The air around them had frozen. Alice didn’t look up but also had the feeling that there was a killing spirit ahead.
After a very long period of silence, Celeste asked, trembling, “Don’t tell me that you’re going to marry this woman?”
“Yes, that’s her.”
Slap-
Celeste slapped her son in the face, leaving Alice completely shocked. Alice covered her mouth in shock, not even daring to breathe.
The woman in front of her, who could potentially become her mother-in-law in the future, was so powerful. Even a glance was enough to stab someone to death.
“Are you trying to get back at me? Are you revenging on me for hurting Bella? Is that the reason why you decided to marry her? Marriage is not a child’s play. Such a nasty woman is not qualified to become my daughter-in-law!!”
Celeste’s eyes widened. She was a thousand times more terrifying than the legendary evil mother-in-law. Alice couldn’t care how hurtful those words were, she was completely shocked by her fierce appearance.
“I am the owner of my life. I decided to marry her. I only came today to inform you, not to ask for your permission. Now we’re leaving.”
Louis stood up, pulled over Alice who was in a state of shock beside him, and strode towards the door.
“Stop there!”
Celeste roared hysterically, “I promise you to stop forcing Bella to marry you, but you have to make a clean break with this woman right away!”
“Do you think I’m going to take your word for it?”
Louis scoffed and continued walking with Alice.
“If you don’t stop when I count to three, I’ll disown you!”
Alice froze, trying to stop, but Louis turned a deaf ear and dragged her out of the apartment door.
Celeste chased after them and snared again, “I won’t agree to this. I absolutely won’t agree with this. Don’t you dare marry this woman without my permission!”
Louis suddenly stopped when he heard this. He turned back indifferently and asked coldly, “Then why did you divorce in the first place without my permission?”
Sometimes, silence didn’t mean forgiveness. Louise was abandoned by his mother at the age of eight. He should have the right to hold grudges.
Alice could sense that Louis was in a bad mood. She struggled for a long time before she spoke carefully, “Actually, you don’t need to be in such a stalemate with your mother because of me. Your mother doesn’t like me. You can choose to marry a person she likes.”
Louis was silent, frowning.
“I seem to be a bit presumptuous. You and your mother had a quarrel because of Bella, not me.”
“I think you should reconsider the marriage. Your mother is right. Marriage is not a child’s play. There are many ways to stop her from hurting Bella. You can’t protect her at the cost of your happiness.”
Alice talked to herself. Finally, Louis could not bear it any longer. He stopped the car, cupped her face, leaned down, and kissed her.
In that moment, she felt dizzy as if the world was coming to an end.
Alice’s mind was blank. She was shocked to see the man she had been secretly in love with for two years kiss her. This should not be a dream, because his breathing was so warm.
Louis released her and gasped, “If this is the only way to shut you up, then please forgive me for being rude.”
He restarted the car. The power of the forced kiss did work. She didn’t say another word until she got home.
Alice never expected that Celeste would approach her the next day at noon.
In the Café across the street from the school, she was waiting for Celeste to say something, and Celeste stared at her for a moment and said, “How annoying!”
Alice summoned up and looked up at her, saying, “I’ll go back if you have nothing to say. I should go back to work.”
“Leave my son.”
Celeste was succinct, and Alice snorted sarcastically, “Is it that you are going to throw me a check next if I don’t agree?”
“You wish! Do I need to waste my financial resources?”
Alice took a deep breath and told herself she wasn’t angry. She slowly pulled out a hundred dollar bill from her wallet and shouted to the waiter, “Pay the bill.”
And then she turned around and about to leave. Celeste warned her, “I warn you, even if you marry my son, I won’t let you have a good life.”
“Don’t worry. We will live so far away that you’ll never see him again!”
Celeste watched Alice walk away. She almost fainted with anger.
The days when she didn’t have to work were dull and boring. Bella was bored at home every day. At the thought of a gloomy future, she began to cry.
This day, she was browsing the online childcare forum. She accidentally read a post about having a baby. A superstitious thought flashed through her head. Why didn’t she go to the King Hills to pray? Her mother-in-law always said that the Buddha there was very spiritual. Although she didn’t quite believe it, she thought that it was good to go out for fresh air. She was bored at home anyway.
She was really too depressed.
She made up her mind. She set off for the hill without telling her family. And she arrived at the King Hills alone.
