Chapter 9: I'll be good to you for the rest of my life, Ah Ning.
The full moon celebration came to a successful close, and all the guests departed.
Rongguo Mansion.
A screen decorated with ink-painted plum blossoms divided the room into two sides. Mei Shuxian leaned against her maid, her delicate brows slightly furrowed, and said gently, "I think that General Wei and my brother get along well. I suppose my brother has already made up his mind."
She had heard the mistress mention Miss Wei a few times; she was a wonderful person in every way, except that she was too weak to enjoy the pleasure of others and have children. If she were to marry her, she would only be able to be treated like a precious gem.
"Yes." Mei Jiashan covered the cup, but his thoughts were elsewhere.
He was still thinking about the look that A-Ning had given him during the game of pitch-pot. He must have deliberately avoided it, and A-Ning must have felt bad, especially since she had been tricked in the Rongguo Mansion.
Mei Jiashan became worried as she thought about it, and gradually frowned. She then told Mei Shuxian about Zhu Xuanning's situation.
The person, who had been gentle-looking, lost that gentleness as Mei Jiashan described her.
She raised her hand to cover her forehead with the headband, and the maid beside her immediately began to gently massage it for her.
"How outrageous! This Miss Zhu is at least a distant relative of mine. The old Marquis of Rongguo Mansion is still alive, yet he dares to let people from such humble backgrounds run wild here?"
"Are you judging me, Mei Shuxian, as a concubine, or do you think the Rongguo Mansion is already in decline? Even a starved camel is bigger than a horse!" When Mei Shuxian's face turned cold, she resembled Mei Jiashan by about four points.
"Sister, don't be angry." Hearing Mei Shuxian get angry, Mei Jiashan had no choice but to get up and go behind the screen to personally relieve her headache.
Mei Shuxian's emotions gradually calmed down. She patted Mei Jiashan's hand and gave him a reply: "Brother, don't worry, your older sister will give you an explanation for this matter."
"I'll leave the matters of the inner quarters to them. As for those traitors in the mansion, I'll find them and punish them severely."
After speaking, Mei Shuxian softened her tone and tentatively asked, "You always mention that cousin from the Zhu family in front of me. Be honest and tell your older sister whether you have feelings for her."
Mei Jiashan's fingers paused, then her movements became even gentler: "You even guessed it, as expected of you, elder sister."
"You mention her the moment you see me, you're as busy as a spinning top, and you still remember to come to me for an invitation. If she weren't someone you liked, why would you go to such lengths? You could just have her come with the Zhu family."
"If I can't be sure even when it's so obvious, then I've been wasting all these years of my life." Mei Shuxian said irritably.
"Are you really interested? Or are you just going to treat it like a painting, something to look at and then discard it for the next one, just like before?" Mei Shuxian asked.
Mei Jiashan pointed to his heart, a feeling he had never experienced before.
Mei Shuxian remained silent.
She had assumed that her younger brother wanted to marry the general's daughter because the mistress was weak and that this would allow him to keep changing beauties. But now it seemed that wasn't the case; it must be because of that cousin from the Zhu family.
Mei Shuxian sighed deeply, and a gentle smile appeared on her face again: "I understand. Go do what you want to do. I will take care of things at the Mei family."
She couldn't possibly let her younger brother suffer the same fate as her, unable to be with the person he loved.
When Madam Zhu learned of what had happened at the Rongguo Mansion, she was so angry that she smashed several cups and saucers.
"A bunch of heartless bastards!"
Zhu Baoyue immediately stepped forward to pat Madam Zhu's back to soothe her, while continuing to speak angrily. Then, she changed the subject and said, "Luckily, my cousin didn't have any accidents when she was out relaxing, otherwise I would have felt guilty for the rest of my life. Mother, please give my cousin some more nourishing food and call the family doctor to come and take a look at her."
Madam Zhu became even angrier upon hearing this. This time, she was not angry because Zhu Baoyue cared about Zhu Xuanning, but because those people were scheming against Zhu Xuanning.
This is an extremely vicious tactic. If Zhu Xuanning really has some scandal in the Rongguo Mansion, the relationship between the Zhu family, the Rongguo Mansion, the Mei family, and the Qin family will deteriorate rapidly!
"Mother knows," Madam Zhu replied to Zhu Baoyue. After coaxing Zhu Baoyue back, she immediately told Zhu Yuli about the matter and her speculations.
Zhu Yuli countered with a question: "Does Madam truly not know who orchestrated this scheme?"
