Chapter 52: Which Divine Healer Still Sets Up a Street Stall?

"Mom, I used to neglect the kids too much. I've been so busy lately that they'd still be asleep when I left and already asleep when I came back. I haven't really spent any time with them..."

Seeing that Honghong was a little nervous, Su Chen gently stroked her head. "So starting today, I'll take one of the kids out with me by rotation."

Old Man Su frowned deeply. "Then you still have to take care of the children..."

"It's fine, Dad. I set up a stall for fortune-telling; if two people come to consult in a day, I'll consider myself lucky. I have plenty of free time."

Liu Chunhua was about to say something more, but Su Chen pointed at the chestnuts in front of the Kitchen God. "Mom, you need to eat those chestnuts sooner rather than later, or they'll go bad!"

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. These were bestowed upon us by a little immortal; how could they possibly go bad?"

"Go on, off with you now. Don't stand here and be an eyesore."

Old Man Su also added a soft persuasion, "Hurry up, lest the little ones wake up and start crying again when they see you leaving."

At the entrance of the village, Su Chen ran into his fourth older brother, Su De.

Seeing him leading Honghong out, Su De asked with curiosity, "A-Chen, aren't you going to the city today?"

"I am."

"Then Honghong..."

"I'm taking her to the city with me."

Su De furrowed his brow instantly. "Wouldn't it be much better to leave Honghong at home to look after her younger brothers and sisters? She won't be any help if you take her to the city."

Upon hearing this, Honghong instinctively shrank her neck.

"Fourth Brother, what kind of help do children need? Their job is just to play and be happy. Right next to my stall is a vendor selling comic books, so Honghong can just read comic books right there at the stall, and she can even learn some characters. Don't you agree?"

Su De let out a dry laugh. "That's true. Even though Honghong is a girl, it doesn't hurt for her to learn a few more characters."

Then he smoothly changed the subject. "A-Chen, I heard from Big Brother that you're planning to throw a birthday banquet for our dad?"

Su Chen was slightly taken aback. "Third Sister told you?"

"Yeah. Third Sister said you're footing the entire bill. That won't do; Big Brother and I are Dad's sons as well, so the cost should be split evenly among us."

Su De wanted to offer some more earnest persuasion, but unexpectedly, Su Chen agreed straight away. "All right then. However, Fourth Brother, the fifth day of the lunar new year will probably be quite busy, so we'll need both of our sisters-in-law to come over and lend a hand."

"No problem, I'll go back and talk to them."

Ever since Su Chen saved his life, Su De had naturally grown much closer to him.

Now that the serious matters were settled, he started chatting with Su Chen about how to choose the right timber for custom-made wardrobes and which styles were currently trending...

Su Chen didn't find it boring at all and listened with great interest. By the time they descended the mountain and before they parted ways, Zhao Dongsheng was already walking up to greet them.

"Master."

Su Chen asked him, "Have you had breakfast yet?"

"Eaten, eaten," Zhao Dongsheng replied, then looked over at Su De. "And this is..."

"My fourth brother."

"Hello, hello. I'm the Master's driver, just call me Old Zhao."

"Oh, oh, oh, Old Zhao..." Su De stammered in surprise, "A driver?"

Su Chen explained, "No, Brother Zhao was sent by Boss Zhang to pick me up."

Su De's eyes widened.

A driver, picking him up...

It seemed his younger brother had truly made something of himself.

Zhao Dongsheng stared fixedly at Honghong.

Su Chen said helplessly, "This is my eldest daughter, Honghong. Say hello to Uncle Zhao."

Honghong obediently greeted him, and Zhao Dongsheng was overjoyed. "Master, your daughter is truly beautiful."

Su Chen was quite pleased by this compliment.

Neither the original owner nor his deceased wife had bad looks, and their children had inherited all their best features, making them all quite attractive.

Hearing this, Honghong's little face flushed slightly, and she shyly hid behind Su Chen.

When the group reached the bus station, Su De finally waved goodbye to them. "A-Chen, come home early, don't stay out too late."

"Don't worry."

Watching Su Chen and Honghong get into the car, Su De couldn't help but click his tongue and shake his head.

His younger brother had really made a name for himself!

At that moment, a harsh voice pierced his ears.

"Did you see that? That's him, the one who just lost his wife and immediately hooked up with some wealthy woman. Tsk, tsk, how disgusting."

Hearing this, Su De looked over and saw a middle-aged woman pointing and gesturing at the car Su Chen had boarded. He flew into a rage and rushed forward.

