Chapter 16

* * *

Lian slowly opened her eyes. A sudden burst of laughter came from beside her, then abruptly fell silent as if startled.

"Ahya! Ahya, are you feeling better now?"

"Mother..."

Her body swayed, and Lian realized she was being held by her mother.

Wu Zhiqing's face was drenched in tears.

The doctor, who had rushed over, said Lian was in good condition after regaining consciousness, but Wu Zhiqing couldn't let go of Lian's hand.

Later, Dan Muxian and Dan Muxuan visited, and when the nurse, Ms. Zhang, took over the care of Dan Mu Bi, who had fallen asleep at Lian's feet, Lian finally understood what had happened.

She had worked hard from dawn to make the Qinglian Soup, but fainted during breakfast that morning and had a high fever for four days.

‘Ha...’

Lian understood why she had fainted.

[Help: Maintain your spirit energy above 10.]

‘I’m going to go crazy. When they were yelling at me to drop it below 50, it was fine, but now they want me to keep it above 10?’

She had been so happy to use up all her spirit energy to make the Qinglian Soup, but now look at the mess!

Still, waking up wasn't as painful as when she had first regained consciousness after being in a coma for seven years.

As Lian swept her hand over her chest, the doctor smiled kindly at Wu Zhiqing.

"It's thanks to the clever child who managed to find the Black Stone Grass this season. Indeed, good deeds come back to you."

Raising an orphan boy and treating him like a brother and friend to her children could be considered a good deed.

"Black Stone... Grass?"

Wu Zhiqing nodded, her eyes still wet, and kept stroking Lian's cheeks.

"When someone suddenly loses a lot of blood or their energy is depleted, they need to replenish their vitality. However, in a weakened state, it's not good to have too much or too little."

The doctor continued, examining Lian's condition.

"Black Stone Grass has the property of replenishing energy without overfilling, making it perfect for such cases. However, it's a rare herb that only grows at the end of winter and beginning of spring, making it hard to obtain."

"Huayun found it for us. How grateful we are..."

‘Huayun?’

Lian's eyes widened, then she realized Huayun wasn't nearby.

The doctor, noticing Lian's search, smiled gently.

"He caught a cold after spending the whole day in the mountains on a chilly autumn day. Now that you're awake, I'll go check on him."

Lian tried to get up to follow the doctor but swayed from dizziness. The nurse and Wu Zhiqing rushed to her side.

Huayun, lying in bed with an unpleasant fever and aching muscles, didn't miss the faint conversations from outside.

- They say they made a decoction for the young master with that herb, but he could only drink half. I wonder if he'll be okay.

The conversation soon changed.

- He opened his eyes today, and he's fine!

Maybe this will do, Huayun thought.

- The doctor is going to see him now, and the young master is with him...

‘What?’

Huayun tried to rub his hot eyes, but another hand reached him first.

It was a cool, small hand. Its owner murmured,

"What a fool..."

Who's calling who a fool, Huayun thought, but his throat was too dry to speak.

Soon, a lukewarm liquid trickled into his mouth. The bitter taste made Huayun try to spit it out, but the hand's owner coaxed him.

"It's medicine. You have to drink it all to be a good boy, right?"

Who would fall for such a line?

Huayun grumbled inwardly but had no choice but to swallow the medicine.

After swallowing, he opened his eyes slightly and saw a small girl in the dim light.

Her pitch-black eyes sparkled like stars in the night sky. Her face, which he knew was half-formed, slowly came into view.

"Lian! You're awake?"

He nodded slowly, and the girl adjusted his blanket, carefully wiped his sweaty forehead, and applied ointment to his bruised hands.

"Who wanders the mountains in late winter to find herbs?"

Huayun, watching the girl's grumbling face, burrowed deeper into the blanket.

"That's right. I shouldn't have given all the herbs to the fabric shop and only brought ice. If I had known, I would have saved some. I suffered so much to find the rare Black Stone Grass."

As she grumbled with a hoarse voice, her eyes, which resembled stars, shimmered with moisture, and Huayun briefly regretted his words.

