As though some switch had been thrown, the moment the blood was released, Hua Zhi’s complexion began to change — the pallor of her face suffused with color.

Gu Yanxi did not know whether this sudden change was a good sign or bad, and called out urgently, “Elder Yu!”

Elder Yu paid him no heed. He kept hold of Hua Zhi’s wrist without releasing it, and only after a moment did he begin sprinkling medicinal powder to stanch the blood, saying, “You must break through before you can build anew. Only by drawing her illness out can this old physician know how to treat it.”

He looked up at Gu Yanxi for a moment and spoke plainly, “At the very least, it is better than having her go on sleeping like this.”

Gu Yanxi’s lips pressed into a thin line. He was a man who normally reacted with lightning speed, yet now he turned the words over and over in his mind several times before he truly understood what was being implied. Go on sleeping like this — go on sleeping… and never wake? Just the thought of it pressed down on Gu Yanxi’s heart like a mountain — a mountain he could never overturn.

The illness came fast and fierce. In the short time that had passed, Hua Zhi’s face had already flushed a deep crimson. Elder Yu rose and instructed the maids waiting at the side, “Use the method the eldest young miss employed before to bring her temperature down.”

Bao Xia had only caught the gist of it before she was already running out. Ying Chun climbed onto the bed and lowered the curtain, shutting out all watching eyes.

Elder Yu wrote out a prescription and sent someone to fetch the medicine. If they could get the medicine down, all would be well — but if they could not…

He sighed inwardly and dared not dwell on it further. He could only hope that this young woman, whose heart held the whole world, might now find room in it for herself, and endure through this one trial.

Inside the curtains, every stitch of clothing was stripped from Hua Zhi. Ying Chun worked within the curtains while Bao Xia worked outside, each with a basin of water beside her. The sharp scent of wine filling the air, they wrung out cloths and wiped down the young miss’s entire body. Outside the curtains, Gu Yanxi sat leaning against the bed frame, hands clenched into fists, not uttering a single sound.

“Young miss!”

Bao Xia’s cry of alarm startled everyone. Bailin and Zeng Han leaped toward the bed in an instant, and Gu Yanxi was on his feet no slower than they were. Suppressing the impulse to tear the curtain aside, he called out, “What’s happened?”

Ying Chun’s voice came through, thick with tears. “Divine Physician Yu, the young miss has red patches appearing all over her body — they are very bad!”

“Can you make out any pattern?”

“This servant — this servant cannot tell…”

“Look carefully!”

A momentary silence fell. Gu Yanxi exerted every ounce of self-control he possessed to stop himself from ripping the curtain open and looking for himself.

Ying Chun and Bao Xia were both trembling with anxiety. Together they held the young miss upright, and discovered with despair that there were patches on her back as well. And lower still — around the waist, too.

Hastily dashing away their tears, the two carefully lay the young miss back down. Bao Xia went to check the legs, remembering that the young miss had been injured there before as well…

Injured?

Bao Xia suddenly seized Ying Chun’s hand, her voice breaking as she spoke urgently: “These places — all of these are places where the young miss once suffered injuries. Afterward, Miss Shao Yao prepared medicines for her that removed the scars — isn’t that right? Are these not those very same places?”

Ying Chun was startled, then rapidly checked again. Yes — yes, that was right, exactly so!

The moment she saw Ying Chun nod, Bao Xia immediately lifted a corner of the curtain and thrust her head out, crying out in a shaken voice, “The places that are turning red — they are all places where the young miss once suffered injuries! But Divine Physician Yu — Miss Shao Yao tended to all of those places so carefully, even the scars were removed. How could it be, how could it be…”

Elder Yu paced back and forth, deep in thought. After a moment’s reflection he asked, “Has the eldest young miss fallen ill at all these past two years?”

Bao Xia thought carefully. “She would sometimes get headaches.”

“Headaches are from overusing her mind — that does not count as illness. Nothing else besides that?”

Bao Xia exchanged a glance with Ying Chun and shook her head. “Not that this servant recalls.”

“Each time she was injured, she never developed a fever?”

“She never did… there was one time.” Bao Xia remembered it now. “That first time the young miss was injured at the manor, she did develop a fever. After that, it never happened again.”

