Chapter 30 Anger
In the height of summer, the sun beats down on the earth, and the air is thick with oppressive heat.
Mantou sat leaning against the doorway, feeling hot and sleepy, but dared not leave for a moment.
Finally, after he fell asleep for the third time and bumped his head, waking up with a start, the tightly closed door finally opened.
"Young master." Mantou hurriedly stood up.
Fu Yunxiu grunted in agreement and pushed his wheelchair out of the house.
The sun was already setting in the west, indicating how long he had been alone.
Fu Yunxiu exhaled a breath of stale air, looked around a few times, but couldn't see Aman anywhere, so he asked, "Where's Aman? Why can't I see her?"
Ah Man?
Reminded by him, Mantou realized that he hadn't seen Aman all afternoon. Thinking that Aman had been taken away by Yuqiu in the afternoon, Mantou's expression immediately turned sour.
"Aman was taken away by Aunt Yuqiu to see the madam, and she hasn't returned yet," Mantou said.
Fu Yunxiu had assumed that Aman was busy in her vegetable garden again, but upon hearing this, his expression suddenly changed. "Why didn't you say so earlier? When did this happen!"
"When you were resting in the afternoon," Mantou said cautiously, somewhat afraid to look at Fu Yunxiu.
At that time, the lady had not yet come to see the young master, and he thought that the lady must have something to remind her of. Later, after the lady came, the young master was in a bad mood, so he forgot about it.
Now it seems...
"Young master, what brings Madam here today?"
“She doesn’t want us to sell vegetables anymore, including Aman.” Fu Yunxiu’s expression hardened. “Mantou, go to the Marquis’s residence.”
Aman was called away in the afternoon, and it's been almost two hours now. If Madam Fu had released her when she returned, she probably would have been fine. But now, after two hours, Fu Yunxiu has a bad feeling.
"Steamed buns, faster!"
With Fu Yunxiu's constant urging, Mantou pushed the wheelchair so fast that the already short distance was quickly covered.
Fu Yunxiu didn't go through the main gate, but went straight to the East Garden through the back gate.
The old gatekeeper didn't dare to stop him, but he was surprised that the eldest son of the Marquis's mansion, who had never entered the mansion on his own initiative in the past three years, had come today, and looked so anxious.
It was quite a distance from the back gate to the East Garden. Along the way, he encountered many servants from the Marquis's residence. They were both surprised and astonished to see him, and they all bowed and greeted him.
However, the usually courteous Young Master Fu was behaving strangely today. He didn't even glance at them, let alone speak, only urging Mantou to hurry up. When the two arrived at the East Garden, Mantou pushed him inside. The servants responsible for sweeping saw him and hurried over to bow, "Greetings, Young Master."
Fu Yunxiu nodded, and without saying much to them, directly stated his purpose, "Yuqiu brought a little girl with her at noon, where is she?"
"This..." The two looked at each other, seemingly not understanding what he was talking about. "At noon, the servants are not in the courtyard to serve you."
Seeing that their eyes didn't seem to be feigning, Fu Yunxiu asked again, "And what about Madam?"
"Madam isn't feeling well today; she's still asleep."
sleep?
Then Aman was no longer in front of her.
"Mantou, go to the backyard."
The moment I heard "backyard steamed buns," I instantly understood what it meant.
When he was a child, he played with the third young master, who was naughty and often bumped into himself. He was often punished by his wife for this, and it always happened in the backyard.
Now, without Fu Yunxiu urging him, Mantou himself was extremely anxious.
Sure enough, before the two even reached the backyard, they could hear voices from afar.
This backyard was originally a small garden in the East Garden. The craftsmen specially laid small stones on the path to make it look nice and to prevent slipping on rainy days.
The stones were uneven, and Madam Fu would sometimes make workers kneel here as punishment for making mistakes.
Fu Yunxiu hoped he was wrong, otherwise he couldn't imagine what Aman would be like after two hours.
The two crossed the covered bridge and followed the sound, but the scene that suddenly came into view made Fu Yunxiu's eyes widen in horror.
Aman was kneeling on the iron chains, swaying from side to side, unconscious. Two burly men were holding her arms down on either side of her, as if to prevent her from falling.
Her legs were covered in bright red blood, especially below the knees. Her pink dress was so soaked in blood that its original color was no longer visible.
However, Yuqiu still felt it wasn't enough. "San'er, let her wake up."
