◎ Calling the Physician ◎

The Zhou residence stood in the Xianming district of the capital — once the home of a notoriously cruel official from the previous dynasty, it had stood vacant for many years until Zhou Tan, upon becoming Vice Minister of Justice, had been granted the property.

The layout of the house followed an antique style, elegant and sparsely arranged, simple and unadorned — only the garden, filled with withered trees and dead grass not yet replanted, looked rather desolate.

Qu You walked a short way along the cobblestone path in front of the bridal chamber before reaching the main hall.

The main hall was named “Xinji” — “New Clear Skies.” According to the elderly steward Zhou Shengde, who guided her there, the name had been personally written in Zhou Tan’s own calligraphy.

She stepped briskly into the Xinji Hall and found, as expected, only Zhou Yang present — Ren Shi’s people, having reluctantly seen the wedding banquet through the day before, had all scattered like they were fleeing a plague.

That Zhou Tan didn’t have a single relative left to call on was, frankly, rather pitiable — and his one remaining brother was, on top of it, going through a rebellious phase.

Zhou Yang had changed into a set of dark teal everyday clothes, sitting sprawled to one side of the main room with his legs crossed, showing not the slightest sign of propriety. He didn’t so much as stir when she entered.

Qu You ignored him, accepting a teacup from an unfamiliar nanny, bending her knees slightly as she performed the proper bow toward the two ancestral tablets in the hall, and set the teacup down on either side of them.

Having finished offering the tea, she had just stepped back when Zhou Yang suddenly darted over from behind her, snatched the last teacup off the nanny’s tray, and said to her with a mischievous grin, “Sister-in-law, allow me to offer you a cup of tea as well.”

Qu You glanced up at him, then sat down in a chair to one side, unhurriedly accepting the teacup from him. “How thoughtful of you, Young Master.”

She didn’t say a single word about the humiliation he’d inflicted on her the day before, remaining just as calm and indifferent as always. Zhou Yang studied her a moment longer, narrowing his eyes, and asked with a shameless smirk, “Sister-in-law, is Zhou Tan dead yet?”

The steward standing nearby couldn’t help but scold him. “Young Master!”

Qu You set down her teacup and answered calmly, “Not yet, for the time being. I intend to send for a physician to treat his wound.”

Zhou Yang, not expecting such composure from her, pressed on, unwilling to let it go. “You’re sending for a physician for him? I would have thought your parents told you that even if you had to spend the rest of your life a widow, you should still see to it he was properly finished off. If he doesn’t die, and wakes up to find you here, he won’t be in a good mood at all — this is a man who’s wronged even his own parents and brother. You’d best be careful he doesn’t end up killing you.”

Zhou Yang looked to be about sixteen or seventeen this year, handsome and clear-featured, bearing a faint resemblance to Zhou Tan, though his temperament was the complete opposite.

Qu You replied with mild, noncommittal words, curious about the young man’s motives. “Is that so? How terrifying. I suppose I’ll have to sleep with a dagger under my pillow from now on. But tell me, Young Master — you seem to be hoping so eagerly for your own brother’s death. What do you stand to gain from it? You already despise him, you’ve already cut ties and stopped seeing each other — why must he die?”

Zhou Yang’s eyes flicked back and forth, a rakish smile tugging at his lips as he said slowly, “Sister-in-law, why don’t you consider that perhaps it’s you I’m after?”

To openly flirt with his own sister-in-law in front of the household servants was outrageous; the steward Zhou Shengde flushed red with anger and stepped forward. “Young Master, watch your tongue!”

Qu You raised a hand to stop the steward from advancing further. She looked at the young man’s still-boyish, flirtatious eyes and said, half-amused, “Me?”

In truth, Zhou Yang didn’t strike her as someone so frivolous by nature — he was likely just refusing to speak the truth, saying such things deliberately to unsettle her.

Well, if he wanted to put on an act to disgust her, she’d play along.

Qu You cleared her throat, immediately arranged her face into an expression of tragic longing, and began spinning nonsense off the top of her head. “What a shame — I fell hopelessly in love with your brother long ago, and swore I’d marry no one else.”

Zhou Yang froze, disbelieving. “You… wasn’t this marriage arranged by imperial decree? You actually like him?”

He’d actually believed her, just like that.

Qu You found the young man’s gullibility, despite his sharp tongue, rather amusing, and so continued with a straight face. “Of course. Head over heels, utterly consumed by it.”

