A drop of snake venom given to a poisoned person could immediately block blood circulation, it was clear that no one could handle it. The reason why Mrs. Shen used that poison was because Lu Yi’s body had absorbed the Zi Yan, so she had to use this method, but the venom in his body had made his pulse beat slowly, and now his whole body was like being in a frozen cave, whether he could get through all of this would depend on his fate.
Not long after, Jinxia felt Lu Yi’s hands were cold. She raised her head and saw that the colour of the blood on his palm was replaced by a faint purplish pale colour.
She looked at his other hand nervously and found it was the same.
The faint purplish colour started from the arms to the legs and began to spread, continuing up to the waist, the chest… Jinxia, who was holding the bowl, looked at Mrs. Shen, almost in a panic, “Should I give him the medicine?”
“Wait a bit, wait until his face turns purplish and then feed him.” Mrs. Shen said.
“Oh…”
Although in Jinxia’s mouth she was being obedient, in her heart, she was extremely worried. Being by Lu Yi’s side, she could hear that his breathe was slowing down and becoming difficult, if he… She didn’t dare to think about it any further, could only look at him without even turning an eye, afraid that she might miss even the tinier abnormal change.
The skin on his neck also began to turn purple, his breathing was unstable and getting weaker and weaker.
“Mrs. Shen… He…” Jinxia’s voice trembled.
Mrs. Shen looked at Lu Yi for a moment, turned to the beggar uncle and said, “Brother Lu, transfer him pure energy, support him.”
The beggar uncle said nothing, sat cross-legged on the floor at once and, with one hand supporting Lu Yi’s hand, he delivered pure energy continuously without damaging his body by using too much power. In an instant, the purplish colour had yet to disappear but his breathe seemed to have been stabilized, slowly returning to normal.
Although his breathe was becoming normal, the purplish colour continued to spread. Jinxia looked desperately down at his chin, which was starting to change colour. She looked at Mrs. Shen and said frantically, “Is it okay to give him medicine now?”
Mrs. Shen replied, “Wait a minute… Don’t rush…”
When Lu Yi’s lips also started to turn purplish pale, he released a loud sound of pain, gritting hard his teeth. Jinxia couldn’t wait anymore and scooped a spoon of the medicinal herbs trying to feed it to Lu Yi.
Mrs. Shen didn’t stop her, but stopped the beggar uncle from delivering other pure energy, then she walked up and took Lu Yi’s hand to check his pulse.
Because of his instinct to endure the cold and poison, Lu Yi gritted his teeth even more. The silver spoon was close to the edge of his mouth, however it could not go in his mouth. Jinxia tried to slowly get the medicinal herbs through his teeth, but the medicine kept pouring out and he couldn’t be fed.
“What should I do? He’s not drinking it.” She said in panic.
“Pry his teeth open!” the beggar uncle boldly stated.
Jinxia didn’t understand, “How?!”
The beggar uncle looked at her and, a moment later, he opened his mouth showing his white teeth.
Jinxia nodded her head, then pushed the bowl toward the beggar uncle, “Uncle, you try!”
The beggar uncle stepped back, stunned, and said, “How could I… I, my body is still pure.”
“I guarantee you, after giving him the medicine, your body will still be pure.” Jinxia calmed him down, “You just think of it like kissing the lips for a while, it won’t take away your pureness.”
“I can’t, I can’t kiss lips, they are a part of my pure body, can’t be separated!” The beggar uncle said and refused with firmness.
With one hand still holding Lu Yi’s arm and checking his pulse, Mrs. Shen furrowed her eyebrows, “Brother Lu, hurry up and give him more pure energy! You, no matter what, he must take this medicine now, hurry!”
There was no more time to postpone it. Jinxia was silent for a moment, then brought the bowl to her mouth, drinking a large amount of the medicine, and, lowering her head, put her lips on Lu Yi’s…
Outside, the moonlight fell on the surface of the hot springs, the giant python was wagging its tail, moving the water to create waves. The mist rose to the top of the bamboo tree and slowly disappeared.
