Yu Tang lay on the bed with no will to live, listening through the screen as the fair-faced, beardless, plump, smiling Imperial Physician Wang Bai said to Yu Wen: “Nothing serious! Young ladies are carefully raised in their chambers from childhood. Suddenly coming out with you to eat and drink recklessly, her stomach and intestines couldn’t handle it for a while. No need to prescribe any medicine—just fast for two days. In the future, eat less of these spicy things.”

Yu Wen was filled with regret, bowing and nodding in agreement.

Wang Bai still remembered their family and asked with a smile: “Has your wife’s illness improved? Old Yang may look cold and stern, but that’s because his medical skills are excellent—one strength overcomes ten techniques. The prescription he wrote shouldn’t have any problems.”

Although both he and Yang Douxing had examined Chen Shi’s illness last time, it was Yang Douxing who had written the prescription.

Yu Wen quickly said, “My wife remembers your kindness! A few days ago, she went to the temple to pray for both of you. If you weren’t both in your prime years, she would have wanted to establish longevity tablets for you!”

“Ha ha ha!” Wang Bai laughed heartily. “I don’t need that. Yang Douxing seeks fame and reputation—he loves these things the most. Next time you see him, you must tell him. He won’t show it on his face, but he’ll definitely be very happy in his heart.”

Literati look down on each other, and colleagues undermining one another is not uncommon.

No one could respond well to such words.

Yu Wen stammered through a few pleasantries and said, “You’re both busy people. Being able to see you again is already a blessing—how could we see you often?”

“That’s not necessarily true,” Wang Bai smiled. “The Pei family’s eldest lady hasn’t been well these days. Yang Douxing is practically living in Lin’an now. If you have any matters, you can go directly to the Pei residence to seek an audience.”

After all, wasn’t it the Pei family’s calling card that had summoned him in the middle of the night this time?

The Yu family members were all startled, then somewhat pleased.

Having such a famous physician nearby—you might not necessarily need them, but it gave peace of mind.

Yu Wen thanked him repeatedly and pleased Wang Bai before seeing him off. When he returned, though it was early autumn, sweat had appeared on his forehead: “Ah, these famous people—each one harder to deal with than the last.”

Yu Yuan quickly poured Yu Wen a cup of tea and thanked Second Manager Tong.

Seeing that there was nothing more here, Second Manager Tong smiled and took his leave: “If there’s anything else, just have the inn’s waiter come to the shop in front to pass a message. We’re all fellow villagers—when away from home, we should help each other more. Please don’t be polite with me.”

Yu Wen and Yu Yuan thanked him profusely and personally escorted Second Manager Tong out, saying, “In a few days when our young lady is better, I’ll go thank Third Master Pei in person.”

This wasn’t something Second Manager Tong could decide.

He smiled in acknowledgment, said a few words like “taking good care of your family’s child is what matters,” and went back to rest.

Knowing Yu Tang was alright, Yu Wen and Yu Yuan’s worried hearts settled down. Yu Yuan even teased Yu Tang: “This is what you get for not knowing restraint. Now you understand about self-control, don’t you?”

Yu Tang lay there weakly, looking at Yu Yuan.

Yu Yuan found her a bit pitiful again and went to pour a cup of warm water to help her sit up and drink.

Yu Tang tightly closed her mouth and pitifully begged her eldest cousin: “I’ve already drunk two pots of water. If I drink more, my stomach will become a water bag.”

“Serves you right!” Yu Wen laughed upon hearing this. “Who told you not to be obedient?”

Yu Tang loudly protested her innocence: “Was I disobedient, or did you not warn me? How was I supposed to know those things were so potent? When I get back, I’m going to tell Mother that you brought me out and didn’t watch over me, letting me eat whatever I wanted.”

“You wouldn’t dare!” Yu Wen really didn’t want to worry Chen Shi. “If you dare say a word to your mother when you get back, I’ll never take you anywhere again.”

Yu Tang hummed twice to express her dissatisfaction, then negotiated with her father: “Then when you get back, you can’t tell anyone I got a stomachache from eating at the night market either.”

Yu Wen was stunned.

Yu Yuan laughed heartily: “Uncle, you’ve been tricked by A’Tang. She just doesn’t want you telling others she got sick from eating at the night market.”

Yu Wen chuckled and tapped Yu Tang’s forehead: “Little clever one, your eldest cousin and I will keep our mouths shut. Are you satisfied now?”

“That’s more like it!” Yu Tang muttered softly. Having drunk too much water, she needed to use the toilet again.

Yu Wen and Yu Yuan just laughed. They asked the innkeeper’s wife to help look after Yu Tang and returned to their own rooms.

After being up most of the night, Yu Tang finally fell asleep near dawn. When she woke up, not only was she awakened by hunger, but Yu Wen and Yu Yuan were also both gone from the inn.

The innkeeper’s wife was a woman in her forties with an honest, kind-looking face. She smiled as she brought warm water in: “Drink some water. When your father and brother left, they repeatedly instructed us not to give you food, only warm water. Bear with it for now—you’ll be fine tomorrow.”

Yu Tang felt she was turning into a water bag, her stomach full of water that sloshed around when she moved. She stopped the innkeeper’s wife from giving her water and asked, “Do you know where my father and brother went?”

