23 – Little Blessing
Shen Qiu looked at this child, her heart filled with compassion. Unconsciously, tears streamed from the corners of her eyes. The child was taken aback, her gaze turning somewhat suspicious, then she slowly walked up to Shen Qiu.
Everyone held their breath, not daring to move a muscle. Ye Chen clenched his own hand tightly, fearing that this wolf girl might suddenly harm his Qiu’er.
The child walked up to Shen Qiu, stood on her tiptoes, reached out with her finger to touch the teardrops on Shen Qiu’s face, then put her finger in her mouth and said, “Salty.”
But her voice was soft and childish, completely unlike the look in her eyes just moments before. Shen Qiu looked at this child, whose mental state clearly didn’t match her age, and said to her, “What’s your name?”
The child said, “Name… no name.”
A middle-aged man holding a key nearby said, “When we found her, she was with wolves, so we all call her Wolf Girl.”
Shen Qiu frowned and said, “What kind of name is that?”
Shen Qiu looked at the wolf girl and said, “I see your face is round and chubby, so cute. They say people with round faces and plump cheeks are blessed. How about I name you Xiao Fu?”
The wolf girl’s eyes immediately lit up, murmuring, “Xiao Fu? Xiao Fu, good… Xiao Fu? Hehehe.”
Then she grabbed the locked iron chain beside her, gave it a hard tug, and the chain snapped.
Immediately after, Xiao Fu ran out, hugged Shen Qiu’s waist, and said, “My name is Xiao Fu. Are you my sister?”
Shen Qiu patted her head and said, “Yes, I am your sister. How about coming home with me?”
Xiao Fu immediately smiled and said, “Okay, I’ll go home with sister.”
Afterward, Shen Qiu took Xiao Fu’s small hand and walked out of the cave. Ye Chen glanced at his own hand and followed behind.
Mu Qing paid the silver before coming out, hoping to seize the chance to speak with Ming Yue, but Ming Yue had already run off to catch up with Shen Qiu.
After getting into the carriage, Xiao Fu stayed close to Shen Qiu the whole time, squeezing Ye Chen to the side. Shen Qiu used a handkerchief dipped in water to wipe Xiao Fu’s face. Xiao Fu’s eyes sparkled as she looked at Shen Qiu, no longer showing any trace of wariness or defensiveness.
Ye Chen watched as his wife held the face of this girl called Xiao Fu, feeling furious inside. His Qiu’er had never held his face like that.
Moreover, it was his Qiu’er who had given Xiao Fu this name. Although he had known this earlier, facing the situation now was hard for him to accept.
Shen Qiu noticed Ye Chen’s gaze and smiled at him, saying, “Husband, Xiao Fu is just a child, and a girl at that. You’re not jealous, are you?”
Ye Chen forced an awkward smile and said, “Not jealous, not at all!”
Seeing him look as if he was about to burst with frustration, Shen Qiu chuckled and said, “That’s good, my husband is the best!”
When Xiao Fu heard Shen Qiu praising Ye Chen, she immediately bared her teeth at him. Shen Qiu quickly soothed Xiao Fu, saying, “Be good, Xiao Fu. He is your brother-in-law, my husband. He won’t hurt you!”
Xiao Fu tilted her head and asked, “Brother-in-law? Husband? What’s that?”
Shen Qiu wasn’t sure how to explain it to a child with limited understanding, and she was also afraid that Xiao Fu might harm Ye Chen in the future, especially since Xiao Fu had just snapped such a thick iron chain with one hand.
After thinking for a moment, Shen Qiu said, “Husband… well, he and I are a married couple, so he is my husband. A married couple is one entity, so he is me, and I am him. We can’t be separated. Just remember that he is the same as me—neither of us will hurt you.”Xiao Fu looked at Shen Qiu, then at Ye Chen, muttering: “Sister is him? He is sister?”
Suddenly laughing, she said: “Then will he treat me as nicely as sister does?”
Shen Qiu smiled and said: “Yes, so don’t be afraid, Xiao Fu. He won’t hurt you.”
When Ye Chen heard Shen Qiu’s words – “He is sister, sister is him, the two of us are inseparable” – his heart immediately felt as if he had eaten candy. So he was this important to Qiu’er! His Qiu’er was someone he could never love enough.
