Chapter 9: Dream or Reality

Once the sounds outside had faded, the child remained stiff.

It was not until the woman gently shook her shoulders and called to her that the child suddenly snapped out of it, grabbing the woman’s hand in a panic and asking

"Aunt, was that my father who just spoke?!"

The woman chuckled softly: "If it wasn't your father, who would it be? Have you really been frightened out of your wits?"

The child looked at the woman before her with wide eyes, murmuring

"My father? How could it be my father? Is this a dream?"

As she spoke, she pinched her own arm hard, her brow furrowing in pain as she froze in place.

The woman was startled by the child’s sudden, unexpected action. Once she realized what had happened, she immediately pulled up the child’s arm, which was now red from the pinch, to inspect it

"Why on earth are you pinching yourself?"

The child said in disbelief

"How can it hurt? I was clearly burned to death by the fire; I was clearly already dead..."

The woman gently stroked the child’s head

"It seems you were truly frightened. You fell into the pond, and the feeling of being burned was because you had a high fever."

The child frowned, filled with questions, feeling as though her mind could not keep up

"Fell into the water? Didn't they cripple my hands and feet and burn me to death?"

The woman coaxed her gently: "You must have had a nightmare while you were feverish. You are the granddaughter of the Grand Tutor and the maternal granddaughter of the Dingbei General’s estate; who would dare treat you like that?"

The child reached out and held her hands up before the woman, saying urgently

"But look, my skin and flesh were flayed! Look..."

The child looked at her own outstretched hands and froze again. The woman took the child’s hands

"What kind of terrifying dream did you have? Yan'er, don't be afraid, it was just a dream. Look, your hands are fair and tender; where are there any injuries?"

The child pulled her hands back and held them before her eyes, turning them over and over. Her small hands were fair and tender, clearly well-cared for, and her fingernails were a delicate, lovely shade of pink.

The child asked in confusion: "Are these my hands? Why are my hands so small?"

The woman laughed: "How big do you expect the hands of a child not yet nine years old to be?"

"Yan'er! I was taken to the General's estate by Grandfather yesterday, and I only found out this morning that you had fallen into the water. I heard from Yutong that you had woken up—are you feeling uncomfortable anywhere?"

Just as the child was feeling bewildered, a young boy of eight or nine years old ran in from outside. Before he had even crossed the threshold of the hall, he began shouting as he ran, his voice drawing closer until he reached the inner room. By the time he asked the final question, he was already standing by the child’s bed.

The boy had bright eyes and white teeth, and he looked seventy percent like the child on the bed. His hair was half-tied, with the rest falling to his shoulders, and the collar of his robe featured gold-stamped patterns.

Because he had been running, there was a light sheen of sweat on his forehead, and he now stood by the bed, leaning over with his hands on his knees, panting heavily.

Seeing this, the woman stood up, wrung out a towel in a basin of water, and wiped the sweat from the boy’s head before saying

"You could have just walked over properly; why run so fast?"

The boy laughed: "Aunt, I was worried! Nobody told me yesterday, and Grandfather even tricked me by saying he wanted to test my martial arts, taking me to the General's estate. When I woke up this morning and heard what happened, I was so anxious that I made my cousin bring me back immediately."

After speaking, he turned his face to look at the child on the bed and asked

"Yan'er, how are you? Are you still feeling unwell?"

When he finished asking, he saw that the child was only staring at him with wide eyes and not answering. The boy grew anxious

"Yan'er, say something? Does anything hurt? Jin'yan? Speak! Have you forgotten your brother?"

He turned his head to look at the woman and asked: "Aunt, what is wrong with Jin'yan?"

The woman coaxed: "Her body is fine; she was just frightened."

The boy: "Then why won't she speak? Lin Jin'yan! Have you become a mute?"