SLH | Chapter 5

I Don’t Regret

Ruan Xiulian glared at her son and scolded, “What borrowing? We’re all family, why talk like that?”

With few men in the family, life was tough when they first split up. The two children were just little ones, yet they had to learn to work with the adults, cutting pig grass in the summer and collecting firewood in the winter. At such a young age, they had already developed calloused hands.

She loved both the eldest and the second child like her own. When the eldest daughter-in-law gave birth to Xia Ge’er, it was a difficult labor. A lot of silver was spent to save a life, and with good postpartum care, she recovered well.

Ruan Xiulian took out half a piece of silver and turned to see her eldest daughter-in-law wanting to say something. She coldly said, “Back when you were giving birth, the family spent no small amount of silver on you.”

Then she turned to instruct her second son, “Go borrow a bullock cart from the village head. It’s not easy to travel at night, be careful on the road.”

Liu Hu nodded, “Got it, mom.”

Liu Meng said, “I’ll go with my second brother.”

Ruan Xiulian agreed, “Alright, it’s safer with more people. The wind is strong at night, remember to take a blanket.”

The brothers returned to the house to get a blanket and hurried out the door.

Lianxi Town wasn’t far from the village. If they drove a bullock cart, they could get there in less than half an hour. However, it was already past the hour of You, and most of the clinics in town had already closed. The two of them ran all over Lianxi Town and finally found a doctor. They barely had time to speak a few words before rushing back to the village with the bullock cart.

“Big brother and second brother are back!” Liu Xiaomei had been paying attention to the sounds outside and was excited when she saw the bullock cart enter the courtyard.

Tang Chunxing glanced at the middle-aged doctor getting off the cart and said in surprise, “Why so young? Hope they didn’t bring back an apprentice from the clinic!”

Liu Dasheng and his wife were also anxious inside.

Zhou Shuyi was used to such expressions and didn’t mind. He simply asked, “Where’s the patient?”

“My wife is inside, Doctor Zhou, please come and take a look.”

Inside, Song Tingzhu had already woken up but felt extremely weak, unable even to open his eyes. The sound of footsteps approached from outside, followed by the door opening and closing.

The group entered the room with a gust of cold wind, making everyone shiver.

But in the next moment, a warm blanket was placed over him.

“Wife, I brought a doctor for you.” Liu Hu gently took his wrist and moved aside for the doctor to examine him.

Though Zhou Shuyi was young, he had learned properly from his master and had even ventured to the prefectural city a few years ago. Few people knew this, especially not families like the Liu’s who judged experience by age.

He closed his eyes and focused on taking the pulse, his brows furrowing and relaxing from time to time.

In Tang Chunxing’s eyes, he didn’t look like a proper doctor but more like a charlatan!

“You and your second brother brought a reliable doctor, right? He’s been checking for half an hour without any reaction, did he fall asleep?” she asked her husband.

Tang Chunxing had a loud voice. She thought she wasn’t speaking loudly, but everyone else could hear her clearly.

Ruan Xiulian glared at her eldest daughter-in-law, cursing her lack of tact in her heart. Then she heard Doctor Zhou speak, “Your husband doesn’t seem to be sick.”

Everyone except Liu Hu exchanged confused glances.

He’s so sick, how can he not be sick? He’s coughing up blood, it can’t be fake, right?

Liu Hu, being simple-minded, asked, “Doctor Zhou, what do you mean by that?”

“The pulse is irregular, sometimes fast, sometimes slow, with occasional pauses, like a bird pecking at food. This is the pulse of someone poisoned with a slow-acting toxin.”

“Poi-poisoned?” Ruan Xiulian’s legs went weak, “You must have diagnosed it wrong, how could it be poison?”

He was well taken care of at the Song residence and got poisoned after just one day at home. If word got out, the Liu family would be drowned in spit.

Liu Meng and Tang Chunxing were also panicking. Liu Dasheng, who usually spoke little, stepped forward and said, “Doctor, please check again. In ten miles and eight villages, I’ve never seen anyone poisoned. You must have diagnosed it wrong.”

