Chapter 21

Chapter 21

The Liu family was deep in grief, and no one noticed Shen Yuan.

Using your brain can tire you out too. After a long day, Shen Yuan had little energy left and wanted to rush home for dinner.

Since no one in the Liu family paid him any attention, he had to push the door open himself and walk straight up to Uncle Liu. "Uncle, please take these."

Only then did Village Head Liu realize that Shen Yuan had brought food again. Steamed buns peeked out from the rough cloth bag, and the big bowl of wild vegetable porridge was enough for two people.

With so much food, how could he accept it? He quickly refused, "Child, take these back quickly. Uncle can still support his family. How could I take food from you? Hurry and take it back."

Auntie Liu, standing nearby, immediately added, "Yes, good child, take it back. You still have younger brothers and sisters to support. We haven't been able to do much for you, and we certainly can't ask you for things. We appreciate the thought."

Shen Yuan was determined to give it.

If Village Head Liu hadn't given him food that day, he would have starved to death again right after transmigrating.

Now that the Liu family was having such a tough time, with everyone thinking about catching fish in the river, no one had asked him for food.

Shen Yuan could tell that not just Uncle and Auntie Liu, but the whole family knew how hard it was for him to raise his siblings alone. That’s why they never mentioned it.

On previous visits, he hadn't seen the other Liu family members, but today he saw them all.

Rubbing his wrist with a pitiful look, Shen Yuan said, "Please don't make me take it back. I have no strength left at all. Uncle, Auntie, if you truly care for me, cut me some slack and let me rest my hands."

Anyone could tell this was just an excuse to make them accept the food.

But Shen Yuan crouched down, looking up with a sweet, pitiful face. The Liu family looked down at him, their hearts melting at the sight. They felt grateful for his effort in coming and were touched that he cared.

Eldest Brother Liu was a skinny but tough man. As an experienced farmer in the village, he was a man of few words, but he was honest and knew who was good and who wasn't.

He appreciated Shen Yuan's kindness in his heart but couldn't find the right words to express it. Instead, he simply crouched down and said in a low voice, "Come, let Eldest Brother Liu give you a piggyback ride home. That way, you won't be tired."

Shen Yuan: ...

What should I do? That sounded really tempting.

He really didn't want to walk.

In the end, Shen Yuan walked home by himself. The Liu family had many mouths to feed and rented a lot of land.

They worked hard in the fields from dawn till dusk, yet still didn't have enough to eat. They were exhausted, with no extra energy to spare. Shen Yuan just thought about it; how could he really let someone carry him?

The Liu family didn't want to delay Shen Yuan from going home for dinner, so they walked him to the gate, watching him leave.

There would always be opportunities to repay his kindness; it wasn't urgent.

Village Head Liu's family was large, with more than ten people.

The little bit Shen Yuan brought wasn't enough to feed all the children in the household.

But every kid got a bit.

During the meal, Fourth Sister-in-law Liu didn't actually take Eldest Sister-in-law Liu and Eldest Brother Liu's portions. They had to work in the fields before dawn every day, and their food was already scarce. Without food, how could they endure?

Fourth Sister-in-law Liu ate most of the bowl of wild vegetable porridge Shen Yuan had brought. Hua Hua's portion was prepared by boiling millet into a thick gruel to feed her.

With food in her belly, the child, now that she wasn't hungry, stopped crying and quickly fell asleep.

Fourth Sister-in-law Liu carefully wiped her child's mouth, her heart feeling heavy and tight as she looked at Hua Hua's thin, small frame.

The food Shen Yuan brought, though not enough to fill the Liu family, did ease one of their troubles.

Niu Dan had three younger siblings, all around three or four years old.

They were the children of Second Brother Liu and Sixth Brother Liu.

The three children, holding their own worn-out little clay bowls, moved over to crouch beside Niu Dan, their eyes and noses red from crying, and extended their bowls forward.

The slightly older child whispered, "Brother, we shouldn't have drunk the fish soup. Here, have our food."

The other two little ones nodded along, on the verge of crying again as they spoke, "Brother, eat. We were bad."

"Wah wah—"

Niu Dan hadn't had a single sip of that fish soup; he took the punishment for his younger siblings.

Niu Dan sniffled. He didn't take his siblings' food. Instead, with a serious expression on his flushed little face, he said sternly, "From now on, we mustn't steal food anymore, understand?"

The three children fought back tears and nodded. They would never dare to steal food again.

Their brother had been beaten so badly, and their sister almost had no food to eat because of their theft—she could have starved.

The fight had scared the kids.

The four children huddled together, eating their hard-earned porridge with tears in their eyes.

The adults watching and listening from not far away also silently teared up.

...

A new day began. Shen Dong still took his second brother, Shen Xi, to dig for wild vegetables, while third brother Shen Nan stayed home to look after their younger sister, Xiao Bei.

Auntie Ping and her daughters-in-law helped the two brothers dig some vegetables every day. Besides gathering wild greens, they also had to tend to their crops, so they left early.

After they left, the two brothers kept to themselves, digging quietly for vegetables on their own, not speaking to anyone else.

The other children who came with the adults to dig vegetables would eventually play together, but the two brothers always acted like they didn't notice, keeping their heads down and working diligently.

They just wanted to dry more vegetables to sell in the county town, so they could earn some money.

To their surprise, Niu Dan, who had always avoided them and was too scared to come near, actually came over today.

Shen Dong glanced at him and continued digging his own vegetables. Shen Xi turned his head and looked at him strangely, "Aren't you afraid Brother Liushu will hit you if you come over like this?"

Shen Liushu, ten years old, lived alone. He was the little tyrant among the village children, and the kids all feared him, obeying his every word.

At that moment, Shen Liushu was surrounded by a group of children, and his gaze was also directed this way.

