Chapter 6 Chapter 6 "I, I can't do it anymore, Emu, save me...
Chen Jinshi took a few deep breaths, feeling his lungs expanding and contracting. He clenched his fists, but he could still hold on. It was just one round, he could hold on.
He was not in a difficult situation, nor was he a fool who was instigated to do stupid things. He had long wanted to compete with Heitie. If he had not suffered from asthma since childhood, he would not have studied the Four Books and Five Classics. He would have become a warrior braver than his father long ago.
In fact, he was not completely sure that he could beat Black Iron, but unfortunately, challenging the limits was his nature. No matter what, he wanted to try. If he only did things that he was completely sure of, he would not be called Chen Jinshi.
He was 40% confident. Of the remaining 60%, 30% was due to the disparity in size and absolute strength, and 20% was due to his weak lungs. In terms of skills, he didn't think he was worse than the big, stupid guy Heitie.
Heitie stomped his foot, causing the dust beneath his feet to fly, and swung a punch, and the two of them immediately started fighting.
The black iron fist, with its force breaking the wind, struck him like a moving mountain. Chen Jinshi could almost smell the sweat and rust on the other's fist. He suddenly turned sideways, narrowly avoiding the straight punch, the wind from the fist brushing past his ear.
He knew that he had no chance of winning in a head-on confrontation, so he staggered half a step as if his feet slipped, just in time to avoid the sweeping kick that followed from Heitie.
"Why are you hiding?!" Heitie roared, and attacked more fiercely, with each punch aimed at the vital points.
Chen Jinshi remained flexible throughout, and at the same time tried his best to adjust his breathing so that the air he inhaled into his lungs, which had begun to decrease, could be used as much as possible in the most important areas.
With every breath, my lungs seemed to be vibrating violently, and I had to exert a lot of effort to barely inhale a little air.
The suffocating feeling that hadn't occurred in a long time came back and almost made him faint.
In an instant, he felt so sorry for Am and had let her down again.
His eyes were always fixed on Kurotsuchi's shoulder sockets and knees, so as to predict all of his opponent's movements.
Sure enough, after Heitie's continuous punches, his right shoulder sank slightly, and his breathing became heavier. Chen Jinshi seized the opportunity and suddenly crouched down. His left elbow pressed against the inside of Heitie's knee, and he clenched his right fist and struck the numb tendon at the base of his thigh with all his might.
...drilled through Heitie's armpit...Heitie punched him...kicked Heitie in the lower back...Heitie fell to his knees with a "bang", and stone chips flew everywhere.
Chen Jinshi held his knees and gasped for breath. He could no longer stand. It felt like a ball of cotton was stuck in his throat and he was breathing with difficulty. But he looked at Heitie who was kneeling on the ground and laughed so hard that his shoulders trembled.
“Huh…huh…huh…”
He punched his chest twice. Heitie wanted to get up and fight again, but the outcome was still undecided. Chen Jinshi stopped him: "Heitie, I... I can't do it anymore."
Heitie was stunned. Even though his knees were covered in blood, it didn't have much impact on him.
Chen Jinshi knew that Hei Tie's skin was too thick and he couldn't defeat him now. His strength was still too weak. It was Chen Jinshi's principle to admit defeat when it was time to do so.
Heitie scoffed, "How can this be possible? The winner hasn't been decided yet."
"Black Iron, you win, okay?"
Heitie suddenly lowered his head, a trace of shame and anger flashing in his eyes: "I don't need you to give in, you sickly thing. Forget it this time, no one loses, no one wins."
Chen Jinshi waved his hands, completely speechless. Several soldiers in the camp who were on good terms with him gathered around him and asked, "Chen Er, are you okay?"
After all, he was not very old and was mostly impulsive. Now that he was suffering from illness, he was completely discouraged.
Actually, it’s not that he is completely unable to beat Black Iron, right?
He collapsed on the rough stone ground, looking at the sky, and it took him a long time to recover.
He had a lot of experience in dealing with asthma attacks. He took out the sachet that Chen Ying had made for him from his waist, put it to the tip of his nose and sniffed it. The smell of borneol made him feel a little better.
