Illness comes crashing down like a mountain collapsing, but leaves slowly, like silk being drawn out thread by thread.
Ling Jingyan was usually quite healthy and robust, rarely falling ill. But once she had fallen sick this time, even though she had obediently taken her medicine and rested carefully for several days, she still hadn’t fully recovered.
Naturally, she could no longer go on the trip to Huichun Hall.
Ling Ji specially took a day off from the Imperial Academy, and together with Jiang Shi, accompanied Ling Jingshu and her brother to Huichun Hall.
At the fifth watch, just as the sky was beginning to lighten, everyone climbed into the carriage and set off.
At this hour the streets were still empty of pedestrians, and everything outside the carriage was quiet. Only the sound of the wooden wheels rolling over the solid brick road could be heard.
“Cousin, Cousin’s wife, you’ve troubled yourselves on our behalf again today.” Ling Jingshu looked at Ling Ji and his wife with both apology and gratitude. “Cousin even took a special day off from the Imperial Academy. My brother and I really feel terrible about it…”
Ling Ji laughed it off. “It’s only a single day off, nothing to feel bad about. At the Academy I have to study hard every single day — I’m only too glad for the chance to get out and get some fresh air.”
Jiang Shi, ever understanding, added, “That’s right. I get bored and stifled staying home all day too. Today, using the excuse of accompanying you both, I finally have a proper reason to go out. If anything, I should be thanking the two of you. Don’t say anything more about gratitude — keep it up and it’ll start to feel like you’re treating us as outsiders.”
These warm, considerate words filled Ling Jingshu’s heart with warmth.
That’s right — saying any more would really feel like treating them as outsiders!
Some gratitude was best simply kept in one’s heart. When others treated her with sincerity, she would surely repay it twofold when the chance arose.
Ling Jingshu quickly changed the subject. “Setting off now, it should take us a little over an hour to arrive. I’ve heard that on the first and fifteenth of each month, many patients line up in front of Huichun Hall. Will we be arriving too late?”
“That won’t be a problem,” Ling Ji explained patiently. “Luoyang has a curfew — once midnight passes, the ward gates close, and they don’t reopen until the fifth watch. Setting off at the fifth watch like we are now is exactly right.”
Even if one wanted to leave earlier, there was nothing to be done about it — the ward gates would still be shut!
Even Imperial Physician Wei, wanting to leave the palace gates for Huichun Hall, would likewise have to wait until after the fifth watch.
Jiang Shi picked up the conversation with a smile. “That day we went to Huichun Hall, Steward Han already accepted the Crown Grandson’s calling card and noted down Cousin Xiao’s name. When we get there, we won’t have to wait — we’ll be able to see Imperial Physician Wei right away. There’s no need to worry.”
Whether Ling Xiao’s eye condition could be cured concerned his very fate and future. How could she possibly not worry, not feel anxious?
Ling Jingshu suppressed the urgency in her heart and nodded with a smile.
Ling Xiao was even more anxious, more nervous, more uneasy than Ling Jingshu.
Soon they would arrive at Huichun Hall, and soon he would meet Imperial Physician Wei.
If Imperial Physician Wei’s skill was truly as superb as claimed, and he really could cure his eyes, then he would be able to see the light of day again. He could study diligently and sit for the imperial examinations like any ordinary young man, or at the very least, take care of himself and no longer be a burden to Ling Jingshu.
But what if… what if even Imperial Physician Wei couldn’t cure his eyes?
These past few days, his ears had been filled with nothing but tales of Imperial Physician Wei’s past brilliant achievements. Without realizing it, Ling Xiao had come to place enormous hope in him.
The more he cared, the stronger this anxious mix of hope and fear became.
Ling Xiao had been unable to eat or sleep properly for several days running. He had been carefully concealing this, unwilling to let Ling Jingshu find out, so as not to make her worry over him.
The more anxious he felt, the longer the journey seemed to stretch.
This journey of over an hour was truly hard to endure.
When the carriage finally came to a stop, even Ling Ji and his wife secretly let out a breath of relief.
The carriage had stopped some distance away — the rest of the way to Huichun Hall had to be covered on foot. Ling Ji and Ling Xiao got down from the carriage first. Ling Jingshu and Jiang Shi carefully put on their veiled hats before stepping down as well.
People had already begun gathering, one after another, on the open ground in front of Huichun Hall.
Most of those who came seeking treatment from Imperial Physician Wei were severely ill patients suffering from supposedly incurable conditions. Many of them had been carried there. Each face showed pain, yet every one of them clutched their bamboo number tag tightly, as though it were the last straw a drowning person could grasp.
Ling Jingshu glanced over briefly, and seeing the hope glimmering in the patients’ eyes, felt an involuntary tremor in her heart.
In Ling Xiao’s beautiful yet clouded eyes, the very same light flickered.
If his eyes could be cured, no amount of time, effort, or silver spent would be too much. But if even Imperial Physician Wei proved helpless, there was no telling how disappointed and heartbroken Ling Xiao would be…
“A’Shu, don’t worry.”
The two siblings shared an almost telepathic bond — whenever one of them felt a strong wave of emotion, the other often sensed it too. Ling Xiao quietly took Ling Jingshu’s hand and said softly, “If my eyes can be cured, of course I’ll be overjoyed. But if they can’t, I won’t be too disappointed or sad either. I’ve made it through all these years already — I’m long since used to it.”
A sharp ache rose in Ling Jingshu’s nose, and a thin mist of tears welled up in her eyes, though her voice remained deliberately light as she smiled. “Mm, I know Ling Xiao is the bravest.”
Just as they reached the entrance of Huichun Hall and were about to step inside, a sudden commotion erupted behind them.
A middle-aged woman’s voice rang out. “Someone’s about to die! Move aside, quickly!”
“You haven’t even taken a number — what gives you the right to cut ahead…” The family members of patients who had risen early to queue for their number tags were not pleased.
“Of course I know the rule about needing a number tag to be treated at Huichun Hall. But Imperial Physician Wei also set an exception to that rule — for cases where the person can’t even hold on a quarter hour and might breathe their last at any moment. This simply cannot wait!”
“All of you, get out of the way! Let us put him down, quickly!”
The middle-aged woman’s voice was loud and rapid, drowning out everyone else’s.
Everyone’s attention was drawn toward the commotion.
Ling Jingshu frowned slightly and looked over as well.
At a single glance, she could tell something was off.
The middle-aged woman was plump and rather good-looking, dressed in fairly elaborate clothing — at a glance, clearly the attire of a respectable head steward-matron from some great household.
Beside the woman stood a young maiden in the bloom of youth, wearing a veiled hat and a pale pink dress. Her face and exact age couldn’t be made out, but her figure was slender and her bearing extraordinary — clearly the cherished daughter of some prominent family, though no one knew which one.
Behind the young lady followed several pretty maidservants, along with a dozen or so sturdy, strapping guards.
The patient the woman claimed was on the verge of death was a man of about forty or so.
The man had been carried over lying on a door panel, foaming at the mouth and convulsing all over without pause, letting out groans of intense agony. He certainly looked as though he had been struck by some acute illness.
The man was dressed in the clothes of a servant, and the two guards carrying him showed little sign of grief or sorrow on their faces, setting the door panel down on the ground almost roughly.
The man’s head struck the door panel hard, producing a heavy thud, and blood soon began seeping out.
Could it really be that a young lady of such fine standing had gone to the trouble of showing her face in public at Huichun Hall, all just to seek treatment for a mere servant?