I reached out and touched his forehead. It was scorching hot.
“This is bad. He has a fever!”
The little boy was so frightened he lost his wits. He threw himself against his older brother and burst into tears:
“Big brother, don’t die! Don’t leave Triều Nhi all alone!”
I thought that with a fever this high, we had to find a doctor as soon as possible.
I found a broken clay pot, fetched water from the well behind the temple, and tore off a strip of rag to wipe away his sweat. For the moment, I cleaned the heir’s body as best I could.
There was no other choice. Some of the smells were truly unbearable, and I was afraid his fever would get too high, so I had to bring it down first.
We had no spare clothes, so I had no choice but to wash his old outfit and put it back on him.
Luckily, I’d been used to hard labor since childhood, or I never would have been able to carry someone as gravely ill as the heir. He was so tall, though, that his long legs almost dragged on the ground.
“Stop crying. Take the torch and lead me to the nearest clinic!”
The little boy sniffled and nodded. He knew saving his brother was what mattered now, so he quickly raised the torch high and led the way.
We knocked on the doors of several clinics, but as soon as the owners saw the bloodstained clothes and whip marks covering the heir, they shut the doors without even hearing us out.
The heat against my back grew more and more intense, but his breathing grew weaker. I was so frantic that sweat poured from me and my arms went numb.
Suddenly, I heard a faint moan by my ear: “Father… Mother…”
Just when we were nearly desperate, a small clinic tucked away in a remote corner finally opened its door. I was so overjoyed I nearly cried.
The owner was a kind old doctor. His brows furrowed when he saw the heir’s condition, but he still agreed to treat him.
The little boy and I thanked him again and again. The old doctor only stroked his beard and smiled. “A good doctor is like a mother. It’s my duty.”
The old doctor didn’t complain at all about how filthy the heir was. He simply told us to carefully lay him on the bed. The mattress was immediately stained black with grime. Feeling a little embarrassed, I hurried to promise I’d replace it with a new one, but the old doctor just waved a hand and said it could still be used after washing.
I was deeply grateful, thinking that at last we’d met a good person.
As I watched the old doctor take his pulse, his brows drawn together and his expression troubled, both the little boy and I felt our hearts tighten.
Could it be… that he couldn’t be saved?
Only after a long while did the old doctor let go of his wrist and return to the table to write a prescription. He also instructed me to keep putting cool water on his forehead and wiping his neck and body with warm water, so the fever wouldn’t damage his brain.
After a whole night of effort, we finally managed to force the medicine down his throat, and the heir’s fever at last broke.
5
The fever had broken, but he still hadn’t woken up.
There was nothing else we could do but continue staying at the old doctor’s clinic.
The old doctor told me privately that the heir’s injuries were extremely serious. Never mind the whip marks all over his body—even the thighbones in both legs and his right wrist had been broken by someone beating him with their bare hands. His left hand had been luckier; after a long period of recuperation, he might regain some use of it. But the other injuries were beyond what the doctor’s skills could treat. All he could do was prescribe medicine to keep them from getting worse.
When he finished, the old doctor sighed and looked at me with pity. For a moment, I didn’t know what to say.
Another day passed, and the heir still hadn’t woken.
Perhaps because he thought we were so pitiful, the old doctor cobbled together a bed out of a few old wooden planks in an empty room at the back of the courtyard. I gave up the cheap room I’d rented, and the three of us stayed here for the time being.
The little boy stayed by his brother’s side without taking a single step away, afraid he might die. Looking at the two brothers in their ragged clothes, I sighed and went to the cloth shop to buy them two sets of coarse-cloth clothes to change into.
There were still thirty taels of silver left from what the heir had given me earlier. After deducting the fare for my journey home, I’d return the rest once he woke up. It would be enough for the two brothers to get by for a while.
Then I remembered that the little boy’s parents still hadn’t been buried.
Sure enough, the moment I asked, the child burst into tears.
I had no choice but to take out another two taels and order two medium-grade coffins.
I asked the old doctor’s apprentice to watch over the heir for a while, then took the little boy and a few funeral workers to the paupers’ cemetery.
The caretaker tried to take advantage of us as soon as he saw us, demanding a whole tael of silver before he would hand over the bodies. I pleaded with him for a long time, but he still wouldn’t budge. Seeing the little boy’s imploring eyes, I gritted my teeth and paid. Only then were we able to take the Marquis and his wife’s bodies out.
I cursed inwardly. A whole tael of silver! How could people be so heartless?
The funeral workers washed the bodies of the Marquis and his wife right there, dressed them in burial clothes, placed them in the coffins, and closed the lids.
The two coffins sat side by side on a large wooden cart. The little boy knelt before them, his voice trembling as he kowtowed hard:
“I have been an unfilial son. I, Mộ Triêu, kowtow before my parents. I have been useless, and only now have I come to bring you home. I beg you to forgive me!”
He kowtowed twice more, each bow landing with a loud thud. When he raised his head, a large purple bruise had already formed on his forehead.
I stood to one side and didn’t stop him. This was something a child had to do as a son.
After the ceremony, the little boy turned toward me, his face full of gratitude, and kowtowed deeply:
“Big sister, I will never forget your great kindness as long as I live. I’m willing to be your ox or horse to repay you!”
I hurried forward and helped him up.
I gently brushed the little grains of sand from his wound and let out a sigh.
At the little boy’s request, we all set off for the graveyard with the three coffins.