This smell also brought him back to the days and nights he spent in her arms. He had an attack almost every day at that time. Chen Ying spoiled him especially, keeping him by her side all day, patting his shoulders to coax him to sleep at night. If he had an attack in the middle of the night, she would wake up immediately.
Chen Jinshi lay there until he was completely calm before he stood up and left the training ground.
When he returned home, the yard was empty, with only his father sitting under a tree to enjoy the cool air.
"Where's my Am?"
Chen Jichuan was resting his eyes and didn't want to pay attention to him. He waved his hand and said, "They all went to Xiangmanlou to eat."
After saying that, he suddenly opened his eyes and said, "Explain to me why you came back just now?"
Chen Jichuan's eagle eyes immediately noticed the scratch on the back of his hand, and he was furious: "Chen Jinshi, who did you fight with again?"
Chen Jinshi stood far away from him, covering the wound on his hand, pretending to be calm, appearing effortless.
"It was just a draw with Black Iron, why are you reacting so strongly?"
Chen Jichuan stood up and was about to hit him. Chen Jinshi covered his chest and said, "Dad, don't touch me, otherwise we won't be able to explain ourselves when Ammu comes back."
Chen Jichuan paused, frowned, and asked, "Is he sick again?"
Chen Jinshi nodded reluctantly: "Don't tell Am."
Chen Jichuan pointed at his nose and glared at him fiercely.
After a long standoff, the father and son tacitly kept the matter secret.
Seeing him about to leave again, Chen Jichuan called out to him, "Where are you going now?"
Chen Jinshi looked slightly annoyed and glanced at him calmly: "It's getting late, I'll go pick her up."
Chen Jichuan forgot to mention that Chen Jinxing was there, so there was no need for him to pick her up.
Chen Jinshi's brows were filled with anger.
Probably, she invited everyone to dinner except him.
Inside the Xiangman Building, the three of them chatted and joked while eating. Later, they ordered a pot of wine and each of them drank a few glasses.
Chen Jinxing is a very gentlemanly younger generation. He takes very good care of his two elders and does not neglect his younger sister.
Most of the dishes on the table have been eaten.
When the time was right, he raised his hand and pressed down Chen Ying's wine glass: "Amu, don't drink anymore, otherwise you will feel uncomfortable in the middle of the night."
Chen Ying originally wanted to have a couple more drinks, but the juniors kindly advised her, so she couldn't refuse.
"Listen to Jinxing."
The few of them chatted back and forth, from trivial neighborhood matters to old memories, until Chen Jinyun lowered his head and began to doze off. Su Lanzhou said, "It's getting late. Let's stop here for today."
Chen Ying also agreed, picked up the cloak she had taken off when she was drunk, and was about to get up when she saw the angry man walking in from outside.
Chen Jinshi was trying to suppress his anger all the way, feeling aggrieved at one moment and angry at another.
Later, the grievance overwhelmed the anger. When he walked in, he saw several people having a good time. His brother was among them, holding Chen Ying lightly with his hand, and acting very respectfully.
His anger suddenly rose again.
Su Lanzhou saw him coming and glanced at him twice: "Oh, Brother Shi is really filial today. He came to pick up your mother in person."
Chen Ying had originally thought he was having another fit of madness when she saw his face full of anger, but when she heard Su Lanzhou give him a way out, she started to smile as well: "Brother Shi has always been very filial."
As she spoke, she took his arm, pressed his shoulder, and said, "Jinxing is here. It's hard for you to make such an extra trip. Why don't you just rest at home?"
Chen Ying's voice was very gentle, and her eyes were looking at him softly. In addition, the words just said by each of them seemed to be praising him, and Chen Jinshi's temper disappeared all of a sudden. He opened his mouth to blame her for something, but after searching for words, he could not find any words to complain.
As she held him by the shoulders as they walked out, he remembered that she was always like this. Every time he wanted to lose his temper, she would silently block him back. Chen Ying was truly a master at smoothing things over.
But his anger was still stuck in his heart, neither going up nor down.
