Wife, Don't Be Like This!

Chapter 61 - Killing Intent

Song Yan glanced at Wu Chen with disgust.

You still have the nerve to ask what illness you have?

Look at those dark circles under your eyes, that unsteady gait, that look of a body hollowed out by wine and women. Any quack could tell you have kidney deficiency.

Wu Chen was stunned. He had expected to hear names like 'wind illness,' 'tumor,' or 'wasting disease.' Who would have thought it would actually be 'kidney deficiency'?

Saying I have kidney deficiency?

What a joke. I lost my virginity to a handmaiden at thirteen. I have seventeen or eighteen handmaidens by my side, reveling in song and dance every night. How could I have kidney deficiency? A man, how can he be told he has kidney deficiency?

A flush surged up his face: "Bas..."

"But, I can cure it."

The angry curse was stuck in his throat. The 'tard' part of 'bastard' was ultimately not spoken. Perhaps because this breath was stuck so uncomfortably, he began to cough violently.

After a few breaths, his face turned an even deeper red, but his anger had vanished with a swish.

Thinking of the beautiful wife and charming concubines at home, thinking of how seven days added together was no more than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, Wu Chen's expression became unprecedentedly respectful. He clasped his hands and bowed deeply to Song Yan.

“Brother Song, if you can cure this chronic illness of mine, you will be my second parents."

Aren't you afraid your father will beat you? Song Yan smiled.

"Brother Wu, this place is not very suitable. How about you come find me another day when you have time?"

"Of course, of course." Wu Chen nodded happily. After all, this illness was a bit embarrassing to talk about.

If Song Yan were to take out a medicine like a tiger penis on the spot, wouldn't everyone know he had kidney deficiency? That would be unacceptable.

At this moment, where was the slightest trace of Wu Chen's previous arrogance? He gave another respectful bow and then retreated.

This turn of events aroused the interest of many people. They all wanted to test Song Yan's skill. The moment Wu Chen stepped back, another young master came up. After a diagnosis, black lines formed on Song Yan's forehead.

Kidney deficiency!

Kidney deficiency!

Still kidney deficiency!

Eight out of ten young masters were deficient. One can imagine how dissipated their daily lives were.

It made sense. These young masters often lost their virginity at thirteen or fourteen. After tasting it for the first time, it was hard to exercise restraint. After a few years, it was already pretty good that their bodies hadn't been completely ruined.

Seeing the 'arrogant before, respectful after' attitude of these young masters one by one, the crowd looked at each other. Who could have thought that the Duke's mansion's youngest and least favored illegitimate son would actually have such a skill? With just a few sentences, he could make these arrogant young masters submit. And then thinking back to Luo Yuheng saying he could cure consumption—a divine physician!

In this world, the status of a physician was actually quite high. After all, the more noble one's status and the richer one was, the more one cherished one's life. All the great families had their own family physicians. Even the matriarch and the head of the family would treat them with considerable respect. If you were harsh to them on a daily basis, who knows, you might live a few years less. Those who can stay in high positions for a long time are all as shrewd as they come; they wouldn't make a mistake on such a small matter.

For a divine physician like Song Yan who could even cure consumption, no one cared about his status as an illegitimate son. Even a great aristocratic family would marry their daughter to him.

For a moment, everyone's gaze towards Song Yan changed completely. It was no longer the contempt from before, but held a bit more respect. Praises for Song Yan also began to sound from all around, mostly praising his divine medical skills and the like. Some even wanted to invite Song Yan to diagnose their elders after the Qixi gathering was over.

Faced with the surrounding voices, Song Yan remained composed. He would not feel inferior due to the crowd's contempt, nor would he become arrogant due to others' praise.

Looking again at Song Yun, the gazes of the many guests couldn't help but hold a bit more mockery, especially Wu Chen and Cui Shi'an, who were laughing the loudest. This Song family was truly foolish. Such a physician, and they actually married him out to be a live-in son-in-law.

Song Yun's face was ashen. He only felt a nameless fire in his chest. How was it that every time he appeared together with Song Yan, he would lose so much face.

That Jiang Miaojun failed to see the result she wanted. Her expression was also quite dissatisfied. With a grim face, she interrupted the crowd's praise of Song Yan and announced the start of the Qixi gathering.

