"Ah Shui, thank you, truly, from the bottom of my heart. If not for you, I really wouldn't have known what to do just now."
A burly man in his thirties wiped away tears, his eyes red.
If Liang Qu hadn't stepped forward to cover his shortfall for the autumn tax, he really would have been hauled off to Lanzhou to dig canals. That was practically certain death, and even if he survived by some stroke of luck, who knew how many years it would be before he returned?
By then, with only his aging father and his wife left at home struggling to raise two young children, how could the family keep from falling apart? How could the household survive?
Chen Qingjiang pulled Xiao Shunzi over from the side, pressing down on the boy's head. "Shunzi, quick, kneel! Kowtow to your Brother Shui!"
"Whoa, Uncle Chen, there's no need, really no need!" Liang Qu exclaimed in alarm. He hastily caught Shunzi and pulled him back, giving a wry smile. "If Xiao Shunzi has to kowtow to me because I helped Uncle Chen, then shouldn't I have kowtowed to Uncle Chen when you helped me last time? Are you hinting that I haven't done enough and trying to remind me?"
"Ah, well..."
Chen Qingjiang wiped away two more trails of tears, at a loss for words, and stopped insisting on the kowtow.
Seeing this, Liang Qu felt relieved, though he couldn't help cursing how rotten this world was. The poor didn't have a single chance to pull themselves up.
Take the fishermen of Yixing: working diligently all their lives barely earned enough to eat, pay taxes, and keep their families alive. Even if luck struck and they caught a treasure fish, it was nowhere near enough to turn their lives around; at most, it bought a couple of good drinks. Catching a simple cold could easily kill them.
They couldn't even afford an education for their children, let alone martial arts training. Perhaps joining the army was a way out? But that was gambling one's life for wealth and status, and more likely than not, you would lose your life while someone else claimed the reward.
"Ah Shui is truly righteous. A whole dan of rice short, and he just gave it away without blinking. He's been studying martial arts, so his hands can't be flush with cash either, right? He probably poured in everything he had."
"It's like something out of a storybook."
"Chen Qingjiang is a lucky one, knowing Ah Shui."
Townsfolk returning from paying their taxes—some spreading the tale, others having seen it with their own eyes—all clicked their tongues in amazement.
Liang Qu had nothing to say. He hadn't wanted to show off; in an era where no one was nominated as filial and incorrupt, keeping quiet and making a fortune in silence was always better than advertising yourself.
"Brother Li, carry Shunzi on your back and take him home. Tell Sister-in-law on your way, too. Uncle Chen and I will take Grandpa Chen to the clinic first—that lash was no joke."
Shunzi was only six years old. After such an intense shock and a long bout of weeping, he was utterly exhausted and nodding off. As Liang Qu had led him along just now, the boy had bumped his head against his leg several times. Without proper rest, he might come down with a serious illness, piling disaster upon an already destitute family.
"Alright," Li Libo agreed, looking at Liang Qu with a complex expression.
The two of them had merely known each other at first, not particularly close. It was only after Scabby-Head Zhang was beaten that they grew friendlier, yet it had still been more like casual drinking buddies—treating each other to a meal or borrowing a fishing net.
Yet now Li Libo realized he didn't understand Liang Qu at all. That was an entire dan of rice, nearly a full tael of silver! Liang Qu was studying martial arts; where had he pulled out that tael? He probably wouldn't even have anything to eat going forward. What was he after?
Li Libo couldn't fathom it, but he felt that Liang Qu was extraordinary—truly like one of those legendary figures spoken of by storytellers.
"Sorry for the trouble, Brother Li."
"No trouble. I can't afford a dan of rice, but I've got a bit of strength to spare."
Hoisting Shunzi onto his back, Li Libo called out, "I'm off," and said no more, burying his head and striding forward.
"Thank you as well, Ah Shui."
"Don't joke around, Uncle Chen. We'd better hurry to the clinic, or if the wound gets infected, we'll be in trouble."
