Many days passed, and Xu Huaqian's body had finally improved somewhat. He could barely get out of bed and speak, but he discovered something terrifying.
He still couldn't see clearly!
Everything was a blurry, indistinct mass.
That day, Physician Miao came to check his pulse. Seeing his eyes were still dull and lacking luster, he asked: "Still can't see clearly?"
Xu Huaqian shook his head: "Not very clearly."
Then Physician Miao fell silent and didn't speak.
"...My eyes?" Xu Huaqian seemed to sense something and touched the corner of his eye. "...Will they be like this permanently?"
Physician Miao felt his pulse and sighed: "Your body is too severely depleted; it has damaged your eyes. You can only nurture them slowly and see if they recover."
...See.
...If they recover?
The words were already very tactful. Xu Huaqian nodded, not knowing what to say, and simply said, "Oh."
"I'm here!" Chen Liejiu, afraid he would lose heart, quickly interjected. "There's nothing that can't be recovered with me around!"
Xu Huaqian believed him and smiled: "Mm!" Even though he didn't know if they could be healed, he was still happy that his husband hadn't given up on him like this!
Chen Liejiu meant what he said, but after Physician Miao finished the daily acupuncture session for Xu Huaqian, he still followed him out to ask, "His eyes?"
"It's fine," Physician Miao reassured him. "As long as you prepare the money and nurture his body back to health, his eyes won't be a problem."
The stone in Chen Liejiu's heart settled: "As long as they can be nurtured, money is not a problem!"
If Xu Huaqian was like fragile glass, even if shattered, Chen Liejiu would find a way to piece him back together.
He refused to believe that with careful attention, he couldn't nurture him back to health.
"Then I'll prescribe some medicine for his eyes." Through these days of interaction, Physician Miao knew Chen Liejiu was an exceptionally determined person, not easily shaken by ordinary matters. It was just a question of money, which he presumed Chen Liejiu could resolve.
He just wondered how a man had developed such a mindset?
Chen Liejiu took the eye medicine prescribed by Physician Miao and returned. Afraid Xu Huaqian would brood, he explained carefully: "The physician said your eyes will gradually improve as your body recovers. Don't worry."
"Mm." Xu Huaqian believed everything he said. After a pause, as if thinking of something, he asked him, "Nurturing me back to health will cost a lot of money, won't it?"
Chen Liejiu was applying the medicine for him. Seeing Xu Huaqian now worrying about money, he reassured him: "I will find a way to earn it."
But then his brows furrowed.
Mishan County was too remote—so remote that no one transported charcoal from the prefectural city to their county for sale. Even if there was, it was only general stores selling a little on the side. Therefore, winters were especially harsh.
After producing the charcoal, he had first delivered one cart to Manager Wu.
Sure enough, upon learning the Chen clan now knew how to produce charcoal, Manager Wu immediately placed an order for ten cartloads.
He charged three taels per cartload—the prefectural city price. Logically, since it was the same county, he should be cheaper. But transporting charcoal from the prefectural city to Mishan County cost an extra tael or so in travel expenses. Wealthy households could afford this, but ordinary people could not. He had already saved them the travel cost; if he lowered the price further, the charcoal merchants in the prefectural city would cause trouble for him.
The profit from one cartload was split 70-30 with the Chen clan. He got nine hundred coins per cartload. Worried that county households would order charcoal from the prefectural city once winter came, he went door-to-door selling charcoal. After covering the entire county, he sold two hundred cartloads, earning one hundred eighty taels.
Later, he sold a bit more sporadically, but it was hard to move beyond that—those who needed it had already bought. The total money he received was only around two hundred thirty taels.
He had thought this money would cover Xu Huaqian's medicine for a year, but coming to the prefectural city, it was far from enough.
But it was fine. As long as the person was still here, he could always find ways to earn money.
Chen Liejiu refused to believe a living person could be defeated by such constraints.
As he was thinking this, his clothes were tugged by Xu Huaqian. He looked down to see Xu Huaqian raising his face, speaking with serious determination: "I will also find a way to earn money."
He was a man, after all. A man couldn't just be supported by his husband. Although being supported by his husband felt pretty good, now that he was sick with high medical costs, he couldn't let his husband bear it alone.
"Your most urgent task is to focus on recovering your health first," Chen Liejiu said, both touched and amused. How could he think about earning money when he couldn't even see? "Don't worry about anything else."
"Mm." Xu Huaqian nodded, but in his heart, he didn't listen.
His body needed nurturing! But he also needed to earn money!
He had realized that with his utterly burdensome health, if he didn't strive to earn money, any sudden situation would leave the whole family struggling to make ends meet.
After all, he had no health insurance here; he had to pay medical fees in full.
Thinking of this, Xu Huaqian pursed his lips. He had been a civil servant—90% of his medical expenses were reimbursed!
Now, having transmigrated into this body, he didn't see the heavens reimbursing his medical fees. He still had to earn them himself. How tragic!
A few days later, upon hearing that Xu Huaqian could receive visitors, Duan Youyan and the others came to see him.
