This Life, I'm Raising the Right Man

The ground was covered in water, and Zhou Wangshu lay underneath, mud on his body and face.

Su Yaoguang propped herself up and asked, ”How are you? Are you hurt anywhere?”

Zhou Wangshu shook his head.

He sat up, grabbed the umbrella he had thrown earlier, and tossed it towards Xiao Yanci’s direction.

Bang! Xiao Yanci got hit in the waist and fell to the ground, rolling a few times.

”Ah...” Xiao Yanci felt a sharp pain in his waist and saw the book in his hand fly out, landing directly in the muddy water.

He turned around angrily and looked in the direction of Zhou Wangshu and Su Yaoguang: ”You guys...”

”What do you mean you guys? Can’t you walk with your eyes open?” Su Yaoguang scolded, ”If our Wangshu is injured anywhere, I’ll tear you apart. It’s like your books were read by a dog.”

Zhou Wangshu said gently, ”Don’t be angry, Yaoguang. It’s not worth it to hurt yourself over this. I’m fine anyway; a little washing will do.”

Su Yaoguang took out a handkerchief from her pocket and wiped Zhou Wangshu’s cheek.

Xiao Yanci wanted to get up, but he was in so much pain whenever he moved that his expression changed drastically. He shouted in Zhou Wangshu’s direction, ”My waist is hurt, take me to the clinic.”

”Ignore him,” Su Yaoguang said to Zhou Wangshu, ”You’re all covered in mud, and the rain is getting heavier; let’s get going.”

Xiao Yanci saw they were about to leave.

Su Yaoguang picked up the umbrella that had been thrown.

Xiao Yanci hugged her leg, eyes red with a mix of unprecedented anger and grievance: ”Su Yaoguang, are you really so heartless? You couldn’t bear for me to get hurt before.”

Su Yaoguang paused for a moment.

But she quickly regained her composure, disgustedly kicking him away, and said to Zhou Wangshu, ”Is this guy brain damaged? He must be delusional!”

”Maybe he’s gone mad from having his brain soaked in water,” Zhou Wangshu said as he pulled her away.

Xiao Yanci shouted toward Su Yaoguang’s departing figure, ”Su Yaoguang, come back here!”

Su Yaoguang turned to glance at Xiao Yanci.

Zhou Wangshu held the umbrella for her, seeing her looking back at Xiao Yanci, he asked, ”Do you want to find a couple of guys to carry him to the clinic?”

Without waiting for Su Yaoguang’s response, he continued, ”Earlier he purposely squeezed between us, causing you to fall. If he hadn’t been so over the top, I wouldn’t have hit him. I just didn’t expect him to be so weak; how heavy can an umbrella be? Getting hit and unable to get back up, is he made of paper?”

Su Yaoguang said, ”Even if he gets soaked to death in the rain, it’s his own fault. Why should we care?”

”He just said you couldn’t bear him getting hurt before. When was that? I remember we came to the village at the same time, and I never saw you have any interaction with him before.”

”That’s why I said he’s sick.”

Seeing Su Yaoguang’s attitude, Zhou Wangshu didn’t ask further.

However, ripples formed in Su Yaoguang’s mind.

What did Xiao Yanci mean by what he said just now?

In this life, she never gave Xiao Yanci a kind look, and of course, he had nothing to do with her. Her principle was not to bother with him in this life, and they each would mind their own business. But he said something like that. Where exactly did things go wrong?

He could only be referring to her in a past life. Could it be that he also remembers their past life?

”Oh my, what happened to you two?” Zhang Pandi exclaimed when she saw the two of them covered in mud and water, especially Zhou Wangshu, who looked like he’d rolled in a mud pit. She called inside, ”Chunni, boil hot water quickly.”

There weren’t many customers today, so Jia Chunni was inside with Jiang Jing making rouge cosmetics.

Hearing Zhang Pandi, she responded from inside, ”Got it.”

”I’ve ordered a batch of medicinal herbs from the pharmacy and a batch of grains from the store. They said they’d deliver it tonight. We must keep this quiet and under the radar,” Su Yaoguang reminded.

”Why’s that?” Zhang Yingdi asked, ”Buying grains and herbs is perfectly normal. Why does it feel like we’re sneaking around?”

”Look at this rain, who knows when it’ll stop. With rain lasting this long, transporting grains will undoubtedly get harder, and prices will likely go up. Grains are easy to store, even if we don’t finish them for a year or two, they won’t spoil. Storing more grains means we won’t be worried about anything else, right?” Su Yaoguang explained.

”We should store more,” Zhang Zhaodi chimed in as she walked out. ”Grains are good. If we can’t finish them, we can take our time. Our daughter is right; given the current situation, who knows when grain will stop being delivered.”

”Then let’s clear out the warehouse at the back,” Zhang Yingdi suggested.

”It’d be great if the rain stopped for a few days. I want to organize the backyard and expand it to add a few more rooms because right now it’s only enough for us to live, no place to store things.”

”My dear daughter, change out of those wet clothes quickly! And Wangshu, you should take a bath and change too. How did you both end up like this?” Zhang Zhaodi said worriedly.

”Don’t even mention it, we were walking just fine on the street when a lunatic showed up,” Su Yaoguang said with disgust.

”There are no more customers today, let’s close up and take a break,” Zhang Zhaodi instructed Wang Huanzhi and Zhang Yingdi.

Wang Huanzhi went to close the door, and as he reached the entrance, he saw two people carrying a mud-covered man to the Fenghua Pavilion across the road.

Curiously, he watched as the two knocked on the door of the Fenghua Pavilion and said to Zhong Lanhua, ”Is this your family? He’s injured and can’t move. He asked us to carry him back and said he’d give us ten cents each. You give us the money, and we’ll carry him inside for you.”

Zhong Lanhua looked at the disheveled Xiao Yanci, her face grim: ”I say, are you deliberately bringing misfortune to our family? Not long ago, you just got injured, and now you’re injured again on a single trip out. Do you think our family’s money comes from the sky? Don’t forget, you’re our hired hand, not a master. No money.”

”No money? Then we throw him out?” the beggars threatened.

”Throw him, who cares?”

Jiang Yihuan came running out, anxiously saying, ”Don’t throw him. I’ll pay.”

Xiao Yanci had just been humiliated by Su Yaoguang and Zhou Wangshu, and now again by Zhong Lanhua. He felt like killing someone. He stared resentfully at Zhong Lanhua, wishing he could cut down this shrew with a single stroke. But when Jiang Yihuan appeared, his anger somewhat subsided. No matter what, this shrew was Jiang Yihuan’s biological mother. For her sake, he decided to spare her for now.

Jiang Yihuan paid the money, and the beggars carried Xiao Yanci inside.

Zhong Lanhua continued to nag as Jiang Yihuan kept persuading her until she finally went inside huffing.

Wang Huanzhi closed the door and said to Zhang Zhaodi, ”Good thing Yaoguang didn’t buy that Xiao guy, such a big but weak man, what would he be good for except as a display piece?”