After Lady Su and Lin Xue left, the Lin residence finally felt quieter.
Qingyu remained in the living room for a while.
The room was spacious and arranged with expensive taste.
Cream-colored sofas faced the large windows, while the glass table in the center was filled with business magazines and small decorative objects that looked costly but carried no real meaning.
Her eyes moved around without hurry.
On the wall near the stairs, there was a small shelf holding several framed family photos and business awards.
One of them caught her attention.
A much younger Father Lin stood in front of a large storage warehouse with the company logo behind him.
He wore a simple shirt and smiled faintly at the camera.
In his left hand was a bundle of dried herbs, while his right hand held a contract.
Qingyu studied the photograph for a little longer.
Herbs, logistics, and contracts seemed to form the foundation of the Lin family.
The small nameplate beneath the photo read:
“Opening of Lin Group’s Herbal and Medical Distribution Branch.”
From the date, the event had taken place ten years ago.
Qingyu memorized the date, location, and branch name.
In Azura, a sect’s strength was measured by spiritual mines, trade routes, and the size of its territory.
In this world, the principle seemed the same.
Only the form had changed.
Whoever controlled distribution controlled the routes of human necessity.
Soft footsteps sounded from the side corridor.
Auntie Yue passed by, carrying a small basket filled with clean towels.
“I’ll prepare a warm herbal bath for you this afternoon, Miss,” she said quietly.
“The mixture is good for improving blood circulation.
Your mother used to use it often.”
Qingyu glanced into the basket.
Between the white towels, several pale green plant stems were visible.
She recognized them at once.
Two of them were low-grade plants that grew in the greenhouse behind the house.
But they were effective enough to help circulation and warm the body of an ordinary human.
Qingyu immediately understood something.
So the greenhouse was still being quietly cared for.
No wonder the soil had been slightly damp when she went there that night.
The wild grass had been allowed to grow so the place looked abandoned, but the important plants inside were still healthy and maintained.
Someone had deliberately hidden that care.
And now Qingyu knew who.
Lin Qingyu had been the one who kept the automatic watering system running, but Auntie Yue was the one who protected the plants.
“That’s fine,” she said softly.
“As long as it isn’t troublesome.”
“It won’t be troublesome, Miss.”
“Thank you, Auntie.”
Auntie Yue gave a small bow.
“You’re welcome.”
Then she continued toward the back of the house with the basket in her arms.
Qingyu watched until she disappeared from sight.
In a house full of false smiles, Auntie Yue’s actions were clearly no longer just a servant’s concern for her young mistress.
It was small and hidden support, but valuable nonetheless.
At the far end of the room, the television sounded again.
One of the servants had apparently forgotten to lower the volume.
“…with major corporations expanding in the medical supply sector, many mid-sized business owners may be pushed out if they fail to modernize their distribution systems…”
Qingyu let the information settle in her mind.
It seemed the foundation of this house had already begun cracking from within.
Qingyu’s father operated in a vulnerable mid-sized sector, while larger companies were expanding their reach.
Family conflict, business competition, and perhaps larger-scale schemes outside this house were all overlapping.
And in the middle of it all, she stood inside the body of a girl who had been considered weak, ignored, and slowly poisoned without anyone truly noticing.
People rarely paid attention to someone they considered harmless.
Near noon, Qingyu returned to her room.
Not long after, someone knocked softly on the door.
“Miss, the herbal bath is ready,” Auntie Yue said from outside.
“May I come in?”
“Come in, Auntie,” Qingyu replied while sitting on the small stool near the vanity.
Auntie Yue entered, carrying a large plastic bucket filled with warm water that released a faint herbal fragrance.
Thin steam quickly filled the bathroom, creating a warmth that reminded Qingyu of the therapy rooms in several physician pavilions back in Azura.
Inside the bucket, pale green leaves, thin light-brown roots, and small white petals floated on the surface of the water.
Qingyu recognized them immediately:
Young Datura Leaves, Moonroot, and Morning Dew Flowers.
The combination of these three was very suitable for a human body suffering from chronic weakness.
As Auntie Yue poured the water into the large bathtub, her eyes briefly moved toward Qingyu’s exposed arm.
The old woman’s gaze suddenly filled with restrained pity.
“Miss… your body is so fragile,” she said softly, quickly looking away so she would not seem rude.
Lin Qingyu’s arm beneath the sleeve was indeed far too thin.
Several faint bruises were still visible beneath her pale skin.
“I’m worried the cold has entered your bones if you aren’t cared for properly.”
Qingyu understood the meaning of the phrase through this body’s memories.
In this world, people often described long-term weakness as “cold entering the body.”
That wasn’t entirely wrong.
“It’s alright,” Qingyu answered calmly.
She reached out and touched the surface of the water.
The warmth immediately spread through her skin.
“Thank you for preparing it.”
Auntie Yue lowered her head, fingers twisting together.
“It is my duty, Miss.
