SC Chapter21

When Shen Yunjie awoke, dawn was just breaking. The pain and chill in his body had not yet receded, and he could only attempt to move his fingertips.

“You’d best not move around.” Old Zhou said indistinctly while chewing on half a piece of sugar cake.

Shen Yunjie took a breath and painstakingly managed to turn his head, gazing intently at Old Zhou.

Old Zhou felt a little uncomfortable under the stare. He quickly finished the sugar cake, then rubbed his greasy fingers on his clothes before dragging a stool over to sit down. He said, “Your man is in the back courtyard decocting medicine for you. Your son should still be sleeping at home. I don’t want you moving because the needles haven’t been removed yet. Also, there’s something else you need to know, you could miscarry at any time. Be mentally prepared.”

Shen Yunjie was somewhat stunned. After a long silence, he laboriously reached out a hand to rest on his aching lower abdomen and asked hoarsely, “When did this… happen?”

“Almost two months and you didn’t even notice?” Old Zhou was a little surprised. “But don’t overthink it. The fetus isn’t stable and can’t be forced to stay anyway. Once you drink the medicine later, if it’s going to miscarry, it should come out cleanly, so you don’t suffer later.”

Shen Yunjie’s eyes held a deep, lifeless stillness. He said breathlessly, “Can it be kept?”

Old Zhou took Shen Yunjie’s wrist again. After a moment of silence, he said, “There’s no need to.”

“That means… there is still hope…” Shen Yunjie supported himself on the bed before slowly sitting up and took a deep breath.

Old Zhou tapped his fingers on the edge of the bed and mused, “It’s not hard to save the fetus, but the difficult thing is the poison in your body.”

Shen Yunjie looked at the needles still lodged in his arm and said, “Zhou Yan, who is known as the Silver Needle Phantom, will surely have a way, right?”

“You want to seal the poison with silver needles? Originally, you still had a few years to live. If we forcefully suppress the poison in your body, it will probably only buy you one year.”

Shen Yunjie gently traced his fingers over his lower abdomen and said softly, “That’s enough.”

Old Zhou was puzzled: “If you ask me, it’s not worth it. Don’t you want to stay by his side for a few more years?”

Shen Yunjie said blankly, “No, it’s not necessary. My staying by his side is, for him, a form of torture.” He had seen Xiao Ning’s internal conflict and pain. Everything he needed to understand, he had already understood last night.

“But why should I help you?”

“In the Northwest of Tongguan Pass, I own an underground exchange shop[mfn]Basically a bank, in the old ancient style. I just think banking sounds too modern, so I go with exchange🥲[/mfn]. If you want it, it’s yours.”

Old Zhou shook his head: “I have no interest in wealth.”

Shen Yunjie sighed: “Then what do you want?”

Old Zhou pointed at Shen Yunjie’s belly and said, “I want this child to inherit my knowledge, revere me as his master, and look after me until the end of my days. How about that?”

After a brief silence, Shen Yunjie finally spoke: “I agreed.”

Old Zhou pried open a floor tile and pulled out an ebony box. When opened, it contained several silver needles that gleamed with a cold light. He glanced toward the backyard and asked, “Are you sure?”

Shen Yunjie stared at his own hands, recalling Xiao Ning’s words from the previous night, that these hands were tainted with the Xie family’s blood and would never be cleansed. He murmured, “I should’ve used this life to repay him long ago.”

Old Zhou handed him a cloth: “Bite down on this, and don’t make a sound. I’m going to seal six needles into your body. After a year, the poison will no longer be suppressible. By then, if you wish to survive, you’ll have to find the one who poisoned you.”

Shen Yunjie took the cloth. Old Zhou’s hand remained remarkably steady, and the pain lasted only an instant. Everything was done by the time Xiao Ning entered.

Xiao Ning was startled to see that Shen Yunjie was already awake. He instinctively reached out to touch him but then awkwardly withdrew his hand, turned his face away, and snapped at Old Zhou, “When did he wake up? Why didn’t you call me?”

Old Zhou hung a stack of wrapped prenatal medication on Xiao Ning’s arm: “Alright, I’ve told him everything. The child is temporarily safe, so the medicine in the backyard doesn’t need to be drunk. He needs absolute rest and recuperation in bed. These herbs are for two doses a day. I’ll drop by your place a few more times these next few days.”

Shen Yunjie pressed the place over his heart where the needles were sealed, lifted his head, and said to Xiao Ning, “Xiao Yuan will be scared if he wakes up and can’t find anyone.”

“Then let’s go home.” Xiao Ning lifted Shen Yunjie carefully. The person in his arms felt almost weightless, his bones faintly pressing against Xiao Ning’s arm.

They walked in silence. Only as they neared their doorstep did Xiao Ning speak: “Shen Yunjie, we’re going to have another child.”

Shen Yunjie’s lowered head rested on Xiao Ning’s shoulder, and he softly acknowledged it.

Xiao Ning fell silent. There were a thousand words he wanted to say to Shen Yunjie, he wanted to say he would never go to a place like Nanjiu Alley again, and he wanted to say he shouldn’t have left him alone last night. But none of these words could come out. After a long, stifled pause, he managed to squeeze out a cold and rough sentence: “You must give birth to this child safely. This is what you owe me.”

Shen Yunjie lowered his gaze to his abdomen and replied, “Alright.”

The faint morning light shone in Xiao Ning’s eyes, and beneath the flowing brightness was a subtle hint of a smile. He hugged the person in his arms tighter as he whispered, “And then you’ll teach them to read and mind their manners and watch them grow up…”

And when the sun sets on our lives, we’ll be surrounded by our children and grandchildren.