They didn’t choose to hustle in the town to steal those butchers’ thunders. Instead, they found a far-off place in the bazaar, put the sack down, revealing the bright red dry meat.
Some people were familiar with Wu Dahu. They knew that he was a hunter and knew that he had sold spices, so they were attracted and all gathering in front of the stall.
Generously, Wu Dahu took out a piece of dry meat in a big size, and then sliced them into piece, dispensing them to every passer-by who showed a great interest to have a bite.
The delicacy and the dry meat quickly captured every passer-by who had a taste on it. Receiving a positive evaluation, they sold two whole packs of dry meat out in a while.
Just at the moment they were about to gather up their stall and head to buy something, a familiar butcher came over and grabbed Wu Dahu’s hand all of a sudden, saying, “Brother Dahu, where did you get such huge quantity of dry meat? You even finished cooking them with spices and seasonings. Aren’t you going to monopolize in this marketplace?!”
Wu Dahu couldn’t help laughing and then retorted in indifference, saying, “I have already sold out all our dry meat. Don’t worry, is my seasoning a good-sold one?”
The man put down his hand and nodded honestly after hearing what Wu Dahu said, saying, “Well, it sells well though. Basically, everyone who comes to buy meat will always buy a pack of spices. Anyway, it isn’t that kind of expensive comparing with the flesh we sell. In addition, the spices will surely better the flavor of the meat, so why not?”
Wu Dahu asked thoughtfully, “Oh, really? So do you need more supply? Just inform us if you need more.”
The man pondered for a moment and then answered decisively, “I will consider replenishing my stock next week. But Brother Dahu, are you really not going to sell dry meat here again? Your booming business will surely be a great threat to ours! If I didn’t block the other butcher away, they will rush to you and interrogate you with rage.”
Noticing that the man was showing a face of “NEVER GIVE UP UNTIL GETTING AN ANSWER”, Wu Dahu responded sincerely, saying, “I really won’t come here again. The winter is approaching, where can I get so many preys?”
These two whole packs of meat wasn’t his own achievement though, he did rely on a cluster of people from the whole town to gather them. It wasn’t possible for him alone to capture such an amount of preys within one day even if he absorbed himself in hunting the whole day.
The man pondered carefully and then finally figured out that Wu Dahu was telling a truth. He relaxed and sighed with relief, saying while smiling big, “That makes sense, HAHA. Brother Dahu, your only duty should be supplying us with preys and seasonings. We butchers bear the other responsibilities to sell the commodity.”
Wu Dahu nodded to the man. After the man left, Wu Dahu spoke to Song Qinghan, saying slowly, “Sure enough, they will of course blame us for stealing their thunders. If we plan to run this business, we’d better be prepared to be a target who gathers hatred for all.”
Seeing that Wu Dahu was with a long face, Song Qinghan came to console, saying, “It’s not easy to monopolize the business. It will be tough for us to see a bigger picture in it. We should be satisfied now for earning this amount of coins. I think we’d better run our small business not making a hit.”
“By the way, do you need to prepare any weapon for the tournament? Like knives or swords or something others?” continued Song Qinghan.
He asked it because he was curious.
Wu Dahu smiled and shook his head, saying, “I don’t need anything. I already have this dagger now. Knives and swords are all only suitable for a show, but not practical at all. There will be no time for people to react and extract them in time when they are encountering something. Probably at that time when they are reacting, they have already been punched on face by their enemy’s fist.”
“But,” he pondered and then continued to say, “It would be better if I can get two more crossbows, the one I owned days ago will not be gained again because Yin Laosan didn’t give it back to me.”
Song Qinghan happened to have a demand which required the help of the blacksmith, so he nodded, saying, “Alright, then let’s head to the iron shop first.”
The two then asked the blacksmith to make two crossbows and one set of customized scalpels. The total sum of the cost was a half of the sold-out dry meat.
Thinking of the baby that was about to be born, Wu Dahu brought Song Qinghan to the fabric shop and bought three pieces of fabric featuring softness. Those were quite suitable for them to make any cloth and dapper for their upcoming baby in the future.
After buying all the necessary supplies, the two got onto the oxcart and prepared to return to the village.
It was only halfway when Song Qinghan realized something was getting strange.
He held tight on his belly with one hand while grabbing Wu Dahu’s arm with the other, and moaned in a low voice, “The child seems be on his way now…”
With an utter shock, Wu Dahu raised his head and then urged the cart keeper, saying, “My husband is going to deliver, please speed up.”
Even though the cart keeper had sped up already, he still kept his equanimity on face while seemingly being sophisticated, saying, “Don’t worry, He is just getting a labor pain. It still has a long way to go!”
Wu Dahu frowned, saying while delivering him a serious look, “But we haven’t got a midwifery man yet!”
Hearing that, the cart keeper was stunned. He looked at Wu Dahu up and down and shook his head sympathetically, saying, “Oh really? But you do not look like a man of immaturity, how can you just be so impetuous? If you are heading to get a midwifery man now, I think you should wait in line.”
He then noticed that Wu Dahu was still showing a face of utter confusion, he then tried to have a further explanation, saying, “There is only one famous midwifery man within this area, but not only one child is going to be born in one day. If you didn’t inform the midwifery man in advance and your husband got the same due date with the other, where is the midwifery man supposed to go?”
It was the first time that Wu Dahu heard this logic. He frowned and then it was an expression of self-accusation flashed across his face.
He did not expect that Song Qinghan would give birth to a child in advance without any sign. They should have at least two more weeks for preparing before the due day if it was strictly be in accordance with a precise calculation. To his surprise, the due day would shift to an earlier one even though Song Qinghan did not get himself bumped about or startled at all.
