Read Novel Full Chapter 1397: Extra: The Quiet One (4)
Chapter 1397: Extra: The Quiet One (4)
(5) The Lone One is Not Alone
"How do you treat the hollow heart syndrome?"
The middle-aged man asked.
The girl smiled and said:
"Don’t ask, I charge upfront for treatment. Do you have money?"
The middle-aged man shook his head.
"Hmm... so, you have to work off your debt first. From today, you will be my assistant, helping me gather herbs and make medicine. Once you have paid off your medical fees, I’ll treat you."
The girl spoke very seriously.
The middle-aged man followed the girl in silence, tacitly agreeing to the condition.
From this day on, the people of Gan Tang Town noticed that the famous Divine Doctor Girl had a lonely and eccentric follower by her side.
He followed her every day, seldom speaking.
But the girl seemed very intentional in giving him tasks, assigning him plenty of work daily.
"Take this medicine to Elder Wang of East Street; his daughter has a hidden ailment."
The middle-aged man took the herbs and headed to East Street. When he arrived, Elder Wang insisted he stay for a meal before accepting the herbs.
He wanted to leave, but Elder Wang held him fast, making him sit down and eat, which made him somewhat uneasy.
...
"Elder Lin’s wife has passed away. He’s heartbroken and lives alone, unable to move around easily. You need to visit him, cook for him for three days, talk with him, and mix the medicine into his food, understand?"
"Huh, you can’t cook? Then go to Miss Xu’s porridge shop and learn for a day. Elder Lin and his wife always loved her porridge."
The middle-aged man frowned but forced himself to go to Miss Xu’s porridge shop.
There he found that Miss Xu talked a lot. Her porridge was average, but she could talk endlessly. Though it was just everyday chatter, every word made people want to respond.
Customers often talked with her for one or two hours over a bowl of porridge, complaining, venting, or expressing sorrow. Miss Xu was indifferent to all of it. She would complain along with those who complained, and after complaining, they often left with a smile. She would vent with those who vented, and in the end, those vented had nothing more to say, leaving as if transformed. She would cry with those who wept until they wiped their tears and left calmly.
She was also teaching the Lone One to make porridge, but her mind was often more on talking than on the porridge itself.
"People need a home, after all. How pitiful it is not to have one. There used to be a big brother on East Street who had a great family business when he was young, but in his later years, his family was gone. He was desolate despite having lots of money. In those years, his favorite thing was to buy a lot of snacks and wait for the children on the street to pass by, giving them food, but he too passed after a few years."
"Without a home, there’s nothing to care about. People need warmth, someone to cook a meal, scold you a bit, someone to tidy up your clothes; how nice that would be... Aren’t you following Yao Lan? How do you find her?"
The middle-aged man listened silently, unwittingly engrossed, not knowing what he was thinking, but he became flustered when she stared at him, suddenly recalling her question and said awkwardly:
"She... she’s very skilled."
Miss Xu laughed and said:
"Alright, alright, the porridge in your hands is ready. Go quickly to make medicinal porridge for Elder Lin."
The middle-aged man nodded, realizing Miss Xu’s porridge cooking skills were quite ordinary, nothing special.
He left, and as Miss Xu watched his retreating figure, she shook her head and said:
"Poor soul, someone who doesn’t know why they’re living... pathetic."
...
Soon, the middle-aged man arrived at Elder Lin’s door.
Elder Lin had lost his wife a few days ago, and with no one left at home, when the middle-aged man entered, he found Elder Lin lying on a chair in the yard, like a piece of insentient wood.
The middle-aged man made porridge for Elder Lin, adding herbs to simmer with the porridge. While the flames made the water sputter, he felt a terrifying silence.
He instinctively wanted to say something to the old man on the chair but couldn’t find the words.
Suddenly, he recalled Miss Xu, her endless chatter, mundane yet powerful words.
He hesitated and then opened his mouth with difficulty, saying:
"Old man, you have a nice stove..."
No response.
"Living alone, it’s peaceful, the courtyard is clean..."
No response.
"This is my first time making porridge..."
No response.
He felt as though he were being punished, enduring a punishment of silence, where the old man, though present, seemed as distant as a star.
This punishment lasted until the medicinal porridge was finally ready. He quickly stopped, waiting for it to cool before bringing it over.
"Old man... have some..."
The elderly man just lay there, with what seemed like tracks of tears in his old eyes, staring at the sky, as if there were something up there.
"If you don’t eat, your body won’t hold up..."
The middle-aged man kept speaking, suddenly feeling a sense of helplessness, like a bewildered deer, completely unsure of how to find the right path.
"I heard you both used to love Miss Xu’s porridge..."
But as he said this, he suddenly noticed the unmoving old man move, turning to look at the middle-aged man, and said: