Even though Lu Chang was usually composed and calm, seeing Jian Mingshu in such a state made his mind go blank. With trembling hands, he reached under her nose to feel for her breath in the flickering light of the torch. Only when he sensed the faint, warm breath did he regain his composure. The weak but warm breath on his fingertips brought Lu Chang back to reality. He realized his palm was sweaty, and his heart was pounding so hard it felt like it would leap out of his throat.
The person lying on the ground remained motionless except for the faint breath. Lu Chang quickly picked up the torch and looked up at the slope—steep and high, the firelight couldn’t reach the top. She had fallen from such a height, who knew how badly she was hurt, and what could be done to save her?
Approaching the age of twenty, Lu Chang was at a loss. He gently wiped the blood from her cheek with his sleeve, softly calling her name, “Jian Mingshu? Mingshu?”
There was no response from Jian Mingshu. Her face was deathly pale, and the wound on her head continued to bleed.
Rip!
Lu Chang tore off a piece of his robe and hastily wrapped it around her head wound. No matter what, stopping the bleeding was the priority. As he tied the cloth, a gust of wind stirred the trees, and he heard hurried footsteps from the mountain. Lu Chang looked up and saw numerous torches flickering halfway up the slope, accompanied by rustling noises. That was where Jian Mingshu had fallen. Were those people looking for her?
Were they from the Jian family?
No, it didn’t seem right. If the Jian family had discovered Jian Mingshu missing or had seen her fall off the cliff, they would have been shouting her name and searching. They wouldn’t be this quiet and secretive. The more he thought about it, the stranger it seemed. He looked closer and saw a couple of bright glints among the torches, the unmistakable reflection of sharp blades.
It was said that the area around Yunhua Mountain was unsafe, and frequented by bandits who robbed travelers on the road and raided nearby villages. Yunhua Temple often received wealthy female visitors from Jiangning County, making them easy targets.
Was Jian Mingshu attacked by bandits?
Glancing at the person on the ground, Lu Chang quickly made up his mind. He stomped out the torch, took off his outer robe to cover Jian Mingshu, and gently picked her up.
As he held her, he found she was as light as a feather.
Madam Zeng had been sleeping fitfully. Hearing some noise, she woke up and, not seeing Lu Chang around, felt uneasy. She was about to call out when she saw a figure running towards her in the darkness, which frightened her. Just as she was about to scream, she heard Lu Chang’s voice, “Mother, it’s me. Get on the carriage quickly.”
Realizing it was her son, Madam Zeng relaxed but was alarmed to see him carrying someone hastily into the carriage. She followed them inside, concerned.
Lighting a copper lamp, she saw the person Lu Chang had brought back and was shocked out of her drowsiness. “Mingshu? Achang, what…?”
Lu Chang didn’t answer his mother. He wrapped Jian Mingshu in Madam Zeng’s blanket and said, “Mother, don’t ask questions now. This place isn’t safe. We must leave immediately. Please take care of her while I drive the carriage.”
The torches on the mountain were now winding downwards, seemingly in search of Jian Mingshu.
After a brief explanation, Lu Chang rubbed Jian Mingshu’s cheeks with his hands and whispered in her ear, “Jian Mingshu, it’s me, Lu Chang. I’m taking you to a doctor in the town. Hold on.”
With that, he threw open the curtain, jumped out of the carriage, loaded the scattered belongings, and erased their tracks before hitching up the horse. With a crack of the whip, the carriage plunged into the dense night, heading towards the nearest town, Xunyang.
As the carriage hit the main road, Lu Chang realized his hands were trembling. He had given his outer robe to Jian Mingshu, and the cold wind penetrated his chest, chilling him to the bone. Yet, he felt like his blood was boiling, his mind replaying the image of Jian Mingshu’s blood-streaked face, everything else forgotten.
—
At daybreak, Lu Chang drove the carriage into Xunyang. He hastily asked a passerby for directions to a medical clinic and soon arrived in front of one. Jian Mingshu still showed no signs of waking. The cloth wrapped around her head was soaked with blood, a terrifying sight. Madam Zeng’s eyes were red with worry. Finally, Lu Chang’s pounding on the clinic door roused the doctor, who, before he could even complain, was dragged to the carriage by Lu Chang.
