“Twenty taels?” Madam Song’s hand froze in midair. Her lips trembled. “Doctor Liu, could you begin treatment first? We’ll go back and gather the silver…”
By the end, her voice had become so faint it was nearly inaudible.
Doctor Liu said nothing. He merely looked at her, his eyes carrying both sympathy and helplessness. At Jishi Hall, he had seen scenes like this far too many times. For poor families, every medical treatment came with painful choices.
Madam Song slowly lowered her hand.
“Mother.” Helping her onto a nearby chair, Xu Mingzhu turned around, took out twenty taels of silver from her robe, and placed it on the counter.
“Here’s twenty taels. Please use the best medicine available to save him first. If it’s not enough, I’ll find a way to come up with the rest.”
Madam Song stared in shock. “Mingzhu, where did you get so much money?”
Madam Song stood up, her voice choked with emotion. “Maybe we should go back and wait for A Ci to return…”
In those days, twenty taels was enough to support an ordinary farming family for several years. Song Ci still needed money for his studies. If Father Song learned that she had spent twenty taels of Xu Mingzhu’s money on his treatment, he would surely lose his temper.
“I earned it through business.” Xu Mingzhu’s tone was calm. “A person’s life is more important than silver. Let’s save Father first. We can worry about everything else later.”
Madam Song opened her mouth, but tears spilled out before she could speak.
Watching the scene, Doctor Liu sighed. He put the silver into a drawer. “I’ll hold this as a deposit. If there are extra funds, I’ll return them; if there’s a shortfall, you’ll need to make up the difference. As for the medicine, don’t worry. I’ll do everything I can.”
The two women stood beneath the corridor outside.
An apprentice carried a medicine stove into the room, and the fragrance of medicinal herbs drifted out through the cracks in the doorway.
Madam Song leaned against a pillar as though all the strength had been drained from her body. Her eyes were red as she looked at Xu Mingzhu. Her lips moved several times before she finally asked in a small voice: “Mingzhu, I should thank you. If you hadn’t been here today, I don’t know what I would have done.”
“Mother, this is what I should have done.” As soon as she finished speaking, a faint groan came from inside the room.
Both women turned at once. Doctor Liu lifted the curtain and walked out. His expression looked much more relaxed than before. “He’s fine now. The medicine went down, and his pulse has stabilized somewhat. But his body is weak. It’ll be a while before he wakes up.”
Madam Song clasped her hands together and bowed repeatedly toward the heavens.
Xu Mingzhu walked into the room and stood at the foot of the bed, looking at Father Song’s face, which was finally regaining some color.
The string that had been stretched tight inside her all day finally loosened. Thank goodness.
Father Song had gotten through the crisis, which meant her own life was probably safe as well.
“Mingzhu,” Madam Song called from behind her, “if you’re tired, get some rest.”
“Alright. I’ll just lean back and rest for a bit.” Xu Mingzhu had sold braised meat all morning, bought ingredients at noon, returned to the village, barely had a chance to catch her breath, and then rushed to Qingzhou City that same afternoon.
By now, she felt completely drained. She leaned against the wall and, in less than a quarter of an hour, fell asleep.
During the six months since Xu Mingzhu married into the Song family, Madam Song realized she had never seen her daughter-in-law so quiet and peaceful.
Song Ci hurried back from Xinghua Village and happened to witness this scene. He first went to ask the doctor about his father’s condition. Only after hearing that the situation had stabilized did he return to the room.
“Ah Ci, you’ve finally arrived.” Only then did Madam Song fully let her guard down. She threw her arms around her son and trembled as she cried.
“Mother, I came back too late. I left you to shoulder all of this alone. It’s my fault.”
Madam Song wiped away her tears and looked toward Xu Mingzhu. “Today, we owe everything to Mingzhu. If not for her, your father might not have survived.” She then recounted everything that had happened that day.
“Mother, you’re saying she paid twenty taels?”
Madam Song nodded. “Mingzhu said she earned it through her business.”
“I understand, Mother. I’ll repay her.” Song Ci’s gaze settled heavily upon the peacefully sleeping woman.
