Chapter 594: System for Rising in the World via Imperial Examinations (3)

【Host, are you ready? Song Yanqing is really about to wake up!】

"If he wakes up, he wakes up."

Xie Yang calmed down to think; it was better to visit while the person was conscious.

Although it was all about throwing Silver at the problem, it wouldn't wash away the suspicion of "looting a burning house," but speaking openly was better than a blind marriage.

If he truly refused, she wouldn't force him. Otherwise, wouldn't she be no different from a bandit forcibly seizing a common woman? At worst, she would think of another way. In any case, he couldn't leave Qinghe Village for a short time.

Having reached this point, Xie Yang was actually no longer in a rush.

She had just been thrown off her rhythm by the damn System, and her reason had run away from home.

"Eh? System, did you see that? Why are the Fish and Shrimp in the river all coming here?"

Xie Yang was squatting under the shade of a tree drying her hair, and she discovered that the patch of water where she had bathed was now gathering quite a few small Fish and Shrimp.

Could she not know how foul the toxins excreted after taking the Physical Fitness Potion were? That was a potency capable of making a group of three-to-five-year-old children vomit on the spot. Yet these Fish and Shrimp were not afraid, did not flee, and were actually actively drawing near?

Wait!

Could it be the temptation of that bit of Spirit Spring in the shampoo she used to wash her hair and bathe?

Xie Yang felt she had hit the truth.

But there was no time to experiment; the Main System began urging her again:

【Host, are you ready? By the way, Host, is it mandatory to hire a matchmaker when proposing marriage on an ancient plane?】

Xie Yang: "..."

Where on earth does this damn System usually go to gossip? It understands no less than she, a native of Earth.

【But it doesn't matter, there are matchmakers in Qinghe Village too. Host, do you see that big locust tree ahead? This is the entrance to Qinghe Village. The matchmaker's house is not far from the entrance, go straight ahead... Yes! Turn here, the fourth house is it!】

【Eh, Host, why aren't you turning? Not hiring a matchmaker first? Fine then! The Song family is near the end of the village, keep going straight for five or six hundred meters, the third house from the bridge foot is it! Charge, Host! There really isn't much time left for you!】

"..."

"Mother! Mother! Your son begs you! Please hire a doctor for Yanqing! Your son will definitely find a way to repay you for the consultation fee!"

Song Zhisheng braced his hands on the edge of the bed, using force to prop up his waist, which had no strength left, bitterly begging Wang Shi, who stood at the doorway with her hands on her hips, lecturing their family.

He was a cripple; living was just a waste of rice and grain, it would be better to just die and be done with it.

But before dying, he had to do something for his son!

His son was only fifteen years old! When his father was alive, he always praised him as being cut out for studying. If it weren't for his injury two years ago, which caused his son to miss that year's Imperial Examination, dragging it out until this year—if this accident hadn't happened, he would have sat for the exam at the end of August. Even the village head had praised him more than once, saying that with his talent, as long as he responded calmly, he would definitely be able to earn the title of Cultivated Talent.

It was all his own fault!

The heat had caused him to break out in bedsores, painful and itchy beyond endurance. His son felt bad for him, his father, and went up the mountain on his day off to dig for Honeysuckle. Unexpectedly, a heavy rain fell, the mountain path was slippery, and not only did he break his leg, but he had also been unconscious for three days.

At this moment, Song Zhisheng hated his useless self to death.

One after another, he had caused his son to miss the Imperial Examination and delayed his academic career! He really deserved to die!

"A doctor? Didn't I find one for him the day he fell? It even cost me thirty Copper coins! He didn't cure a thing and still charged thirty wen; you couldn't beat me to death and make me find that quack again!"

Wang Shi spat a mouthful of saliva and, with her hands on her hips, cursed meanly:

"I really don't know what debt I owed in my past life to give birth to a piece of trash like you! All day long you only know how to drag the family down. Even after the family split, you still want to borrow money from me. If I lend it to you, what will you use to pay it back? With the way you're a piece of trash right now, even if you went to town to beg, no one would pay you any mind..."

