Ch 18: The Scumbag’s Daily Wife-Doting Life [QT]

The old doctor did not answer immediately.

After pondering for a long while, he stood up and began pacing back and forth around the room. It was obvious the struggle in his heart was intense.

The kind of disciple he wanted to pass on his legacy to was not something simple.

At this point in time, traditional Chinese medicine still remained deeply rooted in old customs and had not yet been fully swept up by the tides of the new era. What it emphasized was still the ancient saying:

“A teacher for one day is a father for life.”

Once a master accepted a disciple, their reputations and honor became forever tied together.

If he accepted Xie Li but Xie Li’s talent turned out insufficient, then not only would it waste his time, it might even damage his own reputation.

But if he rejected Xie Li, then he also feared losing the precious mountain ginseng. If he refused the request and left things unpleasant between them, he might miss the opportunity entirely.

Ai… what a difficult situation.

Seeing the old doctor’s dilemma, Xie Li could not help smiling.

“Old Zhang, I think you misunderstood me. I’m not asking to formally become your disciple. I only hope to learn beside you, like Doctor Xiao Chen does.”

The old doctor froze before visibly relaxing in relief.

“If it’s only that, then things are much simpler.”

That made sense. How many young people nowadays truly possessed the patience to study Chinese medicine properly?

“How about this? I doubt you can spend every day helping around the clinic, so I’ll give you a few books first. Memorize everything in them, then come back to me.”

As he spoke, the old doctor removed several hand-copied manuscripts from the bookshelf and carefully handed them to Xie Li.

“These are introductory medical texts passed down through generations of the Zhang family. Take good care of them. Memorize them thoroughly and return them to me before I continue teaching you.”

Xie Li nodded, taking the manuscripts with bright excitement in his eyes.

Seeing how much Xie Li appreciated them, Elder Zhang also grew a little proud.

“My ancestors were a collateral branch descended from Zhang Zhongjing’s lineage. For generations, our family has worked to restore the medical classics left behind back then, and we’ve already reconstructed most of them. Those people thought destroying the books would erase everything, but they forgot that as long as the people survived, the knowledge survived too. After they left, I rewrote the texts from memory and hid them carefully…”

Only in recent years, as the atmosphere became less strict, did he finally dare display them openly again.

After agreeing on their arrangement, Elder Zhang still tried to give Xie Li money for the ginseng.

But Xie Li firmly refused.

The old man became somewhat embarrassed.

“In this profession, talent matters greatly. What I teach you may not end up worth this much money. You should still take it first. If you regret this later, at least your losses will be smaller.”

“No need.” Xie Li smiled. “I trust your medical skill and your character. Even if I fail to learn anything, that would simply mean I lack the fortune for it.”

Elder Zhang glanced at him before sighing approvingly.

“You really do understand propriety.”

…

Carrying the medical texts, Xie Li returned to the village.

When Li Tiantian saw him bring back so many books, she curiously flipped through them until her head started spinning.

“What are all these?”

“Chinese medicine texts.”

Xie Li opened one of the books and explained his plan to study medicine independently. Looking at Li Tiantian, he asked for her opinion.

“What do you think?”

Li Tiantian huffed and lightly punched his shoulder in mock annoyance.

“You already brought everything home and now you’re asking me?”

Still, she had no intention of stopping him.

In her eyes, it was always good for Xie Li to be ambitious and learn additional skills. Surely he could not spend his entire life scraping by in the fields.

When Li Jianguo and Wang Cuihua learned the news, they also immediately voiced their support.

If he truly succeeded in studying medicine and eventually worked at the clinic as a state-employed doctor, earning dozens of yuan every month, then their daughter would never need to work in the fields again for the rest of her life.

What could possibly be better than that?

And so, almost no one opposed Xie Li’s decision to study medicine.

Every morning, he woke early to exercise in the courtyard before cooking breakfast. Original translation at HololoNovels dot com. Then he woke Li Tiantian and little Donggua so the whole family could eat together. Once Li Tiantian cleaned the dishes, the entire family would begin studying.

Donggua had been exceptionally intelligent since birth.

Whenever he felt hungry or thirsty, he simply made soft humming sounds. Usually he rarely cried at all and instead preferred staring at people with his round black eyes.

Xie Li would let him roll around on the bed while he and Li Tiantian sat at the edge reading together. Little Donggua never disturbed them.

Every hour, Xie Li would stand up to stretch and rest his eyes. During those breaks, he would carry Donggua outside for a walk so the baby could look at the scenery before returning home to continue studying.

Time slowly passed this way.

By the time little Donggua began teething, Xie Li had already entered the field properly and spent two months training under Elder Zhang.

His learning speed was astonishing.

Because of the spirit spring water, his memory had become exceptionally powerful. In less than a month, he had memorized all the hand-copied manuscripts and earned permission to continue studying directly under Elder Zhang.

