Chapter 111 (1/2)
The family went to the carpentry shop to retrieve all of Yu Hang's clothing and other items, especially the one hundred and seventy copper coins——the money was all a symbol of the family's love and concern for Yu Hang, so they absolutely couldn't let Shopkeeper Zhang get his paws on it!
Although the now awake Yu Hang resolutely refused to go, the family still dragged him to Tongren Medicine Hall to have Doctor Sun check his condition. On the way to the doctor's, Yu Xiaocao also made the little divine stone use its spiritual power to heal her older brother, who was lying down on the donkey cart.
When Doctor Sun palpated Yu Hang's pulse again, he was astonished at the boy's recovery ability. Did everyone from the Yu Family have bodies that were different from the rest of humanity? He had diagnosed three of the members, and all of them had originally had death sentences. However, all three managed to survive beyond the odds. For example, Yu Xiaocao had been diagnosed with a weak const.i.tution since birth and had been bedridden but was now skipping and running around like a completely different person. Yu Hai, on the other hand, had his leg completely savaged by a vicious bear, but he had managed to recover completely, except for a little limp. Then there was Yu Hang, who had gotten his internal organs damaged. If it was another person, he or she would have spat up blood and died within hours. However, he only took half a day to come out of his coma and could even talk normally!
All of these miraculous situations were only seen in the Yu Family. Was this a coincidence or did Yu Family have a secret, holy method to heal their bodies?
Luckily, Doctor Sun was an ethical man and squelched down his hesitation and curiosity. He didn't try to investigate further into the Yu Family and instead buried these thoughts deep inside his heart. The Yu Family had already experienced too much suffering so they really didn't need another problem to arise.
With Doctor Sun's permission and Yu Hang's persistence, the family rejected Third Young Master Zhou's well-intentioned offer to have Yu Hang recuperate in one of his other residences and instead brought him home in the donkey cart.
They cus.h.i.+oned the donkey cart with a thick layer of bedding, and Yu Hai, who was driving the cart, tried to have the cart move slower and more smoothly. However, the mountainous roads here were still a bit b.u.mpy, so Yu Hang had to suffer a bit while traveling. Luckily, Xiaocao was there to feed Yu Hang with some highly concentrated mystic-stone water the whole way back and also had the little divine stone protecting his injuries. Thus, Yu Hang managed to survive the journey home.
Little s.h.i.+tou had asked for a day off because he was still worried about his older brother. He grumbled when he saw his brother suffering, ”The only thing not good about our donkey cart is that the wheels are made out of wood and have no shock absorption. If we could get a set of rubber wheels that would be much better.”
”Rubber wheels? Are you talking about the wheels with the black rubber on the outside and you can blow air into them?” Yu Xiaocao would have never thought that this world would already have rubber tires available for carts.
Little s.h.i.+tou nodded furiously and continued, ”In town, the horse carriage that the Zhou Family's patriarch and matriarch use has rubber wheels. When it's pulled, the carriage doesn't b.u.mp or jump at all. I heard that rubber wheels were something that our current emperor, Jianwen Emperor, had discovered when he was young.
When Jianwen Emperor was still the imperial grandson, he had built a s.h.i.+pyard, organized a fleet of s.h.i.+ps, and sailed the distant seas to the southern regions. He had discovered rubber trees there and used them to manufacture rubber wheels. After experimenting for more than half a year, he was finally able to make a rubber wheel that had the right amount of flexibility to be shock absorbent. It was said that he created these rubber wheels to make it easier for him to go out and travel. Rubber possibly had other uses but no one was currently using it for anything else of importance.
Yu Xiaocao raised an eyebrow at this information. This fellow transmigrator was probably an engineer in his past life as he had not only built s.h.i.+ps but also invented rubber wheels. If Jianwen Emperor hadn't transmigrated into the imperial family, then he likely would have become a person primed to become the Chancellor of the Ministry of Works.
The sky had turned completely dark by the time they got back to Dongshan Village as they had to take multiple breaks on the road. In the distance, they could see a slim and stooped over figure at the village entrance pacing anxiously to and fro. Only when they got closer were they finally able to recognize the person as Xiaocao's grandfather, Old Yu.
”How's Xiaosha's condition and injuries? Why didn't you guys get back until now?” Old Yu wasn't faking his concern over his grandson. When he heard the news, his first reaction was to ask for some money from his wife. As Yu Hai's father, he knew what kind of circ.u.mstances his son's family was under. His grandson's injuries were not light, so they likely needed a lot of money to heal him.
But Madam Zhang was a pixiu [1]. Any money that came into her purse was hers alone. Even if the Heavenly Emperor himself came over, he wouldn't be able to pry even half a copper coin from her paws. Old Yu naturally was unable to get any money, so he stayed at home, too ashamed to go into town, and waited in agony.
When he saw Yu Hang's extreme pallor and closed eyes, Old Yu staggered a bit as he thought his eldest grandson had encountered a disaster.
Although Dashan had changed his surname to Yu after Madam Zhang had married again, Heizi still didn't have the Yu Family's blood flowing through him. In actuality, Yu Hang was the true eldest grandson of the Yu Family. After Yu Hang was born, despite Madam Zhang watching them like a hawk, Old Yu was always able to come up with a method to add some extra food for his eldest grandson.
Other than going out to sea or mending fis.h.i.+ng nets, Old Yu mostly played with his eldest grandson. As for the rest of his grandchildren, he didn't place as much importance on them as he did on Yu Hang. When he saw his grandson with tightly closed eyes and no movement, tears immediately came to Old Yu's eyes.
”Father, Xiaosha's okay now. Don't feel sad, okay!” Yu Hai gently tucked the blankets around his son as he comforted his father.
Yu Xiaocao didn't have a lot of ill will towards this grandfather of hers, so she supported his arm and quietly said, ”Grandfather, my older brother has truly encountered a calamitous event this time. There's not a single part of his body that's not injured. Three of his ribs were broken and his internal organs were severely damaged. Even Doctor Sun at Tongren Medicine Hall couldn't do much for him. Fortunately, my older brother was lucky and was able to keep his life with great difficulty. Grandfather, at that time we weren't in horrible circ.u.mstances, so how could we send my brother to that carpentry shop to become an apprentice without even asking about the situation there?”
When Old Yu heard that, he blamed himself continuously, ”I'm such a useless grandfather. At that time, I thought that having Xiaosha learn a trade wasn't a bad thing and was convinced by Madam Zhang and Madam Li's persuasions, so I agreed. Who knew that the Zhang Ji Carpentry Shop was a den full of tigers and wolves, ah! My poor eldest grandson almost…”
Yu Hai knew that his daughter was deliberately blackening the reputation of the old hag, Madam Zhang. However, when he saw how repentant and guilty his father looked, his heart immediately softened, ”Gossip travels quickly in the village, let's go home and then talk!”