Madam Zhu was taken aback by the question and gave her husband a strange look: "How could I possibly know?"
This time, Zhu Yuli fell silent. He glanced at Madam Zhu again and smiled, "Seeing how intelligent you are, I thought you could provide me with some clues."
With just a few words, he made Madam Zhu smile from ear to ear.
Only after Madam Zhu left did Zhu Yuli remove the mask of gentleness from his face.
His wife's intelligence fluctuated wildly, making her difficult for him to understand.
However, whether this is simply out of jealousy towards Zhu Xuanning or a scheme to deal with them, we need to find more clues to analyze.
Not long after, Zhu Yuli heard that Mei Jiashan had come to his door in person, bringing a doctor and a lot of things.
"This Mei Si, isn't he afraid of arousing suspicion from the Zhenguo Mansion by being so blatant?" Zhu Yuli said with a half-smile.
Zhu Yuli sent his trusted aides to excuse Mei Jiashan from the meeting, so that Mei Jiashan could spend more time with Zhu Xuanning.
Not long after, his confidant brought him a message: Zhu Xuanning had developed a high fever.
"Would you like to go and visit him, sir?"
Zhu Yuli's handwriting flowed like a dragon swimming through water, without pausing for a moment, and he didn't even raise his head: "I'm not a doctor, what would I do there?"
The confidant agreed, and seeing that the ink in the inkstone was running low, he tactfully stepped forward to grind ink for Zhu Yuli.
Zhu Yuli picked up his brush, dipped it in ink, and continued writing. After a while, he said, "Go open my private storehouse, pick out some medicinal herbs and send them over; don't let that brat from the Mei family misunderstand that my Zhu family doesn't care about her and can't even bear to send her some medicinal herbs."
Common, relatively young medicinal herbs were not qualified to enter the master's private storehouse. Those that could enter Zhu Yuli's private storehouse were naturally the best medicinal herbs. Not to mention hundred-year-old He Shou Wu or thirty-year-old ginseng, there were even long-aged meat Ganoderma lucidum.
As soon as Zhu Xuanning returned to the courtyard, she took off her fur coat without saying a word.
When Po Mo saw that she had even taken off her jacket and was only wearing a thin undergarment, his eyes were filled with heartache.
"My lady, what are you doing? It's only the beginning of spring, and Kyoto is still quite cold. Even if there's a charcoal fire burning in the room, you shouldn't be standing barefoot like this!"
The cold ground made Zhu Xuanning's toes curl slightly, and her lips lost some color, but she still stubbornly pushed open the window, startling Po Mo who stepped forward to stop her.
Zhu Xuanning had no choice but to give up. She hugged her thin arms and whispered, "I know, but I have to get sick. Sister Pomo, could you secretly fetch me a bucket of cold water?"
Zhu Xuan watched the splashing ink quietly, the tears in her eyes making it impossible for the splashing ink to refuse.
Without asking why, Po Mo simply said he understood and then left to prepare for Zhu Xuanning.
Zhu Xuanning sat down in the large tub of cold water. The water was so cold that it made her shiver, but she still insisted on splashing ink and using a ladle to scoop up the cold water and pour it over her.
A cold wind blew in through the half-open window. Zhu Xuanning gripped the edge of the wooden tub tightly, her reason desperately preventing her from getting up and escaping. She trembled like an autumn butterfly in the winter wind.
"I don't want to torture myself like this, but if I don't, I can't survive if someone comes to check on me in the middle of the night." Zhu Xuanning's voice trembled slightly as she spoke.
In the eyes of those who have already seized power, she is nothing more than a prettier little trinket, and whether a trinket can survive depends entirely on the whims and moods of those in power.
Zhu Xuanning only met that person once. Now she was afraid of death and dared not gamble with her own life, so she could only calculate everything in the most meticulous way.
Hearing Zhu Xuanning's explanation about the ink spill, he only became more silent and poured cold water on Zhu Xuanning spoonful by spoonful, feeling even more heartache for her.
Finally, Zhu Xuanning developed a high fever.
She smiled gently at Po Mo and said, "Sister Po Mo, thank you for your hard work."
With tears in her eyes, Po Mo shook her head and cleaned everything up before running out of the room: "Quickly, beg Madam to summon a doctor! My young lady has fainted from a high fever."
"Dr. Jiang! Dr. Jiang!" Mei Jiashan, who had only brought a doctor with him as a precaution, couldn't even maintain his polite demeanor when he heard the news and called out anxiously.
