Chapter 8

For women who take the initiative to break up, the more you beg her, the more she will look down on you. If you act more carefree than her, she will start to doubt her charm and attractiveness. This is the best way to counter her.

With or without you, life is equally wonderful. To put it bluntly, it doesn’t matter whether you are there or not; you are dispensable.

This is also a small way for Li Qingyun to vent his dissatisfaction. At first, he also wanted to retain her, but a car accident on the way back made it impossible for him to do so. He accepted his fate, as the will of heaven is supreme.

While lost in thought, Qin Yao had already finished giving the old principal the medicine. The old principal’s cough gradually eased, and a layer of oily sweat, gray and black, appeared on his forehead and body, looking very dirty. However, his pale cheeks turned rosy. After finishing the last mouthful, he suddenly coughed loudly, his chest sounding like a broken bellows, and a mouthful of old phlegm, yellow and foul-smelling, was finally expelled.

Although the phlegm was caught in a basin, the foul smell that spread in the air made people feel nauseous. The onlookers groaned in disgust and stepped back three or four steps.

"Dr. Li is truly amazing. Just one dose of medicine, and he brought the nearly dead old man back to life..."

"Turning the hand to make clouds, turning it again to make rain. The old man’s family didn’t listen to the divine doctor and took the wrong medicine, causing him to suffer. They deserve it. If they had listened to the divine doctor, the lung disease would have been cured long ago."

Zhou Deping, amidst the many mocking voices, stood up from the stretcher without his family’s support and walked straight to Li Chunqiu, bowing deeply: "My family is unfortunate, and I have no face to show. I have caused trouble for Brother Li."

Li Chunqiu was slightly surprised. The effect of a bowl of licorice water wasn’t that strong; it could only make him expel old phlegm, not give him the strength to get out of bed. He was amazed by the old principal’s recovery and glanced at Li Qingyun, who seemed to be lost in thought, as if he understood something.

Although Zhou Deping was coughing continuously, he wasn’t blind or deaf and knew exactly what was happening outside. When his family caused trouble, he couldn’t speak. He had already made his judgment and felt very ashamed for doubting the high cost of the medicine Li Chunqiu prescribed. The hundred-year-old ginseng, priced at ten thousand per piece, was in high demand. The family should have been grateful for the doctor’s kindness, but instead, they repaid it with ingratitude.

This contrast made Zhou Deping feel extremely ashamed, even to the point of wanting to kowtow in apology.

"There’s no need to apologize. Go home and continue taking the medicine. Take one dose over three days, and don’t exceed the dosage. Dismiss the officials you called, as it’s not good to have them here." Li Chunqiu helped Zhou Deping up and, with a calm tone, retreated to the door, making a gesture to see him off.

Li Qingyun, seeing this, secretly found it amusing. His grandfather had a proud temperament. Saving lives and healing the sick was a doctor’s duty, but when he encountered someone he didn’t like, he would show a distant and cold attitude. Zhou Deping’s family had offended him, so he treated the illness but didn’t give them a good face.

"Then I’ll leave you to it. I’ll come back to thank you in a few days!" Zhou Deping responded awkwardly, turned around, and sighed helplessly, scolding his children: "Look at the mess you’ve made, disgracing us! What are you standing there for? Get out of here! If anyone dares to say anything bad about the Chunqiu Clinic in the future, I’ll break their legs."

"Dad, don’t be angry... We were just concerned about you..."

"I’m not your father; you are my father! Ah... Xiao Yao, help me into the car!" Zhou Deping, seeing his children, felt a surge of anger. He had raised many people, but his education of his children was a failure. He regretted sending them to government positions, where they learned the ways of bureaucrats despite holding low ranks.

"Sure, Grandpa, take it easy..." Qin Yao said, glancing at Li Qingyun, who looked indifferent, feeling a bit bitter. She then called out to her old classmate Xu Jingshou, "Jingshou, come help."

Xu Jingshou was surprised and then overjoyed. Qin Yao, who had always been indifferent to him, had never taken the initiative to greet him, let alone help him support Zhou Deping. Ignoring other factors, gaining the favor of the old principal would make his future in Lingshan County’s political circles much smoother. Even though his father was the head of the government office, his political connections were far inferior to Zhou Deping’s, whose many students included a vice-mayor of Yunhuang City.

Seeing Li Chunqiu calmly resolve the city people’s disturbance, the villagers clapped and cheered excitedly: "Dr. Li is truly amazing... A skilled and benevolent doctor, a reincarnation of Hua Tuo..."

"Skilled and benevolent? Bah! My ten pieces of hundred-year-old ginseng... If it weren’t for my grandson, who would be willing to part with it?" Li Chunqiu complained in a low voice, which Li Qingyun could hear.

Li Qingyun’s lips twitched. It seemed his grandfather wanted him to remember this favor. He wanted to say it wasn’t his problem, but couldn’t. The old principal still recognized him, as he could see from the look in his eyes. His grandfather was trying to pave the way for him, which is why he used the hundred-year-old ginseng... But he had already decided to return to the countryside to farm, so why bother to curry favor? It would be a huge loss.

The villagers, chatting and laughing, dispersed one by one in response to Li Qingyun’s thanks. He then returned to the Chunqiu Clinic with his grandfather, but a small tail followed them in.

