Chapter 3
Chapter 3
The days passed one by one like that.
Whenever Xie Yunye returned from the barracks, he often made a detour to the clinic to help Gu Qinghan sort medicinal herbs.
He said that after spending too long in the military camp, the scent of medicine calmed his mind.
Sometimes, when I brought pastries to the clinic, I would see him sitting on a little stool in the rear courtyard, earnestly sifting and cutting herbs.
Even our son, Xie Qu, took Gu Qinghan as his teacher from a young age.
When Xie Qu was three, he once had a terrible fever. Gu Qinghan rushed over in the night and watched over him for two days and two nights before the fever finally subsided.
From then on, Xie Qu became especially close to her.
He grew more and more distant from me, saying that I was only a woman of the inner household, and that aside from embroidery and accounts, I was far less ambitious than Gu Qinghan.
When he was five, he knelt before Gu Qinghan of his own accord and said he wanted to study medicine under her.
In those years, I thought life would continue like that forever.
Until the year Xie Yunye turned twenty-seven, when an emergency broke out at the border.
He led the troops to war, and Gu Qinghan went with the army as a military physician.
On the day they left, I stood at the city gate to see them off.
Xie Yunye sat on his horse, looked back at me, and said, wait for me to return.
Two months later, terrible news arrived.
The enemy had coated their arrows with a deadly poison, and Xie Yunye had been shot and fallen unconscious.
Gu Qinghan tested medicines with her own body, tasting one remedy after another, until she finally found the antidote formula.
But she herself had taken in too much poison. Her organs were damaged, and seven days later, she was gone.
Xie Yunye’s poison was cured, but his body completely collapsed.
Two years later, he passed as well.
Only I lived on for another fifty years.
Those were fifty years that could make me wake up laughing in the middle of the night whenever I thought about them.
…
That night, just as I was about to lie down, Xie Yunye came.
He stood in the room, looked around, and his gaze fell on the bed. There was only one pillow.
“Where is mine?”
“My lord’s injury has not healed. It would be better for you to recuperate in the study for now.”
Xie Yunye did not move. His expression darkened slightly.
On the day Xie Yunye and I were married, the imperial edict arrived just after we finished bowing in ceremony.
He did not even have time to lift my bridal veil before he put on armor and left for war.
So although we had been married for over a year, we were still husband and wife in name only.
In my previous life, he had also come to my room that night, intending to make up for the wedding night we had missed that year.
But he had barely sat down when Old Madam sent someone to call him over.
He had no choice but to leave, while I lay awake all night in bitterness.
In this life, I planned to use the same old trick and stall until Old Madam came for him.
Sure enough, someone knocked at the door.
Xie Yunye called out, “Tell Mother it is late. I will visit her tomorrow.”
I froze.
Why was he not going?
The maid outside acknowledged him and left.
My heart sank, and I retreated toward the bed.
Xie Yunye took a step toward me.
“Rong Yu, are you blaming me?”
“My lord speaks too seriously. You went to war for the country. How would I dare blame you?”
“You do not dare. That means you blame me in your heart.”
He reached out, as if to touch me, but I turned aside and avoided him.
His hand paused in midair.
“After a year apart, you will not even let me touch you?”
“My lord misunderstands.”
I steadied my breathing. “I am only worried about your injury.”
“The wound is on my shoulder. It does not interfere with other things.”
His words were very direct.
I clenched my fists, my nails digging into my palms.
Just then, the door was knocked on again.
“Brother Xie, it is me.”
It was Gu Qinghan’s voice.
I let out a breath and quickly went to open the door.
She stood outside, her gaze passing over me to fall straight on Xie Yunye.
“Your injury has not healed. You should not be doing anything strenuous.”
Xie Yunye was startled by her words, then laughed with a hint of helplessness.
“Doctor Gu really does manage too much.”
“If you were not my patient, I would not bother managing you at all.”
Gu Qinghan huffed and refused to yield an inch.
The two of them went back and forth like an ordinary bickering pair for several rounds.
In the end, Xie Yunye conceded defeat. He spread his hands toward me. “Madam, look at this doctor. She is fiercer than the deputy generals in the camp.”
I did not answer.
Resigned, he walked out.
Qiushuang came in carrying a copper basin and lowered her voice. “Madam, why did Miss Gu come? It is not as if the manor lacks other physicians.”
I took the towel and washed my face. “Miss Gu is most familiar with my lord’s injury.”
She nodded, half understanding.
In my previous life, Gu Qinghan had come as well. She had merely seen that Xie Yunye was called away by Old Madam and then left.
I had thought she came because she was unfamiliar with something and wanted to ask.
That night, I slept more peacefully than ever.