Chapter 23 Changing the Medicine: Kim Shi-ok Doesn't Dislike Kim Sui-qing
He remained silent for a long time, so quiet that even his breathing seemed to have disappeared.
Slowly, Jin Suiqing put away her stubbornness, loosened her grip on Jin Shiyu's clothes, and gave a very soft "oh".
Jin Shiyu silently turned around and went to the desk to rummage through a box for scar removal ointment.
He was addicted to pain, strangely so, and the only object of his pain was Jin Suiqing.
The story begins with a mechanical cicada smashing his forehead, and Kim Si-ok's morbid "enjoyment" comes from his sister's pain.
Not satisfied with just the pain, he would continue to bump, stab, and cut along the marks left by his sister, unable to control his strength, often leaving blood everywhere.
He liked to use this method to deepen his disgust for his sister.
In this way, Kim Si-ok warned himself again and again.
Kim Si-ok should dislike Kim Sui-chung.
After developing this habit, he prepared so many wound medicines so that he could treat his wounds at any time.
Jin Shiyu lowered his head and rummaged through the medicine box for wound medicine.
In the past two years, my younger sister has grown up and no longer hurts him without thinking, just like she did when she was little.
He has used very little of this medicine; in fact, in recent days, he has used it on his sister more often than on himself.
Kim Shi-ok's hand hovered over the medicine bottle for a moment, then he avoided the one he used most often and chose the one in the corner.
He wiped the thin layer of dust off the small porcelain bottle, which had analgesic effects, but he didn't like it and rarely used it.
Jin Shiyu, holding the medicine bottle, grabbed a pair of scissors and knelt down by the bedside, cutting open Jin Suiqing's trouser leg: "It might hurt a little."
"Um."
Jin Shiyu washed his hands and applied ointment to her wound. Jin Suiqing's leg twitched, and he grabbed her ankle, holding it firmly against his abdomen: "Don't move."
Jin Suiqing said in a soft voice, "It hurts."
"Bear with it," Jin Shiyu said, looking down at her wound. "The more it hurts, the fainter the scar will be."
Kim Shi-ok: "Burns should not be bandaged, should not come into contact with water, and the ointment should be applied wet..."
A tear fell onto the back of Kim Si-ok's hand.
Jin Shiyu paused for a moment before looking up at Jin Suiqing.
Jin Suiqing's eyes were brimming with tears, enveloping her glassy eyes and forming an exaggerated arc. The tears were accumulating between her eyelids, about to fall, and glistening in the moonlight.
The younger sister, suppressing a sob, hurriedly wiped away her tears and said in a muffled voice, "I know, brother, thank you, brother."
Jin Shiyu turned his head to look at her: "Does it hurt a lot?"
Jin Suiqing shook her head: "It doesn't hurt."
Kim Shi-ok's breath hitched.
The younger sister seemed to not want him to see her cry, and kept wiping away her tears. Soon, she covered her eyes with her sleeve.
She didn't cry or make a scene; she was very sensible and kept whispering that it didn't hurt.
Jin Shiyu panicked again and grabbed Jin Suiqing's hand: "It's dirty, don't rub your eyes."
Jin Suiqing ignored him: "Brother, you hate me."
Jin Shiyu dared not look away: "Be good, it won't hurt in a bit."
"It's okay if my brother hates me, it's all my fault."
Jin Shiyu dared not breathe and forcefully pulled Jin Suiqing's hand away: "Don't rub your eyes!"
Jin Suiqing opened her eyes wide in fear and looked at him timidly.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Kim Si-ok lowered his head. "Brother was too anxious. Brother didn't mean it."
Calming his breathing, Jin Shiyu looked up and raised his hand to wipe away her tears: "I...I, brother doesn't hate you."
Jin Shiyu heard a soft "ding" sound from his chest, faint yet crisp, like a bird's song coming from an empty valley.
Does he hate his sister?
