Chapter 64

While everyone mourned indoors, a gatekeeper reported that Miss Jiang had arrived, wanting to visit.
“Why is she here?”
Madam Qin wiped her tears. She knew the incident well and did not blame the girl.
“Miss Jiang says she has a method that might save Second Miss. She requests you, Madam, to see her.”
Madam Qin frowned and instructed the maids to watch over her daughter, hurrying to the flower hall.
Indeed, there she saw a finely groomed, elegant young lady sitting upright, her eyes bright though her complexion was slightly pale. Remarkably, Madam Qin felt a sudden warmth toward this girl, even though her daughter remained bedridden because of her.
Jiang Linlang, nervous and distracted, was tugged by her maid.
“Miss, the prefect’s wife is here.”
“I greet Madam.”
“Good girl. Now stand. You say you can save Jinxiu? Truly?”
“Jinxiu is impulsive. On the corridor that day, you two young girls only had a few words of quarrel. The maids, raised like young ladies, watched without intervening, which caused the accident.”
Madam Qin could not deny this. If Hong Xiao and Chutao had pulled Qin Jinxiu away during her argument with Jiang Linlang, today’s illness and injury would not have occurred.
She did not blame her anger. Jiang Linlang had returned home, given her hot soup and bitter medicine, and in a few days would have mostly recovered. Yet hearing that the Second Miss Qin caught a chill, triggering her weak constitution, might soon perish…
She instructed the maids: under no circumstances should they claim that Qin Jinxiu pushed her into the pond. That never happened. The maids had lied recklessly. Jiang Linlang must take care not to worsen matters. If anyone were harmed, the first fault would lie with her household.
“I do have a method, Madam, though you might not believe it.”
Recalling her method, Jiang Linlang hesitated. “Madam, do you know thirty miles outside Huaizhou Prefecture lies a desolate mountain? On it stands a temple named Sanggong, housing the son of the White Emperor, named Shaohao…”
“Since we’re talking about treating an illness, why are you dragging all this in?”
“I thought… if even celestial medicine can’t cure a sickness, perhaps only a celestial being could intervene?”
“Jinxiu might have been seized by a water spirit.”
“Nonsense!!!”
Jiang Linlang leaned close to Madam Qin’s ear and whispered. When Madam Qin caught the meaning behind her words, she furrowed her brows, casting a sidelong, imposing glance.
Frightened, Jiang Linlang stepped back, knowing no one would believe her testimony.
Madam Qin’s brows arched, and she swung her handkerchief as if to leave. But the bold girl followed, insisting, “I know you won’t believe me. Had I not experienced this myself, I wouldn’t believe it even if someone told me.”
“When I was six, in the dead of winter, my aunt died. There was no custom in our household to hold rites, so I secretly asked a maid to take me to the outskirts to burn paper offerings. I returned gravely ill. My mother visited once or twice, and the doctor said I wouldn’t survive. Preparations for the worst were made…”
“The maid wept at my bedside. I heard my mother calling me, and as I was about to go, someone stopped me. Strange indeed, the person wore a resplendent brocade cloak, glittering with light, and hundreds of birds circled behind. He was not mortal. I couldn’t see his face clearly, only heard: ‘I didn’t expect to bring this little thing along on the excursion. Now it must return where it belongs.’”
The girl was neat and proper in appearance, yet spoke with a kind of wild eccentricity. Madam Qin said, “Miss Jiang, do not fear. Our Qin family is not unreasonable. Even if it’s Jinxiu… it’s not your fault.”
She then called Jiang Linlang’s maid. “Your young lady fell into the water; take care of her. Now, escort our guest out.”
“Madam, I’m telling the truth. I even have evidence.”
Seeing them about to leave, Jiang Linlang stopped them, pulling from her bosom a small, roundly wrapped handkerchief. Unwrapping layer after layer revealed a single bird feather.
“Madam, you’ve likely never seen a feather like this. When I woke that day at six years old, it was beside my pillow. In my secluded courtyard, there weren’t even cats or dogs, let alone creatures of the mountains and wilderness.”
Madam Qin took it, peered closely, and the golden light flashed, suddenly blinding her with a white glare.
“Madam, are you alright?”
By the time she could see again, half a stick of incense had burned.