The entire Qixi gathering was divided into four sessions, which were zither, poetry, wine, and tea, from the seven arts of a scholar. There was no way around it; a game of Go takes too long, and essays and paintings cannot be completed in a short time, so they had to be canceled. As for tea, it's the top courtesan's performance, not tea-tasting; this point cannot be mistaken.

First was the zither.

The person playing the zither was a top courtesan from the Jade Gathering Garden.

The sound of the zither was clear and crisp, seemingly quite good.

Song Yan didn't understand music very well, and his legs were a little numb from kneeling for a long time, so he slowly got up and walked towards the back. Before long, the sound of footsteps came. It was Cui Shi'an.

"Brother Cui, what's the deal with the injuries on your face?" Song Yan asked with some curiosity.

In this Songzhou city, there was actually someone who dared to lay a hand on Cui Shi'an? Weren't they afraid of being smashed to death with silver by this second-generation rich kid?

Cui Shi'an was about to speak but accidentally pulled at the wound on his face, and immediately grimaced in pain:

"Don't mention it. Yesterday, after you left, I... ahem, because I was drunk and weak all over, I had no choice but to spend the night at the Jade Gathering Garden."

"When I was preparing to leave in the early morning, I don't know which bastard put a sack over my head, and I ended up like this."

As he said this, Cui Shi'an's body suddenly felt a chill come from behind him. His body shivered, and he subconsciously looked around, but discovered nothing.

"And Old Zhao and Old Lu..."

"They left this morning."

One song ended, followed by rising and falling calls of 'bravo'. The top courtesan gave a graceful curtsy and floated away.

Next was poetry.

Generally, the host would give a topic, and the many talented scholars would compose poems based on the topic. But today was the Qixi Festival, so the topic was fixed.

As a talented scholar stood up and said, "I will present my humble work first..." the scene became lively again.

Although everyone had a calm and carefree expression, in reality, they were also secretly competing. During the critiques, the muscles on their faces were always tense. If someone could produce a good Qixi poem, it would often attract the attention of many young misses, and they would proudly hold their heads high.

For something like poetry, if all works are of an extremely high standard, it's actually hard to distinguish between them. But if it's a clumsy work, it's obvious at a glance. Just like that one about 'one flake, two flakes, three and four flakes.' Are you Aisin-Gioro Hongli?

And the mood of Qixi verses was mostly mournful. No matter how you wrote it, you couldn't escape the themes of 'fleeting joy' and 'the sorrow of parting.' But those young misses just loved this kind of thing.

Many of the girls had red-rimmed eyes and were secretly shedding tears. This, in turn, made many of the talented scholars even more energetic, as if making the girls cry was a great achievement.

"Sorrowful my ass..." Cui Shi'an beside him rubbed his arms, as if trying to wipe away the goosebumps that kept popping up.

“Every single one of these people has five or six handmaidens by their side, and some even have several wives and concubines, yet they're here moaning about sorrow. Disgusting."

As the atmosphere continued, the night grew thicker. Many talented scholars had taken out the masterpieces they had prepared long ago. Some of the Qixi verses even earned the approval of the several academic officials. The Qixi gathering also gradually reached its climax.

"Speaking of today's gathering, although there are many fine works." Suddenly, Fang Jun stood up and sighed faintly, drawing the topic to Song Yun.

"It's a pity that even when all these fine works are added together, in front of Brother Song's 'A lonely person stands alone, in the light rain, a pair of swallows fly,' they are ultimately inferior."

"Who knows if that line of poetry was even written by Song Yun?" Wu Chen snorted.

On a normal day, he didn't have much interaction with Song Yun and naturally wouldn't offend this legitimate son of a Duke for no reason. But now, the one who could save the happiness of the latter half of his life, Song Yan, was his savior. Naturally, he couldn't be bothered with so much.

"If I remember correctly, this line of poetry was first recited by Divine Physician Song."

The wind had started to pick up outside.

Inside the main hall, however, a debate had broken out over who had written this line of poetry. For a moment, it was as noisy as a marketplace, and some people were even flushed red from arguing.

Just then, Song Yan let out a light cough. The surroundings instantly fell silent. Everyone's gaze fell on Song Yan, as if wanting to seek the tangled truth. Even Song Yun was no exception, his body instantly tensing up.

He couldn't help but feel a little panicked. Although Song Yan seemed to have given him that line of poetry before, who could guarantee that Song Yan wouldn't go back on his word? What if he wanted to tell the truth here...

