Chapter 116 Tanwei: “Leave? I don’t want to live.”

Chapter 116: Exploring Subtleties: "If You Leave, Don't You Want to Live?"

The slum was a chaotic mix of thieves, vendors, beggars, and singing girls, a wretched life where common folk huddled like bugs in a world without sunlight.

The poor couldn't afford medicine. The town's only physician charged two taels of silver just for a consultation, not including prescriptions. For minor ailments, the poor grinned and bore it; for serious ones, they simply found a remote spot to await death.

Nanny Chen and Bo Ge traveled through the night, desperate to get the gravely injured Tian Qin to the medical clinic, determined even if it meant losing everything.

The physician was startled by Tian Qin's bloody state. He checked for breath—she seemed to have none. He waved them off, saying, "Why bring her here with such severe injuries? Go prepare her burial clothes and funeral arrangements..."

Bo Ge dropped to his knees with a dull thud, blood and tears streaming together. "Doctor, please, you must save her!"

The physician was about to refuse impatiently when Nanny Chen, her aged body also kneeling, clung tightly to his leg, smearing blood across the floor. "Doctor, our girl is still young. Saving a life is more meritorious than building a seven-tiered pagoda. We'll raise whatever money you ask, and we'll reward you handsomely afterward. I beg you, I kowtow to you!"

Meanwhile, Zhaolu and Wan Cui presented silver—one hundred eighty taels in total, some that Tian Qin had brought from the Xie household, some from Bo Ge and Nanny Chen’s life savings.

Seeing they had money, the physician reluctantly agreed to treat her, but warned that her injuries were severe and she had lost too much blood; whether she survived was up to fate.

He ordered Tian Qin to be carried into the inner chamber, using the best medicine and the most expensive needles. The money they brought quickly dwindled under the assault of the disease, leaving them hundreds of taels in debt to the clinic.

Despite the life-saving drugs they administered, Tian Qin remained on the brink of death, her face was papery and torn, dried bloodstains like corpse spots.

Beyond saving.

A beauty meets her end.

Nanny Chen and the others waited outside, sleepless through the night.

Bo Ge suffered both mental and physical torment. It was all his fault—Tian Qin was hit by the collapsing wall while pushing him—a lame man—out of the way. His deep guilt threatened to kill him.

After a day and night unconscious, Tian Qin finally opened her eyes weakly, but they were unfocused, veiled in mist. Soon even that faint vision vanished, leaving her in pitch-black stillness—completely blind.

"The girl's leg was hit by rubble, with a minor fracture; if not treated promptly, she'll be lame in the future. The blow to her head caused severe damage, blocking the meridians that wrap around her eyeballs—she's blind. From now on, she'll need Jiulongpan to sustain her. This medicine has three grades: top-grade is only available in the Imperial Hospital; my humble clinic only has the lowest grade, at two hundred taels per plant—that's the wholesale price, and I'm not marking it up because I pity you. Whether you want to continue treatment is your decision."

"To be blunt, even if you spend two hundred taels daily on Jiulongpan, the girl will only drag on for another five or six days, and in the end, you'll lose both her and your money. I advise you to give up. I'm not refusing to save her; she's simply beyond saving, and you can't afford the Jiulongpan anyway."

Bo Ge felt as if he had fallen into an ice cave.

He had thought Tian Qin opening her eyes was a sign of improvement, only to face this a rude awakening.

"Why is this happening?"

Bo Ge stood dazed, dizzy, feeling that even the sky was dark.

He desperately grabbed the physician's hand, so pitiful even a stone would take pity. "Doctor, is there really no other way?"

The physician had already made it clear. He coldly shook Bo Ge off and said harshly, "No way!"

No money and you want to keep her alive? That’s wishful thinking.

Inside the inner chamber, Nanny Chen tended to Tian Qin, who was half-conscious, wiping her body.

"Don't move—you've broken a bone and you’ve got internal bleeding in your head." Nanny Chen dried her tears, trying to comfort Tian Qin, though Tian Qin, in her delirium, couldn't make out what people were saying.

"Money..." Tian Qin murmured faintly.

Nanny Chen wept even harder, tears streaming down her aged face. "Don't worry, Tian Jie'er, we'll find a way about the money."

But how? How could they possibly scrape together two hundred taels a day?

The situation was utterly hopeless.

A pale smile flickered on Tian Qin's cracked lips—a brief return of clarity. "Nanny, don't cry. My life hasn't been worth a thing, but having you here at the end makes it all worthwhile."

"Promise me, let me die in peace. Don't spend any more money, okay? You can't save me... and you'll only be left in debt. Save the money and live well."

With that, Tian Qin closed her eyes. She was so tired, so tired—her entire life had been burdened and oppressed, like an ox loaded with heavy burdens, barely able to breathe. The thread of her life was now as thin as a spider's thread, and she could no longer hold on.

Nanny Chen absolutely couldn't watch Tian Qin die.

Tian Qin was her daughter-in-law, injured while saving her son. If Tian Qin died, Nanny Chen would be gnawed by guilt for the rest of her days.

Resolved to risk everything, Nanny Chen went out, grabbed Bo Ge, who was limp as mud, and strode in a certain direction, her back exuding an indescribable tragic resolve.

"Let's go!"

"Go to whom?" Bo Ge asked in panic.

"...Yu Xianqiu."

Nanny Chen knew that Xianqiu, in her quest for a son, went to the temple to burn incense every fifteenth day of the month. If they waited at the mountain entrance, they would surely intercept Xianqiu.

Yu Xianqiu and Tian Qin were blood-related—half-sisters from the same father. Nanny Chen and Bo Ge would cling to Xianqiu even if it meant death. If Xianqiu refused to help, they would rather perish together.

If Tian Qin died, their small family would be utterly destroyed.

