Chapter 1505: The Decision
Chapter 1505: Chapter 1505: The Decision
Mrs. Meng was in the main courtyard playing with her two little grandsons when she heard what Mrs. Gui said, and it made her think of her eldest son who died young.
Back then, after her eldest son died, she was heartbroken beyond measure. And since she hadn’t gotten pregnant again for a whole year, that bastard Wan Yang took the chance to bring in a concubine. Luckily, with God’s blessing, she got pregnant earlier than Aunt Hong and gave birth to Old Er and Old San, otherwise her status might not have been secure!
Because of this, Mrs. Meng came to hate all children born of concubines, and she came to hate the village chief even more. That old geezer had a roving eye—his son had been dead barely a year before he started thinking about taking a concubine. Serves him right that Old Si and Old Five both died young!
Uncle Mu Tong hurriedly explained the matter of hereditary allergy to Mrs. Meng from beginning to end.
Mrs. Meng was quite sharp. Although she didn’t know what exactly this "hereditary allergy" thing was, she did grasp it: "So this sickness where eating peanuts can kill you, it can be passed down to the descendants, but as long as they don’t eat things made from peanuts, nothing will happen? Is that it, Doctor Mu?"
Uncle Mu Tong nodded and said with a smile, "That’s exactly it."
Mrs. Gui turned pale and said, "Then going by that, won’t all the future descendants of the Wan Family be entangled by this vicious disease?"
"Shut your mouth, Mrs. Gui!" Mrs. Meng was furious. If this kind of talk spread, the Wan Family would become a house branded as being plagued by evil karma, a home of Evil Men, and the reputation of the whole family would be ruined.
Mrs. Gui hurriedly shut her mouth, glanced around, and only when she saw no outsiders passing by on the road in front of the house did she finally relax.
"Doctor Mu, you come in first," Mrs. Meng called to Uncle Mu Tong and Aunt Xiong.
"Ay." Uncle Mu Tong led Aunt Xiong into the Wan household. Seeing how worried Mrs. Meng was that the hereditary allergy might be known by outsiders, he lowered his voice and said, "Madam village chief, don’t worry. Only your family and the doctors who treated the illness know of this. It won’t leak out."
"What won’t leak out? How did you get in here? Get out at once, don’t spoil my mother’s appetite!" As soon as Wan Erbao saw Mu Tong come in, he got a bit angry and shouted at him.
He had barely finished shouting when Mrs. Meng raised her hand and smacked him several times in quick succession, scolding, "What are you hollering for? Is that how you treat your lifesaver?!"
Wan Erbao was dumbfounded and looked at his own mother. "Ma, what’s wrong with you?"
Wasn’t it just a few days ago that she was so mad about that fellow surnamed Mu saving Liu Bao that she couldn’t even eat?
Now I’m standing up for you, and you hit me? How is that reasonable!
"What’s wrong? Hurry up and apologize to Doctor Mu. If you dare show any disrespect to Doctor Mu again, I’ll beat you to death," Mrs. Meng scolded Wan Erbao, then wiped at her tears. "Do you still remember your big brother?"
That question gave Wan Erbao a fright. "Ma, listen to yourself. When I was born, big brother was already dead. How was I supposed to ever see him?"
If I’ve never seen him, how can I remember him? You’re really making things hard for me.
Bang, bang, bang—Wan Erbao got another beating.
Mrs. Meng cried, "You heartless thing, if not for your big brother, would you have inherited the Wan Family property? You’d have been split off long ago and kicked out!"
Wan Erbao was speechless and hurriedly said, "Fine, fine, whatever you say. Doctor Mu, I’m sorry, it’s all my fault."
Uncle Mu Tong cupped his hands in return, then quietly repeated what he had said earlier.
Only after hearing him out did Mrs. Meng finally feel relieved. "As long as outsiders don’t know, that’s good. This must never be leaked."
She then beckoned to Uncle Mu Tong and Aunt Xiong. "Come, go with me to the back courtyard and have a look at my grandchildren, see if they’ve also got that peanut illness."
She then said to Wan Erbao, "Go call Old San over, quickly now. If you dawdle, I’ll thrash you!"