As soon as she finished speaking, the man called San'er grabbed a ladle of water from a bucket and splashed it on Aman's face.
"Cough cough cough!" Aman was awakened by the water and immediately started coughing.
"See? I told you it was an act." Yu Qiu, hiding in the shade of a tree, fanned herself, her words full of sarcasm. "But this is what A-Man brought on herself. A lowly country bumpkin like her dares to talk back to the Madam. How many lives does she think she has? Does she really think that just because she's favored by the eldest young master, she doesn't care about social status?"
She lifted her foot and stepped directly on Aman's knee, saying, "Today I'll show you what it means to distinguish between superiors and inferiors."
"ah……"
Aman let out a miserable scream, but it was low and weak. Yuqiu laughed heartily, "Keep her there. When Madam gives the order, then let her get up."
This scene deeply shocked Fu Yunxiu; he even felt as if his heart was about to stop.
"Steamed buns." Fu Yunxiu glanced at the steamed buns.
"Yes, young master." Without Fu Yunxiu saying anything more, Mantou knew what he meant. After taking two quick steps closer to them, Mantou released the wheelchair and went to save Aman.
Yuqiu was surprised that someone would suddenly appear to save Aman. Without even seeing who it was, she had two servants hold the person down.
The two servants had already recognized Fu Yunxiu, but hesitated to make a move because of the obvious anger on his face.
"No, you can't take her away. This is Madam's wish." Yuqiu reached for the steamed bun, preventing her from leaving with the person.
Mantou was still supporting Aman and didn't have time to argue with her. He pulled her so hard she almost fell.
Aman, now without support, collapsed into a pool of blood, lifeless and devoid of energy. Fu Yunxiu, finally unable to bear it any longer, stood up, supporting himself on his wheelchair, and kicked the man away.
"Get out of here."
This kick was quite powerful. Because he was weak since childhood, his father found him a martial arts master early on in order to strengthen his body. Unfortunately, due to his weak physique, he only practiced martial arts sporadically and never achieved anything significant.
Even so, kicking Yu Qiu away was still more than enough.
Yuqiu crashed heavily into a tree like trash, then fell to the ground, and didn't recover for a long time.
Fu Yunxiu stumbled, but luckily Mantou caught him in time to prevent him from falling.
"Mantou, take Aman to the clinic."
"Yes." Mantou obeyed, picked up Aman, and ran.
Fu Yunxiu slowly straightened his slightly disheveled sleeves before saying to Yu Qiu, who had just recovered and was trying to get up from the ground, "I've taken my people with me. Go back and tell Madam that if there's anything else, come at me."
His tone was unfriendly, showing no respect or love for his mother whatsoever, which showed how angry he was.
After saying this, Fu Yunxiu pushed his wheelchair away. Yu Qiu watched his retreating figure, still feeling lingering fear.
The young master's kick just now was aimed at killing her. If he hadn't been so weak, she would probably be dead by now.
It seems that the lady was right; this Ah Man is indeed a good piece of chess to keep the eldest son in check.
*
Mantou carried Aman and found the nearest clinic.
The doctor in charge of the clinic was startled when he saw the skirt that was almost completely stained with blood. He quickly told Mantou to take the person to the inner room upstairs.
Fortunately, she was brought in in time, and Aman's life was not in danger. She had only fainted due to heatstroke. However, her leg injury was too severe. The skin on her knee had become necrotic due to compression and high-temperature burns, and it needed to be removed before medication could be applied.
"That must hurt so much!" Even Mantou felt a chill run down his spine just listening to it.
"There's no other way. The injury is too severe. If we don't remove the dead tissue and it gets infected, my whole leg will probably be affected."
"Then I'll have to trouble you, Doctor." Fu Yunxiu pursed his lips, and a rare look of panic appeared on his usually unwavering face.
Because Fu Yunxiu's suppressed aura was too strong, the doctor felt uncomfortable, so when he was about to perform the surgery, he asked the apprentice to take him out, leaving only the two female doctors by his side.
Watching basin after basin of hot water being poured in and then replaced with basin after basin of bloody water, Fu Yunxiu clenched his fists until they cracked.
"Don't worry, young master. Aman is lucky and will be fine."
About half an hour later, the doctor finally came out from the inner room.
As soon as the door opened, Fu Yunxiu was about to rush in, but he bumped into the female doctor who came out carrying a tray.
