The Fearless Husband - Chapter 6

Chapter 6 — Is His Brain Working Properly…?

Fang Shu’s face flushed a deep red, and even Yu Qinglong felt somewhat uncomfortable under that gaze.

In modern times, this would’ve been such an ordinary matter. But here—it was different. The way Fang Shu looked at him just now felt as though something had happened between them, a blend of despair and guilty panic flickering in his eyes.

Yu Qinglong said, “Then, Doctor Mo, please tend to his treatment first. I’ll wait outside. If you need help with anything, just call me. And if you have any medical books I could borrow, that would be even better.”

“Eh?” Doctor Mo frowned. “You can read?”

“I can’t,” Yu Qinglong admitted. “But I can learn slowly.”

“That’s not something you can learn in a few days,” Doctor Mo replied. “And do you think learning medicine is easy?”

You had to go up mountains to gather herbs, learn to identify them, study theory, develop strength for massage and acupuncture, and know how to write prescriptions…

To become a skilled doctor required an enormous amount of learning.

But Yu Qinglong had already prepared himself. He’d been through the “age of insane academic competition” back in modern times. Back then, he had studied day and night to enter his dream university—hard work didn’t scare him.

“Doctor Mo—Master,” he said with resolve, “I’m not afraid of hardship. Please, just give me a chance. I truly want to learn medicine from you. I’ve decided—if you don’t accept me today, I’ll come again tomorrow. If not tomorrow, the day after. If not in a day, then ten days. If not in ten, then a hundred.”

“You’ve become so stubborn all of a sudden! I already told you—I don’t take apprentices.”

“But if you don’t take me, I’ll have no way to live!”

“What nonsense is that?”

“People have to have something to look forward to,” Yu Qinglong said earnestly. “You know what kind of life I have right now. If I don’t have something to do, I’ll just keep wanting to walk into the river.”

“Child! What kind of foolish talk is that?!”

“It’s not foolish,” he said solemnly. “Master, I can’t get married anyway. But I don’t want to spend my life being a burden to my fathers. Because of me, my second brother’s marriage is being delayed—since the Bai family heard about my broken engagement, they don’t want their ge’er to marry my brother anymore. They’re all dragged down because of me. But I don’t want that. Please, let me study medicine. At least that way I’ll be useful, and maybe people will stop looking down on my family. Otherwise—if no one wants me, and I only make life harder for those I love—then what’s the point of living? I might as well be dead.”

Doctor Mo: “……”

Fang Shu: “……” This guy sure knows how to lie. Yesterday he was still trying to catch fish in the river, and now he’s talking about dying?

“Master,” Yu Qinglong said again, “please, have mercy.”

Doctor Mo sighed deeply. “Qinglong Ge’er, I know you’re struggling, but I have my difficulties too.”

“Then—don’t take me as a disciple,” Yu Qinglong suggested desperately. “Let me be your adopted son instead! Would that work?”

“That’s even more absurd! I’m old enough to be your grandfather—how could that possibly be appropriate? Enough! I told you, I won’t take any apprentices!” Doctor Mo’s tone hardened. “Go home now. You’re an unmarried ge’er, don’t wander around alone. I still have a patient—what does it look like with you standing here?”

“He can see his doctor, and I’ll keep begging my master. At worst, I’ll just wait outside,” Yu Qinglong muttered, throwing Fang Shu another pointed glare before heading out.

In the courtyard, Doctor Mo’s daughter was laying out freshly steamed herbs on bamboo mats to dry. Seeing her, Yu Qinglong walked over. “Big Sister, can I help you with anything?”

Mo Xiaoning had already heard about him from her father the previous night. She sighed. “No need. My father will never take an apprentice.”

Yu Qinglong said, “Even if he doesn’t, I can still help. You’ve got a lot of herbs to dry—I can lend a hand.”

She studied him for a moment, then nodded. The stubborn light in his eyes moved her slightly. Her father had carried the weight of his past for far too long. If this boy could somehow help him let go, it would be a blessing.

That ginseng root had sat in their home for years, its medicinal power long gone—but her father still couldn’t bear to use it or throw it away. Maybe this child had come to heal him.

Yu Qinglong washed his hands and joined her in drying the herbs. It wasn’t difficult, just tedious. But he had plenty of time. Once she showed him how, he quickly got the hang of it.

He wasn’t lazy by nature. After helping to dry the herbs, he started sorting them as well.

Mo Xiaoning glanced at him from across the table. “Why are you suddenly so eager to study medicine? It’s not easy. I once wanted to learn from my father, too. But he said women shouldn’t practice medicine—and to be honest, there’s so much to learn that I eventually gave up. I can recognize herbs now, and I know a bit about their properties—but it took me years to reach even that.”

“I just want to be useful,” Yu Qinglong said quietly, “so that people won’t always call me a jinx.”

Her heart tightened.

Living in the same village, how could she not know what he’d endured? She wasn’t a ge’er like him, but she too carried her own scars—a large, bluish birthmark the size of a bowl stained her cheek. Even her father’s medical skills couldn’t cure it. And her mother had died giving birth to her, so people said she was cursed from the day she was born.

Years later, unable to find a match, she’d married a wandering refugee with a limp. People had whispered then too. So yes—she understood his pain.

“Big Sister, what’s this one called?” Yu Qinglong asked, pointing to a pile of herbs.