The clerk's lash had been fierce and brutal, tearing open a bloody welt across Chen Renxing's body. An old man like him could never withstand that, and he had fainted on the spot. They needed to apply medicine and bandage him up right away.
"Infected? What's that?"
"It means taking sick. Wounds that break the skin easily fester and turn to pus."
"Right, right, let's hurry."
The two carried Chen Renxing swiftly to a small clinic in Yixing to have a physician treat the trauma.
Uncovering the clothes revealed a gory, bloody wound that made the heart leap with fright.
Liang Qu observed the doctor's technique throughout: first washing the wound with boiled water that had cooled, then applying medicinal powder, and finally wrapping it with steamed white cloth.
It seemed this world didn't have the term 'infection', but it certainly had the concept.
"Your father is advanced in years. Suffering such a heavy blow, he will need proper recuperation. Fortunately, the injury itself isn't critical. I will write a prescription; fetch the herbs accordingly and have him take them on time each day."
"Understood, thank you, Doctor."
"Little Zhang, take these two to fetch the medicine."
"This way, please, you two."
Liang Qu and Chen Qingjiang followed along to collect the medicine.
Once the parcels were gathered, Liang Qu frowned and pointed at several chunky medicinal pieces. "Physician Zhang, could you help us swap these few herbs for ones with sharper, clearer edges?"
The shop assistant surnamed Zhang froze, an awkward look flickering across his face. Without saying another word, he swapped the medicinal ingredients directly.
Chen Qingjiang looked bewildered, but kept from asking on the spot.
"Counting the doctor's fee, that comes to eight qian seven fen in total."
That was bloody expensive. Liang Qu was shocked; a simple external wound came to nearly a whole tael of silver.
"Can I write an IOU?" Chen Qingjiang asked.
"You can."
With practiced ease, the assistant drew up a promissory note, laying out the date and interest in clear detail. He had obviously done this countless times.
Only after carrying his father out of the clinic on his back did Chen Qingjiang ask Liang Qu, "Ah Shui, why did you ask him to change those herbs just now?"
"Those herbs had no distinct edges. Usually, herbs without sharp edges are old stock—either boiled once and dried again, or scrubbed clean after going moldy. The former isn't the worst, at most less effective, costing you wasted silver, but the latter could make someone sick. Of course, I might not be right, but it's better to be safe than sorry."
Chen Qingjiang was astonished. "Where did you learn all that?"
He had watched Ah Shui grow up. The boy had never gone to school, yet in the past two months he seemed like a completely different person.
When Chen Qingjiang returned home a few days ago, he had already heard the elders mention that Ah Shui was not only studying martial arts but had also become a remarkably skilled fisherman. Now it appeared he even possessed all kinds of impressive knowledge.
Liang Qu scratched his head, but before he could offer an explanation, Chen Qingjiang provided his own.
"Ah Shui, your mind's opened up! Truly impressive!"
Liang Qu smiled awkwardly.
Right, an awakening!
That uniquely Chinese cheat-code logic: whenever someone suddenly became remarkably capable, folks just chalked it up to an awakening.
A terrible student suddenly acing their exams? An awakening.
An awkward, honest bloke suddenly turning into a smooth romantic? An awakening.
An angler who could never catch a thing turning into a master fisherman? Still an awakening.
Well, it saved him the trouble of coming up with an excuse.
"What a pity. If only Brother Liang could see how capable you've become," Chen Qingjiang sighed. Realizing he shouldn't have brought that up, he fell silent again, only speaking after a long pause: "That dan of grain I owe you, I'll pay it back as soon as I can."
Liang Qu had intended to say there was no need, but seeing Chen Qingjiang's earnest expression, he figured the man wouldn't listen anyway. "No rush on my end. Pay off the clinic first. Besides, the weather's turning colder by the day—don't let Xiao Shunzi and Xiao Kui go hungry. If someone falls ill trying to repay debts, the loss will far outweigh the gain."
Chen Qingjiang nodded.
The two men walked home in silence.
Chapter 21