Chapter 8.1

Xiao Youning’s sickness came like a landslide. After the doctor gave her an injection, she faintly woke up, suffering from a fever so high that the corners of her eyes were dyed red.

The medicine prescribed by the first doctor had already boiled properly and Yuan Guo started to feel sad as she helped her miss to sit up, feeding her the medicine in small sips.

“Miss, you need to get better soon. We still need to ask around for news about the Master and the heir.”

The usually fierce maid cried as she spoke, tears falling on the lapel of her clothes.

Xiao Youning knew that she was scared.

Following the troubles they encountered, they spent the whole journey being constantly on the move, even though it had been several days. Back then, the hardest thing she did was horsemanship but these days she was both mentally and physically exhausted and every breath was painful.

Yesterday the second branch’s bodyguards gave her the heaviest hit, and the manner of speech that was holding her up was also crushed, so naturally, she was going to fall ill.

“I’ll get better soon.” She smiled weakly, her eyes entirely not admitting defeat.

It was just an illness that would soon be over.

But Xiao Youning didn’t know that her stubbornness would lead to worse consequences, and after she drank the medicine she began to fall asleep again, with an even higher fever than before.

The doctor collected the silver and promised to wait here in case something else happened, but it turned out to be a tricky situation.

He administered another injection to the feverish Xiao Youning, who did not wake up quickly and even spoke nonsense this time.

The doctor put away the needle, put his palm against her forehead, and immediately withdrew his hand as if he had been burned. Then, he turned around to pick up the medicine chest.

“No good! That’s an awful fever. I’ve never seen a fever that bad! My medical expertise isn’t good enough, I can’t cure it!” The doctor said and went so far as to head straight to the door.

Yuan Guo immediately followed him but saw him going to the next room, knock on the door, and put the silver directly into Jian Yin’s hand. “Gentleman, I’m returning the money to you. I don’t dare treat that sick person, so please find someone better qualified than me!”

Then he ran away as fast as he could.

Jian Yin looked down at the silver in his hand and his eyebrows furrowed until there were three lines on his forehead. “What the heck?!”

When he looked up, he saw Yuan Guo standing blankly in the doorway, her two eyes very red and her face covered with tears.

When Jian Yin saw this fierce servant girl crying, he felt an indescribably awkward feeling.

The doctor was hired by him, the silver was given by him, and he obviously had spared no effort.

“Go and invite a few other doctors.” Ye Shen’s voice sounded from behind him.

Jian Yin was scared out of his skin by his Master, who walked away without a word and hurried to get out of the way.

Ye Shen didn’t say much, just stepped out of the doorway past Yuan Guo, who was still staring blankly at the floor. He directly entered the room where both master and servant were lodging in.

The room had the same structure as his side. A screen engraved with mountains and rivers separated the main room from the secondary. The outer room had a square table, four chairs, while the inner room had a four-poster bed inside, and a Taishi chair beside the bed. The only difference from his was that on this side the framed bed had a little girl who talked nonsense sleeping on top.

Ye Shen heard her mumbling words like “daddy” and “big brother” before he even got near the bed.

He stepped toward the dark-colored canopy hanging down and blocking his view. He reached out and pushed it aside, and the hanging curtain’s copper hook knocked against the bedpost, producing a beautiful ringing sound.

The cheeks of the small girl laying on the bed were bright red, resembling a begonia in April, but that burning color was what was actually taking away her life.

“Daddy…” Xiao Youning unconsciously called out again in a murmur.

Ye Shen heard what the doctor said and, hesitating for a moment, probed her cheek with the back of his hand. It was indeed scaldingly hot, like the feeling he had when he held a boiling cup of tea. How could she be so sick, last night she was undoubtedly making plans.

At that moment, when Ye Shen heard footsteps behind him, he said without raising his head, “Go and fetch some water from the well, then ask a worker for some wine and mix it with the water. Bring it to wipe her body.”

Since the decoction was useless, they could only use crude methods. In the palace, the imperial physicians used this kind of method to subdue fevers.

Yuan Guo heard what he said and, turning around, ran off.

Ye Shen was about to withdraw his hand when the unconscious Xiao Youning suddenly grabbed his sleeve.

“Big brother!” She cried out and Ye Shen wanted to pull his hand away but found that she was holding it tightly with all her strength, to the point he couldn’t pull his sleeve out of her grasp. “Big brother doesn’t want Ningning?”

The little girl pulling at his sleeve began to wail. Ye Shen stared at her tightly closed eyes and saw tears seeping out of their corners.

And it was a scene that was somehow familiar to him.

Many years ago, she seemed to be pulling his sleeve in the same way and calling for her older brother. At that time she was still small as a dwarf. Dressed in thick winter clothing, and with her entire body being plump, she resembled one of those children who follow Guanyin.

[Goddess of Mercy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guanyin]

Ye Shen’s face was expressionless as she tugged on his sleeve, his gaze sweeping over the two wounds on his own index finger that resembled rice grains. He pursed his lips into a fine line and extended his other hand to slowly grab her fingers and pull them apart.

As soon as he touched her thin white fingers, her hand came up like a vine, from pulling his sleeve to grabbing his palm.