The Killer Shall Have No Heart Chapter 8

Not long after, Connor came out of the house with an axe and a saw in his hands. He sat on a small wooden stool in the yard, casually laid down the wooden board, and after gesturing with the saw for a while, he seemed to see Sam standing beside him.

"What are you standing there for? Come over and give me a hand."

"Ah? Here it comes!" Sam came back to his senses, feeling a little excited, but he didn't dare to take it seriously. What if he was just being wishful thinking?

Connor didn't bother to be polite with Sam. He directly put the saw into Sam's hand and said, "I'll cut it first, and then you can trim it around with the saw. Do you know how to saw wood?"

Sam gestured with the saw and said sincerely, "It's no problem to just saw it briefly."

Connor nodded without saying anything else. He stood up and stood in the middle of the wooden board. He took the axe in his backhand and knocked it a few times, as if he was considering where to start.

Sam was watching from the side with his heart pounding. He could guess that this was the bed board made for him, but he didn't expect Connor to be willing to make one for him himself. He thought Connor didn't take it seriously at all.

Aunt Liu opened the bedroom door, carrying a sieve with some dried herbs spread on it, turning them over as she walked. Seeing the two people in the yard, she smiled and said, "You're back? Is this the wood you were talking about?"

After hearing this, Sam turned his gaze to Connor.

Connor determined a spot, raised his axe and chopped it down, leaving a deep mark when he pulled it out. Hearing this, he said "hmm", and replied: "Yes, it should have been found by someone who went up the mountain before. It was placed in the wooden house as a bed board. It's just a little damp. It will be fine after a few days of drying."

Sam reacted and asked in a low voice: "Is this board yours? If you give it to me, where will you sleep after you go up the mountain?"

Sam knew that many hunters in the mountains would build a small wooden house at the entrance of the mountain road. If they did not have time to go down the mountain, they would rest in the wooden house for a night. Connor often needed to go up the mountain to hunt, and this wooden board should be what he used for temporary rest in the wooden house on the mountain.

Connor looked at him with a little surprise and said lightly: "Don't worry."

Sam: "Oh..."

Connor glanced at Sam again, "It's almost winter, there won't be much prey to catch, so there's no need to stay overnight."

Sam finally felt relieved and nodded vigorously. He took the saw in his hand and began to slowly saw along the lines that Connor had cut.

Sam had little experience in carpentry, so it was very strenuous for him to saw. He didn't saw off much after a few strokes, but his knuckles were numb from the vibration. He had to saw for a while and then stop. Connor had almost finished cutting the four corners, but Sam hadn't finished sawing even one edge.

Sam looked at Connor, who was standing beside him with his hands on his h!ps supervising the work, with a guilty conscience, and clearly saw a hint of mockery in his eyes, as if to say that he couldn't even do such a small thing.

Sam laughed dryly and wiped the non-existent sweat from his forehead. "This wood looks good. Did you find it?"

Seeing this, Connor simply sat down, his eyes fell on Aunt Liu who was busy in the house not far away, and said lightly: "When the bed is ready, you can move in and sleep in the same room with my mother. I will use the wardrobe to separate a small compartment, and you can sleep there at night."

Sam was stunned for a moment, "Ah?"

Connor continued, "My mother is in poor health, and her condition tends to get worse in winter. She has been having night terrors and coughing these past few days. You move to her room, and if she has any problems at night, you have to take care of her. If you don't know what to do, come to me."

Sam was a little bit unaccustomed to Connor talking so much at once, but after listening clearly, he dispelled the slight worry in his heart and agreed: "Okay."

Connor was silent for a moment, then asked: "Can you take care of people?"

Sam said: "Of course, I used to take care of my mother at home, from morning to night."

"Isn't your father a wealthy man in Jingzhou? Why does he need you to take care of him?" Connor said.

Sam sawed with the plank while grunting and grunting, and took the time to reply: "My mother is just a c0ncubine. According to the nobles in Jingzhou, I have to call my mother "auntie", but my family is a merchant, so we don't care so much."

"Besides, my father never cares about me and my mother." Sam finally finished sawing one side. He breathed a sigh of relief, stood up, shook his sore arms, and trotted to the other side to continue sawing.

Connor nodded, "Your father is really a piece of sh!t."
 