“They said they were going out to look around,” the innkeeper’s wife didn’t force her and smiled as she placed the warm water on the small stool beside her bed. “They said if you woke up, just rest at the inn. They’ll be back tonight.”

Could they have gone to that Master Qian’s place?

Yu Tang didn’t dare ask more, afraid someone with ulterior motives might notice. After exchanging pleasantries with the innkeeper’s wife, she pretended to yawn.

Seeing this, the innkeeper’s wife immediately stood to leave: “You rest first. Call me if you need anything.”

Yu Tang thanked the innkeeper’s wife. After she left, Yu Tang felt even hungrier, but unfortunately couldn’t eat anything.

She counted the broken silver her mother had secretly put in her purse behind her father’s back before she left home, feeling that this time she had really suffered a great loss.

With her father and brother both gone, and not wanting to run around herself, she confined herself to the inn and spent half the day in a daze. Suddenly she felt as if she had returned to the cage that was the Li family home in her previous life—because she had promised the Li family she would remain chaste, she held herself to the standards of a widow, being careful everywhere. But she had kept her promise while the Li family had broken their word… Thinking of this, the unhappiness she had pressed to the bottom of her heart burst forth like a broken dam, surging out uncontrollably.

She didn’t want to just sit here like this.

She wanted to go out for a walk.

Or find something to do.

In her previous life, how had she passed those distressing days?

Making hair ornaments.

Yes, making hair ornaments.

Making all kinds of hair ornaments.

When she agreed to the Li family’s request, she had thought things too simply, believing that a human life was just a few dozen short years that would pass in the blink of an eye. If she could repay the kindness of her uncle’s family and help one of their two families climb up in the world, what did it matter if she suffered a bit? When she actually began keeping her chastity, she realized that the days were truly difficult to endure. From darkness hoping for dawn, from dawn hoping for darkness. From morning glow to sunset. Counting every quarter hour, every two-hour period. She felt she couldn’t go on, became extremely restless, couldn’t do anything well, and didn’t enjoy doing anything. She had tried growing flowers, embroidery, making clothes—none of it worked.

Until one Dragon Boat Festival, that little maid from the Li family named Bai Xing quietly gave her a jujube-red velvet hair ornament and whispered to her: “I know you can’t wear it, but you can keep it and take it out to look at when you have nothing to do.”

It was a very ordinary hair ornament.

Made in the shape of a camellia.

About the size of a wine cup.

The wire flower stem edges weren’t even wrapped properly, showing some rust spots.

Very crude.

When she was at her parents’ home, even Shuang Tao wouldn’t have bought it.

But it was this flower that she would take out to look at from time to time.

That dark red jujube color, those fuzzy petals, gradually soothed her restlessness.

She began using silk thread to wrap the rusty flower stems, using green summer cloth to make calyxes for the flowers… Later, she started making hair ornaments for the little maids.

Made of Hangzhou silk, velvet, gold-woven fabric, coarse cloth, fine cloth… Lilacs, tuberose, jasmine, peonies… The size of wine cups, teacups, fingernails… Studded with copper beads, silver-plated beads, glass beads… Eventually she could create perfect imitations, making magnolia flowers in the sixth month to hang on camphor trees…

She spent most of her time making hair ornaments.

Yu Tang covered her face.

Since her rebirth, she felt she should be like someone newborn, forgetting everything from before.

Especially those habits formed in the Li residence.

She hadn’t touched hair ornaments, hadn’t gone to seek revenge on the Li family, and hadn’t even gone to look at the Ku’an Temple where she had died.

But some things, once they happened, had happened. They were etched in her bones, fused into her blood.

She couldn’t change them, couldn’t forget them.

Yu Tang wanted to make a hair ornament.

A small one, pink, petal upon petal, layered upon layered, in the style of a camellia, with a small beetle resting on it, the size of a mung bean, lifelike, perched on the camellia’s stamens, to wear in her hair.

That was how she had never dressed again in her previous life after Li Jun’s death.

At this moment, Yu Tang was like a thirsty traveler unable to resist the desire in her heart.

She got up to groom and dress herself.

In the bronze mirror, she saw a woman with eyes as bright as stars, so luminous they seemed able to illuminate the entire night sky.

She slowly inserted a pearl flower ornament in her hair, put on her veiled hat, and got up to find the innkeeper’s wife: “Is there anywhere nearby that sells copper wire and silk cloth? I want to make some hair ornaments.”

The innkeeper’s wife knew she was a scholar’s daughter. But many scholar families needed their women to do needlework to have food and clothing. She just looked at Yu Tang sympathetically and pointed to a small path outside the door: “Go out from here and turn left at the first intersection. That whole alley sells hair ornaments, combs, handkerchiefs, and pouches.”

Not only were these things sold there, but also the materials to make them.

There were shops that bought these items, and merchants who sold them.

The innkeeper’s wife, thinking they were familiar with the Pei family, called a servant boy to accompany her: “Help carry things and show the way.” And if they encountered any ruffians, he could threaten them or call for help.

Yu Tang thanked her repeatedly and followed the servant boy out the door.

She spent three taels of silver, and after half a day, bought a large pile of copper wire thread, gilded silver and glass beads, and a heap of various fabric scraps to bring back.

After drinking some water, she sat by the window of her guest room and began making hair ornaments.

Familiar tools, familiar materials, familiar colors… Yu Tang’s heart became calm. She felt neither tired nor hungry.