boyutpedia Chapter 65 The man has gold at his knees
Chapter 65 The man has gold at his knees
Zhao Shenglin remembered that his mother had brought him a quilt before he went to bed last night.
He was so cold at the time that he didn't think much of anything. Only now did he realize that his mother had given him a blanket, while she herself was short a blanket!
My mother's health wasn't good to begin with, and it was so cold last night.
The more Zhao Shenglin thought about it, the more regretful he felt.
"Great-Grandpa Xiangping, please save my mother! I promise to pay you back for her medical treatment when I earn money in the future!"
Zhao Shenglin looked at Xu Shi, who was lying motionless on the kang (a heated brick bed), and felt very scared.
If his mother dies too, he'll be all alone!
Zhao Xiangping frowned and said, "I am a doctor, not a celestial being!"
When Zhao Shenglin realized that asking Zhao Xiangping wouldn't work, he turned to Zhao Taohua for help.
"Peach Blossom Sister, please save my mother. Before, when Great-Grandpa Xiangping said that Uncle Sanshi and Sheng'an were beyond saving, you were the one who saved them. Please save my mother too, okay?"
Zhao Taohua said helplessly, "Uncle and Brother Sheng'an were affected by evil spirits, but Aunt Xu was not affected by evil spirits. She was in poor health and fainted from the cold."
The village chief looked at Zhao Shenglin, who was crying bitterly, and said, "If you grow medicinal herbs with everyone to make money, how could you not have money to build a brick house?"
If you had gone to chop firewood and heated the kang (a heated brick bed) properly, how could your mother have gotten so cold?
Shen Ming is a year younger than you, and he's all alone. You have your mother to love you, but what does he have?
But look at the state of his life, and then look at yourself.
Zhao Shenglin burst into tears. Although he disliked Shen Ming, he had to admit that Shen Ming was much more diligent than him.
In the past, wolves often went down the mountain, and Shen Ming would still go up the mountain to hunt.
Two days later, the heavy snow finally stopped. Except for Zhao Shenglin's house, whose roof collapsed, everyone else's family survived the three days of heavy snow safely.
The weather was even colder after the snow than when it was snowing. Everyone went out to shovel snow and check if the herbs in the medicinal fields had frozen to death.
Although the snow was heavy, it was fortunate that the snow was thick enough that the perilla and motherwort underneath did not freeze to death.
These past few days I've been busy building houses and sheltering from the heavy snow. Now that the snow has finally stopped, I have to continue picking perilla leaves to sell for money, as the New Year is just around the corner.
After finishing breakfast, Qian and Zhao Ershu went to the fields. The Zhao family planted a total of ten mu of medicinal herbs!
That morning, after drinking herbal medicine for three consecutive days, Xu finally woke up, which moved Zhao Shenglin so much that he threw himself into Xu's arms and wept bitterly.
As she spoke, Xu glanced around the house and immediately recognized it as the village chief's home.
She quickly got up and knelt down before the village chief and his wife:
“Village chief, Aunt Yang, I didn’t teach Shenglin well before, and I bear a lot of responsibility for how he has become like this.”
Please help him when he's in trouble in the future.
The village chief sighed and nodded: "Sheng Lin is, after all, one of the people of Zhao Family Village. I will not turn my back on him."
Grandma Yang listened from the side, but felt that something was wrong with what Madam Xu said.
However, before she could think further, Xu Shi, whose complexion had just appeared normal, collapsed and refused to open her eyes no matter how she called her.
The village chief checked for breath and found she was dead. He shook his head and said, "Dead."
Zhao Shenglin stared wide-eyed in shock: "Didn't my mother just wake up?"
"That was your mother's last burst of energy before she died. She was worried about you, so she woke up and asked us to take care of you."
Grandma Yang said that she had thought something was wrong with what Madam Xu had just said, and it turned out to be a last gasp before death.
"mother!!!"
Zhao Shenglin knelt on the ground, hugged Xu's body, and shouted.
