Siheyuan: Starting from the Old Society

The old Chinese doctor withdrew his gaze, looked at Sha Zhu steadily, and slowly said: "Young man, do you want to save this child?"

Sha Zhu was stunned for a moment, then nodded quickly: "I do! Of course I do! Although Bang Geng is a bit naughty, he is not guilty of this!"

The old Chinese doctor nodded and asked again: "Then are you willing to pay any price?"

Sha Zhu answered without hesitation: "As long as I can save Bang Geng, I will do anything!"

The old Chinese doctor smiled, his eyes gleamed, and he lowered his voice and said to Sha Zhu: "In fact, when I came here today, I already knew what kind of poison this child was infected with..."

"What?!" Sha Zhu's eyes widened, "Then why...why didn't you say so earlier!"

"Don't be impatient, listen to me slowly." The old Chinese doctor waved his hand, signaling Sha Zhu to be patient, "This poison is called 'Ghost Sees Sorrow', it is an extremely rare Gu poison, and the antidote is only available to the person who poisoned it..."

"What?! Poison?!" Sha Zhu was so shocked that he couldn't speak.

"Yes, and..." The old Chinese doctor paused, his tone becoming serious, "Also, I suspect that the person who poisoned is in this yard!"

As soon as the old doctor said this, the air in the whole room seemed to freeze. Jia Zhang grabbed the old doctor's arm, her sharp nails almost digging into his flesh, "Poisoned? What do you mean by poisoned? How could my Bang Geng be poisoned? You quack, are you talking nonsense!"

The old doctor was in pain from her grasp, but he didn't dare to shake it off. He could only patiently explain: "My dear sister, please calm down first. I have been practicing medicine for many years and have never seen this kind of poison, but the child does have symptoms of poisoning. This..."

"Stop talking nonsense! I don't care if it's poisonous or not, just cure my dog's disease as soon as possible! If you can't cure it, I will..." Jia Zhang was so arrogant and unreasonable, and she acted like she was going to blow the roof off the house.

Sha Zhu couldn't stand it anymore, so he pushed Jia Zhang away and said angrily, "Jia Zhang, have you had enough of making trouble? Can't you see that the doctor is trying to find a solution? If you keep making trouble like this, I will throw you out!"

Jia Zhang was frightened by Sha Zhu's sudden anger, but soon she started to cry and rage, "Oh, this is so unfair! Sha Zhu, you are so heartless, you watched Bang Geng grow up, and now he is poisoned, and you don't even bother to comfort him, but you help outsiders bully an old woman like me, you..."

"Enough!" Qin Huairu shouted at Jia Zhang to stop her crying. Although she was also very anxious, she was much more rational than Jia Zhang. She turned to look at the old doctor and asked anxiously, "Doctor, please, think of a way to save Bang Geng! He is just a child!"

The old doctor sighed and said, "I'll do my best, but this poison is really strange. I need some time to study it before I can prescribe the right medicine."

"Research? How long will it take?" Upon hearing this, Jia Zhang began to pester again, "Are you trying to take this opportunity to blackmail us? I tell you, our family has no money!"

The old doctor was so angry that he blew his beard and glared, but he could do nothing. Sha Zhu rolled his eyes watching from the side. This Jia Zhang was really an unreasonable ancestor. At this time, she was still thinking about money!

Qin Huairu was also very troubled by Jia Zhang's behavior. She could only beg the old doctor humbly, "Doctor, please don't argue with her. Just help me find out what herbs you need. We will definitely get them for you even if we have to sell everything we have!"

Seeing that Qin Huairu was quite reasonable, the old doctor's expression eased a little, and he nodded and said, "Okay, I'll write a prescription first, and you go get the medicine. Remember, you have to be quick!"

Qin Huairu took the prescription and sent the old doctor away with many thanks. She looked at the unconscious Banggeng, feeling as if her heart was being stabbed by a knife. Who on earth would do such a cruel thing to a child? Could it be that Banggeng's poisoning was not an accident, but someone did it on purpose?

Thinking of this, Qin Huairu couldn't help but shudder, and an inexplicable fear surged into her heart. She looked around and found that everyone's eyes were focused on her, with suspicion, sympathy, and... gloating?

Qin Huairu's heart instantly sank to the bottom...

Qin Huairu's face turned paler than paper in an instant. She tightly grasped the prescription in her hand, and her knuckles turned blue and white. The eyes of everyone in the room pierced her like needles, making her feel uneasy. Yi Zhonghai was the first to react. He coughed dryly, trying to break the suffocating silence: "Huairu, don't worry, Banggeng is a lucky kid, he will be fine."

"That's right, that's right." Yan Bugui also echoed, "God bless you, God bless you." As he spoke, he secretly observed Qin Huairu's expression.

Sha Zhu was even more anxious, like an ant on a hot pot, running around in circles, muttering to himself: "What should I do? What should I do?"