***
He helped clean his father’s feet, then scrubbed his whole body, made the bed, and waited for him to lie down. YangYue came out again to fetch water by the well in the courtyard. He went back and forth several times, in order to fill the two large tanks in the kitchen of the clinic hall, then washed his hands and took out the flour. If he wanted to be able to make mushrooms and vegetables buns for his father by the morning, he had to prepare the flour dough in advance. After he finished kneading, he tidied up the kitchen, wiped his sweat and then sat down on the stone steps.
He didn’t know how long he had been looking at the moonlight when he heard the sound of gongs ringing three times.
It was already past midnight, therefore he stood up, thinking he should return to his room to rest but, for some reason, his legs walked outside. After leaving the clinic, he turned to an empty alley with bluestone pavement, arriving at last at the riverbank where Zhai Lanye had been rescued that night.
In the midst of the night silence, it was clear there were no people by the river. He stood there, remembering the first time he’d seen her lift the beaded curtain, how she’d looked so dazzlingly beautiful while the curtain was held up, in what way her forehead had frowned and how she’d said words in a soft and gentle voice. It had been so sweet…
He wondered how she was doing in Gusu.
Working in a sewing shop, everyday you had to bend over to sew stitches, it had to be very difficult, he didn’t know whether she could get used to it or not.
‘If only I could go to Gusu and catch a glimpse of her…’
Even if seeing her from afar would have been enough, unfortunately…YangYue let out a long sigh, turning around to return to the clinic. All of a sudden, the corner of his eyes caught a glimpse of a red skirt floating in the alley.
The red dress was flowing gently, it was definitely a woman’s clothing.
YangYue’s eyebrows tightened, it was already past midnight, why would a woman be wandering around in the middle of the night like this? Based on his instinct as an official, he followed the shadow without hesitation.
The alley was not the path he had taken to come there. Due to buildings facing each other, the alley looked complicated, twisting and turning, dark and shabby. Sometimes YangYue was feeling that the woman was not far away, but once she took a turn, she was nowhere to be seen.
If he hadn’t heard the footsteps in front of him, he might have thought he was chasing a ghost.
He turned left and right until he reached the end of the alley. YangYue then turned and saw the woman standing with a person in the dark. It turned out to be a pair, a man and a woman, a meeting between lovers; he immediately felt he was meddling. After glancing a few times, he turned around and was about to leave the place quietly.
After walking about ten steps, he remembered that Jinxia had previously described him the ‘Ai Bieli’; he thought carefully again how the man and the woman had been standing: the woman was in the arms of the man and was hugged by the man with both arms… The two were motionless…
His footsteps were not light, if that had been a secret meeting between lovers, they would have definitely been in panic, instead it seemed that they hadn’t cared about him at all. The more YangYue thought about it, the more it felt wrong. He turned back right away.
The man and woman were still standing there.
Not moving at all.
YangYue held his breath, moving forward, alerted, and continuing to walk up beside the woman.
The wind blew away the thick clouds, and the moon appeared again.
The moonlight shone faintly on the man’s face: it was smooth and his two eyes were shining black, but gave off a deep and lifeless gaze. YangYue slowly stretched out his hand, touching the man’s face; it felt cold and hard. It turned out that the man’s face was made of burnt porcelain ceramic!
That strange-human shaped figure looked gloomy. Even though he was a constable, he couldn’t help but gasp, then quickly pulled his hand back and looked at the woman…
After he glanced at her, he stumbled back a few steps, feeling so shocked he couldn’t breath for a moment.
The woman was Zhai Lanye.
Her eyes were closed, her face was purple and black, it was clear that she had been dead for a while.
How was that possible, how was that possible, how was that?!? Right now, she should have been in Gusu, why was she here? That had to be a hallucination, that was wrong! YangYue used his hands to rub her face vigorously, intending to wake her up.
Before he had the time to lower his hand, he was hit hard on the back of the neck, fainting at once.
***
Feeling that the pain in his body had not gone away, Lu Yi furrowed his eyebrows, slowly opening his eyes. The sunlight was shining through the bamboo window blinds, illuminating the floor, and the person lying in front of him, with its bright and warm light.
He tried to move but found that his left hand was being held by a man. He was about to pull his hand out, when someone entered the room.
“You’re awake!”
Jinxia said all happy. She put down the tray in her hand, walked to where the beggar uncle was sleeping soundly and shook his body.
