Jiang Xingyan’s brows furrowed slightly. She remembered that not long after her rebirth, Huo Ci had said that once they switched back, he would kneel and beg for her forgiveness.
She hadn’t expected him to actually come.
She thought for a moment and didn’t rush to speak. Beside her, Yun Chunfeng suddenly struggled to get up.
“So the real husband has arrived. Yun-ge’er knows his place, of course. I’ll take my leave now.”
Jiang Xingyan found it both amusing and annoying.
She pretended to be angry, grabbed Yun Chunfeng’s wrist with one hand, and pulled him back with force.
Yun Chunfeng lost his balance and fell heavily onto the bed.
Jiang Xingyan turned and pinned him beneath her, then bit down on his earlobe.
Her warm breath spilled across Yun Chunfeng’s ear and slipped inside, making him gasp sharply as he fought to suppress a shiver.
“Say nonsense again, and you’ll face the family punishment.”
Yun Chunfeng’s cheeks instantly turned bright red. He bit his lower lip lightly, unable to hide the joy on his face.
After settling him properly, Jiang Xingyan finally had a moment to say to Xiafeng:
“If he wants to kneel, let him kneel. There’s nothing I have to say to him.”
Xiafeng acknowledged and turned to go outside.
Although Jiang Xingyan’s separate courtyard was in the suburbs, peddlers and passersby still came and went. Seeing Huo Ci kneeling outside the gate, they all gathered around curiously.
“What’s wrong with General Huo?”
“Whose house is this? To make General Huo kneel at the door and still be ignored—that’s a bit too arrogant, isn’t it?”
“Shh! You can eat whatever you want, but you can’t say whatever you want.
Two days ago, on the day General Huo returned to court in triumph, something earth-shattering supposedly happened.”
“What? What? Tell us quickly.”
Before the common folk could gather in full, soldiers of the Huo family army had already organized themselves and begun guiding people away.
“All right, all right, move along. Nothing to see here. Everyone, go about your business.”
“This is our General Huo’s private matter. Please don’t pry.”
The common people weren’t unreasonable. Seeing the Huo family soldiers’ pained expressions, they understood there must be secrets not meant for outsiders.
Out of respect for General Huo, they all reined in their curiosity and dispersed.
Xin Zhui arrived with his brothers and saw at a glance Huo Ci kneeling pale-faced before Jiang Xingyan’s courtyard gate, swaying as if about to collapse.
“A-Yan, I’m sorry. I’ve wronged you.
Just kill me with one strike, I beg you.”
Creak.
The door opened, and Xiafeng stepped out.
She looked around and smiled lightly. “Gentlemen soldiers, my young lady was unconscious for three days and nights. She has only just woken up and is still weak. It is not convenient for her to receive guests. Please return.”
Xin Zhui’s face flushed red and white with shame.
Out of the corner his eye, he glimpsed the brothers behind him, all also looking embarrassed and ashamed.
Their proud general had let such a thing happen. They all felt they had lost face.
This was already the second time Xin Zhui faced such humiliation.
The first time he learned of it, his whole world had collapsed.
He understood well the soldiers’ despair.
He just hadn’t expected there were even more outrageous deeds among it all.
“General, let’s go back.”
“No. I want to see A-Yan.”
Xiafeng’s gaze gradually turned cold as it fell on Huo Ci.
“General Huo, we will not bring up what happened in the past again. You know in your heart how you treated our young lady.
Now our young lady and the young master are harmonious as zither and lute, deeply in love. Please do not come disturb them again.
Take care of yourself.”
Xiafeng turned and went back inside, shutting the door with a bang.
Huo Ci’s heart churned violently.
He thought of the past—had A-Yan also begged bitterly like this, wanting to see him just once?
But what had greeted her instead?
“Pff—”
Huo Ci suddenly vomited a mouthful of black blood and collapsed straight backward.
“General!”
Xin Zhui directed the soldiers to lift Huo Ci and place him back in the carriage.
“Doctor Sun, this way please.”
Just as they were about to leave, he suddenly heard Dongyang’s voice.
Turning back, he saw that she had already brought Doctor Sun over early, with Sun Yaxiang following behind.
Xin Zhui looked at the unconscious Huo Ci in the carriage and felt too ashamed to ask Doctor Sun to examine him first. He could only rein in the yellow horse and wait at the gate.
Dongyang naturally saw them too, but pretended not to. She led Doctor Sun straight inside.
Sun Yaxiang snorted coldly. “If you had known it would come to this, why did you do it in the first place?
Who are you putting on this fake act for now?”
Sun Miao sighed and didn’t stop her. He was welcomed inside by Xiafeng.
Xin Zhui watched the door close again and lowered his head.
This was a shame the Huo family army could never wash away in a lifetime.
“Let’s go back. Find another doctor to take a look at the general.”
Doctor Sun made his way to the warm chamber of the main house and immediately saw the two people with flushed cheeks.
At his age, what didn’t he understand?
Young people were always impatient. They couldn’t hold back the moment she woke up?
Sun Yaxiang didn’t care about any of that. She strode forward, pulled up Jiang Xingyan’s arm, and began taking her pulse.
“You’ve just woken up and are still a bit weak. A few doses of decoction will fix that.
This body of yours needs proper care!
The damage from childbirth hasn’t healed yet. Don’t go getting pregnant again.”
“Cough, cough!”
Yun Chunfeng nearly spat out his tea.
Jiang Xingyan turned completely red. “You—you—”
Sun Yaxiang’s lips curved in a smile.
Weren’t you quite good at irritating people before? How come you’re stammering now?
So irritating people felt this good. I’ll have to do it more often from now on.
“Yaxiang, stop messing around.”
“All right, all right, let’s talk business.
You’ve just woken up, so you need plenty of rest.
I’ve checked many medical texts. They say that after the soul returns to its place, it remains very unstable. For the next few days, you must not experience great sorrow, great joy, great shock, or great anger.
Otherwise, you could easily trigger soul-separation syndrome.”
Jiang Xingyan smiled softly. “All right, all right, I’ve remembered it all, Great Lady Doctor Sun.”
The young girl’s phoenix eyes curved like crescents, her cheeks fair with a rosy glow, her cherry lips revealing neat white teeth.
Her hair was casually tied in a falling-horse bun, and she wore a pale silk ruqun embroidered with a hundred butterflies among flowers. Though ill, she still could not hide her peerless radiance.
Having grown used to seeing Jiang Xingyan with Huo Ci’s soul inside her, now that the soul had returned, the youthful liveliness and brilliance unique to a young girl flowed through her eyes.
It made one forget all vulgarity, and one could not look away.
“Doctor Sun, my father—”
Sun Miao stroked his beard. “Thanks to him being brought in time. One day later, and there would have been no saving him.
He still hasn’t woken, though. He keeps murmuring two names in his dreams.
One is Miss Jiang’s. The other is likely the maiden name of Miss Jiang’s mother—the single character Wan.”
Jiang Xingyan lowered her eyes and said softly, “That’s right.”
A wave of lingering fear washed over her.
She had only just accepted this father who had appeared out of nowhere. If he were to pass away now, how would she bear it?
“Thank you, Doctor Sun, for your diligent care.”
As she spoke, Qiuyan brought over a red sandalwood box from behind.
Before Doctor Sun could refuse, Sun Yaxiang had already opened it quickly.
“Whoa!”
Inside were two neat rows of gold ingots.
“This is—”
“I would also like to ask Doctor Sun to take a look at Yun-ge’er. Can his eyes still be cured?”
