The bowl was smashed directly onto the ground, shattering into several pieces as the talisman water splashed everywhere.
The shamaness hadn’t expected Song Xia to resort to physical action right off the bat. Startled, she let out a short, sharp shriek of “Ah!”, getting splashed all over with the murky, black talisman water.
The room fell dead silent for a single, fleeting moment before erupting into an instant uproar!
“Song Xia, what on earth are you doing?!” Shen Hu’s explosive roar stood out conspicuously even amidst the noisy crowd.
Country folk were always like this: whenever illness or disaster struck, they would seek out a shaman or the like, begging for a talisman paper to burn and drink in water. If the person recovered, it was considered a blessing from the heavens; if they didn’t, it was simply a matter of fate.
Just moments before, Shen Hu had been staring eagerly at Ah-Li, waiting for the shamaness to finish feeding him the talisman water, hoping Ah-Li would quickly get better after drinking it. To his utter shock, this crazy woman had charged in and smashed the bowl away with a single swipe of her hand!
Shen Hu was furious to the absolute limit!
Lunging forward, Shen Hu rushed straight toward Song Xia, raising a fan-sized palm with the clear intent of slapping her across the face.
Song Xia had been consumed by anxious panic just moments before. Seeing the child in such a desperate state—while his parents failed to seek proper medical treatment and instead brought in a shamaness to perform ritual dances, even trying to force-feed the child that murky, black talisman water full of feudal superstition—she felt the blood rush straight to her head. In a moment of impulse, she had stepped forward and knocked the bowl over.
Hearing Shen Hu’s enraged interrogation and his aggressive, violent movement, Song Xia’s mind went blank for a split second.
Yet her body’s reflexes reacted faster than her brain.
As the slap descended, Song Xia tilted her head to the side, narrowly dodging the blow.
Cold sweat broke out all over her body.
Only then did the surrounding villagers snap back to their senses. They swarmed forward to separate the two and mediate the situation. Sister-in-law Xing hurriedly pulled Song Xia behind her, terrified that Shen Hu might lunge forward again.
The surrounding villagers also began pointing fingers and gossiping among themselves.
“Hu-zi! How can you go hitting people?!”
“You Shen family wife, you’re far too ignorant of propriety! Didn’t you see the shamaness curing Ah-Li? What kind of malicious intentions do you harbor?”
“Little Song, you shouldn’t take out your frustrations like this just because the Shen family hasn’t returned your fields! Just look at how pitiful poor Ah-Li is!”
“Little Lady Song, stop stirring up trouble here!”
“Hu-zi, she’s just a woman and doesn’t know any better. Don’t lower yourself to her level. Ah-Li’s illness is what matters most—hurry and ask the shamaness to brew another bowl!”
Lingering with fear, Song Xia was pulled back into the courtyard. The crowd formed a barrier separating her from Shen Hu. As Song Xia looked up, she could see Shen Hu’s eyes blazing red with extreme fury inside the house.
At the same time, a wave of whispers reached her from behind.
“This Shen family young wife looks all gentle and delicate, who would’ve thought her heart could be so vicious?”
“Ain’t that the truth? Word is they had a falling out precisely because of those two good plots of land!”
“I never would’ve guessed Little Lady Song held such deep hatred for their family!”
“Of course she does! If someone else occupied two plots of good land belonging to my family, I’d be frantic too!”
“Oh my, are you actually saying this young wife did the right thing?”
“Go on with you! What kind of nonsense are you talking? Even if I were anxious, I wouldn’t take it out on a child!”
“Stop arguing!” A tired, aged voice rang out from inside the house—it was the village chief. “Little Shen wife, you should head back. You’re not needed here, don’t just stand around.”
The villagers also turned their heads to look at Song Xia, their eyes darting back and forth between the house and the courtyard as their minds spun with countless calculations.
“This talisman water cannot be drunk!” Seeing that no one was listening to her and remembering that Shen Hu still intended to force-feed Ah-Li the talisman water, Song Xia grew anxious and tried to push her way back into the house.