“Then I’ll check again.”

Zhou Shuyi took the pulse again. This time, he didn’t mention poisoning, only saying that he couldn’t do much for this illness and eventually prescribed a nourishing remedy to alleviate the symptoms.

One dose of medicine cost three wen, two doses a day, amounting to 180 wen a month. Tang Chunxing felt her heart bleed and couldn’t help but mutter, “What kind of doctor is he? I think our village’s barefoot doctor is better.”

“Watch your mouth.”

Ruan Xiulian also felt that the doctor they brought from town hadn’t been of much help. She casually scolded her, then instructed the brothers to take the doctor back to town.

Snow began to fall at night. The two returned home through the wind and snow. Liu Hu, ignoring the snow on him, took the medicine package straight to the kitchen.

Seeing Ruan Xiulian enter, he said, “Mom, you all go to sleep. I’ll stay and take care of my wife.”

Ruan Xiulian replied, “Alright, there’s food and dishes kept warm in the pot, remember to eat. Your dad, your sister-in-law, and I have eaten. Your brother has food left too, don’t worry about it.”

Liu Hu nodded, his broad back making Ruan Xiulian’s nose tingle with emotion.

Her second son never had a good day growing up. Mengzi had eaten white steamed buns a few times when he was young, but the second and third sons didn’t even know what white steamed buns tasted like. Now, he was getting married at twenty, thinking that although the family was poor, they were all hardworking, and life would get better day by day. But who knew that the heartless Song Xing’an would swap people.

“Mom?”

“Yes.” Ruan Xiulian wiped her eyes, “There’s some white rice simmering in the clay pot. Your husband has been sleeping and can’t be fed. If he wakes up later, bring it to him to drink.”

Liu Hu listened, showing a silly smile.

“Thank you, mom.”

“Thank what, you still have to get up early tomorrow. After you’re done, go rest.”

The Liu family lived in a mud house. Besides the slightly larger main house where Ruan Xiulian and her husband lived, the east and west houses were pitifully small.

Little sister Liu Lingzhi originally slept with Liu Hu. Two bed boards with a curtain in between made a small room. But to make room for the new sister-in-law, the little girl took the curtain and moved into her parents’ room.

The house was small and not soundproof. In the west room, Song Tingzhu listened to the voices fade and slowly blinked his eyes.

His throat was terribly dry and itchy. He glanced at the clay bowl on the low stool by the bed and, with some effort, propped up his arms to reach for it.

Perhaps the medicine hadn’t worn off completely, as his fingertips just touched the edge of the bowl before he lost strength and fell back onto the bed with a thud.

“Wife!”

Liu Hu entered with the medicine, and upon seeing this, he hurried forward, his honest face full of concern.

“I’m cough, cough, I’m fine.”

Song Tingzhu was pale, nowhere near fine. Liu Hu stared at him until Song Tingzhu turned his head away, not looking at him. Only then did Liu Hu look away.

“Grumble”””

Song Tingzhu was startled for a moment, realizing what the sound was. He instinctively covered his stomach, clutching the bed sheet.

He hadn’t eaten all day and was already starving. Now, smelling the rice fragrance, his mouth watered, and his stomach growled.

He pursed his lips, a slight blush appearing on his cheeks, making him look more lively than before.

“Fool, why are you just standing there?”

Liu Hu had never seen such a good-looking person and was momentarily entranced. Hearing Song Tingzhu’s question, he snapped back to reality.

“I’m here to bring you medicine.”

He held the medicine bowl in his left hand and the rice porridge in his right, recalling what his mother said, and first handed over the rice porridge.

Song Tingzhu didn’t take it. Leaning against the bed, he weakly said, “I don’t have the strength.”

The man’s honest face showed a troubled expression. Song Tingzhu hesitated about whether to say it more clearly when he saw the man take action.

Liu Hu placed the medicine bowl on the low stool, sat on the bed, making Song Tingzhu look exceedingly small, and then scooped a spoonful of soft rice porridge, steadily bringing it to Song Tingzhu’s lips.

“I’ll feed you.”

