A few days after visiting Princess Fuhui, Shen Shaoguang found herself sick – heavy head, stuffy nose, chills, sore throat with coughing, and complete exhaustion – typical cold symptoms. Shen Shaoguang hadn’t been ill since leaving the palace, and this time it hit her like a mountain collapsing.
Despite this, she still forced herself to inspect the tavern in Tongren Ward – the first crab competition at both stores was closing one after another, attracting an especially large crowd of curious diners, and as the tavern owner, Shen Shaoguang couldn’t avoid making an appearance.
She had A Yuan help her sew a face mask with several layers of silk.
Though A Yuan’s needlework was rough, she was quick – zip zip zip, within a quarter hour she had sewn two masks: “Young Lady can alternate wearing them!”
Looking at the masks that were neither quite round nor square, with uneven stitches, Shen Shaoguang finally understood why A Yuan always praised her sewing.
Fortunately, for a functional item, aesthetics weren’t crucial. Shen Shaoguang covered her nose and mouth with it, letting A Yuan help tie the straps.
Seeing her like this, Yu San’s brows knotted into a knot, “Why don’t you stop wandering around spreading your illness?”
Shen Shaoguang had no energy to argue with him, and just smiled foolishly: “Must keep going, minor injuries don’t leave the front line.”
Yu San didn’t know what “front line” meant but understood her meaning. He gave her a disapproving look, went to the kitchen, and filled a pot of freshly boiled licorice tea, shoving it at her, “Take this and go quickly!”
Shen Shaoguang had reached the door when Yu San called her back, saying exasperatedly, “Would you take that thing off your face?”
A Yuan, following behind Shen Shaoguang, turned back and gave Yu San a fierce glare.
Shen Shaoguang left laughing.
After spreading her “illness” for half a day wearing her maid’s loving face mask, upon returning, Shen Shaoguang felt she really couldn’t move anymore.
A Yuan helped her wash her hands, clean her face, remove her outer clothes, and let down her hair, then Shen Shaoguang tucked herself into bed.
“Young Lady sleep a while first. When Yu San saw you return, he started brewing medicine. After it’s ready and you drink it, your body will feel better.”
Shen Shaoguang nodded.
“What would Young Lady like to eat tonight? I’ll have them prepare it early.” A Yuan asked again.
Looking at her chubby face and hearing these almost gentle words, compared to her usual rough manner, Shen Shaoguang felt this child had probably given her all the gentleness saved up over a dozen years.
Shen Shaoguang thought for a moment, “Some pear porridge, not too much sugar, don’t make it too sweet.”
A Yuan agreed and left.
Shen Shaoguang fell into a drowsy sleep. She didn’t know how long she slept before opening her eyes and vaguely seeing someone sitting on the stool by her bed. “Is the medicine ready?”
“It was ready but cooled. Eat dinner first, then take the medicine.”
Shen Shaoguang was startled – it was Deputy Minister Lin.
It had grown somewhat dark, the room dim with no lamps lit.
Hearing voices, A Yuan came in, “Is Young Lady feeling better? Would you like porridge first?”
“Bring in a lamp first,” Shen Shaoguang said.
“Master Lin didn’t want lights, afraid shadows would wake Young Lady.” A Yuan went outside to fetch the lampstand.
Shen Shaoguang cleared her throat and smiled at Lin Yan: “It’s nothing, just a minor cold.”
Lin Yan grabbed her hand; Shen Shaoguang instinctively pulled back.
“Don’t move,” Lin Yan said softly. He placed her hand at the bedside, his fingers gently pressing the three pulse points at her wrist.
A Yuan brought in the candlestick, saw he was taking her pulse, and stood quietly aside.
After a moment, when he finished, Shen Shaoguang smiled: “Nothing serious, right?”
He took her other hand to check that pulse too, and in the lamplight examined her complexion and tongue coating before saying, “Heat stagnation in the lungs, external wind-cold obstruction, probably related to exhaustion too – not just a simple external wind-cold.”