Before Doctor Jiang could even peek out, Mei Jiashan grabbed the doctor's sleeve and ran off, leaving even Madam Zhu and the others behind in the main courtyard.
"Cousin! Wait for me!" Zhu Baoyue quickly chased after him.
After a brief commotion in the snow-covered courtyard, Mei Jiashan, tormented by various anxieties, remained outside, allowing Zhu Baoyue to follow Doctor Jiang inside.
The commotion at Luoxue Courtyard even alerted Zhu Xiyue.
He ran out of his own courtyard, insisting on going to Zhu Xuanning's room, and even Madam Zhu couldn't stop him.
“That’s my cousin, who shares the same surname as me. All my sisters are visiting her inside. As her younger brother, I’m so worried that I can’t sit still. How can it be considered impolite of me to go in and visit her?”
Does this mean that if my mother falls ill in the future, I won't even be able to go in and visit her, no matter how anxious I am?"
Madam Zhu tried to shut him up with gentlemanly etiquette, but Zhu Xiyue responded with sibling deference, which made Madam Zhu so angry that she could barely keep her composure.
No. She's her biological mother; how can she be compared to that wretched girl from a poor family!
Mei Jiashan looked anxiously inside, and when he saw Zhu Xiyue successfully enter, a hint of envy rose in his eyes.
Finally, Dr. Jiang came out, followed by Zhu Baoyue with teary eyes and Zhu Xiyue with a worried frown.
"Dr. Jiang, how is she?"
Mei Jiashan panicked, his expression revealing his panic, and Zhu Xiyue's gaze fell on him.
"The depression in her heart, excessive worry, and the shock and cold caused her to develop a high fever. This cold and high fever are easy to treat, but the mental illness still needs to be resolved by the young lady herself."
"I've already given Miss Angong Wan to reduce her fever. The rest of the medicine needs to be decocted and taken." Doctor Jiang said, handing the prescription to his apprentice and instructing him to fetch the medicine.
Afterwards, they carefully instructed the family members on what the patient could and could not eat during the illness.
“I’ll go see Dr. Jiang off. My cousin is family too, so he should go see my sister with her.” Zhu Xiyue said softly, turning her head away, unwilling to look at Mei Jiashan.
Mei Jiashan's eyes glistened with tears. She thanked him and immediately went into the room with Zhu Baoyue.
"Mother, you should go too. There are so few servants in the elder sister's courtyard. You and your group won't be of much help. It wouldn't be good if the illness got worse." Zhu Xiyue sincerely advised Madam Zhu before seeing Doctor Jiang off.
Madam Zhu was so angry she nearly fell over. She turned around and said, "Has my youngest son, whom I've raised like a clivia, also learned my veiled barbs? Does he mean that his cousin, surnamed Zhu, is overthinking because she's moved into the Zhu residence?"
They're all flocking around their distant cousins, no one even notices me!
Madam Hua kept trying to appease Madam Zhu, saying, "Young Master is so kind and gentle. He only says things that are for your sake. How could he be so sarcastic to you, Madam?"
You are the mother of the young master and young lady, and the aunt of the young master. They have been so good to the young lady; they will surely treat you even better in the future. How can you hold a grudge against these children?
Although Madam Hua also disliked Zhu Xuanning, to be fair, this cousin really didn't cause any trouble when she came to the mansion.
After being appeased by Madam Hua, Madam Zhu stared at the closed room for several moments, snorted, and turned to leave: "Fine, I'm getting more and more senile. Why bother with a little girl who won't be staying in this manor for long? As long as she doesn't cause trouble and obediently waits to be married, I'm not heartless."
"My dear aunt, if you call yourself heartless, then there are no kind-hearted people in the world," Madam Hua continued to coax Madam Zhu.
The voices in the snow-covered courtyard gradually faded away.
Mei Jiashan sat on the edge of the bed, the pale yellow gauze vaguely concealing Zhu Xuanning.
The gentle-looking young man held Zhu Xuanning's burning hand, his eyes welling up with tears that slowly streamed down his face.
Upon seeing this, Zhu Baoyue quickly left the room, carefully closing the door behind her. She sat outside, wiping away tears and lost in thought.
Even someone as dense as her could tell that her cousin liked her older cousin.
This is good too. She likes both her cousin and her older cousin. It's perfect that they're together.
"A-Ning," Mei Jiashan called softly, her voice nasal.
He regretted it; he regretted bringing Zhu Xuanning into the Rongguo Mansion.
