Reborn in a small village in the 1990s

When they arrived at her aunt's house, Zhao Da'e first had Zhou Chunwen wash her feet, and then applied some iodine to them.

"Why would I wash my feet before it gets dark?" Zhou Chunwen said dismissively.

"Let me put some iodine on it, why are you making such a fuss?"

"It's nothing serious, I just had a scare..." Zhou Chunwen chuckled, "It wasn't pierced very deep, just a scrape."

As Zhou Chunwen spoke, he even lifted his toes up to show Zhao Da'e.

Zhao Da'e frowned and covered her nose: "Hiss... Big sister, I seriously suspect you didn't wash your feet last night."

Zhou Chunwen's face instantly flushed red: "You're talking nonsense... What does your older sister not washing her feet have to do with me, Zhou Chunwen..."

Zhao Da'e: Uh... that's just burying your head in the sand...

"Here, just apply some iodine yourself." Zhao Da'e soaked a cotton ball in iodine and handed it to Zhou Chunwen, telling her to wipe it herself.

Zhou Chunwen obediently wiped it clean, but then asked, "Big Goose, do you think this little bit of purple wine will help?"

The "purple wine" Zhou Chunwen mentioned is actually iodine solution. Because of its dark purple color, it's generally called "purple wine" here.

"It works! This is for disinfection and sterilization, much more effective than anti-inflammatory drugs. Anyway, if you apply it and your wound doesn't get infected, you'll be fine."

Zhou Chunwen snorted, first washing her feet briefly, then cleaning the wound again, and then putting on her socks.

Zhao Da'e frowned: "It's better to leave it out for a while, otherwise it might get infected."

“I can’t do any work, your aunt’s had another attack.” Zhou Chunwen muttered, “It’s so annoying every day.”

"Wrap some gauze around it, it'll help."

"Okay."

Zhou Chunwen wrapped the gauze around a bit more, then put on socks and shoes and went out to start a fire.

In the outer room, Cheng Jinxi was still grumbling: "Day after day, they all rely on me to cook. If I don't cook, the whole family will starve to death."

Zhou Chunwen lowered his head, his mouth crooked, and muttered under his breath, "Tch, all she does is cook, and look how capable my mom is. Now we eat her cooking every day, it's like we're being choked by a knife."

(The phrase "rib scar fan" is a dialect word that I often use here, but its specific meaning is somewhat vague. It's a specific modal particle used to describe a person who is extremely uncomfortable and sad, making it difficult to swallow food.)

Cheng Jinxi frowned, listening to Zhou Chunwen muttering something while tending the fire, and scolded, "Chunwen, why don't you keep your mouth shut? What are you saying?"

“He didn’t say anything,” Zhou Chunwen said, pouting.

But I was extremely annoyed: Oh no, my mom's menopause has come on very early.

Zhao Da'e also became cautious, afraid that her aunt would bring bad luck upon her. Zhao Da'e knew that Cheng Jinxi's problem wasn't anything too serious; it was probably just that she was worried about not having money for the upcoming New Year, so she was annoyed by everyone.

Moreover, although Zhou Tianfu continued to collect scrap even in the dead of winter, he clearly didn't earn much. This wasn't a fixed income; it came and went. His family owned little land, mostly mountainous terrain. They had enough to eat and wear, but the financial burden of getting married was a major concern.

Moreover, it's not that Zhou Tianfu only spent a dowry to get married.

These days, having a son is a real hardship.

When you marry into a family, the house, especially the west-facing room, needs renovation. You'll need to paint it white, buy a few wardrobes, and of course, a dressing table, which is all the rage these days.

Most importantly, of the three main items that were vaguely mentioned, one of them could be a television set.

In the past, having a radio at home was considered a sign of a good family. Now, radios are no longer enough, and many women are starting to demand that their in-laws have a television.

In this day and age, a television set, while not particularly expensive, still costs over a thousand yuan. A wardrobe made by oneself would also cost around eighteen thousand yuan.

Moreover, after the son gets married, almost everything will need to be prepared in two different ways. Pots and pans, food, clothing, housing, and transportation will all have to be prepared according to the standards of both families.

Besides, the daughter-in-law has just arrived, so the food she eats is the most crucial thing. As the saying goes, food and drink are the things that cost the most money.

Without a daughter-in-law, eating cornbread and pickled vegetables at home is fine. But with a daughter-in-law, even if it's not lavish meals, at least steamed buns and rice are necessary. That's the real issue.

That's why Cheng Jinxi is worried.

When spring comes next year, Zhou Yuren will have to go out and find some work to earn some money.

Cheng Jinxi was worried, so she kept nagging.

