Queen Mother, she just wants to lie down

"How much rice do we have left tomorrow?" The woman on the bed, whose eyes were sunken and whose face was sallow, struggled to open her eyes.

"Not much left. Maybe enough to last four or five days," the boy replied.

"Go make some porridge, but don't make the kind that's so thick that you can see your face in it.

Cook a pot of porridge that is thick and thick, mother wants to eat it.

"Yes, mother." The boy nodded with sobs.

If they made porridge according to A-niang's request, the rice at home would probably only be enough for the two of them to eat for one day.

But it doesn’t matter. The emperor is going to give out money. The rice at home is gone. I can just buy some more after I get the money.

The boy’s surname is Shao and he just turned seven years old on the ninth day of this month.

My father left home four years ago, saying that he was going to the north to do some business with someone else.

When he left, he took all the money in the house and never returned again.

His mother's surname was Xu, and she was a strong-willed person.

Seeing that her husband never came back after leaving, and reporting to the police to no avail, she silently took on the responsibility of raising her son alone.

Xu's embroidery skills were very good, and she found a job as an embroiderer in an embroidery room.

With an income of fifty cents a day, it is not difficult to raise a son.

When Shaoming was five years old, Xu sent him to a private school.

No matter whether the husband had an accident and can't come back, or he abandoned his wife and children and ran away with someone else.

As a mother, she gave birth to a son and raised him well.

If he has no talent, send him to read some books, learn to read and do accounting, and then it would be good to find him a job as an accountant in the future.

If she had talent, she would do everything she could to support her son and let him pursue a career in politics.

In the past few years, the mother and son lived a smooth life.

She is not only good at embroidery, but also good at housekeeping.

Even though she raised her son alone and sent him to school, she had saved up more than ten taels of silver over the years.

The private school teacher praised his son for his good talent and said he was the best among the dozen or so students.

Xu was already planning to wait for another two or three years, until her son was a little older.

He sent his son to a college so that he could receive a better education.

But things never go as planned. Starting from March this year, she suddenly felt unwell.

I have some pain in my chest and cough from time to time.

At first she didn't care much and still insisted on going out to work every day.

One day in late July, she suddenly vomited blood and fainted in the embroidery room, scaring the owner of the shop.

After being sent to the clinic for a check-up, the doctor said with a pitiful look on her face that she was suffering from non-infectious tuberculosis.

When the owner of the embroidery shop heard this, she compensated her with a few taels of silver and terminated her employment relationship.

Tuberculosis. Even though the doctor said it was not contagious, he was still afraid of it.

When Xu heard the word "tuberculosis" from the doctor, she was stunned.

How did she get tuberculosis?

This disease can kill people, and in serious cases, the death can be very rapid.

Her son is still so young. What will happen to him if she dies?

For the sake of her son, she would struggle no matter what.

Even if the embroidery shop no longer wanted her, as long as her condition could be stabilized, she could support her son by embroidering some things at home and selling them.

She didn't ask for much, just to live another seven or eight years.

Seven or eight years later, my son was already fourteen or fifteen years old.

When she is gone, her son will be able to take care of himself.

If he could be left with some money, maybe he could make a name for himself on his own.

With this mentality, she begged the doctor if there was any way to stabilize her condition and let her live a few more years.

The doctor lived in the surrounding streets and knew her, so he naturally knew about her family situation.

When I heard her say that her son was only seven years old and could not afford to lose his mother, I couldn't even utter the words "Your disease is in the terminal stage and there is no cure."

In the end, I could only conservatively prescribe some medicine for her, let her drink it first, and said some comforting and encouraging words.

Sometimes the patient's will to survive and mentality also have a great impact on the condition.

I don’t know whether it was because Xu had a strong will to survive or because the old doctor’s medicine was really effective.

After Xu spent several taels of silver and took medicine for more than a month, her illness did not worsen.

It wasn't until early October that she vomited blood and fainted again.

When Shaoming returned home and saw his mother lying on the ground with a pool of blood beside her, he was so frightened that he almost fainted.

