Chapter 408 - 342: Preliminary Talk of Marriage
Wei Tie made a living by setting traps in the mountains for weasels and selling their pelts.
Before the New Year, when Wei Tie came to Zhao Jun's family for medicine, Wang Meilan had advised him to trap fewer "Yellow Leaves."
Wei Tie took her words to heart. After leaving Zhao Jun's family, he sought out a "master" for advice. The master said something was tormenting Wei Tie's wife and also told him to give up trapping "Yellow Leaves."
But how could Wei Tie bear to give up a business that brought in over two thousand yuan a year? So, he asked the master for another way.
After receiving a considerable "offering" from Wei Tie, the master told him he needed to get a bullet from a hunter and use its killing aura to protect his home and family.
Wei Tie actually listened and went to Zhao Jun again. But Zhao Jun told him he needed a reusable bullet casing and sent him to find Chen Dalai.
Now, Zhao Jun asked Wei Tie if his wife Pang Li's illness was cured by consuming the Black Bear's nose or by the deterrent effect of the bullet.
Wei Tie had gotten a Black Bear nose from Zhao Jun's family for free. What else could he say?
But seeing Wei Tie just smile, Zhao Jun held up a hand to stop him. "Brother Tie, just be straight with me. Tell your brother the truth."
Hearing this, Wei Tie thought for a moment and leaned closer to Zhao Jun. But just as he was about to speak, he shut his mouth.
Wei Tie quickly walked to the gate of Li Baoyu's house and peeked into the yard. Seeing no one, he returned to Zhao Jun's side and said, "Brother, I'll tell you, but you can't tell anyone else, okay?"
Although the ten turbulent years were over, in this isolated mountain village, people were still very cautious about such matters.
"Okay, Brother Tie. Go ahead."
Wei Tie said, "When they diagnosed her, they said your sister-in-law started with a spiritual illness. But because the spiritual illness lasted so long, it wore her down until it became a physical illness. To cure her, we had to treat the spiritual illness first, then the physical one.
"I went and got two bullet casings from Chen Dalai, and that cured the spiritual illness. After that, we had your sister-in-law drink the powdered Black Bear nose, and that's what rooted out the illness for good."
"Ah!" Hearing this, Zhao Jun nodded. "I understand now, Brother Tie."
"Alright then, I'll be going."
"Wait!" Seeing Wei Tie about to leave, Zhao Jun quickly grabbed him, looked left and right, and asked in a low voice, "Tell your brother, who did you go see for this?"
Wei Tie also glanced around cautiously. Seeing no one, and especially no movement from the Li Family's Gate, he said, "Elder Han."
"Ah! I see."
Watching Wei Tie leave, Zhao Jun turned and went home. The moment he stepped inside, he heard Wang Meilan say, "Son, you killed three Black Bears today. Why didn't you take off their noses and kneecaps?"
"Ah, I forgot," Zhao Jun replied.
He had killed quite a few Black Bears this winter, and his family had accumulated a good number of their noses and kneecaps. Gradually, he'd stopped thinking of them as a big deal.
Wang Meilan ladled out the water used to dip the Bear Galls, scrubbed the wok and refilled it with fresh water, then stir-fried shredded cabbage for a broth and cooked a pot of hot noodle soup.
Just as the noodles were about to finish cooking, Zhao Jun took four bowls from the rack. Wang Meilan served the noodles and broth, first filling two bowls less than halfway.
These were for the two little girls. They had small appetites, and a smaller portion would cool down faster.
Zhao Jun carried the two bowls into the room and got chopsticks for his two younger sisters. When he came back out to get more noodles, Wang Meilan pointed to the west room and said, "Son, take these two bowls to your room. Let's you and I have a little talk."
"Coming!" A jolt went through Zhao Jun. He didn't say anything more, just carried the bowls into his room. He set the noodles on a wooden table, then pulled the low kang table out from the corner, placed it on the kang, and moved the bowls onto it.
Just then, Wang Meilan came in with two pairs of chopsticks. Mother and son sat on opposite sides, east and west. Zhao Jun took the chopsticks, bent his head, blew on the edge of the bowl, and took a sip of the broth.
Wang Meilan held her chopsticks and lifted some noodles, but before eating, she said to Zhao Jun, "Son, Mom went to Liu Tiezui's house today."
"I know."
"What?" Wang Meilan was taken aback. "How did you know?"
"I saw you leaving her house right before I got back," Zhao Jun said with a smile. "Mom, you went to see Liu Tiezui... which family's girl are you trying to set me up with?"
"Ma Ling!" Now on to business, Wang Meilan stopped eating. She put down her chopsticks and said to Zhao Jun, "Your father said you like her."
"My dad..." Zhao Jun started to say something, but the thought of Ma Ling made him fall silent.
Towards the wife from his past life, he felt an endless sense of guilt. In his last life, he had failed his older sister, his two younger sisters, his son, and even his brothers-in-law.
But the one he had failed the most was Ma Ling.
It had been over half a year since his rebirth, and he had only seen Ma Ling that one night. Whenever he wandered through the village, he always went out of his way to avoid the Ma Family's home.
But even so, he still dreamed of her often in the dead of night.
As time went on, he himself wasn't sure if it was guilt, or something else entirely.
Even after living two lifetimes, he couldn't say for sure.
So, when Wang Meilan said she went to Liu Tiezui to act as a matchmaker with the Ma Family for Ma Ling, Zhao Jun couldn't bring himself to object.
Seeing Zhao Jun's lack of reaction, the corners of Wang Meilan's mouth turned up slightly. 'That Zhao Youcai actually did something useful for a change,' she thought.
"Son, it's time you started a family," Wang Meilan said to Zhao Jun. "If you get married, it'll take a huge weight off my mind."
Hearing this, Zhao Jun looked up and gazed quietly at Wang Meilan. 'In my last life, Mom never got to see me get married,' he thought. 'She must have been so worried when she passed away.'
"Yeah, Mom, I know," Zhao Jun replied, then lowered his head and focused on eating.
For a moment, the room fell silent. Neither mother nor son spoke. Zhao Jun slurped his noodles down noisily, while Wang Meilan ate in small, slow bites, seemingly lost in thought.
Zhao Jun quickly finished the noodles in his bowl, then tilted his head back and drank all the soup. He then said to Wang Meilan, "Mom, take your time. I'm going to check on the two little ones."
"Mhm."
Zhao Jun stood up with his bowl and chopsticks, went to the east room to collect his two sisters' bowls, and placed them all in a basin on the stove. After ladling some water in to let them soak, Zhao Jun went outside and down to the cellar, where he took out all five Ginseng Buns.
Zhao Jun came out of the cellar carrying the five Ginseng Buns, went back into the house, and entered his own room.
Hearing Zhao Jun return, Wang Meilan, who was still eating her noodles, subconsciously glanced back and asked, "Son, what are all those things you're holding?"
After bringing these Ginseng Buns back, Zhao Jun had placed them in a corner of the cellar and covered them with a burlap sack.
That way, even when Wang Meilan went down to the cellar every day for potatoes and cabbage, she never noticed them.
Zhao Jun just smiled without a word and began to open the five Ginseng Buns one by one.
The ginseng inside each Ginseng Bun was different, but their exteriors were mostly identical. Zhao Jun hadn't bothered to mark them, so even he didn't know what kind of ginseng was inside before opening them.
But when the first Ginseng Bun was opened, Wang Meilan merely glanced at the moss inside, and she instantly threw down her chopsticks and shot up from the kang.