“Eleutherococcus,” she said after a pause. “It’s pungent and slightly bitter. It enters the spleen, kidney, and heart meridians. It replenishes qi and calms the spirit. In spring, it grows all over the mountains—it’s a woody shrub. The young shoots can be blanched and eaten.”

“When were these picked?”

“Yesterday. We gathered too much, so I’m still sorting it today.”

She was a calm, steady woman, rarely smiling—but he could sense the quiet kindness beneath her reserve.

He repeated softly, “Eleutherococcus. Pungent, slightly bitter. Enters spleen, kidney, and heart meridians. Replenishes qi, calms the spirit. Found in spring, grows on trees, shoots can be blanched and eaten.”

She looked up, surprised. “That’s right.”

He even compared the young stems with the older ones, noting that both had tiny spines around their base, with gray-brown bark. The name “spiny ginseng” suddenly made sense. They all had that distinctive aroma—fresh and herbal.

“Big Sister, do you know how to read?” he asked.

“A little,” she said.

“How did you learn? I want to learn too, but I don’t know where to start.”

There weren’t any schools here—not for girls or ge’ers.

“When my father wrote prescriptions, I’d watch beside him. Whenever I saw simple words, I’d ask him what they meant, and he’d tell me. Over time, I learned some by sight, even managed to write a few.”

“How do you write ‘Eleutherococcus’?” he asked.

She picked up a twig and wrote it slowly in the dirt. He looked closely—it was written in simplified characters! Though perhaps that was coincidence—the simplified and traditional forms were the same here.

Before he could ask about another herb, Fang Shu came limping out of the house, holding his waist, face twisted in pain.

Yu Qinglong glanced at him—by the look of it, this man came from a wealthy family: owned cattle, ate sweets, even shared a sugar cake yesterday. So why did no one accompany him when he got injured?

He was curious but didn’t ask.

At the doorway, Doctor Mo said sternly, “Young Master Fang, don’t come alone next time. A back injury takes a hundred days to heal properly. Rest well. Next time, either ride lying down while someone else drives, or send for me. Don’t lift heavy things when you go home—rest for at least half a month.”

“Half a month?!” Fang Shu’s face fell. “That’s… that’s far too long! Can’t it be any shorter?”

“That’s already the minimum,” Doctor Mo scolded. “You’ve hurt your waist. The waist is the center of strength—if you don’t take care now, you’ll regret it for life.”

Fang Shu’s heart sank. Half a month lying down? How am I supposed to collect stones and wood like that? I’d rather die!

Doctor Mo turned the ox cart for him. “Go slowly. If the road gets too bumpy, walk instead.”

“Yes, sir. Thank you, Doctor Mo.”

Fang Shu bowed, still pale, and couldn’t help glancing again toward Yu Qinglong. But the moment their eyes met, he panicked, snapped his head away—and crack!—his neck gave a sharp twinge.

Yu Qinglong frowned. “Doctor Mo, is that man’s brain… all right?”

Doctor Mo nearly choked. “Nonsense! If his brain didn’t work, then no one in ten villages would have a working one. That’s Fang Shu—the famous scholar of our generation.”

“…What?”

That guy? A scholar?

Yu Qinglong vaguely remembered hearing something like that. “The big Fang family from the neighboring village—he’s one of them?”

Mo Xiaoning nodded. “That’s right. Their family’s the largest and richest around.”

Yu Qinglong: “……”

Unfair! Completely unfair!

Good looks, tall build, scholar title, acres of farmland, decent family, and he’s a man! The only flaw was being a bit physically weak!

He fumed inwardly. He’s got everything!

Grinding his teeth, Yu Qinglong turned back to Doctor Mo. “Master, you have to accept me!”

Doctor Mo almost fainted. This boy again?! He spun around and slammed the door shut.

Yu Qinglong sighed, then asked Mo Xiaoning, “Big Sister, can I come and learn herbs from you instead? I can help with chores. You have a child, right? I can also play with him.”

“My father still won’t accept you,” she warned.

“Then I’ll just learn the herbs from you first. Please, Big Sister?”

Her heart softened again. “All right. Come if you like. I work with the herbs every morning. If I’m not home, I’ll be out gathering more.”

“Thank you, Big Sister! These are all sorted, right? I’ll help finish up.”

She gave a quiet hum and sighed inwardly.

By the time they finished, it was nearly noon, and Yu Qinglong headed home for lunch.

Meanwhile, Fang Shu finally reached home after an agonizing journey.

The moment he stepped in, his mother scolded, half angry, half worried, “See! I told you so! Look at yourself now—still dare to collect those worthless stones?”

Normally he would’ve argued—they’re not worthless, they’re treasures!—but this time, he didn’t even have the energy. “Mother, where’s Father?”

“In the study, practicing calligraphy.”

Fang Shu shuffled to the study at a snail’s pace.

The moment Father Fang Dingman saw him, he hastily hid his messy calligraphy under a paperweight and put on his serious fatherly air. “Ahem, Shu’er—how’s your waist? What did Doctor Mo say? Your mother insisted I let you go alone, said you needed to learn a lesson. I’ve been worried all morning.”

Fang Shu stared at him for a long moment, then asked cautiously, “Father… what if—a man, while relieving himself, was accidentally seen by a ge’er? What should he do?”

Fang Dingman: “……”

What the hell did you just say?!

Author’s Note:

Yu Qinglong: Damn it, that scholar has way too many advantages!

Fang Shu: If you help me carry stones next time, all those advantages are yours. 🐇