From then on, every morning he rode a bicycle into town to follow Elder Zhang personally and receive direct instruction.

The clinic handled an unknown number of patients every day. After Xie Li joined, everyone’s workload finally became lighter, so the staff welcomed him enthusiastically and practically treated him as part of the clinic already.

Faced with countless medical cases, Xie Li combined theory with practice and improved at incredible speed.

Gradually, he even learned to infer broader principles from specific cases, adjusting herbal prescriptions according to symptoms. He could already independently handle simple illnesses at the clinic.

Only when he encountered pulses he could not confidently diagnose would he ask Doctor Xiao Chen for help.

Xiao Chen and Xie Li really did seem strangely fated.

Both times Xie Li first came to the clinic, Xiao Chen had been the one to receive him. And now they had become fellow disciples under the same teacher.

Seeing Xie Li’s terrifying progress, Xiao Chen became endlessly envious.

“With your speed of learning, no wonder Teacher wants to formally accept you.”

Indeed, less than three months after initially rejecting the idea, Elder Zhang already regretted it.

In all his life, he had only ever encountered one person with talent as monstrous as Xie Li’s. That person had been a senior he deeply admired, someone who had already long passed away.

Now, seeing Xie Li, Elder Zhang felt both shocked by the appearance of such genius and increasingly tempted to accept him as a true inner disciple.

But Xie Li kept refusing because he still intended to return to the capital someday.

Even if Elder Zhang truly descended from a lineage of medical saints and possessed extraordinary skill, once Xie Li returned to the capital, mountains and distance would separate them. They might never meet again. More importantly, Xie Li would never be able to properly fulfill the responsibilities of a formal disciple, such as mourning at his teacher’s funeral.

Rather than delay Elder Zhang’s search for a true inheritor, it was better not to make such promises lightly.

Moreover, Xie Li never intended to study medicine in university.

Learning traditional Chinese medicine was simply a personal interest. He had a long lifetime ahead of him to slowly explore it. But if he wanted to rely on medicine to make a name for himself, then with his current level of skill, he was still far from sufficient.

Rather than that, he would rather seize the opportunities of this era of reform, when wealth could practically be found everywhere, and first focus on becoming rich.

After learning of Xie Li’s thoughts, Elder Zhang felt deeply regretful and even somewhat angry, upset that Xie Li did not treasure his own talent.

Unfortunately, no matter how angry he became, Xie Li still did not change his mind.

Left with no choice, Elder Zhang finally brought out several books and handed one to Xie Li, explaining that it was a medical text compiled over generations by the Zhang family. It remained unfinished and had originally been intended for a true inner disciple, but now he was giving one volume to Xie Li to study.

If, within his lifetime, Xie Li could eventually complete the book, then Elder Zhang’s teachings would not have been wasted.

Looking at the precious handwritten manuscript being offered to him, Xie Li solemnly accepted.

…

After this matter, Elder Zhang remained gloomy for several days before finally relenting and officially accepting Doctor Xiao Chen as a disciple.

Doctor Xiao Chen had dreamed for years of entering Elder Zhang’s lineage without success. Now that he finally achieved it, he was so happy he could barely sleep for several nights straight.

He specifically sought out Xie Li to thank him.

Xie Li sighed helplessly.

“You don’t need to thank me. This has nothing to do with me. Doctor Chen, you really are excellent, otherwise Elder Zhang would never have chosen you from among so many students. But… Doctor Chen, there’s something I should tell you. I probably won’t be coming to the clinic much anymore in the future.”

“…???”

Doctor Xiao Chen stared at him in shock before asking nervously,

“Because the station chief accepted me as his disciple?”

“No.” Xie Li shook his head and smiled faintly. “My wife’s pregnant again. I want to stay home and spend more time with her.”

Doctor Xiao Chen froze before suddenly understanding.

“So that’s it. Congratulations. You’re still so young, yet you already have two children.”

“But when your wife gives birth, you’ll still need to come to the clinic, right? How can you say you won’t come anymore?”

Xie Li stroked his chin thoughtfully.

“That’ll depend on the situation. I may be going to university.”

Doctor Xiao Chen assumed he meant a worker-peasant-soldier university and sighed somewhat regretfully.

“Going to university is good too. You’re not originally from here. If you can return home and see your family, then you should.”

Xie Li only smiled quietly without explaining further.

In late November, an earth-shaking piece of news swept across the entire country like a hurricane.

Countless students became so excited their blood practically boiled. The joy was greater than celebrating New Year itself.

The college entrance examination had been restored!!!

Li Jianguo brought the news back from a meeting in town. When the educated youths heard it, they froze for a moment before plunging into overwhelming ecstasy.

After years spent in the countryside, they finally had a chance to leave this place.

Even if success would not come easily, at least now they finally had hope and motivation.

