Beautiful Peasant Girl: The Young Marquis's Beloved

A chaotic and noisy voice came from outside the crowd: "Get out of the way, get out of the way, Doctor Meng is here!"

"Ouch, slow down, slow down, let me catch my breath..." The footsteps were getting closer and closer, and then stopped in front of the mother and daughter.

"Oh, who did this? How much hatred must one have to be so harsh..." Doctor Meng said angrily while stretching out his hand to feel Liu Xu's pulse.

The discussions around stopped.

After a while, Doctor Meng let go of his hand, checked the wound on Liu Xu's forehead again, asked someone to bring clean water to wash it, and then began to apply medicine and bandage it.

Liu Xu kept her eyes closed the whole time because she was really dizzy.

Perhaps because so many people were watching, Zhang was also worried that someone might really die. Although she looked reluctant, she did not say anything to stop it.

After Doctor Meng finished bandaging the wound, Xu Ruolan asked anxiously, "Doctor Meng, is Xu'er okay?"

Doctor Meng stroked his beard and said seriously, "This child is seriously injured. She must be taken good care of in the next period of time. She must not be tired or stimulated again. The wound must not be exposed to water, and the dressing must be changed on time every day. Also, let her rest more and let her stay in bed as much as possible in the next few days."

Xu Ruolan nodded repeatedly, with worry and gratitude in her eyes, "Okay, Doctor Meng, I've taken note of it. Thank you."

Doctor Meng waved his hand, "You're welcome. This is my duty as a doctor. This is the replacement medicine. These three packets are for oral administration. Boil one bowl of medicine with three bowls of water and drink it after a stick of incense after a meal. If there is nothing else, I will leave first. If you have any questions, please feel free to have someone come to me."

Xu Ruolan took the medicine bag and expressed her gratitude repeatedly.

Upon seeing this, Liu Dashan signaled to his wife to quickly pay the medical fees. Zhang wanted to yell with a painful look on her face, but seeing her old man frowning, she could only pay reluctantly.

After Doctor Meng left, Zhang started to grumble again, "Bah, I told you she was a money-loser. She's such a useless person that she still needs a doctor for such a minor injury."

When Xu Ruolan heard this, her heart ached, but she was powerless to refute. She could only support Liu Xu with difficulty and try to send her daughter back to the house first.

Seeing this, Zhuang, the wife of Liu Dazhu next door, rushed forward to help. Together, they carried the catkins back to the house and gently placed them on the bed.

Seeing her daughter's pale face, Xu Ruolan burst into tears. Seeing this, Zhuang sighed, not knowing what to say for a moment. She touched Liu Xu's chicken claw-like little hand, patted Xu Ruolan's shoulder, and walked out gently.

Xu Ruolan secretly swore in her heart that she must protect her daughter well and never let her suffer such harm again.

At this time, Liu Xu had fallen into a deep sleep and was unaware of all this.

The sunlight outside was extremely hot, as if it was going to burn everything to a crisp. Seeing that Doctor Meng had left, the others also dispersed.

Only his family members were left in the yard. The village chief patted Liu Dashan on the shoulder and said, "Dashan, you should take good care of your family. They are all your children and grandchildren!" After saying that, he sighed and turned away.

The village is so small that even the smallest thing can take days and nights to talk about, not to mention that this almost cost someone their life. At this moment, the women who had returned to the big locust tree to do needlework and cool off started chatting again.

"It's such a big cut, I don't know if it will leave a scar?" A woman about the same age as Zhang said with pity on her face.

She is Meng, the wife of Liu Dashan's younger brother Liu Dalin. She has long been fed up with her sister-in-law humiliating Liu Donglai's family, but after all, they have separated, and as the brother's wife, she can't say much.

"Yes, Miss Xu doesn't have enough to eat or wear warm clothes on a normal day, and now she's been beaten like this. If anything happens to her, what will Ruolan do..."

