noffsinger Chapter 172 A brief reunion
Chapter 172 A brief reunion
Du Kang, who fainted last night, had not woken up until Du Shimu came back and was resting on his bed in Luo Xiaoran's house.
After Du Shimu returned from the county government office, he checked on his wife and daughter. After making sure that they were both fine, he carefully closed the door and walked out. Then he saw Luo Xiaoran standing in the yard.
Luo Xiaoran's expression was gloomy. She stared at Du Shimu for a long time, until she saw Du Shimu feeling a little uncomfortable, then she spoke softly:
"Uncle Du has been missing for two years. Kong Qing and Aunt Ming have suffered a lot. But no matter how difficult it was, it's all right now. As soon as Uncle Du came back, he dealt with the local officials in Fuyuan County. I guess he must have been very lucky."
There was temptation and suspicion in Luo Xiaoran's tone, but Du Shimu did not accept it. He just smiled bitterly and did not answer.
He was even unwilling to make up an excuse. What a weird person.
"Boring," Luo Xiaoran muttered, then ignored him and went into the house to catch up on her sleep.
After Du Kang woke up, he thought that seeing Du Shimu before he fainted was a dream. Now that he saw him appear in front of him in real life and heard him say that his daughter's life had been saved, he couldn't help but cry again.
After crying, Du Kang pulled Du Shimu aside to talk and told her everything that she and her daughter had experienced in the past two years.
"...Qing'er went through all the hardships to take care of me. If she hadn't met Xiaoran, you probably wouldn't be able to see us today."
After listening to his wife's story, Du Shimu's extremely dry eyes revealed great self-blame. He sighed deeply, but said nothing.
Du Kang also knew that her husband was hiding something from her, but she chose not to say it. The doubts in her mind were not urgent at the moment. The most important thing now was Qing'er's matter.
The couple stayed by Du Kongqing's bed together, making sure their daughter would see them first after waking up.
In the afternoon, the warm and soft sunlight shone through the window onto Du Kongqing's face. Her thick eyelashes trembled twice like a startled butterfly, and then slowly opened.
"father?"
A hoarse word uttered from his lips due to excessive blood loss, and his brows raised slightly. Du Kongqing couldn't believe his eyes. He slowly closed his eyes, then opened them again. After seeing Du Shimu again, he cried out "wow".
"Dad, if we both die, Mom will be left alone. How sad she will be! She is weak to begin with, can't do farm work, and can't cook delicious food. Without us, how can she take care of herself? Wuuwuwu~~"
Du Kongqing started sobbing as she spoke. Du Shimu had never seen his daughter like this before. For a moment he was at a loss as to what to do.
At this time, Du Kang, who went to bring medicine to Du Kongqing, pushed the door open. Seeing the appearance of the father and daughter, he thought something had happened again and hurried over.
Du Kongqing was crying sadly. Seeing this, Du Kang stuffed the medicine into Du Shimu's hand, then put his arm around her daughter's shoulder with concern, "Qing'er, why are you crying? Are you feeling unwell again?"
"Hiccup~~" Du Kongqing wiped her tears and hiccuped, her eyes were tearful. Seeing her mother was also here, she immediately started crying again: "Mom, why are you coming down too?"
Hearing this, Du Kang was stunned for a moment, then he realized why his daughter was crying, and he didn't know whether to laugh or cry, "Silly child, you didn't die, your father saved you!"
"Mom, you're lying. Dad has been dead for two years. We've been pointed at by the villagers for two years. If Dad was still alive, why didn't he come back earlier!"
Du Kongqing was not willing to believe Du Kang's words at all. He let out a weak roar like a small animal and then fainted due to excitement.
Du Shimu hurried forward to check his daughter's pulse. After a long while, his frown relaxed a little:
"Qing'er's body was damaged, but fortunately it recovered a little, which is why she was able to survive this caning. She needs to take good care of herself and recover from the damage."
After saying that, Du Shimu took out a purse from his bag and handed it to Du Kang, instructing him carefully:
"The fewer people who know about my return, the better. You can take this money. I have to leave today. If everything goes well..."
"Leaving today?" Du Kang interrupted Du Shimu before he could finish his words:
"Shi Mu, what have you been doing for the past two years? If you don't want to tell me, I won't force you to tell me. But Qing'er is seriously injured and you, as a father, want to leave. Why?"
……
Luo Xiaoran had a good sleep. When she woke up, she heard that Du Shimu had left. Although she was a little surprised, she didn't say anything.
Hearing that Du Kongqing had already woken up once, Luo Xiaoran was about to go and take a look when she ran into Du Kang coming out of the house.
"Xiao Ran," Du Kang called her, "Qing'er's father has passed away. He knows how much you have taken care of my family, so he asked me to thank you very much."
"Aunt Ming, you are too polite. Kong Qing has also helped me a lot." Luo Xiaoran said. Seeing that Du Kang was hesitant to speak, she took the initiative to ask, "Aunt Ming, is there anything else? Feel free to ask."
Du Kang's complexion did not look very good, and it was obvious that she was forcing herself to take care of her daughter.
“When Qing’er woke up earlier, she met her father, but fainted again after just a few words.
When she wakes up again, can you tell her that everything was just her hallucination? After all, Shi Mu is gone again now, and I’m afraid Qing’er can’t accept the fact that her father left again.”
Luo Xiaoran nodded, "Aunt Ming is right. I will inform the rest of the family and ask them to keep their mouths shut. There is one more thing I want to discuss with Aunt Ming." Luo Xiaoran continued:
"Kong Qing disappeared on the way to my house. She is seriously injured now, and I have the responsibility to take good care of her. She can live in my house while she recovers. Aunt Ming, you can live with her too. When Kong Qing fully recovers, you can move back home."
"This..." Du Kang hesitated.
"Aunt Ming, don't hesitate. Kong Qing's health comes first. It may not be easy for you to take care of her alone at home. I have a big family, and we can all take care of each other." Luo Xiaoran continued.
"In that case, I'll trouble Xiaoran."
……
How can we celebrate Chinese New Year without eating dumplings!
For the entire afternoon, Luo Xiaoran led the whole family to chop stuffing and make dumplings. The stuffing was filled with plenty of meat. There were three kinds of stuffing in total: pork and radish, pork and cabbage, and pork and corn.
On the day Du Kongqing disappeared, many villagers from Hexi Village came along to help look for him, as well as Zhao Tangming's family from Hedong Village and Li Xinghua's brother and sister-in-law. Luo Xiaoran remembered them all.
To express her gratitude, Luo Xiaoran asked Uncle Xiang's family to deliver dumplings to each of the families who helped, so that the villagers who were reluctant to eat more meat during the Spring Festival could have a taste of these dumplings with thin skin and large fillings.