Soon, the sound of loud reading filled the educated youth dormitories day and night without pause.

The moment Hu Dezheng returned from the meeting, he immediately came searching for Xie Li. Suppressing his emotions but unable to hide his excitement, he asked,

“So this is the ‘adjustment’ you talked about?”

Xie Li remained calm as he nodded.

“Even I didn’t expect it to come this quickly. Still… congratulations. All those years of relentless studying weren’t wasted after all.”

Hu Dezheng felt both joy and sorrow.

What Xie Li did not know was that before this announcement arrived, Hu Dezheng had already obtained Father Qian’s recommendation and been approved to attend a worker-peasant-soldier university the following year.

That recommendation had been Father Qian’s reward for giving up Qian Lanxiang.

At the time, Hu Dezheng had remained silent and accepted it.

Now, if he rejected Father Qian’s recommendation, would Qian Lanxiang still forgive him?

“I’m going to the Qian house.”

After saying that, Hu Dezheng walked away in a daze.

Watching him leave, Xie Li frowned slightly, vaguely guessing what choices Hu Dezheng had made.

Although Xie Li had once proposed the “three-year agreement” to temporarily ease Hu Dezheng’s anxiety, as time passed, it was entirely possible Hu Dezheng lost patience and sought another path for himself.

The only question was whether he would eventually regret it.

Thinking this to himself, Xie Li turned around and saw Li Tiantian holding little Donggua while leaning against the doorway, looking at him with pitiful eyes.

“What’s wrong?” he asked with amusement.

Ever since becoming a mother, Li Tiantian had grown noticeably steadier. It had been a long time since she last looked this helpless and aggrieved.

After hesitating for a moment, Li Tiantian finally asked softly,

“You’re going to take the college entrance exam too?”

“Of course.” Xie Li nodded before asking in return, “You don’t want me to?”

“If you take the exam, then won’t you have to leave for university somewhere far away?” Li Tiantian bit her lip. “What about me and Donggua?”

“Of course I’ll bring both of you with me.”

Knowing exactly what she feared, Xie Li smiled gently. Walking over, he wrapped an arm around her and lowered his head to ask softly,

“Trust me. Hmm?”

The deep hum in his voice was magnetic and irresistibly gentle.

After listening quietly for a long moment, Li Tiantian suddenly nodded fiercely as though making a desperate decision.

“I trust you!”

Unfortunately, Li Tiantian trusted him.

Li Jianguo did not.

Li Jianguo refused to write a recommendation letter.

Without a recommendation letter, Xie Li could not even register for the examination, much less actually take it.

…

“Dad, just write Xie Li a recommendation letter.”

Li Tiantian came pleading with little Donggua in her arms.

Li Jianguo’s expression looked terrible. He neither agreed nor outright refused, merely staring at Xie Li silently.

After a pause, Xie Li asked Li Tiantian to take Donggua outside first.

She initially refused, but after Xie Li coaxed her quietly for a few moments, she reluctantly carried Donggua away.

“Dad, I know what you’re worried about.”

“If you really know, then stop thinking about recommendation letters and stay obediently in the village.”

Xie Li fell silent briefly before speaking quietly.

“I could stay in this village for the rest of my life. But I don’t want Tiantian to spend her entire life here too. She’s never seen the outside world, so she thinks this place is enough. But I clearly have the ability to give her a better life.”

Because Li Jianguo knew Xie Li’s background, he understood these words were not false.

And precisely because he understood, he became even more unwilling to let Xie Li leave.

Once Xie Li returned to the capital, what would happen to Tiantian?

Li Jianguo had absolutely no confidence at all.

The capital…

To him, it was merely a distant name occasionally heard over the town radio. It lay more than two thousand kilometers away from Xiaoxipo Village. A train journey took five or six days.

Xie Li was from the capital. He had acquaintances there, connections there.

But what about his daughter?

Should she really follow Xie Li there?

Once they arrived there, in an unfamiliar place with unfamiliar people, who knew what might happen?

“Dad, I’ll be direct.” Xie Li pressed his lips together. “Tiantian’s pregnant again.”

In the previous life, Li Tiantian had also conceived their daughter around this same time period, though she did not discover it until the following spring, after the original owner had already left.

So ever since November arrived, Xie Li’s attention toward Li Tiantian had increased dramatically. Original translation at HololoNovels dot com. Every few days he would take her pulse under the excuse of “practicing,” and not long ago he truly detected the slippery pulse of pregnancy.

He deliberately kept the news hidden until now.

“I want Tiantian and the children to live good lives. I don’t want to stay here forever, working in the fields every day, then watching our children grow up only to work in the fields too, earning barely any money, carefully rationing every piece of meat because we’re afraid others won’t get enough, feeding mosquitoes in summer and hiding under blankets all winter.”