Feudal superstition is unacceptable! Song Xia worried desperately to herself.
Right at that moment, Sister-in-law Xing gave Song Xia a tug.
“Xiaxia, what are you doing?”
Though Sister-in-law Xing had protected Song Xia, her expression remained utterly bewildered and disapproving.
That’s right—even Sister-in-law Xing couldn’t understand Song Xia’s actions.
Song Xia was simply burning with anxiety and had no idea how to explain herself.
Just then, Shen Huaijing and Shen Chunming finally arrived at Shen Hu’s house.
“Hey, look, it’s that fellow.”
“Oh, he’s here too. Surely he won’t still take her side? Look how clueless and unruly she’s being!”
“Who knows? They are husband and wife, after all.”
As soon as they arrived, Shen Huaijing sensed people pointing and murmuring about him, while the crowd considerately cleared a path so he could walk through.
Shen Huaijing had a gut feeling that something had gone wrong.
Sure enough, the moment Shen Huaijing stepped through the courtyard gate, he saw Song Xia and Shen Hu being blocked off by two different groups of people, as if a conflict had broken out between them.
“What’s going on?” Sweeping his gaze around, Shen Huaijing walked straight to Song Xia’s side, his posture commanding and firm.
Sister-in-law Xing also released Song Xia, looking at Shen Huaijing with a troubled expression.
“Xiaxia… she smashed the family’s life-saving medicine.”
“Smashed it? It was brewed that fast?” Shen Huaijing was puzzled. Didn’t Song Xia just fetch the medicine a moment ago? How could it have been brewed so quickly?
“That wasn’t medicine! That was talisman water! It can’t cure any illness!” Song Xia blurted out anxiously.
The moment he heard this, Shen Huaijing understood.
Having suffered from chronic illness for years, he had consumed countless precious medicines, tried numerous folk remedies, and talisman water was practically the apex of folk remedies.
Over on the other side, Shen Hu had already been calmed down. He was asking the shamaness to draw another talisman, burn it, and brew a fresh bowl.
Without time to explain to Shen Huaijing, Song Xia saw the shamaness scoop up a bowl of cold water to mix another batch of talisman water, and she could finally hold back no longer. Rushing into the house for a second time, she didn’t knock the bowl over right away; instead, she grabbed the shamaness firmly by the wrist!
“This talisman water cannot be drunk!”
“Hey! You young woman!” The shamaness glared angrily and impatiently at Song Xia.
As for Shen Hu, this was the second time his attempt to feed the medicine had been interrupted by Song Xia, pushing his fury to a boiling point. Just as he raised his hand to strike out again, a slender, fair hand suddenly intercepted the space between them.
“Brother Shen might as well listen to my wife’s intentions. She has some understanding of medical principles.” Shen Huaijing extended a hand, blocking Song Xia and cutting off the enraged Shen Hu.
At this point, Shen Chunming squeezed his way in as well, shouting indignantly, “My sister-in-law had good intentions and specially brought medicine over! Is this how you treat my sister-in-law?!”
Seeing Shen Huaijing and Shen Chunming step up to shield her, Song Xia breathed an inward sigh of relief.
When she charged in to block them the second time, she had actually steeled herself to take a beating. But she knew that under no circumstances could that talisman water be drunk. Ah-Li was already critically ill; making him swallow another bowl of this messy concoction would only add insult to injury!
Hearing Shen Chunming’s words, everyone present looked at Song Xia in astonishment.
In this day and age, medicinal herbs were extremely precious goods. Ordinary families wouldn’t keep medicine stocked at home for emergencies—when people struggled just to afford regular meals, what was the use of buying herbs that would rot and mold if stored improperly?
