Just a Wet Nurse, Just a Plaything? Everyone Wept After My Death - Chapter 78
Chapter 78
Although they now had Hongluo Charcoal and rice broth, Xiao Ze’s body had been weakened far too severely.
In the latter half of the night, the wind and snow outside the hall intensified. Xiao Ze suddenly developed a raging fever. His little face burned bright red, and each breath rasped in his throat like air wheezing through a broken bellows. His coughing grew so violent he could barely breathe.
“Your Highness? Your Highness!”
Shen Yingyue touched his burning forehead, frantic with worry.
Rice broth could soothe his stomach, but it could not cure such a vicious chill. He needed medicine!
She looked at the empty cabinet and gritted her teeth. After tucking the blanket securely around Xiao Ze, she turned and rushed into the snowstorm.
…
The Imperial Pharmacy.
This was where the medicinal herbs for the palace’s Noble Ladies were kept. It was usually bustling, with eunuchs and palace maids from every residence coming to collect medicine.
When Shen Yingyue arrived, the imperial physicians were changing shifts. A sharp-featured eunuch in charge of filling prescriptions sat behind the counter, cracking sunflower seeds between his teeth.
“Please, sir, have mercy.”
Covered in snow and gasping for breath, Shen Yingyue stumbled up to the counter.
“The Ninth Prince in the Northern Compound has suddenly developed a high fever, and his cough has worsened. He urgently needs a dose of Fritillary and Loquat Cough-Relief Powder, as well as bupleurum to bring down his fever… Please, sir, fill a prescription for him!”
The eunuch did not even lift his eyelids. He spat out a seed shell and slowly extended one hand.
“Where’s your token? Where’s the imperial physician’s prescription?”
Shen Yingyue stiffened. “An imperial physician… hasn’t visited the Northern Compound yet. This is an emergency. The child’s fever is dangerously high. Could you make an exception just this once?”
“Make an exception?”
The eunuch finally raised his head and looked her up and down. When he saw her coarse palace uniform and the lack of even a decent hairpin in her hair, he immediately sneered.
“Without a prescription, you’ll need silver.
“The palace’s medicinal herbs are expensive. If anyone could stroll in and demand medicine for nothing, how would the Imperial Pharmacy stay in business?”
Shen Yingyue’s face went deathly pale.
She had already traded her silver hairpin for charcoal and rice. She truly did not have a single copper coin left.
“Sir, I truly have no other choice.”
Suppressing her humiliation, Shen Yingyue lowered herself and pleaded softly, “He’s the Ninth Prince, the Emperor’s own flesh and blood. If the fever causes lasting harm, you won’t be able to bear the consequences either…”
“Oh? Are you trying to threaten me with his princely status?”
As though he had heard some hilarious joke, the eunuch raised his voice in a mocking drawl.
“Everyone knows the Ninth Prince is a Lone Star of Doom who brings death to everyone around him! The Emperor barely remembers him once a year!
“Only a newcomer who doesn’t know the rules would treat him like some precious treasure.
“Go on, get out of here! Stop blocking the way and bringing us bad luck!”
He waved impatiently. Several junior eunuchs immediately surrounded Shen Yingyue and shoved her outside as if driving away a fly.
Bang!
The doors of the Imperial Pharmacy slammed shut in her face.
Shen Yingyue fell onto the frozen ground, pain shooting through her knees where they struck the snow.
She stared at the tightly closed vermilion doors, her heart filled with desolation.
This was the imperial palace.
Human lives were worth less than weeds, less even than the handful of sunflower seeds in that eunuch’s palm.
Just as despair overwhelmed her, a gentle voice suddenly came from behind.
“Are you… from the Northern Compound?”
Shen Yingyue froze, then turned around.
A woman in a faded pale-green palace dress stood a short distance away.
She appeared to be in her early twenties, with delicate features and a mild, graceful air, though her complexion was somewhat pale. She carried a packet of medicine in one hand, and only a single palace maid accompanied her, looking just as thin and frail.
In this lavish imperial harem, the mistress and servant were dressed so shabbily that they looked worse off than some of the more favored senior palace maids.
“You are…” Shen Yingyue pushed herself up, looking hesitant.
“My mistress is First Attendant Su of the West Side Hall,” the young palace maid said softly.
First Attendant Su?
Shen Yingyue searched her memory, but she had never heard of her. Clearly, this was another poor soul who had no imperial favor and had been forgotten in some corner of the palace.
First Attendant Su stepped forward and glanced at Shen Yingyue’s red, swollen knees, a flicker of sympathy in her eyes.
“I heard everything just now. Those servants are the worst kind of snobs. Don’t take their words to heart.”
As she spoke, she held out the packet of medicine in her hands.
“I just collected this loquat syrup and some fever-reducing herbs. My cough is an old ailment. It won’t kill me anytime soon.
“But the child’s fever is urgent. Take these and use them for now.”
Shen Yingyue stared at the packet before her, frozen in place.
In this cold, heartless palace, someone was actually willing to share life-saving medicine with a complete stranger?
“I… I couldn’t possibly accept this.” Shen Yingyue’s eyes stung with tears as she waved her hands in refusal. “Your Ladyship needs the medicine too…”
“Take it.”
First Attendant Su pressed the packet firmly into her hands, a gentle yet bitter smile touching her lips.
“I entered the palace three years ago, but I have never once laid eyes on His Majesty. In this palace, people like us, with no one to love or care for us, are like moss growing in the corner.
“If even the moss won’t help other moss, then there really is no way to survive here.”
“Moss…”
Shen Yingyue murmured the word. As she gazed at First Attendant Su’s frail figure, warmth seemed to flow into the block of ice around her heart.
“Thank you for saving his life, Your Ladyship!”
Shen Yingyue refused no longer. She knelt solemnly in the snow and kowtowed to First Attendant Su.
“I am Shen Yingyue. I will never forget your kindness for as long as I live.”
First Attendant Su hurriedly helped her up and gently brushed the snow from her hands.
“Go back quickly. The child can’t wait. If you ever need anything in the future, come to me. I don’t have much myself, but I can always spare a mouthful of food.”
With that, she departed with the young palace maid, their figures slowly vanishing into the wind and snow.
Clutching the packet of medicine that still held First Attendant Su’s warmth, Shen Yingyue stood there watching for a long time.
She knew First Attendant Su had helped her because she had seen her former self in Shen Yingyue, because she pitied someone who shared the same wretched fate.
In this place that devoured people alive, such kindness was more precious than gold.
“First Attendant Su…”
Shen Yingyue silently repeated the name.
Then she turned and sprinted toward the Northern Compound.
…
Inside the Northern Compound’s main hall.
Shen Yingyue poured the bitter medicine down Xiao Ze’s throat. Half an hour later, his raging fever finally subsided, and his breathing gradually steadied.
She wiped the sweat from her brow and collapsed onto the footstool beside the bed.
Gazing out at the pitch-black night, she clutched the cord that had bound First Attendant Su’s packet of medicine.
“Nuannuan, did you see that?”
“There may be hypocrites like Huo Xiao in this world and venomous snakes like Liu Ruyan, but there are also kindhearted fools like First Attendant Su.”
Shen Yingyue’s gaze gradually grew sharp and resolute.
She swore that within these towering palace walls, she would not climb to the top solely for herself and her daughter.
She would protect this faint glimmer of light as well.
If she, Shen Yingyue, ever gained power one day, she would never forget the kindness First Attendant Su had shown her in her darkest hour!
This bond of sisterhood was one Shen Yingyue would protect at all costs.