"Dr. Li, I want to buy ginseng..." Dr. Zhao, who was over fifty, called out weakly.

Li Chunqiu waved his hand, leaving it to his grandson to handle. He walked back to the backyard with his hands behind his back to drink tea.

Li Qingyun was almost moved by his persistence and turned around to say gently, "Not for sale!"

"I am Dr. Zhao Yanshou, the chief physician of the internal medicine department at the county hospital. Here is my business card. If you ever need money urgently and want to sell the hundred-year-old ginseng, you can call my mobile phone." Dr. Zhao, undeterred, still smiled and handed over his card.

"That hundred-year-old ginseng is my grandfather’s treasure. He won’t sell it easily. After cutting ten pieces for Old Principal Zhou, there’s less than an inch left. To put it simply, it’s not for sale. However, if you want wild ginseng that’s a few decades old, I can keep an eye out for it. If a hunter finds any, I can call you." He didn’t want to offend a smiling face, so he treated it as a good deed.

"Thank you, young brother. If any of my family or friends encounter trouble at the county hospital, you can call me." The county hospital also had a Western medicine department, and even the families of divine doctors might need to be hospitalized. Building this relationship might help him get some hundred-year-old ginseng in the future.

"You’re welcome. Take care, and if I find any ginseng, I’ll call you." More friends mean more paths, and Li Qingyun wasn’t a fool with low emotional intelligence.

Moreover, Li Qingyun thought about his small space. Ginseng grown in the space for ten years would only take one year in reality. Theoretically, growing hundred-year-old ginseng would only take ten years. However, the ginseng seeds he bought belonged to the Changbai series, which had a different aroma and slightly different texture compared to the wild ginseng from Sichuan.

"Who cares? As long as it’s hundred-year-old ginseng, it will sell for a high price. If only the land in the space were larger, I could plant tens of thousands of ginseng roots. In ten years, I’d be rich."

After lunch, Li Qingyun and his mother left the Chunqiu Clinic to return to Li Family Village. There were three-wheeled motorcycles in town, making the journey convenient. The seven or eight kilometers cost five yuan for two people.

This mountain road was relatively gentle and well-paved with blue stones. It had existed since before the liberation, with a history of unknown years. Many stones had a mirror-like sheen. The only drawback was its narrowness, only about three meters wide. Two horse-drawn carriages could pass each other, but two cars would have to back up to a wider spot to pass.

In the past, there were few vehicles, and one might not see a few cars running to the countryside in a year. Now, with more young people working outside, some of them did well and could drive home for the New Year, causing severe traffic jams on the mountain roads. If the roads were icy, it could lead to car accidents, with vehicles falling into deep ravines.

There had been several car accidents in recent years, and the villagers were very upset. They requested funding to repair the road, but after two years, nothing happened. It was said that the people of Li Family Village couldn’t wait and planned to raise money from the whole village to widen the seven or eight kilometers of mountain road by one meter.

The cost was very high. A simple estimate showed that even with the whole village’s labor, it would cost 200,000 to 300,000 yuan. Li Family Village had over a hundred households, and if the cost was divided, each household would have to pay 2,000 to 3,000 yuan. Given the village’s economic situation, at least half of the households had an annual income of only 2,000 to 3,000 yuan. Asking them to pay for road repairs was difficult.

Li Family Village was well-located in a small basin surrounded by mountains, with mostly flat fields, making it one of the few fertile areas in the vicinity. The Xian Dai River, originating from the depths of the mountains, flowed around the village, providing abundant water sources. Small ponds were scattered throughout the fields, at the edges of the village, and behind houses.

Li Qingyun’s home was in the center of the village, a safe location in the mountains. The main house was a four-room brick and tile house, and on the west side of the yard were two slightly shorter rooms, one for the kitchen and one for the cow shed.

The yard wall was more than a person’s height, and the yard was not large, with common flowers and plants. From the main house, one could reach the backyard, where vegetables were grown, surrounded by a fence to prevent small animals from entering and causing damage.

"Home feels so good! Dad, I’m back!" As soon as he entered the house, Li Qingyun laughed, threw off his luggage, and ran into the main house with two puppies.

Li Qingyun’s father, Li Chengwen, was weeding in the backyard garden. Hearing the commotion in the front yard, he ran back, wiping the dirt from his hands: "Fuwazi is back? How are you feeling?"

"I’m fine, just my arm isn’t fully healed yet." After being discharged from the hospital, his mother had called the village to inform his father and report his safety.

Chen Xiuzhi had already moved the luggage inside and chimed in: "With me taking care of my youngest, you can rest assured. I’ll pull the weeds in the garden, and you can catch some fish from the pond in the south field to make soup for my youngest tonight."

Li Qingyun’s family had a large field in the south of the village, hence the name "South Field." There was a pond at the edge of the field. According to village rules, the pond and the trees around it belonged to the family whose land it was next to.

"Alright, Fuwazi, rest for a bit. I’ll go catch some fish. I’ll also ask if anyone has fresh game to trade for some." Li Family Village had hunters who occasionally hunted to supplement their income, unlike Zhangqiao Village, which had many professional hunters.

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