Therefore, unless they were wealthy households, nobody kept medicine lying around at home. Ordinary families would simply endure minor aches and pains or go up the mountain to pick common wild herbs to brew. If they couldn’t endure it, they would head to the county town to find a physician and buy a single dose of medicine to recuperate at home. Even if farmers or hunters found good herbs on the mountain, they wouldn’t keep them at home; they would rush to sell them to the pharmacy. Otherwise, if they carelessly failed to preserve the herbs properly, causing them to lose their medicinal properties and damaging the leaves, stems, or roots, the price difference could be several-fold!
Thus, upon hearing that Song Xia had actually brought medicine, everyone present momentarily forgot their recent gossip and criticism.
“Right, I know a thing or two about pharmacology, and I also picked out some medicine from home,” Song Xia seized upon Shen Huaijing’s cue when she saw Shen Hu’s expression soften slightly.
“Since Little Lady Song brought medicine, let her take a look,” the village chief spoke up directly, making the final decision upon seeing the situation.
Standing there and wrestling with his inner conflict for a long moment, Shen Hu finally took a step back, revealing Ah-Li lying motionless on the bed behind him, and motioned for Song Xia to come in.
Only then did Song Xia get a clear look at Ah-Li’s current state.
The boy was completely devoid of color, his lips dry and peeling, his eyes tightly shut, and his face a sickly ashen hue as he lay stiffly unmoving on the bed.
The village chief’s wife—Ah-Li’s grandmother—sat by the bedside, silently wiping away her tears.
Ah-Li looked to be in extremely bad shape.
Stepping forward, Song Xia reached out to touch Ah-Li’s forehead; he was still running a high, burning fever. She pried open his mouth and checked his eyes, breathing a small sigh of relief that things hadn’t reached the absolute worst-case scenario.
“Is he passing blood?” Song Xia turned her head to ask Ah-Li’s grandmother.
“Yes, he started passing blood this morning, and now he can’t even pass blood anymore, just dry heaving,” Ah-Li’s grandmother said with a grief-stricken expression. Having lived to an advanced age, she had witnessed quite a few people lose their lives to this sort of diarrhea. The illness struck with such suddenness and ferocity that even adults struggled to withstand it, let alone a boy of ten-odd years.
That talisman water from earlier was nothing more than an illusory, drifting hope.
“May I take a look?” Song Xia asked Ah-Li’s grandmother.
Ah-Li’s grandmother hadn’t expected such a pretty young woman to be willing to look at such foul waste.
Pausing for a moment, she still instructed Shen Hu to bring the chamber pot over from the side.
Shen Hu likewise hadn’t anticipated that Song Xia would actually look at this. As he handed it over, he cast two deeply suspicious glances at Song Xia.
Shen Huaijing watched Song Xia with equal astonishment, yet stood silently by her side without uttering a word, guarding her closely.
Upon seeing the bloody stool in the pot, Song Xia’s five-to-six-tenths hypothesis solidified into a seven-to-eight-tenths certainty.
This was in all probability dysentery!
Song Xia let out a breath of relief. The medicine she brought was correct, and thank goodness Shen Huaijing’s stock of herbs was diverse and plentiful enough.
Turning her head to address the anxious-looking Shen Hu, Song Xia said, “I brought quite a few medicinal ingredients that can help bring his symptoms under control, but for proper treatment, you still need to take him to the county town to see a physician.”
“Will your medicine actually work?” Shen Hu asked skeptically.
“Ah-Hu!” The village chief slammed his hand down heavily on the table! For someone to be willing to bring out life-saving medicine was already an immense favor! This son of his truly was a blockhead!
“It’s definitely going to be better than that talisman water,” Song Xia retorted, casting a glance at the self-styled shamaness lurking in the corner.
Noticing Song Xia’s glare, the shamaness unblinkingly tossed her head and scoffed, “My talisman water was all blessed by Lord Taishang Laojun! It’s exceptionally potent!”
Too lazy to bicker with the woman about ghosts and spirits, Song Xia continued addressing Shen Hu, “Ah-Li is a good child, and I quite like him. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have made a special trip back home to fetch this medicine.”
What Song Xia hoped for right now was that Shen Hu could distinguish between what was urgent and what wasn’t, rather than letting his brain stall out over a petty argument about right and wrong.
