Chapter 063
Chapter 63: The Torn Hem
Physician Wang walked out of Auspicious Cloud Residence with his medicine box on his back, sweat beading his brow. Looking up, he ran into Old Madam waiting by the gate and bowed at once: “Old Madam.”
“How is Qing Xuan,” Old Madam asked, her voice tired.
Physician Wang answered quickly to soothe her: “Please do not worry, Old Madam. The Eldest Grandson Young Master’s wound has been stitched. Fortunately it is only a flesh wound and missed the vital spots. He should wake by tomorrow. After that, careful rest will do.”
Some tightness eased from Old Madam’s face. Nodding, she leaned on her dragon-carved cane and stepped inside.
The air in the room was heavy and still. On the bed, Lin Qing Xuan lay pale as paper. A band of gauze circled his temple, and fresh red seeped through, shocking to the eye. Yao Xiao Man sat at the bedside. She wrung a cloth and gently wiped the sweat from his brow. Her hands moved light and steady, and her focus did not waver.
Old Madam’s gaze drifted down and stopped at Xiao Man’s hem. The pale blue skirt had a huge piece torn away, its edge ragged and frayed. Higher up, the girl’s hair was loose, a few wisps hanging by her cheeks. Her eyes were red like a rabbit’s. After a lifetime of storms, Old Madam needed only one glance to understand. Spring Breeze Powder, that filthy thing… this child had suffered.
She asked nothing. She only came forward and laid her wrinkled hand on Xiao Man’s shoulder, patting it lightly: “Take good care of the Young Master.”
Those few words carried the weight of comfort and approval.
From the servants, First Madam learned that Lin Qing Xuan’s wound had been stitched and he was resting. After finishing with Zheng Xiu Yun, she hurried over to see her son. In the room she saw only Xiao Man and the sleeping Lin Qing Xuan. She noticed the torn clothing and remembered the drug was Spring Breeze Powder. A flicker of doubt crossed her eyes as she thought, maybe… it happened?
Seeing Xiao Man’s tear-swollen eyes and the fear and guilt on her face, First Madam settled on a judgment in her heart: [It seems Qing Xuan, under the drug, did end up with this maid. The girl suffered a great wrong but, because of her status, does not dare speak and can only cry in silence.]
She kept her face calm and said to Xiao Man, “Go change your clothes; it is improper to look so ragged.” When Xiao Man obeyed and left, only mother and son remained. Looking at her unconscious son, pain wrung First Madam’s heart. [What sin have I committed… my poor child…]
[The High Monk said his fate is uncommon, yet he is fated with entanglements and must pass a trial. Why must this Karmic Tribulation land on this girl? Must he be hurt again and again to break through this Love Trial?]
Lin Qing Xuan woke to full darkness outside the window. Lamps had been lit. Their warm glow spilled through the bed canopy and stretched the shadows long. A dull, sharp ache burst at his temple like a needle driven into his skull, and with it came every memory before he blacked out.
There was something wrong with that pot of tea. He lost control. He hurt Xiao Man.
He shut his eyes at once. His long lashes cast a shadow that hid all expression. He did not dare think or recall what he had done. Then he felt something odd pressing into his right palm, rough yet soft. He forced his hand open with all his strength.
A scrap of pale blue cloth lay there, edges jagged, torn by violence. On it a tiny winter jasmine bud had been stitched with neat, fine threads. Now several dark red spots stained the delicate blossom.
It was Xiao Man’s bodice. He had ripped it himself.
His heart clenched as if a giant hand squeezed it tight. Pain made it hard to breathe. He had hurt her again. Again, he had failed to protect her.
Outside, wind brushed the trees into a dry whisper like silent laughter. A coil of black mist hovered at the window and drank in every drop of pain and regret on the face of the Buddha’s Chosen. It rolled and wriggled with glee. Hee hee… hurt, regret… this is only the beginning. A fine prey deserves the finest seasoning: pain.
“Was it you again,” a voice said behind it without warning.
The black mist jerked in fright and turned to meet Yao Xiao Man’s clear, cool eyes. At some point she had walked over and now stood with arms crossed, wearing a look that said she was just quietly watching it show off. She swatted at it; the mist nearly flew apart, then scrambled back into a clump and sputtered, flustered: “W… what nonsense!”
“However foolish Zheng Xiu Yun is, she wouldn’t be foolish enough to use a strong love drug on Lin Qing Xuan before she even has a foothold in the Heir Apparent Manor,” Xiao Man said, her eyes sharp as blades. “Unless someone whispered in her ear and fed the worst inside her.”
“Knowing that so what,” the Heart Demon snapped, bouncing in anger because she had hit the mark. “Her own heart was crooked. Her own evil thoughts bit back. What has that to do with me? I am only an innocent little wisp. I at most fanned the flames and said a few tempting words. I did not put the drug in. I will not take the blame.”
With a whoosh, it shot off as a thin streak of smoke.
“Tch,” Xiao Man said with a dismissive curl of her lip as she turned, and found herself looking into Lin Qing Xuan’s open eyes. He was awake.
A guilty jolt ran through her. After all, she had been the one to smash him on the head. It was self defense, true, but she might have hit a bit hard. She did not notice that his gaze held guilt and pain a hundred times deeper than hers. His lips parted; no sound came out.
Xiao Man drew a deep breath and gave herself a fierce pep talk in her heart: [Hold steady, Yao Xiao Man. You are a mature working woman.] [From now on, the client is God. The patron’s health is everything.] [Even if Lin Qing Xuan says cheesy things or tries to touch me, I must not show the slightest rejection.] [Go along with him. Soothe him. Keep a professional smile.] [Do that until he is fully well.] [Yes. I am a smile machine with no feelings.]
At the same time, Lin Qing Xuan laid down iron orders for himself: [I did that to her, yet she plans to go along with me, to soothe me, to pretend to smile.] [What has Xiao Man lived through in this house all these years?] [I must not frighten her again.] [I must control myself, keep the rules, lock the beast tight in my heart.] [I must not let her suffer even a little more. I must not let her… run from me again.]