Gu Nian poked her head out and, seeing that no one was around, slipped out of the room. She locked the door behind her and hurried away.
The moment she left, Young Master Gongsun entered the rear courtyard. He caught the lingering trace of a delicate fragrance in the air and looked around, but found no one.
He lit his fire striker again. Looking at the racks of herbs drying throughout the courtyard and smelling the strong medicinal odor in the air, he could not help frowning.
Cousin-Aunt’s status was distinguished. Even when she had faked her death and escaped the Prince Regent’s Residence all those years ago, hiding herself in an estate belonging to the Gongsun Clan, she had still lived a life in which her fingers had never touched spring water.
And then there was the delicate and lovely Sister A-Jia.
She was Cousin-Aunt’s beloved darling. He simply could not imagine how Cousin-Aunt could bustle about all day in the Su Xi Hall.
Nor could he imagine how Sister A-Jia could live in a place like this.
As he inspected the courtyard, he recalled Gu Nian’s appearance.
Aside from her eyes bearing some resemblance to his younger cousin A-Jia, her entire face was gray and grimy, obscuring her features. She was nowhere near beautiful. How could she possibly be his little cousin?
Could his people have gotten the information wrong?
He furrowed his brow and thought about it for a long while. To be on the safe side, he decided to go to Lin’an Prefecture first and have his uncle investigate Murong Xi’s background carefully.
The girl surnamed Gu had gone through the formal betrothal rites with Zhao Qian. He would certainly know that girl’s birth date and hour.
……
When Gu Nian returned home, Doctor Wu, whom she had summoned to set the bones, had arrived as well.
The pure courtesan beauty had not yet awakened.
Gu Nian lowered her voice. “Doctor Wu, I only saved him because I felt sorry for him. You have to keep it a secret for me, all right?”
Doctor Wu was her father’s close friend and someone Gu Nian trusted.
Doctor Wu looked at the astonishing face of the person on the bed, wrapped up like a zongzi…
Speechless, he scolded her, “You little brat, how are you just like your father? You’ll pick up anyone! He saved three ungrateful wolves and ended up suffering because of you. How come you haven’t learned your lesson and gone and saved another piece of trash like this?”
The piece of trash pretending to be asleep: …!
He would endure it!
Gu Nian blushed. “Doctor Wu, rest assured, once he can leave, I’ll let him go. I guarantee I won’t keep him here.”
Did she really think he was a pure courtesan?
Gu Nian’s face flushed. “Uncle Wu, don’t worry. Once he can walk, I’ll let him leave. I promise I won’t keep him here.”
Xiao Yan was furious.
Doctor Wu glared at her. “Come help.”
Gu Nian cheerfully rolled up her sleeves. “Coming.”
Before long, Doctor Wu had set the broken bones in Xiao Yan’s four limbs, secured them with splints, and applied a thick layer of salve. Gu Nian carefully bandaged everything.
Throughout the entire process, Xiao Yan kept his eyes tightly shut and did not make a sound, but his forehead was covered in cold sweat.
“The bones are broken, but the tendons aren’t severed, so it isn’t particularly serious. But he kept forcing himself to walk a long way on those broken legs. He won’t recover in a year or two. Even if he does heal, he may end up lame. Fixing this wreck of a body will require quite a lot of good medicine.”
Doctor Wu was trying to frighten Gu Nian. The little girl was inexperienced and too kindhearted. She was already barely able to protect herself, so it would be best if she got rid of this trouble as soon as possible.
Gu Nian looked at the person on the bed with pity. To escape despite having broken legs—his willpower was astonishing.
She squatted beside the bed and took out a handkerchief to wipe his sweat.
Xiao Yan’s brows drew together slightly.
Would he really become lame?
“It’s fine. We have medicine at home. At worst, I’ll go up the mountain and dig some more. We won’t need to spend any money.”
Seeing how unwilling she was to give up on him, Doctor Wu held back for a moment, but ultimately could not resist saying, “You’ve taken a fancy to his face and want him as your live-in son-in-law, don’t you?”
Gu Nian’s hand trembled. She hurriedly gestured for Doctor Wu to be quiet.
Doctor Wu ignored her. In any case, the injured man was still unconscious.
“I heard all about what happened today. The child is Zhao Qian’s?”
The little girl had asked him to provide the seed, yet she had found someone else to be the child’s father?
Doctor Wu had always been blunt. Ever since something happened to Gu Lao’er, he had been extremely worried about Gu Nian.
Gu Nian was scared to death. She quickly pushed him toward the door.
She absolutely could not let the pure courtesan beauty misunderstand and think she already had a child and had found someone to take the blame.
“Oh, my dear Doctor Wu, what child? I was only trying to scare the Zhao family.”
