An overwhelming, suffocating medicinal odor assaulted the senses upon entering the Nuan Pavilion.
Jing’an Marquis’s Wife sat by the bedside, dabbing her tears with a handkerchief. Her eyes were red and swollen, her expression haggard.
Xiao Che stood nearby, his posture ramrod straight, but his jaw was clenched tightly. His handsome face was frosty, his eyes bloodshot.
When Lin Shu entered, all eyes turned to her simultaneously—surprised, scrutinizing, doubtful, each gaze carrying different emotions.
“Shu’er? Why are you here?” The Marquis lady reacted first, her voice hoarse.
Ignoring the others, Lin Shu walked directly to the bedside, knelt down, and kowtowed deeply to the elderly woman lying there—pale-faced and breathing weakly.
“Grandmother Xiao, I’ve come to save you. It was unfilial of me to arrive so late.”
Her earth-shattering declaration plunged the Nuan Pavilion into deathly silence.
Xiao Che’s bloodshot eyes turned toward her, probing with a trace of hope even he hadn’t realized was there.
The Marquis lady abruptly grabbed her wrist, her weary face filled with agitation: “Shu’er, you… what did you say?”
Just then, a delicate yet slightly reproachful voice came from the other side of the bed.
“Sister is here. Grandmother Xiao’s Feng Body is unhappy and requires utmost tranquility, not loud disturbances.”
Only then did everyone notice that Lin Wan’er had arrived at some point. She was sitting on the footstool by the bed, holding a bowl of Ginseng Soup as she carefully skimmed off the foam with a silver spoon.
Dressed in plain white robes without makeup, faint dark circles under her eyes, she presented the perfect image of a filial granddaughter who shared her elder’s suffering and attended to them tirelessly.
Though her words sounded like gentle advice, they subtly implied that Lin Shu was being disruptive and disturbing the patient with her noisy entrance.
Lin Shu rose from the floor, brushing non-existent dust from her knees as she calmly met Lin Wan’er’s secretly triumphant gaze.
“You’re right, sister. I was too hasty.” She first conceded according to the other’s implication, then swiftly shifted her tone, her eyes sweeping over the bowl of Ginseng Soup. “But seeing how busily you’ve been attending here while Grandmother Xiao’s complexion shows no improvement, even someone like me who doesn’t know how to care for others can’t help feeling stifled on Grandmother Xiao’s behalf.”
Lin Wan’er’s grip on the bowl tightened, her knuckles turning white, though her face maintained its delicate innocence. Her eyes reddened as if tears might fall at any moment: “Sister, I know you resent me, but with Grandmother Xiao so gravely ill, how can you say such things to upset her…”
Cough, cough…
From the bed, the previously unconscious Old Madam Xiao erupted into violent coughing, slowly opening her clouded eyes.
“Grandmother Xiao, you’re awake!” Lin Wan’er immediately set down the bowl, threw herself beside the bed, and grasped the old woman’s hand, tears rolling down at the perfect moment. “It was Wan’er’s fault for disturbing you.”
As she spoke, she shot Lin Shu a venomous glance from the corner of her eye.
Old Madam Xiao weakly scanned the room, her gaze lingering briefly on Lin Shu before settling on the two girls. Her lips moved, her voice as faint as scattering in the wind: “Enough… enough bickering…”
“Yes, Grandmother Xiao, we won’t argue.” Lin Wan’er promptly agreed, deftly picking up a soft pillow to cushion support behind Old Madam Xiao’s back.
In that moment, she became the epitome of the filial and sensible granddaughter, while Lin Shu appeared like an ill-fitting outsider.
Lin Shu paid no mind to such superficial concerns, her attention entirely focused on the room’s environment.
The windows were tightly shut, the charcoal fire blazing fiercely. The air was thick with the heavy scent of medicine, incense, and the stale breath of too many people, stifling enough to make one dizzy and lightheaded.
“This room is far too stuffy. The sick air has no way to disperse, which is harmful to Old Madam Xiao’s health,” Lin Shu said as she walked toward the window farthest from the bed.
“Sister, what are you doing!”
Lin Wan’er reacted like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, instantly shrieking as she sprang to her feet and blocked Lin Shu’s path. “Old Madam Xiao is frail and especially vulnerable to chills! Opening the window—are you trying to harm her?”
The accusation was heavy and severe.
Upon hearing this, Marquis Lady’s face also showed disapproval.
Xiao Che frowned deeply, his sharp gaze fixed on Lin Shu, clearly finding her actions inappropriate as well.
Lin Shu halted and turned to look at them, her expression calm to the point of coldness.
“Stagnant sick air, mingling with foul air, continuously inhaled into the lungs, will only worsen the illness. Opening the window for ventilation, allowing the air to circulate and carry away the impurities in the room—that is the correct approach.” She was applying the most basic nursing knowledge from her past life, but to the people of this era, it sounded like pure fantasy.
“Nonsense!” Lin Wan’er immediately retorted, her voice urgent and shrill, as if afraid others wouldn’t believe her. “The imperial physician from the palace specifically instructed us to ensure proper care, keep her warm, and avoid any exposure to wind! Sister, you don’t even understand such basic principles, yet you dare claim you’re here to save Old Madam Xiao? I think you clearly have malicious intentions!”
She turned to Xiao Che, weeping as pitifully as a drenched pear blossom: “Young Master, please stop her! She’s going to take Old Madam Xiao’s life!”
Xiao Che’s expression darkened, and he was about to speak.
Lin Shu had no patience left for further argument.
She was tired of Lin Wan’er’s tactics of twisting the truth and weary of explaining the concept of air circulation to a group of ancients.
Her head was throbbing painfully, and she just wanted to resolve this quickly.
“Silence.”
Lin Shu stared at Lin Wan’er, uttering two words coolly and clearly.
Lin Wan’er’s sobbing ceased abruptly, as if someone had choked her.
“Slap yourself.”
Lin Shu’s voice remained flat, devoid of any emotion.
A bizarre scene unfolded.
Under the astonished gazes of everyone present, a flicker of confusion and struggle crossed Lin Wan’er’s face before her right hand lifted uncontrollably.
Slap!
A crisp sound of a slap echoed through the entire Nuan Pavilion.
Even Lin Wan’er was stunned, clutching her burning cheek, her eyes filled with horror and fear.
She wanted to scream, to demand an explanation, but no sound escaped her throat.
Xiao Che’s pupils contracted sharply, and he took a sudden step forward. Marquis Lady gasped, covering her mouth with her handkerchief.
The maids and elderly servants in the room were so terrified they hardly dared to breathe.
Lin Shu’s gaze showed no fluctuation as she continued issuing commands.
“Say you were wrong.”
Lin Wan’er’s lips trembled uncontrollably, tears of humiliation streaming down her face until, finally, she forced out a few muffled syllables through gritted teeth.
“I… I was wrong…”
The entire world seemed to stand still.
A cold laugh echoed in Lin Shu’s heart as she thought to press her advantage and make this white lotus spill all her dirty secrets.
Just then, Old Madam Xiao on the bed suddenly let out a pained moan, her upper body lurching forward violently.
Pfft—!
A mouthful of dark red blood gushed out, splattering onto the bright yellow brocade quilt like crimson plum blossoms blooming in snow—a startling sight.
“Mother!”
“Grandmother!”
The exclamations of the Marquis lady and Xiao Che rang out simultaneously, instantly shattering the deathly silence in the room.