Becoming the Villain's Discarded Wife
Chapter 177: Accident

Chapter 177: Chapter 177: Accident

The old Daoist had left, but Lin Shougui didn’t believe his words, instead, he kept calling for Fat Ya.

It was only until she turned five that he changed his tune.

Right behind Stone Village lay the mountains dense with wild herbs. Each year some itinerant doctors would come to collect them.

Those were the most-awaited moments for the village children.

The doctors didn’t offer much money, and most village folks were concerned with their crops. So, the only people who could spare to go collecting were families with more hands, and the bunch of village children.

Whenever the itinerant doctors arrived, the children would don their old clothes and go herb collecting in the mountains.

Most of what they collected was plantain, mallow grass and orchid roots.

After gathering the herbs, the doctors would weigh them out and pay. Generally, a child of about six or seven could earn forty to fifty wen coins in spare change over half a month.

Able to earn slight spending change to buy candies delighted the kids; so, the adults in the village would always accompany them.

As August approached, Lin Yicheng and Lin Ercheng spent all their days either roaming around with their younger sister or squatting at the entrance of the village with the other kids, awaiting the doctor’s arrival.

"Big brother, what are we waiting for?" Fat Ya squatted under a tree. Gazing at children of all sizes congregating around her elder brother, she inched closer.

"We’re waiting for the itinerant doctor! Last year, big brother earned forty wen coins!",

Lin Yicheng puffed out his chest with pride.

He was the one who earned the most in the village last year!

"Big brother is amazing!" The little girl didn’t know exactly how much forty wen were but applauded and praised blindly.

"Me, me too. Fat Ya! Er Cheng is also amazing because I earned twenty-nine wen last year!"

Seeing his sister’s admiring gaze, Lin Ercheng couldn’t resist chiming in.

"Er Cheng is also very good!"

"Good girl, Fat Ya. This year Er Cheng will collect more. Once it’s sold, I’ll buy you a beautiful hair ribbon!"

Lin Ercheng lovingly patted his little sister’s head as he promised puffing his own chest out.

"Okay!"

Although about twenty-odd children from the village had been squatting at the village entrance for three days straight, their skin had become notably darker.

Lin Yicheng and Lin Ercheng were no different and now resembled little coal balls.

"You two little brats, look at what you’ve done to your sister!"

Lin Shougui felt a pang in his heart as he studied his tanned daughter.

She hadn’t gotten this tanned over the entire summer, but now in August, he couldn’t bear to see her darken any further.

"We, we were waiting for the itinerant doctor. We’ll pick herbs and earn money, to buy a hair ribbon for Fat Ya!"

Lin Yicheng muttered, ’What’s wrong with a little tan? Even if my sister has darkened, she is still the second prettiest girl in the village!’

Once he earns the money, he would buy a hair ribbon for Chen Er Ya and Fat Ya, making them the prettiest girls in the village!

Lin Ercheng also glanced at his little sister secretly and noticed she had darkened significantly but stayed quiet.

He told himself that once he earned money, he would buy candies for Fat Ya. Consuming candies would make her fairer!

Perhaps they felt guilty that Fat Ya had darkened because of them, both brothers shared the rice from their bowls with her during dinner. Just before bedtime, they secretly gave her two wild fruits.

But unexpectedly, Fat Ya burst into tears in the middle of the night. Initially, she whimpered quietly, but as time passed, she began to wail. Her crying was inconsolable and she ended up vomiting everything.

Looking at the mess all over the floor and his sickly daughter’s pale face, Lin Shougui’s heart ached and he was furious.

After carrying his daughter to the village doctor, upon returning home, he caught hold of the two brothers and landed them a good beating.

The two brothers yelped in pain but held back from running away when they heard that their sister’s illness was due to them feeding her too much.

Ironically, the itinerant doctor they had been waiting for for so long finally arrived at Lihua Village the very next day. This time, he specifically wanted the wild hawthorns from the back mountain, offering one wen coin per two catties.

Compared to the prices of the herbs they were collecting before, the price was significantly higher this time.

There were quite a few wild hawthorns trees at the rear mountain. All the village kids prepared their baskets and got ready to enter the mountain.

Just before they left for the mountain, a few boys who were good friends with Lin Yicheng and Lin Ercheng came to look for them, only to find the brothers motionless on their beds.

"We’re leaving then!"

Seeing the brothers in their state, Zhuzi figured they had been punished, so he waved and led the other boys towards the back mountain.

They had reached the outskirts of the village when Fat Ya blocked their path.

"Fat Ya, what’s this for? You’re too small to follow us up the mountain. Wait till you’re older, your elder brothers will take you."

Zhuzi rubbed his head looking at the tanned little girl, assuming she wanted to tag along to the mountain for fun.

"You can’t go to the mountain!" The little girl shook her head, obstinately blocking the road with open arms.

"Fat Ya darling, Zhuzi brother will sell the hawthorns and buy you candies! A ribbon too!"

Being the closest to the Lin siblings, Zhuzi was afraid Fat Ya would upset the other village children with her antics and hurriedly tried to comfort her.

"No, no, the mountain is dangerous! In my dream... in my dream, I saw rocks falling down the mountain!"

Some of the kids who wanted to start picking earlier so they could pick more hawthorns were upset when Fat Ya blocked the path.

A few older boys tried to push Fat Ya aside, but Zhuzi stepped in front of them in time.

"Fat Ya, darling, go home. No more fussing!"

"Big rocks are falling from the mountain! It’s dangerous!"

The little girl watched as people walked past her, her face turned red with anxiety, and she almost started to cry.

"What dreams! You must be going crazy!"

One of the boys groused. He’d planned to pick more hawthorns, sell them, and buy a slingshot, but this little girl was wasting his precious time!

In the end, Zhuzi gently led Fat Ya back home so he could then rush back to the rear mountain.

Fat Ya’s endless tears pained Mother Lin who erroneously believed that other village children had bullied her. Since her sons were also confined at home for a few days due to their swollen butts, she decided to keep Fat Ya home too.

It was not until the next afternoon when the villagers noticed that their children hadn’t returned home for the entire morning that they started worrying.

They saw Zhuzi stumble down from the rear mountain, his face smudged with dirt.

"Something’s happened! Something’s happened! There’s been a landslide on the mountain hill! Gou Dan and the others are injured!"

Upon hearing Zhuzi’s words, all the parents of the children who had gone to the mountain grew anxious. They threw aside their tools and dashed toward the mountain.

Zhuzi was thoroughly examined by his mother, who, after confirming he was unharmed, asked, "Zhuzi, what... what happened?"

"Yesterday, we collected all the hawthorns from the external part of the mountain. Today... today we went to the slope to pick more, but... but then it suddenly collapsed. I was standing at the edge and was unharmed, but others... others fell off!"

The adults are dumbfounded after hearing this.

They knew where the hawthorn tree on the rear mountain was, so they allowed the children to go there. The slope had never collapsed all these years, why would it choose to collapse today?

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