It's hard to be a prodigal

Chapter 38

Jiang Zong was sitting next to Le Lian, holding his hand, and kept looking out the window to see if the doctor had come. With trembling and cold hands, he held an earthen bowl with jagged edges to feed Le Lian water.

His bowed waist was sore, he simply squatted on the ground, pressed his sleeve to wipe off the cold sweat on Le Lian's forehead, then looked back anxiously at the broken wooden window, and comforted him: "The doctor is coming soon."

The wooden wedge had been inserted into Le Lian's abdomen for a whole day, soaked in sea water, the skin on the edge had turned white and festered.

Le Lian didn't have the energy to speak more, so he gently squeezed Jiang Zong's hand as comfort.

Jiang Zong raised his head and took a deep breath, lying on the edge of the kang wearily, holding Le Lian's hot hand between his eyebrows.

As soon as he closed his eyes now, he would see Le Lian from his previous life, drowning himself in the sea with his body in his arms, and when he opened his eyes, he saw the child lying on the bed dying, with a wooden wedge as thick as three fingers stuck in his abdomen.

A heart was burned and tormented to the point of breaking.

Footsteps could be heard outside the dilapidated house, and the old lady at home hurried back with soft-soled cloth shoes scraping the sand, and called Jiang Zong with a thick accent: "The doctor is here!"

Jiang Zong turned around hastily, and froze when he saw the person coming.

The doctor at the door was dressed in Yunhe white clothes, Yun Xing looked at him with his eyes bent and his hands in his hands: "Young Master Jiang, don't come here without any harm. Xiaosheng is here to travel and collect medicine, it is fate to meet him by chance."

Jiang Zong didn't remember much about this Mr. Yun Xing at first, but when he saw him squinting and smiling, but his eyes were not friendly, he vaguely recalled that he had molested Mr. Yun Xing in the street when he was fifteen or sixteen years old. At that time, Mr. Yun Xing dumped him. The slap went away, and Jiang Zong felt melancholy for a long time.

Recalling the past, Jiang Zong's face was not very good-looking, so he could only bow and salute, and respectfully said: "Sir, human life is at stake... Please, sir, save people first, Jiang will definitely thank you."

Yun Xing sat sideways beside Le Lian, opened his eyelids to have a look, checked his pulse again, turned around and said with a light smile, "It's easy to say."

Jiang Zong didn't dare to be careless, and waited for Mr. Yun Xing's next post.

Yun Xing said slowly: "20 taels of silver in exchange for his life, only seven days for you."

20 taels is a drop in the bucket for Jiang Zong's net worth, but he is penniless now, and he has at most picked out a few copper plates from his whole body. The shipwreck lost [-] catties of stone pearls, and the four-month time limit given by Lord Sui Xiaohou is only one It's been less than a month.

Yun Xing gave Le Lian a needle while waiting for Jiang Zong's reply.

Jiang Zong forced a smile: "Sir, it was my fault in the past. I was young and I made a fool of myself. Really, I was wrong. I really can't afford 20 taels now. Please allow me a few days, and I will let the family Someone brings a bank note, let alone 20 taels, I will give you 200 million taels."

Yun Xing was unmoved, and slowly stopped the hand of the needle: "Within seven days, 20 taels, if you can't get a niche, you will leave."

Jiang Zong gritted his back molars, but unfortunately he had to bow his head under the eaves, so he begged in a low voice: "You want me to watch him die... Yun Xing, don't you have a sweetheart?"

Yun Xing raised his eyebrows slightly: "Yes. Otherwise, who do you think beat the people who forced me to practice medicine to the ground begging for mercy? You have to shed some blood for your misconduct, don't you?"

Even the idea of ​​forcing Yun Xing to save people was snuffed out, Jiang Zong reluctantly nodded and agreed: "I will do my best, Mr. Wan Wang will save his life."

Yun Xing didn't look at him directly, and ordered: "Hold him."

"Okay." Jiang Zong quickly came over and climbed onto the bed, helped Le Lian into his arms, pressed his hands, and comforted him in a low voice, "Don't move around, it will be fine in a while."

Le Lian's consciousness was blurred, and his breathing was weak while leaning on Jiang Zong's shoulder.

Mr. Yun Xing fed the medicinal soup into Le Lian's mouth, and the silver needle was stuck on the acupuncture point. He held the blood-stained wooden wedge with one hand, and slowly pulled it out.

The veins on Le Lian's neck suddenly swelled, and he was leaning against Jiang Zong's shoulder, sweating profusely, his face became as pale as paper due to the severe pain from the wound, and there was an unbearable moan and growl faintly from his tightly closed lips.

Jiang Zong's palms were soaked in cold sweat, he held Le Lian's hand tightly, hugged him with his body, warmed him, and comforted him in a low voice.

