Chapter 85 The Children Are Sick
"I didn't do anything, just checked if the general's armor was dry." Ye Wanning turned her face away, as if she was tidying the bed unintentionally, but the tips of her ears had just started to hurt, all because she was too engrossed in embroidery. She didn't know how many times the little silver tiger had been pricked, and it was still throbbing slightly.
"Hmm, this little tiger is quite unique." Pei Zhi didn't expose her lie, and with a smile, he untied the quilt, got out of bed, and went straight to the tent pole to take off the armor. As soon as he put it on his shoulders, his fingertips immediately touched the different texture of his shoulder armor - not the coldness of the armor, but the warmth of the silk threads.
He paused, then raised his hand to gently stroke the tiny silver tiger, which seemed to strike his fingertips like a thud. His heart suddenly raced. Pei Zhi lowered his head, staring at the design, his eyes overflowing with amusement. The little tiger looked exactly like the one he had drawn; apart from Ye Wanning, no one else could embroider it so perfectly.
"This little tiger is quite unique." He turned to the side, holding up the shoulder armor close to Ye Wanning's eyes, his tone teasing with a knowing hint, "Who embroidered it? Perhaps it was a soldier's family member who secretly sent it as a token of their affection?"
Ye Wanning's face flushed instantly, and she avoided his gaze, not daring to look at him: "What family member? It was me... I just mended it on the spur of the moment. If the general thinks the stitches are too rough, just throw it away." As she said this, her heart suddenly tightened, afraid that he really thought it was bad.
Pei Zhi suddenly pressed the armor against his chest, so hard it felt like it was digging into his flesh. He stared at her flushed earlobes, his voice as gentle as water: "What are you complaining about? This is my most precious possession."
He paused, gently tapping the small tiger beside him with his fingertip: "From now on, I will only wear this armor in the most crucial moments. After we have pacified the barbarians, I will take it back to the capital and let everyone see that on my armor, Pei Zhi, lies the mark of my woman."
Ye Wanning's heart skipped a beat. She looked up and met his earnest eyes. Sunlight streamed through the tent, falling into his eyes and shining as if a sky full of stars filled the room. Her throat was dry. She wanted to say something, but couldn't utter a single word. Her Adam's apple bobbed, but in the end, she could only let the heat from her cheeks spread to her ears.
The sounds of training outside the tent never stopped, but inside it was so quiet that they could hear each other breathing. Pei Zhi, wearing armor embroidered with little tigers, stood even straighter. Ye Wanning looked at his back and suddenly felt that no matter how cold the border was or how dangerous the war was, as long as this person was still there, her heart would always be warm.
The cries from Ci'an Hall were like sharp needles, piercing Ye Wanning's heart one by one.
Overnight, all three children developed high fevers, their little faces flushed red, and they lay in bed whimpering. Little Bean, usually the most boisterous, was also exhausted, and with bleary eyes, she called out, "Sister Wanning, I feel unwell."
"Miss, what should we do?" Chun Tao rushed in carrying a cup of cold water, placed a handkerchief on Xiao Douzi's forehead, and was so anxious that tears were about to fall. "Doctor Li said it's an acute cold, highly contagious, and two more children have started coughing!"
Ye Wanning's hands trembled uncontrollably. She looked up the prescriptions for "wind-cold" and "fever" from the medical books left by her mother, and carefully examined them. Either the rare medicinal materials were unavailable, or the medicines required a long brewing time, and there simply weren't enough.
She rushed home from Ci'an Hall as fast as she could, intending to buy fever reducers at a pharmacy. However, after running around the West Market, she found that all three pharmacies said that colds were rampant and the fever reducers had already been sold out.
"Please, can you look again? Even just a little bit will do!" Ye Wanning grabbed the arm of the last pharmacy owner, her voice already choked with emotion.
"Miss Ye, it's not that I don't want to help you, it's just that we really have none left. Even the Imperial Hospital is short of medicine; I heard that children of officials suffering from colds have to wait in line for medicine."
Ye Wanning seemed to have been blown away by a gust of wind. Dejected, she returned to Ci'an Hall. A gust of cold wind blew, and tears finally streamed down her face. The children were still waiting for her return, but she had no medicine with her. Was she really going to just stand by and watch them suffer?
She lowered her head and returned to Ci'an Hall. As soon as she pushed open the door, she was startled to see someone leap down from the roof beam. She breathed a sigh of relief after recognizing it as Pei Zhi's bodyguard—she had seen that bodyguard a few times; he was the one who delivered news to Pei Zhi.
"Miss Ye, the general has sent me to deliver some things to you." The guard handed her a wooden box and a neatly folded note with a few lines of small writing on it.
The wooden box did indeed contain some medicine, and when the note was unfolded, it revealed a delicate portrait of a beautiful woman.
Ye Wanning quickly opened the wooden box, inside which were several neatly arranged packets of medicinal herbs and a small jade bottle. Trembling, she picked up the herbs and smelled them. They were top-grade Bupleurum and Honeysuckle for treating colds, along with an extremely precious Snow Ginseng. Could this be the fever reducer mentioned in the medical books?
The small jade bottle contained a pale yellow ointment with a faint minty scent, presumably for external application to reduce fever. Her hands trembled as she opened the note. Inside was Pei Zhi's familiar handwriting, strong yet unusually gentle: "The imperial physician said that children with colds need to have honey added to their medicine. It's already been prepared and placed at the bottom of the wooden box. Give the child the medicine every half hour after it's decocted. Remember to avoid the eyes when applying the ointment. Take good care of the child, and take good care of yourself. Don't worry."
The words "honey as medicine" surged into Ye Wanning's heart like a warm current. She recalled how Pei Zhi secretly added maltose to her porridge at the border, and her eyes suddenly stung, blurring her vision. Pei Zhi, though at the border, knew about her children's illness and had medicine prepared, even writing down the details of how to use it.
"How did the general know the children were sick?" she asked the guard, looking up at him.
"The general has his subordinates report on the situation in the capital every day. Last night, upon hearing that a child in Cining Hall had a fever, he immediately sought a prescription from the imperial physician and ordered a search of the military camps and pharmacies throughout the capital to gather the necessary medicinal herbs. He had them delivered in the early hours of the morning," the guard respectfully reported. "The general also said that if the herbs are insufficient, he would send someone to report again, and he would even resort to robbery to obtain medicine for the children."
Ye Wanning's tears flowed uncontrollably. She could almost see Pei Zhi anxiously waiting for her in the military camp, his wounds still healing and needing further care, running around tirelessly for her sake. His tender expression pleased her more than any sweet words.
"Chuntao, quick! Boil water and brew the medicine!" She wiped away her tears, picked up the herbs, and rushed into the kitchen. Sure enough, at the bottom of the wooden box was a small jar of maltose, sealed with beeswax, still warm, presumably just delivered.
The aroma of medicine quickly filled Ci'an Hall. Ye Wanning personally oversaw the process in the kitchen, watching the medicine pot and stirring it constantly. Every now and then, she would add a spoonful of maltose.
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