Chapter Thirty-one: I Will Kowtow to You

Since it was morning, Lu Feng easily found a breakfast shop nearby. He bought some millet porridge and when he came back, he found that Li Xiaohu was still unconscious.

With a hint of curiosity, Lu Feng looked at Shang Wende and asked, "Master, what's going on? Didn't you say you could wake him up?"

Shang Wende sighed and smiled bitterly. "I thought I could wake him up with acupuncture, but I underestimated the depth of his coma. His consciousness, due to excessive fatigue, has fallen into a deep coma. It's like when a person suddenly experiences a great deal of pressure that makes it hard to breathe, and then when that pressure suddenly disappears, the nervous system relaxes abruptly, and the body can't take it. I'm afraid only you can use your inner qi to stimulate the acupuncture points in his body to wake him up from the coma. However, we should first try to feed him some millet porridge. If we forcibly stimulate his consciousness, it may cause significant harm to his body."

Lu Feng showed a look of surprise, and a trace of admiration for Li Xiaohu suddenly welled up in his heart.

He was so young, yet he had been holding on with a strong will. The pain he had endured must have been intense.

According to Shang Wende's instructions, Lu Feng activated his inner qi and slowly fed the millet porridge into Li Xiaohu's stomach. Then, he stimulated the acupuncture points with his inner qi, allowing Li Xiaohu to wake up slowly. However, his state after waking up was still not good. He was in a daze for a long time, enduring the feelings of a heavy head, blurred vision, and nausea. It was not until a long while later that his mind became clear again.

With his vision now clear, looking at Lu Feng and Shang Wende in front of him, Li Xiaohu asked Lu Feng with a hint of confusion, "Brother, is this Dr. Shang..."

Lu Feng smiled and said, "This is my master, and he is also the Dr. Shang you mentioned."

Li Xiaohu's expression changed, and excitement appeared on his face. He quickly struggled to get out of the hospital bed. However, instead of standing up, he rolled off the bed and directly knelt down in front of Shang Wende, knocking his head heavily several times.

"What's this?"

Shang Wende and Lu Feng looked at each other, both feeling puzzled for a moment.

In Shang Wende's memory, he had definitely never met this young man. Why did he kowtow to him as soon as he woke up and knew it was him?

"Lu Feng, quickly help him up. This is not appropriate!" Shang Wende quickly said.

Kowtowing is the most solemn etiquette in China. People kneel to the heavens, the earth, their parents, their teachers, and their elders. Such a grand ceremony cannot be easily received by an ordinary person.

However, before Lu Feng could reach out to help Li Xiaohu, large teardrops fell from Li Xiaohu's eyes as he knelt on the ground. While crying bitterly and kowtowing, he shouted excitedly, "Dr. Shang, they all say you are a living Bodhisattva who relieves suffering. You are not only highly skilled in medicine but also kind-hearted. Please, please save my mother. I'm willing to be your servant for the rest of my life as long as you can save her. Please!"

Lu Feng quickly pulled Li Xiaohu up from the ground and said softly, "Xiaohu, don't do this. Just tell us what's wrong. Our master is kind-hearted. If he can save your mother, he will definitely do it! Don't be like this. Get up first."

Li Xiaohu stopped crying, with glistening tears hanging on his thin face. He asked nervously, "Dr. Shang, do you really want to save my mother?"

Shang Wende showed a smile, nodded, and said, "I will save any patient. Tell me, what kind of illness does your mother have? Where is she now?"

Li Xiaohu quickly wiped the tears from his face with his sleeve and said with excitement, "My mother has heart disease. We went to many big hospitals, and they all said there was no way to cure it. We also spent a lot of money. We sold everything we could in our house, but it still wasn't enough. Later, the hospital said they wouldn't treat her if we didn't pay, and they kicked us out. My mother is now under a bridge. On the way to Shandong, we didn't have enough money to stay in a hotel, so we had to stay under the bridge..."

Li Xiaohu's voice became low and choked up as he spoke.

Shang Wende was taken aback and asked in confusion, "You're not from Jiyang City? Then where are you from?"

Tears welled up in Li Xiaohu's eyes, and he tried hard to hold them back. He said in a low voice, "We're from Gansu. We didn't have money on the way, so I carried my mother and begged all the way here. Finally, we arrived. When we were in Gansu, I heard from someone that there was an expert in Jiyang City, Shandong Province, who could cure heart disease. That person was you, Dr. Shang. Please, you must save my mother. I'll kowtow to you!"

As he said this, he was about to kowtow to Shang Wende again. Lu Feng quickly stopped him, feeling extremely sad in his heart.

A minor teenager and his seriously ill mother, begging all the way from Gansu to Shandong...

Shang Wende showed a look of shock and exclaimed, "You carried your mother on your back from Gansu to Jiyang City, Shandong Province? It's so far. How could you, so thin and small, possibly do it?"