Yun Xing didn't change his face, except for the occasional sentence "hold it down, don't let him move around", holding his breath for the rest of the time, he pulled out the wooden wedge from Le Lian's belly, and threw the wood wrapped in blood and meat into the basin Inside, clean the wound with a silver blade, and cut off the rotten and suppurated flesh.

Le Lian was so painful that he almost gritted his teeth, raised his arms and hung them on Jiang Zong's neck, pressed his pale and gray cheeks against Jiang Zong's neck, and whimpered in Jiang Zong's ear with trembling lips: "Brother... like Brother... Lelian... likes brother..."

It seems that this can alleviate the unbearable pain of ordinary people.

Weak murmurs almost burned into Jiang Zong's heart, Jiang Zong stroked his hair, and pressed his thin lips between his brows: "I'm here, I know."

The continuous severe pain lasted for a full hour, and when the wound was sutured, Le Lian completely lost consciousness.Jiang Zong squatted beside the bed and wiped Le Lian's hands and body.

Mr. Yunxing took a cloth towel and wiped the blood on his hands leisurely: "Come over in seven days with a silver note of 20 taels, and I will change his dressing."

Jiang Zong didn't care about anything else, as long as he could bring Le Lian back from the gate of hell, he didn't care even if he went out to grab money.

Yun Xing glanced at the eldest young master of the Jiang family who was guarding Le Lian in a daze. This prodigal son had really changed his temperament. He had been romantic and affectionate for several years, but now he became the most devoted one.

"Hey... It's an anecdote through the ages." Yun Xing sighed lightly, and slowly walked out of the broken house with the medicine box in his hands, "If he doesn't make it through during this period, and Xiaosheng is helpless, Mr. Jiang will be more Take the trouble to take care of one or two."

Jiang Zong hurriedly chased after him, and bowed in front of Mr. Yun Xing: "Thank you, sir."

Yun Xing didn't pay much attention to him, and walked forward with his eyes on the front.

Jiang Zong went around to the gentleman again, bowed and said: "Sir, I was young, ignorant, reckless and frivolous in the past, I... sincerely apologize, your doctor is merciful, don't be as knowledgeable as me."

Yun Xing said indifferently: "A doctor's compassion is self-humility, not the morality that others use to restrict my words and deeds. If I want to save this person, I can save it. If I don't want to save it, I will die. I have never been a doctor who is easy to talk about. Seven days later Without 20 taels, you know what will happen to Le Lian."

Jiang Zong thumped heavily on the stone wall beside Yun Xing's cheek, lowered his head slightly, and narrowed his phoenix eyes slightly: "Okay, 20 taels, I'll hand it over to you in seven days, if he dies in front of me, or suffers any disability If you are not good at behavior, you will die. Yun Xing, don't play tricks on me."

Yun Xing couldn't help being startled by the sudden change in the aura, raised his chin slightly, looked at Jiang Zong with clear eyes, and said with a light smile, "You can try."

Jiang Zong watched as Yun Xing disappeared at the end of the narrow road. There were several beggars kneeling on the ground begging at the corner, peddlers in the market shouted and sold, and occasionally passed by craftsmen pushing clods, leaving dust behind them.

Jiang Zong asked the old lady at home to take care of Le Lian for a while, and then went for a stroll in the market by himself.

There was a secret blacksmith's shop nestled in the far corner, Jiang Zong went in and walked around twice, and he fell in love with a bone-crushing knife.

The blade is bent backwards, like a small sickle. Jiang Zong compared it, and the shape is tough and tough.

The old blacksmith walked over slowly with his hands behind his back, and said in a low voice, "This is a hundred yuan."

"..." Jiang Zong couldn't afford a hundred cash all over his body, so he rubbed his hands together, "How much is the rent for a day?"

The old blacksmith said coldly: "Ten coins, bet on me for one hundred coins, if it is damaged, you will have to pay another, and return the knife to get back the money."

Jiang Zong weighed the bone-crushing knife and put it back on the table: "Okay, master, you keep this knife for me."

The blacksmith said contemptuously, "There are plenty of such knives."

Jiang Zong smiled: "That's easy to say."

He walked out of the blacksmith's shop and wandered in the market, and finally followed the craftsmen pushing empty carts to a sand and gravel field. Many people were shirtless and sweaty, shoveling sand and gravel into the carts, and then transported elsewhere.

Several men dressed as shopkeepers were sitting under the awning drinking herbal tea.

Jiang Zong sat down next to the men like he was familiar with himself, picked up the melon he just bought from the market, cut it up and shared it among the people on the table, and said with a smile as he divided it: "Brother, what's the job here?" like."

A bald and fat man with a beard and a beard smiled and gnawed a piece of melon, waved a cattail fan, and said with a string of nanmu beads in his hand: "Hey, the wind blew in the south a few days ago, and the village in the south was flooded. Silver requires us to repair, hey, eat a few months of natural disaster food, don’t say it, don’t say it, Amitabha, good.”

