Chapter 235

She was thin and withered, but her belly was a bit bulging, which made He Lingchuan immediately think of the dead wood stump by the river.

"Are you the shopkeeper?"

When she spoke, her voice was actually much younger than her appearance; He Lingchuan also discovered that her teeth were complete, and she didn't seem as old as she looked.

"You could say that." He spoke the truth. "This storefront was just taken back; it might take some time to reopen."

"What are you selling?" The old lady touched this and flipped through that, not being polite to him at all.

"I don't know yet." He had no energy to manage the shop in the dream, so he would entrust the authorities to recruit tenants and just collect money by the season. "What are you...?"

"I, I collect things." The old woman's eyes roamed through the pile of sundries, high and low; not only was she not dizzy, but she was also very spirited.

For some reason, He Lingchuan felt she was very much like an otter on the riverbed during the dry season. That kind of creature also liked to stay in the pile of sundries it had built with its own hands.

It was just that she was too thin, her eyes were a bit protruding, and they were covered with bloodshot streaks.

"Do you still want these?" The old woman said dryly. "If you don't want them, give them to me, okay?"

"I don't want them; you can take them all."

The old woman immediately bowed to him: "Kind person, kind person, the heavens will surely bless you!"

This was too polite.

He Lingchuan soon saw the old woman get a pushcart from somewhere and park it outside the shop door, and then she went into the shop to move things.

She first hugged a jar away.

This jar was wrapped in a thick layer of yellow mud and dust on the outside, hidden under two stacked tables, and the tables were blocked by a screen; He Lingchuan hadn't noticed it at all when he first counted the things, and he didn't know how the old woman had discovered it.

He couldn't help but ask: "What is this jar used for?"

"Pickled... pickled vegetables."

The jar wasn't big, at most it could hold five or seven jin of wine; any sauce jar He Lingchuan had seen was bigger than it.

"Shall I help you move it?" He was purely out of kindness.

The old woman hugged the jar tighter, as if afraid he would come to snatch it: "No, no!"

Then she moved away two incense burners, a few inkstones, and took away a row of ceramic dolls.

The workmanship of this row of dolls was poor, and He Lingchuan always felt they were staring at people with ill intent. The previous shopkeeper probably felt the same way, so he threw them in the warehouse to be out of sight and out of mind.

The old woman liked them very much and said happily: "This is good, take it back for my son to play with."

He Lingchuan really wanted to ask her how old her son was to still play with this, when there was a sudden clatter outside, and the pushcart was knocked over by someone.

The old woman gave an "ah" and rushed out.

Several things on the pushcart were knocked to the ground, and the jar even rolled a few times.

He Lingchuan saw at a glance that a large piece of mud skin on the outside of the jar had peeled off, revealing the grayish-white and yellowish base inside.

Jars of this color didn't seem common in Panlongcheng? The old woman was also heartbroken; she picked up the jar and turned it twice to check, finding no further damage, and only then did she exhale.

Just at this moment, someone else approached from the side and greeted He Lingchuan.

"Alo?" He Lingchuan was surprised. "Why are you here?"

"Going to the pharmacy ahead to pick up medicine." Alo turned and pointed. "The goods ordered a few days ago only arrived today. Is this your shop?"

"Yes."

"Only coming to organize it today; it seems you are not short of money." This shop would collect money one day earlier if it were rented out one day earlier.

As the two were talking, the old woman stood up.

Perhaps because she had been squatting for too long, she swayed twice as soon as she stood up and almost fell.

Alo helped her by the way.

After the old woman stood steady, she grabbed the pushcart handle and pushed it out.

"Old lady, are you only taking this little bit?" The two took a look; there weren't many things in the pushcart either.

"I can't take much either." The old woman seemed very pragmatic. "Leave the rest to others."

Alo's expression and eyes were a bit strange; he asked the old woman: "Are you okay?"

"Good." The old woman pushed the cart and wanted to leave.

Alo pressed the cart handle: "You are pregnant, you know that, right?"

When these words were spoken, He Lingchuan was truly given a big fright.

Pregnant? This old woman? The old woman was also stunned, but immediately said: "It has nothing to do with you, don't be nosy!"

She looked very angry and was clearly aware of it; Alo had to let go and let her push it away.

Her back soon disappeared around the corner of the street, without looking back the whole time.

He Lingchuan scratched the back of his head: "What did you just say, she is pregnant?"

"Hmm, I felt the pulse, although it was only for a moment."

"Could it be..." a mistake?

But seeing Alo's eyes, He Lingchuan immediately changed his words: "How many months?"

He had seen the old woman's belly slightly protruding before, but many old people had this image, so he didn't think much of it.

Who knew it was so bizarre.

"About four or five months."

The listeners all gasped; it couldn't be seen.

Alo shook his head: "I only know that the pulse is so steady and restless; the fetuses in her belly are so active that there is even a risk of miscarriage, fortunately, they are still strong."

"Fetuses?" He Lingchuan was shocked. "She is pregnant with several?"

"At least two or more." Alo said, "Do you think I'm a god, knowing exactly how many she is pregnant with just by touching her?"

Someone suddenly interjected from the side: "Are you sure? Sister-in-law Ji is pregnant?"

