Chapter 2
Lin Nian trotted over and looked at the frail young woman, who was soaked from head to toe. She asked cautiously, “Big Sister, is she still alive?”
Lin Ji nodded.
The woman was still alive for now, but if Lin Ji didn’t save her, she would undoubtedly die.
Yet she had pitifully little money left. Could she really afford to take home and save a woman whose origins were completely unknown? Medical consultations and medicine would both cost money…
“Nian Nian, carry the bucket. I’ll take her home on my back.” Lin Ji hoisted the woman onto her back and hurried toward home.
She might not have much money, but she simply couldn’t bring herself to stand by and watch someone die.
The distance from the riverbank to the Lin residence wasn’t particularly far, but by the time Lin Ji carried the woman into the eastern room, she was already somewhat breathless.
This body was truly hopeless. Just walking a short distance left her utterly exhausted. She really was a frail scholar.
Lin Ji settled the soaking-wet woman against a chair, then turned toward the wardrobe to retrieve a clean set of clothes. “Nian Nian, help Big Sister by going to the Cui residence. See if Aunt Cui is home, and tell her I’ve suddenly fallen seriously ill and need her to come examine me.”
The Cui mother and daughter were well-known physicians in Wutong Village. Aunt Cui’s daughter, Cui Xin, had even surpassed her mother in medical skill and was accomplished enough to see patients at a medical clinic in the county town.
However, at this time of day, Cui Xin would certainly be seeing patients in the county town, so the only person they could summon was Aunt Cui.
“Okay!” Lin Nian set down the bucket and ran outside without even stopping to catch her breath.
Lin Ji found a clean set of inner garments. Looking at the unconscious woman before her, she softly murmured, “Forgive me for the intrusion,” then grasped the sash around the woman’s waist and removed her soaking-wet white clothes.
It was only after removing them that she discovered two whip marks across the woman’s back, as well as abrasions on her right arm. The wounds had turned white from prolonged exposure to water, and her entire body was frighteningly hot.
Using a clean cloth, Lin Ji carefully wiped away the moisture while avoiding the wounds. She quickly helped the woman into dry inner garments, then laid her down on the bed.
Her own clothes were completely soaked as well.
Lin Ji changed out of her wet clothes and waited for quite some time before Lin Nian finally returned with Aunt Cui.
As Aunt Cui stepped into the eastern room, she was still saying, “Why are you in such a hurry, little girl? What serious illness could she possibly have? Don’t tell me she’s gotten herself drunk again…” But the moment she crossed the threshold and looked up, she saw Lin Ji standing there perfectly upright, neatly dressed. The rest of her words came out without a pause. “Isn’t she perfectly fine? What serious illness are you talking about?”
Lin Ji stepped aside and gestured toward the bed behind her. “Sorry to trouble you, Aunt Cui, but I’m not the one who’s sick. It’s this young lady.”
Aunt Cui looked ahead and saw the pale-faced woman lying on the bed. Without another word, she hurried over to examine her.
Lin Ji glanced toward the doorway. Sure enough, Lin Nian was still standing outside, craning her neck to look in but not daring to enter.
Lin Ji beckoned to her. “Nian Nian, come inside. I might need your help in a little while.”
At those words, the little girl immediately stopped hesitating and stepped across the threshold.
Aunt Cui sat on the stool beside the bed and placed her fingertips against the woman’s pulse. Her brows furrowed deeply. “This young lady is terribly weak. She’s probably been running this high fever for quite some time. To have a fever this severe and still have so little color in her face…”
Lin Ji understood that these were not good signs. She helped the woman on the bed turn onto her side so Aunt Cui could examine the whip wounds on her back. “Could the high fever have been caused by her wounds becoming inflamed after being soaked in water?”
Aunt Cui had seen plenty in her years of practicing medicine, but even she frowned when she saw the two gruesome whip wounds across the woman’s back. “How did she get hurt this badly? The wounds have been soaked to this extent. We need to wash them with strong liquor immediately.”
“Help her sit up and put a handkerchief in her mouth so she doesn’t bite herself,” Aunt Cui instructed while taking a bottle of strong liquor from her medicine chest.
The liquor was extremely potent. One could only imagine how painful it would be when poured directly over the wounds.
Lin Ji helped the woman sit up and lean against her chest, holding both her hands firmly.
Aunt Cui removed the stopper from the bottle and poured the liquor over the wounds. The moment the liquid touched her skin, the previously unconscious woman began struggling violently. Her muffled whimpers, stifled by the handkerchief, sounded like the cries of a wounded little animal.
Lin Ji gripped her hands tightly and held her securely against her chest, doing her best to keep her from moving.
Aunt Cui poured the liquor along the wounds. While she was cleaning the first whip mark, the woman in Lin Ji’s arms still had the strength to struggle. But by the time the liquor reached the second wound, she no longer had the energy to resist. When Aunt Cui finally applied the medicine, all she could manage were a few short, breathy sounds.
Lin Ji took the gauze and began bandaging the wounds under Aunt Cui’s guidance.
“She’s badly injured. When you change the dressing, you mustn’t let the wounds become smothered. Make sure the bandages are wrapped loosely.”