Zhu Xuanning heard someone calling her. The person holding her hand was crying, and tears were dripping onto her fair wrist. She remembered the night in the stone house, when Pei Yu was also holding her hand and crying like that.
Zhu Xuanning was somewhat disoriented and began calling out to people in a weak, almost delirious voice.
"Ah Ning, I'm here."
The sound of "A-Ning" was like a bolt of lightning illuminating Zhu Xuanning's dark world, and her blurred consciousness was instantly awakened by the last bit of vigilance she had left.
Zhu Xuanning opened her eyes and saw the young master of the Mei family, who had long been on her fishing hook, holding her hand and softly shedding tears.
The name that was about to slip from her lips was instantly changed: "Cousin."
Zhu Xuanning closed her eyes, crying weakly, and turned her body towards Mei Jiashan, as if she was about to fall off the bed at any moment.
Mei Jiashan saw it and, disregarding all propriety and shame, hurriedly hugged her, but that was all he did.
"Cousin," she called again, her face flushed, her lips pale, and her eyelashes glistening with tears.
Mei Jiashan felt even more upset.
"I feel so awful, am I going to die?" Zhu Xuanning cried softly.
"No, Aning, don't say such unlucky things. Your cousin has lots and lots of money. He'll hire the best doctors and buy the best medicine for you. It's just a minor cold and fever. How could you die?" Mei Jiashan coaxed her, trying to put her back on the bed.
But Zhu Xuanning refused. She buried herself in Mei Jiashan's arms, clutching the boy's robe tightly, and cried, "You are such a good cousin. Since Mother left, I have never met anyone who is so good to me."
Zhu Xuanning had only pretended to squeeze out a few tears, but when she got to this point, she really cried.
She couldn't waste her true feelings, so she raised her slender white neck, opened her misty, tearful eyes, and sobbed, "Cousin, I'm so greedy, I want you to be good to me for the rest of my life."
Mei Jiashan's fingertips trembled as he wiped away her tears, as if he were holding a precious treasure. He dared not use any more force, and gazed at her tenderly, whispering, "Your cousin will be good to you for the rest of your life."
The gentle affection that welled up in his lowered eyes was just like someone else's.
That's enough.
Zhu Xuanning knew her limits and knew she couldn't say any more.
With tears in her eyes, she smiled sweetly at Mei Jiashan before closing her eyes.
Mei Jiashan sat back down and, through the sheer gauze curtain, began to change the cooling cloth on her forehead every now and then.
Mei Jiashan only stopped what he was doing when there was a knock on the door and the medicine boy brought in the medicine.
"I'll do it," Mei Jiashan said in a low voice.
He took the medicine prepared by the apprentice and personally fed it to Zhu Xuanning.
He thought Zhu Xuanning would be too delicate to drink it like her cousin Baoyue, but Zhu Xuanning, who had been woken up, drank it all in one gulp. When she choked from the bitterness, Mei Jiashan patted her back, both amused and exasperated.
"It's so bitter." Tears welled up in Zhu Xuanning's eyes.
"You know it's bitter, yet you still drank it so quickly." Mei Jiashan wiped the medicine stains from the corner of her mouth and then said, "Open your mouth."
Zhu Xuanning obediently opened her mouth, and then a honey pill was stuffed into her mouth, the sweet taste overpowering the bitterness.
Mei Jiashan blushed and withdrew her finger, which had been accidentally bitten by Zhu Xuanning's teeth.
"Because it's all bitter, drinking it in small sips is obviously more torturous." Perhaps because her body temperature had dropped a bit, Zhu Xuanning had regained some energy and took the initiative to explain to Mei Jiashan.
Mei Jiashan touched her forehead to check her temperature and then told her to lie down and rest.
When Mei Jiashan came out of Zhu Xuanning's room, the two people outside were staring at him expectantly.
Mei Jiashan couldn't help but smile and said, "Don't worry, go back now. Doctor Jiang's Angong Pills are having some effect. Aning is already feeling better and has just taken the medicine and is lying down."
The siblings both breathed a sigh of relief.
"Cousin, would you like to stay for a meal at the mansion?" Zhu Baoyue asked.
Mei Jiashan refused.
After Mei Jiashan left, the masters of the Zhu family finished their dinner and went to rest.
In the deep darkness of night, the Zhu residence welcomed an uninvited guest.
Song Zhaohan stared down at the girl on the couch, her figure almost swallowed up by the night.
He felt he might be sick, otherwise why would he feel lust before pity for Zhu Xuanning when he saw her in illness?
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