Su Xiaoqi and Old Mrs. Yu, along with others, stayed by Zhao Liushun's side.
Half an hour later, Shen Yun returned.
He entered wearing the scholar's robes of the county school, making a very subtle sound.
Su Xiaoqi saw him and quickly stood up, offering him her seat.
Shen Yun looked at Zhao Liushun, who lay there with a sorrowful expression, his eyes tightly shut, dried tear tracks still visible on his cheeks.
He was usually such a proud, optimistic person.
Now, he had been forced down this path.
How could this junior, who had walked with him, feel anything but heartbroken?
There was only heartache.
"Little Uncle," Shen Yun called out in a dry voice.
Zhao Liushun heard him, opened his eyes, and stiffly turned his head to look at him.
"You, aren't you studying at school? Why have you come? Why bother?" His voice carried an unspeakable sadness.
"If you are like this, how can I possibly focus on my studies?" Shen Yun leaned closer to Zhao Liushun.
Zhao Liushun felt even more distressed. He covered his face, unwilling to face all of this.
Su Xiaoqi gestured to Mrs. Zhao.
The two of them worked together to carry Old Mrs. Yu out.
Sitting in the main hall, soon Zhao Dashan and Zhao Erhu also heard the news and rushed back.
Seeing everyone in the hall with sorrowful expressions, Zhao Dashan stumbled and nearly fell.
Zhao Erhu simply looked at everyone and asked, "What's going on? Oh dear, why isn't anyone talking? Mother, what happened to Sixth Brother?"
Old Mrs. Yu said with a cold face, slapping the table, "What's going on? Ask your good elder brother, tell him to ask his wife properly."
"Mother..." Mrs. Zhao felt something was wrong and quickly tried to pull her away.
Seeing her son return, Old Mrs. Yu felt emboldened.
She stared coldly at Qian Shi, who walked in behind them.
Zhao Dashan instinctively knew his wife had caused trouble again.
He quickly lowered his head and, as he had done many times before, cautiously apologized to Old Mrs. Yu.
He even stepped forward to pull Qian Shi over to apologize together.
But this time, Old Mrs. Yu ignored him, and Qian Shi turned her body away, dodging him.
She covered her face, crying, and fled into her room.
They felt wronged, but was she any better off?
She had heard her son speak like that; wasn't it cutting to the heart?
Thinking about it now brought only bitter tears.
The main hall was filled with noisy arguments. Su Xiaoqi was afraid their commotion would disturb Shen Yun's conversation with Zhao Liushun inside.
She suddenly stood up and asked everyone to lower their voices.
"Little Uncle's condition is unstable now, and Husband is inside with him. If you have anything to say, perhaps you can attend to it later."
"Hey, Yun Ge's daughter-in-law, this is the Zhao family. When did you get a say?" Zhao Erhu suddenly questioned.
Su Xiaoqi was stunned by the question, and indeed, she had no grounds to refute it.
She was not a Zhao family member, nor a Shen family member.
Her surname was Su.
But she was unwilling for Zhao Liushun to be further disturbed by their shouting.
She calmly lowered her voice and said, "I am a doctor. Little Uncle was injured just now, and the medicine needs to take effect. You are disturbing him."
Her voice was very low, but there was an undeniable chill in her tone.
Zhao Erhu was instantly taken aback.
Looking at his niece-in-law, whom he rarely saw, being put in such a position, he felt uncomfortable.
Before he could speak again, Zhao Dashan stopped him.
He said that Yun Ge's daughter-in-law was right.
The most important thing now was Sixth Brother's health.
Other matters could be discussed later.
Who knew that this statement would once again touch a nerve with Zhao Erhu?
He recalled his mother's earlier accusations against Qian Shi.
He immediately brought it up again.
He said that his elder brother couldn't even control his own wife and was a complete henpecked husband. How could he have the face to lecture me?
Zhao Dashan, usually good-tempered, was unexpectedly met with such stubborn resistance from his own brother.
He also got angry and, putting on his elder brother's airs, began to reprimand Zhao Erhu.
Zhao Erhu had always been calculating since childhood and never fully respected him.
The two of them argued back and forth even more fiercely.
Su Xiaoqi felt a headache coming on.
She saw a hunched figure flash by the doorway.