Jin Suiqing sniffed: "Really, brother, you're not lying to me?"
Is he lying to his sister?
Jin Shiyu dared not look Jin Suiqing in the eye. He looked away and pulled Jin Suiqing into his arms: "I'm not lying to you."
He didn't know.
Unaware of anything amiss, the younger sister hugged him back, laughing and crying at the same time: "I knew it! Brother won't hate me!"
Jin Shiyu patted Jin Suiqing's back gently, just like when he was soothing his younger sister to sleep as a baby.
He didn't know, and he didn't know what to do.
*
After calming Jin Suiqing down, Huihong returned with the doctor. The doctor examined Jin Suiqing's wound and said, "It was treated quite well. You're experienced."
Jin Shiyu focused on tidying up the medicine bottles and didn't reply to him.
The doctor, finding the handsome young boy rather uninteresting, gave him the same instructions as Kim Si-ok: "Avoid spicy and greasy foods, prevent the wound from becoming infected, and do not let it come into contact with water..."
Huihong tried her best to remember the instructions, but the doctor was too talkative, and Huihong wouldn't let go of him: "Please write down a list for me and write down all the instructions on it."
Huihong pulled the doctor away.
Jin Suiqing looked at Jin Shiyu's tall and slender back and took a deep breath.
Don't laugh, you absolutely mustn't laugh at Jin Suiqing. If you laugh now, all your previous superb acting skills will be wasted.
That's right, she started acting the moment she left Zuixianlou.
In the past, when she faced Jin Shiyu, she was always "unrestrainedly cautious," carefully controlling her words and not daring to speak frankly, for fear of angering him.
Taking advantage of the incident at Zuixianlou today, Jin Suiqing took action to shatter Jin Shiyu's stereotype of being emotionally obtuse to the fake heiress.
Tell your brother that your sister may be slow-witted, but she is emotionally sensitive and can sense his malice.
The saying goes, "No destruction, no construction," and this should also apply to building goodwill.
Judging from his behavior, Kim Si-ok seems to have come to dislike her a little bit.
At least I can fool her with lies, that's a good thing.
Jin Suiqing was overjoyed but dared not show it. To avoid ruining the situation, she could only speed up the pre-arranged process and pointed to the bamboo tube on the table, asking, "Brother, what's that?"
Kim Shi-ok noticed it too, but didn't make a note of it.
From the moment he entered the room, he noticed the bamboo tube on the table.
Those weren't his; someone secretly brought them in.
Jin Shiyu remained calm, packed up his medicine box, and picked up Jin Suiqing from the bedside: "That's the homework I brought back from the National Academy."
Jin Suiqing coughed and pretended to be stupid, saying, "Oh, brother must be having a hard time, having to do homework."
“You’ll have to do it too in the future,” Kim Si-ok snorted. “Don’t even think about escaping.”
Jin Suiqing: "Ah, no, I just want to play, I don't want to do my homework. I used to feel uncomfortable whenever I saw Teacher Chai in class."
Kim Shi-ok: "Then I won't go to school."
Jin Suiqing decisively said, "No, let's do our homework instead."
Jin Shiyu chuckled lightly: "Change the dressing every three days, remember to come find me."
Jin Suiqing nodded hurriedly, but inwardly he was already complaining.
If I don't come to see you, will you continue to raid me every night?
I should still go to Jin Shiyu's clinic on time to change the medicine.
It was terrifying to have a sinister, cold-faced man sitting by her bedside every day; she was too scared to even sleep. She didn't want to go through that again.
“Okay, brother!” Jin Suiqing replied cheerfully.
After returning Jin Suiqing, Jin Shiyu quickly went back to his room, picked up the bamboo tube, checked it over, and, confirming there were no hidden mechanisms, opened it.
It is a rubbing of the voucher that he was unable to bring out from the Drunken Immortal Pavilion.
