Chapter 197 - Cajoled For Long

On the way to Dong Tong Town , the crowd of refugees were attacked by the cold and merciless winter winds and Qi Bai and his wife fell sick together with the other refugees . Thinking that he had a strong body Qi Bai , the father of Xiao Shuyan , didn't pay any attention to it and even gave his clothes to his wife and three children despite Father Lin 's repeated warnings . 

At first Qi Bai wasn't willing to take his illness seriously , therefore , he didn't listen to Father Lin's suggestion of checking up with a doctor before moving on to the northeast . Qi Bai didn't want to delay the trip because of his illness , so even though he was suffering through high fever he kept on pushing his body . Qi Bai continued to endure it and went on with the journey because of this he fell seriously sick once they left the small town where they all have taken shelter from the cold snow .

After a few days , Qi Bai 's small cold developed into pneumonia and he ended up falling unconscious because of his burning temperature . Father Lin was scared out of his wits , when he saw his good brother falling unconscious - he immediately brought Qi Bai to the town that was closest to them but unfortunately the small town only had a barefoot doctor who only knew treatment of small maladies and couldn't treat Qi Bai properly . However , Father Lin still spent some money from his savings and brought medicine for Qi Bai - but Qi Bai 's condition improved only for a few days before it started deteriorating again . 

In this way , Father Lin and Qi Bai 's family had to lodge in another small town for more than a month . To treat Qi Bai 's illness they ended up spending all their savings , even the money that Qi Bai secretly stored for his kids marriage was slowly used up . After continuous treatment , Qi Bai seemed to have realised that his illness couldn't be treated and insisted to continue on with their journey . Father Lin tried to talk Qi Bai out of it and even asked Qi Bai 's wife to implore to Qi Bai but neither of them were able to cajole Qi Bai . In the end , they pawned away their precious belongings and rented an ox cart before continuing on with their journey to the Dong Tong town . 

On the road , Qi Bai 's condition once again fluctuated and their travelling expense was also used up . They didn't even have any money to buy food much less treat Qi Bai 's illness . In the end Father Lin 's good brother , Qi Bai passed away before either of them could even make it to the north . 

Thus , They had to stop their journey and pawn away whatever was left including their extra clothes to prepare for Qi Bai 's funeral . 

Qi Bai 's wife couldn't take the shock and soon she too fell sick and before Father Lin even suppress his grief of losing his good brother  , Qi Bai 's wife passed away as well .In the end the funeral for one person became the funeral of two persons , Father Lin buried Qi Bai and his wife together in a closed up flower valley and marked their graves . 

And began their journey to the Dong Tong town again , the children didn't want to leave their parents especially the youngest Qi Zhi . He thought that his parents were just asleep and didn't want to leave them alone , it took a lot of cajoling and coaxing from father Lin - only then Qi Zhi stopped keeping vigil next to his parents graves and let Father Lin carry him away . 

Qi Shuyan and his sister Qi Mei were more mature and intelligent , thus , they both understood at once that their parents have gone somewhere far away from them and would never return . In the end there were many times , Father Lin caught the two children crying for their parents in the middle of the night . 

Father Lin couldn't bear to see his good brother's children cry , in the end he asked  them to start calling him father . He told them that even if their parents were no longer here with them , he was still here and he will treat them just like their father did . The children were not willing to call him father at first and Father Lin didn't force them either , instead he started telling stories of his sons and wife to the children . 

He wanted the children to know more about their soon going to be big brothers and thus chatted animatedly with them until the three slowly started looking forward to their life together with the Lin family . 

Just like that they supported each other and begged for food as they continued on their journey on foot . Had it not been the belief of meeting his family , even father Lin would have perished in the middle of the journey and became worm food - but he couldn't give up because not only he was responsible for the three kids but also because he wanted to see his wife and sons . And if he ended up collapsing on the way back , he would have never been able to die in peace ! 

Thus , Father Lin gritted his teeth and kept on enduring . He was an adult and could keep up with the winds of cold spring but Little Shuyan couldn't , the poor boy fell sick and soon his condition degraded just like his father . 

Father Lin was scared silly thus , without caring about frostbites and his bleeding ulcers -he rushed to the Dong Tong town . If not for Little Shuyan fainting in between he would have ran all the way back to the old Lin house ! He already lost his good brother because of incompetence , he couldn't lose his good brother 's eldest son as well - if he did , how would he have faced his good brother in the netherworld ? Luckily , he met his filial and kind hearted son or else he would have lost his head completely !