"What kind of sheer nonsense are you spouting? How did my younger brother hook up with a wealthy woman? That's just someone being grateful for his help and sending a car to pick him up, alright?"

Startled by Su De's sudden roar, the woman was taken aback for a second before anger flared up in her.

"Bah, who's going to believe that ghost story? He used to be a good-for-nothing loafer who never did an honest day's work, and now suddenly he's got special abilities? Do any of you believe that?"

The surrounding people all shook their heads in unison.

"You—you people..." Su De said indignantly, "Fine! Don't come looking for my younger brother if something happens to your families in the future!"

"Bah, how dare you curse us? What kind of person is this?"

"Exactly, so what if he's a carpenter now? Is he some big shot?"

Su De was so angry he felt like his soul was about to leave his body.

However, he quickly took a deep breath and forced a smile. "I can't be bothered to argue with you ignorant women!"

Getting to work was more important; he was already late coming down the mountain, and if he delayed any further, he would inevitably be scolded by his master.

Sigh, life is so difficult!

Su De hurried all the way to Old Cui's house. Upon entering the courtyard, he saw that the place was packed to the brim with people.

Because of the crowd, his master was pushed out to the outer area and hadn't even started working yet.

Curious, he walked up and asked, "Master, what's going on here?"

"Aih—" Old Man Jiang let out a long sigh. "This job, I'm afraid we won't be able to finish it after all."

"What on earth happened?"

Old Man Jiang glanced warily into the house before speaking to Su De in a low voice.

As it turned out, the girl Old Cui had originally betrothed to his son had fallen ill a long time ago. That family only had one daughter and doted on her fiercely; they had taken the girl to the city hospital for checkups, but nothing could be diagnosed. In a mere two months, she had wasted away by more than thirty catties, and now she looked just like a skeleton, clearly on the verge of death. Only then did they finally come over to make a clean breast of it to Old Cui.

Su De frowned. "You don't think it's cancer, do you?"

"Who knows? Anyway, the hospital couldn't find anything, and drinking blessed talisman water or using folk remedies didn't help either. Aih, such a poor girl."

"And they were so close to getting married, only for something like this to happen."

As Old Man Jiang spoke, he noticed Su De picking up the water pipe placed nearby, twisting some shredded tobacco into a small ball, placing it in the bowl, and handing it over.

Taking the pipe, Old Man Jiang struck a match, lit the tobacco, took a deep and appreciative drag, slowly exhaled the smoke, and shook his head.

"I wonder if we'll even get paid for this job before the New Year."

As carpenters, they only received their full payment after all the furniture was completely finished.

Now that this situation had cropped up, who knew whether Old Cui's family planned to have them finish all the furniture first and then look for another bride, or wait until another engagement was settled before resuming the woodwork.

After all, furniture styles seemed to change almost every year nowadays. If they dragged it out for a year or half a year, the new bride might dislike the furniture and throw a tantrum.

How troublesome.

Hearing this, Su De grew anxious. "Master, if we can't collect our wages, it's going to be a miserable New Year!"

"You think I don't know? That's why I'm worrying!"

Unable to stay crouched any longer, Su De stood up.

In the past, if he hadn't received this money, he would have worried, but not to this extent. However, this very morning he had promised his younger brother to split the banquet costs evenly, and he was counting on these wages to chip in.

What on earth should he do now?

A burst of crying drifted out from inside the house.

"Old Cui, she's my only daughter, I—I... how am I supposed to go on living after this?"

Su De stood frozen for a moment, then frustratedly buried his head in his hands and squatted back down.

Their lives were hard enough too; he should just forget about his own petty troubles.

At that moment, a figure rushed in hurriedly.

"Old Xu, quick, quick, quick! There's a miraculous doctor in the city, extremely skilled, setting up a stall over on Chunming Street. Bring your daughter, Old Xu, let's go take a look!"

Su De paused for a second and scratched his head. "Chunming Street? Why does that sound a bit familiar?"

Old Man Jiang glared at him. "When I took you to the city to do odd jobs five years ago, wasn't that right next to Chunming Street?"

"What kind of terrible memory do you have?!"

Su De slapped his own forehead. "Look at me, you're the wise one, Master, remembering all these places."

Old Man Jiang let out a soft huff. Catching sight of Old Cui's wife coming back out of the house, he shook his head and lowered his voice, "What kind of miraculous doctor sets up a street stall? If he were real, his threshold would be beaten down by desperate people. Sounds like nothing more than a quack fooling around..."