Fengying present, Si Xiaohui didn't mince her words, scornfully declaring, "My brother would never like a lazy and idle woman."
"But your brother certainly likes beautiful women." Tong Yao retorted.
"Shameless."
Si Xiaohui grumbled and turned her head to chat cheerfully with Zhang Lijuan.
Tony Yao decided to ignore them as they ignored her. They had not stood at the entrance of the village for too long when they heard the sound of a diesel tractor. Looking in the direction of the sound, they saw a tractor slowly approach, stirring up dust on the road as if causing a sandstorm.
"Uncle." Zhang Lijuan greeted the driver affectionately, showing off with pride. In these times, families who owned a tractor were rare. When it came to marriage, they could pick and choose from all the villages around.
Liu Dazhu looked the three girls over, "You three are all going to town?"
"Yes." Zhang Lijuan took out a yuan from her pocket and gave it to Liu Dazhu, "My mom said, we have to pay for the gas for the ride."
Liu Dazhu initially hesitated but finally accepted after a little back and forth.
Seeing Zhang Lijuan gave money for the ride left Si Xiaohui bewildered. It was only when Tong Yao handed Liu Dazhu a yuan that she remembered to do the same. The idea of spending one yuan for a ride, before even buying anything, made her heart ache.
Already three passengers sat in the tractor's cab, two women in their forties and a man in his fifties. They were sitting on the little bench in the cab. Zhang Lijuan and Si Xiaohui got in without fuss. Tony Yao, however, was struggling to climb up in her dress. It prompted the man to say,
"You two, give your younger sister a hand."
Upon hearing this, Si Xiaohui and Zhang Lijuan instantly frowned. It was true that with Tong Yao's fair skin and delicate features, she looked younger. But they were all girls, who would like being called old?
"She's already married, and she's a year older than us," Zhang Lijuan explained.
With surprise, the man looked at Tong Yao, thinking to himself that she got married a bit early.
Si Xiaohui, however, pointed her finger at Tong Yao, "Who else, like you, would dress like a little girl even after getting married?"
The constant 'da-da' noise from the tractor was making Tong Yao's ears buzz. She didn't feel like dealing with the two of them. The bumpy dirt road was making her waist ache. At least the scenery was good, it helped to distract her a little.
After an almost an hour-long ride, they finally arrived in town. Liu Dazhu informed Zhang Lijuan to meet back in the same place at three in the afternoon before he left to run errands at the post office.
Tony Yao stretched out and then under Si Xiaohui's suspicious gaze, did several more stretching exercises. Feeling her arms and legs more relaxed, she finally asked, "I'm going to the hospital to look for Si Chen. Where are you two going?"
Zhang Lijuan rubbed her waist, "I have been feeling a bit unwell lately, so I want to see a doctor at the hospital."
Si Xiaohui said, "That's perfect, I can go and see my brother."
In reality, Tong Yao had already known that Zhang Lijuan wanted to see Si Chen and was asking on purpose.
Since they all had the same destination, there was no need to go separately. They got on a bus to the hospital. The bus was crowded, all the seats were taken, and the three girls were pushed to the back. Since Tong Yao got on the bus, she caught the attention of a few young men who kept stealing glances at her.
Beautiful things are indeed more eye-catching, Tong Yao thought, and decided that she needed to get used to it.
After the bus traveled one stop, a few people got off and a woman with a pet dog and a man in his thirties got on. The man's appearance could only be described as shifty, and as soon as he got on, his eyes started scanning around the bus non-stop.
The pet dog in the lady's arms also seemed to keep a wary eye on the man as if it too sensed he was up to no good.
After two stops, a woman in her thirties suddenly screamed, "My money is gone, there is a thief on the bus."
Everyone on the bus was alarmed by her cry, including the driver, who pulled over but did not open the doors. "Ma'am, are you sure you lost your money on the bus?" the driver asked.
"It was lost on the bus." The woman responded anxiously and quite certainly, "I still had the money when I got on the bus."
Everyone quickly checked their wallets and kept their distance from the woman, for fear she'd accuse them of the theft. Si Xiaohui and Zhang Lijuan also initially checked their wallets. When they found their money was safe, both girls could finally breathe a sigh of relief. It didn't matter if someone else lost their money, as long as theirs was safe.
The driver looked at the several dozens of passengers inside the bus, finding himself in a bit of a pickle. He wasn't sure who had stolen the money and it was unrealistic to take everyone to the police station.
"Madam, how much did you lose?"
"Ten yuan, a single note." The woman responded anxiously: "Driver, you can't let anyone off the bus until I find my money."
She was wearing a gray coat patched with repairs, suggesting poverty. Ten yuan might be a month's expenditure for her entire family. Yet, not everyone cared enough for her plight. As soon as she finished speaking, objections arose.
"We all have urgent matters to attend to, and we didn't steal the money. Why shouldn't we be allowed to alight?"
Another chimed in, "You can't delay everyone because of your issues, can you?"
The auntie who had boarded earlier tried to calm her barking pet dog. Everyone else largely ignored the dog's bark.
The bus filled with the noise of the barking dog and the ongoing debates, giving people a headache.
Suddenly, a clear voice sounded in the bus, "He stole it, I saw him."
Although her voice was not loud, it attracted everyone's attention. They turned to look at a girl who appeared to be only eighteen or nineteen years old, pointing firmly at a man, seemingly confident that she had seen him take the money.
