Chapter 83 Life

"Why are you here?"

I looked at Bella in surprise. I hadn't seen him for many days. Except for the shaved beard on his cheeks, he hadn't changed much. I looked at his medicine shop again. Wow, there were several floors of herbs I didn't recognize. Old doctor Bella didn't say anything, but just smiled and took out a small wooden box from the cloth bag under the table. Then he took out a silver necklace from his arms. The necklace was tied with a thin rope and was a silver pendant. The workmanship was acceptable and it was not a precious ornament, but for an ordinary family, it was really worth a lot of money. The small wooden box and the necklace were handed to me.

"What is this for?" I didn't take it, but just asked in confusion.

"This necklace was given to you by Tenaia because I was in such a hurry last time that I didn't have time to remember it." Doctor Bella pointed at the silver necklace, then pointed at the small wooden box under the necklace and said to me, "The wooden box contains the medicine I prepared for you. It's inevitable to get injured on the battlefield, so taking medicine in time can more or less save lives."

Since Dr. Bella was so kind to help me, I had no reason to refuse. I thanked her repeatedly and took it with both hands. I felt a little embarrassed in my heart, because I always felt that Dr. Bella treated me like her own child. Now I have nothing and can't repay her.

Now that Dr. Bella is here, I can go and ask about Tenya's condition. However, judging by the way Dr. Bella is dressed for travel and the old horse tied to the tree trunk behind the stall, I'm afraid that Dr. Bella has been traveling for almost as long as I have.

"Where is Tenaia?" I asked this deliberately because I really didn't know how to bring up this topic, so I asked directly.

"Well, Tenaia." Doctor Bella stroked his chin, looked up at the sky and thought for a long time before saying, "We arrived in Genoa that day and found a distant relative, my brother Enzo. His life was not very good, but he still arranged a place for our family to live. Because there was no income, I had to leave Prasvia and Tenaia in Genoa and go out alone. I just heard that Aetius was going to the north to recover the lost territory. There would inevitably be casualties in the war, so I followed him. Look, I really made a lot of money! Listen, the voice of Denarius!" Doctor Bella said, patting the small cloth bag tied around his waist excitedly. It was full of coins, and it could make a crisp sound of impact when shaken. I know that represents hope, and it is the hope and happiness in a person's heart that jingles in that small cloth bag, which makes people feel at ease when they hear it.

Seeing this old man struggling for life at such an old age, I felt sorry for him. He was alone and had no mercenaries to protect him. It would be very dangerous if he encountered bandits or hungry wolves on the deserted road. I asked him, "You must have suffered a lot on the way, right?"

"Hey, it's nothing serious. These herbs were collected along the way, so they are not worth much." Doctor Bella shook his head. "It's just that I met bandits on the way to Ludinan. They were Roman deserters. They put a sword to my neck and asked me to pay. But I didn't have anything on me at the time, so I had to give them some medicine. At least they let me go." He said such a thrilling thing. It was a life-and-death experience. Nowadays, bandits burn, kill, rob and commit all kinds of evil. Especially the trained deserters are more brutal and more difficult to deal with than ordinary bandits. I didn't expect that Doctor Bella could still say it in such a calm tone. He must have experienced too much and had long been accustomed to such a chaotic era.

I accepted Dr. Bella's gift so hastily, but I still couldn't bear to see this old man running around like this. He had nothing when he came, but he was full of money when he left. Every extra denarius would increase his danger. I opened the pocket on my waist without hesitation and grabbed a handful of Oren coins and handed them to Dr. Bella.

"Oh, Luca, what are you doing!"

Doctor Bella saw that my hands were full of gold coins. My clenched fingers slowly opened and the gold coins in that hand were about to fall. He quickly held up both hands to catch the coins.

"Take it and go back to buy a better house."

I handed the handful of Oren coins to Doctor Bella, and when the soldiers passing by didn't notice, I signaled him to keep it, so as to avoid any guilt from those who accidentally saw it. "I'll try to find a few mercenaries. You should hurry back to Genoa tomorrow morning."

"Oh, little Luca, this is a lot of money!" Doctor Bella held the bag of coins I had just given him in his hands as if he were holding a priceless treasure. His body was shaking, his eyes were filled with tears, and his expression was full of surprise and astonishment. He asked me, "Are these all your military pay?" As he said this, he wanted to return the money to me.

"No, I just cleaned up the battlefield." I spread out my hands, refusing to take the purse he handed me, and said to him with a smile, "Don't refuse to see a doctor. Consider this as the money you paid for the silver necklace and the box of herbs for me."

"This amount of money is too much." Doctor Bella's voice began to tremble. "Even if I sell you all the herbs on this stall, it will not be enough for one or two of these gold coins."

"Take it." I gently pushed the purse back into his arms. Dr. Bella held the purse tightly with both hands, his fingers tightened, as if the breeze blowing by would steal the Oren coins in his arms.

The old man's lips trembled, but he opened his mouth but no sound came out. I guess he didn't think of what to say. After a long while, he whispered to me, "You must keep the silver necklace. It was given to you by Tenaia."

I clenched the silver necklace in my hand, and put it on my neck in front of him, letting the silver pendant hang on my chest. Dr. Bella looked relieved, and the slightly nervous expression on her face eased a lot.

"That's it." Seeing that it was getting late, I waved goodbye to him hurriedly, turned around and walked away with the wooden box in my hand without looking back, because I was afraid that this old guy couldn't hold back the tears that were already blocked in his eyes. An old man who cried in front of young people would definitely be pointed at.

I walked quickly into the camp gate. Doctor Bella's stall had long disappeared among the pedestrians. I found a piece of rag, took out the herbs in the small wooden box and wrapped them up, and walked straight to the camp of the German mercenaries. At this time, many injured German mercenaries were packing up their camp. I thought they were going to pack up and leave. I found their leader and expressed my willingness to pay five orens as a reward and hire five slightly injured mercenaries who were leaving the team to escort Doctor Bella back.

In order to prevent Dr. Bella from getting suspicious, I handed the empty wooden box to the captain and told him Dr. Bella's location. I asked him to assign soldiers to find the old man and hand the wooden box to him so that he would not suspect these hired guards.

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Because the wounded soldiers were very worthless and it was a luxury to be able to get Oren out, so this deal was decided very happily.

(End of this chapter)