He watched the young woman open the wooden chest. Inside were rows of neatly arranged medicines, variously shaped knives, and rolls of cotton cloth four fingers wide. He looked at her in surprise.
Unable to stop himself, he asked, “Does your family run a medical clinic?”
Gu Nian did not hide it from him. “My family runs an apothecary. My father is the most famous apothecary for miles around, and everything we sell is made by him. Your injuries are serious, but if we treat them slowly, you’ll definitely recover.”
Sometimes, all a person needed to stay alive was a single breath of determination. With the will to live, one could survive.
Since she had borrowed his seed, she would do her utmost to heal him.
Xiao Yan was furious.
This woman’s family ran an apothecary, yet she would not use medicine to detoxify him. Instead, she had to do that sort of thing!
Lewd woman!
Gu Nian rubbed her little hands, red from the cold, together until her palms warmed.
“I’ve just boiled a kettle of water. Once I’ve cleaned and bandaged your wounds, I’ll wipe you down.”
Wipe him down?
Xiao Yan’s phoenix eyes darkened slightly.
The young woman did not look at him. She simply lifted the thin quilt, exposing the knife wound over his abdominal muscles.
Oh no—the wound had torn open even more.
Xiao Yan was nearly driven unconscious with rage.
Couldn’t she at least cover his waist?
Female bandit!
The next moment, however, he no longer had the energy to be angry.
It hurt too much.
He had practiced martial arts from a young age and had suffered serious injuries before, so his endurance was exceptional. But he had exhausted himself through his earlier struggle, leaving his sense of pain unusually acute.
Gu Nian paid no attention to his expression. Bending over, she carefully cleaned his wounds, her hands gentle as she kept talking.
“I’m not skilled at setting bones. After daybreak, I’ll find someone trustworthy to set them for you. You have too many wounds; cleaning them will take one or two hours.”
Gu Nian took a sewing needle, roasted it over the candle flame, and threaded it with catgut. Then she said apologetically, “I’m sorry. There’s no Mafeisan in the house, but these wounds can’t be left untreated. You’ll have to bear with it.”
False kindness!
Xiao Yan could only swallow his anger.
He forced out two dull words: “It’s fine.”
Gu Nian focused on treating his wounds. No matter how gentle her hands were, the rotting flesh had to be removed, and the dead skin had to be cut away.
She could feel the man’s body trembling.
His eyes were tightly shut, the veins at his temples bulging. Cold sweat covered his forehead, and his exposed neck and chest were already drenched.
Even after suffering such humiliating injuries, his bearing remained noble and untouchable. There was a chilly aloofness between his brows that warned others to keep their distance.
Gu Nian did not dare look at him for long.
Every glance only deepened her guilt.
She silently unscrewed a black porcelain bottle, and a faint, clean fragrance drifted out.
“This is my father’s secret formula. It’s specifically for external injuries, and the medicinal ingredients are very expensive.”
Xiao Yan lifted his eyelids and let his gaze fall on the young woman.
Why had she deliberately mentioned that the medicine was expensive?
She wanted to distract him as much as possible, so she chattered on.
“This thatched hut is behind the rear gate of my family’s courtyard. My former fiancé and his mother used to live here. I come back to clean it every day, so it’s fairly clean.”
As long as she did not keep him in her own courtyard, even if someone discovered that she was hiding a man, no one would gossip about her.
Xiao Yan’s expression turned ugly.
She had a fiancé, yet she was carrying on with another man!
Shameless!
Gu Nian lowered her head. Her hand, covered in salve, moved over the man’s body. Thinking of her past with Zhao Qian, she felt a bitter ache in her heart.
When Zhao Qian and his mother had fled to the area, her parents had seen that the two children were still young and pitiful. They had built two thatched huts in the rear courtyard of their home for the pair to stay in temporarily.
Zhao Qian had handsome, refined features and a quiet, gentle nature. The two of them often practiced calligraphy and read together. As time passed, their feelings for each other gradually grew.
Two years ago, Zhao Qian passed the xiucai examination. His mother said that he would soon be sitting for the juren examination and would be entertaining and seeing off influential officials and nobles. Continuing to live in a thatched hut would damage his dignity, so she wanted to borrow money to buy a small residence.
Without a second thought, Gu Nian’s father gave them the one hundred taels he had set aside to purchase medicine.
Zhao Qian and his mother bought a two-courtyard residence in the wealthy district east of the county town. Even all the household furnishings had been provided by Gu Nian’s father.
Her parents had worked so hard to earn that money, only to raise three ungrateful wolves!
Not only would she break off the engagement, she would also take back everything she had given them over all these years!
With fury in her heart, Gu Nian drove the needle down hard. When she heard the man hiss, she abruptly came back to herself.
Half the needle had already sunk into his flesh. Frightened, she hurriedly pulled it back.
In her panic, the needle caught the catgut that had already been sewn into the flesh and dragged it out.
Xiao Yan bared his teeth in pain.
Now that this woman had achieved her goal of taking possession of him, she was already absent-minded while treating his wounds!
