Chapter 30

Chapter 30

Cui Shao likely caught a chill, for he came down with a high fever the next day.

He lay in bed, his expression pained as he drifted in and out of consciousness, muttering nonsense. One moment he was calling for his mother, the next for his father, and occasionally I could hear the sound of soft sobbing.

This sent the whole household into a panic. Qingshan went to fetch a physician while my younger brother and I chopped wood and boiled water, leaving Cui Zishu to watch over her brother.

Once the hot water was ready, I had just placed a warm compress on Cui Shao’s forehead when he suddenly grabbed my wrist.

“Don’t go, Mother… don’t go…”

“I’m not your mother.”

I patted his hand to soothe him, intending to make him let go, but his grip only tightened. “Chen Yu, don’t leave. Chen Yu!”

I couldn’t pull my hand back. “Cui Shao, I still have to go boil more water…”

Beside us, Cui Zishu cleared her throat. “Sister-in-law, I’ll go instead. I don’t know the first thing about tending a fire, but I’d much rather do that than have Brother wake up and scold me…”

Left with no choice, I changed the towels using only one hand. After I don’t know how many changes, Cui Shao finally woke up. I tried to withdraw my hand again.

Cui Shao looked at me with pleading eyes. Though his grip had loosened slightly, he didn’t let go. “Chen Yu, I’m cold…”

Seeing how sickly he looked, I couldn’t bring myself to be heartless. Fine, I’d let him hold it; it wasn’t as if I’d lose a limb over it.

It wasn’t until Qingshan returned with the physician that he finally released my hand, though he didn’t forget to tidy my sleeve for me, covering my wrist.

Once the medicine was brewed, my brother hurriedly brought it to Cui Shao.

“Brother-in-law, drink it! Hurry, drink!”

My brother looked frantic, shoving the steaming bowl toward Cui Shao without regard for the heat.

“Don’t rush him…”

“I have to! If he doesn’t drink it, he’ll end up just like Mother!”

My brother was usually harmless, but once he set his mind on something, he became incredibly stubborn. He made a move as if to force the medicine down. Lacking any strength, Cui Shao was forced to take a gulp, his face contorting from the heat.

In the end, it took a long time for me to coax my brother away, eventually letting Qingshan take him back to his room to apply ointment to his scalded fingers.

I blew on the spoonful of medicine and watched Cui Shao drink it.

“What did your brother mean just now? Your mother… what happened to her?”

Cui Shao spoke tentatively, his expression somewhat strained. I, however, was perfectly composed.

“Shortly after my brother was born, he suffered a head injury. Mother had no money for a physician, so she went to beg Master Chen. At the time, he was enjoying Madam Bai’s company. Master Chen was annoyed that Mother had interrupted his fun and ordered her to be thrown out. But Madam Bai found it amusing; she told Mother that if she knelt outside for the entire night, she would save my brother.”

“And then?”

My hand paused mid-feed. “It poured rain that night. Mother knelt in the courtyard and was drenched for the whole night. By the time Madam Bai remembered her, it was already noon the next day. But she didn’t call for a physician as promised. Instead, she humiliated Mother. After Mother returned, she fell gravely ill with a persistent fever and eventually passed away. My brother survived, but his mind was never the same… Ever since he learned what happened to Mother, he’s been terrified of me falling ill.”

“I’m sorry…”

I shook my head with a smile. “Fortunately, Madam Bai eventually lost favor and offended everyone in the inner household. In the end, she met a miserable fate and secretly fled back to her parents’ home.”

After finishing the bowl of medicine, Cui Shao spoke again. “If it were me…”

I looked up at him, waiting for him to continue. He gave a faint smile.

“If it were me, I would have driven the tiger to swallow the wolf-using someone else’s hand to do the deed.”

I rubbed the edge of the bowl. “And then?”

Cui Shao fell into thought. “Master Chen is suspicious by nature, Madam Bai was young and beautiful, and Madam Chen is prone to jealousy. I would have started from there.”

I set the medicine bowl down. “On the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival banquet, Master Chen found Madam Bai’s silk undergarment-embroidered with her maiden name-hanging from a rock in the garden, fluttering in the wind. Because there was no hard evidence, Master Chen didn’t make a scene; he simply stopped visiting her courtyard. Madam Bai’s subsequent tantrums annoyed Madam Chen, and not long after, Madam Bai was found dead in a well. Everyone said she took her own life because she lost favor. To save face, the family told the public she had returned to her parents’ home to remarry.”