A woman nearby said with lingering fear that when she heard the news and rushed over, everyone had already dispersed. Zhang was there with a dissatisfied look on her face, and she couldn't go in, so she could only come here to inquire about the situation of Xu Ruolan and her mother. Her name is Chen Lan, and she is the daughter-in-law of Liu Changshun, the third grandson of the second grandfather's family. She is the same age as Xu Ruolan, and the relationship between the two families has always been good. Her daughter Liu Xing'er is two years older than Liu Xu, and the two have played together since they were young. After Liu Donglai left, their family helped them a lot. Otherwise, with Zhang's harsh treatment, Xu Ruolan and her mother would probably be even worse off.

Because the second grandfather was the only one left from the older generation, and her family was very popular in the village, and no one else said anything about it, even if Zhang Shi was dissatisfied, she would just curl her lips and pretend not to know.

"Alas, Donglai's wife has a miserable life. I don't know if Donglai can come back. Otherwise, how can they live as an orphan and a widow?" Another villager said with emotion.

"Then who told her to only give Donglai a daughter after all these years! Donglai went to the battlefield without even a successor." This sarcastic and sour tone was immediately heard by the village widow Liu Hehua. Her husband Liu Wulang died of illness two years after she married, leaving behind a blind old mother and an only child, Miao Laibao, who was just one year old.

Not long after Liu Wulang passed away, Liu Hehua fell in love with Liu Donglai, who was tall and mighty and could make money by hunting. So, she would hang around Liu Donglai whenever she had time and flatter Zhang. She thought she would marry him sooner or later, but Xu Ruolan suddenly appeared, which made her gnashing her teeth in hatred.

After seeing Xu Ruolan gave birth to Liu Xu, she was no longer happy. She loved to gossip in the village about how Xu Ruolan couldn't give birth to a son, unlike her, who got a boy in one go. Now, she's here to gossip again.

When Chen Lan heard this, she couldn't hold back her temper. "Liu Hehua, if you don't know how to talk, just shut up. There are many people who bloom before they bear fruit. Why do you blame Ruolan? There are many people in the village who don't know that if Ruolan hadn't gone to work in the fields during her confinement and hurt herself, she might have had two children in three years! Don't let you gossip about me!"

Chen Lan's words clearly meant that she was blaming Zhang for her harsh treatment of Xu Ruolan. No one around refuted because it was true. Although they were all farmers, no one had ever seen a mother-in-law like Old Lady Zhang, who took advantage of her son's absence to force her daughter-in-law, who had just given birth less than seven days ago, to work in the fields in the middle of winter. If Liu Donglai hadn't come back quickly, who knows what would have happened.

Liu Donglai had a big fight with his family because of this matter, and everyone in the village looked down on Zhang's behavior.

"That's right! I think she is just jealous of Donglai's wife. After all, she coveted Donglai every day, but Donglai didn't like her, hahaha." Someone in the crowd said.

"Okay, okay, it's been so many years since we last met." Wang, the village head's wife, interrupted, "They are a little pitiful, everyone should help them more in the future."

"What my aunt said is right. Besides, Brother Donglai has helped us a lot in the past!" Chen Lan continued.

"Yes, yes! Let my boy bring some food to Xu girl when he goes to cut grass tomorrow. I guess the mother and daughter won't be able to eat it if we send it to their home."

"What you mean, does she still have to cut grass for pigs even though she is in that condition? Didn't Doctor Meng say that she had to be rested for a while?" a young bride asked in confusion.

"It's hard to say. Didn't you see that girl's face was covered in blood today? She could be so cruel. What's the big deal about picking pig grass?" Old Mrs. Zhou looked like I knew her very well.

Chen Lan was getting a little restless, so she decided to go to Liu Xu's house when she had nothing to do for the next two days. That way, even if Zhang was dissatisfied, she could not blatantly mistreat her and her daughter.

As the cool breeze blew, the women's gossip never stopped.

In Liu Xu's house.

Xu Ruolan sat on the edge of the bed, holding Liu Xu's hand tightly, tears flowing uncontrollably.

"Xu'er, you must get better soon. Mother can't live without you." Xu Ruolan said in a low voice.

Liu Xu, who had just woken up, heard this and felt a pain in her heart. She knew that this was the memory of the original owner. But when she opened her eyes and looked at the skinny woman in front of her, who only had eyes for her, she couldn't help but feel a pain in her heart. She opened her mouth and said in a hoarse voice, "Mom, I'm sorry for making you worry."

