The young woman also had a Yunan accent.
It was so obvious that Xia Da Jun couldn’t ignore it.
“I’m from Anqing in Yunan…”
The young woman suddenly grabbed his sleeve: “Brother, I’m from Hedong County in Yunan. What a coincidence!”
Anqing County and Hedong County were neighbors, and Xia Da Jun also thought it was quite a coincidence. Being from such nearby places truly made them fellow townspeople. Since he’d knocked down a fellow local, he needed to take her to the hospital. But the young woman blushed and pushed him away:
“It’s nothing, I’m not hurt.”
Xia Da Jun saw her turn to leave, limping noticeably – how could that be nothing?
“Comrade, Comrade don’t go, did you hurt your foot?”
Running while injured – Xia Da Jun couldn’t understand it. Though he was usually frugal, he wouldn’t refuse to pay medical expenses for someone he’d injured. In the past when he had no money, he could only stare helplessly, but times were different now – Xia Da Jun had money.
He stopped the young woman, who adamantly refused to go to the hospital. To prove she was fine, she even jumped in place, which made her wince in pain.
There was nothing more to discuss – Xia Da Jun firmly took her to the hospital.
The doctor had the woman roll up her pant leg, revealing a severely swollen ankle, and scolded Xia Da Jun:
“The patient has a sprained ankle, and you made her walk all this way to the hospital? She shouldn’t walk for a week and should minimize using this foot to recover quickly.”
Xia Da Jun hadn’t been so thoughtful.
Men and women should maintain proper distance – she was a young woman, barely in her twenties. How could he carry her to the hospital in broad daylight?
Going to the bank to deposit money, Xia Da Jun hadn’t ridden a bicycle – Du Zhao Hui wouldn’t allow something like a “bicycle” around him, it would embarrass the young master. Everyone following Du Zhao Hui could use cars since he had more than one. But Xia Da Jun couldn’t drive, and others subtly excluded him. He could feel their ill will and wouldn’t trouble them for help.
Xia Da Jun had simply walked to the bank.
When scolded by the doctor, he couldn’t argue a single word.
He didn’t even know this woman’s name – they were strangers.
After getting some external and internal medicines, Xia Da Jun couldn’t help asking:
“You say you’re hurt so badly, why did you try to run away earlier?”
The woman kept her head down silently.
She was thin and pale, spoke softly, and easily blushed with shyness – even basic communication was difficult.
Xia Da Jun wasn’t particularly good at communication either. After failing to get an answer for a long time, he offered to take her home.
When asked where she lived, the woman turned pale and swayed.
After being scolded by Young Master Du for two months, Xia Da Jun occasionally had moments of insight: “Are you in some kind of trouble? We’re from the same place – if I can help a fellow local away from home, I certainly will.”
The woman kept her head down, large tears falling.
“Bro-brother, you’re a good person. I don’t want to deceive you. I deliberately bumped into you earlier. I’ve bumped into several people, but you’re the only one who took me to the hospital…”
Deliberately bumping into people?
And several times at that.
Xia Da Jun thought for a moment, “You’re trying to scam money?”
Xia Da Jun had encountered this on his journey south – it was called “Pengci,” where people pretend to be hit and claim valuable items were damaged, refusing to let people leave until they pay compensation. But that involved damaged items – he’d never encountered someone using themselves to collide, and the leg injury couldn’t be faked. How painful that must be!
The woman’s tears fell steadily. Xia Da Jun had encountered scammers before, but never one who voluntarily admitted to the deception.
And she was a fellow townsperson from Yunan.
He didn’t know what to do. As the woman cried endlessly, Xia Da Jun couldn’t help asking, “Stop crying first – why are you trying to scam money? Can’t find work since leaving home?”
Those who leave their hometown are usually people who couldn’t survive there.
Having come to Pengcheng, anyone willing to work hard wouldn’t starve.
Places everywhere were hiring, even roadside restaurants needed dishwashers – it was just a matter of salary differences.
This question opened the floodgates of the woman’s story.
Her name was Xiao Yu, from a village in Hedong County. She had been engaged back home, but the man inexplicably broke it off. After being ridiculed in the village, she went to the county town to work as a housekeeper. The lady of the house disliked her and drove her away, so Xiao Yu left Hedong County heading south, getting scammed of all her money on the train.
“They tricked me into working at a dance hall, but I didn’t want to drink and dance with men, so they locked me up… Later when the police raided the place, I managed to escape. I tried applying to factories, but no one would hire me. When I couldn’t bear the hunger anymore, I thought of trying to scam some money… Brother, I shouldn’t have tried to deceive people.”
Xia Da Jun had also been scammed of all his money before.
With no money for food, he drank unboiled water, slept under bridges, and stole sweet potatoes from fellow villagers’ fields.
But he was a grown man – sleeping under bridges wasn’t too dangerous. Xiao Yu looked only in her twenties; sleeping under bridges would be very unsafe for her.
Xia Da Jun didn’t know what to do!
To ignore her seemed impossible – Xiao Yu looked so pitiful, gazing at him with trust and hope as if she truly believed he was a good person.
It had been a long time since anyone looked at him that way.
Xia Da Jun had left Anqing because he’d fallen into self-doubt – his wife trying to attack him, his daughter distrusting him, his family seeming to deceive him.
Yet this stranger somehow trusted him?
“Come on, let’s get food first… We’ll figure out the rest after eating!”
Xia Da Jun didn’t know that some women, once you get involved, can’t shake off.
He was still basking in the satisfaction of being a hero, feeling trusted and needed.
…
“You’re asking about Jiang Yuan’s mother?”
Tang Hong En hadn’t expected this topic when Xia Xiao Lan called.
He quickly realized, “Jiang Yuan’s mother went to find you!”
Knowing Ji Ya’s personality – once she decided something, she wouldn’t back down, quite obsessively – harassing Xia Xiao Lan would disrupt her normal teaching.
Unable to get answers from Ning Xue, and with Ji Jiang Yuan unlikely to speak ill of his birth mother, Xia Xiao Lan met Ding Ai Zhen and became very wary of Ji Ya. After much thought, she could only ask Tang Hong En.
“Uncle Tang, I notice her thinking seems different from normal people. The Ji family has many connections in education, if she keeps coming to find me…”
Xia Xiao Lan was purely unfortunate.
If not for him, she wouldn’t have much contact with that child Jiang Yuan, much less become Ji Ya’s target.
Even without hearing it firsthand, Tang Hong En could imagine how unpleasant Ji Ya’s words must be – she wouldn’t curse outright, but would use sharp words to thoroughly trample others’ dignity, grinding it repeatedly underfoot.
Thinking of this, Tang Hong En also felt Xia Xiao Lan was too unlucky.
With Old Master Ji’s passing, he should have gone to pay respects.
“Wait until I get to the capital, I’ll explain in detail. Don’t worry, just stay at school properly. Uncle Tang is still here!”