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  • The Landowner And His Wife

    Chapter 109: Bitten By A Snake

    Disclaimer: 

    1. This is an unofficial translation and no permission has been obtained from the author/ official publisher. It may be taken down if the author/official publisher requests. 

    2. This is a fan work and the interpretation represents only the translator’s personal views without any input from the author. 

    3. No permission has been granted to use, publish, upload and/or copy this translation to any other site except for Second Life Translations.


    Liu Xu’er was right – the woman was a mistress that Liu Changgui kept. Liu Gao shi didn’t ask and Liu Changgui didn’t say if she was officially his concubine, but the boy and girl that had visited today were both her children. Based on that, the woman should have been with Liu Changgui for at least four or five years. 

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    Jia shi had given birth to a daughter, and these past few years, she hadn’t had any more children. Nowadays, Jia shi was mostly based in Shandong. They had purchased a residence in Binzhou city at Shandong. They mostly spent their time there, with only a few months a year spent here. 

    “Exactly what business is Third doing?” He shi asked. 

    In the afternoon, Liu Changgui had left with his woman and children. Liu Gao shi had come over to chat with her two daughters-in-law. Hearing Second’s wife’s question, she said, “He said that he was transporting goods from there back here. He buys some of Shandong’s specialties…. Something about dried seafood?”

    The following parts of the text will be scrambled to prevent theft from aggregators and unauthorized epub making. Please support our translators by reading on secondlifetranslations (dot) com. If you are currently on the site and and you are seeing this, please clear your cache.

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    “Eyp kv vbl sdl bkeeld clbkde bla nszzya? R sdzu xydytle vs tzydnl yv kv yde pyo kv oyp tsze, cwv eked’v xydytl vs pll kv nzlyazu!”&dcpr; Tl pbk’p hsknl oyp qwzz sq pbsnj.&dcpr;

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    Ohlausdl pvyavle vs pbyjl vblka blyep – obs jdlo?!

    Nkw Qys pbk yde Xze Yyd Nkw olal ayvbla yxckhyzldv ycswv Nkw Ubydttwk’p hkpkv. Jwv pkdnl Kky pbk bye dlhla clld qkzkyz vs vblx, ds sdl prsjl wr qsa bla ycswv Nkw Ubydttwk’p vyjkdt sq y nsdnwckdl.&dcpr;

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    In the third month, they chose an auspicious date for Liu Xu’er and her family to move to town. On the day they moved, the village was exceptionally lively. Liu Changgeng and He shi had always been on good terms with many in the village, and that was even more so now that Liu Xu’er managed to help so many of them. The villagers were especially grateful to them. As such, there were plenty of hands to help when they moved. 

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    In a flash they had managed to pack all of their belongings onto the carts. It took a total of five large carts. They had to borrow carts from Yuan Hao, Liu Changshi as well as from several of their fellow villagers to use. 

    Because they had been planning the move for so long, there was plenty of time to decide on what to do with everything. The chickens that the family was raising were passed to Liu Gao shi, while they continued to bring the rabbits with them to town. Although there were a lot of them, they needed the rabbit fur for their business and so there was no choice but for them to continue to raise them. The apple tree at their residence was handed over to Liu Changshi to tend. 

    Although there weren’t many things brought over, it still took them over a month to tidy up the new house. 

    Liu Changgeng had already prepared a very very large rabbit cage that was placed in the backyard. It was placed along the wall; so long as they diligently cleaned the cages, there wouldn’t be too much smell from it. 

    Since it was so much more convenient for Liu Xu’er to head to the store, after taking a few days to tidy up her courtyard, Liu Xu’er went down to check out the situation. These past few days, Shi Cheng had always been with her. It seemed like he was even happier than the Liu family about the move. 

    The little store’s business was slower than usual, but that was because it was only about a month past the New Year. Business would start to pick up in the fourth month. 

    Liu Xu’er frequently looked over the books while at home. Although she didn’t head into the shop often, she was extremely clear about which goods sold well, and which were having difficulty selling. The ones that sold the most poorly were definitely the extravagantly priced hand-warmers. These past few years, they had managed to fill an entire chest of goods. 