He wanted to bury his parents beside the others from the Marquis’s household.
After a grueling day, when we returned, the old doctor’s apprentice happily told us that the heir had woken up.
The little boy immediately sprang to life and hurried into the room.
I hesitated for a moment before following him.
To be honest, I was a little wary of him.
The little boy’s chattering voice drifted from the room, mixed with sobs. I thought it over, then crossed the threshold after all. I still had thirty taels of silver to pay back, after all.
The sound of my arrival caught the attention of the person on the bed. His eyes flicked toward me, then turned away, indifferent.
Compared with how cold and distant they’d been a year ago, his eyes now looked like a pool of murky, rotting water, foul-smelling and utterly lifeless.
Instinctively, I was reminded of my father back then.
The little boy introduced me to him and told him about what I’d been doing lately.
When he heard that his parents had been buried, his impassive face stirred slightly, and a ripple passed through his eyes.
“Th-thank you.”
Perhaps it had been so long since he’d spoken that his voice was hoarse, no longer clear as it had been a year ago.
The little boy kept chattering away, but he had returned to his former manner, his eyes lowered as he listened in silence.
6
The old doctor said it would take at least a month for the heir to recover fully. Knowing the brothers would need somewhere to stay for a while, I paid to rent a house near the clinic.
A whole tael of silver for a year’s rent. So expensive.
After thanking the old doctor and paying the medical fees, I picked up our luggage and pulled the wooden cart carrying the brothers to their new home.
The house was small and old, with only a main room, a kitchen, and a side room, but fortunately it had a little courtyard. The little boy was delighted, running around to explore.
I put the heir and the little boy in the main room and tidied up the side room so I could stay there for the time being.
At noon, just as I was about to go to the kitchen and cook, a weak voice came from behind me.
“Please… take care of Triều Nhi…”
I stopped. My hand paused as I lifted the curtain, but I didn’t turn around.
“I won’t agree. The one he needs is you, not me.”
With that, I walked straight into the kitchen.
From that day on, he refused to eat or drink, and wouldn’t take his medicine either. The little boy cried and begged, but he stubbornly kept his eyes on me. I finally lost my temper and forced his mouth open to give him his medicine, but he spat it all back out.
For three whole days, he barely drank a drop of water.
The little boy cried until he had no tears left. He simply said, “Triều Nhi, your big brother will finally be free.”
Two more days passed, and he had fallen into a near-comatose state.
I could only wait until he was asleep to force a little thin porridge into him, but his lips had cracked from going so long without water.
The little boy’s eyes were red and swollen as he clung to the doorframe and peered inside.
He came to briefly. Still, he said nothing, only looking at me silently with pleading eyes.
I sighed, completely at a loss. “All right. I promise I’ll take you away from here.”
At that, he suddenly smiled radiantly, as if the whole galaxy were shining in his eyes. “Thank you.”
The coffin-shop owner knows me by now, since I’ve ordered yet another coffin.
I drew water and carefully washed him from head to toe, removing the wooden splints and bandages. Sobbing, the little boy helped him put on his outer burial robe, yet he smiled. Then, remorseful, he said, “Triều Nhi, I’m sorry… Forgive your big brother for being weak and selfish. I truly can’t face myself as I am now… I’ll go find our parents and beg their forgiveness. You must be good and listen to… Sister Mật, understand?”
I had once seen his former, heroic bearing, and had witnessed with my own eyes how broken he was now.
Both his legs were broken, and he couldn’t even take care of his own bodily needs. It was truly miserable. But as long as he was alive, there was still hope. Why insist on dying? Besides, he still had family by his side.
I didn’t understand, and I felt sorry for him, but he wouldn’t listen to a word I said.
Since I was a regular customer, the shopkeeper had the coffin delivered straight to the burial ground.
I gathered everything I needed, then dragged him—already dressed in his burial robe—toward the grave, one step at a time.
The little boy didn’t come with us. He only knelt and bowed to see us off from a distance.
7
I dug away for half the day before I finally made a hole big enough for the coffin.
I was so tired I could barely breathe, covered in dirt, with the taste of mud in my mouth.
I climbed out of the hole and used all my strength to push the coffin into place.
Everything was ready.
I turned to look at the figure sitting silently before the grave of the Marquis of Vệ Quốc and his wife. In the end, I picked up the things and went over to him.
A coil of rope, and a bottle of arsenic I’d bought from the old doctor’s apprentice.
Afraid the arsenic would taste bitter, I’d brought sugar too.
“I’ve got everything ready here. Have you… decided which one you’ll choose?”
I set everything down in front of him.
He lowered his head to look and gave a faint smile. “Sorry to trouble you.”
I shook my head, crouched down beside him, and waited for his answer.
“Miss Thẩm, do you believe my household is innocent?” he suddenly asked after a while.
I thought for a moment, then nodded slightly. “I suppose I do.”
He didn’t seem like a bad person, but outsiders might not believe it. I’d gone out to ask around and still heard people cursing the Marquis of Vệ Quốc’s household and throwing rotten eggs at the main gate.
The wind swept by, making the paper offerings stuck at an angle in the grave flutter. Fifteen lonely graves, their sorrow understood by no one.
Oh, no—there would be one more soon.
I shifted my numb legs. The heir seemed to have turned to stone, head bowed and motionless, no one could know what he was thinking.
Bored, I had no choice but to sit and count ants.
Suddenly, he burst out laughing, rocking back and forth so hard he startled me.