Chapter 175: Poor Couples Have Many Sadnesses

Bella showed no signs of improvement, and her cough became worse. Tenaia and I hurriedly pushed the door open, brought the oil lamp, and relied on the weak flame to illuminate the dark room.

"Father!"

Tenaia's face was solemn. She quickly ran over and squatted down to hold Doctor Bella's scarred right hand. She looked at Bella closely, looking at his tortured face that no longer looked like a human. His pale lips were covered with dead skin. His pale face was like a freshly made parchment paper, without a trace of blood. His eyes were tightly closed. No matter how she called him, he couldn't wake up. It was like he was trapped in a nightmare and couldn't extricate himself.

He was still coughing, and even some blood foam came out of the corners of his mouth.

"Father wasn't feeling this unwell a few days ago. What happened now? It seems his condition has gotten a lot worse."

Tenaia was also panicked when she saw the blood. She was trembling all over and could only hold Bella's hand, at a loss. Doctor, what we need now is a doctor, but among the three people in this room, except Bella who was suffering from illness, no one knew medicine. I can't even tell the difference between onions and leeks, let alone the mysterious ancient Western medical skills.

I held the oil lamp, but didn't dare to go near. First, I was afraid that the cough would blow out the flame, which was already too weak to withstand the destruction; second, I was afraid that Bella was so weak that when he opened his eyes, he would see a ragged, smelly beggar standing behind his daughter. He would be so angry that he might make a big mistake inadvertently.

"Dad, Dad, open your eyes and look at me, oh, my poor dad!" Seeing Bella still struggling in pain, Tenaia was anxious but helpless, and could only cry at her father. But this could not relieve Dr. Bella's pain at this time. On the contrary, what is the difference between such indifference and indirect harm? Instead of standing there like this, it is better to take action and do something useful.

"How could that be? It clearly said it was an external injury."

Dr. Bella's drastic reaction made me confused. Ignoring what Tenaia thought, I stepped forward and prepared to lift the quilt covering Dr. Bella.

"What are you doing?" When Tenaia saw me coming over to lift her father's quilt, she immediately got angry and said that my father was in such a state, how could you still tease him like this, this was not teasing.

I said, "Tenaia, don't be angry about this. I feel that something is indeed strange. Since he went to the church to be baptized and kneel down to worship God, he would not be injured so badly."

"I've told you, that's a punishment from God!" Tenaia still wouldn't give in. She insisted that I was joking.

I was too lazy to explain, because although she was mortal enemies with the priests on the surface, she still believed in God in her heart. No wonder, in such a closed era, who else could she believe in if she didn't believe in God? I didn't care about her obstruction. Besides, she was caught by her father and couldn't move for a while. I wanted to find out what was going on.

As soon as I opened it, a foul smell hit me in the face, which almost made me unable to open my eyes. I held the oil lamp in one hand and quickly turned my face to the clothes hidden on my shoulders, otherwise I really couldn't stand such a stench. I never thought that this poor old man could no longer take care of himself, and the bed was full of filth he excreted unconsciously.

I opened my eyes and observed carefully, and found that this filth was the latest excretion, and there was no other sign of stool. It seemed that the old woman must have secretly changed and washed the pants without telling us without Tenaia knowing. This poor old woman was still deliberately concealing it at this time. It was not certain that if she continued to consume like this, it would cause old Bella to lose her life in vain.

"No, no, no, that's not the point!"

I thought too much again. I quickly came to my senses, bent down and endured the stench to grab his shirt. I wanted to see if just a few days of wind and sun could cause such great torture to a healthy doctor? "Swish!"

I lifted up Dr. Bella's equally dirty shirt, and the dense bruises all over her body almost gave me trypophobia.

"How could it be!"

I suddenly looked up at Bella who had his eyes closed. He was still coughing and blood was flowing out of the corner of his mouth. Tenaia hurriedly wiped it with her sleeve.

"We need to find a doctor now, or your father's life will really be in danger."

"It's useless!" Just as I finished speaking, I heard the sigh of the old woman Prasvya behind me. I turned around and saw that she was also holding an oil lamp. She leaned against the wall next to the door weakly. Through the dim firelight, she looked much older, her face was haggard, and her red and swollen eyes could no longer shed a single tear. There is no greater sorrow than a dead heart. She must have her own reasons for doing this.

