Reborn in '77, I have a job panel!

The villagers swarmed around them.

The Sun brothers initially wanted to resist, but when they saw that the other side had a large number of people and weapons, they immediately became deflated.

Wang Shoujun was lifted up by two villagers. His shoulder wound was still bleeding, and his face was a terrible sight. His nose was flattened, his eyes were bruised, his mouth was swollen like a sausage, and he was missing two front teeth.

Wang Shoujun cried out, "Village chief, village chief, you have to do justice for me... That brat Qian Cheng is trying to kill me!"

"Shut up!" Village elder Li glared at him. He had already heard the whole story from his son Li Jianguo when he arrived. It turned out that Wang Shoujun had brought her five brothers from her maternal family to cause trouble, so naturally he wouldn't give Wang Shoujun a friendly look: "Whatever it is, we'll talk about it back in the village!"

The group walked back in a grand procession.

Qian Cheng was carried directly to the Zhang family's house.

Deng Jingshu had already received the news and was waiting in the courtyard.

When she saw Qian Cheng being carried in, covered in blood, she gasped.

"Quick! Carry it inside!" she hurriedly directed.

Qian Cheng was placed on the kang (a heated brick bed).

Deng Jingshu quickly fetched hot water and used scissors to cut open his cotton-padded coat.

The cotton-padded coat was soaked in blood and stuck to my body; it hurt when I tried to pull it off.

"Bear with it."

Qian Cheng gritted his teeth and remained silent.

The cotton-padded coat was cut open, revealing the body underneath.

His back, waist, and legs were covered in bruises, some of which were swollen up like steamed buns.

There was a cut on his forehead, and blood was still seeping out.

His cheekbones were bruised, his lips were cracked, and blood was still flowing from the corner of his mouth.

Zhang Mingxi watched from the side, tears streaming down her face.

Deng Jingshu first cleaned the wound with water, and then disinfected it with alcohol.

When alcohol gets on a wound, it burns like fire.

Qian Cheng's muscles tensed, and cold sweat beaded on his forehead, but he didn't utter a sound.

"His bones might be broken." Deng Jingshu examined his ribs. "He needs to go to the county hospital for X-rays."

Deng Jingshu examined Qian Cheng's injuries, her brows furrowing deeper and deeper.

"No, you have to go to the county hospital immediately. Your ribs might really be broken. Just disinfecting and immobilizing it won't help. You need to get an X-ray."

Qian Cheng lay on the kang (a heated brick bed), wanting to speak, but his chest ached terribly, and he could only gasp for breath.

"Master's wife," he said hoarsely, "you really don't need to... I feel..."

"What do you mean, 'no need'!" Deng Jingshu was unusually stern. "This injury is no small matter. If the ribs puncture internal organs, it could be fatal!"

She turned to Zhang Mingxi and said, "Go, call a few people to carry him to the county hospital."

Zhang Mingxi wiped away her tears and quickly ran out.

Soon after, footsteps could be heard in the courtyard.

Several villagers came in; they were all people who had a good relationship with the Zhang family.

They were all startled when they saw Qian Cheng's appearance.

"How did it get like this?"

"Wang Shoujun and his family are truly scum!"

"Stop talking, hurry up and carry them out."

"..."

Someone brought a door panel and laid out a quilt on it.

Several people carefully lifted Qian Cheng onto the door panel and secured him with ropes.

Just as he was about to leave, Zhang Changtian rushed into the yard in a great hurry.

He had just returned from the brigade headquarters when he heard that Qian Cheng was seriously injured, and he rushed home without even having a sip of water.

"How are you?" he asked, panting heavily.

Deng Jingshu pointed at Qian Cheng on the door panel: "He's badly injured and needs to go to the clinic."

Zhang Changtian leaned over to take a look.

Qian Cheng's eyes were so swollen they were barely open, and there was blood at the corner of his mouth.

He gasped.

"That bastard Wang Shoujun!" Zhang Changtian gritted his teeth. "I'll never let him get away with this!"

"This is not the time to talk about this; we need to get him to the hospital right away."