The King Hill was always a prosperous place. On the mountain, many people sold food, toys, and all kinds of knick-knacks. It was livelier than the foot of the hill. Bella became interested in what they sold. In the past, she wasn’t attracted by these stalls because she was an elegant woman. She was not the same as those little girls who loved to play.
But now it was not the same. She was not a complete woman. She was not graceful. She walked in the crowd and looked even sillier than those little girls. She would stop for half a day for something she was interested in, but she would not buy anything. She finally walked away silently.
She went to the Hall of Supreme Harmony. She knelt in front of the statue of the Child Sending Buddha, and she prayed sincerely, “I would use ten years of my life for a healthy child. From then on, I won’t have any extravagant hopes.”
Tears dripped down on the floor. The Buddha was watching her. If the Buddha could hear her, please give her a child. This was her only and final wish for the rest of this life.
After that, Bella was outside the temple which was bustling with activity. She finally felt better as she listened to the yelling in her ears.
“Come and see the doctor! I can cure all kinds of difficult diseases -”
In the midst of a bunch of yelling, Bella’s eyes were drawn to an old man in his late 70s. She squatted down in front of the old man and looked at the sign erected in front of him. The sign showed that he could treat all kinds of skin diseases, urinary diseases, heart, liver, spleen and kidney diseases, epilepsy, vitiligo, hair loss, infertility…
Infertility? Bella was suddenly stunned, and she asked, “You can cure infertility?”
The old man smiled and nodded, “Yes, do you want a treatment?”
“How do you cure it?”
The old man pointed his finger at the pile of Chinese herbs behind him, “Of course it’s Chinese medicine treatment.”
She pondered for a few seconds, smiled bitterly, and turned to leave.
“Hey, girl, have a try.”
Bella said gloomily, “You can’t cure my disease.”
“I am not bragging. My grandfather’s grandfather back then was the most popular imperial doctor. The Emperor Qianlong thought highly of him. There was no disease he couldn’t cure. I set up a stall here. In fact, I don’t want to give those who don’t believe in me any treatment. My family’s medical skills have been passed down from generation to generation. I am confident to cure the disease the high technologies fail to treat. Of course, it is up to you.”
If it had been in the past, Bella would have left without looking back. In the present, she wanted to have a try. It was mainly because she felt that she lost heart. There was nothing to lose if he deceived her. Instead, there might actually be some hope.
Bella had occasionally read some books saying that the quack doctors did have some medical skills. What was more, this old man in front of her gave her a feeling that she could trust him.
“Alright then, go on.”
“Miss, please take a seat.”
The old man pointed to the stool at her feet, and Bella sat down, “Give me your right hand.”
She stretched out her right hand, and the old man carefully took her pulse, “Your uterus is underdeveloped.”
Bella was surprised, and she asked in shock, “How do you know?”
The old man smiled, “If I don’t know, how can I claim myself, doctor?”
She felt she saw light in the darkness. An old man could see that there was something wrong with her uterus without any advanced equipment. She had to believe that the man was amazing.
“And do you think you can cure it?”
“It is not a big problem.”
The old man ended his pulse diagnosis and said seriously, “Chinese medicine believes that this disease is most often caused by kidney deficiency, or congenital deficiency of kidney deficiency, or acquired lack of nutrition, or the loss of blood and menstruation for a long time. The uterus loses its warmth and nourishment. You should nourish the kidney, promote blood circulation, and resolve stasis, which can increase the size and development of the uterus and ovaries and enable conception. The kidney hides essence, which is important to reproduction. The uterus is stunted, which relates to disharmony of Chong and Conception Channels. It is often due to congenital deficiency, malnutrition during the acquired developmental period, or long illness that leads to kidney deficiency, insufficient kidney essence, blood decay, and poor development of the uterus.”
Bella was convinced. She eagerly promised, “If you can cure the infertility, I will give you a large sum of money in return.”
“I am a doctor. Of course I will cure you. Your belief in me is the best reward for me. I’ll prepare medicine for you first. You go back and take it on time.”
The old man turned around and took a plastic bag and grabbed the Chinese medicine from those black and dirty cloth bags. Each cloth bag had a label inserted on it. He said as he grabbed the herbs, “I’ll give you a prescription later. After that, you’ll go to the Chinese medicine shop and take the medicine according to the prescription I gave you. You can sleep with your husband during the period of taking the medicine, but you can’t take any other medicine. Otherwise, it will have great side effects.”