Wan Erbao was completely at sea, but said, "Ma, Doctor Mu is a man. Isn’t it improper to have him go to the back courtyard?"
Wan Erbao just didn’t know how to talk. No sooner had he said this than Mrs. Meng hit him again.
Mrs. Meng was so angry she said, "Your mother here is already fifty-five. At this age, you think I still need to worry about propriety between men and women? Get moving and go find your third brother!"
Mrs. Meng was two years older than the village chief.
Wan Erbao had no choice but to obey. If he said another couple of sentences, he figured his own mother would beat him until he spat blood.
"Doctor Mu, feel the pulses of my grandsons and granddaughters and see whether they’ve caught it or not?" Mrs. Meng called over her four grandsons and three granddaughters, lined them up in a row, and had Uncle Mu Tong feel their pulses.
Uncle Mu Tong said, "Madam village chief, this kind of hereditary allergy can’t be detected by taking the pulse. It needs a trigger, and that trigger is peanuts. To know whether they have this condition, they’d have to eat peanuts. But once they eat them and the allergic symptoms break out, it might be like with Liu Bao—he could suffocate. If they’re not treated in time, they might suffocate to death."
He added another explanation: "Meaning they can’t catch their breath, like being hanged, and they die from lack of air."
Hearing this, Mrs. Meng started crying again. "I know exactly what you’re talking about... that’s exactly how my eldest died."
Even after decades, Mrs. Meng still remembered how her eldest son looked when he died, and every time she thought of it, she had to have a good cry.
By then, Wan Erbao had already found Wan Sanbao and brought him over. He too had grasped the matter of the peanut illness and was so anxious he kept scratching his head. "Isn’t there any safe way to test it? If we don’t test, how will we know whether the children at home are sick or not? Living on in the dark like this, we might as well risk it and test them."
Wan Sanbao asked, "This peanut illness that can be passed down, can it ever be cured later on? Are all future descendants going to have this illness?"
Uncle Mu Tong said, "With this kind of hereditary allergy, after a few generations, the symptoms will lessen. That’s why the one who fell ill was Wan Liubao, and your sons and daughters did not die young because of this; you can see the symptoms have already weakened."
"Oh, that’s good news, Ma, that’s terrific!" Wan Erbao got excited and said to Mrs. Meng, "Ma, did you hear that? Your grandsons and granddaughters will be fine. The symptoms have lessened. Give it another couple of generations and your great-great-great-grandsons won’t get this illness."
But Mrs. Meng said, "Brother Wen and Sister Yan and the others are fine because they’ve never eaten peanuts."
Mrs. Meng was a smart one. When her eldest died back then, she hadn’t noticed anything. But when Old Si died young, she started to suspect and went to check what Old Si had eaten.
When Old Five also died young, she investigated again and found that Old Five had eaten peanuts, and Old Si had too, so she began to feel this might be peanuts’ doing.
But peanuts were something everyone ate, and nothing happened to them. If she came out and said she suspected peanuts could kill, never mind others, Wan Yang for sure wouldn’t believe it. He’d probably even suspect she’d put poison in the peanuts to kill Aunt Hong’s sons!
Back then Wan Yang had indeed suspected her, but he couldn’t find any evidence she’d poisoned them, and then, seeing that her natal family had risen in status, he didn’t dare divorce her.
Mrs. Meng now laid this out and said, "I reckon Brother Wen and the others also have this illness. It’s just that since they don’t eat peanuts, the symptoms haven’t shown."
"Ma, so the reason you didn’t allow us to drink wine and eat peanuts back then was this?" Wan Erbao finally came around and said, "Back when I got married, Ma even specially told me I wasn’t allowed to eat the peanuts on the bridal bed. Ma, you really are clever—you knew it all along and were protecting us."
Seeing his silly grin made Mrs. Meng even more irritable. She felt unbearably vexed, and after a moment of silence, she made a decision. "Doctor Mu, if we let Brother Wen and the others eat just a tiny bit of peanuts, when the symptoms come out, will they be milder?"
If she didn’t find out whether these children had inherited the peanut illness, Mrs. Meng knew she would never eat or sleep in peace for the rest of her days.