In her sleep, Xiaorenshen sensed a stark, naked hostility and instantly jolted awake.
Just then, Madam Zhang entered the room carrying the medicine she had finished boiling.
Xiaohua immediately withdrew her hand.
Xiaorenshen’s attention was drawn to the medicinal broth at once.
Who would have thought that Mama’s medical skills were actually quite good? Xiaorenshen could sense spiritual power radiating from the medicine.
Although this bowl of medicine was suited to the illness, it was still far from enough for Madam Zhou, who was already gravely ill.
Xiaorenshen’s big eyes rolled around as she thought, 【We have to add a little something to it!】
Madam Zhang set the bowl on the edge of the brick bed, wiped away her sweat, and said, “It’s finally ready. Let it cool for a little while. Once it isn’t so hot, hurry and feed it to Grandma.”
“Good. Come up onto the bed and rest for a while!” Qin Shiqian rose anxiously, took Madam Zhang’s hand, and pulled her onto the brick bed.
At the instant the two of them passed one another, Xiaorenshen seized the opportunity and plunged her small, tender white hand straight into the scalding medicinal broth.
“Waaah—”
Excruciating pain struck instantly. Even though Xiaorenshen had been mentally prepared, she still couldn’t help bursting into loud sobs.
It was true that she was trying to save Grandma’s life, but this hurt far too much!
The room descended into chaos in an instant.
The young couple, who had only just become parents, had never encountered anything like this before. They were both completely stunned.
Madam Zhang was so frightened that tears sprang from her eyes.
“W-what are we going to do?”
Qin Shiqian was the first to recover. He immediately pulled Xiaorenshen’s hand out of the medicine bowl.
In an instant, the hand that had been white and tender turned red, and large blisters swelled up across it.
Qin Shiqian held his daughter in his arms. His hands had never trembled even when gripping a blade to kill enemies, but now they shook uncontrollably.
“It’s all my fault. I didn’t hold the child properly. Otherwise, this wouldn’t have…”
Madam Zhang rushed outside, brought in a basin of cold water, and put her daughter’s hand into it to soak.
Seeing that the child’s hand had already blistered from the scalding, Madam Zhang repeatedly blamed herself even more bitterly. “It’s all my fault. I shouldn’t have put the medicine bowl here…”
Xiaohua’s eyes shifted, and she said, “My grandma has medicine for burns. I’ll go get it right now!”
With that, she quickly ran back next door.
Although Xiaohua’s house was also made of rammed earth, it was much cleaner and more spacious than the Qin Residence.
She stood on a small stool and rummaged wildly through Old Madam Yu’s medicine cabinet.
“You little ancestor, what are you trying to do now?” Old Madam Yu heard the noise from inside the room. When she came out and saw Xiaohua rummaging through her medicine cabinet, she was immediately startled.
“Mind your own business!” Xiaohua snapped. “Hurry up and find the burn ointment for me.”
Old Madam Yu took the ointment from a drawer and handed it to Xiaohua. After hesitating for a long while, she still couldn’t help asking with concern, “Did you scald yourself? Do you need me to help apply the medicine?”
Xiaohua ignored her completely. She rummaged through the medicine cabinet, found several seeds of Chinese goldthread, crushed them, and mixed them into the burn ointment.
Although Chinese goldthread was mildly toxic, it could reduce swelling and relieve pain when used externally in suitable amounts.
Thus, Old Madam Yu did not notice anything wrong for the moment.
But she could never have imagined that Xiaohua had prepared this medicine for an infant.
A dosage that would cause no serious harm to an adult would be tantamount to deadly poison when used on a baby.
Xiaohua carried the doctored ointment back to the Qin Residence. By then, Xiaorenshen was already in Madam Zhang’s arms, being soothed.
Several blisters had formed on Xiaorenshen’s scalded hand. Even the corners of her lips, which usually curved faintly upward, had drooped, making her look utterly pitiful.
Although the child was no longer crying or fussing, Madam Zhang still felt terribly sorry for her and kept gently blowing on her hand.