Niu Dan ducked his head but still didn't leave.

"I'm afraid he'll hit me, but even if he beats me to death, I still want to play with you." Niu Dan bit his lip nervously and stuffed the wild vegetables he was clutching in his small hand into Shen Xi's basket.

Shen Dong, who had been silent until now, suddenly spoke, "My eldest brother gave your family food because your family helped us before. It wasn't to bribe you to play with us. So if you're scared, you can still keep to yourself like before."

Niu Dan frantically waved his hands, "No, no, it's because I want to play with you."

The child was so upset he started crying, and Shen Xi scratched his head standing beside him. "Alright, don't cry yet. My eldest brother really knows his stuff; he's sure to know what to do. I'll ask him tonight and tell you tomorrow."

Niu Dan wiped his tears and nodded. "Okay, you must ask him."

After saying that, he scurried away under Shen Liushu's death glare.

Shen Dong frowned, clearly unhappy. "I told you before not to bother Eldest Brother with things like this."

Shen Xi was also unhappy, pouting as he dug for wild vegetables, sulking a little. "But Eldest Brother clearly said we should tell him everything..."

Shen Dong cut him off. "If Eldest Brother gets fed up and abandons us, don't come crying to me."

Shen Xi, still pouting in anger, suddenly had his eyes well up with tears, and he lowered his head as they dripped down.

"No, I won't have that," he said in a muffled voice, sobbing. "Eldest Brother does want us. If he doesn't want me, I'll cry to you, Second Brother. You have a mean mouth; you jinx things with your bad words, so I'll keep crying and clinging to you!"

Shen Dong ignored him and continued digging for wild vegetables. "Suit yourself."

Shen Xi thought his second brother was really, really, really annoying, always saying things he couldn't accept.

When Shen Dong wasn't looking, he wiped his tears on Shen Dong's back.

Shen Dong, almost knocked over by Shen Xi nuzzling against him, could only pretend not to notice; otherwise, this kid would make an even bigger fuss.

The moment Shen Yuan arrived at the teahouse today, Ji Xingwang invited him to a private room to continue working on the story.

There was hot tea and a small plate of pastries.

Shen Yuan tasted what seemed like rice cakes, not very sweet but soft and sticky.

He only ate a small piece, habitually saving the rest to take back for his younger siblings.

By the morning, Shen Yuan had made good headway on the plot.

Ji Xingwang waited impatiently until the afternoon when Shen Yuan called him into the private room to record the story.

He finally had a chance to learn what happened next!

He'd been up all night thinking about it.

In today's part of the story, Grandpa Liu hid Chu Qi's jade pendant, and Chu Qi temporarily stayed in the thatched cottage.

Since Liu Mingqing found Chu Qi on the seventh day of the month, she called him Seventh, which was a strange twist of fate.

Seventh spent his days either helping Grandpa Liu dry herbs or following Liu Mingqing into the mountains to collect herbs.

Because of his excellent skills, even though he had lost his memory, his body's martial arts training instinctively kicked in, saving Liu Mingqing several times.

As a result, Liu Mingqing collected some herbs she had never gathered before and successfully saved several patients. Both of them were overjoyed at being able to help others.

One day, Liu Mingqing went to the city's medical clinic to sell herbs, also hoping to secretly inquire about Chu Qi's identity.

Thinking it would take some effort, she was surprised to see a missing person notice at the city gate as soon as she arrived. The person depicted was none other than Seventh.

Only then did Liu Mingqing learn that Seventh was actually the eldest grandson of a great clan, named Chu Qi, with an extremely noble status.

She recalled her grandfather's unusual behavior when he first saw Chu Qi and his deliberate attempts to conceal Chu Qi's identity, all of which filled Liu Mingqing with deep unease.

After quickly selling the herbs, Liu Mingqing didn't stick around and hurried back to the thatched cottage.

But the cottage was empty.

Both her grandfather and Seventh were gone.

Liu Mingqing searched everywhere but found no one. When she returned to the cottage, she saw Grandpa Liu, who had returned at some unknown time.

"Grandpa, where's Seventh?" Liu Mingqing asked anxiously, pulling on her grandfather's arm.

Grandpa Liu leaned on his cane, his back hunched, his cloudy eyes staring into space. "Dead."

Liu Mingqing stiffened, instinctively about to rush out to search for him. Her grandfather had spent his life practicing medicine, healing and saving people.

As a physician, the first ancestral precept was never to take a life.

Otherwise, after death, one could not be buried in the ancestral graves; the body would be left in the mountains for wild beasts to devour.

She knew her grandfather wasn't a killer. Seventh must have encountered trouble but wasn't dead yet.

"Stop!" Grandpa Liu called out to Liu Mingqing as she tried to leave. Just as the granddaughter understood him, he understood his granddaughter.

To stop her, he revealed the truth. "He is the son of your parents' murderer! I want them to taste the pain of losing a child too!"

Ji Xingwang was getting more and more excited as he recorded the story, his eyes practically gleaming.

With such a deep blood feud, how could the healer girl and the young master ever be together? What accident had befallen the young master? Could he ultimately be saved? The healer girl's inner torment made Ji Xingwang feel torn right along with her.

He held his brush, eagerly waiting for Shen Yuan to continue.

But Shen Yuan stopped.

Ji Xingwang's smile dropped. "That's it again?"

Shen Yuan nodded. "Yes."

Ji Xingwang looked utterly disappointed; he'd have to wait until tomorrow again. He lowered his head, mulling over the story, when he suddenly remembered they were about to start telling the story publicly but didn't even have a name for it yet. He looked up and asked, "What's the name of our story?"

Shen Yuan replied, "Love Between Human and Ghost."

Ji Xingwang's hand paused as he wrote the title. A ghost?