A life of two souls traveling through time

Chapter 303 Fu Qingli's Background

"The swelling in his eyes has gone down. You don't need to apply it again after today's application." After breakfast, Si Yao changed the dressing for Fu Qingli as usual. Seeing that the swelling in his eyes had completely gone away, she breathed a sigh of relief.

"No wonder my eyes aren't as swollen these days as before. The swelling has finally gone down after three years. Thank you, Doctor Si Yao." Si Yao's words made Fu Qing smile from the bottom of his heart. Even though he knew that draining the pus and reducing the swelling in the affected area was only preliminary, he already saw the hope of regaining his sight.

"Don't thank me too soon. If you want to thank me, you should wait until you can see." Si Yao said as she applied the crushed new medicine to Fu Qingli's eyes, then wrapped them with gauze. After changing the medicine, she continued, "Okay, sit down first. I'll go boil the medicine."

"Thank you, Doctor Siyao." Fu Qingli still sat obediently in front of the window, nodded and smiled.

Ever since Si Yao reminded him not to expose his eyes to strong light, Fu Qingli seldom left the yard. When he had nothing to do, he would sit in front of the window in his room, quietly.

"Brother Qingli! Brother Qingli!"

When Si Yao arrived at the courtyard, a naive young man suddenly ran in from outside, shouting. As soon as he reached the gate, he stopped shouting when his eyes met Si Yao's. Si Yao's cold eyes seemed to scare the young man. He hurriedly rubbed his hands, stood there and said with a silly smile, "Good morning, Miss Si Yao."

"Good morning, Fu Qingli is in the house." Si Yao also smiled faintly at the young man, then glanced into the house and said to the young man.

The young man still had an innocent smile on his face and bowed hastily to Si Yao before running into the main room.

The boy's name was Awei. He was only fifteen or sixteen years old. He was a villager of Taozhu Village and half a student of Fu Qingli.

Awei's mother died of complications during childbirth, and his father raised him alone. Because the family was too poor to send him to school, he studied with Fu Qingli for several years. But he was not a good student after all. He lost his patience after only two years of study. He started to study hard and finally stopped studying because he couldn't sit still. For Awei, he would rather follow Aunt Liang to sell straw sandals than to read and write, and see the world among the people in the city.

Seeing that the child was unable to concentrate on his studies, Awei's father and Fu Qingli felt sorry for him but they could not force him to do so, so they had to let him sell straw sandals at such a young age.

Taozhu Village is not big, with only seven or eight families living there, and they are scattered and separated. Every family has always been minding their own business, not caring about other people's problems. Ah Wei lost his mother when he was young and his family was poor. Only Aunt Liang and Fu Qingli in the village would help him and his son. After Fu Qingli was blinded by a mediocre doctor, he, a scholar, became a laughing stock among the villagers of Taozhu Village. Only Ah Wei and his son often helped Aunt Liang take care of Fu Qingli.

Therefore, the mutual help between the two families is in sharp contrast to the indifference of other villagers in Taozhu Village.

"Brother Qingli, what are you doing in the room?" After entering the room, Awei saw Fu Qingli sitting quietly in front of the window and couldn't help but ask curiously.

"I didn't do anything, just sat there." Fu Qingli smiled when he heard A Wei's voice.

"Brother Qingli, you are often as quiet as a girl..."

"Find a fight."

Before Awei could finish speaking, Fu Qingli suddenly raised his right hand slightly and pretended to hit the other party, but Awei dodged with a smile.

"Have you been to the city to sell shoes again recently? I rarely see you coming to my house." Fu Qingli was just playing around with Awei, so he smiled and asked with concern.

"Well, although it's not easy to sell, I can still make a few cents every day, so my father doesn't have to go to the mountains to chop wood in this cold weather." Ah Wei nodded and whispered in Fu Qingli's ear: "Doctor Si Yao is too cold, I'm a little afraid of her, so I rarely come to your place."

"Doctor Si Yao is such a good person, what are you afraid of?" Fu Qingli was a little amused and asked with a frown.

"I didn't say anything bad about her. She was so kind to treat your eyes. I respected her like a bodhisattva, but the coldness in her eyes was so clear that it was as if... as if..."

"Deep pool."

"Yes, yes, yes. You know, I have been afraid of deep water since I was a child. So when I see Miss Si Yao's eyes, I get... scared."

Fu Qingli smiled and didn't respond. He felt that Awei's outrageous imagination left him speechless.

Just after Awei arrived, another middle-aged man appeared at the gate of the courtyard. This man was tall and upright, with a gentle and easy-going face, and looked somewhat similar to Fu Qingli.

