The Lady’s Sickly Husband

Translator: Antonia

Why did he ask such a question? Mo Qianxue was a little surprised. Rationalizing her thought, she answered honestly, “I’m not a doctor.”

Even if she wanted the valley, she couldn’t lie. If she was a doctor, the first person she wished to cure was Ning Shaoqing. Then she could stay at home every day, spend more time with him to grow love instead of running about in such bitter weather.

“Really? You don’t know medicine? But I heard that you’ve saved the life of young lady Jian and cured old madam Jian’s stroke.”

“That, that’s just first aid that I know a little about.”

“I won’t sell the valley.”

“Uh?” Then why did he invite her back?

“However, if you can cure my son’s illness, I can consider giving the valley to you as the reward.”

Reward? The valley was as large as thousands of acres. She would be happy to rent it.

What a big gain! Then she could have a try. What if she happened to be able to cure him? A few years ago, in order to settle more businesses, she had read a lot of books about health and domestic medicine, so she was quite an expert, especially in diet therapy.

Although that was what in her mind, she couldn’t spell that out but replied with modesty, “I really don’t know medicine. I’m afraid I can’t take the responsibility if your son’s condition was worsened because of me.”

“You haven’t met him yet, how do you know that you can’t help?”

“…” Mo Qianxue was dumb.

“However, you have to swear not to reveal what you will see to anyone if you can’t cure him.”

What strange disease that could be? Why so troublesome? She replied, “I shall not reveal what I’ll see to anyone.”

Since she promised so, Mr. Tong didn’t say more and got up to headed outside.

Mo Qianxue hurriedly kept up.

Mr. Tong led the way in front to cross several corridors which boasted beautiful scenery, but Mo Qianxue didn’t have the mood to enjoy it.

She was shocked. Usually there were loads of female servants in a noble family, yet, from the moment she first stepped into this mansion, all servants, either waiters, gardeners or guards, that she saw were males. There wasn’t a single servant girl or nanny in the entire courtyard.

Then, after walking for a while, they came to a quiet and secluded yard whose door was closed.

The housekeeper pushed the door open when they could hear sounds of laughter and tearing clothes.

The deeper they went into the yard, the clearer the sound.

Mr. Tong walked on and stopped at the window where the noise was from.

“In there is my son. Take a look first.”

Out of curiosity, Mo Qianxue leaned over to peek through the slit between windows.

A man wearing brocade clothes was sitting in the room and taking delight in tearing cloth.

He was tearing and laughing as if the sound of it gave him great satisfaction.

He looked around twenty years old, but his expression looked like that of a three-year-old child, innocent and ignorant!

In addition, there seemed to be something weird with him. By closer examination, he didn’t look like a child, but he was indeed immersed in his own world.

Mo Qianxue was flustered. Without thinking much, she could tell from this man’s laugh and tearing that he was ill mentally.

How should she know how to cure him? Alright, she came in vain.

She was about to refuse when she saw Mr. Tong had turned around, his shoulders violently and involuntarily shaking.

Alas! What a poor old man! Since she already knew the situation, she should follow courtesy and show pity to comfort him. Anyway, a person should be kind even if the business failed.

Mo Qianxue gently asked, “How long has he been like this?”

Upon hearing her question, Mr. Tong immediately turned back, eyes full of hope. However, Mo Qianxue did see the lingering tears deep in his eyes.

Mr. Tong coughed and replied, “It’s been two years.”

“He fell ill two years ago?”

“No. He started to tear cloth two years ago.”

“What did he do earlier ago?”

“Earlier ago he threw bowls for two years.”

Mo Qianxue almost spat out blood from shock.

Holy heaven. She ran here and there to earn money, but he threw bowls for two years and tore cloth for another two years. How much money had been wasted?

But now it wasn’t time to complain. Mo Qianxue continued to ask, “And further earlier ago?”

“Tore paper, played drums… He wouldn’t stop all long day.”

“When did he first start this?”

“Around three or four years old.” Mr. Tong’s expression was dim.

“Uh? What happened to him before four years old?” A poor child.

“He was quite normal, a smart and sweet boy…” Speaking of this, Mr. Tong finally couldn’t hold back his tears.

“How could he become like this suddenly?”

Mr. Tong suddenly gazed at Mo Qianxue, his eyes turning defensive and sharp like a sword.

Mo Qianxue didn’t intend to dig his scars, but the valley was important to her. Besides, the more she knew about the poor man’s condition, the surer she became that he didn’t suffer from mental disease, but very likely…

“I don’t mean to hurt you, but you know, I must know more to decide a right method to cure him.” Mo Qianxue’s tone was soothing.

Mr. Tong looked at to confirm there wasn’t malicious intention from her and found her words reasonable, so he only sighed, “Because of my neglect on domestic rules. Alas, it all happened decades ago.”

“I just need to know the root cause. If you found it inconvenient to answer, just ignore my question. Sorry to have bothered you.”

“I’m not blaming you. Now that I’ve invited you here, certainly I should tell you every detail of the whole story.

Our family has single sons for three generations. When I was young, I had fewer children. I only got one son at the age of thirty and one dumb daughter whose mother was a concubine.

From the time when I got a legal wife to when I had the dumb daughter, there were other women who got pregnant, but they all suffered miscarriage in the end. I thought that I would never have a son and this branch of Tong family would end because of me.

Unexpectedly, when I turned forty, my wife should be pregnant and gave birth to Jing in ten months. Jing wasn’t very healthy since birth, and as my only son, deeply spoiled by me and my wife.”