"I'll go hitch up the car!" Zhang Changtian turned and ran outside.

There was a tractor in the village that belonged to Zhang Changtian's second uncle.

I usually use it for hauling goods, but it came in handy today.

The tractor drove by, its sputtering noise hurting people's ears.

The door panel was lifted onto the truck bed, and Zhang Changtian jumped into the driver's seat.

Deng Jingshu originally wanted to go with them, but Zhang Changtian stopped her.

"You stay home and keep an eye on things, so you can help out if anything happens over there."

Deng Jingshu thought about it and agreed, so she stayed.

Zhang Mingxi climbed onto the truck bed and sat next to Qian Cheng.

She held Qian Cheng's hand; his hand was ice-cold.

"Let's go!" Zhang Changtian stepped on the gas.

The tractor, billowing black smoke, drove out of the village and onto the dirt road leading to the county.

The road was very bumpy, a dirt road full of potholes. Driving the tractor on it felt like sailing on waves, with the truck bed bobbing up and down and swaying from side to side.

With each bounce, Qian Cheng gasped in pain.

"Dad, slow down!" Zhang Mingxi shouted.

"We can't be slow!" Zhang Changtian roared back, "The faster the better!"

Indeed, it's dozens of miles from Laowozi Village to the county seat, and it takes more than half an hour to drive there by tractor.

For Qian Cheng, every minute of those half hours was torture.

Zhang Mingxi held Qian Cheng's hand tightly, her eyes never leaving his face.

"Qian Cheng, don't sleep, talk to me more."

Qian Cheng wanted to speak, but as soon as he opened his mouth, a blast of cold air rushed in, making him cough.

When I cough, my chest hurts as if it's been hit by a hammer.

"You, you said..." Qian Cheng began with great difficulty.

Zhang Mingxi thought for a moment and then began to talk about his childhood.

"Do you remember? The first time we met was the day you came to my house to become my apprentice. You were wearing a blue cotton jacket that day, but the sleeves were too short, and your wrists were showing."

"My dad asked you to plank wood, but after a couple of strokes you said your hands were sore. My dad was furious and glared at you, saying you were useless."

"Later you secretly told me that you weren't saying your hand was sore, but that you did it on purpose because you wanted to see what my dad would look like when he was angry."

As Zhang Mingxi spoke, he laughed first.

"You were so naughty back then."

Qian Cheng listened, his lips twitched, he wanted to laugh, but he didn't.

Zhang Mingxi continued, "Another time, you went up the mountain to raid a bird's nest, fell from a tree, and broke your leg."

You came to my house limping. My dad asked you what happened, and you said you twisted your ankle.

"I secretly gave you some medicinal wine, and you were grimacing in pain, but you told me it didn't hurt."

"Back then, I thought you were just being stubborn."

Qian Cheng closed his eyes.

Fragments of the original owner's memories flashed through his mind.

Those were the days of youthful recklessness, those absurd things.

The original owner was indeed a scoundrel.

But these are the things Zhang Mingxi always remembered.

"Qian Cheng?" Zhang Mingxi panicked when she saw him with his eyes closed. "Don't sleep! Open your eyes!"

Qian Cheng opened his eyes with difficulty.

"I...didn't sleep..."

Zhang Mingxi breathed a sigh of relief: "Say something else, anything you want."

Qian Cheng thought for a moment and asked, "You, the book you gave me, I haven't finished reading it yet..."

"No rush, we'll see after you're better."

"I need to see, I need to take the college entrance exam..."

"Is going to university more important, or is life more important?" Zhang Mingxi's eyes reddened again.

"They're all important..."

Zhang Mingxi stopped talking and just held his hand tightly.

The tractor continued to bump along, and the winter wind was like a knife, stinging their faces. Zhang Mingxi took off the scarf from his neck and covered Qian Cheng's face with it.

"I'm not cold."

"Keep it covered," Zhang Mingxi insisted.

After walking for a while, Qian Cheng suddenly asked, "Wang Shoujun, how is it...?"