“You kept crying, crying so pitifully…”
Nan Liujing felt pain all over her body.
It was as if she had been thrown into a furnace, engulfed by erupting, surging flames. Breathing was difficult, her bones felt scorched, and every inch of her skin was seared with burning pain…
At times, heart-wrenching screams echoed in her ears; at other times, faint, dying moans. Before her eyes, Medicine Slaves like her—half-dead, driven mad by torment—fell one after another, becoming corpses strewn haphazardly on the ground.
Crouched in a corner, she bit down hard on her own wrist, unable to tell whether she was trembling from pain or fear.
Only when a pair of hands covered her eyes and a familiar presence drew close did she suddenly release her teeth, letting out broken, intermittent sobs.
“Brother…”
“It hurts so much…”
Why? Why must living be so painful?
If living meant enduring pain day after day, would becoming one of those rotting corpses on the ground be a form of release? If she closed her eyes and never woke again, would the suffering finally end?
Her eyelids grew heavier, her cries softer.
“Brother… I don’t want to hurt anymore…”
Her body was pulled into a tight embrace, the arms wrapped around her trembling as well. Then came a young man’s voice, hoarse and broken, like the low whimpers of a young beast comforting its own kind, or like helpless sobs forced from a constricted throat.
“Endure a little longer, and it won’t hurt anymore…”
The voice drifted in and out, repeating over and over.
“Endure a little longer…”
“Are you going to abandon me?”
No, she couldn’t leave her brother alone…
Then endure a little longer, just a little longer…
The fire burned for an unknown length of time, scorching everything in its path, leaving devastation in its wake.
When the embers cooled and the ashes grew cold, Nan Liujing slowly opened her eyes.
The blurred double vision before her gradually faded, finally revealing the green gauze canopy bathed in candlelight.
She stared blankly, feeling as though she had just survived a great calamity.
Her body was weak, too weak to even lift a hand; her bones ached as if they had been shattered and pieced back together, with a dull pain lingering in her joints. Her eyes were dry and sore, and her feverish cheeks were pressed against something cool. With great effort, she raised a hand to wipe it away, finding her fingertips damp…
Realizing it was tears, Nan Liujing felt a flicker of surprise.
She instinctively tried to recall what kind of dream she had just had, but as soon as she cast her thoughts out, the memories strung together like beads were violently torn apart by an invisible, giant hand. The images instantly shattered and scattered, slipping through the gaps of her mental net until nothing remained but emptiness…
Her heart felt hollow, as if she had forgotten something important.
“Awake?”
A familiar voice reached her, tinged with sleepiness.
Nan Liujing turned her head to see Jiang Ziliu rubbing his eyes as he walked over and sat down beside her.
“You’ve slept for two days and two nights, finally awake…”
Jiang Ziliu reached out to touch her forehead, then took her wrist to check her pulse.
“Two days… and two nights?”
Nan Liujing parted her lips, her throat feeling as if it had been scorched, each word cutting like a knife. “That long?”
After checking her pulse, Jiang Ziliu tucked her hand back under the blanket and smoothed the covers. “Waking up at all is a blessing. You know your own condition better than anyone. For others, falling into the water might just lead to a chill, but for you, it’s enough to trigger a collapse—the onset of Toxin Syndrome…”
Seeing Nan Liujing’s poor complexion, she changed her tone, “At least it’s stabilized. Honestly, I’ve never seen anyone with a tougher fate than yours. If this poison were in anyone else, they’d have been reincarnated many times over by now.”
“…I’ll take that as comfort.”
“It is comfort.”
Jiang Ziliu coaxed her, “Close your eyes and sleep well. Your body needs plenty of rest.”
Nan Liujing closed her eyes but felt no drowsiness at all.
She moved her arm and struggled to turn over. As she did, something cold and hard fell from her embrace, rolling right to Jiang Ziliu’s hand.
Nan Liujing froze, opening her eyes, “What’s that…”
Jiang Ziliu picked it up and handed it to her with a peculiar expression.
It was a silver-patterned, lacquered armguard, adorned with fierce beast motifs and marked by several mottled cracks that looked like scars left by blades or sharp weapons—clearly an old piece used by a martial artist.
