Book Synopsis
Book Tags
Donation Rankings
Comment
0 Comments
You May Also Like
墨書 Inktalez
Entering the innermost room of the Thatched Cottage, Summer Forest felt a flush on his old face. After hesitating for a moment, he finally mustered the courage to ask.
As soon as the words left his mouth, he felt an overwhelming sense of guilt. On one hand, he felt remorseful; on the other, he was driven by selfishness. Moreover, Li Dazhong was a good person with a solid reputation in town. If Muxin truly had that illness, it would be detrimental to him.
However, he couldn't afford to hire a doctor. Not hiring one left him uneasy, tormented by his conscience, which was far worse than losing both hands.
Li Dazhong placed Xia Muxin's hand into a tattered wad of cotton that barely resembled anything useful. His eyes felt dry; there wasn't even a cloth cover. This cotton must have been discarded by someone in town.
“Muxin is fine; she was stung by a bee and might have eaten something unclean, which is why her wound looks like this. But Iron Tree's leg...”
“Uncle Li, I'm fine! Saving Muxin is more important. I'm a grown man; I can still work even without my leg.” At that moment, Iron Tree, who was slowly crawling over, initially felt a wave of disappointment upon hearing Li Dazhong's words but quickly turned to joy when he heard that Muxin was okay. He waved his hands eagerly.
Li Dazhong's eyes reddened. These children were so understanding; it was such a pity that they were in this situation.
Their conversation reached Xia Muxin, who had just woken up. Her heart warmed at their concern, wishing she could heal her brother's leg right away. However, she didn't act immediately and instead let out a soft cough.
“Muxin, how are you? Do you feel any discomfort?”
Hearing the faint cough, Summer Forest immediately squatted down beside the low earthen bed. He gently wiped the fine sweat from Xia Muxin's forehead with his rough, calloused hand while carefully asking.
“Dad, sister has been asleep for so long; let her drink some water first.” Xia Xiaosong had appeared with a broken basin filled with water at some point and was overjoyed to hear Uncle Li say that his sister was fine.
"Hey!"
Summer Forest realized he was too excited and responded while wiping away his tears, making room for Xia Xiaosong. His hand was practically useless at the moment, unable to hold water.
After drinking, Xia Muxin finally opened her eyes, but her first words made the worried adults chuckle.
"Dad, I smell meat. Is it from our house?"
"You little rascal, come on, let's go eat," Summer Forest said with a silly grin. He reached out his hand but then pulled it back, mumbling before turning to Li Dazhong. "Sorry for making you laugh at us."
Li Dazhong merely glanced at the pale Xia Muxin, smiled lightly, and stepped out of the room.
There was no table in the house; Iron Tree had chopped down a tree and used a machete to carve out a few planks. He then mixed some mud to create a square base and placed the planks on top, resulting in the only piece of furniture in the house—a table.
The reason there were no legs for the table was that nailing them would require nails, and they couldn't afford such things.
The stools were made by cutting a tree trunk into several sections—round and not quite enough for sitting comfortably.
The only bowl was in front of Li Dazhong, while they wrapped their rice in lotus leaves to eat. The chopsticks were crafted from bamboo that they had whittled themselves.
"Brother Li, this is how it is at home; please bear with us," Xia Xiaosong said as he moved the largest stool over to Li Dazhong. He noticed his father scratching his head, looking a bit embarrassed as he spoke. (It was the largest because it was from the bottom of the trunk; the pieces got smaller as they went up.)
- End of Chapter -
Comment 0 Comment Count