Doctor Wu knew the little girl did not want him to worry and was refusing to tell him the truth.
The poor girl had become pregnant before marriage. The gossip alone would drown her.
“Forget it. You should just take this piece of trash as your live-in son-in-law. You can’t let the child acknowledge a bastard as his father, and you can’t let the child grow up without a father either.”
Doctor Wu made the difficult decision.
“I’ll make sure this piece of trash’s legs don’t heal completely, so you’ll have something to hold over him.”
That was very much against his standards as a physician, but for the sake of his old friend’s child, he was willing to go all out.
Doctor Wu had a booming voice. His words made the tips of Gu Nian’s ears turn red, and for a long while she did not know what to say.
Deliberately making someone lame was not exactly decent, was it?
But… it did seem like a good idea.
Xiao Yan, lying on the bed at their mercy, was so furious he wanted to leap up and pummel the two villains.
They had borrowed his seed, yet were telling everyone outside that the child in her belly belonged to her fiancé?
In this world, who would dare be the father of his child?
And they even wanted to deliberately make him lame so they could control him?
They were courting death!
Every last one of them was courting death!
The little girl’s low voice came from outside the window.
“Doctor Wu, I’ve already encountered one ungrateful wolf. I don’t want to meet another. Men who are too handsome are mostly heartless and prone to attracting bees and butterflies. I don’t want to bring trouble on myself.”
He was heartless?
He attracted bees and butterflies?
Who exactly was attracting whom?
She insulted him, then complained about him too?
Xiao Yan wished he could strangle her on the spot.
Doctor Wu said in exasperation, “You foolish girl, the rumors about you outside have already run wild. How will you ever marry in the future? If your parents found out, how heartbroken would they be?”
Gu Nian smiled. “Don’t worry. I won’t choose someone who eats soft rice as my live-in son-in-law. I can’t afford to support someone this handsome. I want to choose someone strong, simple, and honest.”
Xiao Yan: …!
Did she think he made a living on his looks?
Did he look like someone who lived off a woman?
If he wanted to eat soft rice, would she dare feed it to him?
Wretched girl!
Doctor Wu was stunned for a moment. He had not expected the little girl to be so clear-sighted at such a young age.
His tone softened as well. “You must be careful. If that fellow surnamed Zhao and the Gu family discover this man, they’ll certainly seize on it and smear your reputation. Your engagement hasn’t been dissolved yet. If the authorities convict you of a crime, you won’t survive.”
As he spoke, Doctor Wu grew anxious again. “Forget it. Give this piece of trash to me. I’ll take him away. You hurry to the human market and buy yourself a live-in son-in-law.”
Gu Nian quickly grabbed him. “If he shows his face, he’ll lose his life. If I’m going to save someone, I have to save him all the way. I’ll be careful.”
Doctor Wu was exasperated by her hopelessness over the man.
Gu Nian walked Doctor Wu to the door, then could not help asking, “Uncle Wu, can his legs really not be healed?”
Doctor Wu glared at her. “Has there ever been a bone-setting injury I couldn’t cure? This man ruined his own legs by pushing himself too hard. Once the muscles and tendons around them have recovered a little, I’ll break them and set them again. After another six months of recuperation, they’ll definitely be fine.”
Gu Nian let out a sigh of relief. “That’s good. Thank you for your trouble, Doctor Wu.”
She did not want the father of her child to resent her for the rest of his life.
Doctor Wu grumbled and shuffled away.
After seeing Doctor Wu off, Gu Nian hurried to kill a chicken and prepare some soup.
She had to coax the man properly if she wanted to conceive a child with him as soon as possible.
She opened the ebony box and took out a ginseng root that had been growing for many years, then hesitated.
Her father had always been reluctant to use this old ginseng, and even more reluctant to sell it. She was somewhat unwilling to give it to the beauty too.
After thinking it over, she plucked off two small rootlets and put them into the soup, then carefully wrapped the ginseng and returned it to the box.
Two rootlets would still have medicinal effects.
She was busy for more than an hour. By the time the chicken for the injured man had finished simmering over a low flame, the meat had cooked down into a paste.
She carried the fragrant chicken soup into the thatched cottage, when she suddenly felt a chill on her forehead.
She looked up and met a pair of gloomy, furious eyes. Her hand jerked in fright, sloshing the soup and splashing it onto her fingers. A piercing pain shot through them.
She hurriedly set down the bowl and grabbed her earlobe to cool her fingers.
“You startled me! When did you wake up?”
Xiao Yan did not want to speak. His murderous glare had already stabbed dozens of holes through her.
Gu Nian felt guilty.
Could he have heard what she and Doctor Wu had been saying?