Snow buds falling into the water
Strangely enough, Lin Yi had only met him a few times, yet she felt that he shouldn't be that kind of person.
If Xie Chengnan had truly been interested in fame, fortune, and power, the Xie family would not have fallen into such a dilapidated state.
"What exactly do you want?" Xie Chengnan pressed closer and asked again.
Lin Yi withdrew his gaze, tightened his grip on the knife, and began to move again, saying, "I don't want to do anything."
"You have no ulterior motives and are simply weeding my house—do you think I'd believe that?"
"I don't believe it either," Lin Yi said arrogantly. "Then why don't you guess what I'll do next?"
Their next confrontation was equally heated, with neither willing to back down, and they ultimately parted on bad terms.
Of course, this unpleasantness was only in Xie Chengnan's view. Lin Yi had her own plans, but before she could even begin to calculate them, trouble struck.
Lin Yi never imagined that the first time she met her personal maid and dowry maid would be like this.
Seeing the weeds in the yard thinning out, Lin Yi felt a sense of relief despite her aching, weak arms, which even felt slightly stiff and swollen. She put down her sickle, straightened her stiff back, and looked at the languid, golden sunlight on the horizon. A feeling of tranquility suddenly welled up within her. Living like this, far removed from the hustle and bustle, far removed from the pursuit of entertainment, didn't seem so bad after all.
But this tranquility was soon broken by the hurried noise outside the courtyard.
Cang Xie rushed in, carrying someone in his arms.
As they got closer, Lin Yi could see that the person in his arms was a girl. The girl looked like she had just been pulled out of the water; she was soaking wet, and water droplets trickled down her damp clothes and onto the ground, forming a winding trail.
Lin Yi didn't have time to ask any questions. He burst open the door and led the person to the bed.
The girl's face was ashen, her lips pale and bluish, her hair was wet and clung to her cheeks and neck, and her body, wrapped in soaked clothes, was still twitching and trembling unconsciously, looking disheveled and fragile.
Lin Yi couldn't help but worry: "Did you call a doctor?"
"The Marquis has gone to invite him; he will arrive immediately."
Although he was said to arrive immediately, Cang Xie didn't know how much longer he would have to wait.
He was ordered to look after Xie Chengfeng, whose young master kept pestering him for candied hawthorns, so Cang Xie went to the market to buy them for him. He happened to find the West Market bustling with activity, but Cang Xie didn't want to join the crowd and wanted to go home early. As he was leaving, he vaguely heard someone exclaim, "Someone has fallen into the water!" Cang Xie, with his pure and kind heart, immediately pushed through the crowd, jumped into the water, and pulled the person out. Only then did he realize that the person who had fallen into the water was Xue Ya.
The West Market was not far from the Xie residence. Cang Xie didn't have time to think much and hurriedly returned to his residence after pulling the person out of the water.
He saw Xie Chengnan at the entrance of the Xie residence. Upon seeing this, the young marquis personally went to fetch the physician and instructed him to bring the man back to Qiu Qingye's courtyard.
The young marquis is actually quite skilled in martial arts and very fast, but the nearest clinic is in the East Market, and doctors probably can't keep up with his speed.
Although Cang Xie took some measures after saving the person to squeeze out the water from her abdomen, he had never studied medicine and did not know if his treatment was correct. Moreover, although Xueya coughed up water, she remained unconscious, which made him somewhat anxious.
Seeing his furrowed brows, downturned lips, and anxious and worried look in his eyes, Lin Yi understood that Xie Chengnan probably wouldn't be back for a while, and the girl's condition was likely to be delayed.
She went up and touched the girl's face; it was ice-cold to the touch. She turned and asked, "Were any emergency measures taken?"
Cang Xie was stunned for a moment, then realized: "After we got ashore, I hit her in the abdomen, and she coughed up a lot of water."
Lin Yi pried open her eyelids and saw that her pupils were slightly dilated, but not deeply, likely due to insufficient oxygen in her body after drowning. He then checked her abdomen and found that there wasn't much water in her stomach, indicating that she had vomited it out in time. However, he could clearly feel the flesh under his hands spasming and contracting, suggesting that the water hadn't been completely expelled.
Lin Yi helped the girl up, turning her face down with her chest and abdomen against the edge of the bed. He slapped her back hard, causing her to cough up a mouthful of water again. Then he pressed his palm against her carotid artery, felt the faint pulse there, and performed several sets of chest compressions and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.
After finishing, Lin Yi breathed a sigh of relief and said to Cang Xie, "You did a good job."
Cang Xie was dumbfounded by her actions. When he heard Qiu Qing praise him, he remembered that although he had never heard of her studying medicine, she was, after all, the daughter of the head of the Imperial Medical Academy. Naturally, she knew more about medical principles than the average person.
He then confirmed, "Is Xueya no longer in danger?"
So she was Xueya.
Lin Yi rubbed his moist lips with the back of his hand. "There's no danger to his life. He should wake up in a few days. We'll have to wait for the doctor to come and examine him more closely."
Now that they were out of danger, the two were no longer as anxious as before.
Lin Yi carefully examined Qiu Qingye's chief maid.
Xueya was fair-skinned, and although her complexion had recovered somewhat after the emergency treatment, it was still paler than most people's. She was slightly plump, with round cheeks and somewhat rounded wrists, making her look remarkably like a fresh, snow-white bamboo shoot.
Xueya is not a bad person and has no evil intentions. She is always trembling with fear when helping Qiu Qing do bad things. She will even secretly help those who have been harmed behind her master's back. For this, she has been punished by Qiu Qing many times.