    Liu Shu opened the chest up for her to have a look. Liu Xu’er couldn’t help laughing, “I’m still making them. Once this lot is done, I really can’t make any more.”

    Shi Cheng quickly interjected, “Don’t! What’s the panic over this little bit of stock? When you’ve the time, we should all go to Hanzhong city for a visit! Your store should consider expanding anyway.”

    Liu Lin nodded, “That’s right! We are still thinking about the matter! Because the villagers are all keen to make money, they’ve been really good about providing goods. These past few months, we’ve accepted quite a lot – I think that our little store can’t handle all of it!”

    “We should stop accepting anything that doesn’t sell well! And we should only buy goods when we’ve finished selling a batch.” Liu Xu’er said, “About Hanzhong city, maybe some other time. We’ve just bought a house, we don’t have time….”

    Shi Cheng smiled and said, “No one’s insisting that you expand the business now? It’s just for you to have a look. You’ve never been to Hanzhong city. You should go and understand the situation there. Then you can make better informed plans for yourselves.”

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    What he said did make sense. Although Liu Xu’er did feel that things were happening too quickly, it was still a good idea to go there and have a look. So she nodded, “That’s fine…. Why don’t you bring us to have a look?”

    “When?” Shi Cheng immediately asked. He smiled and said, “It would be best to go just before the fourth month. The fourth month would probably start to become busy.”

    Liu Xu’er smiled, “Ok. I will go back to prepare, and ask dad when he’s free.”

    Liu Lin immediately asked Liu Shu, “Ge, do you want to go, or should I? If you are going, remember to check out the stores that sell combs, as well as those that sell little rouge boxes. Also….”

    Liu Shu laughed, “Since you want to go, why are you acting like this? I will watch the store, you all can go ahead.”

    Liu Sen was at the side listening. When he heard what Liu Shu said, his eyes lit up and he asked, “Really dage? I can go too?”

    Liu Xu’er was the one who doted on Liu Sen the most. She immediately said, “Of course you can go!”

    Liu Sen’s smile was so wide, it nearly split his face in half. He wanted to say something when Liu Shu’s face immediately changed. He went to the doorway and said, “Was the person who just ran by sishu?!”

    Everyone went over to look. They only saw a person running while waving his hands. It was Liu Changshi! He looked to be extremely agitated! That scared all of them. Shi Cheng and Liu Lin simultaneously dashed for the door, but just as they got there, Liu Changshi had come back. Gasping for air, he said, “Shu, quickly look for someone to tell your parents that Liu Tao has been bitten by a snake! We’ve gone to a medical hall!”

    Everyone was deeply shocked. Liu Shu immediately agreed before frantically asking, “Sishu, is the bite serious? Liu Lin! Quickly run home and tell dad and mum!”

    Liu Lin agreed and took off running. Liu Changshi said, “No one knows if it’s serious or not. The doctor is currently with him. Right now, he’s unconscious…. I just came by to tell you to look for help. You guys stay here, I need to head back!” Saying this, he turned and ran off.

    Liu Xu’er quickly said, “Dage, take some money and go over! Senzi, Shi Cheng and I can watch over the store. But if they need any money….”

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    Liu Shu nodded and quickly took five taels of silver from the store before rushing out.

    Liu Sen’s face was pale with fright. He anxiously asked, “A snake bite. Would sange….. In Xi Village, someone got bitten by a snake. They couldn’t rescue him…. He died.”

    Shi Cheng comforted him, “You need to see what kind of snake bit him. If it’s a venomous snake…. He still can be rescued!” Shi Cheng jumped out and went to chase after Liu Shu. 

    Liu Xu’er knew that he had just thought of some way to help clear the snake poison. But who knew how doctors in this era managed snake bites. 

