Chapter 148: The Four Great Female Tycoons, Part Two
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The Young Madam Xie refused to take the medicine. Suspicious and paranoid, she believed that since her monthly period had not come, she might already be pregnant and therefore could not drink any medicine. She insisted on eating a white rooster instead.
But this was a sacred Buddhist temple—how could there possibly be a chicken?
After shouting for a while, the Young Madam Xie eventually fell into a dazed sleep. The little maid sat beside her, anxiously wiping away her tears.
Shi Xianyu beckoned to her. “Zhier, come here.”
With red-rimmed eyes, Zhier came over and asked softly, “What is it, Priest?”
Shi Xianyu said, “Your young madam has illness knotted in her heart, so no matter how you try to persuade her, she will not listen. Why don’t you take advantage of the fact that it is not yet completely dark and go down the mountain to buy a chicken from one of the farmhouses? Cook it into soup, then put the pill I gave you into it. Once the pill has completely dissolved, have your young madam drink it.”
Zhier replied hesitantly, “But my young madam wants to eat a white rooster. Where am I supposed to find one?”
“Oh, come now! Once the feathers have been plucked and the chicken stewed into soup, can anyone still tell whether it was white or black?” Shi Xianyu laughed. “She is already this sick. Just tell her whatever she needs to hear.”
Zhier thought about it and decided that it did seem reasonable.
She glanced uncertainly at the Young Madam Xie on the bed, then said to Shi Xianyu, “I was originally looking after my young madam together with Madam Wu, but Madam Wu took leave last month to visit her little grandson. If I go down the mountain too, there will be no one to care for my young madam.”
“What is so difficult about that? Just go. I will stay here and look after her,” Shi Xianyu said.
Zhier twisted her hands together, still deeply troubled. Entrusting her young madam to a complete stranger did not seem appropriate.
Shi Xianyu smiled. “Go on. Neighbors are more useful than distant relatives. Since I am living here, there may well come a day when I need your help too.”
Zhier was young and had little sense of caution. She found Shi Xianyu extremely kind and approachable. And when Shi Xianyu smiled, she was so disarming that it was impossible to resist her. In a daze, Zhier agreed and hurried down the mountain to buy a chicken.
After the little maid left, Shi Xianyu moved a chair to the bedside and sat down to watch over the Young Madam Xie.
As she studied the other girl’s face, she found it utterly inconceivable. At the same age, Shi Xianyu herself had been worrying about unfinished homework and endless examinations, while a girl in another time and place was devoting herself wholeheartedly to bearing a son.
Why have a child at all? Her pelvis probably had not even finished developing.
But without a child, she would have no one to depend on.
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Resting her chin in her hand, Shi Xianyu pondered. She wanted to help the other girl fulfill her wish, but she could not change the social system of the time, nor could she alter the deeply rooted beliefs of its people.
If this had been modern society, she could have taught the girl to become self-reliant and strong, to respect and cherish herself. Compared with ancient times, modern society offered countless more opportunities. Women could survive entirely on their own. But here, once a woman left both her husband’s family and her maiden family, she was like a fallen leaf drifting along the roadside, vulnerable to anyone’s trampling feet.
What was she supposed to do?
Perhaps she should go into town tomorrow and look around, to see how the women here lived—especially those who could not bear sons. Surely their only fate could not truly be death.
Shi Xianyu stayed in the eastern side room to care for her for half a day. When Zhier returned carrying the slaughtered chicken, she quickly set about her work. Though young, she was remarkably nimble, and soon the chicken was simmering in a pot. By her estimate, when the young madam woke in the middle of the night, the chicken soup would be ready for her.
That evening, Zhier lit a candle, and Shi Xianyu stayed with her to keep watch over the young madam.
After spending half a day together, Zhier had completely lowered her guard around Shi Xianyu and answered almost every question she asked.
She said she was fourteen years old. About six months earlier, the Xie family had bought her and brought her into the household. The young madam happened to have no one serving her at the temple, so the Xie family had sent Zhier there to attend to her.
