Chapter Ninety-Seven: Her Hand Swelled, and the Medicine Was Ruined

“They are going with us?” Qin Wanru had already guessed as much, but she did not let it show on her face, only a faint look of surprise.

“Yes, they are going with us... We owe the Qi family too much.” Qin Huaiyong’s brows drew tightly together, his expression dark.

It was not only because of Qin Yuru; this time, too, Lady Di’s actions had given Magistrate Qi Ping leverage. When he laid all the cards on the table, Qin Huaiyong had no choice but to take Qi Rongzhi in for the time being and make every effort to find her a good marriage.

“From now on, you should keep a little closer to your mother. As for the others... there is no need to mind them too much.” Qin Huaiyong looked at Qin Wanru and spoke with clear implication.

“Yes, I will follow Father’s arrangements in all things.” Qin Wanru answered respectfully, as if she had not caught the hint that he wanted her not to take Lady Di too seriously.

After Qin Huaiyong left, Qin Wanru did not immediately wash up and go to bed. Instead, she sat under the lamplight making medicine. She worked with great care and precision, placing the required herbs into a stone mortar and grinding them attentively with a small pestle.

These herbs had been brought up the mountain for her by Shui Ruolan a few days earlier. When Shui Ruolan had delivered medicinal supplies to the Old Madam before, she had also brought Qin Wanru’s portion along; she had just fetched it from the Old Madam’s courtyard. However, those herbs had also picked up the scent of the Green-Bend Herb.

To ordinary people, that scent would not matter.

This had been an assignment given to her by Reverend Mingqiu. For her current self, it was not especially difficult, but the herbs tainted with the Green-Bend Herb’s fragrance suddenly stirred a new idea in her mind.

On this journey to the capital, she would meet many people. In her previous life, her engagement had been ruined by schemes, then broken again and again; some of those people might appear once more. Before any of them could seek a marriage alliance with the General’s Manor, she had to shut out every one of them. Yet she had only Qingyue by her side, and that was far too few hands.

She needed people who were more capable, and also more loyal.

She had her eye on one person and wanted to bring that person to the capital. As for the herb with the Green-Bend scent, it was a useful means to that end.

“Miss, shall this servant help you? It is already so late. You should sleep.” Seeing that the hour was growing late, Qingyue brought in another cup of tea and asked with concern.

“No need. I’ll do it myself. You don’t know when to add the other herbs.” Qin Wanru shook her head, amusement flickering in her clear eyes.

Seeing Qin Wanru working the pestle so hard that the soft flesh at the base of her thumb had reddened badly, even beginning to swell, Qingyue’s heart ached. “Miss, this servant has more strength. Let me grind it. You can guide me from the side. Then you can rest a little, too.”

Qin Wanru’s skin was as fair and tender as snow. The place where she gripped the pestle was visibly flushed, the redness stark and unmistakable.

Those small, delicate hands had always only held books or threaded needles. When had they ever been used so forcefully for labor like this?

“It’s all right. You don’t understand this. It’s better if I do it myself.” Qin Wanru glanced at the red marks on her hand, clearly unsatisfied, and continued to grind down hard on the mortar. Though her hand hurt now, in truth it was not enough yet; after one night’s sleep, it would be mostly gone.

“Miss, then wait until tomorrow to continue grinding! In the past, you did not finish everything at once either.” Qingyue truly could not bear to see Qin Wanru’s hands suffer.

“Then was then; now is now. We do not have much time left. With only these few days, we have to work faster. Besides, this batch of medicinal powder is different from the others. It would be best to finish it all at once.” Qin Wanru’s long lashes fluttered twice, casting uneven shadows in the lamplight and making her snow-pale, tender little face seem almost translucent.

Skin like snow, pure and luminous.

“Qingyue, if you are sleepy, go to bed. I’ll grind a while longer.” Qin Wanru looked up at her and smiled.

“I’m not sleepy. This servant will stay here with Miss. If Miss does not sleep, then this servant will not sleep either.” Qingyue nearly said it in a sulk. After thinking for a moment, she went into the inner room and fetched some ointment, intending to apply it to Qin Wanru after she finished grinding the medicine so that her hand would not swell terribly by tomorrow.

“Qingyue, I don’t need it. I want my hand to swell a little.” Seeing the ointment in Qingyue’s hands and her puffed-up expression, Qin Wanru laughed. Her eyes shone with a clear, sparkling brightness, and her smile was utterly innocent.

It was enough to remind anyone again that she was still only a child.

But the meaning of her words startled Qingyue. “Miss, what are you planning to do? If your hand really swells, what then? Wouldn’t the Old Madam be heartbroken if she saw it?”

“That is why I won’t go see Grandmother tomorrow morning. I’ll say that I was startled by Qi Rongzhi today, slept badly at night, and overslept in the morning. You can go and apologize to Grandmother for me.” Qin Wanru lowered her head and looked at her slender little hands. The red mark where she had gripped the pestle had become even more obvious.

It was almost fierce in appearance now, her hand swollen and painful.

But compared with the punishment of being cut at the waist, this truly was nothing. The smile at the corner of her lips grew brighter and brighter. To herself, she was ruthless enough.

“But Miss, your hand...” Qingyue felt as though her own heart hurt too. Her young lady’s little hands were swollen up like this.