She immediately stepped forward to help him in and sat him in the main seat, respectfully saying, "Greetings to Grandfather."
Old scholar Zhao Ci had gone to his cousin's house to bask in the sun and have tea.
He had only just received the news and returned.
As soon as he returned, he heard everyone arguing.
It was nothing like a home, but rather a marketplace.
He was extremely angry and shouted, "Argue, argue! Pigs argue to ruin, people argue to sell. Are you not satisfied that our old Zhao family is not impoverished enough..."
Su Xiaoqi, fearing that his anger might harm him, quickly took out a heart-protecting pill and fed it to him.
Zhao Ci gave her a grateful look and glared at everyone.
Under his imposing gaze, everyone fell silent.
Just then, Shen Yun called for Su Xiaoqi from inside.
She entered the room.
Shen Yun signaled her to change the dressing on Zhao Liushun's leg.
Su Xiaoqi lifted the gauze wrapping and breathed a sigh of relief.
Earlier, when she saw Zhao Liushun stand up and put the noose around his neck, she had worried he had exerted too much force and injured his broken leg.
Looking at it now, there was no significant damage.
She skillfully changed the medicine. Just as she was about to re-wrap it with gauze and apply a splint, she suddenly recalled the scene when she saved the little magpie.
The spiritual medicine she had exchanged in her space could cure colds and pneumonia.
She wondered if it would be effective for bone regeneration.
Adopting a trial-and-error approach, she exchanged a pill in her space for ten shi of rice and ten shi of flour and fed it to Zhao Liushun.
Zhao Liushun, who didn't even fear death, could accept any medicine fed to him.
Su Xiaoqi waited for a while, then took his pulse again, and was surprised to find that his pulse had suddenly become stronger.
She couldn't help but stealthily examine the broken leg, which she had deliberately left unwrapped by the gauze and splint.
Upon seeing it, her heart skipped a beat, and she exclaimed.
"Little Uncle's leg, the leg is... healing fast," Su Xiaoqi said, pausing midway.
In fact, it wasn't healing fast; it had already healed.
But she couldn't say it like that. Shen Yun was here, and he was so astute, he would surely become suspicious.
"It's healing fast, healed?" Zhao Liushun cautiously tried to flex his leg, disbelievingly.
He had expected this movement to be difficult and to require all his strength.
But now he found it very easy.
With a slight lift, his leg came up. He refused to believe it and stretched his leg towards the ground.
He wanted to try standing up now to see if he had truly recovered.
With this thought, Zhao Liushun truly stood up.
Then, to the astonished looks of Shen Yun and Su Xiaoqi, he stood easily by the bed.
"Yun Ge, Yun Ge's daughter-in-law, I'm better, my leg is better," Zhao Liushun said, his eyes red, gripping Shen Yun's hand tightly.
Su Xiaoqi quickly nodded, "Little Uncle, you're better, that's wonderful. Heaven must be looking down on us."
Shen Yun nodded heavily, patted Zhao Liushun's back, and poured him a cup of warm water.
After drinking the water, Zhao Liushun rushed out of the room.
That's right, Zhao Liushun rushed out.
He hadn't felt this sensation of both legs moving together for fourteen years.
Soon, cheers erupted outside the main hall.
Su Xiaoqi breathed a sigh of relief, sat on a round stool, relaxed, and closed her eyes.
But suddenly, a pair of hands reached out.
They rested on her shoulders, gently massaging them.
Su Xiaoqi opened her eyes and looked up at Shen Yun.
She couldn't help but think, "Damn it, what does Shen Yun want? This twenty-four filial piety act."
"I don't want to do anything, I just want to thank you for helping Little Uncle," Shen Yun smoothly replied, picking up on her thoughts.
Then, both of them froze.
Su Xiaoqi suddenly stood up, staring intently at Shen Yun.
Shen Yun was also staring at Su Xiaoqi.
Their eyes met: his, watery peach blossom eyes, filled with confusion; hers, narrow phoenix eyes, with upturned outer corners, full of deep mystery.
No matter how Su Xiaoqi looked, she couldn't see through him.
Su Xiaoqi's pink lips moved slightly. She tentatively asked, "What did you just say?"
"Whatever you say, I say," Shen Yun would never admit it.
"No, I didn't say anything, but you did," Su Xiaoqi fixed her gaze on Shen Yun's eyes.