chapter 13 Northwest Italy

"Gina, you make me confused," Ashburn sighed helplessly, but his tone remained calm, "Didn't you always say I am trash? It's not worth being stuck with a loser for your entire life..." "When did I say...you trash?" Ashburn thought about it carefully and found that, indeed, Gina had never said personally that he was trash. But when others teased him in this word, she neither defended him. From the very beginning, Gina didn't like him as their marriage was arranged by her grandmother. "Gina, you have no feelings for me. Nothing forcibly done is going to be agreeable. Let's part on good terms, okay?" "No way!" Yes, she really didn't like him at the beginning. She had been an independent and dignified woman since her childhood and was known as a dazzling superwoman in the Narada business circle. However, her marriage was an arranged marriage like a kidnapping, she felt betrayed by all the dignity she had fought for. She also became the laughingstock of the social circle. She couldn't lose her temper with her grandma, but could only vent her anger on Ashburn to gain some mental relief. But in the past two years, she had seen Ashburn’s hard work and patience. Her heart was made of flesh, so it was natural for her to feel emotions. How could she not be moved by Ashburn? It's just that she was stubborn and proud by nature and never told him her inner feelings. She held her head high, not letting the tears fall from her eyes. "Ashburn, do you think you have paid off everything you owe the Willow family?" She was still obstinate as she had seldom bowed her head with Ashburn. "If I hadn't saved you, you would have died together with Perry last night. Wouldn't this be enough to pay off the debts of your family?" "I'm a businesswoman, yes, you saved my life last night. I’ll repay the favour I owe you. But your father failed in business and was duped out of all his money. It was the Willow family who paid more than one million for help. If you want to divorce, just pay back the money you owe our family first! For the sake of two years as a couple, I won’t require too much, just give me back one million." Gina knew that these words were hurtful, but now there was no other way. She could only say this to keep this man temporarily. If they divorced, her family would definitely arrange a new partner for her. There would be no other man in the world who was as accommodating and tolerant to her as Ashburn. He even hadn’t touched her for two years of marriage, to be specific, Ashburn had been like a monk in these two years! No man she knew could do this. Ashburn was stunned. He had never thought Gina could say such harsh words. This woman... was so unreasonable! But as a man of principle, since Gina proposed it, he didn’t want to deny, and said, "Okay, isn't it just one million? I will pay off as soon as possible." After that, Ashburn hung up. In the past, one million would have been an incredible figure to him, but now that he had inherited the Five Techniques of Taoism, this number was no longer far for him. As long as he paid back this million, he could leave the Willow family and be completely free. Gina breathed a sigh of relief. With Ashburn's capacity, he would definitely not be able to raise one million in a short time, so she was given a respite time. … Back home, Ashburn took a bath and had a good sleep. He lost 70 years of spiritual cultivation, then added 10 years because of saving Frederic, to help Gina survive the disaster of death, 10 years of that again, he was exhausted physically and mentally. Things like spiritual cultivation could directly affect people's bodies, spirits, fortune, etc. If the spiritual cultivation was lower than four hundred, a person's magnetic field would weaken, he would suffer from all kinds of diseases, even mental problems, and bad luck, and everything would not go well. He must made some efforts to increase his spiritual cultivation. The next day when he got up, Ashburn took out the coins and made a divination for himself. Fortune in the Northeast. With his current spiritual cultivation, he could only get so much information from the divination, and only the first divination of one day was the most effective, after that, the effectiveness would be discounted in half. "Northwest?" This direction made Ashburn a little confused because the northwest of the Old Town was the suburbs, which were remote and could soon see urban-rural fringes. However, since it was the instruction of the divination, Ashburn decided to have a try. Maybe he would meet some noble person in the northwest, or he might make a fortune unexpectedly. In short, he can't continue to parasitize the Willow family and let others treat him as trash. Riding an electromobile towards the northwest, although there was direction guidance, the area was too large. Ashburn was aimless and didn't know where to go to meet a noble person or make a fortune. When he arrived at the urban-rural fringe area, his electromobile ran out of power, so he had to charge at a fellow villager's home. A lot of medicinal herbs were dried at the door of the fellow's house. Ashburn asked, "Norton, did you pick these herbs yourself?" "Yeah, there are many of them in the west hill. Nowadays, there are fewer and fewer herbalist doctors, and few people collect herbal medicines." Norton sighed with deep emotion, then took out a stick of cigarette and handed it to Ashburn. Ashburn rolled his eyes and thought, could the west hill be a path to wealth indicated by the divination? Taoist medical skills were an important part of traditional Chinese medicine. Perhaps in the future, he could rely on medical skills to make a living, which were naturally indispensable for the use of medicine. "Norton, when will you go to the west hill to collect herbs? Shall I come with you?" "What? Are you also interested in herbal medicine?" Ashburn smiled and said, "I have always liked traditional culture." "Today's young people are not very interested in Chinese herbal medicine! Since you want to learn, I will take you there in the afternoon." Norton was very pleased. He was also a Chinese medicine doctor himself. Seeing the decline of Chinese medicine, his ideal seemed somewhat to be shocked. While saw Ashburn was so interested in it at such a young age, Norton thought that he could pass on this knowledge to Ashburn in the future if he was talented. At noon, they had a casual meal at Norton’s house. At two o'clock in the afternoon, when the heat was not too strong, Ashburn followed Norton and set off towards the west hill. Instead of driving his electromobile, he got on Norton's electric tricycle. There were some shabby houses scattered on the west hill. There used to be a village here. Although the village still existed, due to the development of urbanization, people left gradually. Those who had a little money had moved to the city, and the young and middle-aged labourers also worked in the city, the rest were the elders, women and children. Norton was very familiar with some families there, and he could even say hello to some villagers he met on the road. Ashburn followed him into a forest. "Ashburn, come here, let me teach you how to recognize these herbs. This is angelica, this is bletilla, and this is cardamom which is somewhat similar to amomum, but they must not be confused..." Norton picked each one and explained it to Ashburn by teaching him how to identify them as if Ashburn was his student. Ashburn found it interesting and also a little touched, so he didn't reveal his medical attainments, so as not to dampen Norton's enthusiasm and pretended to be a good student. After a while, the two gathered half a basket of herbs. "Let’s sit down and rest for a while. There is a family in front. I'm going to get you some water." Norton put down his backpack, took his empty water bottle, and walked towards the front. Ashburn was about to find a place to sit down when he suddenly saw some mysterious Qi not far away.