Fu Sili was taken aback by the address, his heart skipping a beat. Seeing Fu Jing leaning against the chair with a pale face, he immediately called for Qiu Yuan.
He stood by and watched, feeling both shocked and suspicious, wondering if Fu Jing was just pretending. However, seeing him sitting there with his head propped up, he could not be sure. When Qiu Yuan arrived to examine him, Fu Jing looked resistant and would not let anyone get close. “It is fine. I will rest for a moment.”
Qiu Yuan was startled and did not attempt to persuade him further. It was Fu Sili, watching from the side, who could not stand it any longer. He raised his hand and patted Qiu Yuan on the shoulder: “Just now, the Eldest Young Master said the physician was on the way. Please, Sir Qiu Yuan, go and bring him here quickly.”
Qiu Yuan glanced at Fu Jing, who had his eyes closed to clear his mind, nodded lightly, and retreated.
Fu Sili tucked his hands into his sleeves and watched Fu Jing sitting in the chair. Looking at his complexion, he felt a rare sense of pity.
“Brother?”
Fu Sili crouched down in front of Fu Jing’s knees and stretched his head out to look at him: “Let me help you go lie down first. Does this study have a daybed? Or should I carry you on my back? I am quite strong.”
He called out in a low voice, but Fu Jing did not move an inch. Fu Sili continued: “Respond to me. If the physician comes later and you have collapsed on the floor, would that not be a sorry sight?”
Fu Jing opened his eyes: “…”
When Qiu Yuan returned with the physician, Fu Sili was waiting by the door frame and led them inside.
There was a screen partition in the study, and behind it was a soft daybed. Fu Sili stood to the side, smiling: “Doctor, please take a good look at him. He has looked unwell since early this morning.”
The physician bowed cautiously and looked up slightly at the person lying on the bed. Fu Sili stepped forward, revealed Fu Jing’s wrist, and gestured for the physician to sit.
“The Eldest Young Master is suffering from over-exhaustion and a digestive imbalance. With the snow these past few days, the cold has entered his body, leading to a common cold. I will write a prescription. Take it once in the morning and once in the evening.”
Fu Sili said to Qiu Yuan: “I have already had people boil water. If we need to decoct the medicine later, it should be quick. Go get the herbs and brew it.”
Qiu Yuan responded in surprise. The man who had been lying on the daybed sat up at some point and said to the physician: “Please, Doctor, check Sili as well…”
Fu Sili interrupted him and ran out immediately.
Over at the small courtyard, Gao Yi was still lying motionless, as if he were dead.
Fu Sili strolled back from the outside. Half a day had passed. He quietly opened the door, and upon seeing the person lying on the chair, the person with tightly shut eyes opened them and stared at him with a reproachful gaze.
Fu Sili: “…” Still here? He is really sponging off me.
He stood outside the door, somewhat regretting that he had chased Bing Chun away earlier; if he had stayed, he could have helped throw this man out.
Gao Yi spoke: “Are you not coming in?”
Fu Sili stood there hesitatingly, then silently averted his gaze and walked to the table, attending to his own business without looking aside.
Gao Yi lay on his back: “Where is my meat bun?”
Fu Sili clicked the abacus. Including what Fu Jing gave him a few days ago, he had seventy-three taels of silver in his hand. With the New Year approaching, perhaps he could buy some New Year goods and resell them.
“None? You did not buy the meat buns I waited all day for?”
Gao Yi began to groan, “Ouch, ouch,” his voice rising and falling in rhythm. Fu Sili, having his flow interrupted several times, glared over at him.
Fu Sili: “Are you ever going to stop? You have hands and feet, can you not go out and get something to eat yourself?”
Gao Yi: “No money. I am so hungry I cannot get up.”
“…”
Gao Yi continued: “This will not do. I am so dizzy with hunger, am I going to die here?” He pressed his hands together in prayer: “If Father knew that his youngest son suffered such a miserable fate before he died, he would surely regret listening to the slanders of the villain Fu Jing and cutting off my supplies!”
“If you eat the bun, will you leave?”
“That is impossible. You would rather have me starve to death here than chase me away.”
Fu Sili sat helplessly for a while before finally going out to buy some buns and porridge.
When he returned, he politely placed the food down and coaxed him like a child: “This is for you. My place is too small to host a great Buddha like you. Please leave early after you finish eating.”
Given his identity, Fu Sili thought that if Gao Yi still would not leave, he would just move elsewhere; fortunately, this house was rented.
He sat back at his desk, picked up a book of stories to flip through, and waited to see when Gao Yi would leave. He saw Gao Yi swallow a large meat bun in two bites and finish a whole bowl of porridge in one gulp.
Gao Yi finally stood up. Fu Sili looked up, hoping he would leave, but the man walked straight to his desk.
Gao Yi lazily stretched: “What are you busy with? Oh, it is an account book.” He raised an eyebrow: “Are you doing business?”
Fu Sili looked down and saw it was the account book he had forgotten to close. He placed the rolled-up storybook on top of it, hugged both in his arms, and said warily: “Just calculating things to pass the time.”
Gao Yi laughed, his eyes shimmering: “Calculating so meticulously just to pass the time?”