Lifting the curtain, the doctor saw the injured person and immediately sprang into action, summoning assistants and Madam Zeng to help with the examination. After a long while, the doctor emerged, wiping his hands, and sat at his desk to write a prescription.
Through the half-open door, Lu Chang could only see the floor covered in blood-stained cloth. His heart skipped a beat as he turned to the doctor and asked, “Sir, how is her condition?”
The doctor, writing hastily, didn’t look up. “The young lady is fortunate. Falling from such a height without internal injuries is a blessing in misfortune. Her dislocated arm has been set, her ankle twisted, and she has several external wounds. The midwife has already applied medicine inside.”
“When will she wake?” Lu Chang asked, somewhat relieved.
“That depends on her fate. While she has no life-threatening injuries, the head wound is deep. It’s stitched with mulberry bark, but the complexity lies in the human brain. External wounds are manageable, but what’s inside is uncertain. We’ll need a few days to observe,” the doctor explained, pushing a prescription toward Lu Chang after finishing writing.
Lu Chang’s heart sank again. Just as he was about to take the prescription, the doctor hesitated and scrutinized him. “Who is this young lady to you? How did she fall from the cliff?”
Seeing the doctor’s expression, Lu Chang knew any wrong answer could lead to trouble. After a moment’s thought, he replied earnestly, “I am Lu Chang, a scholar from Jiangning County. The lady inside is my mother, and the injured one… is my sister. We were on our way to the capital for the imperial examination when we were attacked by bandits. My sister suffered in the scuffle and fell from the hillside.”
“Lu Chang? Are you the top scholar of Jiangning this year?” The doctor exclaimed, standing up excitedly.
Lu Chang hastily bowed, “Indeed, sir. The recommendation letter from the county school is in the carriage. Would you like to see it?”
“No need, no need,” the doctor waved his hand, then asked, “Do you have a place to stay in town? If not, you may lodge at the clinic for now. I can monitor your sister’s condition closely. In case of any emergency, we can provide timely treatment.”
“Sir, your kindness as a healer is deeply appreciated. Lu Chang is grateful for your offer,” Lu Chang bowed deeply.
After expressing his gratitude, Lu Chang paid the consultation fee, fetched the prescribed medicine, and handed it over to the apothecary for preparation. The midwife had already finished dressing the wounds of Jian Mingshu, and as Lu Chang entered the room, he found his mother washing clothes at the basin while Jian Mingshu lay unconscious, dressed in his mother’s old clothes with her hair combed aside, her forehead wrapped in layers of cloth, looking even more fragile and pitiful.
Lu Chang silently observed for a moment, then quickly grabbed the outer robe covering her and said hastily, “Mother, I need to go out for a moment. Please look after her.”
Without waiting for his mother’s response, Lu Chang hurried out.
—
Although Xunyang Town was not as prosperous as Jiangning County, it was still well-off. With daylight breaking, shops on both sides of the street were open, and people were bustling about. Lu Chang casually approached a passerby and asked for directions to the Jian family’s gold shop.
In theory, Jian Mingshu’s encounter should have been reported to the authorities, but Lu Chang felt there was something suspicious and decided to find the Jian family first before reporting to avoid any complications. If he remembered correctly, the Jian family had a branch in Xunyang Town.
Sure enough, the passerby directed him to the right place.
The gold shop wasn’t far, and Lu Chang hadn’t walked far before he spotted the gold sign of the Jian family from a distance. The branch was not large, with only one shopkeeper and two errand boys inside. Just as Lu Chang was about to step forward, he noticed, from the corner of his eye, two men standing in the shadows at the end of the alley opposite the shop. They wore dark brown strong shirts and had long objects wrapped in cloth at their waists—clearly weapons. The two men were casually chatting, but their eyes were fixed on the shop’s door and anyone passing by.
Lu Chang changed his mind and walked past the gold shop’s entrance, still catching the hawk-like gaze of these two men.