“To think there’s actually a woman in the capital who genuinely likes him — hard to believe.” Zhou Yang, mouth agape, reached for his tea and immediately scalded himself, wincing and baring his teeth. “What on earth do you see in him?”

“Well… I’ve admired him for a very long time now, and it’s not as though I want anything from him,” Qu You said, twisting her handkerchief in her hands. “You…”

She was about to tease him a bit further, but before she could finish her sentence, Nanny Yun came hurrying into the room.

Qu You immediately shifted the direction of her words. “Your brother is still gravely injured and has not recovered — by rights, I shouldn’t even be receiving you directly. I had thought the Young Master genuinely respected me, but instead you’ve spoken so disrespectfully — I’m terribly hurt.”

She turned to Zhou Shengde beside her, feigning distress. “I hear the Young Master only returned to the Ren household after coming back from the army camp, and now, with the household in such disarray, we’re hardly equipped to entertain guests. I’m merely a woman of the inner chambers — how am I to handle the provocations of a military man like the Young Master? I’m quite overwhelmed. Uncle De, please see our guest out.”

Zhou Yang, thoroughly disoriented by her rapid-fire words, came back to his senses only to find Zhou Shengde already standing before him, hand extended. “Young Master, you didn’t even come to see your brother when he lay gravely wounded, and now you speak so disrespectfully to your elder sister-in-law. You— you… Well. This way, please.”

Zhou Yang stood stunned for a moment, then, feeling he’d lost face, rose and stormed off in a huff, tossing back one final, resentful line as he left: “You’d better hope he doesn’t die!”

Qu You called after him with a laugh, “Your kind words, noted.”

Having seen off this little troublemaker, Qu You found herself feeling even more sympathy for Zhou Tan.

Whatever grudges existed, whatever the rest of the world thought of him, he had, after all, raised his brother himself — surely that ought to count for something.

Though it seemed his brother was a bit slow on the uptake, having apparently inherited none of his brother’s cunning — still, teasing this sharp-tongued young man had been rather entertaining.

Qu You then found herself, with some concern, realizing that she had already begun making excuses for Zhou Tan.

Who was to say whether it wasn’t Zhou Tan himself who had mistreated his brother, breeding such resentment? Though it didn’t seem that way on the surface, she couldn’t afford to be swayed by a handsome face and lose sight of her own principles!

Nanny Yun came over and whispered that she had already been to the house in question, but the man had said he needed to pack his things and would come by a little later; she’d left a few servants there and returned ahead of them.

In truth, Nanny Yun had been somewhat worried that the new mistress might have been badly provoked by Zhou Yang, who had grown increasingly unruly these past few years. But according to what Zhou Shengde had just told her, the mistress hadn’t been the least bit intimidated by the Young Master — if anything, she’d left him thoroughly outmatched.

Nanny Yun thought to herself that this new mistress truly needed no one’s worry.

Qu You had a simple breakfast and discovered that the Zhou household’s cook was remarkably lacking in skill — clearly in need of some training.

She had just set down her napkin when a visitor arrived at the gate.

The resident at the far end of Twelve Sweetwater Lane was a physician named Bo Ying. The first time Qu You and her younger brother had gone to fill a prescription for their mother, they had run into this thoroughly unreliable-looking young doctor at the pharmacy.

Bo Ying had taken one look at the prescription written out for her inside and immediately declared it wrong — for which he’d been beaten and thrown out by the pharmacy staff. Feeling sorry for him, Qu You had given him a piece of silver, and upon returning home, sought out another physician to confirm — sure enough, the original prescription had contained one unnecessary ingredient.

From then on, Qu You had regularly sent for Bo Ying to prescribe medicine for her mother, and over time, the two of them had grown fairly familiar with each other.

Bo Ying wasn’t originally from the capital — he had come here to make a living alongside his old master, but before he could find a proper apothecary to take him on, his master had died unexpectedly. With nowhere else to turn, he’d been reduced to wandering the streets and alleys, writing prescriptions for the poor who couldn’t afford proper treatment, barely scraping by.

It was only after meeting Qu You that his standard of living had improved somewhat, and she trusted him enough that she had secretly sent for him now to come examine Zhou Tan.

The moment Bo Ying took Zhou Tan’s pulse, his brow furrowed deeply. He then casually grabbed a sheet of rice paper from the table and began writing out a prescription, chatting with her as he wrote. “I heard you got married — and to this unlucky invalid, no less. Congratulations, congratulations. I haven’t got the money for a wedding gift, so you’ll have to bear with me.”