But Zhou Chunwen didn't dare to argue back; let her nag. Every family has its own troubles.

While someone was tending the fire and boiling water, Zhao Da'e went to the east room. He saw Zhou Yuren acting as if nothing was wrong, fiddling with the light bulb socket; apparently, there was a problem, and the light wasn't working.

Zhao Da'e looked at Zhou Yuren and asked, "Uncle, you have nails stuck in your feet, you should rest for a while."

"The light's out, I'll fix it. Otherwise we'll have to eat dinner in the dark tonight," Zhou Yuren said with a smile.

After a while, Zhou Yuren fixed the light, and Zhao Da'e handed him the iodine solution: "Disinfect it. If there's rust or something on the nail, it's easy to get tetanus. After disinfecting it, squeeze it with your hand to squeeze out the dirt inside."

This doesn't require any medical knowledge; any normal person would know that. Zhou Yuren simply took some iodine, then went to another room and thoroughly washed his feet with clean water.

Zhou Yuren doesn't wash his feet very often. He considers himself a farmer, so he only washes his feet once every ten days or so.

He knew his feet weren't very clean, so he went to another room to wash them.

After washing his feet, Zhou Yuren applied iodine solution and sprinkled some penicillin powder on them for disinfection. He then wrapped his feet in gauze and returned barefoot in slippers.

Zhao Da'e didn't know what kind of nail Zhou Yuren had stepped on, or whether he would get infected later, but for now, this was all he could do.

However, logically speaking, if Zhou Yuren was an accident, then Zhou Chunwen is just too pretentious. Zhao Da'e knows her very well. She's lazy and unproductive in everything she does, and she's the kind of person who would do anything busy or frantic. If she were to step on a nail, it would be very abrupt.

Of course, the nail Zhou Chunwen stepped on only scratched her skin, which shows that she was actually quite careful when walking.

Zhao Da'e thought for a moment and asked, "Uncle, have you been chopping firewood lately? Or have you been bringing home door frames or window panels to chop firewood?"

Zhou Yuren was a little stunned for a moment, not knowing why Zhao Da'e asked that: "No. I haven't chopped firewood recently. There's been a fire on the mountain these past few days, but I haven't even gone up. Otherwise, I usually go twice a day to gather firewood."

Zhao Da'e frowned instantly.

That makes things very strange.

As we all know, resources were relatively scarce in this era. Everything was recycled or reused whenever possible. Used nails were usually dug out, straightened with a small hammer, and reused. They weren't used for long; just the other day, Zhao Tingxu helped Zhao Da'e dismantle that shredder, and they even dismantled the bricks and tiles...

Zhou Yuren and his wife were relatively frugal in their daily lives. The hay shed in Zhou Yuren's house, where they kept feed for the cattle, had an asbestos tile roof. When the tiles broke, they would simply patch them up with scraps they had collected.

Since Zhou Yuren said he didn't chop firewood, it's impossible that he just threw away unused nails. Only when chopping firewood could there have been nails on that piece of wood that he didn't see, or the nails were too broken to be used and he just threw them away without noticing.

However, it is clear that none of Zhou Yuren's family members had the mentality or impulse to throw away the nail.

After all, Zhou Tianfu was a scrap collector; even broken nails could be exchanged for money, right?

"Uncle, do you think it's possible that someone deliberately threw the nails?" Zhao Da'e asked cautiously.

Zhou Yuren thought for a moment: "This thing, it's probably not intentional, maybe some kid just threw it away."

Zhou Yuren didn't think much of it.

Zhao Da'e nodded, but didn't say anything more.

After all, people are in different age groups, and if they communicate too much, a generation gap will appear.

During dinner, Zhao Da'e didn't say anything. After finishing his dinner early, Zhao Da'e teased Zhou Chunwen.

Zhou Chunwen glared at Zhao Dage: "What?"

"Sister, do you think it's possible? You're not blind?"

Zhou Chunwen looked at Zhao Da'e as if she were an idiot: "Hiss... Da'e, don't think I can't beat you up just because you're pretty... I was just afraid my third aunt would say I was bullying the younger one, otherwise I would have dealt with you long ago. Let me tell you seriously: your older sister is not only not blind, but both my eyes are 5.3. Aww, good..."

As Zhou Chunwen spoke, she leaned closer to Zhao Da'e and peered into her eyes, saying, "Come, come, Da'e, take a look. Look at my big, bright, and affectionate eyes. These are the phoenix eyes that only great beauties of ancient times possessed..."

"That's not right, phoenix eyes aren't something only Guan Yu had!!" Zhao Da'e was stunned for a moment: "Ignorance is truly terrifying. Big sister's eyes should be called peach blossom eyes. Peach blossom eyes are full of tender affection... To put it bluntly, they're shameless eyes."