Thinking of the hardships along the way, Li Xiaohu couldn't hold back his tears anymore. They streamed down his dirty and thin face. He sobbed, "We really came from Gansu. I didn't have money to let my mother take a vehicle, so I could only carry her step by step to Jiyang City. When we were hungry on the way, we could only beg. Sometimes when we met vehicles, people didn't want to give us a ride and didn't even stop. I begged for some money on the way and used it to buy food for my mother. Her body is very weak, and she would get sick if she didn't eat enough. It took me five months to carry my mother from Gansu to Shandong..."

Li Xiaohu lowered his head as he said this. Following his gaze, Lu Feng noticed that Li Xiaohu's shoes were in a terrible state of disrepair. There were big holes in the front, and his dark toes were exposed.

This scene made Lu Feng feel an indescribable mix of complexity and heartache.

Shang Wende was silent. He pulled Li Xiaohu and let him sit on the hospital bed, asking, "What about you? Was the money you begged enough for you to make it here?"

A glimmer of light appeared in Li Xiaohu's eyes. Surprisingly, he didn't cry anymore. His thin face showed a trace of stubbornness and strength. He said seriously, "I don't need to buy food. I'm in good health and it's okay if I don't eat. The money we begged for on the way was very little. If I used it to buy food for myself, I was afraid I wouldn't be able to save enough money for my mother's treatment. When I was hungry, I would beg others for some food. If I got more, I could save it for a long time. If I couldn't get any food, I would rummage through the trash cans. Many people threw away food that wasn't even finished. I was afraid my mother would know, so I would wipe off the dirt and eat it, and keep the relatively clean ones for later."

Eating things from the trash can!

Both Lu Feng and Shang Wende were shocked. Their eyes were filled with disbelief!

At this point, Li Xiaohu's expression finally showed a trace of grievance and sadness. He said in a low voice, "There are a lot of dogs in Jiyang City. These days, when I went to the trash cans to find food, I couldn't even compete with those stray dogs. I haven't eaten for several days. If it wasn't for seeing the medical clinic and knowing that I was about to meet Dr. Shang, and if it wasn't for knowing that I could finally save my mother, I wouldn't have fainted. Thank you for the food you gave me. Thank you. I haven't had hot meals for a long time. Thank you. The millet porridge was really delicious..."

As he said this, Li Xiaohu was about to kneel down to Shang Wende and Lu Feng again.

Lu Feng was quick to react and quickly held him up.

There were tears in the eyes of both Shang Wende and Lu Feng. Looking at Li Xiaohu, who didn't show a crying expression but couldn't control his tears, they felt a sense of oppression in their hearts.

Carrying his mother and begging all the way from Gansu to Shandong, it's more than two thousand kilometers! Begging all the way here, how much time did it take? How much hardship and suffering did he endure?

Shang Wende and Lu Feng couldn't even imagine that this was something a child could do.

Shock!

An unparalleled shock surged in the hearts of the master and the apprentice!

Li Xiaohu, he looked like he was only fifteen or sixteen years old!

At this age, carrying his mother all the way to seek medical treatment was simply a great filial son who made the world feel ashamed.

At this moment, the master and the apprentice finally understood why this young man had such a strong will. His will had been honed through hardships. Struggling on the brink of starvation for a long time, while thinking about making his mother eat well and saving money for her treatment, the hardships of life, no doubt, had made this young man taste all the warmth and coldness, the bitterness and sweetness of human relationships along the way.

He carried too many things! The far-overloaded pressure made him resolutely fight against fate and struggle!

He was a smart and filial child. Even when rummaging through the trash for food, he didn't dare to let his mother know. He knew that his mother's condition couldn't withstand the pain of suffering.

No matter how bitter, how tired, or how hungry he was, he could endure it. But he didn't want his mother to see him going through all the hardships and not even being able to have a hot meal. He didn't want his mother to suffer the pain of torment.

Shang Wende moved his lips but didn't say a word. He just let out a heavy sigh.

Suddenly, Li Xiaohu seemed to remember something. He quickly opened the tattered bag that he had never let go of and said nervously, "Dr. Shang, please save my mother. I have money. All my money is here. I'll give it all to you as long as you can cure my mother."

As he spoke, his almost stiff hands opened the tattered bag and carefully poured the money inside onto the hospital bed.

Suddenly, Shang Wende and Lu Feng felt a sharp pain in their eyes. The scattered banknotes and coins made their hearts churn like a huge wave.

Just now, when Shang Wende took Li Xiaohu's pulse, he noticed that the unconscious Li Xiaohu was holding this tattered bag tightly in his hand. At that time, his fingers were already stiff and pale, but he still showed no sign of letting go.

At that moment, he was very curious. What on earth was it that made this young man value it so much that he held it tightly even when he was in a coma? In this instant, he understood that this was the money the young man had saved for his mother's treatment. He was even willing to go without food for several days to keep the money. Perhaps in his heart, he was willing to starve to death himself but wanted to keep the money to treat his mother's illness.