On the tray, besides two blood-stained props, there was cotton soaked in blood.
Fu Yunxiu's brows were so furrowed they could trap a fly. Seeing the doctor come out, he quickly grabbed his arm and asked, "Doctor, how is she?"
The doctor's arm ached from the drilling, but he couldn't break free, so he patiently said, "She's mostly recovered, but she's still feeling the heat and has taken anesthetic, so she'll need to wait a while before waking up. It's just that her leg injury..."
The doctor hesitated, but Fu Yunxiu became even more agitated. "Doctor, you must save her leg no matter what!"
He didn't want Aman to end up in a wheelchair like him.
The doctor hadn't expected such a strong reaction and quickly patted his shoulder to reassure him, "Her leg is fine, don't worry. It's just that the wound on her knee is quite large. In this hot weather, if it doesn't heal properly, it could develop into an ulcer and endanger her life. And even if it heals, it will leave a very noticeable scar."
Our bodies and hair are given to us by our parents, and we dare not damage them. What's more, a woman who is not yet married has scars on her body, and she may not be able to find a good family in the future.
Fu Yunxiu understood the doctor's concerns. Aman was injured because of him, how could he let her be left with a scar?
Not to mention life-threatening things like developing ulcers.
"Doctor, you must cure her, use the best medicine."
"It can definitely be cured, but the medicine uses extremely precious ingredients, so the price is naturally high. A small box costs twenty taels of silver." The doctor said, "Judging from this young lady's injury, it will cost at least five boxes."
That's one hundred taels.
The doctor didn't recognize Fu Yunxiu, but judging from his clothes, although they were made of luxurious material, they were from several years ago. He figured he must be a fallen young master, which was why he was worried.
"It's okay, we'll use it no matter how expensive it is."
After receiving Fu Yunxiu's instructions, the doctor gave a few points of advice and then went to prepare the medicine for Aman.
Inside the room, the female physician was still bandaging the wound. Fu Yunxiu couldn't go in for the time being, so he had to wait outside.
Mantou looked at Fu Yunxiu, whose face had darkened, and said with great difficulty, "Young Master..."
He had no problem with giving Aman good medicine, but the money...
Back when he was still living in the Marquis's mansion, let alone twenty taels, even two hundred taels would have been something the young master could easily pull out. But now…
Fu Yunxiu understood Mantou's thoughts, pondered for a moment, and then took off the jade pendant that he always wore.
“Let’s pawn this!” Fu Yunxiu said. “And while we’re at it, let’s buy Aman a decent set of clothes.”
"Young Master?" Mantou was reluctant to take it. This was the only keepsake the master had left for the young master, and he had kept it close to his body all these years, never letting it leave his side.
“Let’s take it!” Fu Yunxiu said.
It's just an inanimate object; the living are more important.
"But young master..." Mantou wanted to persuade him again, but it seemed that there was no other way at the moment.
Although reluctant, Mantou ultimately accepted the jade pendant.
When they arrived at the pawnshop, Mantou thought it over and over again, and finally decided to pawn the jade pendant.
He thought that when the young master had money in the future, he could redeem the jade pendant.
Pawning is different from pawning. The pawnshop staff saw that Mantou was in a hurry and had bloodstains on his clothes, so they knew that he needed money urgently and kept trying to lower the price.
In the end, Mantou only received eighty-five taels of silver.
Mantou went to a clothing store to buy Aman a dress, and then went to a carriage shop to rent a carriage.
By the time they arrived at the clinic, it was already dark.
The clinic was already closed; only the lights were still on in the upstairs inner room.
Aman carried her things upstairs and immediately saw Fu Yunxiu sitting in front of her bed.
He was facing Aman, backlit, so Mantou couldn't see his expression, but could feel the anger emanating from him.
Yes, anger.
Even when the young master learned that he would not live past twenty-five, he never had such emotions.
"Young Master," Mantou stepped forward and stood beside Fu Yunxiu, looking down at Aman lying on the hospital bed.
Because of excessive blood loss, her face was almost pale, her eyes, which had been washed with water, were now tightly closed, and her brows were furrowed tightly, whether from pain or something else...
Looking down, Aman was covered by a blanket, so it wasn't really noticeable, except for the unusual bulge at her knees, which constantly reminded them of what had happened to Aman.