When Sam heard Connor scolding his father, he was not angry. Instead, he laughed and said, "That's not the case. You see, they didn't even bother to give me a good name. On the day my mother gave birth to me, a big carp in my father's favorite pond died, so they simply named me Li."

Sam sneered, "What father would name his child like this?"

Connor nodded, not knowing how much he had heard, "Yeah, my dad is the same."

Sam asked in surprise: "Give you a name?"

Connor said calmly: "He is nothing."

Sam widened his eyes and looked quickly into the house, as if he was saying something bad but was afraid of being heard. To Connor, it seemed as if the person who said this was Sam.

"You don't need to look, my mother is not married." Connor said.

"Not married? Then how come..." Sam suddenly realized what he was saying halfway, and stopped talking, giving Connor an apologetic look.

Connor had a blank expression on his face. He took out two red mountain fruits from somewhere, waved his hand, and threw one of them at Sam, hitting Sam right on the forehead.

"Ouch...!" Sam screamed from being hit, but he covered his forehead with one hand but it didn't hurt much.

Connor probably held back his strength.

"Don't think too much, don't make random guesses." After Connor said this, he said no more. He left Sam alone to struggle with the wooden board and went into the house.

Sam was not idle either. After eating the fruit, he continued to work.

Sam spent the whole afternoon in the yard trimming the wooden board until it slowly took shape as the rudiments of a single bed. When he had some free time, he was already sweating from busy work, and the sun was already approaching the mountains, gradually emitting a red glow.

In the afternoon, Aunt Liu also turned over a few quilts to dry in the sun, but Connor returned to his room and never came out again until Sam fixed the bed and pushed it to the door of Aunt Liu's room.

When Aunt Liu saw this, she took the initiative to help push the bed in. She must have already made an agreement with Connor to let Sam stay here temporarily.

The two of them had just brought the bed into the room when they heard the door open. Then Connor, who had not been seen for the whole afternoon, walked in.

Sam poked his head out from behind the bed and looked at Connor. Aunt Liu took the initiative to say, "Are you awake? The bed is ready. How do you want to put it?"

Connor said "hmm" and didn't answer. He walked forward and reached out to take the bed board, put it aside, and pushed the wardrobe in the corner. It was placed horizontally in the middle of the room, just enough to divide it into two spaces, one large and one small. The small one could just fit a single bed, and there was a window on one side.

Connor took a few wooden frames from the corner and set them up, then put the bed board on top, and said, "I will bring a few feet of cloth when I come back to block the middle for you."

"When are we leaving?" Aunt Liu asked.

Connor said: "I'll be leaving soon and will be back early tomorrow morning."

"Is it too late to have a meal? Why not take some hot steamed buns with you to eat on the road?" Aunt Liu said.

Connor did not refuse, "That's fine."

"Where are you going?" Sam was still immersed in the joy of finally having a bed to sleep in. He suddenly heard Connor say that he was going out, so he asked subconsciously.

"In town." After Connor said that, he turned and left the house, apparently going to the kitchen next door.

Aunt Liu said hurriedly: "Okay, okay, don't be busy for now, let's go eat."

When Sam went out, he could only see Connor leaving, and the direction he was heading to was exactly the road leading to the town for the morning market.

"Are you going out so late?" Sam asked.

Aunt Liu stood at the door, stretching her neck until she could no longer see Connor, then she turned around and sighed, "He went to the town to do some odd jobs. When the people in the shop that was usually busy went home during the day, he would do some night work."

"He works to buy medicine for me. My illness cannot be cured. If I continue to work, my family will be bankrupt. I have long advised him not to treat it and not to buy medicine, so that he can save the money to find a wife in the future. But he is stubborn and insists on spending this money."

Sam recalled that when they went to the market during the day, Connor stayed in the drugstore for a long time. Could it be that they were discussing temporary work?

Yes, according to Connor's hunting skills, he could save some money by selling some skins and game. But when Sam helped with the cleaning these days, he found that this family was indeed not very wealthy.

Even the clothes Connor was wearing were patched, and the dark-colored shorts looked a little white.

I'm afraid the money he earned from hunting wasn't enough to cover the cost of his illness, so he had to do some odd jobs to supplement the family income.

No wonder he wanted me to live with Aunt Liu. It was probably because he was not at home at night. If I slept in his room or the woodshed, I would not be able to notice Aunt Liu's discomfort in time.

