Chapter 4

Chapter 4

A month later, a letter arrived from Baling.

After Madam read it, she fainted on the spot.

Cui Jiu ran out to fetch a doctor, while I stayed by the stove, keeping a pot of millet porridge warm all night, afraid Madam might want to eat when she woke.

It was only after I heard it from the housekeeper that I learned the letter had not been sent back by Master. It had been written by Uncle Liu, who was at his side.

The letter said that Master had fallen ill on the road to Baling. They had rested for two days along the way, but he showed no sign of getting better. Worried he would miss the deadline for taking up his post, Master forced himself to continue the journey.

Who would have thought that the moment he reached Baling, he would collapse? By the day the letter was sent, Master had already been coughing so badly he could not get out of bed.

The next day, when Madam woke, she made up her mind to go to Baling and keep Master company.

No matter how the housekeeper tried to persuade her, he could not change her mind. In the end, even the Eldest Young Master was alerted.

I had been at the Wei Family for so long, but this was the first time I properly saw the Eldest Young Master.

The last time, he had been carried back lying on a wooden board. From far away, I had only glimpsed a bloodied, mangled back. For the month after that, he had stayed in his own room to recover and had not stepped outside once.

Now, the Eldest Young Master wore a white brocade robe and sat in a wheelchair, pushed by Jianru, as he entered Madam’s courtyard.

In the past, I had heard Cui Jiu talk plenty about how glorious and impressive the Eldest Young Master had been, but Cui Jiu had never told me what he looked like.

Now that I saw him, I could hardly come back to my senses.

The Eldest Young Master was truly, truly beautiful.

His skin was pale, and so were his lips. Dressed in white, he sat there like the jade-carved bodhisattvas I had seen in the temple during the New Year.

The Eldest Young Master had been in Madam’s courtyard for less than fifteen minutes when Sister Zhu’er came out and took the bowl of porridge from my hands.

Madam was willing to eat.

While she was eating, Cui Jiu went out again. This time, it was the Eldest Young Master who sent him. He was told to take Uncle Liu’s letter to Baoji Hall, find a doctor, and have medicine prepared according to the symptoms described in the letter. He was also to buy some of the famous life-preserving pills from the capital, the kind used to keep a person hanging on.

The Eldest Young Master’s meaning was clear: since there was no stopping Madam, and since she insisted on going no matter what, they might as well make every preparation before she left.

Madam was going all the way to Baling and needed people by her side. Sister Zhu’er was certainly going. The housekeeper was experienced and shrewd, so the Eldest Young Master assigned him to Madam as well. At the end, he also selected Cui Jiu, who was young and strong.

At first, Madam did not want to take Cui Jiu. The Eldest Young Master was injured too, and the household was in such a state. If she traveled far to Baling, she truly had no need for so many people around her. Besides, Uncle Liu was still in Baling, and he was an old servant whose background they knew through and through.

But the Eldest Young Master merely lifted his brow slightly, and Madam said no more.

After more than a month at the Wei Family, the number of people in the residence had dwindled again and again. I returned to the kitchen to tend the fire and cook Madam’s farewell meal. Smoke stung my eyes, and I choked and coughed. I also felt a faint ache in my lower back.

Madam was gentle and always spoke to me softly.

Cui Jiu was straightforward and would split firewood for me whenever he had time.

The housekeeper and Sister Zhu’er were both excellent people too.

As for Baling, just hearing those two syllables was enough to know it was far away.

To travel far to Baling, the quickest way was by water.

Traveling by water meant taking a boat. I did not know whether Madam and the others would get seasick. Holding back tears, I found some candied fruit and wrapped it in waterproof oiled paper.

The next day, just as dawn was beginning to break, I got up to light the fire and cook porridge. Madam and the others would leave after having porridge. The carriage to take them to the ferry had been arranged yesterday and was already waiting early in the morning.

Just before leaving, Madam cried again.

She covered her mouth and nose with a handkerchief, but her tears would not stop falling.

At a time of parting, even the wind felt bleak, as if autumn had arrived all at once.

With reddened eyes, I handed the bundle I had prepared early that morning to Sister Zhu’er. Madam asked what it was, and I said, “It’s candied fruit to help with seasickness, and eggs to eat on the road.”

The Eldest Young Master was still seated in his wooden wheelchair, his expression unchanged. He was dressed thinly, his robes fluttering in the wind, and the pair of sharp, bony shoulder blades protruding from his back looked as if he might ride the wind away in the very next moment.

When he spoke, his voice was very hoarse.

I had thought he would say something more. Instead, he only said, “It’s about time.”

And just like that, we saw Madam off. From then on, the vast Wei Family residence was left with only three people: the Eldest Young Master, Jianru, and me.

The estate felt terribly empty. I returned to the kitchen, rolled up my sleeves, and cleaned up the bowls and chopsticks I had not had time to put away that morning. That strange ache in my lower back came again. Most likely, I had not slept well the night before, when I had kept watch over the millet porridge by the stove. I rubbed my back with my hand and decided I would go to bed earlier tonight.

During that time, Jianru lifted the curtain and came in once.

He had come to pass on the Eldest Young Master’s words. The Eldest Young Master said that from now on, with only three people left in the household, we would eat together. There was no need to make separate meals for him anymore.

For me, this was a good thing. It saved me a great deal of work, though it was somewhat against the rules.

At noon, I stir-fried four simple dishes, placed them on a tray, and carried them to the Eldest Young Master’s courtyard.

This was my first time entering his courtyard. Before, I had only ever delivered food to the entrance, where Jianru would come to take it.

At that moment, the Eldest Young Master was not sitting in his wheelchair. Jianru was supporting him, and the two of them were practicing walking on the ground.

In the past, whenever I saw the Eldest Young Master, he was either sitting or lying facedown. Now that he was standing, I realized he was very tall, half a head taller than Jianru. But he did not walk well. His lips were pressed tightly together, and a fine layer of sweat had beaded on his forehead.