Yu Xiaolian asked Sun, puzzled, "Mom, do even people from the neighboring village know I'm a little jinx?"
Sun frowned, "Maybe the Qi Family asked the matchmaker about you in advance. In my opinion, your third uncle and the daughter from the Qi Family might not end up together."
Yu Xiaolian thought to herself, they actually did get together, and in order to make room for Yu Changyu and the Qi girl, the Yu matriarch even kicked their family out.
"Mom, the Qi family's people came, why hasn't my third uncle come back?"
Sun pulled the curtain and had Yu Xiaolian change her clothes, then pulled her over to comb her hair, saying while combing, "Your third uncle visited the Qi Family some time ago. Now it's the Qi girl's turn to visit our house. Once both families are satisfied with each other's conditions and agree to the engagement, they can meet again."
After Sun finished combing Yu Xiaolian's hair, Yu Xiaolian remembered to ask about Yu Changhe's leg, "Mom, will my dad's leg get better?"
Sun said with a bitter face, "Doctor Zheng said there's some improvement in your dad's leg tendons, and prescribed a few more medicines, but there's a Bone Healing Ointment that's too expensive, and we couldn't afford it."
Sun continued, "I traded my embroidery for some silver coins, which were used to get your dad's medicine today as well. With your dad's mobility issues, we have to gather more firewood from the mountain lately, or what will we do in the winter?
We're not strong enough to carry much firewood at once, so we'll have to go several times a day. Bringing back a lot will be for the best."
Yu Changhe interjected from the side, "You gather it into a pile, and I'll bring it back! We really need to gather more wood, remember that old widower Luo at the west end of the village last winter? He was lazy, didn't prepare enough firewood for the winter, and froze to death in his shabby little house."
Sun said, "A lazy man like him is rare, his wife couldn't stay with him, sold the kids, and didn't even repair that leaky house, freezing to death was what he deserved!"
Yu Xiaolian noticed an oil paper package with some pastries and a stack of burnt paper on the chest, guessing that tomorrow might be the death anniversary of Yu Zikuang, she wisely said nothing.
After the Qi family left in the afternoon, Sun set up a small stove and started to decoct medicine for Yu Changhe.
Yu Xiaolian took advantage of Sun's inattention, added two drops of blood, and then took their family's clothes to the river to wash.
Just at the river, several little girls were also washing clothes, including Zhao Erya, who used to be close to Yu Xiaolian. But after being severely scolded by her family, she no longer dared to talk to Yu Xiaolian.
The little girls were squatting on a large stone slab washing clothes, and Yu Xiaolian didn't want to bother them, so she carried her wooden basin to a further spot.
She had only washed one set of clothes when she heard a childish voice behind her.
"I heard you can curse people? Could you curse my stepmother to death?"
Yu Xiaolian turned to see a little boy of about five or six years old, wearing silk clothes, his hair neatly combed, and his big eyes blinking on his fair face.
Is this child from their village? He looks really handsome!
Yu Xiaolian asked, "You are…?"
"My name is Su Jingyue, from Lower River Bend Village, and I came specifically to find you!"
Lower River Bend Village? Isn't that where the Qi Family is from? Could this child have followed the Qi family's people secretly?
"Why are you looking for me?"
"They say you're a monster who can use magic to curse people, very powerful. Could you help me curse Madam Yao to death? She used to be my mother's dowry maid and is now my stepmother."
"Why do you want to curse Madam Yao? Is she not treating you well?"
Su Jingyue gritted his teeth and said, "Ever since my dad married her, she has been nice to us on the surface, but her attitude changes in private. Each time my dad goes on business trips, she secretly curses my brother as a sickly kid, hoping he dies soon. Sometimes she secretly curses my mom, and I hear it. I really hate her, I want her dead!"
"When your dad comes back, you can tell him!"
Yu Xiaolian didn't expect this little kid to think of her as a monster capable of using magic to kill Madam Yao, probably because the Qi Family gossiped about her in the village and this kid heard it.
"Every time my dad comes back, she's especially nice to us, so my dad doesn't believe a word we say. Now she's about to have a child, and my brother and I won't have any good days ahead."
Su Jingyue became more and more upset as he spoke, finally directly pulling Yu Xiaolian's hand, "Please, just use magic to kill her, okay?"
Yu Xiaolian couldn't help but laugh bitterly. If she had such ability, the first person she would kill is the Yu matriarch, then Jun Mobai.
But unfortunately, she didn't have that power!
Yu Xiaolian was at a loss, "What about your brother? How old is he? Can't he protect you?"
Su Jingyue, with tears in his eyes, said, "My brother is five years older than me, he's eleven this year, but he's been weak since childhood, can't stand wind or dust, spends seven out of ten days in the house."
Spends seven out of ten days in the house? This strangely reminded Yu Xiaolian of someone.
"What's your brother's name?"
"Su Jingchen!"
Oh my God, Su Jingchen!
Yu Xiaolian almost doubted her ears; Su Jingchen was known in the book as a peerless genius who later became a chief minister in the Great Liang Country when Jun Yian ascended to the throne.
Later, Su Jingchen rose step by step to become a first-class power holder in the Great Liang Country.
The book said Su Jingchen had asthma from a young age, though extremely intelligent, he was indeed a genuine sickly kid.
Sickly kid aside, he was ironically a short-lived ghost who died young.
Due to the excessively hypocritical nature of Su Jingchen's stepmother, which deeply affected him, he developed an extreme aversion to women.
But just blaming a hypocritical stepmother alone wasn't enough to explain his aversion to women; his fiancée Ning Chuyu also had a share in that.
When Su's father had a business accident around Jiangnan and passed away, Ning Family, to whom Su Jingchen had been betrothed since childhood, cancelled the engagement seeing he lost his mother, soon lost his father, and was constantly frail and sickly.
That year coincidentally faced a severe drought in the Northern Land, resulting in a total crop failure, Su Jingchen's stepmother Madam Yao took her son, just over a year old, and ran away with all the Su Family's money, abandoning the Su brothers to fend for themselves.
Yu Xiaolian frowned, if she remembered correctly, the little kid Su Jingyue in front of her seemed to have died even earlier than his sickly brother.
Yu Xiaolian asked, "You are six years old this year?"
Su Jingyue nodded, "Yeah!"
Then in two years, when Su Jingchen took Su Jingyue on the run from famine, Su Jingyue, weakened by illness and hunger, died on the journey to his maternal grandfather's home in Jiangnan.
The death of his only closest kin directly resulted in Su Jingchen's hatred for Madam Yao and his frenzied revenge later.
The more Yu Xiaolian looked at Su Jingyue, the more pitiful he seemed.
In two years, who knows what kind of changes and disasters her life would face, but at this moment, she just felt deep sympathy for this little kid Su Jingyue.
Ah, that damn sympathy overflowed again.
After much thought, Yu Xiaolian decided to help Su Jingyue, "Wait for me a moment, I'll write a letter for you to take to your brother."
Yu Xiaolian began washing clothes as quickly as she could, while Su Jingyue obediently squatted beside her waiting.
"Sister, can you really use magic?"
The childish and innocent voice made Yu Xiaolian grin, "Of course, watch sister conjure a candy for you."
Seeing only her and Su Jingyue left by the river, Yu Xiaolian focused her mind, and a hard candy with peach flavor appeared in her palm.
Su Jingyue clapped his hands and bounced with joy, "Wow, sister, what kind of candy is this? Why is it pink and so pretty, like a piece of crystal."
Yu Xiaolian handed the candy to Su Jingyue, "Eat it, it's really sweet!"