“Uhm, uhm… uhm.” The beggar uncle rubbed his eyes and sniffed, “Is there food?”
“Uncle, I told you to look after him, why did you fall asleep?” Jinxia said while feeling unsatisfied, “What would you have done if something happened?”
The beggar uncle stretched himself and lazily stood up, “It’s alright, it’s alright, my hand was pressing on his pulse, if he’d lost his breath, I would have known… Mrs. Shen also said that once he has passed the tipping point, he should be fine. Look, now he’s conscious.”
Lu Yi tried to lift himself up and Jinxia hurriedly supported him, putting a pillow behind him so he could lean back against the bamboo bed.
“Dar…” Remembering that that was Mrs. Shen’s place, she changed her words, “Brother, are you hungry? I cooked Shenxian porridge, do you want a bowl?”
Lu Yi didn’t make a sound, just kept looking at her, realizing that her face looked tired. There was a clear cut on her lips.
Seeing that he was silent, Jinxia looked down at him and whispered, “Mrs. Shen doesn’t like officials, that’s why I said you are the son of a rich merchant, so I can’t call you Daren, because of this difficult situation. Daren, don’t be angry.”
“What happened there?” He tilted his head to look at Jinxia’s lips.
At such a close distance, the wound on her upper lip became obvious, there was a clear trace of teeth mark, as if she had been bitten by something.
Jinxia instinctively covered her mouth, and said, “This… Last night, when I went to the hot spring to fetch water, I accidentally fell and hit a rock.”
The beggar uncle, who was beside him eating a bowl of porridge, upon hearing her words, snorted twice.
Lu Yi continued to stare at her, “But, why are there teeth marks?”
“Because when I stumbled, my teeth bit my own lip, ha…ha… ha…” Jinxia laughed awkwardly, “I really don’t recognize my people, your own family is hitting their own members, how funny is that?*”
*[This sentence indicates a family whose members don’t know each other and end up hitting each other. More specifically in this sentence, she’s saying she hurt herself on her own, TN]
The beggar uncle continued to eat his porridge, started to chuckle again, nodded his head and said, “Funny, very funny indeed.”
A drop of snake venom given to a poisoned person could immediately block blood circulation, it was clear that no one could handle it. The reason why Mrs. Shen used that poison was because Lu Yi’s body had absorbed the Zi Yan, so she had to use this method, but the venom in his body had made his pulse beat slowly, and now his whole body was like being in a frozen cave, whether he could get through all of this would depend on his fate.
Not long after, Jinxia felt Lu Yi’s hands were cold. She raised her head and saw that the colour of the blood on his palm was replaced by a faint purplish pale colour.
She looked at his other hand nervously and found it was the same.
The faint purplish colour started from the arms to the legs and began to spread, continuing up to the waist, the chest… Jinxia, who was holding the bowl, looked at Mrs. Shen, almost in a panic, “Should I give him the medicine?”
“Wait a bit, wait until his face turns purplish and then feed him.” Mrs. Shen said.
“Oh…”
Although in Jinxia’s mouth she was being obedient, in her heart, she was extremely worried. Being by Lu Yi’s side, she could hear that his breathe was slowing down and becoming difficult, if he… She didn’t dare to think about it any further, could only look at him without even turning an eye, afraid that she might miss even the tinier abnormal change.
The skin on his neck also began to turn purple, his breathing was unstable and getting weaker and weaker.
“Mrs. Shen… He…” Jinxia’s voice trembled.
Mrs. Shen looked at Lu Yi for a moment, turned to the beggar uncle and said, “Brother Lu, transfer him pure energy, support him.”
The beggar uncle said nothing, sat cross-legged on the floor at once and, with one hand supporting Lu Yi’s hand, he delivered pure energy continuously without damaging his body by using too much power. In an instant, the purplish colour had yet to disappear but his breathe seemed to have been stabilized, slowly returning to normal.
Although his breathe was becoming normal, the purplish colour continued to spread. Jinxia looked desperately down at his chin, which was starting to change colour. She looked at Mrs. Shen and said frantically, “Is it okay to give him medicine now?”
