A lone straw rain cape amid mist and rain; moss dripped water, and the willow trees shivered in the cold.
Wind leaked through holes in the window paper, carrying damp vapor into the room and chilling the bedding. The family was destitute, with bare walls all around. On the broken bed, a gaunt old man coughed without pause. In the kitchen, a young man was brewing medicine. The rain made the air heavy with moisture, and the smoke would not rise. He fanned the fire with a palm-leaf fan, filling the room with thick, choking smoke.
The wooden door was pushed open from outside, and a doctor carrying a medicine chest hurried in.
The young man tossed aside the fan and led the doctor toward the inner room, speaking as he walked.
"Uncle Niu... my father has been coughing since morning... Please, think of something..."
"I'll do my best..."
Old Doctor Niu wiped the rainwater from his forehead to avoid catching a chill. By the light outside the window, he examined the old man of the Dong family. His face was twisted with misery, and snoring occasionally mixed with his labored breathing. His pulse was weakening, and his flesh felt faintly cold to the touch. It looked as though Old Man Dong's time was near. No medicine or stone could save him.
He called the young man surnamed Dong into the outer room.
"Dong Yong, your father may not have much time left. Make preparations for the funeral."
The young man immediately panicked.
"Uncle Niu... Please save my father... Please, prescribe some medicine..."
"Alas~"
The doctor departed. The cold, fine rain could never finish telling of all the sorrow in the human world.
Noon.
The townsfolk heard mourning cries coming from the ruined Dong Family courtyard. They sighed that life