Chapter 7 — Rules of Thanh Lien Coc

I couldn't tell what the feeling was. It was numb, like a scab had been peeled off from a wound, revealing the tender flesh underneath that hadn't yet healed, and the pain was dull and heavy. I don't shed tears anymore. Since I was in Thanh Lien Coc, I have cried my eyes out. I opened my mouth: "Bui Ngoc Duong, go home." "Your current appearance, compared to your appearance, makes me even more angry." "Thanh Lien Coc is not suitable for me, nor am I suitable for you. The letter of separation I have written, whether you sign it or not is valid. From now on, the resentment between me and you is gone, there is no longer the slightest connection." Bui Ngoc Duong's face was ashen as ashes, he struggled to catch it. me: “A Linh.” “Don't come over here.” We take a step back. "You go one step further, tomorrow I will go, to a place where you will never be able to find me." He stiffened, his whole body standing still. Like a dry piece of wood that no longer has any life left in it. I didn't look at him anymore, carried the basin of clothes back to the hospital. Mrs. Ly brought hot porridge again. Seeing that my face was not good, she didn't ask much, just shoved the bowl of porridge into my hand: "Drink it while it's still hot." I hugged the rough ceramic bowl, the heat blowing on my face. There are still sweet potatoes in the porridge, so sweet that it makes people want to cry. Three days later, Bui Ngoc Duong did not leave. He rented a ramshackle house in the west of town, set up a simple diagnostic booth, and treated people for minor illnesses such as headaches, fever, and fever. He only had one hand left that he could use; he wrote slowly and inserted a needle slowly. Many people criticized him for not being agile and immediately turned around and left. He was not angry, he just sat like that, from morning until night. Sometimes he used his crutch to go outside our house and take a look from afar. Don't come in, don't call me, just stand for a while and then leave. One time, Mrs. Ly met him and came back to tell me: "That crippled doctor stood in front of your door, looking for more than half a day, but didn't come in. I asked him who he was looking for, and he said he wasn't looking for anyone, just waiting for the old man to turn around." I just feel like I'm being entangled and extremely unlucky. That night I went to bed early, but was woken up by the sound of the wind at midnight. Dreamily, he stood up and went to close the window. Under the moonlight, under an old eucalyptus tree outside the yard, there was a thin, deformed figure standing there. It can only be Bui Ngoc Duong. He stood in front of my father's grave, not moving. I looked at him through the window for a moment, saw him slowly bowing, using a lot of strength to kneel neatly on the ground, his forehead placed on the blue stone. "Father, if people in heaven have a spirit, in the next life I will use my life to pay for it." "It's just that in this life, I still have to keep this ruined life, and protect A Linh one more time..." He kept kneeling like that, I don't know how long he knelt. I lay back on the bed, pulling the blanket to cover me. Maybe he really knows he was wrong and is truly repenting. But Bui Ngoc Duong, it's too late. If you had looked at my father that year, we would not have gotten to the point we are today. But he didn't. Bui Ngoc Duong, I return your words to you. Everything he did today was done by himself. I close my eyes. Anyway, from now on. Spring has hundreds of flowers, autumn has cinnamon. Summer has cool breezes, winter has snow. From now on, one mountain, one river, one bowl of porridge, one meal. There are no rules, it's all about ourselves. Full text complete.