Chapter 504 "Auntie, General! Big! The biggest!"
(Thanks to "Do not do to others what you would not have them do to you" for casting 4 monthly votes.)
In a side hall of the Lijiatun council hall, Li Wangtian lay on a makeshift low couch, his white hair revealing a pale, bloodless face.
After taking Li Wangtian's pulse, Kim Daepyeong's brows furrowed so deeply that a horse could run across them.
"The cold has entered the lungs, and there is also a deficiency of both qi and blood, not to mention the fatigue from the journey..."
Jin Daping shook his head, put down his brush, picked up the prescription with the ink still not completely dry, and handed it to Yangzai. "Go back and get the medicine, bring it here and boil it down to one bowl with three bowls of water."
"Yes, Master!"
The lamb took the prescription, turned around, and left the side hall.
Zheng Meiniang stood to the side, holding Pingping in her arms, her fingers unconsciously tightening the straps of Pingping's outer garment.
Pingping shifted uncomfortably and called out "Grandma" to Zheng Meiniang.
"Auntie, please sit down first."
Li Shiliang moved a stool to Zheng Meiniang's side and whispered to her.
Zheng Meiniang shook her head, her eyes fixed on Li Wangtian, who was unconscious on the low couch.
She felt a tightness in her throat, as if a wad of cotton was stuffed inside, making it almost impossible for her to breathe.
Eight years! Eight years!
Even though she had already learned from Yan Jiuniang's letter that Li Wangzheng was still alive.
But they still knew absolutely nothing about Li Wangzheng's situation.
Is Li Wangzheng alive and well?
Or will he be crippled like Li Wangtian? Or will he lose an arm? Or will he also grow old with gray hair?
Right now, only Li Wangtian, who had come all the way from Youzhou, was the only one who knew Li Wangzheng's whereabouts!
So how could Zheng Meiniang dare to blink, how could she not keep a close eye on her?
Li Xiatian stood behind Zheng Meiniang. She took Pingping from Zheng Meiniang's arms and told Pingping to take An'an, who was standing next to her, to play on the side.
Actually, Jiang Huai should be there at a time like this!
However, by sheer coincidence, Jiang Huai left Lijiatun yesterday and went back to Jiangjia Village.
Isn't it almost the end of the year?
He said he was going back to see his house and give some New Year's gifts to his close elders in the clan.
Therefore, at this moment, Jiang Huai is not here!
Only Zheng Meiniang and Li Xiatian are here with Pingping and An'an.
Li Xiatian pulled Zheng Meiniang and helped her sit down on a stool.
Li Xiatian stood behind Zheng Meiniang, waiting with her for Li Wangtian to wake up.
Actually, Li Xiatian couldn't quite remember what happened eight years ago, the day Li Wangzheng and the others were arrested by soldiers in Lijia Village, Henan Province.
In the first two years after they arrived in Andong, she would occasionally think of her father, Li Wangzheng.
But later, she gradually stopped thinking about Li Wangzheng and only occasionally.
Every year on Li Wangzheng's birthday, Zheng Meiniang would make a pot of noodle soup for the whole family to share while having breakfast.
In recent years, after she got married and had children, and was busy with her own little family, she thought of Li Wangzheng even less.
It was as if Li Wangzheng, her father, had completely disappeared from her life.
However, Li Wangzheng had indeed not been involved in the lives of Zheng Meiniang and her two daughters for eight years.
"Mother..."
As soon as Li Xiatian opened his mouth, Zheng Meiniang, who had been staring at Li Wangtian on the low couch, saw Li Wangtian's eyelids twitch a few times, as if he was about to wake up!
"Brother Wangtian!"
Li Wangtian slowly opened his eyes, but before he could fully open them, he heard someone calling his name.
"water......"
Li Wangtian uttered the word from deep in his throat with a hoarse voice.
Li Shiliang quickly brought over a cup of warm water and helped Li Wangtian up, serving him as he slowly drank the water.
Li Wangtian's gaze gradually focused, and after seeing the several people surrounding his bed, he struggled to sit up straight.
Nearly two hours had passed since Li Wangtian fainted.
The Li clan members, who had already been persuaded to return from the council hall by Li Wangshui and Li Shiliang, now had several households send their heads of households over alone.
Like Zheng Meiniang, they all wanted to know news of their loved ones as soon as Li Wangtian woke up!