Last night, those people intended harm to Jian Mingshu, even pursuing her to this point to lay in wait.
This wasn’t the behavior of ordinary bandits. Even if they were ruthless, once they got the money, they would disperse. They wouldn’t relentlessly chase after a fleeing woman. These people knew about the Jian family’s branch in Xunyang Town, indicating they were after Jian Mingshu specifically, or they were connected to the Jian family—not common bandits.
Thinking this, Lu Chang muttered to himself, “Jian Mingshu, what have you gotten yourself into?”
He turned back immediately and returned to the clinic.
The apothecary had already prepared the medicine, and upon Lu Chang’s return, he handed it over. Lu Chang entered the room with the medicine in hand. Jian Mingshu was sitting at the end of the bed, her face full of exhaustion as she closed her eyes to rest. After a sleepless and frightening night, compounded by her fragile health, Lu Chang didn’t wake his mother but sat at the head of the bed himself, stirring the dark potion in his hands, quietly watching Jian Mingshu.
After a while, he finally spoke, “It seems I owe you greatly in this life.” He spread a handkerchief over Jian Mingshu’s chest and carefully brought the spoonful of medicine to her lips.
The first spoonful of the potion didn’t quite make it into Jian Mingshu’s mouth; it dribbled down her lips. Lu Chang quickly wiped it away with a handkerchief—Jian Mingshu, a girl who loved cleanliness, surely wouldn’t appreciate being covered in medicine.
“Mingshu, if you can hear my voice, please drink the medicine obediently, alright?” After wiping away the medicine, he leaned down and whispered into her ear.
As he finished speaking, he noticed from the corner of his eye that his mother had already opened her eyes, looking at him with unclear intentions. A blush crept up his ears, and he quickly looked away, but Jian Mingshu’s eyelashes remained still.
—
Early the next morning, there were still no signs of Jian Mingshu waking up. Lu Chang decided to return to Jiangning County to inform Master Jian.
Due to Jian Mingshu’s condition, which made moving her inadvisable, the clinic was temporarily deemed safe. Lu Chang left his mother and Jian Mingshu there and set out alone for Jiangning.
Seeing Lu Chang off, Madam Zeng remained deeply unsettled, staying inside the room with Jian Mingshu. Time passed slowly and painfully. Finally, as night fell and the clinic closed its doors early, Madam Zeng casually ate some food and lay down to rest, but her mind was too restless to sleep. She lay half-asleep until midnight when a sudden sound of a door opening and a rush of cold wind woke her up. She sat up abruptly, staring warily at the door.
The door curtain was brushed aside, and a slender figure entered, carrying the chill from outside. Looking at Madam Zeng, Lu Chang’s voice carried an indescribable weariness, like the quiet of a deserted alley, where wind rustled leaves and frost-bit vegetables, devoid of warmth.
The candlelight soon flickered to life. Madam Zeng shielded the oil lamp flame and turned to him, asking, “You’re back so soon?” She glanced outside and wondered, “Is it just you?”
Lu Chang had left his carriage in Jiangning and without any other delays, he returned much faster than before, within a day and a night. Considering Master Jian’s deep concern for his daughter, even if he couldn’t come personally, he would have sent someone or sought the best doctors from Jiangning. Why then did Lu Chang return alone?
Without answering, Lu Chang had departed early in the morning, foregoing food and rest just to return quickly. Now, lips cracked from dehydration, stomach cramping, face pallid, and hands numb from cold, he stood at Jian Mingshu’s bedside feeling that none of his hardships compared to the suppressed words in his chest—that was true pain.
“What happened exactly? Please tell me!” Madam Zeng, seeing his silent distress, became anxious and grabbed his sleeve, demanding answers.
“No one came to fetch her,” Lu Chang finally spoke, as if struggling to breathe, before continuing, “The Jian Mansion in Jiangning was raided last night. After looting everything, the robbers set fire to the mansion. All 38 members of the household perished. Master Jian… is gone.”
The dreadful news struck like thunder on a clear day, leaving Madam Zeng stunned and unable to respond for a long time.