He used to complain that his mother was in poor health and not as good as other people's mothers, but now that he has lost his only mother, he feels empty inside.
The villagers who were picking perilla leaves in the medicinal herb field turned their heads and looked towards the village upon hearing the sound.
When someone dies, a funeral must be held.
Zhao Shenglin's house roof collapsed, so the funeral can only be held at the village chief's house. He needs to keep vigil for six days before the burial.
The villagers spontaneously bought silver foil, folded it into ingots, and burned them for Xu so that she would have money to spend in the underworld.
When Zhao Taohua brought silver foil and joined everyone in folding paper ingots, she was just about to find a place to sit down when Zhao Shenglin suddenly rushed up to her.
Zhao Taohua was so frightened that she lost her balance and fell backward.
"Peach Blossom, watch out!"
Just as Zhao Taohua's head was about to hit the door frame, Grandma Yang shouted.
Suddenly, in Grandma Yang's sight, a large hand appeared on the door frame and protected the back of Zhao Taohua's head.
Shen Ming used one hand to protect the back of Zhao Taohua's head and the other hand to support her body.
Zhao Taohua turned around and saw it was him, and said gratefully, "Thank you, Brother Shen Ming~"
"Peach Blossom Sister, I beg you for a favor. Please let me see my mother again. I feel she's still here. She hasn't left, has she?"
Zhao Shenglin gripped Zhao Taohua's arm tightly and said earnestly to her.
"What? The Xu family is still here?"
Grandma Feng paused in her folding of the silver foil, looking on in disbelief.
So does everyone else.
They weren't afraid of Xu's ghost; they just felt sorry for her.
She became a widow at a young age and raised Zhao Shenglin alone.
The son was a disappointment; in the end, he was crushed to death by the collapsing roof and was not even thirty-seven years old.
Zhao Taohua looked up at Zhao Shenglin, then tilted her head slightly to look behind him. Sure enough, she saw Xu's spirit three steps away.
"Aunt Xu, why are you still here? Didn't you go to the underworld with the ghost messengers?" Zhao Taohua asked, frowning.
Upon hearing this, Zhao Shenglin immediately turned around in surprise and searched in the direction Zhao Taohua was looking.
But how could an ordinary person like him see a soul?
He could only shout at the air, "Mother, your son is unfilial! It's all my fault that you died!"
Since Zhao Shenglin was invisible and intangible, he could only kneel down in the direction of Xu's family.
Then he pleaded with Zhao Taohua, "Sister Taohua, please let me see my mother one more time!"
"Shall I kowtow to you?"
After saying this, Zhao Shenglin knelt down in front of Zhao Taohua and kowtowed repeatedly.
Xu, standing behind him, felt heartbroken upon seeing this, but unfortunately, she was no longer human, so she couldn't touch him at all, and he couldn't hear what she was saying.
Zhao Taohua frowned as she saw him kowtowing before her, her voice booming like thunder:
"Zhao Shenglin, stand up!"
Her voice carried an undeniable authority, which startled Zhao Shenglin.
He didn't understand why Zhao Taohua said that, but he still stood up as instructed.
"A man does not easily shed tears; a man's knees are worth gold."
A real man kneels to heaven, earth, and his parents; why are you kneeling to me?
Just because you kneel down, does that mean I have to help you?
What benefit would I get from helping you? It takes spiritual energy for me to cast a spell.
Do you think my spiritual energy comes from nowhere?
I charge one tael of silver per spell. If you don't have the money, sign an IOU and pay me back when you have it.
If you continue to kowtow, there's nothing I can do.
Zhao Taohua looked at him and said in a calm and unhurried voice.
Zhao Shenglin stared at her blankly for a moment, then immediately said, "I'll sign an IOU, and I'll pay you back when I make money."
Zhao Shenglin looked at Zhao Taohua and felt a sense of shame. He hadn't even gone to such lengths; he had only thought of asking someone for a favor, but he hadn't expected to be refused.