What filial piety? Why come to pick her up?
He had clearly come to join them!
Chen Ying seemed to know that he was unhappy, so she deliberately lagged behind him a few steps and walked alone with him.
Chen Jinshi was finding it increasingly difficult to breathe, and he was sulking with a gloomy face.
He walked away from her hand and walked aside alone.
Chen Ying looked at him with drooping eyebrows and asked, "Did you get into any trouble today?"
He walked in front of her, secretly covering his chest with his hands, took a deep breath and said reluctantly: "No."
She asked again: "Where is Wang'er? Why isn't he following you?"
The Chen family was not a very wealthy family. Apart from Chen Xing, his wife, a few servants to clean the house, and a few assistants to help when it was busy, there was only a servant by Chen Jinshi's side. No one else had that.
Because when he was seriously ill, he couldn't leave anyone by his side.
Although Chen Jinshi was sulking, he didn't dare let her notice that something was wrong with him, so he took two more steps, took a deep breath, and finished his words in one breath.
"Wang'er had some family matters. His mother was sick and asked him to go back to take care of her. He took a day off and went home."
Chen Ying glanced at him strangely and kept talking angrily, asking what was wrong with him. Fortunately, he explained it to her in detail.
"knew."
He was walking in front of her, and she looked at his back. He had grown a lot taller in the past three years. In addition, he practiced martial arts every day, so he didn't look thin. The growing boy was not very strong. Under his thin shirt, there was a thin layer of muscle outline, and his broad shoulders, narrow waist and long legs could be vaguely seen.
"Chen Jinshi, are you okay?"
She asked suddenly, causing his back to flinch.
One of the factors causing asthma: mood swings and tension.
"I, I can't do it anymore, Am, save me——"
Chen Ying was shocked. He covered his neck with one hand and his chest with the other, and fell to the ground. Her face changed drastically.
"Chen Jinshi! You unlucky child!"
She squatted down, pulled him down onto her legs, quickly lifted up his clothes from the back, and pinched a few acupuncture points.
He grabbed her sleeve, his lips were black and blue, then white, and a "hehe" sound came from his throat.
"Don't panic, I'll find medicine for you."
She reached into his arms and fumbled around; she always kept medicine on him. From his collar she pulled out a small bottle of Dingchuansan, gently caressing his chest with one hand while feeding him the medicine with the other.
She was already used to this set of movements, so she wasn't anxious at this moment. However, the trembling and echoing of their heartbeats was extremely loud in the dark night.
In order to help the medicine go down his throat, he lay on his back in her arms. She hugged him with great strength and said she wanted to carry him back.
Chen Jinshi looked at her and suddenly asked, "Mom, how many times have you saved me?"
Chen Ying said, "I can't count them all. You should talk less. I can't breathe anyway."
Chen Jinshi held her soft and slender arm and said with a smile: "Mom, you have saved me so many times that I can't count them all. At first I thought you wanted to be my mother, but later I found out that you didn't. So how can I repay you for saving my life... Hehe... Hehe... Hehe..."
Chen Ying ignored his mumbling and stroked his face, saying, "Imagine that there is the fragrance of flowers around you. Slowly inhale, a little at a time..."
He shook his head: "I can't smell it, Am, I can only smell the scent on you."
Chen Jinshi buried his head in her chest and took a deep breath.
Chen Ying endured it and didn't push him away.
After staying like this for a long time, she hesitated and asked him, "Are you ready? Not ready yet?"
"No."
His voice was muffled, and his eyelids opened lazily. Chen Ying smelled faintly of goat's milk. It was unclear whether it was innate to the people there, or because she had been pickled among the sheep as a child. Or perhaps it was because she drank a large bowl of goat's milk every day since she was a child, which made her tall, strong, and plump.
She pulled his face away and said that if he was still not well, she would carry him back. He couldn't just sit here all night.
Chen Jinshi reluctantly left her arms, stood up straight, and looked refreshed.
"Amu, I'm fine now, let's go back."
Under the moonlight, two people, one tall and one short, walked slowly forward side by side.