“Mama will blow on Sweetie. Once Mama blows on it, it won’t hurt anymore.”
The worst of Xiaorenshen’s pain had already passed, but she still greatly enjoyed Madam Zhang’s gentleness.
She lay comfortably in her mother’s arms and waved her other little hand, trying to smooth away the crease between Madam Zhang’s brows.
Unfortunately, her arms were too short. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t reach.
Madam Zhang thought the child was playing with her, and some relief finally returned to her sorrowful face.
When she looked up and saw Xiaohua standing in the doorway, silently watching the scene, a pang of sympathy suddenly rose in her heart.
Xiaohua had been raised by her grandma since she was little. She had never even seen what her parents looked like. She was a pitiful child too.
Madam Zhang immediately beckoned to her. “Xiaohua.”
Only then did Xiaohua come back to herself. She hurried over and stuffed the oil-paper packet in her hand into Madam Zhang’s hands.
“This is the burn medicine Grandma gave me. Auntie, hurry and put it on Little Sister!”
“All right. Thank you so much.”
Old Madam Yu was the village shaman and also half a doctor. She often boiled ointments herself and sold them to the villagers.
The medicine Qin Shiqian had used to treat his leg had been brought over by Xiaohua, so Madam Zhang did not have the slightest suspicion. She immediately applied the ointment to the back of Xiaorenshen’s hand.
Xiaorenshen felt a cool sensation spread across the back of her hand, mixed with what seemed to be a faint stinging sensation. But it did not seem dangerous to her.
Thus, she quickly absorbed the spiritual power contained in the ointment into her body.
There was pitifully little of it, but it was better than nothing.
After absorbing the spiritual power, Xiaorenshen immediately grew sleepy again. Nestled in Madam Zhang’s arms, she gave a tiny yawn.
Madam Zhang carefully held her daughter’s delicate fingers, preventing her from carelessly touching anything else with the hand that had been treated.
Xiaorenshen smacked her lips a few times and soon fell asleep in Madam Zhang’s arms.
Madam Zhang’s entire attention was focused on her daughter, and she inadvertently ignored Xiaohua standing beside her again.
Xiaohua bit her lower lip and stared at Xiaorenshen in a daze, as though she were thinking about something.
Meanwhile, Qin Shiqian, who had just finished feeding medicine to Madam Zhou, suddenly stood up.
Worried that something had happened to Madam Zhou, Madam Zhang hurriedly asked, “Husband, what’s wrong?”
Qin Shiqian stared intently at Madam Zhou lying on the brick bed.
“Wife, you—you’d better come take a look.”
“W-what happened to Mother?”
Madam Zhang was startled. Thinking that Madam Zhou was dying, she hurried over with the child in her arms.
But then she saw Madam Zhou’s eyelids tremble several times before suddenly opening.
“Mother!” Qin Shiqian shouted at once.
A faint sense of foreboding rose in Madam Zhang’s heart.
Madam Zhou had clearly already fallen into a coma. How could a single bowl of medicine possibly make her recover?
Madam Zhang knew the limits of her own medical skills.
There was no way she could produce such a miraculous, death-defying effect.
That left only one possibility.
Could this be…
a final rally before death?
At the same time, that very phrase also sprang into Qin Shiqian and Xiaohua’s minds.
Was Madam Zhou about to die?
Qin Shiqian and Madam Zhang immediately became flustered and panicked.
Xiaohua, however, was secretly delighted. She said aloud that she would go call her grandma over to have a look, then turned around and ran straight home.
She found Old Madam Yu just as the older woman was preparing to go out.
“Hey, has Hu Yuanbao been sick for several days?”
“Yes. I was just preparing to go over and check on him again!”
As Old Madam Yu spoke, she gripped the small cloth bundle in her hand more tightly, looking as though she was afraid Xiaohua might cause more trouble.
“Perfect. When you go to the Hu family later, do exactly as I tell you.”