Gu Nian’s face went pale. “I-I’m sorry. I was too tired just now. My—my hand went a little weak.”
Xiao Yan was almost made to laugh by her angering him so much.
So it was his fault?
Did he have to lie there like a male courtesan serving some nobleman, allowing her to lie flat and enjoy herself?
Gu Nian flushed and hurriedly finished securing the stitches.
Xiao Yan let out a heavy breath, as though a great burden had been lifted.
“The thatched hut is simple, but the bed and table are already here. There’s even a small stove by the door. As long as it doesn’t rain, it’ll be convenient to boil medicine…” She gave two awkward little laughs, then noticed that his expression looked as though he wanted nothing more than to kill her.
Feeling guilty, she tried to appease him. “You can stay here for now, even if it’s a little uncomfortable. Once you’re feeling better, wherever you want to go, I’ll arrange a carriage to take you there. If you want me to send word to your family, I can do that too.”
Her father often said, “If you save a person, save them all the way; if you send off the Buddha, send him all the way to the Western Heaven.”
She was not the sort of person who lost the ability to walk whenever she saw a handsome man. She had only borrowed his seed—she certainly had no intention of imprisoning him and keeping him here.
Xiao Yan’s face was expressionless. “No need. They’re all dead!”
Did she really think she would let him go so easily after taking advantage of him while he was seriously wounded?
False kindness!
Gu Nian paused.
An orphan?
No wonder he had been a male courtesan.
Her gaze held a little more pity.
Her tone softened further. “It’s all right. I’m much like you. Something happened to my parents two months ago, and now I’m the only one left in my family.”
Xiao Yan mocked her. “Don’t you have a fiancé?”
Gu Nian pretended to be unconcerned. “After he passed the juren examination, he latched on to a powerful patron. We’re preparing to dissolve the engagement.”
She gave him a faint smile and said softly, “But I want a child.”
To protect the home and apothecary her parents had worked their entire lives to build, she was willing to risk everything.
Xiao Yan frowned.
She had ruined her own reputation so she could use the child to threaten her juren fiancé.
This woman was shameless—and cunning besides.
Gu Nian was busy for two whole hours, and exhaustion showed on her face.
She wiped the beads of sweat from her forehead and said gently, “Don’t move your hands and feet around. Once it’s light, I’ll bring someone here to set your bones.”
Looking at the broken beauty before her, she could not help feeling sorry for him.
Gu Nian said softly, “It won’t be suitable for you to wear clothes while recovering in your current condition, so you should leave them off for now.”
Her father’s clothes were all made of coarse cloth. A pampered man like him would not be accustomed to them.
Once she found a way to get some money, she would buy him a set of soft, smooth silk robes.
She did not even want to give him clothes to wear!
Xiao Yan shut his eyes in fury.
He did not want to look at her.
Before long, Gu Nian came in carrying a bowl of porridge.
“I cooked you some porridge. You must be starving.”
He had not eaten anything for many days. When the fragrance of rice porridge reached him, he could not help opening his eyes.
The young woman gave him a radiant smile, and her dazzling expression seemed to brighten the dim hut.
He had no strength in his hands or feet and could only let her feed him.
Gu Nian scooped up a spoonful of porridge and blew gently on it.
“There’s no fish or meat in the house, but you were lucky. I happened to find that one of the hens had laid an egg, so I used the porridge water to make egg-drop soup. When I was ill, my mother used to give me this. It’s very nourishing.”
Gu Nian spoke gently. “Come on, be good. Open your mouth.”
The young woman’s smile was like a patch of warm winter sunlight, bringing a little warmth to his heart, which had been frozen through.
When he had been ill in the past, Mother Empress had also personally fed him medicine and porridge like this.
Xiao Yan lowered his eyes and silently opened his mouth.
Seeing how obedient he was, Gu Nian was delighted as well.
If she failed to conceive on the first attempt, she would still have to coax him into lending her his seed again.
At the thought, Gu Nian became even gentler. She pulled out a handkerchief and wiped the sweat from his forehead.
“Once you finish the porridge, you’ll take your medicine. I added a little something to calm the nerves, so you can sleep well.”
The handkerchief carried a faint fragrance of medicinal flowers that inexplicably made him feel comfortable.
Xiao Yan’s sharp gaze lingered on the young woman’s face for a moment before he slowly looked away.
She was merely trying to coax him so she could bear a child. That was all.
She wanted his child?
How dare she?
Unless she did not want to live!
The calm fire in his heart flared up again.
If he had not known her true nature, he might have mistaken her for a virtuous and dutiful woman.
Under the effects of the calming medicine, Xiao Yan soon sank into a deep sleep.
Outside the window, the horizon began to pale.
Blue smoke rose from the roofs of every household. Roosters crowed and dogs barked, one after another.
The quiet little town gradually grew lively.
Gu Nian added more charcoal to the brazier, gently closed the door of the thatched hut, and hurried back to her own courtyard.
Zhao Qian and his mother had said they would come over today. They were surely planning to force her to willingly become a concubine.
Gu Nian was prepared to lay everything out in the open with them and break off the engagement.