"Everyone, no need to argue. That line of poetry was indeed written by my elder brother. It was something I saw by chance among many poems when I accidentally entered my Seventh Brother's study."

The moment these words were spoken, Song Yun's entire body relaxed. He knew that from this moment on, that line of poetry completely belonged to him. Even if Song Yan changed his tune in the future, no one would believe him. For a moment, he even felt a little moved deep in his heart.

"So it really was written by Brother Song! Haha, Brother Song has such literary talent. I just wonder, does Brother Song have the full poem? Why not take it out for everyone to appreciate? How about it?" Fang Jun clapped his hands with a light laugh.

Fine beads of sweat had already appeared on Song Yun's forehead. The muscles on his face had even become a little stiff from being tense for so long.

Hearing the question, he could only force out a dry smile: "A fine line I happened upon by chance, just a fine line I happened upon. There is no full poem."

"Truly a pity. I wonder if Brother Song has any other works today? Why not take them out for everyone to enjoy together?" Cui Shi'an chimed in with an assist, chuckling.

Song Yun's expression stiffened again. For today, he had indeed prepared some poems. It's just that those poems had seemed satisfactory originally, but compared to the others', they were far inferior. With that other line of poetry setting the precedent, taking these out now would be beneath his status.

"Ahem, writing poetry requires inspiration. Today, I really am..."

"That's really a pity. Ai, that's right, Brother Song, just now Little Divine Physician Song said he had been in your study and seen many poems and essays. Why not..." Cui Shi'an pressed on relentlessly.

Song Yun's expression grew even stiffer. He now finally understood what it felt like to have to use countless lies to cover up one lie. His voice had even become a bit dry:

"They are just some clumsy works, unfit for a grand hall. There's no need to take them out and pollute everyone's ears. Don't mention it again, don't mention it again."

Literati were extremely enthusiastic about excellent poetry. They believed that since Song Yun could produce a fine line like 'A lonely person stands alone, in the light rain, a pair of swallows fly,' he naturally must have other fine works.

Seeing that they couldn't get what they wanted from Song Yun, and with Cui Shi'an stirring things up, many people turned their attention to Song Yan.

"Little Divine Physician Song..."

Because his medical skills were so high, no one cared anymore about the matter of Song Yan reciting Song Yun's poetry.

"You have been in Song Yun's study before and have looked through his poems. I wonder, are there any others?" one person asked.

Song Yan thought for a moment and said:

"There is indeed one more poem."

Everyone's eyes lit up: "Quick, quick, recite it for us to hear!”

In that instant, Song Yun's heart was in his throat. He could even clearly feel the violent throbbing in his chest.

Song Yan didn't mind adding a little to Song Yun's reputation. Since he dared to pin these two ci poems on Song Yun's head, he was naturally confident that he could take them back again.

After a brief hesitation, Song Yan softly recited:

"And now I have tasted all the sorrows,

I wish to speak, yet I refrain.

I wish to speak, yet I refrain,

And say instead, what a fine, cool autumn day."

Although it was only half, and seemed to be just the lower stanza, one could still feel a sense of tragic heroism and desolation between the lines. Immediately, a wave of praise rose from the surroundings.

"Good, good! As expected of Song Yun. This is another masterpiece."

"In my opinion, Brother Song Yun is the true Qilin Son of the Song family."

At this moment, Song Yun's entire body relaxed. He let out a heavy breath. Although he didn't know where Song Yan had gotten this verse from, at this moment, this verse already belonged to him.

That line, 'the true Qilin Son of the Song family,' directly sent a rush of hot blood to Song Yun's head.

In all these years, this was the first time he had received such an evaluation. A smile bloomed on his stiff face.

"This is just a mischievous work of mine. You overpraise me, you overpraise me."

Hearing this, the smile on the corners of Song Yan's lips deepened. Sure enough, he still can't escape the word 'fame'.

"Hehe, Brother Song is too modest. However, Little Divine Physician Song is truly not well-versed in poetry. This is 'Ugly Slave,' it is a ci poem, not a regular poem."

"But, it sounds like this is the lower stanza. I wonder what the upper stanza is like?"

Song Yan smiled slightly: "The upper stanza is..."

"When young, I did not know the taste of sorrow;

I loved to climb the high pavilions.

I loved to climb the high pavilions,

To compose a new verse, I forced myself to speak of sorrow!"

Once this 'area-of-effect attack' was launched, the Pine Garden, which had just been bustling, fell into a deathly silence.