Chapter 4: Good Medicine

Xu Weishu frowned. The only person who could barge in like this around her was likely one of the few maidservants her mother had left behind.

Opening her eyes, she indeed saw a very familiar figure running toward her in a stagger, collapsing directly at her knees and wailing loudly: "Little Mistress, please save the Young Master! You are his biological elder sister, you cannot stand by and watch him die! This servant begs you, this servant kowtows to you!"

The young girl's hair was disheveled and her face was covered in grime; she was soaked through, her face frozen a sickly blue and purple. Her voice was hoarse, and she seemed unable to hold herself up any longer, her entire body curled on the ground, trembling uncontrollably.

Xu Weishu raised an eyebrow. "Yuzhen?"

While kowtowing, the maid cried, "The Young Master got into a fight with the little prince from Prince Rui's household and even knocked out one of the little prince's front teeth! The Duke was furious and applied family discipline, striking the Young Master with ten canes and punishing him to kneel in the ancestral hall. His constitution has always been frail; after receiving the cane punishment and then freezing in the ancestral hall, wouldn't that take his life!"

As she spoke, Yuzhen looked as if she were about to faint, clearly having been terrified. Xu Weishu sighed softly, personally poured a cup of hot water—it was merely pure, warm water—and handed it over, saying gently, "Don't panic, have some water."

It was unclear whether it was because her voice was too gentle or because this cup of water was extraordinary, but after Yuzhen took two sips, her chaotic thoughts actually calmed down slightly, though she continued to sob and shed tears.

Xu Weishu felt a pang of heartache. This was not the past; her ability to control water had diminished significantly. The "Lucky Water" that could truly make a person feel completely refreshed in both body and soul was now only available in a tiny trickle every day—not even enough to irrigate the newly established vegetable plots and medicinal gardens at home. Now, to coax this little maid, she had wasted half a drop for nothing.

The "Young Master" Yuzhen spoke of was Xu Weishu's half-brother.

In the original host's heart, this person had always been an untouchable knot of trauma.

The former Duke of Ying, Xu Jinglan, had been dashing and extraordinary in temperament, a man who loved his family, his wife, and his daughter. He was the best husband and father in the world; in his household, there were no concubines, not even chambermaids. Who could have known that six years ago, he suddenly brought a child home, claiming it was a son born to a mistress he kept outside. Now that the mistress had died in childbirth, he had no choice but to bring the child back.

How proud was Xu Weishu? She had always been someone who could not tolerate even a grain of sand in her eye; how could she tolerate a child of a mistress—someone even inferior to a concubine's son—mysteriously entering the household and actually attempting to be registered under her mother's name?

Yet, her mother, for some unknown reason, had agreed without a word.

One must never assume the Duchess of Ying was just an ordinary woman who only knew how to obey her husband. She had once been a renowned lady of the capital, a heroine in her own right; even after marriage, she still rode horses through the streets with unbridled grace. Since Xu Jinglan never had concubines or chambermaids, Xu Weishu could never understand why she suddenly had a half-brother. Outsiders praised her mother for being kind and magnanimous, a model wife and mother, and even those who used to mock her for being jealous had changed their tune. But how could Xu Weishu like such a brother? In the past, she had simply ignored him entirely, treating him like air.

It wasn't until Xu Weishu had "changed" that she felt inclined to care for this last bit of bloodline left by her father. Unfortunately, the child himself was unwilling and was closer to that aunt. Furthermore, she lived in a thatched hut to observe the mourning period; she could not allow a five-year-old child to suffer alongside her.

Three years passed in a flash. Aside from meeting once at the very beginning, she had returned a few times but never crossed paths with him.

"When this servant left, the Young Master was still kneeling in the ancestral hall. Little Mistress, your kindness is immense, truly immense!"

Xu Weishu sighed. "You say, he fought with someone else?"

Yuzhen nodded vigorously.

"Since that is the case, as elders, your Second Uncle and Second Aunt—and the current Duke and Duchess—applying family discipline as a minor punishment to serve as a warning is only natural," Xu Weishu said with a cold face.

With just this one sentence, Yuzhen's face turned pale and she slumped to the ground. But what could be done? Could Xu Weishu go and argue that the current Duke of Ying, the head of the Xu clan, could not punish a junior for breaking family rules and causing trouble? Such logic did not exist anywhere.

The atmosphere in the room grew heavy.

