Where am I?
When Lao Zhao woke up and saw the people around him, he asked somewhat blankly.
"Old Zhao, you've forgotten, you fell into the water and almost drowned. We're the ones who saved you!"
"Yes, we heard your cries and rushed over, but you were almost sinking in the water!"
"If it weren't for the old doctor's superb medical skills, you would be going to see your old man right now!"
"How did you fall into the water? Were you pulled down by a fish?"
Amidst the villagers' chatter, Old Zhao finally recalled some of what had happened before.
Then it dawned on him: "That's right, the fish! Where's my fishing rod?"
“We were still thinking about your fishing rod. When we rescued you, you were clinging to it tightly. We thought it was too much trouble, so we threw it on the riverbank,” a villager replied.
"Oh dear, how could you throw my fishing rod away? Where did you throw it?" Old Zhao asked anxiously.
This angered the villager. "What are you saying, Old Zhao? We kindly rescued you, and you didn't even say thank you, but you're blaming us?"
"Exactly! I should have just let you drown!"
"You don't know what's good for you! We went into the river to save you, and then went through all that trouble to carry you to the old doctor!"
The other villagers were also dissatisfied.
"Well, well... I was just upset about the fishing rod. It took me a lot of effort to make it. Please don't take offense. Thank you for saving me."
Old Zhao realized he was in the wrong and quickly thanked him.
The villagers were stubborn but kind-hearted; their expressions softened when they saw Old Zhao thank him.
"Alright, stop thinking about your broken fishing rod. Now tell me how you fell into the water. I remember you never used to go into the river."
"I... I jumped down myself," Old Zhao said honestly after a few twitches of his mouth.
"He jumped in by himself?!" a villager exclaimed in disbelief. "Didn't you know you couldn't swim? How could you dare to jump into the river?"
"How was I supposed to know the water would be so deep? I thought it would only reach my thighs at most," Old Zhao explained.
"Then why did you jump into the river?"
"That's...that's..." Old Zhao hesitated for a few moments before saying, "I accidentally let the fish pull my fishing rod away. In a moment of anger, I tried to grab the fishing rod back, so I jumped into the water."
Lu Qing, not far away: "..."
Just as I expected.
When Wang Da'an was telling the story, he guessed that Lao Zhao had fallen into the water while trying to grab a fishing rod.
He had seen this kind of thing many times in his past life.
Even he himself had done such a thing.
He just didn't expect that Old Zhao, who couldn't even swim, would dare to be so reckless.
"You, you're so foolish!"
The other villagers never expected that Old Zhao almost lost his life for such a reason.
"What's the value of that broken fishing rod of yours? Just go up the mountain, cut a bamboo, and you can make another one. You almost lost your life over it! Have you lost your mind?!"
Some villagers who were on good terms with Lao Zhao immediately started cursing.
Old Zhao dared not speak.
He dared not say that when he jumped in, it wasn't just because he was heartbroken about the fishing rod, but more because it was rare to catch a big fish, the kind that could easily drag his rod away, and he couldn't bear to let it go.
The two big fish that Lu Qing caught yesterday made him extremely envious.
That fish is so big, it could feed us for so many meals! He rarely gets the chance to catch such a big fish, so how could he let it go?
However, this incident also confirmed to him that there was indeed a big fish in that location.
If he's careful next time, he'll definitely be able to catch it!
The villagers didn't know what Old Zhao was thinking; otherwise, they would have given him a good scolding.
At this moment, Lao Zhao tried to get up, but found that he was weak and powerless, and his head was also a little dizzy, so he could not move his body much.
He was immediately alarmed: "Doctor, what's wrong with me? Why can't I move?"
Dr. Chen sighed: "You soaked in the water for too long, and the cold entered your body. You also drank a lot of sewage from the river, which damaged your spleen and internal organs. You even held your breath for a long time. Although I expelled the sewage from your body and woke you up, your body has already been damaged."
"What should I do, doctor? Please save me, please save me!"
Upon hearing this, Old Zhao was terrified and immediately began to plead.
The idea of catching a big fish that I had just been thinking about has long since vanished.
"Don't be impatient, I am a doctor, I will naturally treat you." The old doctor comforted him, "It's just that you are getting old, and your body will not recover so easily. You will need to rest and recuperate for a while."
"Will I be able to walk properly again in the future?" Old Zhao asked hopefully.
"Walking is naturally not a problem, but as for how well you can recover, that depends on how much rest you take," the old doctor said.
"It's good that you can still walk." Old Zhao felt a little relieved.
He was genuinely afraid that he would become paralyzed from then on.
"Where is my father? Where is my father?"
Just as Lao Zhao breathed a sigh of relief, suddenly, another commotion came from outside the courtyard, and then a group of people rushed into the courtyard.
Leading them were two young men, a woman, and an old woman.
Behind them were other villagers who had rushed over after hearing the news.
"father!"
The older young people saw Old Zhao lying there and quickly ran over to him.
“I heard Dashan shouting that you fell into the water and were being brought to the old doctor. What happened?”
It turned out that when Wang Da'an and his group brought Lao Zhao over, they also sent someone to Lao Zhao's house to inform him.
"I'm fine now."
Old Zhao looked at his son, feeling somewhat guilty.
“What do you mean, ‘nothing’s wrong’?” A villager nearby bluntly exposed him. “Ah Ming, your dad went fishing alone, jumped into the river by himself, and almost drowned...”
Then he recounted the whole story in detail.
As soon as he finished speaking, the old woman, who was also Old Zhao's wife, started crying and cursing.
"You son of a bitch! I told you not to go fishing for those kinds of fish, but you insisted on going anyway. You can't even swim, what were you doing at the riverbank? And then you jumped in yourself! Do you want me to come with you after you die?!"
Old Zhao's son, Zhao Ming, also looked rather pale.
But as a son, he couldn't very well scold his father.
He could only advise, "Dad, why don't we stop going fishing in the future? We have plenty of fish to eat, so why bother?"
The second son added, "Yes, Dad, from now on, just tell us what you want to eat. No matter how much trouble it takes, I'll get it for you. Don't do such dangerous things anymore."
"I'm not going anymore, I'll never go again."
Old Zhao blushed with embarrassment after being lectured by his wife and sons, and had no choice but to agree.
"Don't worry, Amin, even if your father wants to go fishing again, he can't." At this moment, a villager said, "The old doctor said that your father was seriously injured by the water this time and has developed a chronic illness. If he doesn't rest properly during this period, he may have difficulty walking in the future."
"What?!"
The Zhao family was immediately shocked.