“Go brew it!” Ignoring Shen Hu entirely, the village chief made the executive decision and ordered someone to brew the medicine.
The medicine was prepared swiftly. Ah-Li’s grandmother carefully spoon-fed it to the boy, and within a short while, Ah-Li’s complexion showed signs of improvement.
Seeing that Ah-Li no longer looked quite as terrifyingly pale, Song Xia finally relaxed her shoulders. Good, good—I didn’t pick the wrong ingredients.
Only after the tension melted away did she realize her entire lower back and waist were aching with fatigue; after all, she had suffered from heatstroke earlier that very morning!
“Village chief, seeing that Ah-Li is in a more stable condition now, we’ll head back first. Be sure to remember to take him to the medical clinic in the county town tomorrow—my medicine can only provide temporary relief and cannot cure the root cause,” Song Xia told the village chief as she prepared to leave.
“Rest assured, tomorrow I’ll make sure Shen Hu takes Ah-Li to the county town to see a doctor,” the village chief nodded, adding, “Little Lady Song, thank you truly for today. If it weren’t for you…”
The village chief trailed off into silence.
Having lived to his advanced age, how could he possibly not know that talisman water was utterly useless? But as a grandfather, how could he just stand by and watch his own flesh and blood slip away?
“No need to thank me. Anyone who saw a situation like this wouldn’t just stand by with their arms folded,” Song Xia replied softly, understanding the village chief’s unspoken thoughts.
“As for Shen Hu… well, his temperament isn’t bad at heart, but his temper is just too rash. I’ll apologize on his behalf for where he crossed the line today.” Thinking of his eldest son gave the village chief another headache.
“It’s fine, he didn’t actually hit me anyway. He was just panicked, I understand.”
“Sigh, you truly are a good child. If it weren’t for this sickly constitution of Shen Huaijing’s, the two of you would make an absolute match made in heaven. What a pity… sigh!” The village chief was fairly clear-headed about their situation. Now that his favorable impression of Song Xia had soared, thinking of the messy complications in the Shen household made him feel that Song Xia deserved much better.
“Shen Huaijing treats me quite well, and I’m very content with things right now, Village chief.” Song Xia chuckled lightly at the frowning old man before her. She hadn’t expected the village chief’s stance to shift quite so quickly.
Once a person started developing favorable feelings for someone else, they naturally began looking out for their interests at every turn.
After tossing and turning through several hours of chaos, Song Xia felt completely exhausted and ready to call it a day.
“Then village chief, we’ll be heading off first.” Song Xia waved goodbye to the village chief and popped back into the house one last time to check on the sleeping Ah-Li.
“Do watch your step on the way back,” Shen Hu awkwardly stood by the bedside, taking a long while to squeeze out just those few words.
With a slight smile, Song Xia waved at them and stepped out the door.
Only upon emerging outside did she realize that night had already fallen.
The villagers had long since dispersed, leaving only Shen Huaijing standing quietly by the courtyard entrance waiting for her.
“Let’s go. Ah-Ming ran on ahead home to start the fire,” Shen Huaijing smiled as Song Xia walked over.
Song Xia couldn’t help bursting into a soft laugh. For some reason, over these past few days Ah-Ming had become completely obsessed with starting fires; before every single meal, he insisted on squeezing his way in to tend the hearth.
“How are you holding up?” Shen Huaijing had accompanied Song Xia here for hours that afternoon. At the moment, his complexion looked a bit pale as well, and he coughed softly into his hand. Seeing him like this, Song Xia asked with a hint of concern.
“I’m quite alright,” a faint, gentle smile graced Shen Huaijing’s handsome features.
Looking at his smile, Song Xia found her own spirits lifting happily.
“Well then, let’s go~” Song Xia blinked playfully at Shen Huaijing by the doorway.
Underneath the cloak of night, two figures—one tall, one shorter—walked side-by-side, casting long, intertwined shadows as they journeyed homeward together.