After understanding all this, Sam no longer blamed Connor for being lukewarm towards him. If he had to worry about the money to buy medicine every day, his temper would probably not be much better than Connor's.

At least although Connor looked cold, he didn't really bully him.

Sam was trying to comfort himself, but he suddenly heard a groan in his ear. He turned his head and saw Aunt Liu with red eyes. She leaned against the door and blamed herself. She stroked her chest and cried, "I don't want to drag him down. Why didn't I die earlier to avoid hurting him like this?"

Sam was startled and reached out to help. Aunt Liu was already weak due to her illness, and now she was even more angry and almost suffocated. Sam was frightened and reached out to pat Aunt Liu's back, shouting, "What kind of words are you talking about! How can a child dislike his mother for being a burden? Aunt, don't cry, come in and sit down and rest first."

After saying this, Sam helped Aunt Liu into the house without caring about her response. He helped her sit down. Aunt Liu lowered her eyes and cried, still gasping for breath. Seeing this, Sam half-knelt down and kept stretching out his hands to press Aunt Liu's five fingertips, saying as he pressed:

"My mother's health was not good later. Many doctors said that she could not be cured. I begged my father to buy some expensive medicine, but he refused. He would rather spend money to bribe corrupt officials. I had no choice. If I wanted to save my mother, I had to have money to buy medicine. Fortunately, an elder sister who was on duty in the yard knew a way. She took pity on me and helped me to find a job. I only had to copy the scrolls and she would give me a reward."

"I copied books day and night, and broke several pens. I didn't have money to buy better pens, and I didn't dare to stop."

Sam's tone was soothing and firm, like a clear spring, gentle yet powerful, gradually helping Aunt Liu to recover from her grief.

"But even though I copied the book, I still couldn't save my mother. I only earned three taels of silver from copying the book, but the medicine cost one thousand taels. I took the silver and found my mother, crying and saying to her...I'm sorry."

"My mother just touched my hand and praised me for being so capable and making money, and said I was worthy of being her child." When Sam said this, he seemed to recall the woman who was gentle and bright even though she was sick and looked haggard, and a smile appeared on his face unconsciously.

"Finally, I used the three taels of silver to buy two jars of rice wine. I placed one jar in front of my mother's grave and drank the other jar sitting beside her grave. That was my first time drinking. My mother especially liked his rice wine and always said it was so sweet."

Sam stopped massaging, as if lost in memory, and said slowly: "But I drank it that day, it wasn't sweet at all, it was very sour and a little bitter. How could she like this kind of thing?"

"I don't want to think about it anymore." Sam smiled, "I just think that my mother must have been in a lot of pain during that time, but she never told me, nor did she say she wanted to die. She just talked and laughed with me like usual, until she passed away one night."

Sam held Aunt Liu's thin and somewhat awkward hands together, as if he was holding his mother's hands, and said with a smile: "I think, for Brother Chu, maybe he already knew about your condition and made the worst plan, just like me at the beginning, but as long as you are still alive, everything he did was justified. Even if the day comes when we really have to separate, Brother Chu will not regret what he didn't do."

"As long as my mother is still alive, what does the hardship mean? How can I be considered a burden?"

"Besides, if you hadn't raised Brother Chu by yourself, then perhaps things would have been different. Can you say that Brother Chu was a burden to you?"

Aunt Liu seemed to have been struck by Sam's words, and murmured, "How...how can this be considered a burden..."

"That's right...so..." Sam was halfway through his words when he heard Aunt Liu continue.

"I have never married and have done many things that I regret for the rest of my life, but the only thing I never regret is finding Cong'er by the Mudu River. I was already over 30 at the time and the doctor said I would never be able to have children. But that night, I was relaxing by the Mudu River and saw a wooden basin floating by..."

"He was so young at the time, and his face turned red from crying. Maybe he was very hungry, so he held my finger in his mouth as soon as I reached out, sucking it hard, like a calf... At that time, I was thinking, I can't have children, and Cong'er is the child God gave me."

Aunt Liu was immersed in her memories, slowly talking about the past, and Sam, who was interrupted by her, was shocked beyond words at this moment.

What did he hear? Connor was not Aunt Liu’s biological child?

It's over... He seemed to have overheard something extraordinary.