“It’s fine. Just help me get to bed.” Qin Wanru stood up and looked at the unfinished powder, feeling that the timing was about right.

“Should this servant put it away?” Qingyue looked at the remaining little bits of herb and asked, uncertain.

“No need. Leave it as it is.” Qin Wanru was very pleased with her work. It was indeed not the very best result, but for her, it was the best possible.

With the strength of a child like her, this was already the best she could do.

The next morning, Qingyue went early to apologize to the Old Madam on Qin Wanru’s behalf. By the time Qin Wanru rose, Qingyue had already returned. After helping her wash and dress, Qingyue’s gaze fell at once to her hands.

After a night’s sleep, they had not improved much. Qingyue even felt that the swelling had gotten worse. Both hands were swollen, and even when Qin Wanru ate, it was inconvenient to hold chopsticks; she could barely pick up any food.

In the end, Qin Wanru simply set down her chopsticks, asked Qingyue for a spoon, and drank a little plain porridge instead.

After finishing the bowl, Qin Wanru stood up and instructed Qingyue to wrap the stone mortar together with the medicinal powder still inside it. She then carried it with her down the mountain to Reverend Mingqiu’s quarters.

By the time she reached the small thatched hut at the foot of the mountain, Reverend Mingqiu had already risen and was doing her morning prayers. Qin Wanru knelt quietly on a cushion at the side and waited with her eyes closed.

Although Reverend Mingqiu was also a nun of the Pure Heart Nunnery, she generally performed her morning prayers alone and rarely joined the other nuns. Moreover, the abbess of the nunnery usually claimed that her junior sister was not in residence. Reverend Mingqiu preferred silence and did not like being disturbed.

She only stepped in when the abbess of the nunnery had a difficult illness she could not manage and needed help treating. Even when she did treat patients, she did so only as an ordinary nun of the Pure Heart Nunnery. Some patients, even after they had recovered, still believed that the abbess had simply been too busy and had asked one of the nuns who usually assisted with medical treatment to come instead.

Because of this, many people knew only the abbess of the Pure Heart Nunnery and did not know Reverend Mingqiu at all.

At last, Reverend Mingqiu finished her morning prayers and slowly opened her eyes.

“Why have you come so early today? Are you not going to see the Old Madam Qin?” At this hour on ordinary days, Qin Wanru would be visiting and keeping the Old Madam company.

“My hand is swollen.” Qin Wanru pouted slightly, her expression carrying a trace of childlike innocence. “I was afraid Grandmother would be distressed if she saw it, so I did not go.”

“How did it swell like that?” After spending these days together, Reverend Mingqiu had grown very fond of this clever and well-behaved disciple. Hearing that her hand was swollen, her gaze softened as it rested on Qin Wanru’s hands.

Qin Wanru’s hands were hidden in her sleeves. When asked, she did not rush to show them. Instead, she smiled at Qingyue and said, “Bring the medicinal powder forward.”

Qingyue respectfully took out the wrapped stone mortar. Inside was most of a mortarful of powder, though at a glance the ground medicine looked rather crude and rough.

Reverend Mingqiu’s face darkened. “Wanru, what have I told you? These medicines concern the patient’s body; they must not be handled carelessly. How could you grind them into such a state? Look at these leftover pieces that were not ground properly. How is a patient meant to take this? Even if it is taken, the effect will be poor and may fail to achieve the intended cure. It could even delay the patient’s illness.”

Qin Wanru lowered her head without the slightest resistance and nodded. “Yes, Reverend. I will use more strength next time.”

Mentioning strength made Reverend Mingqiu’s gaze fall on Qin Wanru’s hands, and her heart gave a sudden jolt as she remembered what Qin Wanru had said earlier.

“Show me your hand.” Reverend Mingqiu’s voice was slow and low.

Qin Wanru hesitated for a moment, but still slowly extended her hand, though she seemed somewhat reluctant.

The wide sleeves fell back as they were rolled up. Seeing those pair of red, swollen, tender little hands, even Reverend Mingqiu could not help but frown. She reached out at once and took Qin Wanru’s hand, pressing her thumb into the swollen lump.

“Ah, Reverend, it hurts!” Tears brimming in her eyes, Qin Wanru looked at Reverend Mingqiu as the nun pressed the center of her palm, and at once a hot sheen of pain broke out across her forehead.

This really did hurt.

“You were grinding the herbs like this?” Looking at the positions of the two red marks, Reverend Mingqiu asked in a tone whose meaning was hard to discern.

“It was... it was me,” Qin Wanru said. “Father said we will be going to the capital in a few days. I remembered that the medicinal powder you instructed me to grind earlier still had not been finished, and since Mother happened to bring the herbs for Grandmother today, I thought I would take the chance to grind them quickly. I never expected I would do such a poor job. Please forgive me, Reverend.”

Qin Wanru lowered her brows and eyes, deliberately looking troubled.

So it was not that she had been careless with the herbs; it was simply that she was too small and had not enough strength. She had also hoped to grind everything at once. Instead, I have wrongly blamed her.

Reverend Mingqiu’s expression softened, and even her voice became gentler without her meaning to. “Why were you so careless? Next time, let someone help you grind it. There was no need to be so rushed...”

As she spoke, she seemed to remember something. She lifted her head, her expression turning rather ugly, and her beautiful willow brows knit tightly together. “Did you say you are leaving for the capital very soon?”