Chapter 15: Grandpa Zheng’s story

“You’re recovering well. You can sit in the sun in the courtyard now, but the autumn wind is a bit chilly, so you can’t sit for too long.” Zheng always does this. Before he even arrives, his voice can be heard. Even before he reaches the courtyard gate, his loud voice has already spread throughout the courtyard.

I stood up and almost shuffled to greet Mr. Zheng. It’s not my fault. The wound still hurts. If I want to walk fast, I can only walk in small steps.

<"Gee, I didn't think a young man like Chen Chengyi could walk in such a "weak willow supporting the wind" manner. That's great. I'll bring you a handkerchief some day, and you can wipe your sweat with your Orchid finger while walking." Zheng Laoshi laughed heartily, and he was especially unrestrained when joking.>

But I wouldn’t argue with Zheng Dajie over a joke. After Zheng Dajie had walked into the courtyard and exchanged a few words with him, he was forcibly called into the house.

Once inside, Zheng insisted that I lie down, but I insisted on sitting up, thinking that I would recover faster that way, and at least I would look more energetic.

Mr. Zheng didn’t insist, and let me sit down. Then he took off the cloth bag from his body, took out the medicinal herbs from the bag, and called the young man to take care of the herbs.

“Grandpa Zheng, you still have a lot of the medicine you brought last time, which is enough for a month. I don’t understand Chinese medicine, but I understand the two things of over-supplementation and not being able to receive the supplement. I watched as another pile of precious herbs was taken out of Zheng’s bag, just like ordinary herbs, and I couldn’t help but feel distressed. This problem was developed when I was with my master. At that time, my master and I were in a difficult situation, and there were not many herbs left. My master and the uncles had not yet “broken the ice,” and he was never going to ask Uncle Chen for herbs, so he always calculated the herbs he had to get by.

This is really strange. I suddenly remembered a detail. After Master took me to the gathering at Uncle Li’s place, I felt that the communication between the two generations of “Old Li people” increased. I had heard them vaguely mention that something seemed to have happened between them, and it was about my little fellow disciple or something. I wasn’t too sure. I just subconsciously thought of the word “break the ice” and realized that our generation had later become better acquainted and didn’t think too much about it. We had missed a lot of the details of the previous generation.

I don’t know why I thought of this, until Mr. Zheng shouted again in his unique loud voice: “Anyway, follow the prescription and the dosage. You won’t overdo it. As long as you don’t overdo it, you won’t be weak and you won’t need to replenish it. As for the leftovers, you can take them home. There’s a pile of them at home! Anyway, they’re all yours.”

Hearing this, I froze for a moment. What does he mean by “anyway, it’s all mine”? Zheng’s words were a bit strange.

To be honest, Zheng is a simple man. He looked at me with a puzzled expression, and then immediately lowered his head in shame. It was as if the four characters “I have something to hide” were written on his face.

After living for so many years, I have not become a wise man, but I have become more and more simple. I found it a bit funny, but I didn’t dare to laugh. Instead, I pretended to have a serious face and asked, “Uncle Zheng, are you hiding something from me?”

Mr. Zheng didn’t say anything, looking around to distract himself. He obviously wasn’t lying, but he was trying to hide something.

I sighed and said, “I have done nothing wrong, but now I have come to this point. I have lost contact with my family and friends, and I almost died. In the end, Zheng Dajie, are you going to hide it from me?”

I said this deliberately, not trying to outwit an old man, but in my current situation, any information might be of great help to me, and I had to try to win Zheng’s sympathy.

Seeing me like this, Mr. Zheng was stunned, then clapped his hands and said, “It’s not that I want to hide it, but others have already said hello. If they can’t let you know, they won’t let you know. In your current situation, knowing too much, once the impulse is exposed, it will be inconvenient to secretly do something, and it will completely shut the door to help you.”

“What do you mean?” I took a sip of water and frowned.