Lin Ji nodded and acknowledged each instruction. After bandaging the woman in her arms, she helped her put on her upper garments and gently settled her back onto the bed, lying on her side.
“The abrasions on her right arm aren’t serious. They’ll heal with some medicine,” Aunt Cui said, handing Lin Ji the medicine bottle before standing to pack her medicine chest. “That high fever of hers is the real problem. Come with me. I’ll prepare two doses of medicine for you. Give her one dose every four hours. If she starts sweating and her fever subsides after taking both doses, then we’ll know she’s managed to pull through.”
Lin Ji accompanied Aunt Cui out of the house. When they reached the Cui residence, she accepted the packets of medicine Aunt Cui handed her.
“The consultation fee is ten wen. The two doses of medicine cost fifty wen each, and I’ll charge you eighty wen for that bottle of wound medicine I left behind. That comes to one hundred and ninety wen in total.” Aunt Cui calculated the bill clearly.
Lin Ji had only two taels of silver and one hundred wen to her name. Since one tael of silver was worth a thousand wen, she had spent nearly a tenth of her money in the blink of an eye.
Still, now that she had decided to save someone, there was no point in regretting it.
Carrying the packets of medicine, Lin Ji walked back to the Lin residence. All the way home, she considered what she needed to buy in town the following day. More importantly, she had to see whether she could find some way to earn money.
Now that she had a child and a patient to support, those two taels of silver wouldn’t last long without a stable source of income.
“Big Sister, I’ll prepare the medicine.” The moment Lin Nian saw her return, she reached out to take the packets.
“No need.” Lin Ji headed toward the kitchen. “I’ll do it. Go look after that young lady. If she wakes up, come and tell me.”
Aunt Cui had instructed her to boil the medicine until three bowls of water had been reduced to one. Lin Ji remained beside the medicine stove the entire time. Once only a bowl’s worth of liquid remained in the clay pot, she poured out the medicine, extinguished the fire, and headed toward the eastern room.
Lin Nian had been keeping watch beside the bed. When she saw Lin Ji enter, she raised her little face, her expression full of worry. “Big Sister, what if she never wakes up? Just like… Mother?”
Mother had been the same. Once she fell ill, she never recovered. After falling asleep that night, she had never opened her eyes again.
Lin Ji set down the medicine bowl, sat beside the little girl, and gently stroked her head. “Big Sister can’t promise you that she’ll definitely wake up. All we can do is try our best and hope that she still has the will to live.”
As she spoke, Lin Ji looked toward the woman lying on the bed. Perhaps it was her imagination, but hadn’t the woman’s lowered lashes just trembled slightly?
Although the woman hadn’t regained consciousness, administering the medicine went surprisingly smoothly.
After feeding her the entire bowl, Lin Ji finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Now they could only wait and see whether the medicine would take effect.
Approximately half an hour later, the woman began to sweat.
Lin Ji remained beside the bed, holding a clean cloth and promptly dabbing away the large beads of perspiration forming on the woman’s body to keep them from lingering on her skin and interfering with the sweating.
Outside, the sun sank lower and lower toward the western horizon. By the time the room had grown completely dark, Lin Ji slipped her hand beneath the covers and felt around. All she encountered was the dampness left by the woman’s sweat. The large beads of perspiration were no longer forming on her forehead or the sides of her neck.
Lin Ji stood up and lit a candle in the room.
Warm yellow candlelight spilled across the bed. Lin Ji’s gaze settled on the woman’s cheeks. After sweating so heavily, although her high fever had yet to subside completely, some color had finally returned to her face. A faint blush now tinged her porcelain-white skin. Her long, delicate lashes rested against her cheeks like fine feathers, her nose was high and elegantly shaped, and her lips, though pale, were full.
Lin Ji returned to the bedside, leaned forward, and gently brushed aside the damp strands of hair clinging to either side of the woman’s face.
Even in such a pitifully ill state, her face was still breathtakingly beautiful. She resembled a peony battered by a violent rainstorm, fragile and delicate, stirring an overwhelming desire to cherish and protect her.
Lin Ji’s fingertips brushed past the curve of the woman’s ear before withdrawing almost immediately.
She straightened up, walked to the wardrobe, and took out another clean set of inner garments.
Fortunately, the original owner hadn’t been stingy when it came to buying clothes for herself. There were several sets of inner garments in the wardrobe, more than enough for changing into.
Lin Ji returned to the bedside and slipped both hands beneath the quilt, carefully feeling for the woman’s sweat-soaked inner garments and removing them. Worried that she might catch a chill while changing clothes, Lin Ji simply lifted her into her arms, supported her against her chest, and wrapped her in the quilt while helping her into a fresh set of dry, soft garments.
Fortunately, they were both women, so there was no need to be overly concerned about propriety.
After everything that had happened today—changing the woman’s clothes, treating her wounds, and applying bandages—Lin Ji had noticed quite a few details despite having no intention of looking closely.