The accused man's face twisted in rage, "What is this nonsense?"
Si Xiaohui, frightened by the man's expression, tugged quietly at Tong Yao's sleeve, whispering with a pale face, "It's none of our business, why did you have to speak up?"
We shouldn't make it our business even if we saw it!
This man seemed dangerous. What if he retaliated against them?
Zhang Lijuan quietly distanced herself from the two, pretending not to know them. She sat quietly and thought to herself, let Tong Yao bear the consequences of her own actions.
Ignoring Si Xiaohui, Tong Yao raised her chin and continued pointing at the man: "I saw him steal the money and put it into his left pocket."
In fact, Tong Yao hadn't seen the man steal the money. But the dog had been barking at the man as if he had stolen the money.
"Give me back my money. This is the money I borrowed to save my husband's life. You have no conscience," cried the woman who had lost the money. Without caring how dangerous the man might be, she clung to him, howling and demanding her money back.
"You'd better hand over the money and get off the bus, or else I'll take you to the police station."
The driver made to get up from his seat. The man sensed that things weren't looking good. He knew he wouldn't be able to escape if he didn't produce the money, considering the bus was full of people.
He knew the grave implications of a charge of theft. While it wouldn't land him in jail forever, he could serve two or three years, especially considering his past criminal record.
After briefly deliberating, the man made his decision. He took the money out of his pocket and threw it on the floor while cursing, "Who the fuck said I stole the money? I picked it up. Open the door, I'm getting off."
The driver didn't want to make a big fuss and delay his schedule, so he opened the door. Passengers instinctively made way for the man to disembark. They thought the man would calmly get off the bus and put an end to the situation. Suddenly, the man turned and pulled something out of his pocket, lunging towards Tong Yao.
Fortune favored Tong Yao as she quickly moved aside and avoided a fatal attack. Nevertheless, her arm was still grazed by the man's knife. The man, having failed to injure her, capitalised on the moment of shock to escape on foot. It all happened in less than twenty seconds.
The knife wound was deep. Tong Yao felt a numbness in her arm before looking down to see bright red blood staining her sleeve, resembling blooming plum blossoms. Si Xiaohui was dumbfounded at the sight.
Though she had time traveled from the modern world, Tong Yao was still understandably shaken. It was fortunate she had reacted quickly; otherwise, the small knife could have inflicted a serious injury.
"Goodness! Miss, are you alright?" The woman who had lost the money fumbled for her handkerchief to stop Tong Yao's bleeding. She was scared and her hands were shaking because this was the first time she had witnessed such an incident.
"There's so much blood. We need to get her to a hospital." Other passengers chimed in.
The driver reacted. He quickly returned to his seat and started the bus. "You hold on to the wound. The People's Hospital is just one stop away," he said.
Tong Yao, who was already quite pale, was on the verge of fainting due to blood loss. The other passengers saw this and advised Xiaohui: "You are together, right? Stop standing there foolishly. Help her hold her things!"
A young man next to them even gave up his seat for Tong Yao to sit down.
Si Xiaohui finally snapped back to reality, taking Tong Yao's bag with a tremble and helped press down on the wound. She snapped at Tong Yao, pale-faced, "Why on earth did you have to interfere? It wasn't your money that was stolen! Now look at the trouble you've caused! We just stepped out for the day and you have already provoked such a huge mess." They were surely going to be scolded when they got back.
Everyone looked dissatisfied when Si Xiaohui started badmouthing Tong Yao at such a moment. Si Xiaohui felt guilty and didn't dare to say another word under their glares.
Zhang Lijuan was so scared that she didn't dare make a sound. It wasn't until they got off the bus at the hospital stop that she started chiding Tong Yao: "That was reckless! So what if someone stole money? It was none of your business. You even helped the woman but she didn't thank you. Moreover, the man could have seriously wounded you. You could've lost your life!"
Tong Yao, no longer numbed and now overwhelmed by the pain, sucked in a sharp breath. Upon hearing Zhang Lijuan's words, she snapped back, "If you could be this articulate before the man, he might have even been educated by you."
At this, Zhang Lijuan frowned, "Sister-in-law, I was just looking out for your interest. Why can't you recognize that?" She refused to back down. Now that they were in a city where no one knew her, she wasn't afraid of Tong Yao.
"Lijuan, don't be mad. She's always unappreciative. She suffered so much this time but she still didn't learn. Once my brother is here, he'll teach her a lesson."
Si Xiaohui held Zhang Lijuan's hand and they walked towards the hospital together. After a few steps, she worried that Si Chen would blame her for not taking care of Tong Yao. So she turned around and grumbled at Tong Yao, "Hurry up! If you lose too much blood and faint, I won't be able to carry you."
Her arm hurt too much for Tong Yao to bother arguing. The three of them quickly reached the hospital. Si Xiaohui busied herself lining up to register while she asked Tong Yao to wait at one side. Zhang Lijuan, carrying Tong Yao's belongings, excused herself to use the restroom. Moments later, she appeared on the second floor, peeping into the different clinics, searching for Si Chen.
After failing to find him in three clinics, she saw a woman dressed as a doctor exit one of the rooms. She seized the opportunity to ask, "Hello, Doctor, may I know which clinic Doctor Si Chen is in?"
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