“Developing a fever is the normal response — that means her body was healthy at the time…”

Gu Yanxi suddenly interjected, “At Yinshan Pass, when she was gravely injured and at the brink of death, she did not develop a fever either.”

“I heard from Shao Yao that you fed her that medicinal pill.”

“I did.”

Elder Yu let out a slow breath. If she had not taken that pill, matters would not be this intractable now. “That medicine was a life-saving remedy, yet it was also a drastic one. After using it, the effect of any other medicines would be diminished. Had she recuperated properly afterward, it would have been fine — the body would have eventually recovered. Yet she never truly recuperated, did she.”

He sat down on the edge of the bed and gestured for the maid to extend the patient’s hand to him.

Watching Elder Yu’s brow remain tightly knitted, Gu Yanxi clenched his fists so hard it felt as though he could wring water from them. He was afraid — afraid of hearing a single word that was not good.

“Have the red patches changed?”

“They are redder than before.” Ying Chun choked back a sob. “Burning to the touch.”

“Continue wiping her down.” As he spoke, Elder Yu pricked another bead of blood from Hua Zhi’s fingertip, lifted it away on a silver needle, and carried it to the doorway, studying it carefully for a moment. Then, addressing whoever might be within earshot, he said, “The medicine must be prepared quickly.”

Someone immediately ran off to hasten the process.

Elder Yu returned to the table and wrote out a second prescription. Bailin stepped forward at once, took it, and ran out to hand it to someone waiting at the door. Everyone was desperate to do something — as though only by doing so could they prove that their eldest young miss would be all right.

Gu Yanxi utterly despised this feeling of helplessness. There was nothing he could do, not one way he could be of use — he could only sit and wait like this. She was right here beside him, yet it felt as though she were separated from him by ten thousand miles.

To the surprise of everyone present, he suddenly rose and walked straight out of the courtyard. As everyone exchanged puzzled glances, he came striding back just as quickly and sat down again at the bedside. No one knew what he had gone out to do.

Basin after basin of water was changed, one whole jar of wine was emptied, and still the fever would not break. No matter how burning-hot her body became, not a single bead of sweat appeared on her skin.

So many people inside the room and out — and every single one of them held their tongue in silence.

“The medicine is here.”

Everyone instinctively stepped aside. Nian Qiu and Fu Dong came rushing in, their skirts flying, moving as though their feet barely touched the ground, heading straight for the young miss’s chamber.

Bao Xia, hearing the movement, had already gathered the young miss up into her arms to lean against her. Ying Chun steadied the damp cloth on the young miss’s forehead. Fu Dong knelt on the bed, ladled out a spoonful, and held it to the young miss’s lips. After a moment, she shook her head. “It won’t work — the young miss has her teeth clenched too tightly.”

Upon hearing this, Bao Xia immediately tried to pry the young miss’s mouth open. Fu Dong could not help but caution her, “Be gentle — you’ll hurt her!”

“If the pain could wake her up, that would be wonderful.” Bao Xia answered stubbornly, craning her neck, though her movements visibly became more careful and gentle.

The two of them worked together and finally managed to get some medicine into her mouth — but before they had a moment to feel relieved, the medicine flowed back out from the corners of her lips completely. Fu Dong grew frantic, ladled up another spoonful, and tried again. The same result.

“Young miss, young miss, please drink the medicine — how can you get better if you won’t drink it…” Pleading softly, Fu Dong ladled out yet another spoonful. She set the bowl aside to free up her hand, then steeled herself, pinched the young miss’s nose shut, pried open her mouth, and forced the medicine in. Then she held the spoon against her teeth, compelling the medicine to slide down her throat.

“Did it work?”

Fu Dong said nothing. She waited a little longer before releasing her hand and drawing back the spoon — and when she saw the dark liquid once again trickling from the corners of the young miss’s mouth, she broke down and wept aloud. “Young miss, please swallow it!”

Elder Yu had been mentally prepared for this and had already been writing a new prescription, yet hearing the sounds from inside, his heart still sank. “Not even a little can be gotten down?”

“The young miss — the young miss won’t swallow…”

“Let me.” To everyone’s shock, Gu Yanxi, unable to bear it any longer, threw back the curtain and climbed onto the bed. The maids looked at him in helpless confusion — the young miss, the young miss had nothing on!