“Can’t sleep…”
Jiang Ning tossed and turned until the second half of the night, yet she remained utterly wide awake.
And the more she thought about it, the angrier she became.
She simply climbed out of bed, fetched the brazier from the corner, pulled out a sheet of paper, and folded a paper hammer.
Burning it, she cursed, “You bastard! You really are someone who takes the money without doing the work. I was scared out of my mind today!”
“I won’t give you any more paper ingots from now on. I’m burning you a hammer instead!”
East Courtyard.
Gu Jianshen lay in bed, feeling a faint tightness in his chest. Something heavy was pressing down on him, making it hard to breathe, which startled him awake from his dream.
Lifting the blanket, a heavy black iron sledgehammer was resting right on his chest.
Gu Jianshen was overjoyed—this was given to him by the fairy. What he felt a slight pity for was that the fairy hadn’t left a message.
However, it was enough to delight him. The more he looked at this hammer, the more pleasing to the eye it became.
After night fell, Gu Jianshen had gone to bed early, wanting to seek out the fairy in his dream to ask for her location. Yet, the dream appointment that had never failed before proved ineffective tonight.
He could no longer dream of the fairy.
Now that he had received the fairy’s black iron sledgehammer, it proved that his connection with her was not severed.
Holding the black iron sledgehammer, Gu Jianshen went back to sleep, continuing his attempt to enter the dream world.
Qingxiang Residence.
After burning the paper hammer, Jiang Ning ran back to lie on the bed, closing her eyes to try to sleep.
An hour later, Jiang Ning opened her eyes, wanting to cry but having no tears. She truly couldn’t sleep.
She began to reflect on her actions—it seemed she had gone a bit too far just now.
What she had prayed for was to spare her life, and indeed, Gu Jianshen hadn’t hacked her with that nine-ring broadsword.
Had she blamed the Dream Man mistakenly?
Was the Dream Man actually somewhat useful after all?
Jiang Ning climbed up again and brought out the brazier once more, wanting to burn some paper ingots as compensation, but she had burned them all in one go earlier today.
So she found another sheet of paper, wrote a few lines on it, and burned it.
Clasping her hands together, she prayed sincerely: “Dream Man, oh Dream Man, if you have a soul, I beg you to save the family of Jiang the Fourth in Xizhang Village, Datang Town.”
Jiang Ning was truly out of options; she could only pin her hopes on this phantom-like, ethereal matter.
Lying back in bed in a daze, she turned back and forth, still unable to fall asleep.
East Courtyard, at daybreak.
“My Lord, there are leads.”
At Yingyue’s very first tap outside the window, Gu Jianshen, who was lying on the bed, opened his phoenix eyes, which carried a trace of weariness.
During the second half of the night, he had woken up and fallen asleep repeatedly, suspecting that his method of falling asleep was wrong, which was why he couldn’t find the door to enter the dream.
In the end, numerous attempts yielded no results.
Yingyue’s words were like the early morning sun dispersing his disappointment. He immediately got up, stepped out of bed, and headed straight for the window sill.
He completely failed to notice that when he lifted the blanket to get out of bed, a piece of letter paper drifted out. Following his movement, it fluttered onto the floor. When the window opened, a gust of wind blew into the room, sweeping the letter under the bed.
Gu Jianshen opened the window and met Yingyue’s gaze, asking, “Have you found the person?”
Yingyue said, “Based on Your Lordship’s description and portrait, over the past month, we searched the entire nation three times over. After consolidating various details, we found three candidates who appear to fit. In the end, it still requires Your Lordship’s judgment.”
Jiang Ning avoided Wen Ya for three days.
Perhaps out of a guilty conscience, even when Wen Ya invited her to enjoy delicious food—making her mouth water—she suppressed her craving and didn’t go.
Her dark circles grew heavier and heavier. Tossing and turning at night without sleep, she could only sleep for an hour or two at noon when the sun was at its brightest.
A person like her, who made herself anxious before even committing a bad deed, was truly unfit to be a mole or a spy.
Yet no one cared whether she was fit or not; they would only force her.
