Chapter 78

In the afternoon, Liu Tong went out with something in his hand, and Xu Ran didn’t care about him, but when Liu Tong came back at night, he had a bruise on his forehead.

Xu Ran was cooking in the kitchen at that time, but hearing the panicky calls of Tangtang and Guoguo, he came out.

“Dad, hurry up. Daddy is injured. There is running blood on his forehead.”

As soon as he heard the words of Tangtang and Guoguo, he dropped the spatula and ran out.

“What’s wrong with you, Tongtong? What’s wrong?” Xu Ran asked as he ran. When he got close, he found a bleeding cut on Liu Tong’s forehead.

Seeing the nervous look of his family, Liu Tong felt guilty, but he smiled and consoled, “Ran, I’m fine. It’s just a small injury. Don’t worry. Washing it with water in a while will do.”

After helping Liu Tong go to the room, Xu Ran remembered that half the dishes in the kitchen

had not been fried. Turning around, he said to Tangtang and Guoguo, “Tangtang and Guoguo, go to the kitchen and help dad put out the fire. I’m taking your daddy to get medicine. Don’t worry. Be good.”

“All right.” Tangtang and Guoguo were worried, but knowing that nothing could happen when his dad was with his daddy, they nodded obediently and went to the kitchen.

Xu Ran fetched warm water, cleaned Liu Tong’s cut with a handkerchief, poured some wine, and warmed it in the kitchen. When it turned warm, Xu Ran rubbed his bruise with it hurriedly.

But the pain was inevitable once the wine was in the bruise. Liu Tong felt so much pain that her face even turned pale. Xu Ran comforted him while rubbing his cut with the wine. When he had done the initial job, he went out to invite Doctor Liu.

“Tongtong, endure it for a while. I’m going to Doctor Liu right away. Tangtang and Guoguo are in the kitchen. Keep an eye on them.”

No sooner he finished talking than he ran out of the room and rushed to the home of Doctor Liu. The moment he picked up the doctor’s medical kits and took his arm, he walked outside. While walking, he said, “Doctor Liu, my spouse is injured. Please go and take a look.”

Doctor Liu wanted to say something, but Xu Ran’s anxious look made him hold his tongue.

When they arrived at Xu Ran’s home, Xu Ran immediately returned the medicine box to him and stood next to him, looking like he was waiting for his order.

After examining Liu Tong’s bruise, Doctor Liu found that it had been cleaned and also disinfected with wine. Looking back, he asked, “You did this?”

Xu Ran nodded and said, “Doctor Liu, I read it somewhere in the books, but I don’t know whether it is right or wrong. Please bandage Tongtong’s cut quickly. Don’t let the cut continue bleeding.”

Doctor Liu couldn’t help looking at him a few more times, “Hey, I didn’t expect you to know this. In this case, go and prepare more warm water!”

Xu Ran said yes and went away hurriedly. Then, Doctor Liu cleaned up Liu Tong’s bruise once again, put medicine on it, and wrapped it up with a piece of white cloth.

Xu Ran thought that blood wouldn’t come out of the cut, but he didn’t expect that as soon as Doctor Liu’s hand touched Liu Tong’s cut, blood ran out ceaselessly.

Tangtang and Guoguo, who had been watching it behind the door, were so scared that they dared not come out.

Doctor Liu spent a lot of time stitching Liu Tong’s cut.  After that, he gave some ointment for Liu Tong to put on his cut and also made several prescriptions, asking Xu Ran to buy the herbs in the town and boil them for Liu Tong.

Xu Ran paid the consultation fee and saw the doctor off with thanks.

After everything was done, he then realized that it was already dark and the family hadn’t had a meal.

Hurriedly, he went to the kitchen and continued to fry the other half of the dishes that had not been well fried.

When he was busy in the kitchen, Tangtang and Guoguo went to Liu Tong. They asked him in whispers whether he was in pain or not and also asked him who had hurt him, claiming that they would beat the person to avenge him.

Liu Tong comforted them by saying that he didn’t feel the pain and little kids could beat no one.

Since half the dishes had been fried, Xu Ran cooked the rest fast and brought all of them to the table shortly.

Considering the current injury of Liu Tong, who couldn’t eat many things now, he even specially prepared one piece of dishes for him alone.

Xu Ran’s considerate behavior made Liu Tong feel a little uneasy. He went out without saying anything today and was injured when he came back, but Xu Ran didn’t ask anything. Instead, he helped him wash his cut and brought a doctor for him. Now he was even so considerate that he didn’t let him eat chili.

However, it was unsuitable for Liu Tong to explain anything in front of their kids. Now he, who had a bowl in his hand, was eating the dishes Xu Ran had brought him.

After eating, Tangtang and Guoguo were forced to sleep. After all, it was cold now. If they didn’t go to sleep, they could only sit by the fire. Since there was nothing interesting to play with, they had better go to sleep.

Liu Tong also walked into the room with the two kids. When the two kids went to bed and fell asleep, Xu Ran had cleaned up the kitchen and fetched hot water, asking Liu Tong to soak his feet into it for a while. After that, he brought a handkerchief and cleaned his face with it, somewhat like serving a disabled man, but Liu Tong had no choice but to allow him.

When Xu Ran got himself ready, the two of them entered the room. In the oil lamp light, Xu Ran stared at Liu Tong, seemingly waiting for his explanation.

Liu Tong opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but when he saw Xu Ran’s serious look, he seemed to lose his courage and hung his head. After a long time, Xu Ran heard him whisper, “I’m sorry, Ran.”