Nan Liujing’s eyes widened in shock as she sat up abruptly, “Where did this come from?”
“You really don’t remember?”
Jiang Ziliu studied her thoughtfully, “This armguard belongs to the eldest son of the Xiao family.”
“Xiao…”
Nan Liujing stared at the armguard in disbelief, examining it closely. It did look familiar, as if she had indeed seen it on Xiao Lingguang’s arm. “But why would Xiao Lingguang’s armguard be in my embrace?!”
“Because he brought you back. And you were so delirious from illness that you clung to his arm and wouldn’t let go. Nurse Fu and I couldn’t pry you apart…”
With each word Jiang Ziliu added, Nan Liujing’s expression grew more horrified.
She felt dizzy, her vision darkening, “…Didn’t he want to chop my hand off?”
Jiang Ziliu thought for a moment, “Judging by his expression, he probably considered it.”
“…”
“But he restrained himself in the end. This Young Master Xiao may look fierce, but his temper is surprisingly good. He stayed here for nearly an hour before taking off the armguard and leaving. Probably because you kept crying, pitifully…”
Jiang Ziliu glanced at Nan Liujing’s numb expression, “Oh, and you called him ‘brother’ several times.”
Nan Liujing blinked, suddenly revived, “Try making up another lie.”
“What lie?”
“I don’t have an older brother. How could I call anyone ‘brother’?”
Ever since she could remember, she had been a Medicine Slave in the Xi family. She had no parents, let alone an older brother. She had never uttered the word “brother” before, so how could she have called it out in her dreams?
“I was sick, not possessed by something unclean… Don’t try to trick me.”
“Trick you? Nurse Fu heard it too. If you don’t believe me, ask her…”
“Impossible.”
Nan Liujing said firmly, “You must have misheard.”
Jiang Ziliu found it hard to argue and eventually gave up, waving his hand and urging her to lie down, “Believe it or not.”
Nan Liujing felt somewhat relieved and weakly lay back on the bed.
Before leaving, Jiang Ziliu deliberately picked up the armguard and asked her, “So, do you still want to hold onto this armguard?”
“…Get out.”
After falling into the water, Nan Liujing took a full seven days to fully recover, and that was only with Jiang Ziliu tending to her day and night, administering medicine all the while.
For once, Nan Liujing didn’t look haggard after seven days of illness; instead, her complexion was even better than before. In contrast, Jiang Ziliu had lost weight, with dark circles under his eyes.
“Before, you were always ill, and I didn’t have the heart to ask you…”
Jiang Ziliu sat on the steps in front of the house, grinding medicinal herbs listlessly. “How exactly did you fall into the water that day?”
Nan Liujing pushed away Wangliang, who was trying to cause trouble, and remained silent.
“Nurse Fu said that everyone was playing on the water, and you were excluded, which led to you being pushed into the water… I always felt it wasn’t that simple.”
Jiang Ziliu turned to look at her. “Did you fall into the water because of me?”
“The incident of falling into the water has nothing to do with you.”
Nan Liujing thought for a moment. “But Princess Shou’an already knows your whereabouts. She said she could let you off.”
“What’s the condition?”
“To cut off all ties with Pei Liuyu.”
“…What?”
Jiang Ziliu doubted her own ears.
Nan Liujing repeated it once more.
Jiang Ziliu fell silent for a long while, shaking her head with a complex expression. “I really don’t understand this princess…”
“She has been infatuated with Pei Liuyu since childhood. Even if she can’t have him, she won’t allow anyone else to have him either. Is that so hard to understand?”
Nan Liujing scooped Wangliang into her arms and looked elsewhere. “If, I mean if… if there were no Pei Liuyu, no Nan family, could you, Jiang Ziliu alone, protect my life?”
Jiang Ziliu was taken aback. “You wouldn’t really…”
Nan Liujing turned her face back, staring at her intently with a rare seriousness in her expression, yet her tone was colder than ever. “I’m weighing your value against Pei Liuyu’s.”
For a moment, the astonishment in Jiang Ziliu’s eyes was hard to conceal.