Qu You was long since used to his careless way of speaking. “How is he?”

“Not great. If you’d called me a few days later, the wound would have fully festered — he’d have been lucky to survive even then.” Bo Ying chewed on the end of his brush, considering. “Last night you said he had a high fever — who knows how many days he’s been burning up. Let’s hope it hasn’t cooked his brain by the time he wakes up. Not good, not good…”

Qu You let out a breath of relief. “As long as he doesn’t die, that’s fine.”

Bo Ying left the prescription and gave her detailed instructions on how to care for the patient, then, having received a string of coins from Nanny Yun as thanks, left in high spirits.

Over the following three days, Qu You devoted herself to nursing Zhou Tan.

His wound visibly improved and scabbed over; the high fever gradually subsided, and even his breathing grew noticeably steadier. On the third day, Bo Ying paid another visit and said he was recovering remarkably quickly — it wouldn’t be long now before he woke up.

Nanny Yun wept tears of joy and seized Qu You’s hands, moving to kneel before her; Qu You quickly pulled her back up. “Nanny, I’ve told you so many times already — no need for such formalities in this household. Besides, you’re practically an elder to me — why stand on ceremony?”

“Heaven has finally opened its eyes, to grant the young master a wife such as you — a living bodhisattva.” Nanny Yun wiped at her tears, and sat down beside Qu You, glancing over at the bed. “Your Uncle De and I have both served him since our days in Lin’an. Later, when the Zhou family fell, and the young master made something of himself, he specially went back to Lin’an to bring the two of us old bones here to the capital with him. The young master… he’s had it hard. All these years, I’ve hoped and hoped that he’d find someone who truly cared for him, who understood his hardships…”

Qu You found it a little surprising that Nanny Yun and Uncle De, having served Zhou Tan for so long, had — remarkably — never grown estranged from him. She was just about to ask a few more questions about his past in Lin’an when the sound of hurried footsteps came from outside the door.

Zhou Shengde stood outside the wooden door and said in a lowered voice, “Madam, someone has come to call.”

Zhou Tan had already been lying wounded for several days now, on top of the marriage besides, and yet no one had ever come to visit or inquire after him.

For someone to come calling now was rare indeed — what business could it possibly be?

Qu You had a folding screen set up in front of the Xinji Hall to receive the visitor. The man introduced himself as Liang An, a subordinate of Zhou Tan’s at the Ministry of Justice. No sooner had he sat down than he asked Zhou Shengde and Nanny Yun to withdraw along with the other servants.

Nanny Yun looked somewhat uneasy, but Qu You, curious about his motives, had them do as he asked.

Once the others had left, Liang An settled himself to one side.

“The Ministry of Justice has recently taken on a thorny case that urgently needs handling,” Liang An said politely. Through the screen, Qu You could tell from his voice alone that he was likely no longer young — his tone was smooth and calculating, and he sounded rather portly besides. “But with Lord Zhou remaining unconscious from his injuries all this time, it’s put all of us in quite a difficult position. I’ve come today to ask Madam to hand over Lord Zhou’s official seal from the Ministry, so that we might carry on with our work more easily.”

His words were phrased politely enough, but Qu You was no naive girl shut away in the inner chambers — the laws of the Great Yin dynasty clearly stipulated that a vice minister’s official seal governed the affairs of his ministry. If Liang An got his hands on Zhou Tan’s seal, wouldn’t that mean handing over the very position of Vice Minister of Justice to him as well?

Liang An eyed the graceful silhouette behind the screen with interest. Having heard that Zhou Tan still hadn’t woken since the wedding, he thought it a genuine pity that one of the “Twin Marvels of the Capital” should be left guarding an empty bed — and from the slender figure behind the screen, he found himself wondering just what kind of beauty she might be.

He heard a woman’s voice drift out from behind the screen, faintly cool in tone — clear and bright as jade beads, and though far from courteous, pleasant to the ear all the same.

“Zhou— my husband’s official seal is, naturally, in his own keeping. I’ve only been married five days — I’m afraid I don’t understand what Lord Liang means.” Qu You cleared her throat and added, “Perhaps you might return once he’s awake.”

Liang An, legs crossed, idly rubbing at the calluses on his fingers, let out a scoffing laugh at this. “Madam jests. Everyone in the capital knows that Lord Zhou… likely won’t be waking up at all.”