Old Zhao awoke and looked around at the people, asking somewhat bewilderedly.
"Old Zhao, have you forgotten? You fell into the water, nearly drowned, and we rescued you!"
"Exactly, we heard your cries for help and when we arrived, you were almost fully submerged!"
"If it weren't for Old Doctor Chen's excellent medical skills, you'd be meeting your old dad by now!"
"How did you end up in the water? Were you pulled in by a fish?"
Amidst the villagers' clamorous questions, Old Zhao finally began to remember some of what had happened.
Then it hit him, "Right, the fish! Where's my fishing rod?"
"You're still thinking about your fishing rod? When we saved you, you were clinging onto it for dear life; it was such a hassle we chucked it on the riverbank," a villager responded.
"Ouch, how could you just throw my rod away? Where did you throw it?" Old Zhao became anxious.
Now the villager was displeased, "What's with that, Old Zhao? We went out of our way to save you and you haven't even thanked us yet, instead you're blaming us?"
"That's right, had we known, we wouldn't have saved you, maybe just let you drown!"
"Ungrateful, after we bothered to drag you out of the river and even made the effort to carry you to the elder doctor's place!"
The other villagers also became discontented.
"Well, well... I was just worried about my fishing rod; I did put a lot of effort into making it. Don't take it the wrong way, and thank you all for saving me," he hastily expressed his gratitude, realizing his fault.
The villagers had their pride but a soft heart; seeing Old Zhao apologize, their expressions softened somewhat.
"Alright, stop fussing over your broken rod. You should hurry up and tell us how you ended up in the water. I remember you never wade into the river," another villager pressed.
"I, I jumped in myself," Old Zhao muttered, then finally came clean.
"You jumped in yourself?!" a villager incredulously asked, "Don't you know you can't swim? How could you dare jump into the river?"
"How was I to know the water would be that deep? I thought it would at most reach my thighs," Old Zhao defended himself.
"But why would you jump into the river?"
"Well, that's because..." hesitating for a moment, Old Zhao confessed, "In a moment of carelessness, a fish pulled away my rod. My head got hot, and I wanted to snatch back my rod, so I just jumped in."
Not far away, Lu Qing: "..."
When Da An recounted the incident earlier, he had guessed that Old Zhao had fallen in while trying to grab his fishing rod.
He had seen such incidents too many times in his past life.
He had even done the same himself.
But he hadn't expected that Old Zhao, not even knowing how to swim, would be so reckless.
"You, you're such a fool!"
The other villagers had not anticipated that Old Zhao could have nearly lost his life for such a reason.
"That rotten fishing rod isn't worth much. Just go up the mountain, chop down a bamboo, and you could make another one easily. For that thing, you nearly threw your life away; have you been goaded by a pig?"
A villager who was on good terms with Old Zhao immediately began to scold him.
Old Zhao dared not speak.
He dared even less to admit that when he jumped in, it wasn't just because he was fond of the fishing rod; more so, he couldn't bear to let go of the big fish that had bitten the bait and could easily drag away his rod.
He had coveted the two big fish that Lu Qing caught yesterday, green with envy.
Such big fish that could be eaten for several meals; now that he finally had the chance to catch a big fish himself, how could he let it slip away?
However, this incident confirmed for him that there indeed were big fish at that spot.
Next time, as long as he was more careful, he would surely catch one!
The villagers didn't know Old Zhao's thoughts, or they would have scolded him thoroughly.
At this moment, Old Zhao tried to stand up but found himself weak and powerless, unable to exert any strength, with his head also feeling heavy and dizzy, unable to move his body properly.
He was suddenly alarmed, "Old Doctor Chen, what's wrong with me, why can't I move?"
Old Doctor Chen sighed, "You were in the water too long. The cold has seeped into your body, and you drank a lot of the contaminated river water, damaging your internal organs. You even stopped breathing for quite a while. Although I've expelled the contaminated water from inside you and awakened you, your body has sustained injuries."
"What should I do then, elder doctor, you must save me, save me!"
Upon hearing this, Old Zhao was utterly terrified and pleaded desperately.
The thought of catching a big fish had long since been cast away.
"Don't be anxious, I am a doctor, and of course, I will treat you," the elder doctor said soothingly. "However, you are not young anymore, and your body won't recover as easily. You must rest and recuperate peacefully for a while."
"Will I be able to walk again in the future?" Old Zhao asked with hope.
"Walking shouldn't be a problem, but as for how much you'll recover, that depends on how you rest," the elder doctor replied.
"As long as I can walk, that's good enough." Old Zhao's heart relaxed a bit.
He was genuinely afraid that he would become paralyzed.
"Where's my dad? Where is he?"
Just as Old Zhao breathed a sigh of relief, suddenly, a commotion arose from outside in the courtyard, followed by a group of people rushing in.
Leading them were two young men, a woman, and an elderly woman.
Others, too, were villagers who had heard the news and come.
The older of the young men, seeing Old Zhao lying there, rushed over.
"I heard Dashan shouting that you had fallen into the water and were being brought here to the elder doctor. What in the world happened?"
It turned out that when Da An and others were bringing Old Zhao over, they also sent someone to Old Zhao's home to notify his family.
Old Zhao said to his son, with a guilty conscience.
"What do you mean fine." A villager bluntly exposed his lie, "Ah Ming, your dad went fishing alone, jumped into the river himself, and nearly drowned..."
Then he recounted the entire incident thoroughly.
As soon as the villager finished speaking, the elderly woman, Old Zhao's wife, burst into tears and scolding.
"You good-for-nothing, I told you not to go fishing, but you insisted. You can't swim, so why go to the riverbank, let alone jump into the river? Do you wish to die and drag me along with you?!"
Old Zhao's son, Zhao Ming, also looked uneasy.
But as his son, he didn't feel it was his place to scold his father.
He could only advise, "Dad, let's not go fishing anymore, okay? We don't lack that bit of fish at home, so why insist on doing it?"
His second son also said, "Yeah, Dad, in the future, just tell us whatever you want to eat. No matter how much trouble it is, I'll get it for you. Just don't do such dangerous things again."
"I won't go anymore, I won't go at all in the future."
Old Zhao, red-faced from his wife's and sons' admonishing, could only agree.
"Don't worry, Ah Ming. Even if your dad wanted to go fishing again, he can't now," another villager chimed in, "Old Doctor Chen said that your dad got a severe soaking this time and it's left him with ailments. If he doesn't rest and recover properly, he might even find walking difficult in the future."
The Zhao family was immediately shocked.