Mr. Tong’s story was told in a sorrowful and pitiful way. Mo Qianxue sympathized him a lot as the housekeeper gently petted on Mr. Tong’s back.

“My wife wasn’t young at that time and fell ill frequently, so I took many concubines. For one reason, I wished to have more children, and secondly, I hoped they could help with domestic affairs and take care of Jing.

However, to my surprise, those women were so evil and jealous that in order to gain my favor, they should poison my wife and son.

My wife died of it.

Jing turned like this after the poison was cleared. I’ve invited numerous doctors, but their diagnosis all said that Jing was physically healthy, and that he was just scared to become muddle-headed and would recover gradually.

I believed their diagnosis and thought he would get better as he grew up, but I waited year by year and until he was fifteen, he still acted this way.

I sank into total despair, so I settled down my numb daughter and took Jing to live here in seclusion. It’s been eight years since we moved here.”

Just another expendable of family feuds.

As the saying went, whoever pitiful is hateful. His wife had been in poor health and he should take many concubines, in the name of helping with domestic management and taking care of his son.

Her sympathy toward Mr. Tong immediately reduced.

In her opinion, this Mr. Tong deserved such a tragic consequence. The only pitiful person in the story was this young lord Tong—Jing.

Now Mo Qianxue came to the conclusion that this lord Tong wasn’t out of his mind but suffered slight mental retardation and autism because of delay treatment.

If he had received timely treatment, lord Tong must be a clever person now.

Yet, now in the evening, she didn’t have a refined plan for him. She had to go back home and think about it.

Mo Qianxue tactfully expressed her view, saying that she had to go band home and work out a therapy plan. As for whether the plan would cure him or not, she couldn’t say it for sure at present.

Yet, only these words made Mr. Tong overjoyed. In a hurry, he ordered the housekeeper to prepare a horse carriage and send Mo Qianxue back home.

On that night.

In the main hall of Tong mansion, Mr. Tong sat in his chair while one black-suited man was kneeling on one knee below him.

“Do you make a thorough investigation of that Mrs. Ning’s background?” He had experienced all kinds of things in his life, which made him already a cunning old fox. It was one thing that he was grateful to her and another when he decided whether to trust her or not.

Without thorough knowledge of who she was, how could he entrust the life of his beloved son to a woman he just knew?

The black-suited man replied, “No one knows the background of that Mrs. Ning. All I can figure out is that three months ago, she passed out by the riverside and was picked up to the Wang village and then married to the village school teacher as a lucky wife.”

Mr. Tong contemplated for a moment and then asked, “Who is that school teacher?”

“The teacher is surnamed Ning who is indeed not an ordinary villager. He can detect my presence the moment I try to approach him, so I only have to retreat.”

“So alert? He can even discover you the head of Tong guards?”

The man in black suit lowered his head, a little embarrassed, “I don’t dare to lie. After he noticed me, he followed me all the way, and I made several random circles before I could get rid of him. Judging by his figure, there…should be a shadow guard.”

“A shadow guard? Ning? The lord of Ning family in the capital?”

“I heard that a year ago, a big even happened in the capital, after which, eldest lord Ning disappeared for no reason.”

“For no reason? Or it’s your incapability to figure it out?” Mr. Tong’s eyes were penetrating.

The head of Tong guards squared his shoulders and replied, “I’ve sent people to investigate. Lord Ning was poisoned by his step mother and brother. Until now the step mother doesn’t miss out any information about him but is confused by many fake news.”

“Women are the apple of discord! Now I’ve faded out of things in the capital. I only hope to spend the rest of my life accompany Jing… As for lord Ning, let’s not step in his business.”

“Yes.”

“Will that Mrs. Ning form any threat to us?”

“According to the news I got, Mrs. Ning seems to have lost her memory after a serious fever. She doesn’t seem a threat to Tong family.”

“Have lost her memory? Hem! This is the answer you give me?”

“Please don’t be angry master. Mrs. Ning doesn’t know martial art, and Mr. Wang merely detected a faint trace of authentic qi sealed within her body. I can tell that she isn’t an ordinary person either, but I don’t know where to look into her origin.”

“Continue the search.”

“Yes.”

…

At Ning house in the Wang village.

Mo Qianxue was in sound sleep when cuckoos quirked delightfully outside. Ning Shaoqing opened his eyes, taking a deep lovingly gaze at her, and then put on clothes and walked out without making a noise.

“He left?”

“Yes. I pretended to lose his trace, so he circled around and then went back to Tong mansion.”

“It seemed that you were exposed.” Ning Shaoqing understated and knocked the table.

“Please punish me.” If his identity as a shadow guard was exposed, then it meant his lord’s identity was exposed too. Murderousness surfaced onto the shadow guard’s face. He should have been tough-minded and killed that Tong guard.

“It’s nothing. Since the former Tong master has left the capital, I don’t think he will interfere with things in the capital.”

“Just pay more attention to him in the future.”

“Yes.”

“If there were any assassins, protect lady and withdraw first…”

Snowflakes floated in the sky among night gusts. It was cold outside but shadow guard’s face was colder than frost. His fist pressed against his chest, swearing, “Sorry I can’t take this order. I’d rather die before leaving you first.”

Seeing his determinedness of regarding death as his due destination, Ning Shaoqing looked down and sighed, turning silent for a while, “Do you think I’ll live alone in this world if something happened to Qianxue?”

“Lord…”