Recovery (II)
"Brother He!"
Li Qingshan caught He Shu's limp body, and his usually gentle voice was torn to the point of breaking.
"Merson! Call a doctor quickly——"
The words got stuck in his throat. Li Qingshan looked at the person in his arms who was curled up in pain, as light as a fallen feather that could fly away at any time. He held He Shu's cold wrist bone even tighter.
Ordinary doctors probably can't save Brother He, so we must go to the mountain to find our master immediately.
He picked up He Shu by the waist and hurried out. Seeing Mo Sheng coming towards him, he said quickly without explaining:
"Follow me..."
Not long after the three of them set foot on the mountain road, Li Qingshan felt a sinking feeling in his heart.
The air suddenly changed its taste. The breeze that had just carried the fragrance of grass and trees had completely stopped without me noticing when.
The forest was shrouded in a heaviness that made my scalp tighten. The chirping of insects and birds in my ears suddenly disappeared, and only the beating of my heart like a drum beat against my chest.
"The world is about to change..."
Li Qingshan walked all the way with Heshu on his back and soon felt exhausted. He gasped and looked up at the sky, which had been completely swallowed up by endless thick clouds.
The clouds were extremely low, as if they were hanging above the highest mountain peaks, rolling and expanding, revealing a heavy, leaden gray, and the sky darkened rapidly.
Suddenly, someone grabbed his sleeve. He turned around and saw Mo Sheng stopped in front of him and gestured for a while. He immediately understood that he wanted him to take a rest and let him continue carrying people up the mountain.
But Li Qingshan looked up at the dark sky and sighed helplessly:
"Mosheng, it looks like it's going to rain..."
"You're a fast walker. Go to Dingyun Temple and find someone to pick us up. Otherwise, if the rain really starts, we won't be able to walk far."
After hearing this, Murson's face showed obvious worry and hesitation, and he gestured quickly, wanting to stay and help.
Li Qingshan tilted his head, feeling the silent He Shu on his back and his almost exhausted physical strength, and his heart became even more anxious.
Suppressing the sweet taste in his throat, his voice was filled with unquestionable determination:
"Don't just stand there, go quickly, Mo Sheng...Brother He can't wait any longer!"
Hearing his young master's urgent tone, which was almost hoarse and had never been used before, Mosheng was shocked.
He also understood that this matter was urgent, so he nodded immediately, turned around and ran along the mountain road. After a while, he disappeared into the dense woods.
The fishy smell in the air became stronger, carrying the scent of soil and rotten leaves. It stuck to Li Qingshan's skin, penetrated his nasal cavity, and blocked his throat, making him feel nauseous every time he inhaled.
As expected, not long after Murson left, raindrops as big as beans began to fall sporadically.
Soon, the white rain curtain began to pour down like a river bursting its banks.
My vision was instantly taken away, and dense rain curtains fiercely slammed into the mountains and forests. The rain poured into my ear canals, and the roar was like a tide engulfing the world.
Li Qingshan only felt his shoulders sink. The unconscious He Shu on his back still showed no signs of waking up, but was twitching slightly due to the cold rain. His body was cold and stiff, except for his forehead, which was pressed against the back of his neck and was frighteningly hot.
But he was distracted for a moment and suddenly stumbled. The slippery and sticky mud was like it was covered with thick grease. Every time he lifted his heavy cloth shoes, it was like pulling them out of a swamp, carrying thousands of pounds of mud with them.
The rain was like an icy whip, lashing his face and neck fiercely, and then pouring in through his collar, soaking his clothes inside and out, and clinging to his skin.
His teeth chattered uncontrollably, and the biting cold was like a poisonous snake, penetrating into his limbs through the wet cloth, leaving even his fingertips numb with cold, and his thinking began to become dull and numb.
His wet hair blocked his eyes, and he could only squint his eyes and make out the blurred outlines and the muddy feel under his feet, and continued walking on the path that was almost flooded.
“Huh—huh—”
Li Qingshan's heavy breathing was barely audible amidst the roar of the rainstorm. His legs became soft from the prolonged overload, and his knees trembled with every step he took as they could not bear the weight.
Just when he felt that he was going to fall into the mud and water and never get up again, he suddenly caught a glimpse of a rock protruding from the bottom of the mountain wall in front of him, and there was a dry depression underneath that was barely big enough for him to live in!
He gritted his teeth, took two more steps forward, and then used all his strength to pounce forward, almost using both his hands and feet.
This place is not far from the mountain trail, which makes it convenient for people who come to look for them later to find them.
Li Qingshan clung tightly to the trunk of a small tree nearby, barely able to steady himself. He carefully lowered He Shu from his back and let him lean against the innermost rock.
He lost his last breath of strength, and his hands that were holding onto the rock wall were shaking so much that he could no longer support himself. His knees gave way and he knelt in the mud. Then, as if his bones had been pulled out, he fell heavily to the side of the rock wall.
