The Third Day After Picking Up a Wife
“Thank you, thank you, Miss.” Even with his face swollen black and blue, the man surnamed Wu was only relieved to have gotten the silver.
At this point, he didn’t dare make a single move, afraid of angering the young lady. He didn’t dare resent her either.
At the very least, before leaving Haicheng, he wouldn’t dare utter a word of complaint.
Liu Yuer, who had been watching from the side, couldn’t help feeling vindicated. He still has the nerve to thank us!
The Kyoto merchant took the silver note and practically rolled and scrambled his way downstairs, terrified that Lu Ling might change her mind.
In truth, Lu Ling had already gotten all the information she needed. As for the rest, no matter how she pressed him, he wouldn’t tell the truth.
Better to keep the beauty first and deal with the rest later.
“Wang Yi, send someone to quietly follow that merchant and note down everywhere he goes.” For some reason, Lu Ling felt this matter was nowhere near that simple.
“Yes, Miss!” Wang Yi answered.
But before anything else, she needed to save the person first.
The beauty in her private room was still burning with fever.
“Yujie, trouble you to go call Doctor He upstairs. Also bring two more sisters over to help.” Lu Ling instructed.
Liu Yuer went downstairs as well.
Before long, she had called up the women guards from Qingzhu Tower. These sisters exercised regularly, so moving things around wasn’t much of a burden for them.
By the time they were done, the private room had a fresh set of furniture.
Doctor He had come too.
She was also a woman.
In her early years, she had made a living in the countryside as a young midwife.
By chance, when Lu Ling had gone to the countryside on business and discovered that her medical skill was more professional than expected, she felt it would be a waste to let such talent go unused. And just then, Qingzhu Tower was in the middle of transforming; many of the sisters needed treatment, including for emotional wounds. That stretch of time had made the sisters of Qingzhu Tower hate the opposite sex quite a bit.
Once He Chou settled into Qingzhu Tower, she immediately became the resident physician. Not only that, she also had considerable knowledge of gynecology.
Sometimes Lu Ling would hand over some prescriptions copied from modern times, and as long as they were given to Doctor He, she could generally reproduce fifty or sixty percent of the effect.
He Chou reached the private room.
Lu Ling sent the others outside and stayed behind to help.
He Chou was a little surprised. “Miss, you’re doing this yourself?”
She glanced toward the inner room, unable to help wondering what kind of person could make Lu Ling care this much.
In truth, Lu Ling did her best to help anyone she could, but never to the point of personally doing everything herself.
Because she was rather lazy.
“Not really. Am I in your way?” Lu Ling blinked and asked back.
Of course she couldn’t tell the truth.
She was worried about the beauty in the inner room, who looked very much like a celebrity.
After all, she had spent five hundred taels to bring her back.
Whether out of fear of losing money or for some other reason, she had to stay.
He Chou didn’t think much of it. “Then later, Miss, please help me hand things over.”
She carried her medicine chest into the room with practiced ease. The moment she saw the beauty lying on the couch, even she, who was used to seeing plenty of lovely girls in Qingzhu Tower, felt that none of them could compare to this one, not even all together.
Even Doctor He stared for a moment before Lu Ling couldn’t help clearing her throat behind her hand. “She has a high fever.”
“I’m not sure when it started. When I saw her just now, she was still conscious. She fainted about a quarter of an hour ago.”
With that information, He Chou took her pulse and found the woman’s temperature astonishingly high.
Without another word, she said, “Miss, please go outside and get a clean towel, then take the medicinal wine from my chest.”
“Alright.” Lu Ling was here to help, after all. She went out at once and fetched several towels. Opening the medicine chest, she found two brown jars inside.
When she removed the red stoppers, she saw that He Chou had already bent over and started unfastening the beauty’s collar. She moved very quickly, but with terrible efficiency; after fumbling for a while, she realized she couldn’t get it open at all, so she turned back to the medicine chest, took out a pair of scissors, and simply cut straight into the collar.
Then, like peeling an onion, she cut along the shoulder and collarbone, slicing open all the fabric. Beneath the torn cloth, pale skin glimmered, white enough to almost glow.
One layer farther, and spring would be laid bare.
Lu Ling’s eyes flickered. She turned her gaze away a little awkwardly. “Maybe I should still go out?”