Seeing her, I couldn't get excited at all. Instead, I calmed down a lot. I think I can understand her. Because the doctor, probably the only doctor in the city, was lying on the bed, suffering from torture and dying. If there were other doctors, who would know what would happen to Bella? If we risked treating this poor old man at this time, it would not only be the old man's life that would be at stake.

"You knew Bella was hopeless, so you deliberately concealed the truth, right?" I put down the quilt and covered Bella again. Turning back, I looked at the old woman struggling in pain. "Now this matter can no longer be concealed. After all, at the moment Bella was taken into the church, it was impossible for him to come back. Am I right?"

The old woman didn't say anything, but nodded slightly, her eyes downward, trying not to look at me, nor at her ill-fated husband and her daughter who had already burst into tears. I think she must be struggling with herself about this matter. She is struggling with whether she has done something wrong, and she has been struggling for a whole week. Prasvia should not be that kind of woman. Is she instructed to do this or why? I need to ask her to find out the truth.

"You knew it when he was sent out, right?" I asked the old woman Prasvya calmly. I thought that now that things had come to this, there was no need for her to hide her intentions from me and Tenya.

"When he was sent out, he was already dying." The old woman was very calm at this time, but her voice was a little trembling when she spoke, which must be due to the temporary lack of oxygen caused by crying. "I spent all my money, but in return I got a dying Bella. I just can't understand this." As she said this, the old woman looked at Bella again, her eyes revealing guilt and deep self-blame.

"Then why did you lie to me and tell me that father was fine and nothing serious happened?" Tenaia, who was crying beside Bella, could not stand such a so-called deception. She turned around and yelled at her mother, her red eyes filled with anger and despair.

"I'm sorry, my child, I I don't want this to happen!" The old woman's tone was tearful, but her red and swollen eyes could not squeeze out a single tear. How could she get Tenaia's understanding if she cried without tears? What's more, Tenaia didn't care about these. She only cared about the fact that her mother deceived and concealed the fact that her father was seriously ill.

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"Tenaia isn't here, so she doesn't know about this, right?" I asked, as if I already knew most of the truth.

"That day I used something to get Tenaia away, and then went to a church outside the city to meet Bella. He was beaten all over, and he was almost speechless when he saw me." The old woman polished the wooden handle of the oil lamp in her hand, sobbed for a while and then said, "This is what Bella meant. He didn't want our child Tenaia to see it, because this might make his only daughter hate and curse God. You know, Bella himself is a devout believer. He told me that this was his atonement, and it was time to return to his country (the City of God)."

"His country is so ridiculous!" I smiled bitterly and shook my head, but things have come to this point, what can be done to save it? No matter what I do now, it is impossible to save it.

"So I took Bella to the river outside the city and washed the blood off his body with water. Fortunately, the priests kept their promise and didn't hit him in the face!"

"Keep your promise?" I couldn't understand this. Could it be that they already knew about the beating? Thinking about it carefully, this matter was not that complicated, but it was full of violence and money.

Bella's medical practice and charity had long touched the taboo of the Catholic Church, which was to gradually deny the existence of God. So she secretly instigated the nobles in the city to stir up trouble and took the opportunity to frame Bella. Bella was tortured, but money was used to mediate. The nobles collected money from both sides and made enough money, so they naturally stopped looking for trouble. But the anger of the nobles subsided, so how could the anger of the church be calmed? They kept saying that they were going to be baptized to cleanse their sins. In the eyes of their clergy, Bella herself was original sin, so how could baptism exist? But the old woman's gold coins were short-handed, so they had to give face, so they simply beat her severely and kept her for a few days so that their families could reunite, using money to exchange for a few days of dying days.

Bella gradually stopped coughing. He had internal injuries, which could not be cured by applying herbs externally. God knew how many ribs were broken in his chest and how many internal organs were injured. Such injuries were incurable in this extremely backward medical treatment and people were still ignorant. Bella knew it, the old woman knew it, and the priests who took action knew it even better. Perhaps Tenaia was the only one who was kept in the dark about this matter.

Bella's breathing became weaker. He was so frail and his end was near. The three of us could only watch him die from internal injuries. From then on, only a miracle could save Bella.

(End of this chapter)