“Cough cough cough——”
His chest was heaving violently, and every movement pulled on his sore muscles. It felt as if a red-hot iron was stuffed into his heart, and every breath brought with it a burning pain that burned him so much that he couldn't stop coughing, and a smell of rust filled his throat.
The cold rain continued to drip and splash from the gaps between the branches and leaves above his head and the edges of the rocks, soaking Li Qingshan's trouser legs, but compared to the torrential downpour outside that was almost devastating, this place was a rare place of respite.
He finally regained some strength and raised his hand to wipe the rain off his face.
When his vision cleared up a bit, he turned around and saw He Shu's face was as pale as paper, without a trace of blood, and water droplets hung on his tightly closed eyelashes:
"Brother He, you must hold on..."
He moved back, gently wiped the water stains on He Shu's face with trembling hands, and murmured softly.
Now it seems that this small space is more like fate's mockery of them. It seems to be a shelter, but in fact it is a cage that will trap him, the disaster star, and He Shu, who is dragged down with him, to death.
The rain outside continued to torrential downpour, creating a chaotic scene. The relentless sound of the rain was like a heavy hammer, hammering at the rocks, leaves, and the earth. It also hammered hard at his already anxious heart. Li Qingshan couldn't stop thinking:
This rain will probably never stop. I'm afraid that Mosheng and the others' way down the mountain will be blocked. I don't know when I can find them, but Brother He's situation can't wait much longer.
He knew very well that his body had reached its limit. It was like a string stretched to the extreme, ready to break at any moment. It wouldn't be long before he could no longer hold on.
Li Qingshan, who was predicted to die before adulthood since birth, once again felt powerless because of his frail body. If he were a man with a normal physique, he could at least carry Brother He a little further.
Even if we can't make it to Dingyun Temple, at least it will give Brother He a greater chance of receiving timely treatment.
"Brother He..."
His fingertips brushed across He Shu's closed eyelids.
"It seems like nothing good has happened to you since you met me..."
This thought was like a damp water ghost, silently gnawing at his heart amid the roar of the rainstorm, dragging him into an abyss where he could not breathe.
Headache, coma, injury... Scenes flooded back uncontrollably...
Oh, and that book...
"I almost forgot that you wanted to see the ending of 'Knowing Each Other'. What a pity..."
Thinking of his first encounter with He Shu, Li Qingshan lowered his head and smiled bitterly.
He is an unblessed man, and those around him will suffer with him.
The small tree at hand was knocked over by the rain, with its thin roots exposed in the mud, just like his precarious fate.
In a trance, he seemed to see his parents, who were running around because of his illness, doing business to make money, seeking medical treatment and medicine, and even praying to gods and Buddhas just to let him live longer.
However, he saw doctor after doctor and drank bowl after bowl of medicine, but his condition did not improve at all. In fact, his health was getting worse and worse. Even his master, a Taoist priest with great magical powers, was helpless.
But he really didn't want to see his mother's red eyes again, or his father's broken knees kneeling in front of the shrine. The twenty years of sick bones were the cruelest form of torture he had inflicted on his loved ones.
He was unwilling and resentful, but in the end he had no choice but to accept his fate.
He didn't want to be a burden anymore, so he joined Qingxiao Temple and lived in seclusion in the mountains from then on, gradually fading out of his parents' lives, hoping to be like a leaf that falls quietly, and no one except the earth would know of his disappearance.
Until the book "Knowing Each Other", the book he wrote to kill time when he was bedridden, the book that was inconspicuous, had no ending and was ridiculed by others, but Brother He held it up as if it were a treasure, but it hurt him to this point.
There seemed to be a dull rumbling sound in the distance, and it was impossible to tell whether it was thunder or loose rocks on the hillside being washed down by the rain.
Li Qingshan's eyelids became heavier and heavier. The cold despair was like the endless rain, completely drowning him. He breathed in cold water vapor, his body trembled violently due to hypothermia, and the burning pain in his chest was unbearable.
He couldn't hold on any longer and fell backwards.
Amidst the dull pain of my head banging against the rock wall, I could almost see Brother He's first appearance in front of the thatched cottage. That ethereal figure, nestled amidst the vibrant pink peach blossoms, looked like a vivid painting...
But the fantasy was soon torn apart by the heavy rain. He Shu's hot breath brushed against his neck, and the deafening sound of rain filled this small shelter, drowning out his breathing and heartbeats, as if the only thing left in the world was the roaring sound of the violent rain.
The deepest curse for a person with an unfortunate fate is to covet everything that does not belong to him.
If I had not given in to my emotions at that time and told Brother He, the author of "Qi Xiang Zhi", about my whereabouts, would everything be different?
Brother He would not have come to Luzhu Mountain to find him, nor would he have been in danger in the mountains, and he would not have been in the situation between life and death like he is now.
He was the one who caused all this...
It was him...
He was the one who harmed Brother He...
Consciousness was like a candle in the wind, about to go out. Li Qingshan's cold fingers trembled as they reached out for He Shu's wrist bone, but suddenly stopped when they were about to touch it. Finally, they just drooped down weakly and fell into the dirty mud.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
