The Living Yama (Part 5)

Xiong Tu's face darkened: "So you don't have any family in this world either."

"Who says I don't have family? Everyone in the inn has."

"Where did they all come from?"

"Just like you," I laughed again, seeing the "Living Yama's" surprised expression. "We were all picked up."

Not long after, Huai Xu returned from Yanziping, bringing back a prescription that Liu Yuxin had adjusted and a packet of bean pods given to him by Sister Xu.

I asked her to brew another bowl of the new recipe for Xiong Tu, while I moved a stool and sat down at the entrance of the inn, basking in the sun and shelling beans. Just as I finished shelling, I faintly heard footsteps and voices coming from the house in front.

"Lord Xiong, what are you looking for? The medicine is right on the table, drink it while it's hot!"

"I saw it, thank you, Miss Huaixu."

"Don't say that. You'll thank me if you get better soon."

"I'll do my best..." Xiong Tu's voice trailed off, then suddenly rang out again, "Miss Huai Xu, I hear a hint of a Yi accent in your voice. May I ask which village in Nan Guang you're from?"

"Sir, you have excellent hearing. Huai Xu is from Lotus Mountain."

After a long silence, a cough began, and Huai Xu called out in a panic, "Lord Xiong? What's wrong? Are you feeling unwell? Wait here, I'll go get my godmother—"

"No need!" Xiong Tu interrupted her. "I'm fine."

"oh."

"Huai Xu, how did you come to live with your godmother?"

“When I was eight years old, Lianhuadong and the neighboring Tianxingdong fought fiercely over road access, and even robbed a passing caravan of its goods and killed everyone. When the government troops found out, they came into the mountains to suppress the bandits and burned down our houses. My mother and I had nowhere to go, so we went down the mountain to Junlian Town to sell ourselves into servitude. Later, my mother was forced to her death by bad people. Before she died, she entrusted me to my godmother, who then took me back to the inn.”

Xiong Tu's tone was heavy: "The bad guy who drove your mother to her death—has he been caught?"

“We caught him,” Huai Xu said cheerfully. “Thank God! Half a year ago, my godmother and I went to the market in town and happened to run into him. I beat him so badly he cried for his parents on the spot, and after we took him to the prefectural government, Magistrate Wei sentenced him to thirty strokes of the cane and hanging. Judging by the days, he should be meeting the King of Hell by now!”

Xiong Tu said slowly, "If it weren't for those government troops coming up the mountain to suppress them, so many of your people wouldn't have died, and you and your mother wouldn't be homeless. Don't you hate them?"

"But who should I hate? Should I hate the government troops who came to suppress us, or the clansmen who harmed the caravan? Who is the cause and who is the effect? ​​No matter how much I hate, the dead will not come back to life. My godmother said—the most important thing in a person's life is to live. If you want to live a less difficult life, you should let go of some hatreds. As long as you are with the people you love, everything will slowly get better."

Xiong Tu sighed, "What should one do if they don't have a lover?"

"Then let's go find them," Huai Xu said with a smile. "My godmother used to be alone too. Look at how she found me, Uncle Lin, and Feng Qiao over the years. We're a loving family now!"

"Cough cough—cough cough cough—" Xiong Tu suddenly burst into a violent cough.

Huai Xu asked anxiously, "Sir, are you alright? Did I say something wrong?"

"It's alright." Xiong Tu's voice was a little weak. "What you said... is very good."

"It's getting windy, sir. Please don't sit here. Let me help you back inside to rest."

Back at the front room, I handed the shelled beans to Huai Xu: "Soak them for a while, and we'll cook bean soup and rice for dinner tonight."

Huai Xu reached out and took the medicine, asking with a worried look, "Godmother, Lord Xiong has been coughing badly ever since he drank the freshly brewed medicine. Should I call Doctor Liu over to take a look at him?"

"It's not that bad yet. I'll go check it out. You go ahead and do your thing." I picked up the kettle from the table, added some hot water, and went into the inner room.

The door was half-open, and suppressed coughs came from inside, mingling with the sobbing wind through the corridor, making the sound exceptionally clear and exceptionally lonely.

I knocked on the door twice, but no one answered. So I pushed the door open and went in. I picked up an empty bowl from the table, poured half a cup of tea, and said to the person leaning to one side, "Have a hot drink."

Xiong Tu didn't answer, coughing until his face was red. After a long while, he said, "Ten years ago, I passed the imperial examination and became the first military judge of Rongzhou. I led troops to quell the rebellions in Lianhuadong and Tianxingdong, and I also ordered the burning of the houses. After this battle, all the officials were in awe of me, and my superiors praised me highly."

I put down the teapot and teacup, crossed my arms, and looked him over: "But now that you see Huai Xu and learn about her experiences, you feel a little sad, don't you?"

Xiong Tu replied in a hoarse voice, "Yes."

I pushed the hot tea toward him: "Actually, you don't need to be sad. The cause and effect in this world always come full circle. Five years ago, you unintentionally sent Feng Qiao to Huai Xu's side. She is very happy now, and that's enough."

The next few days passed peacefully.

Ever since learning about the relationship between Huai Xu and Feng Qiao, "Living Yama" no longer insisted on persuading them to study and pass on his skills. Whenever he saw Huai Xu shoveling hay for the horses, he would always rush to help. Huai Xu was afraid that he would get tired, but he didn't want to offend him, so he sent him out to feed the chickens.