After saying this long speech, Xie Li saw Li Jianguo’s expression grow complicated, as though deeply moved. Smiling faintly, he casually added,

“Most importantly, I hope my children can study in the future too. I want them to take the college entrance exam like I did, attend schools in places with advanced education, then grow up, marry, and have families of their own.”

“……”

Li Jianguo said nothing.

This was an impossible problem for every educated youth sent to the countryside.

They had seen prosperity before. They longed to return to the cities and the environments they once knew.

And Xie Li had seen even more of the world than most educated youths.

If everyone else wanted to return to the city, then under circumstances where it was possible, Xie Li wanted it even more.

Not to mention the Xie family was still waiting for him to come home.

He would never betray the family who had loved the original owner so dearly.

Li Jianguo sat in the shadows where the light could not reach him. After a very long silence, he finally sighed with overwhelming helplessness.

“You’re right.”

…

December arrived, bringing the coldest weather of the year.

Under the attentive and anxious gazes of Li Tiantian and the Li family, Xie Li stepped into the examination hall.

The other candidates could not help staring at him in surprise.

Now that his features had fully matured, Xie Li’s appearance had become even more outstanding. Refined and elegant yet still carrying masculine sharpness, his tall, straight figure towered above many of the southern examinees.

Quite a few girls secretly watched him.

Xie Li remained calm, seemingly unaware of the attention. Politely declining several students who tried to strike up conversations, he found his desk and sat down with his eyes closed to rest.

Seeing his attitude, the others understood he had no interest in chatting and reluctantly returned to their own seats.

Hu Dezheng entered the examination hall last.

Like Xie Li, he came from the north and carried the open, straightforward aura typical of northerners. After suppressing himself for years, now that he finally had a chance to take the college entrance exam, all his confidence burst forth at once.

His eyes and brows overflowed with certainty as he stared forward with determined focus.

Hearing the movement, Xie Li opened his eyes and glanced at him in surprise.

Quite a coincidence. They had actually ended up in the same examination hall.

This would probably also become one of the few remaining opportunities for northern and southern educated youths to take the exam together. In a few more years, after everyone returned to their hometowns and began taking exams locally, scenes like this would disappear forever.

Because of the massive educational disruptions of the era, the examination questions this year were actually fairly simple.

Unfortunately, most educated youths had spent years buried under exhausting labor and never persisted in studying. Many only crammed frantically for a single month before the exam.

Compared to the deep accumulation of knowledge built up by Xie Li and Hu Dezheng over years of preparation, the difference was enormous.

After finishing the easier questions, most candidates simply stared blankly ahead, unable to continue.

Among this crowd, the answering speed of Xie Li and Hu Dezheng appeared downright terrifying.

Xie Li finished first.

After completing the paper, he intended to review his answers. Just as he stretched slightly, commotion suddenly erupted inside the examination hall.

Looking up, he saw the proctor glaring at a pale-faced examinee while holding a crumpled cheat sheet in his hand.

“You… if you weren’t prepared, you could have waited for next time. How could you do something like this? I won’t say more. Leave by yourself.”

Xie Li immediately understood someone had been caught cheating.

Thinking about it from the other person’s perspective, it actually made sense.

Although the government had restored the college entrance examination, they never announced when the next exam would occur. Many candidates desperate to return to the city feared this opportunity might vanish after a single year, so in a moment of panic they risked everything.

This person would not be the first caught cheating, nor the last.

Perhaps in countless other examination halls across the country, the exact same scenes were unfolding.

Xie Li felt somewhat sorry for him. Shaking his head lightly, he lowered his gaze and continued carefully reviewing his own answers.

The cheating student’s face turned deathly pale. His legs weakened as he stumbled out of the room before suddenly bursting into tears.

His suppressed, regretful sobbing drifted into the examination hall, affecting the other candidates. Many could not resist looking over. And when they saw someone forcibly escorting the student away, anxiety instantly spread through the room.

Only Xie Li calmly finished reviewing his paper, changed one or two answers, then submitted it and left.

The others unconsciously shifted their attention toward him. Only then did they snap back to their senses, hurriedly forcing themselves to focus again under the pressure created by Xie Li turning in his exam early.

Hu Dezheng was the second person to submit his paper.

After coming outside, he sincerely thanked Xie Li.

He too had been affected by the cheating incident and nearly lost concentration long enough to fail finishing the exam. If Xie Li’s early submission had not snapped him back to reality, he would still have been distracted by thoughts about that student.

“No need to thank me. There are still several exams left. Stay focused and finish them properly. Don’t waste two years of hard work on this single day.”

Hu Dezheng nodded fiercely. Perhaps because he thought of Qian Lanxiang, determination flashed through his eyes.

“Don’t worry. I’ll definitely succeed.”

Two days later, after completing all the examinations, Xie Li, Hu Dezheng, and the others returned to Xiaoxipo Village to await their university admission notices.

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