Jin Shiyu was somewhat surprised. He flipped through the vouchers one by one and found a slip of paper with a sentence written on it: "The theft of the sulfur combustion machine was pointed out by Qin Xianglan. I am willing to make amends for my mistake."
Jin Shiyu emptied the bamboo tube again; it was empty. He then stared at the note for a moment.
This note, however, shifted the blame for both cases onto the dead.
Zhang Yuyi probably anticipated this day and made backups of his actions, waiting for an opportunity to redeem himself and escape punishment.
Based on what his sister said, Zhang Yuyi sacrificed himself to save her, which seems plausible.
If this speculation holds true, he shouldn't choose to commit suicide, and Zhang Yuyi still has a chance to survive.
What puzzled Jin Shiyu even more was Zhang Yuyi's last words before he died.
"A brother is meant to die for his sister."
As he read those words aloud, Jin Shiyu's chest trembled violently. He suddenly tightened his grip on the paper, crumpled it into a ball, and threw it away.
He leaned on the table for a while to catch his breath, and only put the bamboo tube away after his heartbeat had calmed down.
*
When Jin Suiqing heard that Jin Shiyu was going out and wouldn't be home until evening, she told him when she applied the medicine in the morning, "I want to go out with Huihong to buy clothes."
Jin Shiyu raised his eyes: "Can't we just have Steward Ming invite a tailor to our residence to take measurements?"
Jin Suiqing hesitated for a long time before picking up her dog-chewed hair: "Actually... it's not just that I want to buy clothes, but mainly because my hair looks terrible after being burned. I heard there's a jewelry shop in the city that's very good at hairdressing and styling, and I want to go check it out."
It's only natural for a young woman to want to look beautiful, and Jin Shiyu understood: "How about I go with you another day?"
Jin Suiqing pouted: "No."
"Why?"
Jin Suiqing: "Other girls go with their girlfriends, but I'm the only one going with my brother. Is that appropriate? Besides..."
Jin Shiyu scooped out another spoonful of ointment and pressed it onto Jin Suiqing's wound, causing Jin Suiqing to hiss in pain.
She grinned and said, "Brother! Brother is so handsome, everyone will definitely crowd around to look at him. I don't want anyone else to look at my brother!"
Jin Shiyu coughed lightly and applied the medicine with less force. After a long while, he said, "Okay, go home early."
Jin Suiqing happily agreed. After watching Jin Shiyu leave the mansion, she took Huihong's hand and they left the mansion in the rhinoceros-horn carriage.
After driving around for a while, eating, shopping and strolling along the way, we finally arrived at the jewelry shop and pulled Huihong into the shop together.
The jewelry shop owner was a straightforward and spirited woman. Her hair was styled in a high bun with a jade hairpin. She had a long, white neck, wore a red dress, and had a full figure.
Ji Saiyu glanced at Jin Suiqing, her delicate eyebrows furrowed, and she hesitated before saying, "Big Dog and Little Sheep are waiting for you behind them, go ahead."
Jin Suiqing stared intently at Ji Saiyu, finding her increasingly pleasing to the eye, which annoyed Ji Saiyu: "Go quickly, and I'll do the little princess's hair when you get back."
"Oh, oh," Jin Suiqing laughed, "Boss Ji is so handsome, I can't take my eyes off him."
Ji Saiyu was not coy at all. When she was happy, she smiled and revealed a row of pearly teeth: "Little Princess, your praise is so nice. I love hearing you call me 'boss'. Go quickly, I'll prepare a few more sets of jewelry for you."
"Thank you, Boss Ji!"
Jin Suiqing then dragged Huihong to the back door, and they quickly jumped into a carriage. The driver, Gong Dagou, said, "Hold on tight," flicked the reins, and the carriage started moving.
Inside the carriage, Gong Xiaoyang greeted them with a smile.
Huihong was still confused. There was a boy in the carriage who was about the same age as the little princess. She asked in confusion, "Little princess, aren't we supposed to be getting a haircut? Where are we going?"
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