Chapter 6
Chapter 6
Ever since then, my food had a faint, bitter medicinal taste to it.
I didn’t understand pharmacology.
But in my previous life, while in the Imperial Palace, I had heard that some great families would feed their guards drugs to keep them under control.
I supposed Jiang Xiubai didn’t trust me either.
I wasn’t actually that sad about it.
Alright, maybe I felt a tiny bit disappointed.
But I didn’t dare let myself feel too much.
It wasn’t until some time had passed that I realized my body wasn’t showing any abnormal symptoms.
In fact, I rarely even caught a common cold anymore.
So, I went to ask Jiang Xiubai.
“You have the nerve to ask?”
At first, Jiang Xiubai played dumb.
When I kept pressing him, he eventually lost his patience and shot me an angry glare.
He averted his gaze in annoyance. “If I fed my precious medicine to a dog, it would have turned into a pig by now. But look at you-I’ve been raising you for so long, and you’re still as thin as a Little Beggar on the side of the road!”
He muttered that last sentence very quietly.
But my hearing was sharp.
And so I knew. Oh, so those medicines were meant to nourish my body.
I pursed my lips and told Jiang Xiubai seriously, “Using those medicines on me is a waste.”
I only wanted to find a way to repay Jiang Xiubai’s kindness, but it seemed I was falling deeper and deeper into his debt.
I didn’t want to go back to that man-eating Imperial Palace.
But I didn’t have the money to pay for such expensive herbs either.
Jiang Xiubai didn’t like hearing that.
He glared at me. “What do you mean, ‘waste’? When I first picked you up, you were getting sick every other day. Now, you can take on four of my guards by yourself. This just shows that this Young Master is good at raising people. When I go back, I can tell my parents that this Young Master is a man of great ability!”
I remained silent, calculating in my head how I could possibly pay back this sum of money.
Jiang Xiubai probably guessed what I was thinking.
He let out a “tsk.” “You don’t actually think I’m some sort of sucker, do you?”
I looked up at Jiang Xiubai and nodded.
This Young Master of the Jiang Family was a famous sucker throughout all of Yongzhou.
For example, that cloak he spent a thousand taels on was actually the work of an obscure seamstress who was too poor to pay her medical bills.
Jiang Xiubai laughed from sheer exasperation.
“You can’t even lie about insulting your master in your head. You really are Wooden.”
Though he was scolding me, his eyes were full of mirth.
Until I spoke again: “My life isn’t worth it; that silver could have bought many people just like me.”
In my previous life, after Shen Shiji took me back, he had also found doctors to look after my health.
So I knew he had spent a lot of money.
I wanted to live, but I couldn’t owe someone too much.
When the debt exceeds what I am capable of repaying, living becomes a luxury.
Especially since Shen Shiji’s kindness always came with a price tag.
I had already learned that lesson the hard way.
Then, I watched as the smile on Jiang Xiubai’s face vanished bit by bit.
After a long silence, the corner of his mouth twitched.
“That’s exactly why I hate this world, where human life is treated like grass,” he whispered, his voice tinged with mockery.
In this world, life truly was as cheap as weeds.
Slaughter was everywhere; life was the least valuable thing of all.
I watched Jiang Xiubai quietly, feeling that this man possessed a kind of goodness that was completely at odds with the world around him.
That wasn’t necessarily a good thing.
But it didn’t matter. One way or another, I would protect Jiang Xiubai.
If he didn’t dare to kill, then I would kill for him.
Jiang Xiubai hadn’t expected a response from me anyway.
He thought for a moment, then suddenly smiled. “Since you’re so intent on clearing your debt, then do one thing for me.”
“Okay.”
I agreed immediately.
With that, Jiang Xiubai returned to his usual flighty self.
The heavy atmosphere from a moment ago felt like nothing more than my imagination.