He hurriedly called the neighbors to take his mother to the clinic, but this time the old doctor was helpless.

When Xu learned that the doctor was no longer able to treat her illness, she didn't want to spend any more money on treatment.

But facing his son's childish face and his heartbroken expression, he couldn't say no.

Shaoming spent all the money in the family. He stopped going to private school and stayed at home every day to take care of his mother, but her condition still showed no improvement.

He looked weaker day by day, and today, there is not a penny left in the house.

For some reason, Xu felt much more energetic today.

After her son cooked the porridge, she drank two bowls in a row and was even able to get out of bed and walk a few steps.

"Mother, you look much better today than usual. Are you getting better?" Shao Ming was very surprised to see this.

"Ming'er, come here. Mother has something to tell you." Xu walked to a place outside the courtyard where they could bask in the sun, sat down, and waved to her son.

"Mother, you talk and I listen." Shao Ming said.

Children from poor families have to grow up early. Although Shaoming is only seven years old, he is so sensible that it makes people feel distressed.

"You said before that starting from today, the emperor will give money to the common people to celebrate the birthday of the eldest son, right? How much?" Xu asked.

"Fifty cents per person, based on the household deed," Shao Ming replied.

"Fifty cents, my mother and I can get a hundred cents, which is pretty good.

Go and get it later, and don't buy any more medicine after that.

Just come back with the money." Xu said.

She was clear about her condition. It wasn't that she was getting well, but it was probably what people called a last burst of vitality.

She had to take this opportunity to make arrangements for her son.

"Mother, your illness is not completely cured yet..." Shaoming was instinctively unhappy when he saw that she didn't let him buy medicine.

"Are you still listening to mother? I know the symptoms of my illness myself, so I will just do as mother says.

There must be a lot of people collecting money today. If you go too late, you may not be able to get it." Xu frowned and looked at her son.

Shaoming did not dare to disobey his mother, so he took his and his mother's household deeds to the nearest money distribution point.

Pingshan Street, in the Women's Association Hall.

Today is the hundred-day banquet of the eldest prince. Zhaoping and the other four female officials have all entered the palace to attend the prince's banquet.

Qiao Jun volunteered to stay and help look after the museum.

She didn't understand what was going on in the palace, and apart from the Queen Mother and Zhao Ping, she didn't know anyone else.

There is no point staying in the palace, but money is being distributed outside.

She can help the female officials of the Women's Association to visit various outlets to see if anyone is taking the opportunity to make money or deliberately making things difficult for the people.

Seeing that she was about to go out, Sun An naturally did not dare to let her go alone, so he took two of his men and went out with her.

I went to several payout locations, and most of them were normal.

The Ministry of Justice, the Dali Temple and the Jingzhaoyin government joined forces and deployed yamen runners to various locations to maintain public order.

With so many people maintaining order, naturally no one dared to act recklessly, and the people all lined up in an orderly manner waiting to receive their money.

When they reached Xihefang Street, Qiao Yun saw the clerk in charge of distributing money, staring at a seven or eight-year-old child and scolding him:

"There are rules for collecting money. A person can only collect one share of money based on his own household deed. How come you are holding two household deeds?"

"My mother is sick. She doesn't have the strength to come out, so she asked me to bring her household deeds with her to pick her up. If you don't believe me, you can ask them." The boy explained with tears in his eyes.

But the clerk refused to listen and ordered the bailiffs to drive him away.

This child is Shaoming.

Seeing this, Qiao Jun couldn't help but walked over and asked, "What's going on?"

Seeing that it was a strange girl who was meddling in other people's business, the clerk was about to scold her, but when he looked up and saw Sun An following her, he swallowed the bad words that were about to come out of his mouth and quickly recounted what had happened.

Sun An was the person in charge of information at the Women's Association. He often wandered around the various markets, and almost all the yamen runners and clerks in Yong'an City knew him.

"Give him the money. If his mother is really ill and can't go out, it's normal for him to collect it on his behalf.

Don't you have to register every time you send money? Are you still worried about fraudulent claiming?