Returning to the Duke Manor, Shen Qiu had Ming Yue and Xing Er set up a bed for Xiao Fu in their room. Since Xiao Fu was restless by nature, Shen Qiu didn’t feel comfortable letting her sleep alone.
She then had hot water prepared and personally bathed Xiao Fu and combed her hair. She sent Ming Yue out to buy several sets of clothes according to Xiao Fu’s measurements. There wasn’t time to have them made, so they would have to make do for now.
She also sent someone to the medicine garden to summon Xiao Hang to examine Xiao Fu.
Shen Qiu bathed Xiao Fu thoroughly from head to toe twice before the child was finally clean. Then she carefully combed through Xiao Fu’s hair strand by strand. The hair reached Xiao Fu’s waist, but instead of putting it up in a bun, Shen Qiu started braiding from the roots, eventually dividing it into two braids that hung straight down in front of her chest.
When they emerged after the grooming session, everyone was astonished at the sight of Xiao Fu. Was this still the same dirty child? With her large eyes, high-bridged nose, and plump, round face, dressed in a red dress – aside from being a bit tanned, she was quite a little beauty!
Xiao Hang circled around Xiao Fu and asked Ye Chen: “Where did you pick up this little beauty?”
Hearing someone praise her, Xiao Fu immediately giggled happily.
Shen Qiu said to Xiao Hang: “Please examine her. I heard from the person who sold her that when they first found her, she was with wolves. But from how she speaks, she doesn’t seem like someone who’s never been in contact with humans.”
Xiao Hang stroked his chin as he examined Xiao Fu. Then Shen Qiu took Xiao Fu’s hand and said: “Be good, Xiao Fu. Let this brother take your pulse. He won’t hurt you!”
Xiao Fu simply nodded. Xiao Hang placed his fingers on Xiao Fu’s wrist, checking both her left and right hands. Then he asked Shen Qiu: “When you bathed her, did you notice if she’s started developing yet?”
Hearing this, Ye Chen immediately glared at Xiao Hang, who chuckled and said: “This is a medical question, so getting angry won’t help.”
Shen Qiu didn’t look at Ye Chen but answered Xiao Hang: “No, not the slightest sign of development. Have you noticed something?”
Xiao Hang didn’t respond but reached out to firmly press and pinch Xiao Fu’s arms and legs. His technique looked peculiar, making Xiao Fu giggle and exclaim that it tickled.
After quite some time, Xiao Hang stopped and said: “She should be about the same age as you. Bone age doesn’t lie.”
Everyone was greatly surprised. Ming Yue, being quick-tongued, said: “Impossible! She looks only eleven or twelve years old, and she hasn’t developed at all. How could she be about the same age as Madam?”
Shen Qiu also asked: “Right, if she’s about my age, even if she’s not tall, she should have developed somewhat. But she shows no signs at all!”
Xiao Hang picked up Ye Chen’s teacup and drank it all in one gulp, saying: “This is a vicious technique from the martial world. When the child was five or six years old, she was soaked in medicinal liquid, immersed for years until she completed ten years of soaking. After emerging, not only is she incredibly strong, but she’s also immune to all poisons.”Xing Er asked, “What kind of medicine could be so potent? Just soaking in it is enough?”
Xiao Hang replied, “Of course not. This method involves breaking all the bones and tendons of a child around five or six years old, then soaking them in medicine to rebuild them. This process is repeated until the bones can no longer be broken, and it takes at least ten years.”
“Because it damages the body’s foundation, they cannot grow or develop, and at most, they won’t live past twenty.”
“She managed to grow this big probably because she wasn’t soaked for the full ten years, or the person who selected her back then lacked some skill, allowing her to grow and retain some mental capacity.”
Ye Chen said gravely, “These are a group of insane people. Do such individuals still exist today?”
Xiao Hang shrugged and said, “Of course they do. Children trained like this are as obedient as little dogs and more formidable than ordinary death warriors. They only know how to follow orders, with no thoughts or consciousness of their own. However, this process is not only costly and labor-intensive, but even after success, these children can only be used for a few years. After that, they will inevitably die. They are strong, but by the time they emerge, they are already at the end of their rope.”