“Well, others don’t necessarily want me to keep it a secret, so I’ll tell you! These herbs were given to me in secret by Jiang Yi’s men, when I was arranging a room for Jiang Yi. It was done very secretly… At the same time, there were some words that were brought along, telling us to go out to the Lake of a Thousand Ghosts, where a person was waiting, and where a boat was waiting, to save your life at the time, and you would also use these herbs. Then he explained a little more, that after saving you, there would be someone waiting in the village to help you. According to Mr. Zheng’s personality, since he decided to tell me, he naturally finished everything in one breath.

“Did he make the decision himself or did Jiang Yi give him the order?” My wound was throbbing again, and I thought of the shots Jiang Yi had fired. Even if he was trying to save me, he was really ruthless.

“Of course it was Jiangyi’s idea. The reason was not explained to me at the time, but after that, didn’t he save you and then return to the village? Grandma Yun brought me another letter, saying that before Jiangyi left, she was asked to give it to me. The letter didn’t say much, but it probably meant that he was sorry he couldn’t explain too much to us, that it might not be a problem to get involved, but it would be a problem if we knew too much. In addition, he told me that you are somewhat young and impulsive, and if you accidentally reveal that he is helping you, it will close a door for him instead of helping you, and he will not be able to help you in the future.

I, on the other hand, turned the cup in my hand and frowned, saying, “It won’t be exposed. I’m not a child anymore.” Yes, I can understand Jiang Yi’s concerns. Acting is always acting, and true emotions are always true emotions. There is always a difference. It seems that he would rather I really hate him than expose his line, including the female doctor who always only admits that the department is helping me, not Jiang Yi.

It was really a fog of confusion. I was the most innocent one. I didn’t even know what was going on. I was trapped in a situation where I was sure to die.

However, this time, Jiangyi really underestimated me. What he didn’t know was that there was once a person named Lao Hui who gave me a vivid acting lesson in front of a warehouse. He didn’t know my specific experience, and I was no longer as inexperienced as when he first met me.

“As long as you don’t get exposed, Chengyi, I’m really worried about your situation. Although I’m also confused and don’t know anything, if Jiangyi hadn’t told me in advance, I would have really come forward when he attacked you that day! But even if I did, I didn’t expect him to use a gun. It was really ruthless. It was like gambling. If you weren’t careful during the process, you would have been killed.” Mr. Zheng sighed.

Yes, it was really dangerous, but to save my life under the influence of a powerful force, I had to take such a risk, didn’t I? I tried to analyze all the details and speculate on Jiang Yi’s psychology, but there was too little information, and I couldn’t draw any conclusions. However, this reminded me of something.

“After I was kicked into the water by Jiang Yi, what did Jiang Yi do?” I asked.

“He? He looked up at the sky and left quickly. As soon as he left, I quietly dived down to save you,” Mr. Zheng recalled in detail.

“That’s it?” I tried to remember, but I always remembered that before I fainted, I seemed to have seen a few small dots on the moon. At the time, I was also impressed by the scene in the martial arts novel where someone was running under the moon with light skills. Could it have been my illusion?

In addition, I was also very confused. Among the forces that wanted to kill me, there were many experts, and there must have been a master of the second pulse of life and death among them. It would not be difficult to calculate my life and death by opening the hexagram. Could Jiang Yi completely hide it by doing this? Or did he do something behind my back?

In short, everything has a strange flavor, and I feel that I am really a complete shrimp.

“That’s it, Chengyi, I may not have a lot of insight, but I’ve lived a long time and I’ve always been able to know some things in the circle. This circle is complicated, and the entanglements of various forces have doomed many things to not be black and white, and dealing with them is not as simple as 1 plus 1 equals 2. Chengyi, everyone faces adversity, I just hope you don’t let it crush you.” Zheng said seriously.

“I won’t. If you survive a disaster, something good must come out of it.” I suddenly laughed.

“Hahaha, there must be a blessing in the future! In the history of this circle, there have been people in the same situation as you, who were suddenly oppressed by great forces. I know of several of them, and they all overcame their adversity. I believe you can too.” Mr. Zheng encouraged me.

I nodded and said, “Yes, I can do it!”

It is really possible to overcome it. I, Chen Chengyi, will not be a living dead person for the rest of my life. I quietly clenched my fists.