Smiling Under Lanter Chapter 115 - 69 Mother and Child2

Chapter 115: Chapter 69 Mother and Child_2

Wu Youcai lifted his head.

Darke clouds pressed the sky into a dim, black heaviness, the mourning hall was desolate and bleak, paper money fluttered like snow in the courtyard, and the sound of soone’s footsteps approached slowly, unhurried and steady.

The woman was wrapped in a plain white gown, with the wild wind billowing her skirt, but the frost-colored silk flower by her temple was as pristine as suet, in the flickering candlelight of the crumbling mourning hall, amid the fluttering paper money, her face gradually appeared, like a fleeting ghostly dream, seemingly illusionary yet real.

Wu Youcai gazed blankly at the woman before him, thinking, "Why is she also wearing mourning clothes?"

The woman stopped in front of him, her eyes downcast as she looked at him: "Young Master Wu."

Wu Youcai suddenly snapped back to reality.

"Doctor Lu?"

The visitor was Lu Tong, the Resident Doctor of Renxin dical Hall.

He shivered, quickly stood up, and asked, "Doctor Lu, what brings you here?"

Since his mother had passed away, he was in a daze, and only now did he rember that he hadn’t seen Lu Tong for a while.

Wu Youcai was extrely grateful to this Doctor Lu. Previously, Doctor Lu had treated his mother, saving her from the brink of the Ghost Gate, and later on had regularly sent Miss Yin Zheng to deliver dicinal herbs for his mother.

Wu Youcai knew that the ager sum he provided for the dicine was far less than what Lu Tong had sent him. Unable to repay her, he could only keep his gratitude hidden in his heart.

Lu Tong placed a bundle wrapped in white cloth into Wu Youcai’s hands.

Wu Youcai hesitated, "Doctor Lu, I can’t..."

But Lu Tong had already walked into the mourning hall and squatted down in front of the burning brazier, picking up so yellow paper to feed the flas.

Wu Youcai was taken aback.

As the daylight dimd, the lamps inside the mourning hall glowed brightly, her white clothes spotlessly pure, and the flower in her hair like snow. In this gloomy and overcast day, she resembled a ghostly bride erging from a grave, youthful and beautiful, yet frail and ice-cold.

Wu Youcai felt a chill for no clear reason.

Lu Tong asked, "Are you going to sit the autumn imperial examination on the first of next month?"

Wu Youcai was montarily startled, then answered, "Yes, I am."

He followed suit and squatted down in front of the brazier, burning paper money with Lu Tong. The living do not know if the dead can actually receive this money, but it’s still a sentint to hold on to.

Wu Youcai said, "It’s just a pity that mother won’t see it..."

In past years, every ti he returned ho from the examination hall, his mother would be waiting for him. But this year, he was alone. When he’d co back after the examination, no light would shine through the windows of his ho, and when he’d push open the door, he would no longer see his mother sewing under the lamp.

As he was imrsed in grief, he suddenly heard Lu Tong speak, "Actually, this is a good thing."

Wu Youcai looked up, not understanding what she ant by that.

"Even if you sit the examination this year, you won’t pass. Instead of letting her be disappointed again, it’s better that she left with hope. Isn’t that a good thing for her?"

The woman’s tone was as pleasing as ever, but the words she uttered were uncharacteristically cutting compared to her usual manner.

Wu Youcai was stunned for a good while before he understood the sarcasm in her words. He looked angrily at Lu Tong, his face turning bright red.

"You!"

"Are you angry?" said Lu Tong with a faint smile, adding another piece of paper money to the brazier, "Did you know, your mother’s illness was not incurable if treated a few years earlier, she could have lived for many more years."

"What a pity, it was neglected."

Wu Youcai’s face suddenly turned deathly pale.

Of course, he knew.

When his mother first felt unwell, she did not tell him. She was solely focused on the fresh fish market, hoping to sell a few more fish each day to save for his books and ink, unwilling to let it interfere with the business of her fish stall.

Eventually, as the discomfort worsened, she secretly visited a doctor without telling Wu Youcai. The doctor told Mother Wu that she needed to rest and be carefully treated with expensive dicinal ingredients, but Mother Wu was reluctant to spend the money and worried about losing business at the fish stall, so she endured the pain.

It was only when she could no longer hide her illness that she finally told Wu Youcai. By the ti he took her to see a doctor again, it was too late. Rest and dication were not enough to cure her anymore.

The woman in front of him continued to speak, each word stabbing into his heart, "Her illness could have been cured easily with nourishing herbs and rest identified early on, but she missed the chance because she didn’t want to interrupt your studies and affect your opportunity for fa and success."

"It was you who delayed her."

A clap of thunder suddenly sounded in the distance.

Wu Youcai covered his face, a low moan of pain escaping from his throat.

He murmured, "It’s , it’s my fault... I’m worthless, I have no talent..."

If it weren’t for him, if he had not been the reason, how could his mother have sacrificed so much! All his life he eagerly sought fa and recognition, believing himself to be undiscovered talent when in truth he was just unwilling to admit his diocrity, accomplishing nothing!