Besides…” Her voice suddenly turned hoarse, caught in her throat.
“…before Madam passed away, she asked me to make sure you would not be alone in this house.”
Qingyu froze for a moment.
Lin Qingyu’s old memories emerged like mist.
A woman lying weakly in bed, her face pale and thin.
Her grip was very tight, passing the last warmth she had to the young Lin Qingyu.
For some reason, Qingyu could not see her face clearly.
As if the original body’s deep trauma had deliberately hidden the image to protect itself from the weight of such a devastating loss.
“Madam said…” Auntie Yue continued, her voice beginning to tremble, “‘If one day I am gone… don’t let Qingyu feel like a stranger hated in her own home.'”
Silence filled the room.
Qingyu lowered her head and touched the warm water again.
A soft ripple broke the stillness.
“I understand,” she said, almost in a whisper.
“Thank you… for keeping that promise all this time.”
Auntie Yue lowered her head even deeper, trying to hide the emotion on her face.
“Then I’ll excuse myself, Miss.”
She left and closed the door with care.
The room became quiet again, filled only with warm steam.
Qingyu began unbuttoning her clothes one by one.
When her gaze fell on the reflection of her own body in the large bathroom mirror…
She fell silent.
The bruises across several areas showed serious internal damage.
Some areas of her skin were even paler than the rest, a sign that blood circulation had been impaired for quite some time.
Whoever created the poison had been patient.
It did not kill quickly.
Instead, it constantly wore down the organs until the victim slowly died from medical complications that appeared natural.
Qingyu stared at her reflection for a long while.
Lin Qingyu had survived for years in a body like this.
That girl had been far stronger than the people in this house believed.
Carefully, Qingyu stepped into the water.
The moment her skin touched the warm herbal mixture, heat spread all the way into her bones.
But instead of being painful, the warmth awakened the blood pathways that had been blocked for too long.
She closed her eyes.
The water gradually turned cloudy as the herbs dissolved into it.
Qingyu began circulating the Basic Recovery Technique.
A thin stream of qi moved slowly and steadily inside her body.
The heat from the herbal bath helped open the smaller pathways that had previously been too stiff for energy to touch.
She guided the qi toward the most damaged areas.
The center of her chest, then the lower left side of her back, and finally the upper right side of her abdomen.
Every point touched by energy made her breathing a little lighter.
The damage in this body could not be fully healed yet.
But the process had begun.
The poison Lin Qingyu had consumed for years had damaged part of her organ function.
Some meridians were nearly dead.
Her qi was still too weak to heal everything.
But it was enough to prevent the damage from worsening.
Thump… thump… thump…
The Dragon Point pulsed with more stability beneath her ribs, as if gradually accepting the existence of this new body.
Half an hour passed before Qingyu finally opened her eyes.
Steam still filled the room.
Her body felt lighter than it had that morning.
She rose from the bathtub.
Her movements no longer resembled those of a chronically ill patient struggling to support herself.
Her shoulders had begun to balance, her steps were steadier, and her breathing had become much more regular.
After putting on a clean house dress, she pulled her damp hair back and looked into the mirror.
Her face was still pale, but the light in her eyes had changed completely.
There was a cold sharpness there.
The bruises had begun to fade, a sign that her circulation was beginning to improve.
Qingyu opened the bathroom door and returned to her bedroom.
Before she could sit down, the bedroom door suddenly opened without a knock.
Lin Xue poked her head inside.
“Hah.
Still alive, I see.”
Qingyu looked at her for one second.
That was enough to make Lin Xue take half a step back without realizing it.
The calmness in Qingyu’s gaze made Lin Xue uncomfortable.
“…W-We’re going to the salon tomorrow morning,” she said, stumbling over her words before quickly covering it with a sharp tone.
“Wear something proper.
Don’t embarrass me.”
“Alright,” Qingyu replied.
Then she added in an ordinary tone,
“Please choose something suitable for me.
You understand appearance better.”
The words came out naturally, without sarcasm or hidden mockery.
Lin Xue immediately fell silent.
The request sounded sincere.
The insult Lin Xue had prepared suddenly lost its momentum because Qingyu’s response seemed to acknowledge her taste instead.
Having lost the chance to start an argument, Lin Xue could only snort in annoyance.
“Do whatever you want,” she said quickly.
“You can choose for yourself!”
Then she left at once, closing the door a little too hard behind her.
Qingyu watched the door for a moment before finally sitting down in the chair near the window.
Night slowly descended.
City lights began turning on one by one in the distance, casting faint reflections across the window glass.
Qingyu touched her own pulse.
The beat was becoming steadier.
Today, she had survived.
More than that, she had gained a small ally in this house.
A simple achievement, but meaningful enough as a first step.
She looked at the night sky beyond the window for a while longer before finally lying down on the bed.
This world still felt unfamiliar.
But for the first time since arriving here, she no longer felt completely alone.