After saying this, Xiaohua moved close to Old Madam Yu and whispered several words into her ear.
The more Old Madam Yu listened, the wider her eyes opened. The wrinkles at the corners of her eyes were almost stretched flat.
“What? Madam Zhou is about to die?”
Xiaohua said impatiently, “Why are you asking so many questions? Hurry up!
“If you delay things, I won’t let you off!”
Old Madam Yu had no choice but to go to the Hu family with heavy steps.
The moment Madam Li, the wife of Eldest Brother Hu, saw Old Madam Yu arrive, she hurried forward to greet her with swollen, red eyes.
“Aunt Yu, please hurry and take a look at the child. He’s been burning with fever for several days.”
Old Madam Hu also began to weep. “He’s the only heir of our family!
“I don’t know what kind of misfortune we ran into this year. The old man was injured, and now the child has fallen ill too.
“If anything happens to my grandson, how is this old woman supposed to go on living?”
Old Madam Yu stepped forward to examine Hu Yuanbao’s condition and gave her several packets of medicine.
“I’ll switch the child to a different medicine. Have him take it for three days first and see how things go…”
Before Old Madam Yu could finish speaking, she suddenly rolled her eyes back, fell stiffly to the ground, and began jerking spasmodically.
Old Madam Hu was startled at first, then jumped straight up and cried, “The Immortal has possessed her!
“Hurry, shut both the front and back doors. Don’t let anyone see this.”
As she spoke, she pressed her palms together and bowed again and again toward Old Madam Yu.
“Please, the Immortal, give us your guidance. What must we do to make my grandson well?”
Old Madam Yu convulsed for a long while before suddenly sitting up.
Her eyes were rolled upward, her expression was twisted and ferocious, and she brought the index and middle fingers of her right hand together. After making several flourishes, she pointed firmly in a certain direction.
When Old Madam Yu opened her mouth, the voice that came out was no longer her usual one. It had become a hoarse man’s voice.
“The child is not ill. Evil spirits are at work.
“Once the evil spirits are eliminated, all illness will vanish!”
The moment these words were spoken, every member of the Hu family’s expression changed.
Old Madam Yu had originally been the village doctor. She knew a little rudimentary medicine and made a small living by diagnosing illnesses and dispensing medicine for the villagers, using the money to raise her young granddaughter.
That was until two years ago, when Xiaohua suddenly seemed to become a different person after suffering a high fever.
At Xiaohua’s repeated insistence, Old Madam Yu pretended to be possessed by the Immortal and claimed that there was a century-old mountain ginseng somewhere on the mountain.
The Ginseng Boss had taken people there half-believing and half-doubting, only to actually dig up a century-old wild ginseng.
Not only had this earned the Ginseng Boss praise from the imperial court, it had also firmly established Old Madam Yu’s position as the village shaman.
After that, every time Old Madam Yu was possessed by the Immortal, her words came true.
She had not only helped everyone avoid a massive flash flood, but had also helped the villagers evade all sorts of crises, both great and small.
As a result, the Ginseng Boss and the villagers came to regard her words increasingly as divine edicts.
Old Madam Yu had originally thought that her years of worshipping Buddha had earned her blessings, and that Xiaohua had been enlightened by the Bodhisattva.
Who could have known that ever since the Qin family had been exiled here, her granddaughter Xiaohua seemed to have become a different person, growing increasingly vicious in everything she did?
Although Old Madam Yu felt uneasy, she had gained far too many benefits over the past two years by helping Xiaohua play at being a diviner.
By the time she wanted to withdraw, it was already too late. She could only continue cooperating.
Now that the Hu family saw Old Madam Yu possessed by the Immortal and pointing in a particular direction, they did not harbor the slightest suspicion.
Madam Li’s thoughts began racing.
There were only a few households in that direction, and the Qin Residence was the only one that had arrived this year.
“Immortal, is it the Qin family?
“They’ve already caused my father-in-law to be injured, leaving both his legs crippled and forcing him to lie at home.