    Worried, both she and Senzi stayed at the store. They both hoped to receive good news soon, but all the people who had left just didn’t return. Even Shi Cheng was still gone while Liu Changgeng and He shi didn’t make an appearance at the store at all. By the time it was afternoon, seeing that there wasn’t much business, Liu Xu’er and Senzi closed up the store. They took another five taels of silver with them and directly went to the medical hall. 

    The instant they arrived, they saw that everyone was there! Liu Changgeng and Liu Changgui were both crouched at the door talking, while Liu Changqi was nearby, head buried in both his hands. Liu Shu, Liu Lin and Shi Cheng were all gathered in a huddle talking. Senzi called out, “Dad!”

    Liu Changgeng lifted his head for a look before quickly standing and coming over. “Why are the two of you here? Have you closed the store?”

    Liu Xu’er nodded, “It’s closed… What’s happening dad?”

    Liu Changgeng paused before shaking his head. “We’ve been waiting for quite a while. We still don’t know what’s happening, but we’ve already returned to the village and got a snake catcher to come by….”

    “Why do you need a snake catcher?” Liu Sen asked. 

    Shi Cheng had also come by. He said, “To see what kind of snake bit Liu Tao, and whether its venom is strong or not.”

    Liu Xu’er quietly asked, “Isn’t he awake yet? What did the doctor say?”

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    Shi Cheng shook his head. He glanced over at Liu Changqi before saying in a soft voice, “He hasn’t woken. The doctor didn’t say much… He’s had no time to say anything. He is desperately trying to save him. They’ve opened the bite and tried to drain out the venom. There doesn’t seem to be any other method. He’s now having a fever.”

    Liu Xu’er’s brows were deeply furrowed. “How did he get bitten? Was it because he went into the ravine to collect wood?” These past two years, Liu Tao has been making rouge boxes to help supplement his family’s income. Liu Xu’er thought that may be the reason for this.

    Shi Cheng nodded, and didn’t say anything. 

    Liu Xu’er’s heart was heavy. She definitely didn’t wish for anything to happen to Liu Tao. These past two years, he had been working extremely hard. He was definitely pulling his own weight with all the labour, and not just in the fields, but in making those boxes. Liu Xu’er was aware that Liu Tao actually really wanted to do more of the boxes, but with only him and Liu Changqi managing the fields, he really had no time to do more than that.

    Liu Tao wanted to repair his relationship with Liu Xu’er and her family. Of course, it wasn’t for him to try and repair relationships of those older than him, and Liu Yun’er had indeed offended Liu Xu’er’s family greatly, so he didn’t even try. 

    All of these were clearly witnessed by Liu Shu and Liu Lin. The siblings had been softening in their attitude toward Liu Tao these past few years. By now, there wasn’t really any grudge between them.  

    Liu Xue’r sighed and asked softly, “Your method…. Could they use it?”

    Shi Cheng shook his head, “It’s not that easy. We don’t know anything about medicine. I told the doctor, but the doctor didn’t say much. He did, however, get us to look for a snake catcher. The person who brought Liu Tao over was from our village. He managed to get a look at the type of snake it was. When he described it, the snake catcher was able to tell the doctor which snake it was. The doctor accordingly prescribed some medicine. The rest….” Shi Cheng shook his head. 

    Liu Xu’er could only sigh while Shi Cheng comforted her in a low voice. All of them waited for another two hours before there was finally some stirring from inside. 

    The doctor came out. He looked completely exhausted from the long hours of emergency rescue. There were drops of blood on his hand. An apprentice hurried forward with a basin of water. Liu Changqi and Liu Changgeng had already crowded around him to ask, “Doctor, doctor, what’s the situation?”

    “Doctor, how is my son?” Liu Changqi’s voice carried a sob. 

    “We need to monitor the situation… The venom has mostly been cleared of his system. We need to see if he can make it past the next few days…. If he can, he will be fine. If he can’t…..” The doctor shook his head. 

    Liu Changqi’s knees went weak and he nearly fell on the floor. 


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    pawdles [Translator]

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    4 Comments

    1. Ornie
      Ornie

      Uh oh… hope they can pass this catastrophe. Thanks for the chapter.