20demayo Chapter 385 Courageous Red Bean
Chapter 385 Courageous Red Bean
"Mother, how many monsters did you defeat today?" Eight-year-old Zhi Xiaoye tiptoed and carefully placed a bowl of steaming red bean soup on the low table by his mother's bedside.
Huang Danniang, a female scholar from the countryside of Henan who became famous in Chang'an for her diligent study and mastery of medicine (a respectful title for someone who specializes in a particular field of study in the Tang Dynasty), is now struggling to lift her weak body from her sickbed.
Her pale face flushed with a sickly red from the exertion, and her gaze fell on her son Zhi Xiaoye's trousers, which were noticeably too short—a few plump red beans were peeking out from the gaps in the tattered pockets and rolling onto the edge of the bed.
A surge of bittersweet emotion rushed to her nose, and she hurriedly lowered her eyelashes, desperately suppressing the tears that were about to spill over. Once upon a time, she could skillfully administer acupuncture, soothing countless ailments; now, she barely had the strength to even lift her hand to wipe the sweat beading on her son's forehead.
In the late autumn of the seventeenth year of the Zhenguan era (643 AD), Huang Danniang, only thirty-six years old, passed away suddenly after five years of being bedridden with illness.
When the news spread, her youngest son, Zhi Xiaoye, who always loved to search for red beans in the streets and alleys of Chang'an and under the trees in the corners of Ci'en Temple, had just won the third small wooden plaque symbolizing "champion" in the counting rod competition for elementary school students at the Imperial Academy.
This student from a poor family, who was recommended to audit classes at the Hongwen Academy because of his exceptional intelligence, spent five years fighting against the vicious disease called "Xu Lao Xue Ku" (a disease similar to leukemia in ancient times) with his frail body. In the end, all he left for this chaotic world were three simple and unadorned last words.
Five years ago, when the diagnosis, which struck her like a bolt from the blue, was uttered with difficulty by her former classmate from the Imperial Medical Academy, who was now her attending physician, Dan Niang's world instantly darkened.
The senior disciple's hand, holding the pen, hovered above the medical record, his voice heavy: "Dan Niang, this illness is dangerous. You... must be fully prepared. Depleted marrow and blood... this is... an extreme case of extreme weakness and blood deficiency. The prognosis..."
Before he could finish speaking, Dan Niang raised her hand to stop him. She turned around and walked unsteadily but with unusual determination towards the bustling street corner of the West Market. At a peddler's stall, she picked out a painted, imposing Zhong Kui puppet for her son.
That night, she held little Ono tightly in her arms, pointed to the majestic Zhong Kui puppet, and said in a gentle yet undeniably powerful voice, "Ono, Mother is going to be Zhong Kui. From now on, Mother will catch ghosts and monsters inside my body every day and drive them all away!"
The child's bright eyes instantly shone like stars, filled with excitement and admiration: "Can Xiao Ye be a little devil? Fight alongside Mother!" Dan Niang smiled, gently shook her head, and kissed his forehead: "No, Xiao Ye must be Mother's most loyal spectator, cheering Mother on so that Mother can have the strength."
This comforting lie was told for five years. Countless nights, when the excruciating pain and the backlash from the medicine surged forth, Danniang would curl up on the cold tiles of the bathroom floor, vomiting uncontrollably, her body drenched in cold sweat.
Outside the door, one could always hear her son's innocent yet earnest counting, filled with complete trust: "Mother used three talismans today! She must have defeated three great monsters!"
Later, in a letter to her close friend, she wrote: "A mother's 'acting skills' are all forced upon her by the clear gaze of her child. Even when she is in so much pain that she wants to cry, she must force a smile and put on the heroic posture of Zhong Jinshi catching ghosts."
In fact, the clever Zhi Xiaoye had already seen through this gentle veil. The teacher at the elementary school noticed that he always secretly saved a few red dates that were distributed with his lunch and hid them in his sleeve, so he asked him about it privately.
The little boy lowered his head, twisting the hem of his clothes with his fingers, his voice barely audible: "...Mother said red dates replenish blood...I want to save them for her...so she'll have more strength to fight monsters..."
Once, Dan Niang returned from a dangerous bloodletting procedure (similar to chemotherapy in ancient times), so weak that she could barely walk. But she saw her son, Zhi Xiaoye, unusually put away his beloved clay figurines and bamboo horses into a box. On his desk, there was a perfect homework assignment with still-wet ink and neat handwriting.
She stroked her son's soft hair and asked softly, "Why are you working so hard today, Xiao Ye?" The child looked up, his clear eyes reflecting his mother's tired face, and said earnestly, "Zhong Jinshi is working so hard fighting monsters. Xiao Ye wants to be the most worry-free spectator and not distract Mother."
Before being carried one last time into that clean room (hospital ward) filled with the bitter scent of medicine, Dan Niang called Zhi Xiaoye to her bedside. The child seemed to have anticipated this, and spoke quickly, her voice trembling almost imperceptibly: "Mother, Xiaoye knows! I must eat on time, study diligently, and listen to Grandpa!"
Dan Niang shook her head with difficulty, using the last bit of her clarity to gaze intently at her beloved son, speaking each word clearly: "Xiao Ye, listen to me. Your mother wants you to do three things: First, eat well; second, train well (your body); third, study hard."
As soon as he finished speaking, Shiono, who had been holding back his tears, finally broke down in a torrent of tears. He threw himself into his mother's arms, his small shoulders shaking violently, and he sobbed out, "But Mother! You didn't say you wanted to be happy... Shiono wants Mother to be happy!"
Dan Niang was suddenly stunned. Her son's tearful accusation pierced her heart like a dull knife. She realized then that in the long and desperate struggle, beneath the resilient mask of playing "Zhong Kui," she seemed to have truly... for a very long time, forgotten how to laugh. That was originally the most instinctive and warmest essence of life.
The news eventually reached the depths of the Taiji Palace. At that time, Princess Jinyang, Li Mingda (Xiao Sizi), was leaning against the window of the warm pavilion, flipping through the coursework of outstanding young children selected from the Imperial Academy, presented by the Inner Palace Attendants' Office.
Autumn had deepened outside the window, and the sycamore leaves were falling. An article titled "My Mother" caught my eye; the handwriting was still somewhat immature, yet its power was palpable. When I read the line, "My mother is not the real Zhong Kui,"...
Yet, his endurance of pain, his fight against illness, and his protection of his young child's heart, his unwavering courage and determination, surpassed even Zhong Kui's by a million times! At this moment, Xiao Sizi's fingers, which were holding the paper, trembled slightly.
Before her eyes, she seemed to see that small figure, persistently searching for red beans outside the palace walls and in the corners of the market in the cold autumn wind; she saw that mother on her sickbed, using "Zhong Kui" as a shield and "three good deeds" as a sword, cutting through the thorns of despair for her young child.
As intelligent and sensitive as she is, she can better understand the child's longing and regret for his mother to be happy, which is deeply hidden between the lines.
Tears silently slid down the princess's fair cheeks, dripping onto the yellowed paper and spreading a small, dark stain.
After a long while, she raised her hand and gently wiped away her tears with a silk handkerchief.
She summoned her personal maid, Chen Xiaoyao, and whispered a few instructions to her.
A moment later, Xiao Yao brought over an exquisite brocade box...