Meng Yao hurried into the room, only to see Qin Zheng's shoulders and ribs covered with scratches. Some places had already scabbed over, and others were festering, with the lining sticking to the wounds.
He must have scratched himself while crawling through the dog hole.
The dog hole was small, and Qin Zheng was stout.
"Were your parents pushing you from behind?" Meng Yao asked softly.
Qin Zheng's body trembled, but he still didn't say a word.
Meng Yao sighed, realizing he hadn't yet come to terms with the sudden change.
"I'm going to separate your clothing from the skin, it might hurt a bit, no need to endure it," Meng Yao said again.
She took a small pair of embroidery scissors and heated them over the fire. It would have been better to have alcohol swabs; using fire was a bit lacking.
Meng Yao froze, suddenly seeing a small porcelain bottle appear in her hand.
Fortunately, her back was to Zhao Dahe and the others.
With trembling hands, she opened the porcelain bottle and found it contained alcohol swabs, just as she had hoped.
What was going on?
Could someone explain to her? Was it possible that she didn't just have a storage space?
In the next moment, Meng Yao realized that the space not only stored things but could also create them. No, to be precise, it was a trading platform.
Because forty-eight taels of silver had turned into forty-seven.
Which meant the bottle of alcohol swabs in her hand was worth one tael of silver.
One tael of silver had significant purchasing power in ancient times; after all, pork cost only sixteen or seventeen wen per pound, and a tael of silver could buy over sixty pounds of pork. This bottle of alcohol swabs, aside from being in a porcelain bottle, appeared to be no different from a pack of 100 alcohol swabs.
One alcohol swab = more than a pound and a half of pork.
How incredibly expensive.
Returning it was impossible, and besides, it was truly needed now, so expensive it was!
Then another small bottle of saline, please.
The next second, a 250ml bottle of saline in porcelain appeared next to Meng Yao.
Meng Yao calmly used an alcohol swab to disinfect the scissors.
Zhao Dahe sniffed, "Where's that alcohol smell coming from?"
"Oh, didn't Xiaoshu have a wound before? It was made back then," Meng Yao replied calmly.
The porcelain bottle was very common, so Zhao Dahe didn't pursue the matter further.
After snipping away the fabric stuck to the skin and cleaning the wounds with saline, Meng Yao carefully disinfected each wound with alcohol swabs.
Meng Yao breathed a sigh of relief; only two wounds were festering, the rest just looked alarming.
Once done, Meng Yao asked Zhao Dahe to help Qin Zheng wipe down and instructed him to keep the wounds dry.
Meng Yao went to the kitchen to make porridge, recalling the information she'd learned from Zhao Dahe about the Qin Family.
It was a commercial family with a broad range of operations and quite profitable.
Typically, exiles were a result of officials committing grave crimes that didn't warrant execution but did result in family confiscation and exile.
So how did the commercial Qin Family end up in exile?
Zhao Dahe gathered that those who raided the household were quite careless. Otherwise, they wouldn't have left a big living person like Qin Zheng behind without pursuing it.
Thus, the Qin Family was most likely implicated.
In other words, they were probably a collateral branch of a Qin clan that produced a high official.
The high official committed a crime, and the clan was implicated.
That's the essence of a large family—sharing glory and ruin.
When the high official flourished, under their protection, no matter what the family did, it went smoothly.
But when the high official fell, the family members couldn't escape unscathed.
Meng Yao finished cooking the porridge, letting it cool before serving it to Qin Zheng.
"There's more in the pot, if you're hungry, you can help yourself to some," Meng Yao told Zhao Dahe. "Dajiang, you too."
After sending Zhao Dahe and Zhao Dajiang away, Meng Yao placed the porridge in front of Qin Zheng.
"Your parents pushed you into the neighboring abandoned courtyard for you to live well, not to starve and exhaust yourself to death. If that was the case, wouldn't it have been better to just follow them into exile?" Meng Yao said.
Qin Zheng remained silent.
"Dahe brought you back remembering your camaraderie, not to have you die in our home," Meng Yao continued her chatter.
"Young man, you must pull yourself together, don't let your parents' efforts go to waste!"
"It's just exile, there's a chance things can still change. What if your parents are pardoned? If that time comes, they'll be fine, but you've succumbed and died. Can you bear to let your parents, with white hair, bury their black-haired child?"
Qin Zheng's body shook violently, his eyes reddened, and tears flowed uncontrollably.
Crying it out is good. Knowing how to cry means he's recovering.
Once he cries enough, it means he's more than halfway through the ordeal.
Meng Yao got up to leave, preferring not to intrude on this kind of moment.
Zhao Dahe was still in the kitchen drinking porridge, and Zhao Dajiang had already gone back to his room.
"Mom, did Qin Zheng eat yet?" Zhao Dahe asked.
"Not yet, but perhaps after he's done crying and is tired, he will," Meng Yao replied. "Let me ask you, how do you plan to help Qin Zheng?"
Zhao Dahe scratched the back of his head, "I don't really know. He doesn't speak, and I don't know what he plans for the future."
"He can't continue studying," Meng Yao said.
"Why?" Zhao Dahe reacted with surprise. "Mom, if I try hard, I can cover most of his study expenses. Whatever's missing, I can borrow from you and pay you back in the future. If he doesn't study, what other path is there?"
"What's going through your head? Do you think exile is nothing?" Meng Yao shot Zhao Dahe a look. "That signifies the Qin Family is guilty, and if Qin Zheng continues his studies openly, won't it reveal to everyone that the Qin Family has slackers remaining?"
"Go incognito," Zhao Dahe blurted out.
Meng Yao nearly wanted to hit him on the head with a fire poker, "Incognito, studying, cultivating morality?"
Meng Yao understood Zhao Dahe's intention—he wanted Qin Zheng to take the imperial exams route.
But Qin Zheng couldn't do that now.
Unless someone could change Qin Zheng's identity, who had that ability?
Zhao Dahe, feeling dejected, asked, "What to do then?"
"Take your time to find a way," Meng Yao replied. "Solutions are dead, but people are alive; we'll figure something out! Alright, hurry off to Xiaoshu's room and get some rest. Tomorrow you have to return to the academy. Qin Zheng will stay with us for now."
Zhao Dahe sighed.
"If you want to help Qin Zheng, then strive for greatness," Meng Yao said. "Perhaps then the problem will solve itself!"
"But how long will that take?" Zhao Dahe lamented.
"It's a path, better than running into a dead end," Meng Yao said.
What else could Zhao Dahe say? Everything his mother said was true.
The next day.
Meng Yao woke up before dawn; in fact, she hadn't really slept all night. Unlike Zhao Dahe, who could have peace of mind once they brought him back, she was worried Qin Zheng might do something drastic. Even asleep, she was frequently awoken, deciding to check on Qin Zheng each time.
Doing this repeatedly, Meng Yao felt exhausted, both mentally and physically, and she was very tired.
Meng Yao forced herself to get up, the struggling mother needing to care for her son.
Song Xiu'er also woke up, joining Meng Yao in preparing breakfast. Zhao Dajiang, on the other hand, was sweeping the courtyard and feeding the chickens.
As breakfast was halfway done, Zhao Dahe woke up, rubbing his sleepy eyes. First, he went back to his room, and soon after, he snuck out quietly.
Although his voice was low, the joy was evident, "He's asleep."