Only Xu Damao had a barely perceptible sneer on his lips and stared at Qin Huairu with sinister eyes, as if he was watching a good show.

Jia Zhang grabbed Qin Huairu's arm as if she had grasped a life-saving straw, and asked in a sharp voice: "Huairu, please say something! How are we going to pay for the medicine? We don't have any money!"

Qin Huairu was shaken so hard that she felt dizzy, but she was powerless to break free. She could only plead in a low voice, "Mom, please don't make things worse. I'll go find my uncle and ask him to think of a solution."

"Uncle, uncle!" Jia Zhang seemed to be possessed by a demon, repeating these three words over and over, as if they were her only hope.

Yi Zhonghai was annoyed by her noise and said impatiently: "Okay, okay, I'll think of a solution, you go take care of Banggeng!" After that, he turned and walked out.

Qin Huairu looked at Yi Zhonghai gratefully and followed him into the house. She sat by the bed, looking at the unconscious Banggeng, tears streaming down her face.

Outside the door, Xu Damao stopped Yi Zhonghai and said with a fake smile: "Uncle, where are you going? It's almost dark, you have to take care of yourself."

Yi Zhonghai looked at him coldly, said nothing, and walked forward.

Xu Damao was not willing to give in and continued, "Uncle, Qin Huairu is really something. Her family is so poor, yet she still wants to have so many children. Once a child gets sick, it will cost her money and her life. Isn't this causing trouble for you?"

Yi Zhonghai stopped and turned to look at Xu Damao, his eyes as sharp as a knife: "Xu Damao, what do you want to say?"

Xu Damao blinked in surprise and said, "What can I say? I am just concerned about you. You said you are old and still have to worry about their family. How tiring!"

"You don't need to worry about it!" Yi Zhonghai said coldly, and no longer paid attention to Xu Damao, and walked out of the yard with big strides.

Xu Damao looked at Yi Zhonghai's back, with a sinister smile on his face. He slowly took out a bag of melon seeds from his pocket, cracking them while muttering to himself, "Qin Huairu, Qin Huairu, let's see what you're going to do this time!"

As night fell, the courtyard was silent except for the rustling of leaves in the wind and the barking of dogs in the distance.

Qin Huairu sat by the bed, looking over the prescription in her hand again and again in the dim light. She didn't recognize any of the densely packed words on it, but she read it very seriously, as if it was the only hope to save Banggeng.

Suddenly, she heard light footsteps outside the door, and then a dark shadow flashed into the house.

Qin Huairu was startled and looked up suddenly, only to see a familiar figure standing in front of her.

"It's you?!" Qin Huairu exclaimed, her tone full of disbelief.

The person who came was none other than the old Chinese doctor who had just left during the day!

Qin Huairu felt dizzy. Banggeng was her lifeblood, but now someone was trying to harm him. How could she not be anxious? She tightly grasped the prescription written by the old doctor. The few lines of scribbled words looked like a spell in her eyes, as if she could grasp Banggeng's life if she grasped it.

"Huai Ru, what should we do? Bang Geng's father passed away early, leaving behind only this one child. If anything happens to him, how can I face his dead father?" Jia Zhang started to cry loudly again. The sound of her cry was so frightening, as if Bang Geng was already dead.

"Cry, cry, cry! You only know how to cry! The most important thing now is to get the medicine quickly, what's the point of you crying here!" Sha Zhu yelled impatiently, but his heart was in a mess. Although he always said that Bang Geng was an ungrateful person, he was the child he had watched grow up after all, and if something really happened to him, he would feel bad.

Qin Huairu wiped her tears, stood up, and said to Sha Zhu: "Sha Zhu, the doctor said that we need to hurry up to take this medicine. Please come with me. I'm afraid I can't do it alone..."

"Okay, I'll go with you." Sha Zhu agreed before Qin Huairu finished speaking. Although he was usually a bit stupid, he still knew what to do at this time.

The two hurried out of the courtyard and headed straight for the nearest medicine store. Along the way, Qin Huairu was restless, and her mind was like a movie, going through the people in the courtyard one by one, but she couldn't figure out who would kill Banggeng.

"Shazhu, do you think we might have made a mistake? Banggeng..." Qin Huairu still held on to a glimmer of hope, hoping that this was just a misunderstanding.

"Don't let your imagination run wild. The doctor said it was poisoning, how could it be false?" Sha Zhu said in a muffled voice, "When Bang Geng wakes up, let's ask him what he ate in the past two days. Then we'll know who did it, right?"

"It can only be done this way..." Qin Huairu sighed, but she felt more and more uneasy. Banggeng was a greedy kid, he would stuff food into his mouth whenever someone gave him something to eat, and it was not certain that she would get any information out of him.

The two bought the medicine and rushed back to the courtyard. As soon as they entered the courtyard, they saw a group of people gathered at the gate of Jia's house, chattering and talking. The scene was as lively as a vegetable market.