country bumpkin

Chapter 10 Village Entrance Meeting Point

Kong Xiujuan went into her room and muttered aggrievedly about her husband.

"Are you deaf or mute? Your mother is yelling and cursing like this, and you don't care?"

“I can’t control it either,” Sun Zitao said.

"Then you just stand there and stare blankly? Are you made of wood or are you stupid? Didn't you see that the child was scared to tears?"

Sun Zitao lowered his head and remained silent. He secretly made up his mind, "I must have a son."

In his heart, he felt that his mother disliked his family because there were no sons in the family and she couldn't give him a grandson. He felt it was his own fault and never thought about how his mother treated him or how she treated his younger brother differently.

Kong Xiujuan was angry and ignored him. She put the child on the bed to play with his stuffed animals and went to tidy up her things. Sun Zitao walked to the bedside, sat down, and played with the child.

…………

At the entrance of Kongjia Village, Granny Zhang was chatting excitedly about gossip.

"Oh dear, have you heard? The village chief's daughter has sent over another child. She's already had three girls now," said Granny Zhang.

"Tsk tsk tsk~" That's right, the village chief's son's family also has a daughter. Their family has only had one son for three generations. Will the family line end with his son's generation? " Granny Xu said, looking around.

Granny Zhang said, "Keep your voice down, or the village chief's family will hear you, or you'll be in big trouble."

"Hehe~ Granny Zhang, you said last time that Kong Tongming's eldest daughter's second daughter was in the hospital, how is she? Is she better yet?" Granny Xu cleverly changed the subject.

"She's been discharged from the hospital. Speaking of which, that little girl was really pitiful. Other people's children are sent to their parents' homes to be raised, and their grandparents come to take them, giving them food and money. But this girl's grandparents never came to visit her even once. This time she got sick and even had to borrow an oxygen tube. She was on the verge of death, but no one from the other side came to check on her to see if she was alive or dead."

"Oh dear! How careless of you! Aren't you worried about your own granddaughter?" said Granny Xu.

Granny Zhang said, "Still worried? Ha~tui," and spat out a mouthful of saliva.

She continued, "I've never seen anyone like this before. It's not something a human being would do. The child has been here for over a year, and they haven't come to see him even once."

Granny Xu chimed in, "That's right, it's not something a human would do." The villagers who had been listening to the gossip nearby also chimed in.

"Oh, by the way, did you know that Granny Niu's eldest daughter, Kong Chunhua, has gone mad?" Granny Xu added.

Everyone looked at each other and shook their heads.

"When did this happen? How could that be? I saw her going back to her parents' home just a few days ago!" a villager said.

Granny Xu said, "It's true, I saw her yesterday when I passed by Granny Niu's house. Her daughter looked like she'd gone mad. Her hair was disheveled, her face was covered in ash, and she was covered in excrement—it stank! She was lying on the ground, foaming at the mouth, her eyes were wide open and wouldn't even turn, and her hands and feet were twitching. She's definitely gone mad." She finished speaking and shuddered.

Granny Zhang interrupted, saying, "No, that's not how it is. Don't talk nonsense if you don't know what happened. Our front and back yards are close together, so I know what happened."

"I'm telling you, but you absolutely mustn't tell anyone, this is a secret."

She continued, "When her eldest daughter was ten years old, she had a really high fever. After she recovered, she got a strange illness. What was it called again? Let me think..." She scratched the back of her head as she spoke.

"Oh, right, I remember now, it's called epilepsy or convulsions." Granny Zhang patted her chest, pretending to be scared.

"This disease is very scary. It doesn't occur frequently when you're a child, maybe once a month. But it gets more and more serious as you grow up. If you get angry or stressed, it will occur more frequently."

Furthermore, when this disease flares up, the patient experiences convulsions, foams at the mouth, loses consciousness, and becomes like a fool. Moreover, this disease is incurable and must be carried for life.

Granny Xu said, "Really? How do you know so much? Who told you?"

"I overheard Granny Niu and her old man Kong Fugui talking. Our front and back yards are so close, we could hear them fart in their house," Granny Zhang said.

"Then, did she have an attack yesterday? I thought she had gone mad! And what's with the feces on her body? It stinks!" said Granny Xu.

Old Mrs. Zhang said, "Yesterday, she fell ill and fell into the outhouse when she went to use the toilet. It was awful!"

All the villagers suddenly realized what was going on.

One villager said, "They've kept it a secret for so many years. Kong Chunhua is already 25 years old, and we neighbors only just found out about it."

Granny Zhang said, "Are you stupid? If word gets out, how will Kong Chunhua ever get married? She doesn't hide it from everyone; she'll just show it off everywhere."

Granny Xu said, "Granny Zhang, aren't you afraid that if her family finds out about these things now, they'll come after you?"

Granny Zhang said, "Now it's not up to me to say what I say. Many people in our village have seen her fall ill and know that it's the cause of her illness. What does it have to do with me?"

Granny Xu and the others all nodded in agreement.

Later, everyone chatted back and forth, talking about this and that. They stayed together and talked until dark before going home to rest.

The next day, the village was abuzz with news about Kong Chunhua's illness.

Feeling humiliated, the Kong family kept their doors tightly shut and refused to go out again. Meanwhile, Granny Zhang felt slightly uneasy for having revealed Kong Chunhua's secret.

A few days later, one morning, Granny Zhang found some eggs and vegetables at her doorstep.

She inquired around and learned that it was sent by the Kong family. Granny Zhang finally felt relieved; she understood that the Kong family hadn't blamed her.

Days passed, and Kong Chunhua's illness continued to flare up frequently. Although the villagers felt sorry for her, they did their best to help her.

However, fate is often unpredictable. One day, a stranger came to the village. Hearing about Kong Chunhua's illness, he expressed his willingness to try treatment. Would this unexpected turn of events bring hope to Kong Chunhua?

Kong Fugui and his family were overjoyed and immediately invited the man into their home. The man introduced himself as Mr. Li, a traveling healer.

He took Kong Chunhua's pulse, prescribed several medicines, and told the Kong family how to decoct and take the medicine.

After Kong Chunhua drank the medicine, her condition seemed to improve, which made the Kong family extremely grateful to Doctor Li.

However, as time went by, Kong Chunhua's illness did not heal; on the contrary, it sometimes became more severe.

When the Kong family sought treatment from Dr. Li again, they discovered he had vanished without a trace, and many valuables were missing from their home. Only then did they realize they had been scammed.

This incident caused quite a stir in the village.

"The Kong family is so unlucky! Is there something wrong with their ancestral graves?" The villagers gathered together and discussed.

“Yes, that’s how I see it. Instead of going to Kong Tongming, his family should ask him to take a look at their ancestral graves,” another villager said.

Everyone started talking at once...

The matter was eventually left unresolved.