When Jiang Jiaran saw that the kite she had made had fallen into the neighboring courtyard, she could not help feeling a faint sense of unease.
She thought that Lier would just go pick it up. Instead, the little troublemaker ran back angrily and said his kite had been taken by Ying Zhaolou.
Jiang Jiaran paused, then looked toward the courtyard wall between them. Her unease deepened.
So it really was picked up by Ying Zhaolou. That meant he had been in the courtyard the entire time.
Had they disturbed him? Had they thrown something into his yard and annoyed him? If he became displeased, it could be disastrous.
In the entire Ying residence, only Lier would openly protest Ying Zhaolou’s behavior. He ran off angrily and said he would go get materials to make another kite, insisting she make a new one with him.
Jiang Jiaran could see that Ying Zhaolou seemed to dote on his younger sworn brother. But even so, he did not hesitate to take a child’s toy away.
As expected of an unpredictable villain.
Maybe the kite falling into his courtyard had annoyed him, so he confiscated it out of displeasure.
After waiting for a while and hearing no movement from the neighboring courtyard, she finally relaxed slightly.
It seemed that when it came to matters involving Lier, Ying Zhaolou was still quite tolerant.
A thought suddenly crossed her mind, and she opened the system interface.
In the original story, a major villain like Ying Zhaolou should be filled with dark and sinister energy. In that case, the system should be able to absorb a large amount of negative energy from him.
Right now, she was extremely poor in energy. She could not even afford medicine for the Old Madam, let alone a vial of self-defense poison.
However, when she checked, she found that the value had not changed at all.
Come to think of it, from the very beginning, Ying Zhaolou had never caused the system’s value to increase.
Was it because she was not close enough?
Jiang Jiaran thought about it and quietly moved closer to the courtyard wall. Even when she was practically pressed against it, the value still did not move.
As far as she could tell, the two courtyards were only separated by a wall and were not far apart.
Could it be that the wall was blocking the system’s perception? Or could it be that a villain like Ying Zhaolou simply did not emit any negative aura at all? That made no sense.
She could not figure it out and finally gave up for now.
…
Lier’s temper came and went quickly. After getting a new kite, he no longer argued and generously declared that he was giving the old one to his brother.
After all, his brother was now a sick person.
He played with the new kite for several days and often disappeared for long stretches. Even at mealtimes, he frequently did not return.
With the noisy little child missing from the table, Ying Zhaolou felt the meals had become far too quiet.
He even reflected on why he had bothered in the first place.
Shi Feng mentioned casually while clearing the table, “There has been some movement in the sect recently. Zhan Cenwei has not given up.”
Ying Zhaolou gave no clear expression and only responded lightly.
“Mm.”
After a pause, he slightly turned his gaze.
From outside the window, a tempting aroma drifted in with the wind.
“What is being made?” he asked.
Lier asked eagerly, “Sister-in-law, can you make kites?”
Jiang Jiaran placed the pot down in front of him.
“Malatang.”
“Wow!” Lier clapped his hands. He did not know what it was, but it already sounded delicious.
“Eat less.”
“Sister-in-law, I am still growing.”
“Growing sideways also counts as growing.”
On Jiang Jiaran’s side, everything looked peaceful and calm. But the Jiang residence was in chaos.
Jiang Qin had suddenly fallen ill. He had spent the entire night with a fever and now looked like a wilted vegetable, unable to get out of bed.
In fact, he had already been feeling unwell for some time. However, believing himself to be young and strong, he had not taken it seriously.
After meeting Jiang Jiaran and hearing her strange words, he had become increasingly worried. The more he thought about it, the worse he felt.
Then his condition truly deteriorated.
Jiang Qin still did not know what illness he had. He lay in bed with a high fever, alternating between chills and heat, and in his feverish haze, all he could see was Jiang Jiaran’s calm, mysterious smile.
He grabbed First Madam’s sleeve in panic.
“Mother, save me. Quickly call her. Let her come save me!”
It was what Jiang Jiaran had said. If he did not want to die, he should come find her. She could save him.
First Madam was already frantic, trying to comfort him while wiping tears from her eyes. She had summoned several physicians, but none could bring the fever down.
Now she had brought the best physician available.
Outside the room, the physician shook his head.
“I will do my best…”
First Madam’s heart sank.
How could this be? He had been perfectly fine before.
She suddenly remembered what Jiang Jiaran had said that day and shouted angrily, “This must be witchcraft!”
The physician frowned deeply.
“What witchcraft? The young master is suffering from a severe infection. It has been developing for some time and has now flared up.”
There was no witchcraft. It was simply disease.
He continued, “From his complexion and condition, there were already signs earlier. The illness had been developing beneath the surface for some time.”
In truth, in households like this, physicians rarely spoke too plainly. The patient clearly frequented indulgent places and was physically weakened. It was likely contracted there.
“I will prescribe medicine to reduce the fever first,” he said. Otherwise, the patient might die from the heat before treatment could even begin.
But even so, such severe illnesses were rarely easy to cure.
“Quickly, write the prescription,” First Madam ordered. “And send for the master immediately.”
Jiang Jiaran was awakened from her nap.
“Second Madam is here. She is already inside,” Yu’er said nervously, trying to stop them at the door, but she was quickly pushed aside.
Second Madam had come directly from the Ying residence without even waiting to meet the Ying family first.
Jiang Jiaran sat up and saw her adoptive mother rushing in, grabbing her shoulders tightly.
“Can you cure Jiang Qin’s illness?”
She immediately understood. Jiang Qin’s condition had worsened.
In the story, after Jiang Minxian fled the marriage, she had learned of Jiang Qin’s death from illness while investigating the situation in the capital.
So Jiang Jiaran already knew Jiang Qin would not live long.
And more importantly, the system reaction that day had been very clear.
Frankly, Jiang Qin had also been extremely irritating at the time, which made it hard not to do something.
Jiang Jiaran brushed her hand away.
“I do not know. What is wrong with him now?”
Second Madam was choking with anger.
“How can you not know? Did you not already see that he was ill?”
“I only said it casually. I am not a physician,” Jiang Jiaran replied, then added before she could explode, “But I do happen to have some good medicine.”
Second Madam’s expression brightened immediately.
“Quickly give it to me. He is burning up. It is urgent.”
Jiang Jiaran did not move.
“Madam, that is not how one asks for help.”
Second Madam looked at her, and her agitation slowly settled.
After calming down, suspicion rose in her eyes.
“Where did you get medicine like that? What exactly is it for?”
“I have been having dreams lately,” Jiang Jiaran said suddenly with a faint smile.
“Dreams?” Second Madam blinked.
Jiang Jiaran nodded seriously.
“In the dream, I met a great divine physician from the Ninth Heavens, who gifted me immortal medicine.”
Second Madam was stunned.
Was she seriously spouting nonsense like this?