A Yuan said: “The doctor said the same. Master Lin, when will our Young Lady recover?”
“It will take several days. Watch her these days, don’t let her run around everywhere.”
“Yes!”
Shen Shaoguang in bed: “…”
“Are you cold? You have a low fever,” Lin Yan asked gently.
Shen Shaoguang felt her head with her hand.
Lin Yan pressed his lips together – falling ill had made her foolish, how could she test her own temperature? With her hair down, her face looked even smaller, appearing weak and sickly. Though he knew she was both clever and strong, seeing her like this, Lin Yan still felt she was weak and pitiful.
With the Young Lady being cared for, A Yuan confidently went to the front of the store to get the food box, leaving Lin Yan and Shen Shaoguang gazing at each other, one in bed, one beside it.
Looking at each other, Shen Shaoguang smiled. She had been sitting straight, but now stuffed the pillow behind her back to recline, and pulled the blanket up a bit higher.
“Cold?”
Shen Shaoguang coquettishly nodded.
“Want some water?”
Shen Shaoguang nodded again.
Lin Yan poured half a cup from the pot on the side table, rinsed the cup, went outside to dump it, then poured another half cup and handed it to her.
As Shen Shaoguang took the cup, she thought: what if I seized this chance to grab his hand, or simply jumped out of bed to hug him? What would happen? Taking the risk of spilling water on the blanket, what if I just pounced on him? Hmm, he knows martial arts, probably not so easy to pounce on – unless he’s willing to play along, but would he play along, or would he righteously scold me for being corrupted by the Princess? It’s not that the Princess corrupted me, I wasn’t a good person to begin with…
Lin Yan had no idea about her impure thoughts, just felt that since falling ill, she had become much more docile.
Taking back the cup from her hand: “Keep moistening your throat like this, you’ll recover faster.”
Having missed all opportunities, Shen Shaoguang could only joke inwardly that Deputy Minister Lin was also on team hot water.
A Yuan came in carrying the food box, brought out a bowl of thick snow pear rice porridge with a little sugared osmanthus sauce on top, and several side dishes.
A Yuan ladled a bowl of porridge and handed it to Shen Shaoguang. Shen Shaoguang tasted it – quite good, Third Princess’s porridge-cooking skills were improving. “Master Lin hasn’t had an evening meal, right? Would you like a bowl too?” Just after saying this, she added, “Never mind, better not.”
A Yuan stopped her hand that was about to serve Lin Yan porridge, looking at her Young Lady.
Shen Shaoguang smiled: “Go about your business.”
Even though A Yuan was naive, she knew the Young Lady and Master had things to say not meant for others to hear, so she obediently left.
Lin Yan moved the side dishes closer to her, but Shen Shaoguang shook her head, just drinking porridge.
After a couple of sips, she looked up with a smile: “Know why I won’t share the porridge with you?”
Lin Yan looked at her puzzled.
“Don’t want to share the ‘pear’ [homophone for ‘separate’]!” Shen Shaoguang said with a smile, then continued eating her porridge.
Lin Yan couldn’t help but smile. After a moment he said: “I thought you planned to forget me like strangers across the river.”
Shen Shaoguang looked at him with a mouthful of porridge, slowly chewed the pear pieces, swallowed, then said with a mischievous smile: “To forget each other like strangers, we should first ‘moisten each other with spittle’ [idiom suggesting intimacy].”
Lin Yan froze; Shen Shaoguang laughed.
Lin Yan’s ears grew hot as he pressed his lips together: “For a young lady too—”
Shen Shaoguang wasn’t afraid of him at all, simply put down her bowl and leaned back on her pillow laughing.
Lin Yan finally couldn’t keep his composure and laughed too – oh my Ah Qi…
Author’s Note:
“Moistening each other with spittle” refers to fish keeping each other wet by spitting water.
You all understand Ah Qi’s naughtiness.
————
Lin Yan feels he can never face this phrase again.
Shen Shaoguang: Master, don’t you find this phrase especially vivid? Why else are you blushing?