TSWPF -Chapter 118 Unease

As soon as she heard the old man’s words, Li Qingling’s heart skipped a beat. She asked him how long it would take to travel from here to the capital.

The old man thought for a moment and said that if one traveled normally by carriage, it would take at least a month or more.

The last time Eunuch Zeng had rushed to find him, traveling day and night without rest, no one even knew how many horses had been exhausted to death. Even then, it had taken ten full days to arrive.

For someone like him, traveling by carriage and not rushing at an extreme pace, it would take over a month.

“Then when will you be back?” Li Qingling asked.

Hearing her question, the old man hesitated. “As for when I’ll be back, I’m not quite sure either.” That would depend on the emperor’s mood. If the emperor was in a good mood and didn’t detain him in the capital, he could return sooner. But if the emperor was displeased and refused to let him go, there would be nothing he could do.

Thinking of this, and knowing that it wasn’t something he could decide himself, Li Qingling frowned slightly. “Then you must be careful on the road. Rest when you should rest, don’t force yourself.”

The old man was already advanced in age, and sitting in a carriage for such a long time—she really was worried about his health.

Hearing Li Qingling speak so gently at last, the old man was overjoyed. He stroked his beard with a smile and nodded repeatedly.

“I know. I won’t joke around with these old bones of mine.”

He still wanted to come back and look after these children—how could he possibly neglect his own health?

Seeing that the old man didn’t seem like the reckless type, Li Qingling finally relaxed a little. But when she thought about how long it might be before he returned, her mood sank again.

At this moment, the village head came running over with the same villager as before, both of them hurrying anxiously.

As soon as he reached Li Qingling and the others, the village head saw the old man and asked while panting, “Zhimou, is this the doctor who lives at your house?”

Seeing the village head wobbling as he ran, Liu Zhimou quickly reached out to support him and nodded with a smile. “Yes. We didn’t tell you before, Grandpa Village Head. Grandpa Xue here is an imperial physician. Half a month ago, he was sent by His Majesty to Shuangyang County to treat a plague. He only returned after curing it.”

When Liu Zhimou had first learned that the old man was an imperial physician, he himself had been shocked. He never imagined that someone he had casually saved would turn out to be such an important figure.

“Grandpa Xue is in a hurry to enter the capital to see His Majesty. We’d like to trouble you, Grandpa Village Head, to make an exception and let him into the village. He—”

Before he could finish, the village head hurriedly interrupted, “Let him in, quickly let him in!”

Before he had even finished speaking, his heart trembled again. The villagers had stopped such an important person here—he only hoped the man wouldn’t take offense.

“The villagers didn’t know your identity and stopped you here. We truly apologize,” the village head said as he knelt down before Imperial Physician Xue. “Please, my lord, be magnanimous and don’t hold it against us common folk.”

When the two villagers saw the village head kneel, they were so frightened that they dropped to their knees as well, trembling as they begged the old man for forgiveness.

They had never imagined that by casually stopping someone, they had actually stopped such an important figure.

What was worse, when Liu Zhimou had told them earlier, they hadn’t taken it seriously and had continued to block him. This was truly a grave mistake.

The old man quickly helped the village head up and called the two villagers to their feet as well.

“Get up. No need for such formalities,” the old man said with a smile. “While I’m away, I’ll have to trouble you all to look after the children at home a bit more.”

Though Liu Zhimou and the others were clever, they were still just children. With the adults in the village keeping an eye on them, he could feel more at ease.

Hearing this, the village head and the others dared not refuse. They nodded repeatedly, promising to take good care of Liu Zhimou and the rest.

“Then this old man thanks you all,” the old man said, clasping his hands toward them. That gesture nearly frightened the village head and the others into kneeling again.

They were merely common villagers—how could they bear such courtesy from a high-ranking official?

Seeing how terrified they were, and with time pressing, the old man smiled and said, “I really don’t have much time. I’ll head home first to see the other children. After I return from seeing His Majesty, I’ll have a proper chat with you all.”

“My lord, please go attend to your matters first. Please do,” the village head said hurriedly. “We won’t disturb you any longer.”

“All right…”

Seeing the old man nod, the village head exchanged a few words with the two villagers, then left on tiptoe.

The two villagers stepped aside to clear the road, letting Liu Yi drive the carriage into the village.

When the old man returned home with Li Qingling and the others, the moment he arrived he told Li Qingling to quickly boil a pot of water so he could bathe. For over half a month, he hadn’t properly washed even once.

Hearing this, Li Qingling nodded and immediately went into the kitchen.

When she finished boiling the water and came out to call the old man to bathe, she heard laughter coming from the main hall.