However, because her mistress was the most vicious female supporting character in the book, she was destined for a tragic end. In the end, her family fell from power, and Qiu Qing died in prison. Xue Ya, as a servant of the Qiu family, was sold into slavery to another household. Because of her beauty, she was envied by the mistress of that household and sold to a brothel, where she met a miserable end. When Lin Yi read this part, he sighed for quite a while.
Not only did Qiu Qing bring about his own demise, but he also caused the Qiu family to be destroyed and everyone around him to suffer a terrible fate.
Now, Lin Yi has become Qiu Qingye, yet she dares not claim she can save them. She's like a clay Bodhisattva crossing a river, unable even to save herself. She can't even control her own destiny, so how can she help others change theirs?
Lin Yi only hoped that she would have enough time to get rid of them before the inevitable end arrived, so that they wouldn't have to suffer around her. As for the rest, that was up to their fate.
A horse neighed outside the courtyard, and Xie Chengnan finally arrived with the doctor.
His speed wasn't actually slow; he forgot to ride a horse when he left, and used his light-footed skills to travel the ten-odd miles round trip in the time it takes to burn two incense sticks. Xie Chengnan had a fine layer of sweat on his forehead, but he didn't have time to wipe it away. He simply threw the panting old man onto the bed in front of him.
Lin Yi stepped aside from the bed and helped the person up, saying, "Please take a good look at me."
The old doctor, quite advanced in years, with a long, thin, mottled white beard, was simply practicing his medical duties when he was suddenly and inexplicably dragged from his clinic, pulled onto horseback, and forced to travel several miles until he was breathless. Then, he was forced to have his pulse taken. Yet, he didn't utter a single complaint. It truly shows the compassion of a healer, and that he values his patients above all else.
Lin Yi couldn't help but feel more respect for him.
After taking Xueya's pulse, the old doctor pondered for a while, then examined her eyelids and came to the same conclusion as Lin Yi.
"After being rescued from the water, you should have already received treatment, right?" the old doctor asked.
Lin Yi recounted everything he had done to Xie Chengnan, who kept glancing at him sideways.
The old doctor nodded in satisfaction after hearing this: "In that case, there's nothing to worry about. She should wake up the day after tomorrow at the latest. Her wet clothes need to be changed as soon as possible. People who fall into the water should avoid cold and dampness. Bring her a thick blanket, and I'll prescribe some tonic medicine. She'll be fine after drinking it for five days."
Lin thanked the old doctor, escorted him to the gate of the mansion, asked him where he practiced medicine and what his name was, and then stood at the gate to watch him leave.
The old man was too old to mount the horse on his own, so Lin Yi helped him up.
The "horse" had long, pointed, erect ears, but it wasn't very big; it was actually a spotted donkey with long ears and a big face.
Lin Yi had never heard a horse neigh before, so he naturally assumed that the "neighing" sound outside the courtyard came from a horse.
However, she didn't get to see Xie Chengnan and the doctor riding back to the mansion together on a donkey, which was a real pity.
The donkey's eyes were larger than the cow's, dark, bright, and moist, with long, thick eyelashes that fanned up and down like small brushes. This was the first time Lin Yi had ever seen a live donkey; she had only ever eaten donkey meat sandwiches before.
She reached out and touched the donkey's fur. It was soft and slightly ticklish to the touch, and the fur was warm, so warm that she couldn't help but touch it a few more times.
The donkey, which had been staring at Lin Yi with its big eyes, now seemed to be either too heavy with the doctor's bag or annoyed by being touched. It raised its leg and was about to kick Lin Yi in the blink of an eye.
But someone is faster than it.
Before Lin Yi knew what was happening, someone pulled him aside, and he staggered a few steps to regain his balance.
"When did your head get kicked?" A familiar yet irritating voice rang in his ears, and Lin Yi felt a wave of fear as he recalled what had just happened.
Lin Yi was saved by Xie Chengnan. She felt a little awkward and wanted to thank him, but she felt that thanking him was not in line with Qiu Qingye's character, so she pushed him away, crossed her arms, and pretended to be proud and indifferent.
Although the donkey missed its kick, it still gave a powerful tumble. Startled by the sudden turn of events, the old doctor clung tightly to the donkey's neck. With its neck bound, the donkey struggled violently, and the two swayed back and forth. The old doctor pleaded with the two men, "Young master, young lady, please help this old man!"
Xie Chengnan grabbed the noose, and with his other hand he slipped into the doctor's tightly bound arms, gently stroking the donkey's fur through the gaps. After calming the doctor down, he then separated the man and the donkey.
After they separated, the donkey actually settled down.
After the doctor was seated, Xie Chengnan gently patted the donkey's rump, and the donkey carried the old man away, swaying and bumping along.
The surroundings suddenly became quiet.
Lin Yi thought he should thank this person, since he had also gone to great lengths for Xueya.
Then Xie Chengnan suddenly spoke up: "There are not enough people in the manor. Since she is your maid, you shall take care of her."
Lin paused, then said, "That's natural."
Lin Yi knew why Xueya had fallen into the water. It was simply because there were no fresh fish at the market that Qiu Qing also liked to eat, and there was no one else around to ask for her help, so he had no choice but to go into the river to fish for her himself.
Even if the fish absolutely had to be bought, this silly girl wouldn't have thought to hire a strong and healthy day laborer to catch it; she insisted on going into the water herself.
Lin Yi felt a pang of heartache mixed with warmth. Although she knew that Xue Ya had done these things for Qiu Qingye, the affection and kindness involved still moved her.
Since she has taken responsibility for Qiu Qingye's fate and her retribution, shouldn't she also be able to take a share of the sincerity and affection that once belonged to Qiu Qingye?
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