Chapter 17 Even if the master wanted to abandon him, he wouldn't...
"Do you think you're Nezha with divine powers? You'll die if you keep doing this!"
Not knowing how to answer, she tore off a piece of her skirt and wrapped it around his forearm wound, then pulled him toward the door.
"Let's go see a doctor, come on! Mom will take you..."
Leng Zhen abruptly shook her off: "I'm not going! I'm a doctor myself, I'm not sick! I'm just missing a piece of flesh, I won't die... Didn't you also lose a piece of flesh before? I'm about to pay it off..."
He was possessed, and went back to the stove to stir the medicine in the pot, unable to stop sobbing.
Looking at that stubborn figure, Leng Cuizhu seemed to see countless arguments between them in the past.
At that time, she didn't understand why Leng Zhen was arguing with her; she just felt sorry for him because his eyes were red when he cried.
Even now, she still doesn't understand. She only feels that her own eyes are also being burned by tears, and she feels heartbroken.
She rushed to the stove, grabbed Leng Zhen by the back of the neck, and pushed him into the pot.
The medicine wasn't hot, but Leng Zhen buried her entire face in it, only to find herself gasping for breath and choking on several mouthfuls of the sticky liquid.
At first, he struggled desperately, but later he stopped all movement, letting Leng Cuizhu hold the back of his neck, his hair sticking together in a clump.
Leng Cuizhu looked at the bloody medicine in the pot, then at her child who looked like a dead fish, and suddenly laughed.
What an absurd and painful laugh.
She let go.
Are you awake?
Leng Zhen braced her hands on the stove, her face still buried in the pot.
My arms were shaking like a sieve.
She gathered her breath, then reached out and grabbed Leng Zhen by the back of the neck, pulling him out of the pot.
His face was covered in medicine, his eyelashes, nose, lips... the medicine and tears mixed together and dripped down.
Does it hurt?
"mother……"
Leng Zhen involuntarily pursed her lips and frowned.
It looks like she's about to burst into tears.
“Oh… your whole face is ruined.” Leng Cuizhu exclaimed, hugging him and gently stroking his trembling back.
Tranquil and gentle as water.
“When you do those things that hurt yourself, your mother feels the same pain as you do.”
"So, how long will it take you to repay the wounds I suffered... You'll never be able to repay them all."
“Mother never expected you to repay me. Your flesh and blood aren’t even enough for your own needs.” She smoothed the hair on his cheek. “How are you going to repay me? Give me back my life? Your life is mine too.”
"But I don't want your life. I just want you to live well and not waste the life I gave you."
Leng Zhen finally broke down in tears, leaning her entire body against her frail frame, tears streaming down her face.
"Don't cry, don't cry..."
She patted his back gently, again and again, the sound echoing softly in the room.
"Mother will take you to see a doctor."
Leng Zhen's illness was mainly a mental one. The doctor could only prescribe some formulas to soothe the liver and relieve depression, and bandage his wounds. The rest was up to Leng Zhen's own fate.
From the first day to the fifteenth day of the Lunar New Year, Leng Cuizhu never needed to visit relatives. She would stay at home all day, with only a few kind-hearted neighbors occasionally coming to visit.
To cheer Leng Zhen up, Leng Cuizhu bought chestnut cake, which he loved as a child, and went up to the attic to knock on his door, wanting to give it to him personally.
After knocking on the door for a long time, there was no response from inside.
She clearly saw Leng Zhen enter the room with her own eyes.
"Zhenzhen?"
The brothel outside the attic was in a windy spot, and she stood by the brothel, her cotton robe flapping in the wind.
The crow perched on the railing: "Perhaps it's asleep."
"Oh..." she rubbed her hands together. "Then, let's go back."
"Madam, won't you go in and take a look?" "No, I don't think so. He's never liked me going into his room. He's grown up now and should have his own space. Besides, he definitely has secrets he doesn't want me to know."
Crow: "...Okay."
Does she know what kind of secrets those are?
In the afternoon, she was sitting in the yard feeding walnuts to the crows when Leng Zhen passed by carrying a medicine basket.
Leng Cuizhu: "You went to gather herbs again?"
“Yes,” Leng Zhen nodded. “Mother, there’s medicine boiling on the pot. Remember to check on it later, don’t let it burn.”
"etc!"
She stuffed the paper-wrapped pastries into Leng Zhen's hand: "I bought you chestnut cakes. Take them and have a bite when you get hungry while gathering herbs."
Leng Zhen glanced at the pastries in her hand and hummed in agreement.
"I'll just bring two pieces; the rest... I'll eat them when I get back."
Leng Zhen's personality is still the same as before; she always saves her favorite foods for last, sometimes even letting them rot before eating them.
Leng Cuizhu went along with his wishes and placed the chestnut cake on the low table in the courtyard. After a while, she felt that wrapping it in oil paper didn't look good, so she took out the chestnut cake piece by piece and arranged it on a plate.
She was very happy.
"If you want some, I'll put a piece on your plate."
The crow shook its head.
"Are you happy?"
“Yes.” She looked down and stroked the crow’s head. “As a mother, of course I hope my child can be more cheerful.”
"After all, they are my own flesh and blood."
"Your own...blood and flesh?"
"Yes, I gave birth to him when I was seventeen."
"He was so thin when he was born, he only weighed forty taels."
"...Seventeen years old?"
"Yes, he was seventeen. I gave birth to him in the summer, and he was premature. When I gave birth to him, there was a census being conducted. Because of my identity, it was difficult to talk about... So my husband registered him under the name of an old nanny in his household, and wrote his age as a bit older."
