Chapter 73: People Who Need It 2/2

Liu Xiao Li sat on the stool. Probably felt that this sickly person is quite pleasing to his eyes and no longer beats around the bush. He replied from his memory, “Poison of Bitter marrow, also known as “must-not” illness. People with such a poison must not do everything – must not be happy, must not be sad, must not be hot, must not be cold, must not be anxious, must not be impatient, must not be tired, must not be exhausted, must not have physical intimacy. The moment it violates any must-not, intense pain will course through the whole body. Not pain in the organs nor on the skin, but the bones. Two-hundred-and-six bones will feel excruciating pain and spread throughout the body; no one area is spared. My dad said, no one dared to suffer this illness because it is too unaffordable unless that person has the destiny of a young master.”
(TN: Here there is an implicit meaning in Chinese whereby normal civilians would never dare be contracted such illness as they can’t afford to since they are not rich as the nobles and aristocrats.)

Yan Pei became more and more solemn after his words. After a while, he smiled bitterly, “Yeah, too unaffordable……”

Liu Xiao Li asked, “are you a young master?”

Yan Pei answered rarely, “guess so.”

“Then why don’t you seek a cure?” Liu Xiao Li does not understand, “this poison is so torturing. You have been poisoned for over ten years but why did you not seek the cure? You are a young master so your family should have a lot of money to seek treatment for a cure to your poison.”

“Treatment?” As if he had recalled something, Yan Pei’s eyes turned cold and dark, “I have been treated for fifteen years and have not cured till now.”

“Ah?” Liu Xiao Li was very shocked, “Treated for fifteen years? So long?”

Then as if he thought of something, he sternly said, “you have been duped. You must have been deceived. My dad says that in this world, there are physicians who have no medical ethics. They would purposely use pricey medicines and drag the treatment periods for those illnesses which can be cured quickly. But they do not cure them all just to defraud money. You must have been defrauded. You need to change your physician.”

Yan Pei looked at him, “Changed tens of them.”

“The tens of them did not cure you?”

“Mhm.”

Liu Xiao Li scratched his head and pondered awhile, “Then they must be accomplices.”

Yan Pei smiled but before laughter reached his chest, he managed to suppress it. He cannot laugh because of his illness, “it really is incurable.”

“Who said that?” Liu Xiao Li widened his eyes, “although Poison of bitter marrow is considered a lesser-known poison, it should be curable. Even if it cannot be cured, there must be ways to alleviate pain. I will ask my dad when I go back. My dad would know. My dad is very skilled.”

Yan Pei wanted to reject; after all, he is just a man who wants to die. Before, he still harbours hope, but after a decade, all of his hopes were dashed and slowly turned into his desperation. Since then, he no longer pins his hopes up. Now, even if someone were to bring a magic elixir in front of him, he would not have any interest.

Who doesn’t want to live? But living has become a faraway dream – which one could only wish for but could not be attained. Then, why would there be a need to crave for it? It would be better to crush all these hopes and break off that thought which disturbs one’s peace.

Liu Xiao Li looked at his face of desolation. He took out the bottle of Red Blood pills from his backpack and passed it to him, “there are three left inside. Take it. If it is so unbearably painful, take a pill. It will lessen your pain.”

Yan Pei stared at the bottle – his heart moved.

Not for living, but just to alleviate the pain.

“I will give you taels.” Yan Pei said and was preparing to stand up to take the box of gold and silver.

Liu Xiao Li pressed him down, “Forget it. I am not that greedy for just a few hundreds of taels. If we want to earn money through medicines, my dad would be as wealthy as the country. We never sell our medicines – they are only given to people who need it at the right time.”

Mother always says to “care for the living”. It should not be just this line – providing medical treatment to one who no longer has a will to live is to accumulate merits. On the contrary, we should take as much as possible for giving treatment to those rich but unbenevolent.

Liu Xiao Li felt that the person in front of him is not that wealthy and he does not seem to have the energy to be unbenevolent. Besides, he is just someone who has lost his will to live. He meets all of the criteria and hence, medicine can be given for free.

Yan Pei did not speak, instead, he stared at the child intensely.

In his mind, he unconsciously pictured the appearance of the child’s father – he should be a benevolent elder with a celestial aura and a gentle smile.

“Thank your esteemed father for me.”