Due to years of working in the fields, Liu Hu’s face and body were a farmer’s unique deep brown, looking healthy.

Song Tingzhu, who had lived in a secluded courtyard for a long time and rarely saw sunlight, looked frail in comparison.

After being fed the last mouthful of rice porridge, a bowl of bitter black-brown medicine appeared before his eyes.

He frowned slightly and turned his face away.

He had never liked taking medicine. Whenever it was time to take medicine, he needed coaxing to do it. Now that he had left the Song family, with no one like Granny and the others around, there was no one to coax him into taking medicine.

Thinking about it, he silently turned his face back.

The Liu family was not wealthy, and a lot of silver had been spent on getting him medicine. He wasn’t someone who didn’t appreciate kindness, but this medicine was useless, only prolonging his life a little.

Thinking too much, Liu Hu saw him in a daze. He thought he was like his little sister, afraid of the bitter taste and unable to swallow it, so he set the bowl down and went to the kitchen to make a bowl of brown sugar water.

Song Tingzhu didn’t know why he suddenly left. He pinched his nose and drank the medicine in one go, then looked up to see the man entering with a bowl of sugar water.

Liu Hu, holding the clay bowl, awkwardly said, “We didn’t buy malt sugar. When my brother and I go to town for work in a few days, we’ll bring some back.”

Malt sugar was a rare item. Even slightly better-off families like the village head and clan elders didn’t buy it every day, only during New Year or festivals, buying ten or twenty pieces to show off.

The Liu family used to buy it too, but this year, times were tough, so they saved the money and bought cheaper brown sugar, intending to use it to warm everyone up during the feast. But with all that happened, it wasn’t used at all.

“I’m not that delicate.”

Song Tingzhu naturally didn’t know this. Having drunk the porridge, he felt a bit stronger and reached out to the man, “Give it to me.”

Liu Hu didn’t move, just stared at him dumbly.

A slight smile tugged at Song Tingzhu’s lips, “Fool, isn’t this sugar water for me?”

Upon hearing this, the man hurriedly handed over the clay bowl.

Song Tingzhu took a sip.

There was enough brown sugar in it that the bitterness in his mouth was significantly reduced with one sip.

He held the clay bowl in both hands, not moving, seeing the man silently watching him, he explained, “It’s a bit hot, I’ll drink it when it cools a bit.”

The man then stopped looking at him, went to the cabinet, and took out an old but clean quilt, covering him. He then returned to the cabinet, stretching his arms inside.

After a while, the man stood before him holding a string of copper coins.

“Wife, this is the money I’ve saved from working in town over the years. It’s all for you to manage.”

Afraid he wouldn’t take it, the man directly placed dozens of copper coins into his palm.

Song Tingzhu paused, lowering his eyes to look at the heavy copper coins in his hand, his eyes suddenly feeling a bit teary.

A small house, with a loving husband and a cute and obedient child, was his dream since childhood. Later, it became a luxury. Now that half of this dream had come true, his life was nearing its end.

Was heaven playing a joke on him?

If so, why make the living worry unnecessarily?

Song Tingzhu’s fingers trembled, and the copper coins slipped from his palm, knocking over the sugar water bowl beside him. The sticky liquid dripped from his fingertips, crashing heavily on his heart, shattering his unrealistic dreams completely.

Inside, the red candle hadn’t burned out yet. Song Tingzhu leaned weakly in his newlywed husband’s arms, his hand gently being wiped clean.

“I don’t have many days left to live. Do you regret marrying me?”

“I don’t regret it. I only know you’re my wife. I’ll work hard to earn money and take you to town to see a doctor.” Liu Hu frowned, his honest face full of sincerity and stubbornness, “Doctor Zhou told me that as long as you’re willing to spend money, you can be cured.”

“Fool, my illness isn’t something ordinary doctors can cure.”

“Then we’ll go to the prefectural city. If that doesn’t work, I’ll take you to Kyoto.”

Song Tingzhu forced a weak smile, “I’ve never been to Kyoto.”

“I’ll take you there someday.”

“Okay.”

But I’m afraid I won’t have the chance…

Author’s Note:

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