As a result, this person spent even more time in the courtyard. When passing caravan leaders saw this, they would often laugh and say to me, "Qingcheng girl, you're so lucky!" I suppressed the urge to curse and snorted, "Would you like this kind of luck?"

During this time, Wei Ji also sent Shi Yu to visit and bring a bag of silver to cover the expenses of "Living Yama" recuperating at the inn.

I kept half as payment for Liu Yu's consultation, and returned the rest untouched. I also asked Shi Yu to tell her, "Your family owes me a lot of debts. We can settle them later. There's no need to rush."

On this day, Wang Yunhui's weaving workshop was shipping out goods, and Huai Xu and Feng Qiao went to Yanziping early to help. With the two younger ones gone, the inn was much quieter. Lin Zhong and Xiong Tu each occupied a corner, one watering the flowers and the other feeding the chickens.

I sat in the front room and flipped through the account book for a while, only seeing the backs of their heads. Feeling bored, I decided to take advantage of the free time in the afternoon to go up the mountain to pick some mushrooms. With that thought in mind, I put away the account book and went to the kitchen to get a basket.

Feng Qiao was easy to pack. I rummaged through the kitchen for a while before finally finding one of my usual horses. Just as I was about to pick it up and leave, I suddenly heard a strange noise coming from the direction of the stable. I hurriedly went over to check what was going on.

There were four horses in the stable. Huai Xu and Feng Qiao rode away with two in the morning, leaving two—one was Xiong Tu's mount, and the other was a pregnant horse bought from the military horse farm in April. The strange noise was coming from the stable where the pregnant horse was.

Is she about to give birth?

I pulled open the fence, and a long, dark brown snake suddenly darted out from the wall. I stepped on the back of its neck and bent down to lift it up.

This was a half-grown white-headed viper. I pried open its mouth to take a closer look and saw that a section of its upper front tooth was clearly missing. I thought to myself, "Oh no!" and threw the snake out of the yard. Then I heard a "thump" and the pregnant horse knelt on its front legs, its left hind leg trembling incessantly, and purplish-black blood was clearly seeping from the white hair on its ankle.

I shouted "Lin Zhong" and ran to the front yard, almost bumping into Xiong Tu who was coming straight at me.

I leaned on my back, panting, "Where's Lin Zhong?"

He went out with his fishing rod.

"What!" I exclaimed angrily, "When did he leave?"

"It's been a while," Xiong Tu asked cautiously. "What happened? Can I help you?"

I glared at him: "It's no use talking to you! Go back to your room and rest!"

Xiong Tu grunted in agreement and tactfully moved to the side of the aisle to let me pass.

I hurried to the front quarters, rummaged through the cabinet for snake medicine, grabbed a dagger and some fine hemp, and rushed back to the stable.

The pregnant horse was frightened, and no matter how I tried to soothe it, I couldn't get close to it.

In my utter panic, I went into the courtyard and called out towards Feng Qiao's house, "Prefect Xiong! Lord Xiong!"

No one answered.

The window was propped up at an angle; I didn't believe the person inside couldn't hear me with my loud voice. Since they couldn't hear me, they must be faking it.

I raised my voice and shouted again, "Bear Butcher! Bear Butcher!"

The "Living Yama" lifted the window sash and poked his head out: "Did Qing Niangzi call me?"

I waved to him and said, "Could you please come and help me?"

"Here I am." Xiong Tu leaped out of the window with one hand, and before he finished speaking, he was already in front of him.

I pointed to the stable and said to him, "My horse has been bitten by a poisonous snake. I need to clean the wound quickly. Can you help me?"

Xiong Tu frowned slightly: "How can I help?"

I quickly said, "You find a way to hold the horse's legs down while I remove the fangs, apply medicine, and bandage it."

Xiong Tu frowned even more: "Doing this is very dangerous."

I pretended to shove the dagger and burlap in my hand at him: "Then let's switch. I'll hold down the horse's leg, and you can bandage it."

Xiong Tu refused to take it, saying, "Doing so would be even more dangerous."

I said sullenly, "Then there's no need for you to go. Go back and rest."

Xiong Tu sighed softly, walked into the stable, and asked, "What's its name?"

"Sunflower seeds."

"Sunflower seeds?"

"Yes. This horse loves to eat melon seeds, so Huaixu said we should name it Melon Seed."

Xiong Tu softly called "Guazi" and slowly circled the pregnant horse, the circle getting smaller and smaller. His hand gradually moved up the horse's back, along the neck, and stopped between Guazi's ears, gently combing its mane.

Guazi's mood visibly calmed down, and he stood up with a long moo. Xiong Tu moved to the left, continuously stroking the horse's neck and shoulders with both hands, and turned his head to indicate that I could begin.

I crouched down and circled around to the back of the horse. Guazi's ankle was already quite swollen. Viper venom enters the bloodstream very quickly, so it should be numb by now. I reached out and grabbed the horse's leg, but it didn't react. I felt relieved and used my dagger to cut open the wound and pull out the fang that had broken off in the muscle.

As the medicine was being applied, Xiong Tu suddenly spoke up: "Hurry up!"

I circled the fine hemp and replied, "It'll be ready soon, just soothe it a little longer—"

Before I could finish speaking, Guazi suddenly kicked out. I quickly threw down my dagger, crouched down, and dodged to the other side. At that moment, Xiong Tu also made his move, grabbing my right shoulder and pulling me towards him. The two forces acting in the same direction combined, causing us both to lose our balance. As a result, my left shoulder collided with his chest, and with a muffled groan, we both fell to the ground.