"Mother! Your daughter-in-law kowtows to you! I beg you to save Yanqing! He hasn't woken up yet, and his leg is injured like that; if you don't look after him, he'll lose his life! I beg Mother to treat Yanqing's injury first; can the consultation fee and medicine costs be repaid by your daughter-in-law doing embroidery work later? I beg you..."

Lin Shi knelt on the ground, kowtowing while begging.

Nine-year-old Song Jinzhi also knelt down, crying while kowtowing.

Seeing the mother and daughter's foreheads bruised and broken, Wang Shi remained unmoved, even sneering:

"Kowtow then! Kowtow until you're dead and see if bright white Silver falls from the sky! In any case, I won't pay a single wen for you! Didn't you hear that quack? Even if that leg is set, there's no guarantee he won't be left with a limp. If he's a cripple, he's as good as finished; even if he passes the exam, he can't be an official. It's an obvious waste of money, how stupid would I have to be to pay Silver to treat him! You say it nicely, that you'll repay it by doing embroidery work, but look at this trash Lao San—how many monkey years and horse months will it take to pay back dozens of taels? I won't lend it!"

At this moment, Song Zhisheng's heart was completely chilled; his heart felt as cold as if it were soaked in the frozen river water of the twelfth lunar month.

Think of how he was once the strong laborer of the family, working the fields during the busy farming season and going up the mountain during the slack season, almost never stopping from the beginning of the year to the end. The Silver he earned for the family, if not a hundred taels, was at least eighty or a hundred. Now, just to hire a doctor to treat his son's leg, it was actually this difficult.

He was truly unwilling to accept this!

"Mother, if you don't treat him, he's truly finished! If you treat him, maybe he can recover!"

"Fart! Do you think I haven't asked around? Your eldest sister already helped me ask around in town; the doctor at Ren'an Hall said that the kneecap position is hard to treat, and even if it's set, he'll basically be left with a limp!"

"Thump—"

"Father!"

"Husband!"

Lin Shi lunged over to support Song Zhisheng, who had fallen off the bed.

Song Jinzhi felt the pain for her father just by looking, crying until snot and tears fell together.

Song Zhisheng was sweating profusely from the pain, but he couldn't attend to his own waist injury, struggling to crawl toward the door: "Mother! Your son begs you! As long as Mother hires a doctor to treat Yanqing's injury, our third branch will move to the woodshed, and this Ear Room is yours to do with as you please!"

Wang Shi curled her lips: "Do you think I'm stupid? Dozens of taels could build several Main Rooms."

After saying this, she wiggled her bottom and went back to her room on her own.

"Husband! How are you?"

Lin Shi was so anxious she didn't know what to do.

Neither she nor her daughter had much strength, and they had no way to help a grown man with no strength left up from the floor to the bed.

"Do you need my help?"

Xie Yang knocked twice on the wide-open door as a gesture, then strode in, squatted down, and hoisted Song Zhisheng up.

That's right, it was the kind of lift with her arms kept straight, trying her best not to let other parts touch the other person, and then she delivered the man to the bed.

Song Zhisheng: "..."

Lin Shi: "..."

Song Jinzhi: "..."

It could be said that, apart from the coma... no, that's not right; the moment Xie Yang strode into the room and lifted him onto the bed, Song Yanqing had already awakened from his coma.

In his mind, a voice was still ringing, one sufficient to shatter his worldview:

【Host, hurry up and accept the Task! Three Successive Firsts and Highest Official Rank are just around the corner!】

"..."

What "just around the corner"?

Given his current situation, he couldn't even leave this room.

【The Host can allow their consciousness to enter the System Library to study; reading and transcribing books daily will earn corresponding points, and once enough points are saved, you can exchange them for a potion to heal your broken legs.】

Song Yanqing asked in his heart: How long will it take? Is there a potion to heal a waist injury?

【Yes, yes, yes! There is everything! As long as the Host unlocks various Tasks, you can obtain corresponding points, and with enough points, you can exchange for the potions the Host desires. Besides potions, this System also has many useful items! Come on, Host! Begin your path of imperial examination advancement! Oh yeah!】

"..."