"Uncle Wangtian, don't rush, tell me slowly."
As Li Shiliang spoke, he helped Li Wangtian sit up straight on the low couch and placed a cushion behind him to make him more comfortable.
Li Wangtian's gaze swept over the few people surrounding him by the low couch, and finally settled on Zheng Meiniang, whose eyes were already filled with tears.
His lips trembled, and tears quickly welled up in his eyes, just like Zheng Meiniang's.
"Sister-in-law Mei..."
Li Wangtian's voice choked with emotion, "Big brother...he's still alive!"
"My arms and legs are still intact!"
Li Wangtian glanced at the spot under the covers where his leg was limping and said this to Zheng Meiniang.
Zheng Meiniang felt that her chest, which had felt as heavy as a thousand pounds just moments before, could now breathe easily.
"Good! Good, good, it's good to be alive, it's good to be alive."
"If you still have your arms and legs, that's even better, great, great..."
Zheng Meiniang, who had been muttering "good, good, good" to herself, could no longer hold back. She lowered her head, covered her mouth with her hand, and began to sob.
Where is my father?
Li Xiatian practically shouted those words.
After she shouted this at Li Wangtian, she raised her hand and pulled Zheng Meiniang's head to her waist.
She stood there, holding Zheng Meiniang's head, comforting her.
Seeing this, Pingping and An'an, who were sitting quietly playing on the side, ran over hand in hand and hugged Zheng Meiniang's arms on either side. The two children called out to Zheng Meiniang with heartache, "Grandma, Grandma."
After Zheng Meiniang had cried for a while and calmed down, Li Wangtian also stopped crying.
Just then, the lamb came in carrying a bowl of medicine.
After swallowing the bitter medicine soup in one gulp, Li Wangtian knew that the Li clan members surrounding him all wanted to know what had become of the people from Li Family Village who had been conscripted back then.
"......"
Looking at the hopeful eyes of the Li clan members before him, Li Wangtian was at a loss for words.
There were more than twenty people who were conscripted together, but now less than ten are still alive. Counting himself and Li Wangzheng, there are only eight people in total.
"Tong Suo...he's dead."
Once you start talking, it seems like things will be easier to say afterwards.
Li Wangtian dared not look at the Li clan members surrounding him. He lowered his head, stared at the quilt, and slowly said, word by word, "Shuanzi's stomach was cut open, and we carried him back."
He couldn't hold on any longer in the middle of the night and passed away.
In this way, in a short period of about fifteen minutes, Li Wangtian recounted the situation of all twenty-odd people.
Knowing that their loved ones are still alive, they naturally weep with joy;
But the majority of people, like Tongsuo and Shuanzi, have lost their closest relatives.
So, in the side hall, the crying was louder at this moment.
After about half an hour, it was already getting dark. Li Shiliang had Zhao Min bring over a lot of food from the inn.
At this moment, more and more members of the Li clan gathered in the council hall.
The candles were lit, illuminating the side hall exceptionally brightly.
After taking his medicine and eating some food to fill his stomach, Li Wangtian leaned against the low couch and recounted to the surrounding members of the Li clan the major events that had occurred since they left Lijiatun.
"...It was also because of that battle that my elder brother led us to make meritorious contributions, which made him valued by the general and turned him into a brigade commander!"
Now, my eldest brother manages over a hundred people!
A gasp of surprise rippled through the council chamber.
A brigade commander, that's a proper official position!
However, a child's voice suddenly rang out.
"Auntie, General! Big! The biggest!"
The small, plain-looking girl stood beside Zheng Meiniang's legs and said this to Li Wangtian.
An'an, standing on Zheng Meiniang's other side, was very good at echoing her. He followed his sister Pingping's words and repeated, "Auntie! General! Big! The biggest!"
It's quite easy to understand what a little kid is saying.
The lamb sat to the side, closest to Zheng Meiniang, so he was the one who could hear Pingping and An'an talking most clearly.
"Ha ha!
Good boy!
No wonder Sister October dotes on you two so much!
Ha ha!
Exactly! What happened to the brigade commander?
Our Sister October is a general! A fifth-rank general!
He manages over a thousand people!
After the lamb said that, the Li clan members who were watching naturally felt closer to Li Shiyue, who had been by their side for the past eight years.
Then someone else shouted, "October is someone even the Great General values highly! He's incredibly capable!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
