Chapter 29: You are a lucky man, young brother!
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He watched Li Siyu, dressed in a traditional skirt, walking away toward the hospital until her figure gradually disappeared into the distance.
Zhang Hao turned around and approached an empty stall. Behind the pork counter stood a burly man in a leather apron, cleaver in hand.
“Big brother, is this spot taken?”
The rugged man, with a full beard and a mass of corded muscles, let out a hearty laugh. “No one’s using it, little brother.”
“Great. Then I’ll set up here.”
Zhang Hao carried over a stone, sat down on it, and opened his bundle.
The big man asked with a grin, “Say, little brother, that woman just now—is she your wife?”
Zhang Hao paused. After thinking for a moment, he replied, “You could say that.”
“Tsk, tsk, tsk.” The man clicked his tongue repeatedly, his face filled with envy. “You’re a lucky fellow.”
Zhang Hao gave a casual laugh and placed the fleeceflower root and eight gastrodia tubers from his bundle on top of it.
“Little brother, you’re from one of the nearby villages, aren’t you?” the big man asked with interest as he looked at the herbs.
Zhang Hao nodded. “That’s right. I went up the mountain and found a few things, so I thought I’d come to town and sell them.”
“Big brother, do you think I can sell these here?” he asked.
The big man shook his large head. “How would I know? I’ve never seen anyone come here to sell things like that. Usually, buyers go to the villages to purchase herbs, or people take them to drugstores.”
Zhang Hao nodded thoughtfully.
He knew there were specialized herb dealers who went from village to village buying medicinal plants.
But those dealers usually offered very low prices. They also took advantage of the villagers’ lack of knowledge, tricking them into selling their herbs cheaply.
As for the so-called drugstores, they were even less worth mentioning. Some were run by barefoot doctors. Selling herbs like the ones he had found to those shops would be a complete waste.
Most importantly, he would never get a good price there.
He might as well wait here. Perhaps someone destined to buy them would come along.
Besides, he could wait for Li Siyu to finish her examination.
He had no idea whether her examination would go smoothly today.
Still, after drinking the teasel-root decoction the previous night, her complexion had already grown rosier, and her spirits seemed much better than before. He had not heard her cough even once.
It should be working…
Lost in thought, Zhang Hao watched the varied stream of passersby and the traffic flowing along the street as his thoughts gradually drifted away.
…
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Cliffside Town People's Hospital.
After finishing her examination, Li Siyu leaned against the handrail in the nearly overcrowded corridor, silently enduring the countless gazes directed at her as she waited for the results.
Whenever she went out wearing traditional clothing, she attracted plenty of attention. Some people looked at her with goodwill, others with confusion, and some with open malice.
But Li Siyu did not care.
Only she could decide what to wear. She did not wear traditional clothing to please anyone else; she simply loved wearing it.
Since she did not have to work in the fields today and had come to the hospital for an examination, she naturally wanted to wear clothes she liked.
Even if the results were not good, at least her mood would not be completely ruined.
As her thoughts wandered, her eyes shifted slightly. She looked at the patients who had come to seek treatment, and a trace of sorrow and sympathy passed through her gaze.
A hospital truly was a place that witnessed separation through life and death. It was also the kind of place where one’s heart grew heavy the moment one stepped inside.
She thought back to her childhood. She had been frail and sickly from an early age. Her family had been poor, and while living with her grandparents, she had rarely had anything good to eat. They grew whatever they ate; there was no powdered milk, no polished rice or refined flour, and certainly no meat.
At thirteen, she had still been as thin and weak as a child of eight or nine.
That was when she had taken on the farm work at home. Her parents had died young, and her grandfather had passed away in an accident. By then, her only remaining relative, her grandmother, had grown old, so the farm work could only be done by Li Siyu.
Otherwise, she and her grandmother would have starved to death.
If nothing changed, her health would have continued to deteriorate. Either her grandmother would have died first, or she would have left this world before her.
Back then, she had already lost most of her hope for life.
How could a thirteen-year-old child, frail and sickly besides, have been able to see any hope in the future?
It was at that time that Zhang Hao’s father, Old Master Zhang, came to Zhao Family Village.
Seeing how pitiful she and her grandmother were, Old Master Zhang often helped them. He even brought Li Siyu to the hospital in town for examinations and bought medicine for her.
Only then had she been able to eat meat, polished rice, and refined flour—to taste foods she had never had before. She no longer had to eat steamed corn buns and wild greens every day.
After that, her health gradually improved. But the illness she had suffered from since childhood could not be cured even by the doctors in town, and it remained with her all the same.
Several years passed in this way, and then her grandmother died as well.
Fortunately, Li Siyu’s health had recovered somewhat, and she had become capable of supporting herself. She no longer needed Old Master Zhang’s help. She never neglected the farm work and came to the hospital for regular checkups.
Yet the results were always disappointing. The doctors could only tell her to take good care of herself and avoid overexertion.
But what else could she do if she did not work herself to the bone?
Later, by chance, she discovered short videos. In one of them, she saw a young woman dressed in traditional clothing. She was deeply envious, and she was captivated by the classical beauty of that attire, steeped in the heritage of the Nine Provinces.
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After that, she used the money she managed to save to buy herself one or two inexpensive traditional outfits. She also began to consider making money through short videos.
Several years passed. She had gained a modest amount of fame, and through her videos, she not only earned enough to buy traditional clothing but also managed to support herself.
But making short videos was hardly easy. In order to edit better content and keep up with the tastes of viewers, she had no choice but to spend more and more time thinking of material for her videos.
After all, this was what she depended on for survival.
Still, her life was much better now.
Once, she had been all alone. Now she had Zhang Hao.
Although Zhang Hao had left a terrible impression on her in the past, he had changed. He no longer drank heavily every day or idled his life away.
That was a blessing, in its own way.
If Old Master Zhang was watching over them from the afterlife, he would surely be happy as well.
“Li Siyu!”
At that moment, a nurse’s call pulled her back to reality.
Li Siyu immediately came to herself. The bewilderment vanished from her eyes, replaced by a clear, lucid light.
She slipped one hand from her loose sleeve, lifted her skirt slightly, and walked toward the nurse’s voice.
“Take this report to the doctor and have them look over the results for you,” the nurse said gently.
Li Siyu accepted the report with both hands and replied softly, “Thank you.”
“Liu Hong!” the nurse called out, picking up another report.
Li Siyu did not look at the report. Instead, she held it tightly in her hands and walked toward the department where the doctor was waiting, her heart filled with unease.
Standing before the door, she raised her hand and knocked lightly.
“Come in.”
Li Siyu drew a deep breath. No longer hesitating, she turned the handle. Holding the report in one hand and lifting her skirt with the other, she slowly entered the department.
“Doctor, could you please take a look at this report for me?” A trace of nervousness flickered through Li Siyu’s eyes, and anxiety stirred deep within her heart.
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