He Chou had just cut the top loose. Seeing Lu Ling suddenly trying to leave as if to avoid impropriety, she reminded her, “We’re all women, what’s there to mind? She has what you have too. Hurry up and cut it open.”
Without another word, He Chou handed her the scissors.
“Her pants are tied tightly too. You do it; I still need to prepare the powder.”
Lu Ling’s mouth twitched. A straight woman really did speak differently.
That really was a wake-up call.
At this point, for the patient’s sake, she could only take the scissors decisively, cut away the buttons fastening the long dress, and smoothly open the collar a little so heat could escape. Then she withdrew her gaze.
Seeing how reserved she was, He Chou couldn’t help asking, “You cut it and then stop? How is she supposed to cool down like that? Either you strip her yourself, or I’ll call Yuer over?”
“Don’t waste time.”
The instant she heard someone else might be called, Lu Ling’s hesitation vanished. She set the scissors down at once and began helping the beauty out of her outer robe, then her inner garment. Though her eyes had already drifted to a place where she could no longer see the beauty clearly, the sensation in her hands grew more and more vivid, seeping into her senses through every pore.
Like a blind massage therapist, she slid her hands over skin so smooth and fine it felt like soft sheep-fat jade. The more she took off, the fainter the musk became.
The beauty’s own clean fragrance began to peel out layer by layer from beneath that musk.
It grew clearer and clearer, rushing to her nose.
It even made Lu Ling momentarily dazed; her hand slipped, and she used a little more force than intended, as if she had brushed over a single jujube pit.
Mm~
The beauty let out an unconscious moan. That breath of heat landed right on the side of Lu Ling’s neck where she had turned her head away, making her whole body jerk. Then she quickly stripped away the last thin layer of clothing from the beauty and covered her with a light blanket.
After that, Lu Ling instinctively stepped away from the bed, turning her body aside and no longer daring to open her eyes.
She looked extremely intent on avoiding suspicion.
It was the first time He Chou had ever seen the usually capable Miss Lu turn into a lost deer in the woods just because she was undressing a girl.
It was only touching a certain place. They were all women; they all had it. What was so strange about that?
She couldn’t help teasing her. “What a peerless beauty.”
“No wonder even Miss can’t keep herself under control.”
As soon as those words came out, Lu Ling couldn’t help opening her eyes. A little flustered, she reminded her, “Don’t talk nonsense. And don’t look around carelessly.”
The hint of annoyance in her tone left He Chou confused.
Still, she dutifully took the pulse. However, the musk had given her always-sensitive nose quite a shock.
After checking the pulse, Doctor He went outside and sneezed several times in a row.
Then she came back in and said, “Miss, this young lady is running too high a fever. It may be too late to prepare a prescription now; for the moment, we should bring the temperature down first.”
“Of course I know we need to reduce the fever.” Lu Ling raised a brow. “Can we start now?”
She wasn’t sure whether Doctor He’s two jars of medicinal wine would have any effect.
There was no pure alcohol here, and even if there were, using alcohol alone would only be a temporary fix.
Most importantly, there were no fever-reducing injections in this era.
He Chou said, “I’ll prick some points first to help open the meridians. Miss, please use the medicinal wine you brought to wipe her body. Once the fever goes down, it’ll be much easier.”
Without another word, Lu Ling inverted a towel over the medicine jar, and a strong alcoholic smell immediately swept over her.
Though the medicinal wine was the color of soy sauce, its concentration seemed very high.
Seeing this, He Chou said, “He hasn’t managed to extract the alcohol you mentioned, Miss, but he did obtain some byproducts. I tested them on children in the countryside, and they greatly improved fever reduction.”
“Besides, this is a young woman. Her physical condition should be able to handle it.”
“I understand.” Lu Ling simply poured all the medicinal wine onto the towel.
By then, she was no longer conflicted about it.
She directly began wiping the beauty’s body on the bed, first the forehead, then the cheeks, then the arms. The damp alcohol touched that snow-like skin and seemed to evaporate at once.
Lu Ling felt it wasn’t enough and poured in another bottle.
Then she began wiping the legs.
Doctor He winced at the sight. Half a bottle would have been enough, and yet Miss Lu had poured in all of it.
Miss Lu probably didn’t even know that just the two bottles in her medicine chest already cost five dan of grain, along with medicinal herbs worth several hundred taels.
But Miss Lu had money, so she should be able to reimburse it, right?