Yan’er knocked on the door from outside, saying, “Concubine Jiang, the Madam has come to see you.”
Wen Ya was here.
Startled, Jiang Ning hurriedly pulled the blanket over her head and called out with a muffled voice, “Tell the Madam I’ve fallen asleep!”
With a creak, the room door was opened, and then closed again.
The sound of footsteps approached.
It was too familiar; Jiang Ning knew whose footsteps they were the moment she heard them.
Jiang Ning held her breath, gripping the blanket pulled over her head tightly with both hands, hoping that Wen Ya would turn back.
The cushion at the head of the bed sank as Wen Ya sat down.
After a long moment…
Wen Ya spoke, “Does Little Sister dislike Sister that much?”
Jiang Ning repeatedly pulled back the blanket to explain, “No, I don’t dislike Sister!”
The corners of Wen Ya’s mouth curved up slightly with a hint of success. “Not dodging Sister anymore?”
Embarrassed, Jiang Ning hid inside the blanket again, exposing only a pair of eyes to look at Wen Ya, attempting to quibble: “I didn’t dodge Sister, it’s just… I just feel a bit unwell.”
The upward curve of Wen Ya’s mouth collapsed, replaced immediately by heartache. “Only a few days without seeing each other, yet you’ve become so haggard.”
Having stayed up for days, Jiang Ning knew her appearance was far from good. She pulled the blanket over her head again, “Sister, I really feel unwell. Please go back first.”
Wen Ya let out a sigh, stood up, and walked toward the door.
Jiang Ning breathed a sigh of relief. It was good that she left; otherwise, she truly wouldn’t know how to face Wen Ya.
Wen Ya had taken great care of her over the past three years, yet that dog Prince Jing was forcing her to poison Wen Ya, threatening to move against her entire family if she refused.
Unexpectedly, Wen Ya returned, bringing the resident physician with her.
Wen Ya coaxed her gently, “Be good, come out from under the blanket. When you’re sick, you need to see a doctor; you can’t get better just by lying there.”
Ultimately unable to resist Wen Ya’s gentle persuasion, Jiang Ning obediently let the doctor feel her pulse.
“Concubine Jiang is suffering from excessive fright and pent-up anxiety. Reversing day and night harms the liver and kidneys, while irregular eating harms the spleen and stomach. Although I can prescribe medicine tailored to the symptoms, the knot in her heart must be untied by the one who tied it. If the mental affliction isn’t removed, it will relapse.”
Surprised, Jiang Ning quickly pulled her hand back. Indeed, no secret could be hidden before an old traditional physician.
In particular, this physician, Jiang Cheng, was a famous divine doctor in the capital. Many prominent families couldn’t even buy a single consultation. Gu Jianshen didn’t know what method he had used to invite him to reside in the estate to nourish Wen Ya’s body.
From this perspective, that rough man Gu Jianshen still loved his primary wife quite a bit.
Wen Ya politely saw off the doctor, sent Yan’er to follow and fetch the medicine for brewing, and then sat back at the head of the bed, looking at Jiang Ning with a sigh.
This sigh made Jiang Ning’s heart leap in fear. Forcing a smile, she said, “Sister, I’ll be fine once I take the medicine, don’t be like this.”
Looking at the dark circles on Jiang Ning’s pale, haggard face, Wen Ya said, “You are pure-hearted and wear your emotions on your sleeve. This time, you’ve likely encountered something you can’t get past. Why don’t you talk to Sister about it?”
Jiang Ning looked at Wen Ya and lowered her head, deeply ashamed. How could she possibly speak of such a thing?
Holding Jiang Ning’s hand, Wen Ya comforted her earnestly, “Jianshen really isn’t a wicked person.”
Huh?
Wen Ya continued, “Although I don’t know what Jianshen said to you when he called you to the East Courtyard that day, even though he looks stern, he is very kind at heart.”
“Take his demotion this time as an example. Regarding the disaster situation, he could have played it completely safe. Yet he disregarded getting himself into trouble and brought out massive amounts of gold and silver to purchase grain, setting up porridge stalls and dispensing medicine daily. There were zero casualties in this disaster, and Jianshen earned the top credit.”