The labor pain suffered Song Qinghan to a large extent, but he still noticed the complexion of Wu Dahu, and then he came to console, saying, “Hey, I will be fine. As long as I am not going to pass out, I can be a midwifery man for myself as well. If we really can’t get any midwifery man to help us out, I will do it my own. Nothing is a big deal and, seriously, you don’t have to worry at all.”
Wu Dahu knew that Song Qinghan had helped Zhuer deliver the child before, but helping himself alone give birth to the child was totally a different kettle of fish, so he just grasped tight the hands of Song Qinghan, saying in a low voice, “Don’t worry, I will get the midwifery man. Please hold on, we’re almost there.”
The contour of the village gradually appeared in front of them. Song Qinghan sighed in relief, holding his belly and saying weakly, “Okay, if your hands are full tied, get Qin Aye here. I believe that he can help us.”
He had underestimated the pain of giving birth. The labor pain alone had suffered him already and almost tormented him to pass out. He couldn’t imagine how painful it would be when it was high time to deliver.
Recalling the days he teased his female collage who was pregnant and the fact that he had dealt with thousand cases of cesarean operations, he felt so much shameful for being a coward currently, he would slam himself on the face right away if it wasn’t an action of queerness.
Right, consoling others to calm down right at the crucial moment was not a same thing to consoling oneself to stay calm.
Warmheartedly, the cart keeper got Wu Dahu and Song Qinghan at home instead of leaving them at the entrance of the village, and also, he expressed his bless to Song Qinghan and hoped Song Qinghan would get a smooth delivery. But Song Qinghan and Wu Dahu got no time to talk to him at all.
Wu Dahu carried Song Qinghan in arms and then walked into their room and put him on the bed. Then he walked out in a panic. Wandering there, he sank into a hesitation about whether he should go find Qin Aye or get a midwifery man here.
Just at the moment he got his mind in a muddledness, three people were coming towards him afar.
When he saw that two of them were Youning and Yuan Boshu, he overjoyed and then rushed over and grabbed Yuan Boshu’s sleeve, saying, “Brother Yuan! Han is about to give birth, and I’m going to get a midwifery man here. Would you please do me a favor to get Qin Aye here? At least he is experienced and can take care of Han.”
Yuan Boshu and Youning were initially embarrassed by the atmosphere, but when they heard Wu Dahu’s words, they immediately put aside all the discord and said in unison, “Just go now, we’re on it.”
Wu Dahu nodded and left without saying anything.
The current emergency was to find a midwifery man. Otherwise, even though there were more hands, as long as they were the ones without any medicine basic, they could only do something in vain.
Luckily, his train of thought was still clear. He ran directly to Laifu’s mansion and inquired Laifu about where he found the midwifery man before. When he heard that they did find a group of them on Zhuer’s due day, he asked Laifu to find one for him while he was about to find in another direction.
On the other side, Yuan Boshu asked Youning to take the child aside him to Song Qinghan. And then he turned around, heading to Qin Aye’s house.
Youning lowered down his head staring at Yuan Wenxuan, the one who was almost as tall as him, whispering, “Your Master is about to give birth. And later you have to stay outside for avoiding conflict.”
Yuan Wenxuan frowned and answered calmly, “If Master orders me to avoid the situation, I will. But if it’s not him who makes the order, I won’t.”
Seeing that this young little boy already had his own opinions at such a young age, Youning no longer tried to persuade him. Furthermore, he was still keeping an identity of awkwardness in this family, he was not the boy’s relative, nor his femina father. He had no right at all to make any order to this boy who was with a strong personality. If he did so, the relationship between them probably would be much stiffer.
Youning then took Yuan Wenxuan to Song Qinghan’s bedside quickly. Noticing that Song Qinghan was with a pale and sweating face in bed, he rushed to get a clean handkerchief and helped Song Qinghan wipe the sweat.
Just at the moment Song Qinghan glanced at Yuan Wenxuan, he was about to ask Youning why he would bring a stranger inside. But when he noticed the expression of the boy, a sudden comprehension of the fact gave him a response, he then asked with a shock, “Are you the son of Brother Yuan?”
Yuan Wenxuan nodded, knelt down and kowtowed to Song Qinghan for three times, and then said in a solemn tone, “Me, Yuan Wenxuan, as an apprentice, pay my sincere respect to Master!”
Seeing the boy was being kind of solemn with an expression of seriousness, Song Qinghan felt a bit amused but was still moved by the boy’s action. After all, the current situation was not quite suitable for a master and apprentice meeting, but when he saw the boy’s solemnity on face, he still nodded with satisfaction.
No uneasiness, no worries, no frights. This boy seemed to be a perfect would-be doctor with a great prospect.
Perhaps it was because Song Qinghan wanted to express the boy with his impressive force, he suddenly cheered up, asking Youning to boil the water while ordering Yuan Wenxuan to take over the scalpel kit for him.
After opening the wooden box, he instantly forgot the pain in his abdomen. He carefully told Yuan Wenxuan the usage of every knife, including the advantages and disadvantages of each blade.
Yuan Wenxuan listened every single word carefully. Though he had never seen these things in books before, he believed that Song Qinghan would not lie to him on purpose.
Just that the more he listened to him, the more serious his expression became, because some of the terms Song Qinghan said were beyond his understanding, such as breaking someone’s belly. Was that a way of killing people? How could someone apply it to save people?
After Song Qinghan finished demonstrating, he put the wooden box in Yuan Wenxuan’s hand and whispered, “Is there any problem?”