Mrs. Shen replied, “Wait a minute… Don’t rush…”
When Lu Yi’s lips also started to turn purplish pale, he released a loud sound of pain, gritting hard his teeth. Jinxia couldn’t wait anymore and scooped a spoon of the medicinal herbs trying to feed it to Lu Yi.
Mrs. Shen didn’t stop her, but stopped the beggar uncle from delivering other pure energy, then she walked up and took Lu Yi’s hand to check his pulse.
Because of his instinct to endure the cold and poison, Lu Yi gritted his teeth even more. The silver spoon was close to the edge of his mouth, however it could not go in his mouth. Jinxia tried to slowly get the medicinal herbs through his teeth, but the medicine kept pouring out and he couldn’t be fed.
“What should I do? He’s not drinking it.” She said in panic.
“Pry his teeth open!” the beggar uncle boldly stated.
Jinxia didn’t understand, “How?!”
The beggar uncle looked at her and, a moment later, he opened his mouth showing his white teeth.
Jinxia nodded her head, then pushed the bowl toward the beggar uncle, “Uncle, you try!”
The beggar uncle stepped back, stunned, and said, “How could I… I, my body is still pure.”
“I guarantee you, after giving him the medicine, your body will still be pure.” Jinxia calmed him down, “You just think of it like kissing the lips for a while, it won’t take away your pureness.”
“I can’t, I can’t kiss lips, they are a part of my pure body, can’t be separated!” The beggar uncle said and refused with firmness.
With one hand still holding Lu Yi’s arm and checking his pulse, Mrs. Shen furrowed her eyebrows, “Brother Lu, hurry up and give him more pure energy! You, no matter what, he must take this medicine now, hurry!”
There was no more time to postpone it. Jinxia was silent for a moment, then brought the bowl to her mouth, drinking a large amount of the medicine, and, lowering her head, put her lips on Lu Yi’s…
Outside, the moonlight fell on the surface of the hot springs, the giant python was wagging its tail, moving the water to create waves. The mist rose to the top of the bamboo tree and slowly disappeared.
***
He helped clean his father’s feet, then scrubbed his whole body, made the bed, and waited for him to lie down. YangYue came out again to fetch water by the well in the courtyard. He went back and forth several times, in order to fill the two large tanks in the kitchen of the clinic hall, then washed his hands and took out the flour. If he wanted to be able to make mushrooms and vegetables buns for his father by the morning, he had to prepare the flour dough in advance. After he finished kneading, he tidied up the kitchen, wiped his sweat and then sat down on the stone steps.
He didn’t know how long he had been looking at the moonlight when he heard the sound of gongs ringing three times.
It was already past midnight, therefore he stood up, thinking he should return to his room to rest but, for some reason, his legs walked outside. After leaving the clinic, he turned to an empty alley with bluestone pavement, arriving at last at the riverbank where Zhai Lanye had been rescued that night.
In the midst of the night silence, it was clear there were no people by the river. He stood there, remembering the first time he’d seen her lift the beaded curtain, how she’d looked so dazzlingly beautiful while the curtain was held up, in what way her forehead had frowned and how she’d said words in a soft and gentle voice. It had been so sweet…
He wondered how she was doing in Gusu.
Working in a sewing shop, everyday you had to bend over to sew stitches, it had to be very difficult, he didn’t know whether she could get used to it or not.
‘If only I could go to Gusu and catch a glimpse of her…’
Even if seeing her from afar would have been enough, unfortunately…YangYue let out a long sigh, turning around to return to the clinic. All of a sudden, the corner of his eyes caught a glimpse of a red skirt floating in the alley.
The red dress was flowing gently, it was definitely a woman’s clothing.
YangYue’s eyebrows tightened, it was already past midnight, why would a woman be wandering around in the middle of the night like this? Based on his instinct as an official, he followed the shadow without hesitation.
The alley was not the path he had taken to come there. Due to buildings facing each other, the alley looked complicated, twisting and turning, dark and shabby. Sometimes YangYue was feeling that the woman was not far away, but once she took a turn, she was nowhere to be seen.
If he hadn’t heard the footsteps in front of him, he might have thought he was chasing a ghost.
He turned left and right until he reached the end of the alley. YangYue then turned and saw the woman standing with a person in the dark. It turned out to be a pair, a man and a woman, a meeting between lovers; he immediately felt he was meddling. After glancing a few times, he turned around and was about to leave the place quietly.