Of course, if you are still worried, after sending the message, I will go with him to his house to take a look.

If what he said is true, the money should be given.

If it is not true, I will bring the money back." Qiao Yun said.

The clerk did not give it immediately, but looked at Sun An.

"Give it to me. If there are any problems, I will guarantee it." Sun An said.

The clerk said nothing more, asked someone to register his two household deeds, and counted out a hundred coins for him.

"I'm from the Women's Association. Where is your home? Would it be convenient for you to take us to see it?" Qiao Jun said after the child received the money.

"Come with me, my home is in the west lane of Hulu Street, about two miles away from here.

But I have no rice at home, I have to go buy some first." Shao Ming said.

Even if I don't buy medicine, I must buy some rice, because there is no rice left at home.

"Come on, we'll go with you."

Shaoming bought a bushel of rice and spent thirty cents.

Qiao Jun looked at his small body and helped him take the rice.

Such a young child not only came alone to collect money, but also to buy rice. What he said was probably true.

A quarter of an hour later, Qiao Jun and Sun An followed Shao Ming to his home.

Qiao Jun glanced at the old and somewhat shabby but very clean courtyard in front of him, and followed him through the gate.

"Mom, I'm back." Shaoming shouted as soon as he entered the door.

No one responded.

"Mother." Shaoming panicked and walked quickly into the house.

As soon as he entered his mother's room, he saw Xu lying quietly on the bed with a large pool of blood on the floor.

One of her arms was pressed against the quilt, with several sheets of paper under her arm.

"Mother!" Shaoming cried out sharply, rushed to the bedside, and reached out his trembling hand to touch Xu's mouth and nose.

"Mother!" After this exploration, Shaoming suddenly couldn't control himself and let out a heart-wrenching cry again.

Qiao Jun was startled by his scream, and when he and Sun An entered the room, they were also stunned by the scene in the room.

She calmed herself down, walked over and felt Xu's breath, and found that she was cold, which meant she had been dead for quite some time.

Looking at Shaoming who looked like a fool, he could only reach out and take down the paper that Xu was pressing with her arm.

After reading every word, my eyes became moist unconsciously.

What a great mother she is. Even before her death, she would make all arrangements for her son’s future.

In the letter, Xu said that after her death, Shaoming should take the letter to Huichun Pavilion to find Doctor Ou.

There were two letters, one to Shaoming and the other to Dr. Ou.

The letter to Doctor Ou said that the title deed of the house would be given to Doctor Ou, and asked Doctor Ou to accept Shaoming as his disciple.

The letter to Shaoming told his son that Doctor Ou was a kind man, and that he would accept the house and help him deal with his funeral affairs.

After he becomes the disciple, he should learn medical skills from Doctor Ou and be filial to him.

Finally, I apologized to him for not being able to accompany him as he grew up, nor could I send him to school anymore, and asked him to forgive me.

"Shaoming, if you want to cry, just cry for a while. After you're done crying, we can get down to business.

Your mother's wish is for you to study and become an official. If you also want to follow this path, you can come back with me.

I'm from the Women's Association and will help you deal with your mother's funeral.

After that is taken care of, you can read with my brother.

As for the house, if you want to sell it, sell it. If you don’t want to sell it, you can keep it and deal with it when you grow up and have the ability to do so.

You can read the letter first and make a decision after reading it.”

Qiao Jun was silent for a moment, then walked over to Shaoming, who looked like a fool, holding his mother's hand and crying silently, and patted his shoulder gently.

Shao Ming stood up, took the letter from Qiao Jun's hand, and read it bit by bit. The more he read, the more tears he shed.

After reading it, he threw himself on his mother and burst into tears.

After crying for more than a moment, she raised her face covered with snot and tears and looked at Qiao Yun who had been waiting quietly beside her: "Why did you help me?"

"Because I was touched by your mother's kindness, and because I once went through something similar to yours, but was pulled out of the mud by the wisest and kindest person in the world. I don't want to let this kindness down, and I want to pass it on."