Her first reaction wasn’t to consider who was more valuable between herself and Pei Liuyu, nor was it to guess Nan Liujing’s choice. Instead, she thought: Could Pei Liuyu really be placed on the same scale as her?
Nan Liujing indeed had a scale in her heart.
On one side of the scale were Pei Liuyu, the power and wealth of the Pei family, Pei Liuyu’s affection for her, and her own gratitude, fondness, and reluctance toward him…
On the other side of the scale was only one thing: Jiang Ziliu’s medical skills.
Pei Liuyu was probably the person who treated her best in this world, but Jiang Ziliu was the only one who could prolong her life.
Nan Liujing couldn’t yet compare them clearly, and Jiang Ziliu didn’t have the chance to give her an answer, because Nurse Fu appeared, bringing news from outside.
“Second Miss has returned and is weeping to the master and mistress in the front courtyard.”
During the days Nan Liujing was ill, the Nan family had actually been quite unsettled.
First, Master Nan was impeached and had his salary docked. Then, the eldest Miss Nan, who married into the marquis’s household as a concubine, failed in her attempt to harm the marquis’s wife and completely lost favor. And the most distressing was that the husband of Second Miss Nan had inexplicably become entangled in an embezzlement case and was directly imprisoned, awaiting punishment…
One thing after another—if it were a coincidence, Nan Liujing didn’t believe it.
Clearly, someone was deliberately warning the Nan family.
As soon as Nurse Fu returned to report the news, Second Miss Nan arrived at Chaoyun Courtyard with red eyes.
Jiang Ziliu took Wangliang and hid back in the side room. As soon as Second Miss Nan entered, she wailed and tried to kneel before Nan Liujing, but fortunately, Nurse Fu, who was nearby, stopped her.
“Wu Niang, now the entire Nan household can only rely on you to help me. Could you go to the Pei family and find Pei Liuyu…”
Her face was deathly pale. “If Pei Liuyu is confined and you can’t see him, pleading with the third young master of the Pei family would be just as good. He is now the Minister of Education, one of the Three Excellencies. If he wants to protect someone, it’s just a matter of a word…”
Nan Liujing watched her calmly. “Since Second Sister knows Pei Liuyu is under house arrest, surely you also know why he was confined?”
The Second Miss Nan’s sobbing faltered.
“Pei Songjun is taking drastic measures to sever the marriage alliance between the Pei and Nan families. How could he possibly offer help at such a time? Moreover, he despises and loathes me. If I were to barge in front of him, not only would I fail to save Second Brother-in-law, but I might even make things worse.”
This was merely an excuse.
In truth, Nan Liujing could guess who had reprimanded the Nan family and why. She was the one who had tied the bell, so naturally, she would also be the one to untie it.
But unfortunately, neither the Second Miss Nan nor the Nan family weighed on the scales of her heart.
“…”
The light in the Second Miss Nan’s eyes dimmed.
Contrary to Nan Liujing’s expectations, she did not continue to cry or make a scene. Instead, she sat in the Chaoyun Courtyard in a daze for a long while before saying she wanted to visit a Buddhist temple to offer incense.
“Wu Niang, will you accompany me?”
Nan Liujing gazed at her and sighed after a long pause. “Very well.”
The carriage moved slowly along the mountain path and came to a halt in a desolate, uninhabited area.
The coachman jumped down first, followed by two accompanying guards who dismounted and lifted the carriage curtain. The Second Miss Nan, covering her nose and mouth with a handkerchief, stepped down using the footstool. Immediately after, the two guards lifted the unconscious Nurse Fu from the carriage and placed her on the nearby woodland.
Standing beside the carriage, the Second Miss Nan turned with a complex expression to look at Nan Liujing, who lay weakly half-reclined on the seat.
“Little Fifth, don’t blame me…”
She murmured.
With a startled neigh from the horse, the carriage jolted violently.
Nan Liujing was thrown against the carriage wall, her vision blurring with double images.
In the final moment before her consciousness faded, she saw the runaway horse galloping wildly, the carriage shaking as if about to fall apart, and the cliff looming dangerously close…