After walking about ten steps, he remembered that Jinxia had previously described him the ‘Ai Bieli’; he thought carefully again how the man and the woman had been standing: the woman was in the arms of the man and was hugged by the man with both arms… The two were motionless…
His footsteps were not light, if that had been a secret meeting between lovers, they would have definitely been in panic, instead it seemed that they hadn’t cared about him at all. The more YangYue thought about it, the more it felt wrong. He turned back right away.
The man and woman were still standing there.
Not moving at all.
YangYue held his breath, moving forward, alerted, and continuing to walk up beside the woman.
The wind blew away the thick clouds, and the moon appeared again.
The moonlight shone faintly on the man’s face: it was smooth and his two eyes were shining black, but gave off a deep and lifeless gaze. YangYue slowly stretched out his hand, touching the man’s face; it felt cold and hard. It turned out that the man’s face was made of burnt porcelain ceramic!
That strange-human shaped figure looked gloomy. Even though he was a constable, he couldn’t help but gasp, then quickly pulled his hand back and looked at the woman…
After he glanced at her, he stumbled back a few steps, feeling so shocked he couldn’t breath for a moment.
The woman was Zhai Lanye.
Her eyes were closed, her face was purple and black, it was clear that she had been dead for a while.
How was that possible, how was that possible, how was that?!? Right now, she should have been in Gusu, why was she here? That had to be a hallucination, that was wrong! YangYue used his hands to rub her face vigorously, intending to wake her up.
Before he had the time to lower his hand, he was hit hard on the back of the neck, fainting at once.
***
Feeling that the pain in his body had not gone away, Lu Yi furrowed his eyebrows, slowly opening his eyes. The sunlight was shining through the bamboo window blinds, illuminating the floor, and the person lying in front of him, with its bright and warm light.
He tried to move but found that his left hand was being held by a man. He was about to pull his hand out, when someone entered the room.
“You’re awake!”
Jinxia said all happy. She put down the tray in her hand, walked to where the beggar uncle was sleeping soundly and shook his body.
“Uhm, uhm… uhm.” The beggar uncle rubbed his eyes and sniffed, “Is there food?”
“Uncle, I told you to look after him, why did you fall asleep?” Jinxia said while feeling unsatisfied, “What would you have done if something happened?”
The beggar uncle stretched himself and lazily stood up, “It’s alright, it’s alright, my hand was pressing on his pulse, if he’d lost his breath, I would have known… Mrs. Shen also said that once he has passed the tipping point, he should be fine. Look, now he’s conscious.”
Lu Yi tried to lift himself up and Jinxia hurriedly supported him, putting a pillow behind him so he could lean back against the bamboo bed.
“Dar…” Remembering that that was Mrs. Shen’s place, she changed her words, “Brother, are you hungry? I cooked Shenxian porridge, do you want a bowl?”
Lu Yi didn’t make a sound, just kept looking at her, realizing that her face looked tired. There was a clear cut on her lips.
Seeing that he was silent, Jinxia looked down at him and whispered, “Mrs. Shen doesn’t like officials, that’s why I said you are the son of a rich merchant, so I can’t call you Daren, because of this difficult situation. Daren, don’t be angry.”
“What happened there?” He tilted his head to look at Jinxia’s lips.
At such a close distance, the wound on her upper lip became obvious, there was a clear trace of teeth mark, as if she had been bitten by something.
Jinxia instinctively covered her mouth, and said, “This… Last night, when I went to the hot spring to fetch water, I accidentally fell and hit a rock.”
The beggar uncle, who was beside him eating a bowl of porridge, upon hearing her words, snorted twice.
Lu Yi continued to stare at her, “But, why are there teeth marks?”
“Because when I stumbled, my teeth bit my own lip, ha…ha… ha…” Jinxia laughed awkwardly, “I really don’t recognize my people, your own family is hitting their own members, how funny is that?*”
*[This sentence indicates a family whose members don’t know each other and end up hitting each other. More specifically in this sentence, she’s saying she hurt herself on her own, TN]
The beggar uncle continued to eat his porridge, started to chuckle again, nodded his head and said, “Funny, very funny indeed.”