When he opened his eyes again, it was night. He had fallen asleep for a moment.

Huayun, lying in bed, stroked his forehead and smiled bitterly.

The towel, slightly warm from his body heat, was in his hand. Lian had left it there. Thinking about it being gone made him feel a bit empty.

Huayun, finding it hard to believe he had such thoughts, clicked his tongue and tried to get up. At that moment,

Click.

"Hey? Lian! You're awake?"

Huayun, who was halfway up, opened his eyes wide. A small girl, with a towel draped over her arm and a small basin in her hands, approached his bed.

"...Sister?"

"Thirsty? Let's drink this."

The girl wiped Huayun's forehead with the wet towel and tilted the water jug to offer him lukewarm water.

"Even if you feel hot from the fever, you shouldn't drink cold water."

"...Why are you still here...?"

"What do you mean? Because you're sick."

She chattered, held the cup to his lips, asked for congee from the kitchen, and checked his bruised knee before covering him with the blanket again.

"Why are you here...?"

"Didn't I just say? I have to take care of you because you're sick."

"Me...?"

"Who else would I take care of?"

Her protruding lips, a habit she had when concentrating, made him wonder what she was focusing on now.

'Wiping my forehead...?'

A wet towel, held by her thin, small hands like winter branches, brushed against his eyes.

"Can't help it..."

"Can't help it?"

Huayun trailed off and burrowed deeper into the blanket.

"Lian? Even if you're sleepy, eat the congee first. You'll get better that way."

"Ugh..."

"Lian, be a good boy, okay?"

"Ugh..."

"You're such a good boy."

Huayun hesitated a bit but finally couldn't resist Lian's coaxing and sat up.

"I... I'll eat it, so stop it."

"You're still shaky and have many bruises on your hands, so you can't."

"Sister, you're not fully recovered either."

"I'm fine. I've slept a lot. Hurry up."

"I really feel embarrassed..."

"What's embarrassing about being sick?"

"Really..."

"Come on, eat quickly!"

* * *

'How can this be...'

Lian stood in front of the chicken coop at Yuelingzhai, sighing.

One side of the coop was completely occupied by a majestic black-boned chicken, while the other chickens huddled in the corner, seemingly frightened.

Now, it was clear that this black-boned chicken was more than just a chicken. It was as large as a turkey.

"Why? Are you worried?"

The black-boned chicken's black eyes, which seemed concerned about her weight loss from illness, glistened.

"But why do you act like this?"

Lian slipped her hand through the coop and stroked the black-boned chicken. The tips of its feathers shimmered with a mysterious red light.

"Isn't it like a phoenix? Or a Zhuque? They're similar, right?"

Lian turned her head at the sudden voice from the side.

There stood Huayun, who now looked like a proper young master, frowning as he looked at the chicken.

Despite recovering together, Huayun surprisingly looked healthier and more energetic than before.

"That's... "

She couldn't bring herself to say it was impossible. The black-boned chicken's black eyes, which gently blinked, looked up at her.

Just looking at those eyes, it was hard to imagine it had been bullying the other chickens and stealing all their food.

"Hmm. It does look like that, doesn't it?"

"Then, do you really see it as just an ordinary chicken?"

"No..."

‘Could it be that it’s becoming a spirit creature by consuming spirit energy?’

But could a chicken really become a Zhuque, which is absurd?

Although the black-boned chicken seemed to have a mysterious aura, typical of spirit creatures...

‘But isn’t a Zhuque’s feathers supposed to be like flames? This one is black. It has a slight red tinge, though.’

As Lian tried to rationalize it, Huayun suddenly said,

"If you raise the black-boned chicken as a phoenix, the magistrate will take you away."

"What?"

Lian, who had been laughing, almost choked. Huayun, who had been the future leader of Machianjiao, had always considered a mere magistrate as insignificant.

Even as a child, it was quite cute how he equated tigers and magistrates. But Huayun was serious.

"They will take you away, lock you in the chicken coop, and make you raise only phoenixes."