Xu Ran was a little angry and also wanted to smile. What he wanted was not that he was sorry, but that why he was injured.

Xu Ran took two steps forward and held him in his arms tightly, saying, “Tongtong, I don’t want you to say sorry. I just want you to tell me why you were injured. Besides, do you have injuries in other places?”

Liu Tong shook his head and said, “There’s nowhere else. I accidentally got my forehead hit.”

“Hit by what? Where did you go this afternoon?” Xu Ran’s voice became serious unconsciously. He thought that Liu Tong wouldn’t say anything if he didn’t ask him.

Liu Tong mumbled for a while before saying, “I went to Dad’s home and sent them some meat this afternoon.”

When he said this, he looked at Xu Ran gingerly. He knew that Xu Ran hated that family, but that was Xu Ran’s dad after all. If Xu Ran didn’t want to go, he was willing to go in his name. At most, they would scold him with a few words, but that didn’t matter.

But he couldn’t help feeling sad when he thought about this today.

“Tongtong, tell me what exactly happened today.”

His musing was suddenly interrupted. Xu Ran’s serious face was just in front of him. Then, he began to tell about what had happened this afternoon.

This afternoon, he knew that he had nothing to do, so he bought some meat and went to the Xu Family. Although Xu Ran had already cut off his relationship with them, it was appropriate to give gifts during the New Year holiday. Initially, he planned to leave as soon as he left the meat to them.

He didn’t expect that not only was the meat directly taken into the kitchen by the Elder Daddy Xu, but he was also instructed to do this and that. Since he had done it before, he didn’t think it was a thing. At most, Elder Daddy Xu would scold him and Xu Ran a bit, and then he would pretend that he didn’t hear it.

When night almost fell, Xu Cheng came back. It was unknown whether he still took what happened on the street last time to heart or it was because of something else, but the result was that when he found that Liu Tong was in the house, he swore at him first and then took out a sickle from the room, saying that he wanted to kill him.

Liu Tong didn’t know why Xu Cheng hated him so much. At that time, his reaction was to run away, and Xu Cheng was stopped by Elder Daddy Xu. Although Elder Daddy Xu was unreasonable, he didn’t dare to kill.

But Xu Cheng didn’t want to let him off and even threw the sickle in his hand at Liu Tong. Unfortunately, Liu Tong didn’t avoid it successfully and got his forehead cut.

This result made both Elder Daddy Xu and Xu Cheng petrified. Then, Xu Houcai and Zhang Yue came out. Seeing this, they immediately drove Liu Tong out of the house and warned him not to tell anyone.

Liu Tong didn’t expect the thing to end like this. After taking a helpless sigh, he went home, but he was still trying hard to think about how he had offended Xu Cheng.

As for the cut on his forehead, he didn’t care so much. After all, he experienced injuries in the past. Anyway, the cut was not too big. After bandaging it when he was home, he would recover in a few days.

Unexpectedly, the two kids and Ran were so nervous.

When Liu Tong finished his talk, Xu Ran held him more tightly and patting him on the back, said, “Go to sleep! I will deal with this.”

Liu Tong didn’t know how Xu Ran would deal with it, but he dare not ask before going to bed obediently.

…

The following day, Xu Ran went to the home of the village head with gifts. Since the sixth day of the lunar month, some people had begun to work in the fields.

Thanks to his early visit, he happened to meet the village head who was going to work in his family’s fields.

“Happy New Year, village head. I’m here to pay you the New Year’s greetings.”

“You are thoughtful, Xu Ran.” The village head took the gifts from him and invited him to his home.

Xu Ran chatted with him for a while and then mentioned the matter of corn.

“Xu Ran, as for this matter, I’ll listen to you, but it’s impossible to buy land. This is my family’s situation. I plan to test it with one mu of my family’s fields.”

Xu Ran knew how important the grain was in the eyes of peasants, so he understood what the village head thought. And he said to the village head, “Village head, you can grow it in one of my family’s fields, but I won’t collect any grain from you for the renting. If the result is good, we can take all our villagers to grow it next year. What do you think?”

His proposal just met the village head’s heart’s desire, so the latter accepted his offer with a smile.

As if something had suddenly occurred to him, Xu Ran asked, “Village head, I want to ask you if the yamen will handle the case of getting people wounded.”

Hearing this, the village head changed his expression and said, “Anything happened, Xu Ran? Why do you want to take it to the yamen?

Xu Ran touched his nose, pretending to be a little embarrassed and said, “The thing is like this, village head. Yesterday, my spouse went to send New Year’s gifts to my dad and daddy. I guess my daddy was so busy that he asked my spouse to work in his house for half a day. But when Xu Cheng returned at dusk, he, to whom no one knew what had happened, held a sickle in hand, saying that he wanted to kill my spouse. When my spouse was running away, his forehead was cut by Xu Cheng’s sickle. Now he is still at home. Doctor Liu can testify because I invited him to bandage his cut yesterday.

After Xu Ran recounted the matter, the village head became even more sullen. Now he understood why Xu Ran had suddenly come here to pay him the New Year’s greetings and also let him rent one mu of his fields for free. Going to the Yamen was not his aim, but asking him to solve the problem was probably his real purpose.

In fact, he, the village head, had the responsibility to deal with such things. Besides, he should also take into account the fact that Xu Ran had no relationship with Xu Houcai’s family anymore.

The village head patted Xu Ran’s shoulder and said, “Xu Ran, go back now, but don’t take it to the Yamen. I’ll give you an explanation today.”

Xu Ran was not ignorant. He extended his gratitude with a smile and went home.