The two turned their heads and saw the owner and his wife of the fur shop next door standing at the shop door, looking incredulous.

"Sure of what?" Alo had a bad temper, especially dissatisfied with others questioning his medical skills. "Believe it or not, forget it."

The shop owner was also kind and apologized hurriedly: "Don't be angry, Military Officer; we just can't imagine it; this matter is too bizarre."

His wife was much more straightforward: "Does Sister-in-law Ji have someone outside? This is truly knowing the face but not the heart."

He Lingchuan dusted off the fragments on the steps: "Old trees sprout new buds, what's wrong with that?"

The shop owner's wife said directly: "She is not too old, only four years older than me, but she has been a widow for many years; after losing her son, she has been talking to gods and demons all day long; I didn't expect she could find another man."

She looked less than forty, so Sister-in-law Ji was only in her early forties, much younger than her appearance.

"Lost her son?" He Lingchuan remembered the row of ceramic dolls Sister-in-law Ji took away. "How many children does she have?"

"Two sons, both died on the battlefield."

Alo lowered his eyes, and He Lingchuan sighed silently.

This was the fate of all the good men in Panlongcheng; it was just that no one knew before it arrived, except for He Lingchuan.

The pain of losing a son, and having to endure it twice—no wonder that old woman was a bit crazy and even said she wanted to take the ceramic dolls back for her son to play with.

As for old trees sprouting new buds, although this matter was a bit bizarre, others had no right to ask.

The shop owner said in a deep voice, "She used to be my neighbor; I could often hear her wailing loudly in the middle of the night. If it were ten days or half a month, everyone would sympathize with her and endure it, but who could stand it after wailing for half a year? She also became more and more confused and even wanted to take away other people's children. Later, the neighbors had to drive her away; I heard she moved to the suburbs."

Alo suddenly said: "How long has it been since you saw her?"

"Uh..." The shop owner and his wife looked at each other. "About three years?"

She had aged so much in three years? After the talk was finished, the shop door returned to calm, the shop owner and his wife next door shrank back, and Alo also said to He Lingchuan: "I'm going to the Martial Arts Hall to sit in the clinic today; are you going?"

"Okay, take me to play around." He Lingchuan locked the shop door behind him and threw the small episode that had just happened to the back of his mind.

Panlongcheng had three martial arts arenas; the Martial Arts Hall was located near the West Gate, with the largest area and the most people usually.

This was a place for heroes to exchange skills; to put it nicely, it was to make friends through martial arts; to put it practically, there is no second place in martial arts.

He Lingchuan had been practicing hard for several months, day and night without stopping; it could be said that the effort he put in was three or four times that of ordinary people, and of course, he also wanted to test his recent achievements in the martial arts arena.

The predecessor of the Martial Arts Hall was a horse farm, which was still in the suburbs at the time; later, Panlongcheng expanded outward and soon wrapped it in. So this piece of land was destined to be large and empty, but Panlongcheng built high walls to surround it, and only one-fifth of the territory was exposed to the public view.

The signboard of the Martial Arts Hall was very large, and the three characters were written in a flying dragon and dancing phoenix style, with the small characters at the bottom signed by Zhong Shengguang.

It turned out to be the inscription of Commander Zhong himself.

However, He Lingchuan had little experience and was seeing a signboard with black characters on a white background for the first time; ah this, it was truly solemn.

Alo took him inside, and the guards checked the two people's badges before letting them pass.

This place was not open to the public; only soldiers registered in Panlongcheng could enter.

As soon as he walked in, He Lingchuan felt even more that this place was huge. He knew that the Martial Arts Hall was actually divided into the north and south courtyards by the wooden building in the middle; the one near the gate was the South Courtyard, facing the soldiers and patrol guards of Panlongcheng, with a total of five venues; the North Courtyard was only open to the Great Wind Army, and the people in the South Courtyard could only look north across the fence, secretly envious in their hearts.

The wooden building was a two-story small building separating the two courtyards, providing logistical support for martial artists; here, one could rest, sharpen weapons, change equipment, and there were special doctors sitting in the clinic to prepare for the unexpected.

Alo was here to take over as the clinic doctor; he lacked money.

Now there were dozens of people in the South Courtyard; the edge of the martial arts practice field could be used for individual practice, but the center of the field had to be cleared for duels. He Lingchuan saw six people entangled in pairs, the knives and swords in their hands were all wooden, with red powder smeared on the blades.

People who were hit would leave red marks on their bodies. If both sides fought to the end without a substantial knockdown, the competition would be decided by the number and location of red marks on each person's body.

He Lingchuan's gaze turned again, and he actually discovered a familiar face:

Skinny.

This guy was waving a dozen slips of paper, standing by a duel, shouting at the top of his lungs.

But he didn't stand out at all, because the cheering of the onlookers was overwhelming!

With a bang, the contestant in the field was smashed to the ground by a shield.

A burst of boos suddenly erupted from the side; some people left dejectedly, and some were shouting for Skinny to pay up: "I won, I won, pay up quickly!"

This money could never be owed; Skinny turned around, blocking left and right, blocking all the hands reaching out from behind, while grabbing the charcoal stick to cross out the slips of paper: "Don't rush, don't rush, one by one!"

(End of chapter)