She didn’t dare disturb Lu Ling for the moment.
Lu Ling’s expression was extremely serious as she carefully wiped the beauty again and again, over her arms and legs, then slowly down from that exquisite collarbone. As she wiped, her mind had gone blank; she couldn’t think of anything else.
She only remembered that before long she had already turned over and begun wiping a certain part near her pipa bone.
When she finally finished, she saw that the beauty on the bed was breathing much less heavily. She was no longer in that state of breath going out but not coming in like before.
However, the beauty’s face was flushed a deep red, making her lips look even more vivid, like rose nectar.
Even the exposed shoulder blades, carved like jade bones, were tinged with a faint pink hue. As her full chest rose and fell, there was an indescribable hint of allure.
One look was enough to make Lu Ling freeze in place. Very quickly, she withdrew her gaze and pulled the blanket back over her.
Then she took a clean, damp towel and placed it on her forehead. The eyes that had once been sharp and slightly upturned now drooped into a tiny, pitiful willow-leaf shape, looking terribly weak and heartbreakingly lovely.
Perhaps because she was feeling too miserable, a tear silently gathered at the corner of the beauty’s eye, hanging there without falling. Her tightly pressed lips were full of stubbornness.
Lu Ling couldn’t help reaching out and catching that tear with her fingertip.
Then she brushed the wet bangs back behind the beauty’s ear. Beneath that jade-white forehead, everything seemed fragile and soft in sleep.
Perhaps because her temperature had gradually come down, the beauty had already sunk into a deep slumber.
Only then did Lu Ling carefully cover her abdomen again, then lower half the mosquito net to block the draft. By the time she had finished everything, her hands felt heavy as if they were weighed down with lead, and even her back was soaked through.
No one knew how much time had passed.
He Chou took her pulse again, then nodded with satisfaction. “It’s fine now. Later I’ll prescribe some medicine; let her drink it for three days, and she’ll be alright.”
“At last it’s gone down.” Lu Ling let out a breath.
But looking at the beauty’s sleeping face, she still wasn’t reassured and went back to rummaging through the medicine chest for a third bottle of medicinal wine, only to find that there was nothing left inside but a few emergency herbs.
“Doctor He, the medicinal wine is gone.”
“Is there any more?”
He Chou had just withdrawn her hand and couldn’t help sighing. “Miss, you truly live beyond the reach of mortal dust.”
“Medicine should be effective, not plentiful.”
“No, I just feel this beauty still needs medicinal wine to keep the fever from rising again. You should go back and get some more.” Lu Ling didn’t dare be even a little careless with the fever.
She was terrified it would come back and make the woman suffer again.
At the very least, Lu Ling had spent five hundred taels on her, and she was a life too; more importantly, she was a super beauty’s life.
Naturally, she had to be treated as top priority.
Those words carried a hint of doubt in He Chou’s ears. What did she mean, she just felt?
Was the Miss’s medical skill better than her own?
She reminded her, “But last time I wiped a child from the countryside with just five spoonfuls, plus some cooled well water. The fever basically went down.”
“Don’t worry, it’ll be fine. If there’s nothing else, He will go boil the medicine.”
Lu Ling had no choice but to nod. “Don’t save on the herbs. Choose the good ones and use them.”
That finally made He Chou ask, “Miss, how do you plan to arrange this stunning beauty?”
He Chou had already heard from Liu Yuer.
This was a poor soul Miss had bought out.
She had nearly become a tragic beauty.
“Of course she’ll stay with the sisters of Qingzhu Tower and learn the zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting, as well as singing and dancing, so she can earn her own keep and, incidentally, help Qingzhu Tower make a profit...” Lu Ling looked at the woman on the couch and gradually lowered her voice.
Why did this feel a little like wasting a natural treasure?
She always felt this woman shouldn’t be the sort who ran herself ragged; she was meant to be waited on!
As expected, it was because her modeling was just too good, giving her this strange filter!
TL Note:
live beyond the reach of mortal dust (不食人间烟火) means someone so sheltered or ethereal that they seem detached from ordinary life.
straight woman (大直女) = not in the heterosexual sense, slang for a very blunt, no-nonsense woman.
spring would be laid bare (春色乍现) = a poetic euphemism for a woman’s body being partially exposed.
pipa bone (琵琶骨) means the shoulder blade/scapula.