"So this silly kid always thought his birthday was in winter. Actually, he was celebrating my birthday. He just made it up because he couldn't come up with a birthday at the time."
She smiled wryly and said, "Women in the entertainment industry never celebrate their birthdays."
"Thanks to Zhenzhen, I remembered my birthday and was able to use his birthday as an excuse to be happy."
The crow lowered its head.
Yet, it was clear that in the spring of her seventeenth year, she was still overjoyed at being able to leave the manor and go to university after avenging her family.
She said back then that she wanted to become a very good doctor.
She added that they would get married after she finished all her university courses, even though she was just a ghost and he wasn't the knight she liked... but they were happy together, and that was enough.
No one would have imagined that she would disappear before she even got on the carriage leaving the manor.
For the next ten years or so, Eun searched for her.
If Ewan had known that the world she was going to was a melting pot, that her belly would grow uncontrollably, and that she would suffer years of pain and oppression, he shouldn't have listened to her and gone to pick apples from the apple tree that day.
He was so obedient that he thought it wouldn't matter if his master abandoned him.
As long as the master is happy, nothing else matters. Even if the master abandons me, I still have legs and can continue to look for the master.
But she was not happy.
The apples she left behind were also quite astringent.
He searched for her for a long time.
"You really gave birth to him?"
"You and Tusizi are both so strange. He kept asking me if I and Yin Yuan were really husband and wife, and if Yin Yuan and Zhenzhen were really father and son."
"Now it's your turn to ask me if Tong Zhenzhen is really mother and son."
"……Feel sorry."
Eun just didn't expect that the suffering she endured wasn't a simple scenario, but rather that she truly suffered so much.
She truly became a mother.
She was only a teenager, yet she became a mother.
Leng Cuizhu smiled and stuffed a walnut into the crow's beak: "It's alright, eat the walnut."
I've heard that crows like to eat walnuts.
Her light brown eyes were beautiful, and they were full of affection when she smiled.
The crow tilted its head, picked up a walnut kernel, and flew up into the tree.
Leng Cuizhu rested her chin on her hand and caught a raven feather that was falling from the sky. The tip of the raven feather shimmered with silvery white.
"You lost a feather."
"If you don't like it, Madam, then throw it away."
She stroked the soft raven feathers: "Why throw something so beautiful away?"
"Then I'll keep it for you. Bird feathers are probably similar to human teeth, right? Losing feathers might mean you're growing up."
"Anyway, it will definitely be a good thing."
She stroked the feathers and drank tea, passing the time until she felt sleepy. Just as she was about to get up, the raven feather in her hand was snatched away.
"……What's this?"
Yin Yuan stood in front of her, his fingertips pinching the base of the feather.
He was followed by a guard in blue.
"feather."
"I picked it up from the ground, but I don't want it anymore. I'll give it to you, sir."
Leng Cuizhu ignored him and turned to leave.
The guards stepped forward and blocked her path.
"Give it to me?"
Yin Yuan glanced at the crow feathers and suddenly remarked, "What refined taste you have."
"Who told you to pick this up?" He picked up a piece of chestnut cake from the table and glanced at it casually.
"You even picked up the pastries?"
The biting wind made her cheeks taut and pale; she stood in the wind, swaying precariously.
"Why has my lord gone to such lengths?"
She turned her head and glared at him, her eyes welling up with tears.
Why does he always push her into such embarrassing situations?
Why does he insist on getting entangled with her?
After more than ten years, doesn't he get tired of it yet?
Yin Yuan was lost in thought for a moment, then said, "...I'm going back to my hometown with Yi Yinwan tomorrow."
She lowered her head to wipe away her tears, but the guards still stopped her from leaving.
"Alright, I wish you a safe journey."
"Who told you to pick it up?"
The man sighed and said, "It was a gift from someone else, wasn't it?"
"It's not suitable for you."
"My lord, you may leave now. I am going to rest."
"...You're not going to let me stay?"
After he finished speaking, he immediately added, "I'll come see you again in a few days."
The guards finally gave in. Leng Cuizhu lowered her eyes, left the courtyard alone, and gradually disappeared into the snow-covered trees and pavilions.
The man remained standing there, gazing in the direction she had gone.
After a long while, he put the raven feather into his cloak pocket, walked out silently, and was followed by the guards in blue.
“Keep an eye on her.”
"Close the window and leave the room, then deliver the letter to me."
"Also, try to see what that man looks like."
"But I've been watching for so long and haven't seen any men. How could I possibly see anything clearly..."
"It's you?"
"……ah?"
"If I can't find it, it can only be you."
The man's lips trembled.
Is that you?
Yin Yuan and his wife returned to their hometown, and Leng Cuizhu finally had a chance to relax.
At least, I no longer have to worry about him coming unexpectedly.
In the evening, Eun transformed into human form to help her move the screen. The two moved the screen to the window to block the view inside the house, so that the snow could not fall in.
After moving the screen, she caught a glimpse of the man's flowing, smooth white hair and became interested.
"Let me braid your hair."
"Bragging?"
"Yes, it looks nice when braided, and it's less likely to cause hair loss."
"Don't worry, when I was in the building, all the older sisters and younger sisters liked to come to me to braid their hair. They praised my skills. I also braided Leng Zhen's hair when he was little."
"You don't want to make it up?"
Eun lowered his eyelashes: "Of course I want to."
"I just didn't expect..."
He certainly couldn't have imagined it.
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