The girl was somewhat simple-minded. Serving an abandoned young madam clearly offered far less promise than remaining in the household to care for a favored young lady or young master. All the other maids had tried every possible means to stay at the estate, while she alone had foolishly come up to the mountain.
Since she was young and had been sent to the mountain not long after entering the household, Zhier knew very little about the Xie family and understood the situation only vaguely.
From the limited information she gathered, Shi Xianyu learned that the Xie family’s young madam was named Li Lingjing and was sixteen years old. She had married the Xie family’s Third Master about two years earlier, but her belly had remained without news. Instead, one of the maids at his side had become pregnant with the Third Master’s child and given birth to a son. She was then promoted to the status of a concubine.
Before long, rumors began circulating through the household that Li Lingjing was lacking in blessings and had no destiny to bear children. In order to accumulate merit and virtue, Li Lingjing dismissed all the maids around her and moved to the mountain with only an older servant woman. She had now been living there for half a year.
As for why Li Lingjing had not conceived, which maid had become the concubine, how the rumors had begun, whether Li Lingjing had left the household voluntarily or been driven out, and why she had not returned to the Xie residence after half a year—all of it was completely beyond Zhier’s knowledge.
Shi Xianyu guessed that Madam Wu, whom Zhier had mentioned, probably knew much more about the Xie family. But an older woman would certainly be more shrewd and far less easy to coax into revealing information.
There was no need to hurry. The most important thing was to restore Li Lingjing’s health first.
When the body became ill, the heart would gradually fall ill as well. The mental state of many people suffering from serious diseases was affected to some degree. With someone like Li Lingjing, who was nearly driven mad, Shi Xianyu would have to proceed slowly, one step at a time.
Li Lingjing woke once in the latter half of the night. She refused even a drop of water, yet, astonishingly, the chicken soup went down easily. She drank every last drop.
By morning, Li Lingjing’s health had visibly improved. Her complexion was far better than before, and it would not have been an exaggeration to say that she looked radiant.
Zhier was overjoyed. She immediately told Li Lingjing that her recovery was entirely thanks to a miraculous pill given to her by the Daoist priest next door.
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Li Lingjing’s heart stirred when she heard this, and she hurriedly asked, “When did a Daoist priest come to the temple next door?”
Zhier replied, “Yesterday. She is staying in the western side room of our courtyard.”
“Quickly…” Li Lingjing struggled to get out of bed. “Quickly take me to see the Daoist priest!”
She had lain burning with fever for an entire day, yet the moment her feet touched the ground, her blood and energy felt astonishingly full. Her hearing was clear, her eyes bright, and she did not feel the slightest bit weak. Li Lingjing was secretly stunned. Surely the person living opposite was some transcendent master! Otherwise, how could a single pill have such miraculous effects?
Thinking this, she hurried out of the room without even washing her face or arranging her hair and rushed toward the western side room opposite.
“Priest! Priest!”
Shi Xianyu was resting inside. Hearing the cries, she quickly rose and opened the door.
Standing before her was a disheveled young girl with her hair hanging loose. Although her clothes were untidy, her complexion was rosy and healthy. The moment she saw Shi Xianyu, she dropped to her knees and cried out fervently, “Please, Priest, save me!”
Shi Xianyu was startled and instinctively stepped back half a pace. She looked down at Li Lingjing in confusion.
“How do you want me to save you?” Shi Xianyu asked.
Kneeling on the ground, Li Lingjing said urgently, “Please bestow a divine medicine upon me and help me bear a son! I swear I will work like an ox or a horse to repay you!”
Shi Xianyu’s expression grew complicated. “What use would I have for you as an ox or a horse? I would only have to feed you grass.”
Li Lingjing: “…”
“Get up first.” Shi Xianyu’s voice was calm and light. “Tell me why you want a son. If you can convince me, I will consider it.”
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