"Pah! I'm perfectly chaste, okay?" Zhou Chunwen said arrogantly. "That's shameless. Someone like me is beautiful, cute, and kind..."

"A chubby girl..."

"I'm not fat!!!" Zhou Chunwen said, hands on her hips.

"Big sister, you're only 1.6 meters tall, if you're wearing shoes. But you weigh over 110 pounds. Aren't you fat?" Zhao Da'e said.

“Uh… fat? Your aunt weighs 150 or 160 pounds, and I haven’t seen you say she’s fat. Humph…” Zhou Chunwen retorted sarcastically, “I’m much slimmer than my mom.”

“That’s true, eldest sister, you certainly know how to make comparisons. Why don’t you compare yourself to Third Granny?” Zhao Da’e said dismissively.

Granny San was a well-known big woman in the village, 1.4 meters tall, weighing 180 pounds, and as thick as she could be...

"Pah!" Zhou Chunwen said. "That old hag, San Pozi, doesn't even dare to compare herself to me. Big Goose, can't you find a decent person to compare yourself to?"

"If you put it that way, you do seem quite thin. At least in the village, you could be the village beauty of the village magistrate."

“I love hearing that.” Zhou Chunwen immediately beamed. “Hehehe. ‘Village beauty’ suits me. I am the little village beauty with the cane of a scholar. Big Goose, you are the little village beauty of your Dongtaizi Village. We are both village beauties, let’s keep in touch.”

"Okay then," Zhao Da'e said helplessly, "No, I'm getting down to business. It's just that you have good eyesight, how did you still step on a nail?"

Zhou Chunwen thought for a moment and said, "I didn't see it."

"What about your father?"

"My dad is really blind..."

Zhao Da'e: "..."

Forget it, I'm not going to argue with Zhou Chunwen anymore.

"Go out and take a look; I have a feeling something's not right."

So Zhao Da'e pulled Zhou Chunwen out of the yard, but halfway there she went back to get a flashlight.

Zhou Chunwen was taken aback: "It's not dark yet, what are you doing with a flashlight? Are you planning to go on a long trip?"

"I was afraid I wouldn't be able to see it clearly," Zhao Da'e explained.

The two of them went to the woodpile outside the yard.

Zhao Da'e warned, "Big sister, be careful. I suspect someone deliberately put nails on you."

"Holy crap?!" Zhou Chunwen slapped his forehead. "If you're doing this on purpose, I remember now. I really didn't see the nail. I only felt the pain after I stepped on it, but I didn't feel anything at first. Now that you mention it, something doesn't seem right. Who would leave nails standing upright? Shouldn't nails be laid flat? My dad didn't chop any firewood, and there aren't any beams or anything like that in the house. If there had been a wooden stick with nails on it, I should have fallen and been knocked down, but I was fine. I just stepped on a nail without any problems."

"Just stepping on nails?" Zhao Da'e was dumbfounded: "Big sister, if only you had graduated from elementary school back then. You could have made something out of stepping on nails and still be considered innocent."

Zhou Chunwen scoffed and said, "Give me the flashlight."

Zhao Da'e then handed over the flashlight.

With his memory in mind, Zhou Chunwen slowly walked towards the woodpile by rubbing the ground with his feet.

He took two steps, stopped, then bent down and dug out a wooden board with four nails from the soil next to the woodpile.

Zhou Chunwen frowned and said, "Holy crap, look at the geese, they're nailed on so neatly."

When Zhao Da'e took a look, he immediately became angry: "There's no doubt about it, someone did this on purpose."

Zhou Chunwen continued his search, and in no time he found three or four identical wooden planks, each with nails hammered into them. Half of them were buried in the soil, barely visible.

However, if someone steps on it, they will get pricked.

Moreover, the area around the woodpile is full of broken firewood, wood chips, straw leaves, and the like; you really can't find it if you don't look carefully.

The two sisters searched for a long time, almost digging three feet into the ground, and finally found five sets of wooden boards with nails.

Zhou Chunwen held it in his hand, weighing it in his hand: "Hehe. Big goose, do you believe it or not, someone deliberately put this here..."

“I definitely believe it… Sister, don’t ask such a childish question.” Zhao Da’e said, “Even a fool could see that someone deliberately made you get stabbed.”

"The problem is, I don't even leave the house. I haven't offended anyone, so why the hell would I resort to such underhanded tactics?" Zhou Chunwen said angrily. "It's really despicable, always doing such vile things. If you have a grudge, don't drag me into it! What the hell did I do to deserve this?!"