Xu Weishu frowned. Although in her memory this child had grown up and remained alive until the Duke's manor disappeared—constantly causing trouble for the original host—she thought that the child was, after all, her father's true bloodline and was ultimately innocent. Moreover, doing some good deeds to accumulate merit was better than nothing. Ultimately, she took two jade bottles from the medicine box on the table and handed them to Baoqin. "I will write an invitation and prepare a gift. You take one bottle to Prince Rui's manor, and take the other to Xiaobao."

Baoqin responded. Yuzhen's expression had been dim, but the moment she saw the bottle held in Baoqin's hands—unadorned, save for a single hollowed-out character for 'Gold' the size of a thumbprint carved into the body—she instantly showed a look of wild joy.

In the capital, even the street vendors knew that the world's miraculous medicines were branded with the words "Gold" and "Silver." Ever since the "Gold" and "Silver" branded medicines appeared two years ago, they had successively cured General Sun, who was on the brink of death with twenty-three fatal knife wounds, and the unfortunate Prince Pingnan, Geng Li, who had contracted a plague. Divine medicines with "Gold" or "Silver" carved on the bottles were worth a thousand pieces of gold and were hard to come by; even those in the palace were scarce.

Rumor had it that these medicines came from a Taoist temple called Ziyun Temple within Mount Dongxiao.

The temple master was originally a highly enlightened master and a guest of the heavens who had lived in seclusion for many years, no longer concerned with worldly affairs. However, two years ago, he accidentally encountered a fellow Taoist in the mountains. The two talked for a whole day; no one knew what they discussed, only that the next day, the temple master laughed loudly three times and decided to use two very common worldly words as his brand to start a medicine business. To call it a business was an understatement; he could only produce one type of medicine a month—either an external wound medicine or a medicine for difficult diseases—and having three bottles of one kind was considered a lot.

Because the effects were excellent and the quantity was rare, they were always in high demand but short supply. With such a thing as a gift, Prince Rui's side would certainly not blame the Duke's manor just because the children had fought.

Baoqin held the medicine bottle and accompanied Yuzhen out of the manor. Upon reaching the gates of the Duke's manor, they entered through a small side gate in the eastern courtyard. From the moment they entered, both walked quickly with their heads bowed. Every servant they encountered along the way stared at them with sinister eyes. Yuzhen's palms were sweating, but Baoqin remained calm and composed, not taking it to heart at all.

This was to be expected.

In the early years when she first went to the manor, the Little Mistress had almost been worked to death by a group of servants. If the Little Mistress hadn't toughened up later and severely disciplined those servants to terrify them, who knows what would have happened?

It was only inevitable that some lingering resentment remained.

***

Mingguang Hall.

Lady Xiao sat at her desk, copying Buddhist scriptures.

Yurong walked over slowly and said with her head lowered, "Madam, Baoqin has come to... deliver medicine to Songyuan."

Lady Xiao did not speak, nor did she look up; she merely increased the force of her brush by three parts. These scriptures were meant to be peaceful, but now they carried a sharp, confrontational tension. She stared at them for a moment and actually found it quite good, deciding to set them aside to offer before the Buddha. The Buddha was not just merciful; he also had the Wrathful Vajra to subdue demons.

Lady Xiao smiled slightly. "Oh? She is quite thoughtful. If they want to send it, how can we stop them? Go and take a look."

Yurong quickly lowered her head and retreated respectfully. As she stepped out the door, a thin layer of cold sweat broke out on her back.

Lady Xiao looked up at the plain white brush washer on the table, which seemed a bit bland in her eyes, and a hint of ferocity appeared on her face. "Your daughter's servant is quite loyal, knowing to advise her to send medicine to that little thing. Does she think that will win back that little thing's heart? What kind of dream is she dreaming? After years of neglect, it's a miracle the little thing doesn't hate her to death."

Lady Xiao shook her head, laughing inwardly. "That precious daughter of yours, pampered for over a decade, has a temper as foul as it is stubborn. She knows nothing except eating, drinking, and playing. Her studies are half-hearted at best, and she is even uglier than her personal maids—her face looks like it's covered in hair—yet she thinks she possesses unmatched talent and beauty. She thinks everyone else is an ant beneath her feet while she sits among the clouds. With that kind of character, who knows how she will ruin herself in the future? It's just a pity you won't be around to see that day."

Even when she was still a non-entity in the Duke's manor, she had never held Xu Weishu—the daughter of the Duke's manor whom Shi Yan loved to the bone—in any regard.

Compared to Shi Yan, she, Xiao Wan, indeed came from a smaller, humbler family. But no matter how humble her background, she knew that with Xu Weishu's temperament, it would be strange if anyone *didn't* hate her, other than her own father and mother who thought she was wonderful!