They had visited a few times before, but the medicinal smell in Xu Huaqian's room was too strong. Physician Miao had said too many strangers shouldn't enter, as they might carry chill that could transfer to the patient and worsen his condition, so they had refrained.
Now, hearing Xu Huaqian could see guests, they all rushed over.
But the moment they pushed the door open, they all froze.
They saw Xu Huaqian, his eyes covered with a long white bandage, wearing loose clothes, sitting quietly at the table, fiddling with some ropes, unsure what he was doing.
"Who is it?" Hearing the door open but no movement, Xu Huaqian looked up toward the door.
His face, now so thin it was just a pointed chin, combined with the white bandage over his eyes, looked utterly pitiful.
Especially now that his complexion had regained some color, losing that dullness, his naturally graceful aura paired with his emaciated body really was...
Pei Wangshu couldn't help but blurt out: "...You really do get more beautiful the sicker you are."
If he didn't know Xu Huaqian was a man, he would have just asked, "Where did this beautiful but frail person come from?"
Hearing Pei Wangshu's voice, Xu Huaqian knew his friends had come to visit. He smiled slightly, focusing on the compliment: "Do I look very good now?"
Everyone entered the room and closed the door: "You were never ugly to begin with." It was just that when he was sick, without any color, he looked a bit frightening.
"Then I'm relieved." Xu Huaqian sighed in relief. He had been afraid he looked very ugly now.
Already nearly blind, and then becoming an ugly blind person...
Xu Huaqian thought about it and felt he couldn't accept that.
"...What's wrong with your eyes?" Duan Youyan wasn't as optimistic as Pei Wangshu. Seeing the bandage on Xu Huaqian's eyes, he couldn't help but worry.
"Half-blind," Xu Huaqian didn't hide it. "We'll see if it can be nursed back."
"What if it doesn't recover?" Zhang Bingwen was worried. Other things were manageable, but not being able to see would be truly difficult.
"Don't talk nonsense," Meng Fangxun, who never got angry, covered Zhang Bingwen's big mouth. "It will definitely recover."
Xu Huaqian smiled indifferently: "It's fine if it doesn't recover."
Seeing him so calm, Pei Wangshu asked, puzzled: "Aren't you going to take the imperial exams anymore?"
"Of course I am! Why wouldn't I?!" Xu Huaqian would never give up. During the exam, he had decided that no matter how difficult, he would continue taking the imperial exams. Otherwise, wouldn't his suffering now be in vain?
A gentleman's revenge takes ten years—it's never too late!
Although they were just some rotten fish and prawns, such major corruption in the exam hall—he wouldn't believe for a second that no one higher up benefited from it.
He was too weak to seek revenge now, but as long as he kept advancing step by step through the exams, one day he would make these corrupt officials regret what they had done.
It infuriated him! If he weren't tough and didn't have a determined, unwavering husband, he would be dead now!
"How can you take the exams if you can't see?" Duan Youyan's mood was complex. He himself just wanted to muddle through, yet Xu Huaqian, like this, still refused to give up.
"There will be a way." He had calculated that his vision was now equivalent to about 2000-degree myopia. If it really didn't recover, he would just make glass and produce eyeglasses. Maybe he would even look better with glasses.
But how exactly do you make glass again?
While Xu Huaqian was thinking positively, Duan Youyan and the others felt he was firmly convinced he would recover and didn't want to discourage him. Noticing his hands were still fiddling with the ropes, they asked: "What are you doing?"
"Making knotted cords." Xu Huaqian's hands felt around under the table and pulled out an incredibly beautiful knotted cord. "This one."
"It's very pretty!" Zhang Bingwen picked it up—a lifelike horse zodiac knot, not flat but solid, almost like a small doll.
"You made this?" Meng Fangxun asked in surprise.
"Mm." Back when he was doing poverty alleviation work, intangible cultural heritage handicrafts were very popular for a time. To help women in the village who were afraid to go out for work earn money from home, he learned this knotting craft and opened an online store for them.
During that time, he learned from a master until he was sick of it. His hands would be knotting even with his eyes closed at night. After learning, he returned to the village to teach others.
With his eyes bandaged and having nothing to do all day, he remembered that people in this world also made knotted cords, but they only made the flat kind, not solid ones like his. So, he asked Wanwan to buy him some thread and tried it.
Unfortunately, he couldn't see now and could only work with single colors. He didn't know how they turned out.
So he asked them: "Is it pretty?"
"Very pretty," Duan Youyan nodded. "Very skillful hands, even more so than my husband's."
Hearing him mention his husband initiatively for the first time, Xu Huaqian was surprised.
But he quickly returned to his main purpose: "Since you're all here, tell me, if I sold this, could it sell?"
"Of course!" Zhang Bingwen immediately said. "Whatever price, Senior Brother, I'll buy it!"
"If I sell them one by one, when would I ever finish?" Xu Huaqian smiled. "I want to sell the skill, earn some money to treat my eyes."