"Excuse me, sir?" At this time, Si Yao was decocting medicine in the yard. Seeing the person standing at the gate of the yard, he stood up and asked.

Looking closely, the man looked somewhat like Fu Qingli, and Si Yao was surprised: Could this be Fu Qingli's father? But Fu Qingli had said that his parents died early.

"My name is Xi Yuanwen. I'm the uncle of Fu Qingli, the owner of this courtyard, and also a teacher in the academy in An County. May I ask who you are, young lady?" When he saw Si Yao just now, the middle-aged man thought in a trance that his nephew had married a wife. He was still thinking that Aunt Liang didn't tell him about such a big thing, but when he saw that she faced him calmly, the man also smiled and walked forward.

"Master Xi, my name is Si Yao, and I'm the doctor who treated Fu Qingli's eye disease." Si Yao suddenly realized what was going on and immediately bowed solemnly to the other party and replied.

"Oh, Miss Si Yao, you are polite." The middle-aged man realized that he had misunderstood and hurriedly returned the greeting. He continued to ask with concern, "I wonder if my nephew's eye disease can be cured?"

"Young Master? Why did you come here in person today?" Without waiting for Si Yao's response, Aunt Liang, who had just returned from the backyard, was surprised and happy to see the middle-aged man, and hurriedly stepped forward to greet him.

"I haven't seen Qingli for a long time. I came to see him today because I have nothing to do in the academy. Is everything okay?" The middle-aged man said. He first glanced at Si Yao and then pulled Aunt Liang aside. He took out a small bag of silver from his sleeve and continued to sigh: "His aunt has been very strict recently. I only saved this money secretly this time. I don't know if you have hired a doctor. In any case, this money should be used to treat his eyes first. I will find a way to borrow some more when I go back."

"Master, these are enough. A month ago, three travelers stayed here and gave us ten taels of silver as a reward before leaving." Aunt Liang took the silver and smiled gratefully.

"That's good, that's good. I... I'll go see Qingli." The middle-aged man breathed a sigh of relief after hearing this. After hesitating for a moment, he turned around and walked into the house.

"This is my young lady's biological brother, and Qingli's uncle." Aunt Liang then turned around and explained to Si Yao.

Si Yao didn't say much, just nodded. After all, this was someone else's family affair and she shouldn't ask too much.

But Si Yao had lived in Taozhu Village for a month, and now she was treating Fu Qingli's eye disease. Aunt Sui Liang did not treat her as an outsider and told her about Fu Qingli's life story.

Fu Qingli's mother was born in a scholarly family in An County. Her father, Mr. Xi, was the director of the college, and Fu Qingli's father, Fu Sheng, was a poor scholar from Taozhu Village who went to study at An County College. Because he was a good friend of Mr. Xi Yuanwen, he was often invited to the Xi Mansion as a guest. After a few visits, he fell in love with the young lady of the Xi family. Mr. Xi admired Fu Sheng for his excellent character and sincerity, and he did not object when he learned that his daughter fell in love with him.

Not long after, the Xi family married their daughter off, but she married her to a poor scholar. There was a lot of talk in An County for a while, and most of the people were naturally sarcastic about the Xi family.

But the Xi family did not care. Miss Xi loved Fu Sheng deeply, and it was her wish to marry the man of her heart in this life. And old man Xi naturally believed that Fu Sheng could pass the imperial examination and would not let his daughter suffer.

Fu Sheng was also hardworking and did not disappoint his father-in-law. He won the first place in the county examination, prefectural examination, and imperial examination. He also got the second place in the provincial examination. However, fate played a trick on him. On the way to Beijing for the imperial examination, Fu Sheng suddenly suffered from malaria and died.

Fu Qingli was only six years old that year. When the bad news came back, Fu Qingli's mother was deeply shocked and passed away soon after. The death of his daughter and son-in-law made Mr. Xi very sad. After he took his grandson back to his house, he fell ill and died after lying in bed for half a year. Before he died, he entrusted his grandson Fu Qingli to his son.

However, Xi Yuanwen wanted to take care of his nephew, but he married a fierce wife. After the death of old man Xi, he drove Fu Qingli back to Taozhu Village as soon as the three-year mourning period was over. Seeing his poor nephew being driven out of the Xi Mansion alone at the age of ten, Xi Yuanwen, who was soft-hearted, dared not say anything and had to let his sister's maid Liang Yi go with him to take care of his nephew.

Over the years, Xi Yuanwen often secretly saved some money to help his nephew, but he kept it a secret from Fu Qingli. As a result, Fu Qingli always thought that he was raised by Aunt Liang alone with great difficulty. He had resentment towards his uncle and was particularly distant with him every time they met.