Coincidentally, the next day was the fifteenth. Bo Ge and Nanny Chen successfully intercepted Xianqiu. But as an official's wife, Xianqiu had servants and guards around her; the two were quickly seized and restrained, unable to threaten her.

Xianqiu poked her head out of the carriage and listened as Bo Ge, tears streaming, described how Tian Qin was crushed by a collapsing wall, how she vomited blood, how she was on the verge of death. But not a shred of sympathy stirred in Xianqiu. Tian Qin was insatiably greedy, sending people to pester her with lies again.

Xianqiu spoke hypocritically comforting words to the mother and son, but the inner meaning was cold and ruthless: Tian Qin had already left the Xie household, severing all sisterly relationships, embracing the freedom she dreamed of. Now that Tian Qin was injured, it was not Xianqiu's doing, and she had no obligation to bear the consequences. The Xie family's money, though plentiful, could not be wasted on irrelevant people.

"Nanny Chen, you served in the Yu household for many years as an old servant. Out of consideration for Tian Qin's severe injuries, I'll let the matter of you blocking my sedan chair slide today. Withdraw at once. If you pester me again, I'll have you taken to the authorities and settle old and new scores together."

The "old scores" referred, of course, to Zhaolu's arson.

With that, she ordered the driver to leave swiftly, nearly running over Nanny Chen and Bo Ge.

"Bah!!" Bo Ge spat heavily and threw a stone at the carriage, but his lame leg caused him to fall.

"What a bitch!"

Nanny Chen's tears froze on her face as she said bitterly, "Heartless, truly heartless. The richer they are, the more stingy they become."

Xianqiu didn't care whether the mother and son spoke ill of her outside; anyone who dared oppose the Xie family wouldn't leave even bones behind. If Nanny Chen and Bo Ge continued to pester, they would only court death.

What could they do? What to do now?

...

Tian Qin lay on the bed, sinking into terrible nothingness. Her consciousness slowly drained from her body, falling into an abyss of impenetrable darkness. The pain in her body was like sharp rain, hastening her soul's departure.

In a daze, the Love Gu inside her beat violently, as if trying to break free from her shattered body—each bug for itself. Tian Qin laughed faintly, trying to reach her chest with her withered hand, telling those little creatures not to seek rescue, just to die with her.

After a while of sleep, she felt a hand pressing on her shoulder.

Then, her eyelid was pulled open, and a slightly cold fingertip touched her black pupil very lightly.

Tian Qin shuddered. Her vision was dark; she had lost her sight.

Then, he curled his fingers to touch her chest, stirring a sense of familiarity, much like the way someone used to stroke her 'Love Gu'.

Tian Qin's vacant and unfocused eyes suddenly widened.

Who?

It didn't feel like Bo Ge.

"You're awake."

His tone was detached, neither warm nor cold. But his voice was achingly familiar, as if branded into her bones.

Tian Qin was stunned, thinking it was a hallucination.

Xie Tanwei sat by the bed, his deep eyes fixed on her unmoving. After their separation, she had grown much thinner. His expression held a faint, misty pity, a look of detached disdain—as if it were none of his concern. She had insisted on leaving the mansion, so naturally, she bore the consequences herself.

Tian Qin propped herself up to sit, but he stopped her in time.

"Don't move. You have needles in you."

All the meridians in Tian Qin's body had been inserted with acupuncture needles using his masterful technique, and her bruised head was thickly coated with medicinal paste.

She was silent.

After a long pause, she said, "Why are you here?"

Her tone was far from welcoming.

She had imagined that Xian Qiu might come to mock or pity her, but she had never thought of him.

Xie Tanwei taunted in a soft voice, "Not happy to see me? Your nanny and your fiancé stopped Xian Qiu's sedan chair, saying you were dying and wanted to see her one last time."

"I didn't want to see her." Tian Qin turned her head away in disgust, her face nearly touching the long needle. There was no need to hide it from him. "Nanny stopped her to get some money from her to treat me."

She had never asked for him.

Xie Tanwei gave a composed smile, displaying a ruthless cruelty even to a patient: "Miss Yu has already left the Xie mansion with a hundred taels of silver, and she even sent servants to blackmail and stop the sedan chair, extorting money—are you planning to take the Xie family to court?"

Tian Qin choked, infuriated by his stingy and cutting tone.

She didn't want to argue with him and said stiffly, "I'll punish the nanny and apologize to you. Goodbye, Lord Xie."

Her tone was lofty and proud, completely disregarding her severe illness, as if she were waiting for him to withdraw his charity and remove the needles and medicine.

Xie Tanwei let out a cold laugh.

"You couldn't bear to live after leaving me? You went and made yourself end up like this."

He threw out this icy remark, landing on Tian Qin's ears, and pinched her gaunt chin in an insulting manner.

Tian Qin was trapped and couldn't move, bewildered, as if she had deliberately injured herself to attract his attention.

"I couldn't bear to live even by your side."

She exhaled sharply, her gray eyes suddenly flashing with anger.

"Did you come here today just to mock me? If so, you've achieved your goal. Please be merciful and leave."

Xie Tanwei shook his head emotionlessly: "You're not important enough for me to come all this way."

He didn't explain why he had condescended to come today. His words were stingy and cold, but he had paid the consultation fee and personally treated her illness.

She had severed ties with the Xie family and couldn't return to the mansion for the best medical care, forced to stay in this small clinic—this was the price of her willful departure from the mansion.

Tian Qin found being pitied by him worse than death.

Exhausted, she turned over and fell asleep, refusing to speak.

Xie Tanwei didn't wake her again. He turned and vanished from the small clinic, coming and going like a passing breeze, as if he had never been there.

They remained deadlocked, neither willing to bow to the other.