"I can't go out now," Xu Huaqian sought their help. "Could you go to silk shops, embroidery shops, etc., for me and ask if anyone wants to learn this? I can teach for ten or even five taels."
When he learned this before, he also paid quite a bit in tuition. Now, charging to teach students shouldn't be too excessive, right?
"Why go through all that trouble?" Pei Wangshu understood immediately. "My family owns a silk shop. What you want to sell, my family also buys. Selling to anyone is selling—sell it to me."
Everyone looked at him in surprise: "Your family owns a silk shop?"
Pei Wangshu didn't understand why they were looking at him like that: "Huh? Is that not allowed?"
Everyone shook their heads.
Silk could be used as currency. Someone who could sell money可想而知 (one could imagine) how wealthy his family was.
No wonder Pei Wangshu never wanted to study or take exams. If their families were that rich, they wouldn't want to work hard or strive either!
Xu Huaqian thought about it—no wonder Pei Wangshu always had an endless supply of brightly colored robes. He was a second-generation rich, and a super rich one at that!
He had been climbing above his station !
But despite that, Xu Huaqian felt no awkwardness discussing business with a friend and asked directly: "How much are you willing to pay to learn one knot design?"
"...Ten taels!" Pei Wangshu thought about it. His mother usually sold them for quite a high price, right? peace knots made with silk thread could range from ten to a hundred coins.
For something like what Xu Huaqian held, using the best silk thread, attached to jade, and sold to wealthy families, his mother dared to charge from five hundred coins to one tael or more.
"Wouldn't that be too much?" Actually, Xu Huaqian's expected price was one tael each, as it wasn't that difficult to learn.
His total tuition back then was only a few thousand yuan.
"...It's alright." Pei Wangshu didn't think this money was anything. "Anyway, my mother is quite wealthy." She wouldn't mind if he spent a little.
"How many designs do you know?" Pei Wangshu asked, then looked at his classmates staring at him and said domineeringly, "I'll take them all!"
"Pei Wangshu." Xu Huaqian suddenly called his name very seriously.
Pei Wangshu was stunned: "Huh?" Being called so formally suddenly felt unfamiliar.
"Your name is that of a god, right."
Pei Wangshu nodded: "The god who drives the moon chariot."
"Pei Wangshu!" Xu Huaqian called his name again, curled his lips, and said, "You are my god!"
Then, before he could react, Xu Huaqian stretched out his hand: "I know about two thousand or so! Pay up! Quickly!"
Pei Wangshu: "..."
Pei Wangshu: "..."
Pei Wangshu: "..."
" My apologies!" He cupped his hands to everyone. "Just pretend I wasn't here today!" Two thousand or more? Would that make him lose his family fortune?
Joking aside, Pei Wangshu didn't actually squander his wealth. In the end, he only bought the learning methods for twenty knot designs from Xu Huaqian. After returning home, he would send someone to Xu Huaqian's house to learn.
If they sold well, he would continue paying Xu Huaqian to learn more. If not, their business would stop there.
Out of friendship, Xu Huaqian didn't cheat him. He taught only the most exquisite and difficult-to-learn designs, ensuring others couldn't figure them out even if they took them apart!
Of course, this was all for later. At this moment, the group left the medical clinic after visiting Xu Huaqian, thinking about his determination to continue with the exams even blind.
Suddenly, they felt: "I've been neglecting my studies too much!"
Zhang Bingwen exclaimed, thinking about how his senior brother studied so hard even when sick and weak, and then thought about himself—only serious during exams, quite relaxed the rest of the time—and instantly felt useless.
The others nodded in agreement.
Seeing them finally show some improvement, Meng Fangxun felt pleased and relieved: "It's not too late to start studying hard now."
"It's just that we don't know if we passed this exam." Duan Youyan thought about it, his heart still in suspense. Would the examiner not even want to look at his paper because of his handwriting and fail him directly?
He wanted to stop taking the exams if he passed this time.
"If we fail, it's manageable. We can just try again next year," Pei Wangshu said bitterly. "But if Xu Huaqian fails, what will he do in the future?"
"Right." Thinking of this, Meng Fangxun also felt helpless. None of the exam topics he had predicted for Xu Huaqian came up. If even one had, the examiner might have passed him based on his handwriting alone.
It was a pity. Who knew which prefecture this examiner came from? The questions were too tricky, simply inhumane!
The thought that if Xu Huaqian really went blind, he would have no hope with the imperial exams in this lifetime stuck in Meng Fangxun's heart like a thorn. If only he had been more diligent when teaching him!
"A-Yan!"
Ding ling! The sound of a bell broke their heavy atmosphere. A carriage stopped in front of them. A round, small face of a man peeked out from the carriage, his face lit up with joy at seeing his beloved, a sight that made anyone feel happy.
Hearing the voice, Duan Youyan looked up and saw his husband, surprised: "Why are you here?"
His husband blinked: "Guess?"
Duan Youyan, through the gap in the carriage window, saw a stern, solemn middle-aged man sitting inside. All his joy and surprise) got stuck in his throat. He didn't need to guess to know what was happening.
His magistrate father-in-law had arrived.