The man was tall with wheat-colored skin. The slightly small clothes he wore were a bit tight on him, revealing powerful muscles. His smile was bright and unrestrained.
Fu Sili endured this condescending gaze, which seemed to carry an aggressiveness even the man himself had not realized. He pursed his lips and said, trying to appease him: “It is all just small change.”
Gao Yi tapped the desk with his finger but did not let him off: “Small? I saw you have seventy-three taels written there.”
“…” He saw that clearly?
This man is not planning to get his hands on my money, is he?
Fu Sili’s expression changed. As he stood up holding the account book, Gao Yi pressed him back down, his iron-like arm pinning him to the shoulder, leaning in almost close enough to touch his face to examine him: “Why are you leaving? I heard you were not originally from the Fu family; rumors say you were brought here from somewhere else to be raised…”
Fu Sili was speechless: “What does that have to do with you?”
Gao Yi asked him: “What is your name? You did not originally go by Fu Sili, right? Or rather, you do not actually have the surname Fu?”
Fu Sili did not know how many people had asked him that. He brushed the hand pressing on his shoulder away as if it did not bother him, thinking to himself that he would move to a different courtyard once he left this place.
He stood up to leave. Seeing that Fu Sili’s patience was wearing thin, Gao Yi called out: “Wait.”
“I was just asking casually; I am not really curious about your name. I came this time because there is a big business deal to be done.”
Fu Sili looked strange: “You? A big business deal? You are penniless, and you want to do business with me?”
He did not mean to belittle Gao Yi; it was simply a statement of fact.
Gao Yi: “…”
Gao Yi took Fu Sili out, and on the way, they shook off the guards responsible for protecting him. The news reached Yaozhichunxin. When Bing Chun went to the small courtyard to look for Fu Sili and did not find him, he was disheartened until he saw Fu Sili stepping down from a carriage.
Bing Chun’s eyes lit up: “Young Master! Where have you been?”
Fu Sili pulled at his collar to sniff it and said with a smile: “I went out with someone. Next time you cannot find me, just wait where I was.”
Bing Chun puffed out his cheeks: “What if something happened?”
Fu Sili did not think anything could happen. He walked toward Yaozhichunxin nonchalantly. Bing Chun said regretfully: “I should not have been a jinx.”
Fu Sili said absentmindedly: “It does not matter, it is a small thing.”
As he walked, he noticed someone was not following him, and looked back to see Bing Chun standing there with his head hanging.
He walked back: “What is wrong?”
Bing Chun lowered his head, his fingers twisting the corner of his clothes. Fu Sili was just wondering what was going on when Bing Chun suddenly grabbed his sleeve and began to cry loudly.
Fu Sili found it somewhat amusing: “What is wrong? Who bullied you?”
“Does the Young Master think I am annoying? Are you tired of me because I always report to the Eldest Young Master, and you have been avoiding me lately?”
Bing Chun sobbed continuously. Fu Sili paused and said helplessly: “No, I am used to it.”
“Then Young Master will not let me stay overnight in your courtyard.”
“My courtyard is too small, it is not convenient for two people to live there. Besides, I do not need anyone to serve me by my side; keeping someone there is actually more trouble. It is more comfortable for you to go back and rest.”
Ever since Fu Sili discovered Bing Chun was reporting to Fu Jing, Bing Chun had sensed Fu Sili’s growing distance, and Fu Sili began to go out alone. This distance was marked by politeness; it might not have been obvious at first, but over time, the rift became clear.
Bing Chun pulled at him and cried even louder. Fu Sili looked left and right, and seeing no one on the road, he let him cry for a while.
“I really do not mind, please stop crying,” Fu Sili said. “There are no secrets about my affairs anyway.”
Bing Chun said: “I have never spoken a bad word about the Young Master, I have never lied…”
Fu Sili scratched his face: “It would not matter even if you did speak ill of me.”
He was not good at comforting people. Seeing Bing Chun’s face flush red after he spoke, he was at a loss. He rummaged through his pockets to see if there was anything to coax a child with, and upon feeling around, he found some candy he had taken from outside.
He quickly took it out and stuffed it into Bing Chun’s hand: “Alright, alright, it is all yours. Do not cry. I will buy you whatever you want; just do not make it too expensive.”
Finally, after managing to coax him, Fu Sili let out a sigh of relief: “Next time I go out, I will take you with me.”
It was hard to imagine how Fu Jing had cultivated such a guard, unlike Qiu Yuan or Lixia. Perhaps it was because he was young.
Bing Chun nodded vigorously, looking at him like a puppy with red-rimmed eyes.
Fu Sili said: “The same goes for Fengfu. If you want to follow me, you can; if not, stay at the mansion.”
Bing Chun: “…Why bring up Fengfu? Fine, I will go back and talk to him.”
Fu Sili walked toward his residence, changing the subject at the right moment: “How is Fu Jing now?”
Bing Chun said dully: “Much better. When I went to see the Eldest Young Master today, he had already gotten up from the daybed.”
“So fast? Is he busy?”
“No, he is just reading in the room.”
Fu Sili muttered: “He acts like his body is made of iron, getting up already. Let us go see him.”
He turned on his heel, changed his mind, and took Bing Chun toward Fu Jing’s quarters.