Chapter 112: A Real Pain for Dad

Doctor Gu's home, Young Madam Song looked at the mess all over the ground and couldn't help wiping her tears.

"These damned bastards are trying to drive us to death, wuwuwu..."

Gu Fusheng fell to his knees with a thud, grabbed his father's thigh, lifted his head and begged: "Father, father, save me! I don't want my leg chopped off; without legs I can't walk—I might even lose my life. Father, I am the Gu family's sole heir! Think of a way, save your son!"

"Save you? What do I have to save you with?"

Doctor Gu really wanted to give him a beating, his hand raised halfway but he couldn't bring himself to strike, "One hundred taels—even if we sold the whole family into indentured labor we couldn't get that much money, what are we supposed to do, Dad?"

Gu Fusheng wailed as if he had lost his parents, crying louder and louder.

Young Madam Song felt sorry for her son, came over and said, "If we really can't manage, let's sell the land; adding what we have on hand, we could scrape together seventy or eighty taels. As for the rest, we could go ask my elder sister—after all, Fusheng is her son-in-law; she couldn't just watch her daughter spend the rest of her life as a widow, could she?"

Her elder sister, Elder Madam Song, had only one daughter, Zhu Niang, who was a simpleton but had been doted on since childhood.

Elder Madam Song would certainly not allow Zhu Niang to spend her life with a good-for-nothing.

Doctor Gu sighed, "Now that it's come to this, we can only do this for now."

As long as the green hills remain, we need not fear running out of firewood.

Although the money and land are gone and we're piled in debt, I still have my medical skills; these external possessions will eventually be earned back.

"Enough kneeling, hurry up and take your wife to your mother-in-law's to borrow some silver!" Doctor Gu kicked his son and said irritably.

Gu Fusheng answered loudly, then scrambled to his feet and rushed into the room to find his silly wife.

Went at noon, returned in the evening.

When they went, there were two of them; when they returned, only Gu Fusheng remained, his face bruised and swollen.

"How did it go? Did your mother-in-law agree to lend the money?" Young Madam Song hurriedly pulled her son and asked.

Gu Fusheng burst into tears: "They, they heard I went gambling to avoid Zhu Niang, so they not only refused to lend, they beat me and said I deserved it."

Young Madam Song: "..."

This stupid son, blurting out the truth like that—now we've not only failed to borrow money but also gotten a beating.

Her nephew is no pushover, each as stubborn as a bull, and he doesn't know his own strength.

Young Madam Song had no choice but to call her husband to tend to her son's wounds.

Fortunately, no bones or tendons were injured.

But the money matter remained unsettled; the three of them sat on the doorstep, all worrying.

The gambling house gave only a two-day deadline; if the debt isn't paid, Fusheng will lose his leg, and the family's land and house deeds will be seized as collateral.

By then they'll only be able to sleep on the streets, becoming beggars.

Doctor Gu frowned, hands behind his back, pacing the yard several times, finally gritting his teeth.

With no way out, we have no choice but to take desperate measures!

"Fusheng, come out with Father tonight." He said to his son.

Gu Fusheng snapped his eyes open, looking terrified: "Father, are we going to dig up corpses at the Bone Pavilion again? I—I don't dare..."

"Besides gambling, what else do you dare do?" Doctor Gu, his teeth grinding with anger, grabbed a medicine sieve from the shelf and threw it at his son's forehead: "If anything happens to me, it's all your fault, you bastard!"

Good-for-nothing thing, a real pain for Dad, humph.

That night, father and son took a small hoe, brought two cloth bags, and left.

Just a few days after Mid-Autumn, the moon was still full, its light pouring down like water, bringing a chill.

The two sneaked along, dodging villagers' dogs, and arrived at the sandy patches behind the hills.

Doctor Gu threw the bags down, lowered his head, took out the small hoe, and prepared to dig.

"Father, we stole medicinal herbs from the Second Branch of the Jiang Family—won't Jiang Li catch us?" Gu Fusheng couldn't help asking.

Jiang Li is a constable captain; if he pursued this, our father and son wouldn't even match a single finger of his.

"You little brat, now you're scared?" Doctor Gu gave his son a glance—though his son couldn't see it in the dark—"Don't worry, Jiang Li can't touch us; he's got a bunch of big cases waiting to be solved, he doesn't even have time to take a dump, let alone bother with us."

Gu Fusheng also lay on the ground like his father, feeling for the Ghost Supervisor's roots, "But Father, the big cases belong to others; these medicinal herbs are his family's own."

As for his own cases, he'll certainly be more attentive.

Doctor Gu snorted, his tone tinged with smugness, "That's the reasoning, too bad his wife, the Du Clan, is a fool. I told her what grows here are ordinary crops, worth hardly anything, she believed it and even thought of sending them to the county magistrate as food—how ridiculous is that?"

Gu Fusheng laughed loudly, "Truly hilarious, treating precious medicinal herbs as food—only she could come up with that."

"That's right," Doctor Gu snorted coldly, "So rest easy—even if the Ghost Supervisor is lost, the Du Clan will just think a few sweet potatoes are missing and won't report it to the authorities."

Who would go to the Ya Men over a few sweet potatoes? The county magistrate is swamped with work; he'd probably kick her out in anger before she even finished speaking.

Saying this to remind his son, "Be careful, this thing is valuable—don't break it."

"Got it, I'll tend to them as carefully as I would my father!"

"..."

To avoid damaging them, father and son dug with extreme care, but since the Ghost Supervisor's roots aren't deep and the soil is sandy, they soon filled an entire bag.

Doctor Gu straightened his back, calculating in his mind.

Should we leave half for the Second Branch of the Jiang Family, or take it all?

Forget it, better to dig it all up—otherwise the Du Clan, who doesn't know its value, would ruin it.

Besides, why does the Du Clan always oppose me? If Jiang Cheng had just obediently married Zhu Niang back then, none of this would have happened.

These Ghost Supervisors can be considered compensation from the Second Branch of the Jiang Family for my losses.

Thinking this, Doctor Gu felt more at ease, "Fusheng, don't forget to wipe away these footprints later."

"Ah, got it, Father."