Seeing her daughter wake up, Xu Ruolan's face was full of surprise, "Xu'er, my Xu'er, you finally woke up!"

Thinking that her daughter's voice was not right, she quickly poured her a glass of water. After helping her drink it, she said:

"Xu'er, you don't know how dangerous you were just now. If Doctor Meng hadn't arrived in time, you might have..."

As she spoke, tears began to fall again.

"Mom, don't cry. Look, I'm fine now." Liu Xu was a little anxious.

"It's all because of my failure to protect you. I thought she was just a little stupid and had a bad mouth, but I didn't expect she would dare to do such a heavy thing to you..." Xu Ruolan paused here, then suddenly raised her head and looked at Liu Xu with a firm gaze: "Xu'er, I will protect you well in the future and won't let them hurt you again."

A woman is strong as a mother, and Xu Ruolan was able to walk safely to Qinghe County alone, which shows that she is not a weak person. It's just that she has been protected by Liu Donglai for many years, so she has become a little weak. This time the original owner was in trouble, and Liu Xu knew that she must be scared, which also aroused her original temper. Thinking of the little Liu Xu who had left, she reached out and held her hand back.

"Mom, don't blame yourself. Believe me, this was just an accident. I will protect myself, mom, and my brothers and sisters in the future."

"Okay, okay, I believe you. I will be with you in the future." Xu Ruolan said, thinking that her daughter had not eaten yet, she helped her lie down and said gently:

"You're still injured, take a good rest, I'll go make you something to eat."

"I'm not hungry, mother, don't go." Liu Xu said anxiously, she was worried that her mother couldn't handle the family outside. After all, Mrs. Zhang's wallet was bleeding a lot today. Although Doctor Meng's fee was cheap, it would cost a lot of money to add the herbs. I guess she was just waiting for them to come to her door.

"No, you are so badly injured, you must eat something to replenish your nutrition." Xu Ruolan insisted with a straight face.

Xu Ruolan finished speaking and turned to leave the room. As soon as she reached the kitchen door, Zhang saw her and started to scold her: "You are so slow! Are you crawling? Why don't you go and cook? Do you want to starve me to death?"

"And that damn girl made me spend so much money today. When can I ever earn it back?" Zhang glared at Xu Ruolan viciously, as if she wanted to eat her.

"That's right. We are a country family, and every child has bumps and bruises. Those minor injuries can be healed by wiping them with wood ash. Besides, it's just a cut, so why is he unconscious? He can't be pretending, right?" Chen Shuman opened the door and came out after seeing that all the villagers had left.

In fact, although Zhang didn't like them very much at first, she was just a little harsh in her words. The reason why she treated them so harshly now was inevitably due to Chen Shuman's instigation.

"Oh, you don't want to work, do you? Mom, our family can't afford to support an idler." Chen Shuman covered her mouth with one hand and exclaimed in a pretentious manner. She glanced at her mother-in-law and saw that Zhang's face became more gloomy, and she felt proud.

"Sister-in-law, how can you say that? Doctor Meng has already said that Xu'er was seriously injured this time! Also, don't forget that Xu'er was accidentally injured by mother-in-law because of your family!"

Normally, Xu Ruolan would have been fine with a little grievance for the sake of her daughter and husband. But her daughter was already so hurt, if she didn't refute it, she would be unworthy of being a mother. Xu'er was still so young, if she was labeled a thief, how could she get married in the future?

Chen Shuman glanced at her mother-in-law when she heard this. Seeing Zhang frowning, her heart skipped a beat. She quickly winked at her daughter behind her and asked her to take the culprit Liu Chengcai back to the house. When old lady Zhang saw this, she couldn't help but glared at Chen Shuman fiercely, then glanced at the door of Liu Xu's room, and said, "What are you doing standing there? Go cook!" and turned back to the main room.

Chen Shuman curled her lips and turned back to the main house.

Xu Ruolan took a deep breath, supported her sore waist, and went into the kitchen.

Hearing the noise outside stop, Liu Xu lay on the bed, looking at the roof, and secretly swore in his heart that he must make himself strong and protect himself and his mother.