Chen Ying couldn't help but think of his past, when he was as stubborn as a bull.
She never cared about his rudeness, took good care of him, coaxed him with soft words, and didn't care whether he appreciated it or not. She just did what she should do.
Once he had such an attack that he was almost suffocating, and he would never drink the medicine she brought him.
As if she was certain she was going to kill him.
She said at the time: "Think about it, is it better to just suffocate to death in vain or put the blame on me first and then die?"
After hearing her words, Chen Jinshi didn't know how he convinced himself, but he picked up the bowl of medicine and drank it.
In fact, Chen Ying didn't know whether the medicine she prepared at that time would work for him. She just prepared it and tried it first. If it didn't work, she would adjust the prescription again.
Fortunately, Chen Jinshi did feel much better after taking the medicine.
Later, every time he felt ashamed of himself and had an attack in front of her, she would coax him to take medicine in a gentle voice.
Even the strongest man could not resist her tenderness and gradually fell in love with her, calling her "Ah" more and more affectionately.
Unfortunately, Chen Jinshi's nature was hard to change. There were always a few days in a month when he would say something cold to her and give her the cold shoulder.
"You don't have to be so hypocritical."
"Do you think I'm stupid? Why are you so nice to me?"
"Go away. You don't need to care about my business."
"Don't be fooled by Chen Jinxing's respectful attitude towards you. He is a hypocrite."
…
Gradually it became:
"Chen Ying, just let the shop assistants make the medicine. Be careful not to get smoked."
"No, I don't need you to boil the medicine yourself. It would be too much trouble for you, my father would scold me later."
"Grandma, don't try to set any rules for her. She is just my Am. My father will not marry her."
"Go away! She is my mother, don't try to bully her."
No matter how his attitude changed, she always maintained her care and love for him. But when he calmed down and carefully experienced that love, he could never see into her eyes.
From then on, he would often sulk or make a big fuss about this. Sometimes, he would provoke her and annoy her, and then she would show concern as if nothing had happened. This behavior made him feel satisfied.
She would stroke his still angry head and lift the quilt: "Brother Shi, please be good and come in to sleep, okay?"
She coaxed him gently, and he obediently crawled into her bed, and his frizzy hair smoothed down.
Unfortunately, after he turned fourteen, she no longer coaxed him like that.
…
Chen Ying began to prepare for the opening of "Shen's Medical Clinic". Many of the furnishings in the shop were too old, so she had to spend money to replace them with new ones.
The plaque was written by an old calligrapher in Jinling City. After hearing the name of her sign, the calligrapher asked a few more questions.
"'Shen's Medical Bureau'? Miss, that's quite a grand name. Apart from the word 'bureau', did you know there's actually a Shen family-run clinic in the capital? They've been around for hundreds of years."
Chen Ying didn't know much about the customs in Jinling. In her hometown, people used their own names as signs when opening shops. They might not have a reputation at first, but gradually they would gain it.
However, after hearing what the old man said, Chen Ying also felt that the name was inappropriate.
After some thought, Chen Ying immediately decided to change the sign to "Dulan Mongolian Medicine".
One afternoon, she was busy in the shop, instructing her clerk to hang up the plaque.
"A little more to the left, that's all."
He felt something was not right, so he stepped onto the ladder and adjusted it himself.
She was tall, and if she stood a little higher she could reach the plaque.
Chen Jinshi was accompanied by Wang'er, who was carrying a schoolbag. He had arrived earlier and was leaning against the wall of the teahouse, standing with his arms crossed, looking at her for a long time.
He kept muttering: "Du…Lan…Meng…medicine…"
Chen Ying turned around and saw him coming. She frowned and glanced at him indifferently.
"What are you doing here?"
Then she started moving things again, and he hurried to follow her. He immediately took over whatever she was moving.
"I don't need your help here. The exam is coming up soon. If you don't go back to study, don't hang around here anymore."
Chen Jinshi ignored her and continued to help her.
Seeing that she was about to move the medicine cabinet again, which looked very rough, he hurriedly stopped her: "Let me do it, be careful not to hurt your hands."
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