Liu Yizhu grabbed Li Mingwei's wrist and took her out of the clinic. He looked left and right, couldn't find anywhere suitable, so he pulled her into the alley beside them.
Li Mingwei lowered her head, about to take out her purse, then remembered they had some unpleasantness last time over medicine money. If she just gave it to him directly this time, he probably wouldn't accept it. As she considered what to say, Liu Yizhu already spoke first.
"Aren't you going home?"
Liu Yizhu stepped forward, backing her against the corner, looking down at her. His face didn't look very good, almost pale.
Li Mingwei raised her eyes to look at him and seemed to just remember. She nodded and said, "Yes, going home."
She just meant back to the Dong residence. She was only teasing him the other day; she didn’t think he actually believed it.
Liu Yizhu's eyes darkened. An unexplained anger rose in his chest and he grabbed her hand, "Then why did you come to find me?"
"I don't see the connection between these two things." Li Mingwei tried to pull her hand away but he held on tighter. She stopped struggling in resignation. "How is your mother?"
"She's fine."
The medicine the local doctor prescribed upset her stomach, and she kept having flare ups, never quite shaking it off. Liu Yizhu had thought about taking her to a better doctor, one shouldn't delay with treating illness.
"Ahem." Li Mingwei cleared her throat, blinked at him innocently, and lowered her voice embarrassedly. "Isn't treatment in the county city expensive? Do you have enough money? If you don't, I have some..."
Liu Yizhu didn't want her to think that was why she'd come. Angrily he said, "I don't need it."
"Fine, if you don't need it, why are you angry? Petty miser!" Li Mingwei shook off his hand forcefully, offended. "If you don't want it, I'll leave!"
"Where are you going this late?"
Now that it was dark, Liu Yizhu naturally wouldn't let her wander off alone.
"None of your business!" Li Mingwei shot him an angry glare and headed straight for the inn. She didn't need him interfering when he'd already rejected her help.
Liu Yizhu kicked the wall in frustration, took a couple deep breaths to restrain his anger, and pulled her back into his embrace. Gently he explained, "I really don't need it. It's not serious illness. The clinic steward is an old classmate and relative, he gave us a discount, I have enough money. Don't worry."
He stroked the loose strands of her hair and saw the travel worn state of her clothes. "You came back from Qingshan village already?"
Li Mingwei was struck speechless. "Weren't you just..."
Liu Yizhu bent down, coming closer to her. "Who told you to trick me last time?"
Although Jin Laoshi said she just went to see Jiejie and would be back in a few days, after reading what she wrote to him, he was still very anxious. Now that he saw she had returned, all his previous worries and fears welled up and he momentarily lost control of his emotions.
Li Mingwei felt both angry and amused. She retorted, "You're the one who pinched me, and it hurt a lot!"
"Alright, I'm sorry I hurt you. I'll be gentler next time."
Li Mingwei gave him a kick in response. Liu Yizhu held her and wouldn't let go. He mumbled, "Are you really planning on going home?"
"Mm." She didn't intend to hide it from him anymore since they'd already talked this far. She gently smoothed the tension from his back to reassure him. "I've been away for almost a year. I can't not go back forever. My family is still waiting for me."
"Don't go." Liu Yizhu's trembling voice contained a hint of resentment. He buried his head against Li Mingwei's neck and pleaded aggrievedly, "I'm going with you."
"Don't make trouble."
"I won't!" Liu Yizhu accused, "Why am I always the one abandoned?"
"Can you honestly say you don't like me at all?"
Li Mingwei didn't dare confirm it, so she stayed silent.
"Then why do you refuse to accept me? I don't care what others say, I don't need children, I just want to be with you. I don't want anything else!"
Li Mingwei turned her head away, closed her eyes for a moment, leaning weakly against the wall.
Liu Yizhu held her face in both hands, panicked. "Don't ignore me, just give me an answer, okay? Don't leave, okay?"
He yelled until hoarse but didn't get a hint of response. Gradually even his strength left him and his voice grew lower and lower.
Sensing the person in her arms growing limp, Li Mingwei sighed helplessly. She reached out and stroked his face comfortingly. "It’s impossible for me to never go back. I can only promise I won't leave soon, okay?"
"Can you take me with you when you do leave?"
"Mm."
He was bound to go to the capital sooner or later anyway, it didn't make a difference if she agreed or not.
Finally Liu Yizhu felt a bit happier. He held the woman in his arms tightly. He buried his head in Li Mingwei's neck again, and then...
Then Li Mingwei felt the person on her grow heavier and heavier. She called his name softly a couple times but Liu Yizhu didn't respond at all. His hand went limp at his side.
Li Mingwei was shocked. She tried shifting him but couldn't even take a step with his weight on her. She looked around desperately but the deserted alley was completely empty. What should she do?
Just then, four heads popped out from the mouth of the alley. Li Mingwei looked pleadingly toward them, but Tang Jue raised his fan to cover the others' sight and hustled them away. "Inappropriate to look, let's go, hurry."
"Stop!"
"Brother-in-law!"
Dong Shan froze and turned back. "What's wrong?"
Li Mingwei gestured at the person on her. "I think he fainted."
"Huh?"
The four were shocked. They quickly came over to support Liu Yizhu. Zhong Liangyu felt for his breath and sighed in relief, "Still alive!"
They carried him into the clinic. There were no extra rooms so they squeezed him onto Old Lady Wang's bed. Old Lady Wang crouched beside the bed anxiously. "Doctor, what's wrong with my son?"
The doctor shushed her and checked his pulse, pupils, nose and mouth, diagnosing firmly, "Nothing serious, just exhausted and fell asleep." He pointed at the dark circles under Liu Yizhu's eyes. "Look how swollen his eyes are. He hasn't slept well, if at all, for at least 2-3 days. Just let him rest more and he'll be fine."
Old Lady Wang's eyes widened in surprise. She couldn't help asking Zhong Liangyu and the others, "How did he not sleep well yesterday?"
Zhong Liangyu and Yang Jingyuan exchanged a look. "We don't know. He didn't come back last night."
"Didn't come back? He said it was too crowded here so he was going back to the academy to rest. Why didn't he go back?"
The four of them were arranged to stay together at the academy. Only Tang Jue went home periodically since he lived nearby. These two were there every day and indeed didn't see Liu Yizhu return last night.
Zhong Liangyu affirmed, "He really didn't come back."
Old Lady Wang turned her gaze toward Li Mingwei again. Li Mingwei's mouth twitched. What was she looking at her for? She certainly hadn't been with Liu Yizhu last night!
She took a step back awkwardly. "My sister-in-law and I went to see Jiejie in Qingshan village yesterday and spent the night there."
Seeing the odd looks from the others, Old Lady Wang quickly explained, "I didn't mean it that way. I just wanted to ask if you knew anything."
She probably also knew Li Mingwei wasn't that kind of careless girl.
Li Mingwei shook her head. She had only just ran into him earlier, how could she know where he was?
"Then where was he last night?" Old Lady Wang sank into thought. Her son was keeping things from her again.
"It's fine." Seeing how worried she was, the doctor comforted her, "He's so young, he'll be alright after some more rest. All of you leave so you don't wake him."
"Yes, thank you, doctor."