“Good… good…”
The sun hung low on the branches. The prefect, just returned from reporting to the capital, had pressing official duties despite worry for his daughter.
Qin Simiao requested leave from his tutor, who didn’t ask much, everyone knew the second miss of the Qin family was gravely ill.
Madam Qin had sat by her daughter’s bedside for a long time, handkerchief in hand, seemingly deep in thought.
“Mother! We must quickly prepare a carriage to the capital, plead with Grand Tutor Wei, and have the imperial physician see my sister on account of my aunt!”
“Previously, fetching your cousin from the Wei household displeased your uncle. Now asking them again… it will be difficult.”
“What kind of illness does your sister have?”
Madam Qin touched her daughter’s face, seeing that after coughing blood, her color had slightly improved. “Does she look like someone gravely ill?”
“She’s weak, but not…”
“The doctor said…”
Before the eldest son could finish, his mother interrupted, “Doctor? All these years, he only speaks safe words. If Yunu lives this long, it’s her fortune, not his doing.”
Yet Jiang Linlang’s words had left Madam Qin deep in thought.
Looking at the feather’s radiant gold within the handkerchief, she closed her eyes. “Someone, prepare the carriage…”
One year later.
After the lively coming-of-age banquet, Qin Jinxiu stormed into Madam Qin’s courtyard. “Mother! You’ve adopted Jiang Linlang as a foster daughter, fine, but why exalt her at my coming-of-age banquet? Who is truly your daughter?”
Since waking in her secluded courtyard a year ago, she had feared for her life. The heroine could not die; if she did, the world would collapse.
Her body had been so frail that merely falling back into the pond caused high fever, vomiting blood, and triggered her asthma.
If she died in this task-world, it would be permanent.
Later, she discovered why she had been saved, she became a servant to the Sanggong temple, meant to serve the deity Shaohao for life.
She was forbidden to marry or bear children.
She didn’t want to believe it, but her body’s state was undeniable. Before falling into the water, even minor anger caused dizziness and collapse. Afterward, she could run, jump, and even wield a whip.
Yes, a whip. According to Qin Jinxiu’s character, if her body improved, she would become more arrogant. But she couldn’t harm innocents, so she carried a whip, swinging it at the air to appear domineering. Naturally, her reputation worsened.
Madam Qin had even taken Jiang Linlang as a foster daughter. Thinking of this, Qin Jinxiu twitched her mouth. She never expected the plot to go so off-track.
Originally, the banquet should have simply shown Jiang Linlang handled a tricky situation well, gradually gaining Madam Qin’s favor, nothing more.
Now there was the absurd lifelong servitude rule of Shaohao. Qin Jinxiu clenched her teeth. Her task was to marry; yet to survive, she could not. Was this a cruel joke?
She wondered about her miraculous recovery… she questioned the system long over this. Was this a supernatural world?
And yet there were celestial beings.
Ultimately, it was a high-freedom world, uncontrollable. If the plot deviated, anything could happen.
“Jinxiu, don’t be stubborn. Linlang came specifically to congratulate you.”
“I don’t like her. Why do you favor her so, Mother?”
“Why dislike her? She hasn’t wronged you.”
Since her recovery, Madam Qin had not indulged her as before, occasionally restraining her, which only made her resentful.
“Mother… I just…”
“Madam, your cousin has come to pay respects.”
As Qin Jinxiu twisted her handkerchief, unsure what to say, the gatekeeper announced her cousin’s arrival. Madam Qin quickly set down her tea and called him in.
“Xun’er is here. Let him in.”
“Now that your cousin is here, do you want him to see your shamelessness?”
Knowing she didn’t get along with her nephew, she teased her.
“He’s here. Should I fear him?”
Madam Qin smiled, glancing at her. After a moment, a tall, refined figure lifted the curtain and entered. “Buxun greets Aunt.”
He wasn’t foolish, he had been treated by a divine doctor thanks to Madam Qin and the eldest son. Qin Jinxiu didn’t believe it, knowing he only feigned ignorance, much to the exasperation of her mother and elder brother.
Seeing her, Wei Buxun bowed. “I greet cousin.”
“Thanks to you, I’m well.”
She responded, chin slightly raised, proud and aloof. Madam Qin frowned. “Jinxiu.”
“I suppose my elder sister didn’t receive my coming-of-age gift, so I came for her.”