The woman in her arms had an exceptionally soft body, with slender arms and a delicate waist. Her skin was as fair and luminous as snow. Apart from the wounds on her back and right arm, there wasn’t a single scar to be seen anywhere on her body. Neither her hands nor her feet bore any calluses, and her waist-length black hair was remarkably smooth and lustrous.1
She had probably been a cherished, pampered daughter raised in comfort. Lin Ji couldn’t imagine what had happened to leave her so terribly injured.
Lin Ji gently laid her back on the bed, tucked the quilt securely around her, and said softly, “I don’t know what you’ve been through, but if there’s even the slightest part of you that still feels unwilling to accept what happened, then don’t give up on yourself. Do your best to stay alive, for your own sake and for the people who love you.”
With that, Lin Ji stood up and left the eastern room.
She still hadn’t prepared the crucian carp she had caught that afternoon. It was already so dark outside, and she certainly couldn’t let the little girl go hungry.
The wooden door to the eastern room closed softly.
In the silence that filled the room, the woman’s long, lowered lashes trembled faintly. Then, a single tear suddenly slipped down her cheek, leaving a small damp patch on the pillow.
In the kitchen, Lin Nian stood on the low stool, struggling to pour water into the pot.
Lin Ji hurried over and took the water ladle from her. Glancing at the rice and water in the pot, she immediately understood. “Nian Nian, are you making porridge?”
Lin Nian looked up at her and nodded. “Don’t worry, Big Sister. I’ve made porridge lots of times before. Mother even said the porridge I made was delicious. I’ll make some extra so that when the young lady in the room wakes up, she can have some too.”
During the period when Mother Lin had been gravely ill, it had indeed been Lin Nian who had taken care of her.
The original owner had only pretended to be a devoted daughter once, shortly before Mother Lin’s death. She had made her mother believe that she had finally come to her senses. As a result, Mother Lin had entrusted her with all the family’s money and reminded her not to neglect her studies and to take good care of her younger sister.
Yet the moment Mother Lin passed away, the original owner had completely forgotten those words.
“I’ll take over.” Lin Ji put down the ladle, lifted the little girl off the stool, and set her on the floor. “Go look after that young lady. I’ll make some fish soup while I’m at it, and we can have fish for dinner.”
Fish was considered a food that could aggravate certain conditions, so the injured woman couldn’t eat it. Vegetable porridge, on the other hand, would be just right for her.
Lin Ji washed the remaining shepherd’s purse and bok choy from lunch. After blanching the shepherd’s purse, she chopped it together with the bok choy and placed everything in a bowl, ready to be added to the pot when the porridge was nearly done.
While the porridge simmered, Lin Ji began preparing the crucian carp she had caught that afternoon. She scraped off the scales, removed the gills, and gutted the fish. Then she poured a little oil into the wok and fried the fish until both sides were golden brown. Since she had no ginger, she substituted wine, pouring it along the edge of the wok to eliminate the fishy smell. Afterward, she added enough boiling water to cover the fish, put on the lid, and let it simmer slowly over low heat. Once the broth turned thick and milky white, she seasoned it with salt and sprinkled a handful of chopped green onions over the top just before serving.*
The vegetable porridge still needed a little more time to cook. Lin Ji lifted the lid of the large pot and stirred the rice soup, bringing the grains that had settled at the bottom back into motion. Then she carried the crucian carp soup into the main hall.
The delicious aroma of the fish soup drifted into the eastern room. Lin Nian’s little nose twitched, and she couldn’t resist looking outside curiously.
Lin Ji stood in the doorway and beckoned to her.
Lin Nian trotted out and took a deep breath. “It smells so good!”
Lin Ji ladled out a bowl of milky-white fish soup and placed it on the table. “Want to try some?”
Lin Nian climbed onto the stool and picked up her spoon. After blowing on the soup, she took a small sip. The rich, savory broth slid down her throat, spreading a comforting warmth through her stomach. The moment she finished swallowing, the little girl turned toward Lin Ji, her eyes sparkling. “Big Sister, it’s delicious!”
Children always gave the most sincere compliments.
Smiling, Lin Ji placed a piece of fish in her bowl and reminded her, “Crucian carp has lots of tiny bones. Be careful when you eat it. Make sure you work all the bones out of the meat before swallowing. Don’t rush.”
Lin Nian nodded vigorously and eagerly went back to drinking her fish soup.
Lin Ji watched her eat a piece of fish. Seeing that she carefully spat out all the bones, she finally felt reassured.
Then Lin Ji turned and stepped into the eastern room.
Inside, the woman was still fast asleep.
Lin Ji bent down and reached out to feel her forehead. Her temperature was somewhat lower than before, which meant the fever was steadily subsiding. She slipped her hand beneath the quilt again and touched the woman’s arm. Finding no trace of sweat, she figured that after another dose of medicine that evening, once the fever had completely broken, the woman would finally be out of danger.
Feeling relieved, Lin Ji released the woman’s arm and was about to withdraw her hand when she suddenly felt a very faint pressure against her fingertips.
She instinctively lifted her head and looked ahead.
The woman’s thick, long lashes were slowly lifting, revealing a pair of clear, luminous almond-shaped eyes that had yet to come into focus. Veiled in a hazy sheen of moisture, they gazed toward her.
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