"So what can be done? If Nan Dashu still wants Li Guihua, he has no choice but to sever ties with the four children."
"If he wants the four children, he can only abandon Li Guihua."
"This is a choice Nan Dashu has to make, whether he wants to or not."
The barefoot doctor, who had followed Nan Yu into the house and overheard this conversation, didn't know whether to leave or stay and treat the patient. What an awkward spot to be in!
Nan Yu had said things of this sort many times today, to the point where Nan Zhi felt almost immune to them. Unfazed, she gestured for the barefoot doctor to set down his medical kit.
Nan Zhi now understood that her younger brother was truly determined to sever ties with Nan Dashu and genuinely wanted no part of living with him anymore.
To be honest, Nan Zhi was also tired of suffering abuse in this household.
In the past, Nan Yu had been timid, submissive, and incapable of standing up for anything. But today's Nan Yu was truly different.
Though she had no idea where Nan Yu had found the backbone to talk about severing ties, Nan Zhi inexplicably felt that he could pull it off. He would definitely ensure the four siblings lived a good life, and at the very least, they would no longer have to endure mistreatment.
Nan Dashu could also tell that Nan Yu was dead set on breaking ties.
At first, Nan Dashu hadn't believed that Nan Yu would dare to actually sever ties. But seeing how mercilessly he had beaten Li Guihua and her son, Nan Dashu no longer had any doubts.
Still, he was these four children's father after all, and he needed to maintain his paternal dignity. He couldn't let this little brat put him down—which was why he had thrown the teacup just a moment ago.
Yet, to Nan Dashu's complete astonishment, instead of establishing his authority as a father, he was met with another declaration from Nan Yu about breaking ties, leaving him momentarily at a loss for how to save face.
These four children were his own flesh and blood, his very own kids.
Li Guihua's son wasn't his seed, and Nan Dashu wasn't stupid enough to count on Li Hai to look after him in his old age.
Yet this little bastard Nan Yu refused to show him, the father, any respect at all. What was he supposed to do?!
Nan Dashu could only glare furiously at Nan Yu, utterly speechless.
In the end, it was Nan Zhi who broke the tension. "Dad, if something hurts, tell the doctor right away. Let Uncle Liu take a look at you."
"Um... I'll step outside first."
After all, Nan Zhi was a daughter and it wasn't proper for her to stay and watch. Besides, it wasn't as though there were no men left in the house; her younger brother was still right here!
"Xiao Yu, keep an eye on Dad for me. I'm going outside."
Nan Yu nodded at his older sister and said, "Go see if Xingxing and Xiao Si have eaten yet, Sister. If they're still hungry, cook them something more."
"Use our axe to smash open the lock on the grain cabinet. Don't worry about saving the grain—cook a proper meal. Go to the back yard, catch a chicken, and stew it. We haven't had meat since Mom was still alive, and Xiao Si probably hasn't tasted meat once since she was born."
Nan Yu remembered that Li Guihua kept all the household grain locked in the cabinet and never let anyone touch it, which was why he specifically reminded Nan Zhi.
Hearing this, Nan Zhi almost burst into tears. How could she not feel heartbroken for her little sister? She had raised this little sister herself ever since she was a baby; whether Xiao Si had ever tasted meat or not, she as the eldest sister knew better than anyone.
Nan Dashu glanced at Nan Yu, but didn't dare say another word.
Nan Dashu had merely strained his leg, nothing serious. The barefoot doctor applied a few plasters to Nan Dashu, checked the wound on Nan Yu's head, and prepared to leave once everything was tended to.
Nan Yu simply glanced at Nan Dashu without asking a single question. He walked over to his father's brick-bed, reached out to move the bedside cabinet, and found a loose brick in the wall right behind it.
He removed the brick and reached into the wall, feeling around until his fingers brushed against a handkerchief.
Pulling out the handkerchief, he unfolded it to reveal over eighty yuan and a stack of ration coupons inside.
This was the money Li Guihua had managed to hoard, keeping every single penny belonging to the household hidden in this spot.
Nan Yu gave a cold, sardonic smile. Li Guihua had taken most of their family's money and coupons back to her own maternal family, and whatever little was left behind was only because she had felt generous.
Nan Yu had stumbled upon this hiding place by chance in his previous life, and now it finally came in handy. He used the money to pay the barefoot doctor's consultation fee.
After seeing the barefoot doctor out of the courtyard, Nan Yu shut the courtyard gates firmly, completely ignoring the unconscious Li Guihua and the wailing Li Hai.
With the gates closed, Nan Yu began to map out his plans.
He remembered a major event that had taken place in their village this very year—an event that had made the entire village green with envy.
There was a lazybones surnamed Zhang in their village, living right at the west end.
This slacker spent his days drinking and gambling, avoiding honest work whenever he could.
Because of this good-for-nothing son who remained unmarried past thirty, his parents had passed away one after another a few years back.
The villagers all whispered that the old couple had been angered to death by this lazy man, though the exact circumstances were known to Lazy Zhang alone.
Right around this time of year, with nothing left to eat at home, Lazy Zhang had shamelessly tagged along with a few villagers who were heading into the mountains to forage for food.
Whether the slacker was blessed with sheer blind luck or something else, once they were in the mountains, the others returned with next to nothing—at best a few wild greens or a single mountain chicken.
Yet this lazy man had dug up a century-old *bangchui*—a wild ginseng root—deep in the mountains.
He took the ginseng to the county town and sold it for three thousand yuan, along with a pile of various ration coupons.
That was merely the price for ginseng in the county town; if he had taken it to a major city to sell, the price would have multiplied several times over.
Even so, fetching three thousand yuan was an immense fortune in this era.
Once he had the money, Lazy Zhang actually changed. He stopped drinking and gambling, used the money to renovate his old house first thing, and even took a wife.
The woman he married was an educated youth who had stayed behind in the village after being sent down from the city, though her first husband had passed away less than two years after their wedding.
This young widow wasn't from Nan Yu's village, but from a neighboring village not far away.
With money in his pocket, finding a wife to settle down with was hardly a difficult task for the lazy man.
No matter the era, as long as you had money, finding a wife was easy.
Just as life was slowly improving for them, Lazy Zhang fell ill barely two years into his marriage and eventually died of his sickness.
The young widow took whatever money Lazy Zhang had left and ran off with someone else.
The villagers all gossiped that the young widow had poisoned Lazy Zhang to death, but without any proof, the matter was simply dropped.
When Lazy Zhang had sold the ginseng and built his new house back then, everyone in the village had been curious about where he got the money and hounded him with questions.
Having never received so much attention in his life, Lazy Zhang got carried away and bragged everywhere about finding the ginseng in the mountains.
He had even pointed out the exact location where he found it.
Some curious folks went to check out the spot Lazy Zhang described, and they actually discovered a few smaller, younger ginseng roots growing right around there!
Anyone with even a basic understanding of how wild ginseng grew knew that around a mature, older ginseng root, there would usually be a few younger ones sprouting nearby.
Even without actively asking around, Nan Yu had heard the story loud and clear.
Counting the days, Lazy Zhang's trip into the mountains should be coming up in just a few days.