In the six months since their marriage, this was the first time he had truly looked at his wife. Her sleeping face was calm and gentle, devoid of the stubbornness, arrogance, and unreasonable behavior he remembered.
Looking at her now, she seemed almost like a completely different person. Somehow, she didn’t seem quite so irritating anymore.
When he thought about it carefully, both she and her father had saved his father’s life twice. Such a favor was nothing short of giving him a second life.
And what about him? Though he and Xu Mingzhu had bowed before their ancestors and become husband and wife, he had never fulfilled even a fraction of a husband’s responsibilities. He had never treated her with genuine sincerity. Instead, he had constantly thought about divorce.
He blamed her for taking his tuition money, but if she had been given a stable means of making a living, would she ever have reached that point?
After a long while, Song Ci suppressed the turmoil in his heart. Quietly, he removed his outer robe and, moving as gently as possible, carefully draped it over Xu Mingzhu’s shoulders.
The next morning, Xu Mingzhu woke to find the man standing in the room and immediately got to her feet.
“Ah—” The numbness and soreness from sitting and sleeping in the same position for so long surged through her legs and spread through her body, making her stagger slightly.
Seeing this, Song Ci moved to help her.
Ignoring the pain, Xu Mingzhu avoided his outstretched hand and walked over to Madam Song.
“My legs are numb. It’s nothing. I can bear it. How is Father?”
Song Ci’s hand remained suspended in midair for a moment before slowly dropping. His brows furrowed slightly.
Madam Song had stayed awake all night. Faint dark circles lingered beneath her eyes. When she saw Xu Mingzhu awake, she answered gently, “Doctor Liu came by not long ago. He said your father-in-law should wake up soon.”
Before she could finish speaking, a fit of coughing came from beside the bed.
The three of them rushed over. immediately
“Husband, you’re finally awake! How are you feeling? Does anything still hurt?” Madam Song bent down beside him, her voice overflowing with anxiety and joy. Tears instantly welled up in her eyes once more.
Song Ci hurried forward as well. “Father.”
Xu Mingzhu called out for Doctor Liu.
Doctor Liu, who had been waiting outside, entered immediately. He took Father Song’s pulse carefully, then withdrew his hand and let out a relieved breath. “Brother Song is truly fortunate. This time he managed to snatch his life back from the gates of death. His pulse is stable now. As long as he rests properly afterward, he should recover. You should spend some time talking with him.” After saying this, Doctor Liu quietly withdrew, leaving the room to the family.
Father Song’s breathing was still weak. His gaze slowly swept across his wife and son before finally settling on Xu Mingzhu. While unconscious, he had vaguely heard much of what had happened around him. After taking a few labored breaths, he spoke in a hoarse voice: “Mingzhu… while I was unconscious, I heard everything… Good child. You’re just like your father, kindhearted, warm, loyal, and righteous. I truly didn’t misjudge you.”
“Father, it’s only what I should have done as a junior.”
Out of the corner of her eye, Xu Mingzhu glanced at Song Ci. After everything she had done, surely they couldn’t still throw her into prison, could they?
Father Song nodded, then turned to Song Ci. “A Ci, Mingzhu is such a good girl. You must treat her well. Otherwise, when I go to the underworld one day, I won’t have the face to meet Old Brother Xu.”
“Father, there’s no need. I—”
“I understand, Father,” Song Ci interrupted.
Xu Mingzhu looked at him. Then she sighed inwardly. This wasn’t the time to talk about such things.
After resting for the entire morning, Father Song looked much better by noon. Around that time, Xu Ming’an and the others arrived, having finished selling the braised meat, to take everyone back to Xinghua Village.
Once they had helped Father Song settle back into bed, Xu Mingzhu pulled Song Ci outside. Getting straight to the point, she took ten taels of silver from her money pouch. “Here. Your tuition money.”
She stuffed the silver into his hands and looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to take out the divorce agreement.
Song Ci shifted uncomfortably under her gaze. Turning his head toward the courtyard, he quietly pressed the silver back into her hand. “You paid twenty taels for my father’s treatment. Let’s consider the tuition debt settled against that. As for the remaining ten taels, I’ll find a way to repay you.”