Qing Lin's Mother

Before long, they arrived at the end of the narrow alley.

Su Zhao and Little Doctor looked at the sight before them, unable to speak for a moment.

It could not even be called a "home."

Several crooked wooden planks and discarded bamboo mats had been pieced together to barely form a shack capable of keeping out the wind and rain. A few layers of tattered oilcloth covered the roof, their edges worn ragged by the wind and sand.

The shack leaned crookedly against an earthen wall, surrounded by discarded junk and scraps. The air was thick with a damp, moldy smell.

It was difficult to imagine that a little girl under ten and a mother bedridden with grave illness lived in such a place.

Qing Lin stood at the entrance of the shack, nervously twisting her fingers together. Her voice was soft. "Big Brother, Big Sister... my home is a little small..."

Su Zhao came back to his senses, rubbed her little head, and smiled. "Don't worry. Come on, let's go in and see how your mother is doing first."

The three of them pushed open the door made of scrap wood and bent down to enter.

There was only one room inside, so cramped that one could barely turn around. The floor was packed earth, uneven beneath their feet, and a dilapidated wooden bed stood at the very back.

At that moment, a woman lay stretched out on the bed. A thin, worn blanket covered her, and her body showed almost no rise or fall beneath it.

Her breathing was extremely faint. Her cheeks were deeply sunken, her cheekbones protruded sharply, and her skin had an unhealthy waxy yellow hue.

Her hair was dry and sparse, scattered across the pillow. She was like a withered leaf, as though a gust of wind could scatter her away.

"Mother!"

Qing Lin hurried over, crouched beside the bed, and gently held the woman's hand.

"How are you? Mother, I bought the medicine and came back!"

After a pause, she added urgently, "And there's a big brother and big sister with me. They said they're a physician and an alchemist. They came to treat you!"

The woman on the bed struggled to open her eyelids a sliver. A gentle smile barely surfaced in her clouded eyes, and her voice was so faint it was nearly inaudible. "Qing Lin... you're back..."

She laboriously turned her head and saw Su Zhao and Little Doctor standing by the door. A trace of apology flashed through her eyes. "We have guests... Quick, quickly bring two chairs for them..."

Qing Lin's mother wanted to get up and receive them herself, but she was far too weak. She did not even have the strength to raise her hand.

At once, Qing Lin went to the corner and brought over two shabby wooden stools. She wiped the dust from them with her sleeve and placed them before Su Zhao and Little Doctor.

Su Zhao waved his hand and stepped forward, crouching beside the bed. His tone was gentle. "It's all right, don't trouble yourself. Let me examine your mother first."

He looked at the woman on the bed and said softly, "Excuse me."

Then he reached out and lightly placed his fingers on her wrist.

The moment he touched her, Su Zhao frowned.

That wrist was simply too thin. Its skin was so fragile that he could practically feel the contours of her bones directly, like a dry branch wrapped in a layer of paper.

The sensation beneath his fingertips made his heart sink slightly.

He sent a thread of soul force into her body and examined her carefully. What he found was a scene of utter devastation.

Qing Lin's mother's meridians were dried up and withered, her vital blood and energy utterly depleted, and her internal organs had all declined to varying degrees.

It was not that she had contracted any serious illness. Rather, long-term malnutrition and severe bodily depletion had left her like a water jug full of holes, leaking until it was nearly empty, with every part of her body on the verge of collapse.

Fortunately, they had arrived in time.

Had they come another half year later, even with his alchemical skills, he likely would have been powerless to save her.

Su Zhao withdrew his hand, rose to his feet, and looked at the little girl beside him, who was so anxious she was nearly crying. He gave her a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, your mother will be fine. She has merely suffered severe bodily depletion from long-term malnutrition. As long as I refine a medicinal pill and nurse her back to health, she will recover."

"Really? That's wonderful!"

Qing Lin's eyes immediately lit up, and an incomparably radiant smile bloomed across her grimy little face.

For more than half a month, she had not seen her mother sit up properly. Every night, hearing her mother's suppressed coughing, she would curl up beneath her blanket and secretly shed tears.

Now that Big Brother had said her mother could recover, the great weight in her heart finally fell away.

Little Doctor also stepped forward and took Qing Lin's mother's pulse. A moment later, she frowned slightly. By her medical judgment, this body had already been depleted to the point where its lamp was running out of oil. Ordinary medicines could not possibly save her.

But since Su Zhao said he had a way, then he surely did. After all, Su Zhao was an alchemist, while she was merely a physician. The difference between them could not be compared.

Su Zhao stood and looked around the small, dilapidated shack. "All right. If she is to be treated properly, she definitely cannot stay here. Qing Lin, you and your mother should move to the courtyard where Little Doctor and I are staying."

"Ah? How could that be?"

Qing Lin waved her hands in panic.

"How could we trouble Big Brother and Big Sister..."

Su Zhao smiled, crouched down until he was level with her, and gently rubbed her little head. "Don't worry, it's no trouble. If you truly feel bad about it, then help us clean the courtyard and do some chores. Little Doctor and I aren't good at those things anyway."

Little Doctor stuck out her tongue at the side. She knew Su Zhao was deliberately using household chores as an excuse because he feared Qing Lin and her mother would be unwilling to accept help for nothing.

In the end, Qing Lin's mother spoke weakly from the bed. Though gravely ill, she was a sensible woman and understood that this was the kindness of the two good-hearted people before her.

She instructed Qing Lin to remember this kindness and repay it someday.

With the matter settled, Su Zhao hired several laborers that very day and moved Qing Lin and her mother into the courtyard he had newly purchased.

The courtyard was spacious and bright, with a main house and side rooms all fully furnished. It was more than a hundred times better than that broken-down shack.

There was more than enough room for two additional people.

On the very first night after moving in, Little Doctor prepared some nourishing medicinal soup for Qing Lin's mother. She simmered it slowly over low heat for half an hour, then brought it to the bedside for Qing Lin to feed her spoonful by spoonful.

Qing Lin was truly sensible. After settling her mother in, she voluntarily picked up a broom and diligently cleaned the entire courtyard inside and out, not even overlooking the dust in the cracks by the walls.

Su Zhao gave the two of them a few instructions, telling them to settle in without worry. Then he went directly into his own room to begin refining pills.

Qing Lin's mother could not hold on much longer. The pill had to be refined sooner rather than later.

He would begin the refinement tonight. Once the pill was completed and she spent another month or so recuperating, she should recover.

The pill he intended to refine this time was a fourth-grade Spirit Recovery Pill, primarily used for healing and recovery, with an extremely mild medicinal nature.

Qing Lin's mother was not a Fighter, but even if this pill was not used to treat injuries, it could still nourish the body and replenish its deficiencies.

With the Spirit Recovery Pill restoring her foundation, along with a number of second- and third-grade warming and nourishing pills to slowly nurse her back to health, she should make a full recovery within a month.

Su Zhao sat cross-legged in his room and took out the newly acquired Azure Fire Cauldron, placing it before him.

He closed his eyes and adjusted his breathing for a while. Only after his mind had fully calmed did he open his eyes again.

With a lift of his hand, the Myriad Beast Spirit Flame emerged at his command. Crimson flames surged into the bottom of the cauldron, slowly preheating the entire medicinal furnace.