Jiang Zong clasped his hands together and smiled: "Yes, the Buddha is right, Amitabha."

The fat man stayed in the temple for a few days before, and did a job of rebuilding the Buddha seat. He became a monk halfway and converted to Buddhism. A Buddha's cry made the fat man feel comfortable all over.

Jiang Zong poured the fat man a cup of tea: "How much do you pay for shoveling sand and soil for a day?"

The fat man chuckled, and looked Jiang Zong up and down again: "If you want to have a good time here, you can't do it. You can give me seventeen coins a day. I'm short of manpower here, but I see you, you can't push a dirt cart with your small body. .”

Jiang Zong quickly waved his hands and snorted, "What can I do? I'll find someone to work for you, and you'll be paid accordingly. Junior Jiang Zong, what's your surname?"

The fat man looked at the beauty's seductive appearance and was in a happy mood. He nodded: "Chen."

Jiang Zong returned to the street market, squatted down at the beggars' heap at the corner, and whistled: "Hey, boys."

This place is closed and impoverished, and ordinary people live by fishing and farming, and have little money to give away. The little beggars are listless from hunger, and some look up at Jiang Zong disgruntledly, while others don't bother to look at him at all.

Jiang Zong took out a small stack of copper coins and waved them in front of a few beggars. The prices in this place are cheap, and one penny can buy two big steamed buns.

Immediately, the eyes of the little beggars lit up, drooling and staring at Jiang Zong.

Jiang Zong took the copper coins back again, squatted on the ground, raised his beautiful phoenix eyes, and said with a smile, "I'll find you a job to do, how about it, let's use our strength to make money, don't steal, grab, or reach out."

A thin little beggar replied in a low voice: "I can't even eat enough, I don't have strength."

Jiang Zong took out three Wen coins: "One penny is enough to buy a steamed bun and a bowl of porridge, or two steamed buns and a piece of sauced tofu. I will lend each of you three Wen. You go to the gravel field over there to shovel sand and soil. Come back to me tonight." , pay me back ten fen each, and the rest of the wages are your own."

The little beggar frowned angrily: "Aren't you a usury? Do you have a conscience for earning money from a beggar?"

Jiang Zong raised his eyebrows: "Then go to a pawn shop and see who is willing to lend money to beggars?"

The little beggar snatched the three pennies from Jiang Zong's hand and ran away. He was a beggar anyway, so he was not afraid even if he signed the deed, let alone three pennies with no proof.

The cunning in the little beggar's eyes was fully seen by Jiang Zong. Jiang Zong leaned over to pick up the quilt that the little beggar had dropped on the ground, and said slowly, "Take ten coins to redeem the property at night."

The little beggar who ran about ten steps gradually stopped, and turned his head to frown at the rascal.

After Jiang Zong finished speaking, he squatted down again and negotiated conditions with the other little beggars: "Sure enough, there are still some backbones in the beggars' gang. Little masters, you can just return my nine coins tonight."

Seeing that they could get a good deal, a dozen or so little beggars rushed forward, happily took three Wen from Jiang Zong's hand, and ran all over the street to buy food.

Jiang Zong didn't care if they really went to work or not, he picked up all the quilts on the ground, put them back, moved them back to the small hut where they lived, and covered them with thatch.

Le Lian regained some energy, leaned against the head of the bed, and looked worriedly at Jiang Zong whose face was covered with sand.

"Are you awake?" Jiang Zong poured a bowl of water for Le Lian in pleasant surprise, and sat by the bed to feed him.

Le Lian took a sip, looked at the dirty quilt on the ground, put his pale hand on Jiang Zong's knee: "What are you messing with?"

Jiang Zong took a wet cloth to wipe Le Lian's hands and face, and said a few words casually.

Le Lian forced a smile: "When you think about it, it's a one-off. How can a beggar pay you back your money?"

Jiang Zong raised the corners of his lips: "Maybe not today, but tomorrow will come."

Le Lian shook his head, took out his own knife from the pillow and handed it to Jiang Zong: "Use this if you want to use a knife, or pawn it."

Jiang Zong took the blood-red knife from Le Lian's hand, took it out of the sheath, touched it, put it back into the sheath, and put it on his knee: "You once told me that this knife is called 'Zongge', and Zong Ma A song with a long song, a sharp weapon with a name, how can it be used indiscriminately."

Le Lian was startled, then suddenly smiled.

"I lied to you a lot in my previous life." Le Lian pursed his lips and smiled, "It's 'Brother Zong'. It's your substitute. When you're not around, it will accompany me and protect me."

Jiang Zong held the knife lying across his knees, and stroked the blood-red scabbard stiffly, his slender eyelashes drooping and trembling.

Le Lian raised his hand to touch his face, but there were tears in his hand.

Jiang Zong hugged the knife tightly, with drops of water dripping from the tip of his wet eyelashes.

"You have played with me half my life." Jiang Zong choked up.