After Su Mu left, he checked the train tickets and booked one home for the next day.
Given the timing, he would still have time tomorrow to stop by the pharmacy and pick up some more medicinal herbs to take back with him.
The next day, Su Mu got up, washed, and casually stuffed his clothes into his backpack. He first went to the pharmacy to get enough herbs for ten doses before heading to the station.
Three hours later, Su Mu arrived safely in his hometown, though he still needed to change buses. Making a trip home was quite a hassle.
As he neared home, Su Mu stopped in the small county town to buy some fruit and vegetables before changing buses again for the last leg home.
When the houses back home came into view one after another, that utterly familiar feeling instantly filled his heart.
His parents were not home; they had probably gone up into the hills to work the fields. Su Mu had a key, and after letting himself in, he put away everything he had brought.
Then Su Mu began brewing the medicinal decoction while lighting the stove to cook dinner.
As the sky gradually darkened, the voices of villagers sounded outside. The neighbors were all coming back from the hills.
"Huh? Why is our front door open? Has a thief broken in?"
Su Mu's mother froze for a moment at the sight of the open door, then hurried inside.
Even rural homes were not spared by thieves, so she always locked the door before going out, terrified that one might pay them a visit.
"Mom, it's me."
Hearing her, Su Mu immediately called back.
"Oh, why are you back? You should have called to let us know."
At the sound of Su Mu's voice, his mother instantly became especially happy. By the time she reached the kitchen and saw him, her face was already beaming.
"What are you stewing? Why does it smell so strongly of medicine? Are you sick? Taking medicine?"
His mother turned to look, and the moment she spotted the medicinal herbs beside him, she grew nervous.
Su Mu's father was already practically a medicine jar. They could not have another sick person now. If that happened, this family would collapse completely.
Su Mu hurriedly shook his head. "No, Mom. A while ago, I met a very skilled old Chinese medicine doctor. A colleague introduced me to him. Since Dad still hasn't recovered, I asked the doctor for some herbs to bring back and brew for him."
As he spoke, Su Mu glanced back but saw no sign of his father. Puzzled, he asked, "Where's Dad?"
"Oh, he's a little way behind. He's carrying wood on his back, so he's walking more slowly."
Su Mu frowned. "With his health the way it is, the doctor's already told him to do less physical work. Why won't he listen?"
As he spoke, Su Mu hurried out the door. Rounding a bend on the path uphill, he immediately spotted a familiar figure carrying a load of wood much taller and bulkier than himself, making his way down the hill little by little.
The sight left Su Mu with a bitter feeling inside, and he hurried forward to take the load from him.
"Oh, why are you back?"
At first, Su Mu's father paused when he sensed someone beside him. Then he looked up, realized it was Su Mu, and froze.
"Don't you have work? Why have you come back?"
Su Mu spent most of the year away and generally only came home for the New Year. His sudden return now caught his father rather off guard.
"I recently closed a big deal, so the company gave me some annual leave."
Su Mu smiled back, then shouldered the wood and started downhill.
"Hey, you can't carry that wood. Let me do it!"
Seeing this, his father hurried forward to help. Ever since his son went to university, he had not done any physical labor out there. How could he possibly carry this wood?
But a moment later, seeing Su Mu lift the firewood onto his shoulder with ease, he was briefly taken aback.
"I exercise regularly out there too. I can carry it."
As he spoke, Su Mu strode downhill. He was quite pleased with how much his strength had increased after he began cultivating.
Otherwise, never mind anything else, he really would not have been able to carry this bundle of wood. It had not been dried, and even a single piece was extremely heavy. Bundled together, it weighed far more.
Once a bundle like this was carried down, someone would come to collect it. Each bundle could sell for around thirty or forty yuan.
Watching Su Mu carry it downhill with ease, his father could not help smiling and followed behind him.
The couple stayed home year-round and only saw their child a few times a year. Now that he was back, they were naturally delighted.
After Su Mu unloaded the wood, father and son went back inside.
"Dad, I brewed some Chinese medicine especially for you. It's really good for your health. Hurry and drink it."
Su Mu was a little impatient. On the way back just now, he had heard his father cough several times.
His health was clearly already in terrible shape, yet he still insisted on putting on a brave front and doing that physical labor.
"What medicine is this?"
His father eyed the medicine with some misgivings.
"Our son went to an old Chinese medicine doctor especially to get it. Hurry and drink it. It's not as if our son would deceive you."
Hearing this from the side, Su Mu's mother urged him to drink. At home, she would often stew an old hen with some medicinal herbs or something similar to nourish father and son.
Since this was only Chinese medicine, she did not think it would do anyone harm.
Besides, her own son had brewed it, so she was even less inclined to think there was anything wrong with it.
Hearing that, his father thought she had a point. He picked up the bowl of decoction beside him and blew on it. Once he felt the temperature was about right, he downed it in one gulp.
Su Mu immediately smiled at the sight. Next, he would see how well it worked, then brew a few more doses, and that would do.
At dinner, the three sat at the table to eat.
"Son, have you found a girlfriend out there? Are you really no longer in touch with your previous girlfriend?"
His mother was still rather concerned about this.
Although Su Mu had been urged countless times, he still took a fairly easygoing view of such things. "Mom, I don't have a house or a car. What do I have to get a girlfriend with? What do I have to get married with?"
He knew his parents wanted him to marry soon, but given his current situation, Su Mu had no thoughts of that at all.
"You don't need to worry about a house. Your dad and I can still work, and we've put aside some savings for you. When you get married, we can also help borrow some money for the bride price. As long as you get married, we'll find a way to get everything arranged for you."
"Your dad and I can still work. If you have a child now, we can help look after it too, can't we?"
The two of them began going on and on, feeling quite anxious about it.
"Mom, Dad, if your son has the means, then I'll get married. If I don't, I won't. You should spend more time enjoying yourselves instead of wearing yourselves out. If you work yourselves sick and end up in the hospital, that'll be another huge expense, won't it?"
Su Mu tried to persuade them. Every time he came home, he wanted to convince his parents to stop working so hard.
But every attempt did little good. They would listen, then carry on just the same the next day.