The corners of her mouth lifted slightly. While the old man had been away, the atmosphere at home had been somewhat oppressive. Now, at last, it felt lively again.

“Old man, the water’s ready. Go take your bath.”

As soon as she entered the main hall, she called out to him. Hearing her, the old man stood up.

“You all keep playing here. Grandpa will come out and play with you after his bath.”

“Okay, Grandpa, go quickly!”

Seeing how happy the children looked, it was clear the old man hadn’t yet told them that he was going to the capital to see the emperor. If he had, they would surely have cried.

Wanting to spend a little more time with the children, the old man took a quick “battle bath,” changed into clean clothes, and hurried back out.

Now that he was clean and dressed in fresh clothes, he could finally hold the children without worry.

“Oh my dear little darlings, did you miss Grandpa? Grandpa missed you so much,” the old man said cheerfully, holding Li Qingning in his left arm and Liu Zhirou in his right.

The two little ones were very cooperative and obediently said that they had missed him.

Just that simple sentence was enough to make the old man grin from ear to ear.

He had never married and had no children of his own, yet he seemed destined to be with these children. He truly treated them as his own grandchildren.

But when he thought about leaving for so long, his heart ached with reluctance.

“Imperial Physician Xue, it’s getting late. We really should set off now,” Liu Yi said, forcing himself to interrupt.

He truly didn’t want to break up the old man’s time with the children, but there was no helping it—the emperor was waiting.

As soon as Liu Yi spoke, all the children turned their eyes toward the old man and started chattering, asking where he was going.

The old man knew he couldn’t stay any longer. He smiled and patted their heads. “Grandpa has to go away for a while. While I’m gone, you must be good and listen to your older brothers and sisters, understand?”

As soon as he said this, the children became unhappy, their moods sinking again. “Grandpa left secretly last time. You just came back, and now you’re leaving again?”

Last time, the old man had left in the middle of the night while they were asleep, without telling them. When they woke up the next day and went looking for Grandpa, Li Qingling and Liu Zhimou had only said that Grandpa had gone away for something and would be back soon.

But the children waited more than half a month before he returned—and now, just after coming back, he was leaving again. Naturally, they felt miserable.

Seeing their reddened eyes, the old man felt even worse. If not for fear of displeasing the emperor and being punished, he truly wouldn’t want to go to the capital.

“Once Grandpa finishes this matter, I’ll hurry back home and stay with you properly, all right?”

“Then when will you come back, Grandpa? How long will it take?”

That question stumped the old man. Facing the children’s expectant gazes, he didn’t dare casually make a promise.

All he could do was smile bitterly and say that even Grandpa couldn’t say for sure.

After thinking for a moment, he explained the situation to the children in simple terms. If he didn’t explain it, he feared they might resent him and stop liking him as their Grandpa.

That would truly be a loss greater than the gain.

The two youngest didn’t really understand what the old man was saying, but the slightly older boys—Li Qingfeng and the other two—understood.

They knew that going to see the emperor was something that couldn’t be refused.

So they could only suppress their reluctance and help the old man coax the two stubborn little ones.

After being comforted by their older brothers for quite some time, the two little ones finally nodded unwillingly and climbed down from the old man’s arms. Their small mouths kept chattering, repeatedly telling Grandpa to be sure to come back early.

Looking at these children who cared for him so deeply, the old man’s eyes grew moist.

Smiling, he patted each of their heads and responded to them all, promising that he would do his best to return as soon as possible.

For the sake of these children, he didn’t want to stay in the capital at all.

In the capital, he was all alone—there was nothing interesting there. It was far better to come back early and play with these children.

“All right, all right. Grandpa needs to hurry now. Don’t delay him anymore,” Liu Zhimou cut in. “If Grandpa leaves earlier, he can come back earlier too.”

If the little ones kept talking like this, he felt the old man wouldn’t even be able to leave tonight.

The old man also knew he couldn’t delay any longer. He stood up and looked at Liu Zhimou and Li Qingling. “This trip of mine—I don’t know when I’ll be back. I’ll leave the home in your hands. Take good care of yourselves and the children, and don’t make me worry, understand?”

Li Qingling and Liu Zhimou nodded obediently and said they understood.

The old man frowned slightly and pressed a hand to his chest. For some reason, he felt deeply uneasy, as if something major were about to happen.

Because of this unease, he kept rambling and giving instructions, over and over again. It wasn’t until Liu Yi urged him again that he reluctantly stopped, slung his bundle over his shoulder, and left.

What he didn’t expect was that his premonition would truly come true—Li Qingling and the others would indeed encounter a great calamity, one that nearly cost them their lives.