Time passed quietly, and when Su Li finished the last stroke, it was already past noon.
Looking at the person in the painting, she couldn't help but sigh again at Pei Ji's divine appearance.
Good-looking people make portraits look better, and she was very satisfied with the painting.
Putting down the paintbrush, he looked at Pei Ji, who had been sitting in the same position for three or four hours without saying a word, and said, "I'm done..."
Pei Ji breathed a sigh of relief silently, and with very small movements he relaxed his stiff body.
Su Li couldn't help but laugh when she saw this and patted his shoulder: "Thank you for your hard work, Pei Ji."
“…”
When the two returned home, it was already past noon. When Su Li went to the chicken coop to feed the chickens, he found that a chicken was dead.
At first she thought the chicken was bitten by something, so she quickly checked its body but found no fatal wounds.
Remembering what Su Xiaocui said, that the two chickens were very old, she guessed that they might have really died of old age.
The next day, she brought the two chickens back to Taohua Village, buried the dead one first, and took the remaining one to Su Xiaocui's house, asking her to help raise it. She would be going to Beijing soon, and she didn't know if the chicken would live that long, so she simply didn't take it with her.
Su Xiaocui didn't expect that she would be so heartbroken about a chicken. She teased her for a while, then finally carried the chicken into her chicken coop and said with a smile: "Okay, I'll help you take care of your chicken until it dies..."
…
The Spring Examination was at the end of February. The capital was far away, so Pei Ji had to set off after the New Year.
Dean Li of Changqing Academy was going back to Beijing. He hired a team of escorts and invited four scholars from the academy who were going to take part in the spring examination to go to Beijing together.
Su Li no longer had to hire an escort, which saved him a lot of trouble.
Early in the morning, Pei Ji had to go back to Changqing Academy for something. Thinking that she would leave for the capital tomorrow, Su Li planned to go back to her parents' home.
After buying some bacon at the market, she hired a carriage and went directly to Sujia Village.
"Sister!" As soon as she arrived at the entrance of Sujia Village, she saw Su Shen calling her with red eyes.
"Ah Shen, what's wrong with you?"
The carriage was stopped and Su Li got off.
"Sister, Dad, Dad he..." Before Su Shen could finish his words, tears started falling down.
Su Li didn't see Su Shen very often, but in the original owner's memory, this younger brother was optimistic and lively, and rarely felt so sad.
"What happened?"
"The doctor said Dad...said Dad has tuberculosis. Sister, what should we do? Is Dad going to die? Wuwu..."
Su Li's heart skipped a beat.
Tuberculosis, in this era, is equivalent to a terminal illness.
People suffering from tuberculosis cough day and night, their bodies become increasingly weak and emaciated, and they will die within a few years.
"Tell me carefully, what happened? How could Dad suddenly get tuberculosis when he was fine?"
"Before the Lunar New Year, Dad had a slight cold and coughed every day, but it wasn't serious. Mom even went to get him some medicine to drink. These past few days, Dad suddenly started coughing badly. This morning, he even coughed up blood. Mom was terrified and quickly called a doctor home. The doctor said Dad had tuberculosis..."
When Su Shen and his mother heard what the doctor said, they felt like the sky was falling.
But my father was frighteningly calm. After the doctor left, he said that tuberculosis was contagious, took out all the family savings and gave it to him as wine to drink, then drove him and mother out and told them not to get close to him.
"Sister, I have tuberculosis. What should I do? What should Dad do?"
"I'm going back to see Dad..."
In the original novel, until the end, the original owner's family members were all alive and well, and the original owner's father did not have tuberculosis at all.
She thought that the most likely possibility was either a misdiagnosis or that she had met a quack doctor.
"I'll go back with you!" Su Shen wiped his tears and hurriedly followed behind him.
"Cough cough cough! I told you, this disease is contagious, stay away from me, cough cough cough..."
As soon as I arrived at the door, I heard Su Zheng talking and coughing from inside.
Su Shen opened the door and let Su Li in.
"Why did you call your sister back? I told you this disease is contagious. You all, get out now!"
Su Zheng was extremely anxious when he saw Su Li: "Pei Ji is about to go to the capital for the exam, what are you doing here? What if you all get infected? Get out now!"
"His father! Wuuuuu..." Su thought of her husband's illness and could no longer hold back her tears.
"Dad," Su Li stepped forward, "Don't listen to that quack's nonsense. You've always been in good health. How could you suddenly be diagnosed with tuberculosis? Besides, the symptoms of many cold-related illnesses are similar to those of tuberculosis..."
Several people were stunned when they heard this. The doctor was invited by the Su family from the next village. The doctor had a good reputation here. Whenever the family members had a headache or fever, they would go to him for treatment. It was impossible for him to be a quack, but it was possible that he had misdiagnosed the patient.
Su Shen suddenly felt hopeful: "Could it be a misdiagnosis?"
"I think it's very likely," Su Li said, "Dad, let's not scare ourselves for now. We'll go to town and see a few more doctors. Besides, even if it's really tuberculosis, it's not incurable. You forgot, Chu'er has a master who is a miracle doctor. When the time comes, we can go to Qiongzhou and find the miracle doctor to treat you."
When Su Zheng heard this, hope suddenly ignited in his heart. He certainly didn't want to die. His three children were still young, especially his two sons, who were not married yet. His second son had joined the army and didn't know when he would be back. How could he feel at ease if he just left like that?
"Mom, hurry up and pack up, we're going to town now..."
"Okay, okay, I'll go clean it up right away..." Su wiped her tears and stood up to help her husband change his clothes.
"I'll go harness the horse!" Su Shenye ran out hurriedly.
The Su family had a donkey cart, which was specially used for the Su father and son to go to the private school in town.
After dressing Su Zheng warmly, the family boarded a donkey cart and headed for the town.
Jishi Medical Clinic, which was the clinic where Pei Ji had his leg injury treated last time, was where Su Zheng was treated by the apprentice of Doctor Wang.
After examining the patient, the disciple was also a little uncertain: "I'm sorry, my medical skills are not good enough, and I can't confirm whether the patient has tuberculosis or not. If my master were here, he would be able to tell." In fact, the reason he couldn't tell was not because his medical skills were not good, but because he had only studied medicine for a short time.
Su Li asked, "When will Doctor Wang come back?"
Doctor Wang’s apprentice had said before that he had gone to Rongcheng to visit relatives and didn’t know when he would be able to return.
"Master just left yesterday. According to the past, it will take at least half a month."
"Half a month?" Su Li was a little embarrassed. Judging from the way her father coughed, half a month was really too long. She was afraid that he would cough out tuberculosis even if he didn't have it.
Just as he was about to speak, he heard the disciple say, "But you can go to Luocheng."
"Luocheng?" Su Li was planning this. Luocheng is the provincial capital, and the medical level there is definitely better than in the town. It's just that Doctor Wang has good medical skills and is close, so she chose to come here first.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com