This morning, Mingming was a healthy person who could walk and jump.
Of course, compared to his reluctance to part with the steamed bun, the young master probably felt even more guilty.
Mantou opened his mouth, wanting to say a few words of comfort, but didn't know what to say.
It was Fu Yunxiu who spoke first.
"Mantou, do you think... I'm being a little too obedient?"
In the pitch-black, silent night, his voice was low and hollow, as if questioning from the depths of his soul.
"Young master, please don't think like that," said Mantou.
"Do you think this wouldn't have happened if I had been more assertive?"
If he were a little more assertive, would people listen to what he said, and would Aman not have to suffer like this?
Mantou didn't know how to respond to that.
Because the clinic didn't keep anyone at night, Fu Yunxiu and Mantou took Aman home in a carriage that night.
The eighty-five taels of silver that Mantou brought back were only enough to buy four boxes of medicine. The doctor knew they were short of money and didn't insist. He just said that the four boxes of medicine would only last for a month. Although it wouldn't completely prevent scarring, it would at least not be too noticeable.
The doctor explained the dosage and administration, and also gave Fu Yunxiu a few packets of medicine to treat the heatstroke. He instructed Fu Yunxiu to pay special attention to the patient's condition tonight, and to take him to the hospital immediately if he developed a fever.
The two clumsily led the person back to the room and settled them in. During this time, Aman woke up several times, but eventually fell into a deep sleep because the effects of the anesthetic had not worn off.
After tidying everything up, Mantou looked at her young master's pale face and said, "Young master, you should go to sleep. I'll look after Aman here."
Seeing that Fu Yunxiu remained unmoved, he added, "You've been busy all day; you need to take care of yourself."
“I want to wait for her to wake up myself,” Fu Yunxiu said.
Knowing his master's temper, Mantou didn't dare to say anything more and could only sigh deeply, "Then I'll go boil some water. There are still some steamed buns that Aman made this morning left. You should eat something."
After Mantou left, only Aman and Fu Yunxiu remained in the room.
The night was as dark as ink, as still as water. The few stars in the sky were hidden behind thick clouds, awaiting the arrival of the heavy rain.
The wind blowing through the hall made the lights flicker, and Fu Yunxiu's expression was inscrutable, just like his mixed feelings at that moment.
As he just said, the reason why Aman suffered an undeserved disaster was because he had repeatedly given in, which allowed the other party to take advantage of him.
Since she wasn't keeping her promise, there was no need for him to continue playing the ridiculous act of maternal love and filial piety.
A moment later, Mantou brought in hot tea and warmed steamed buns, and poured tea for Fu Yunxiu. "Young master, have some tea to soothe your throat!"
Fu Yunxiu took the tea and held it in his hand, rubbing his fingers on it. After a while, he finally spoke, "Mantou, do you still have those high-quality Xuan paper that the third brother sent?"
"They're here, all safely stored away," said Mantou.
"Find it when you have time, and while you're at it, find that piece of pine soot ink that the second brother brought over too; I need it."
"Young Master..." Upon hearing this, Mantou immediately understood what his young master was about to do.
"Does the young master intend to paint?" Mantou asked, both excited and worried.
The young master studied under famous masters from a young age and is proficient in all the arts, including music, chess, calligraphy, and painting. His paintings, in particular, are renowned throughout Yongzhou. Although they are not priceless, they are still highly sought after by many.
Just then, the third young master had just started his studies. Fearing that the young master's talent would overshadow him, the lady used familial ties as a binding force to make the young master put down his brush and stop painting.
The young master was kind-hearted and thought that he was ultimately a useless person, and that the vast estate of the Marquis's mansion would eventually be handed over to his younger brother, the third young master. To avoid making things difficult for him, he truly stopped painting.
And this letter took eight years to arrive.
Now that the young master can pick up his paintbrush again, Mantou is naturally happy, but at the same time, she is worried about his health.
Painting requires a continuous process and takes a lot of time and effort. Since you are already in poor health, this will probably be very difficult for you.
"Young master, perhaps you should reconsider." Mantou knew that the young master had picked up his paintbrush again to make money, but Mantou felt it wasn't worth it to exhaust himself for money.
“There’s nothing to think about. We can’t keep letting Aman support us forever!” Fu Yunxiu looked at Aman, who was pale on the bed. “Go find her. My mind is made up. There’s no need to persuade me anymore.”
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