Chapter 190 Master's Past
Ye Rou left the dining room, thinking about finding the two children first.
The melodious sound of the flute rang out, and Ye Rou turned and followed the sound of the flute through the corridor and into the east courtyard of the second courtyard.
Living in the east courtyard are Wang Guoping, Zheng Zhiyuan, Zhou Yuqing and the newly arrived Liu Yutang.
Before she even reached the yard, Ye Rou could hear the sounds. The intermittent exclamations of two children, the deliberately suppressed howls of Little Gray, the croaking of frogs accompanied by a flute, and the arguing and discussion between Grandpa and Grandpa Wang while playing chess, gave Ye Rou a feeling of both bustle and tranquility.
The courtyard is in a thoroughly Chinese architectural style. The brick walls, paving bricks and gravel are off-white and dark gray, echoing the roof tiles.
Ye Rou walked through the small round door. There was a pond in the east courtyard near the corridor wall. It was specially built in an irregular shape. The water here and the pond in the inner courtyard garden circulated with each other to form a living water. A grid was formed at the water inlet to prevent fish from swimming away.
A round table and rattan chairs were placed beside the pond. A wintersweet tree, though rugged, blossomed beautifully. Winter jasmine flowers climbed the wall, blooming brilliantly. A magnolia tree planted beneath the window was in bloom, its pink blossoms radiating. The courtyard's vibrant yet understated colors complemented the greenery surrounding the pond, creating a living ink painting.
Shitou and Hanhan each held a small net in their hands and were excitedly preparing to catch frogs in the yard.
Xiao Huihui squatted beside the round table. Wang Guoping rubbed the wolf's head while playing chess with Zheng Zhiyuan, and fed the apples and strawberries on the table to Xiao Huihui with his mouth wide open.
Zheng Zhiyuan looked disgusted when he saw Wang Guoping playing chess with his hands stained with strawberry juice.
Fortunately, it wasn't his chessboard and pieces that were used.
Liu Yutang was sitting at the round table, reading a medical book.
Zhou Yuqing was lying on a rattan chair under the eaves, playing the flute.
As soon as Ye Rou entered the door, Xiao Huihui was the first to smell the scent.
It rushed towards the door with a howling sound, and Ye Rou quickly used some strength to hold it down.
Little Huihui is still in the growth stage, but now its size is equivalent to that of a Samoyed. Not to mention that people in the yard feed it every day. This majestic wolf has grown sideways, eaten until it is plump, and pounces heavily on people, heavier than a weight.
"Xiao Rou is here." Zheng Zhiyuan smiled when he saw Ye Rou.
When the two children saw Ye Rou, one called her "Sister Xiangxiang" and the other called her "Sister Piaoliang", and they rushed towards Ye Rou from the left and right.
"Sister, hold me!"
"I want my sister to hold me!"
Of the two children, Shitou was timid and spoke in a low voice because he was abused by Wang Qiaohe.
Hanhan is often teased by the kids on the farm. Coupled with the scar on his forehead and the anxiety caused by his parents' death, he is extremely sensitive and feels more insecure than other children.
They both have quiet personalities and surprisingly can get along well with each other.
Ye Rou's thighs were hugged by two children at the same time. Fortunately, she was strong enough to hold two children at the same time.
She bent down and picked up the two children, one on each side.
The sky is filled with sunset glow and red clouds stretch for thousands of miles.
Ye Rou's hair was dyed red, making her look particularly beautiful. Holding two children in her arms, she asked with a smile, "What are you doing?"
Shitou held up the net in his hand and whispered, "Sister, we are catching frogs."
"Yeah, Grandpa Zhou said the frogs in the yard are really cute and we want to see them." Hanhan hugged his beautiful sister's neck and answered loudly.
He loved his sister's house so much. No one here would say he was an orphan, and he had new friends Shitou and Xiaohuihui to play with. He wanted to stay at his sister's house forever.
Seeing Ye Rou being entangled by the two children, the four old men smiled and shook their heads.
"Sister, let's catch frogs together!" The two children invited Ye Rou.
When Ye Rou heard the word "frog", she immediately knew where the frog came from. It must be the frog that Xiao Huihui brought into the house and placed next to her when she was a little girl.
She shuddered and said politely, "I'm thirsty and want to eat some fruit. You guys go catch some frogs."
Ye Rou bent down and put the two children down.
Hanhan and Shitou were determined to catch frogs to show their sister, so they picked up the small net, looked at each other, and started catching frogs all over the yard again.
Ye Rou sat down next to the round table. She didn't understand Go, so she grabbed a red strawberry and put it in her mouth.
Zheng Zhiyuan was playing chess when he asked Ye Rou, "How was work today?"
When Wang Guoping and Liu Yutang heard this question, they looked at Ye Rou at the same time with concern in their eyes.
Ye Rou thought for a moment and gave an answer: "Not bad."
"You little girl." Wang Guoping, an economics professor, preferred precise numbers. He couldn't stand vague quantifiers like "okay," "a little," "some," and so on. "Good is good, bad is bad, how can there be something like 'okay'?"
Ye Rou ate the cut apple, blinked, and said in more detail: "Grandma Ying is the director. With her protection, no one dares to bully me blatantly. The female nurses in the hospital took good care of me and were very enthusiastic to me on my first day."
Zheng Zhiyuan keenly grasped the key words and asked, "No one dares to bully you openly. The female nurses are taking care of you. Are the male homosexuals in your hospital really bad?"
"Grandpa, you're amazing." Ye Rou looked at him admiringly. "The hospital has four major pests, which refers to the four male doctors in the hospital."
"Cockroaches, rats, mosquitoes, flies." Liu Yutang curled his lips and said, "They don't sound like good things."
Ye Rou thought of the fly and immediately said, "Master, there's a man named Liu Yang in the hospital's Traditional Chinese Medicine Department. I heard from Grandma Ying that his father's name is Liu Jintang."
"Liu Jintang?" Liu Yutang sat up straight immediately, his face becoming serious. "Is he also in your hospital?"
Ye Rou shook her head and continued, "But I heard that Liu Jintang goes to the hospital to see patients one day a week."
Liu Yutang sneered, "When he was studying with Master, he was already impetuous. He spent all day trying to steal Master's medical books and herbs and sell them. He didn't learn any Chinese medicine knowledge at all. He was so nervous when he was treating patients that he needed my help and my senior brother. Now that he's been abroad, he's even bolder now. He even dared to go to the military hospital to cheat people."
Zheng Zhiyuan tapped the chess piece on the table and said dissatisfiedly, "The feud between you and your senior brother won't involve Xiaorou, right?"
Liu Yutang sighed, "Xiao Rou, I didn't tell you that your master committed suicide."
His gaze fell melancholy on the black and white chessboard, and his thoughts seemed to have returned to the war-torn years.
"Back then, I was sixteen, and now forty years have passed...
The master led the three brothers to open a traditional Chinese medicine shop in Jinling, which was called Huichuntang.
His master was particularly famous in Jinling for his superb medical skills.
In 1939, a soldier from Country R asked the Master to treat a senior officer from Country R. The Master sternly refused, saying that if he was forced to see a doctor, he would cut off his right hand and would rather become a disabled person than save others.
The R country soldiers were forced to retreat by the master's determination and never came again.
On the third day after the incident, Liu Jintang brought a mute to see a doctor.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