“Are they trying to harm my son now too?”
After hearing Madam Li’s words, Old Madam Yu immediately stopped convulsing.
Old Madam Hu dropped heavily onto the ground and began slapping her thighs as she wailed.
“What kind of sin have we committed? If there’s some misfortune, why couldn’t it come to this old woman with one foot in the grave? Why must my precious grandson suffer like this—”
Old Madam Yu sat cross-legged on the ground. Only after a long while did she open her eyes, looking as though she had no idea what she had just said.
The Hu family had long since become familiar with this entire routine. Not one of them mentioned what had happened while the Immortal had possessed her.
Madam Li even pretended to ask casually, “Aunt Yu, don’t you live next door to the Qin family? Have you noticed anything unusual happening at their house these past few days?”
“Oh, don’t you know?” Old Madam Yu said. “There’s a happy occasion at the Qin Residence!
“The Qin family’s wife just gave birth to a daughter. She’s white and tender, and very pretty.
“But Old Madam Qin’s condition has grown worse. I’m afraid she may not make it.”
Madam Li’s heart tightened when she heard this, and she continued questioning her. “Madam Zhang gave birth? What day?”
“Yesterday!” Old Madam Yu replied. “She wasn’t supposed to give birth so soon, but she suffered a disturbance to her pregnancy, so labor came early.”
“Yesterday? Wasn’t that the fifteenth day of the seventh month?” Madam Li’s face changed completely.
Old Madam Hu immediately began crying even louder. “A child born on the fifteenth day of the seventh month is sure to have a hard fate.
“How could she have gone into premature labor for no reason? Could it be that an evil spirit really was in such a hurry to be reborn?”
Old Madam Yu thought to herself, 【If your family hadn’t gone over there to cause trouble, she wouldn’t have suffered a disturbance to her pregnancy.】
But she only dared to think this silently.
Madam Li’s face had gone deathly pale as she said, “My son already has a weak Eight Characters and easily attracts filthy things.
“No wonder his high fever hasn’t gone down for days. If it isn’t her, who else could it be?”
The Hu family immediately erupted into chaos.
Old Madam Yu did not need to say anything more. The Hu family had already filled in all sorts of details on their own.
After crying for quite a while, Old Madam Hu suddenly scrambled up from the ground. Without even bothering to dust off her clothes, she summoned her four sons and daughters-in-law and led them in a grand procession straight to the Qin Residence.
The front door of the Qin Residence was not shut. Old Madam Hu led the group straight inside.
She stormed through the door, a bellyful of words ready to spill out, but before she could say anything, she saw Madam Zhou sitting perfectly well on the brick bed, holding a fair and tender baby in her arms.
“Sweetie…” Madam Zhou was soothing the child.
Xiaorenshen liked this grandma whom she had brought back from the brink of death very much. There was a quality about Madam Zhou that made people feel calm inside.
Thus, Xiaorenshen cooperated enthusiastically with Madam Zhou’s teasing, breaking into smiles and occasionally waving her little arms and legs. She looked extremely lively.
“Sweetie recognizes Grandma!” Madam Zhou became even more fond of her at the sight.
The grandmother and granddaughter were happily playing together when the Hu family suddenly charged inside.
Madam Zhou had not yet understood what was happening.
Qin Shiqian had already shot to his feet and stepped in front of his family.
Madam Zhang, who had been lying on the brick bed resting, also sat up nervously.
Even Xiaorenshen, who had been laughing moments earlier, stopped smiling and revealed an expression of disgust.
【Ugh, how annoying. Why is it this family again?!】
Although Madam Zhou did not know what had happened earlier, she saw the way her son and daughter-in-law stood as though facing a powerful enemy. Recalling the Hu family’s usual behavior, she formed a vague guess and held her granddaughter protectively against her.
Seeing Madam Zhou’s healthy, rosy complexion, the members of the Hu family were instantly stunned, and their imposing momentum weakened considerably.
“What’s going on? Didn’t the Immortal say she was about to die?”