Chapter 613 — Xiao Shu Is Going to Die
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
"G-good!" Tang Jucheng nodded with delight. "What do you need me to do?"
"Uncle Tang, just stay lying down. There's no need to move." Wei Zhao waved his hand to indicate that Tang Jucheng needn't stir, then walked over to examine his injuries.
Under the regimen of Chinese medicine, Tang Jucheng's fractured legs should heal in short order. The problem was the nerve damage, which remained unchanged. Even if his legs mended, he would still walk with a pronounced limp!
Wei Zhao frowned slightly. This was not a good sign. Even if Tang Jucheng could stand again, the nerve damage would make his gait uneven during rehabilitation -- and that, in turn, would very likely impair the recovery of his legs!
If he kept walking like that, the newly healed legs could develop deformities. Even if the nerve problem were eventually resolved, the two legs -- having healed to different degrees -- would end up mismatched in length, and the limp would be unavoidable.
"What is it? Wei Zhao -- is there a problem with my father's condition?" Tang Zhi had been watching Wei Zhao's expression the whole time, and the moment she saw him frown, her heart lurched. She blurted out the question without thinking.
"There is a bit of a problem." Wei Zhao did not hold back. He explained everything he had just worked out to Tang Zhi and Mother Tang, not leaving Tang Jucheng out of it either -- there was no need to.
"Then what do we do?" Tang Zhi was getting anxious.
But Tang Jucheng and Mother Tang were not all that alarmed. In fact, Tang Jucheng laughed. "So I limp. So what? Being able to stand at all is already wonderful -- that's far better than lying in this bed, isn't it?"
It was hardly surprising that Tang Jucheng could take it in stride. He had been bedridden for so long that merely being able to stand again was all that mattered -- who cared whether one leg dragged? A cripple was a damn sight better than a paralytic, wasn't he? Mother Tang felt much the same way. She had never once resented her husband for being paralyzed, so what difference did a limp make?
"I'd originally planned to bring back the nerve-stimulating medicine after the gaokao, when you came home with me to meet the old man. But that won't work -- there's no time." Wei Zhao shook his head. "Never mind, though. I'll have someone deliver it."
"We couldn't ask that of you." Tang Jucheng was more than a little flustered. Wei Zhao was going to trouble other people on his account.
"Not at all." Wei Zhao was thinking of Er Goudan, his old childhood companion. It had been a long time since he had seen him. It wasn't harvest season, so he should have plenty of free time.
"Dad, Wei Zhao's made up his mind, and so have we." Seeing that her father was about to object again, Tang Zhi cut him off and settled the matter once and for all.
Of course Tang Zhi did not want her father to end up walking with a limp. Even if it meant owing Wei Zhao yet another favor, it was her debt -- and she already owed him so much that she had stopped keeping count. After the little misunderstanding they had just been through, Tang Zhi had finally learned to let go.
Paying off a debt of gratitude with one's body was, in its own way, a perfectly good arrangement. After all, Tang Zhi had already decided to stay by Wei Zhao's side -- so whatever he wanted in the future, worst came to worst, she would simply give it to him. The thought made her cheeks flush.
"That's right, Old Tang. Xiao Yi is doing this out of the goodness of his heart -- stop arguing with the boy!" Mother Tang might have been resigned to her husband's limp, but now that there was hope of a cure, she naturally wanted him to walk like any other man.
Wei Zhao pulled out his phone, intending to call Er Goudan, but the moment he took it out, it rang. He glanced at the caller ID and saw that it was Gu Mengyao.