Ah Zheng woke up in the middle of the night.
As he came to, his entire body ached, like he’d been trampled by a carriage a hundred times over.
Just then, the door creaked open. He looked up—and saw Zhao Momo.
He opened his mouth, but his voice was hoarse beyond recognition. “Why are you here? Where’s Ah Heng?”
“You’re finally awake. Second Miss will be very happy to hear that.”
Over the past days, although Zhao Momo had been somewhat wary of him, she understood that this man was wholeheartedly loyal to Second Miss.
As long as no harm came to her, he wouldn’t lash out.
But Ah Zheng took her words differently.
He immediately sat up, on high alert.
“What do you mean? Did something happen to her?”
Seeing the worry all over his face, Zhao Momo let out a deep sigh.
Now that Second Miss had fallen unconscious, if they kept it from him, who knew what chaos he might cause?
“Yesterday your fever was severe. Second Miss watched over you all night and didn’t rest at all. Then she ran around all day finding medicine. Now that you—and the people on the manor—are all better, she’s the one who fell ill! You’d better go check on her!”
As soon as she finished speaking, Madam Zhao saw the person in front of her suddenly flip out of bed, not even bothering to put on his shoes, and rush straight to the room next door.
The moment he entered, he saw two unfamiliar young maids standing anxiously by her bedside.
Pushing them aside, Ah Zheng strode directly to Gu Heng’s bed and grabbed her hand.
Unexpectedly, he found her fingertips ice-cold—bone-chillingly cold.
“What happened to her?!”
Hearing this, the two little maids were instantly overwhelmed by a surge of violent anger from him and dropped to their knees in fright.
Although Xiao Shu was scared, she knew that if she didn’t explain now, the situation might get even worse. Gathering her courage, she replied with a trembling voice:
“Replying to Young Master Shen, while you were ill these past few days, the entire manor was struck by a terrible plague. Thankfully, Second Miss boiled medicine for everyone, and after drinking it, most of us have recovered.”
The further Xiao Shu spoke, the quieter her voice became, consumed by guilt.
If it hadn’t been for taking care of everyone here, Second Miss wouldn’t have fallen ill herself.
Upon hearing this, Ah Zheng was furious beyond measure. He grabbed Xiao Shu by the collar and snapped, “Who asked you about that? What do the people here have to do with me?! What I want to know is—why has Ah Heng become like this?!”
Seeing his fierce and terrifying expression, Xiao Cao was frightened out of her wits. She rushed forward, trying to push him away to rescue her sister from his grasp.
But she was a frail girl, long malnourished, with no strength in her body—she couldn’t move him at all.
Seeing this, she could only plead tearfully from the side, “Young Master Shen, please let my sister go. She’s weak and can’t breathe from your grip! If Second Miss wakes up, she wouldn’t want to see you like this!”
Upon hearing this, Ah Zheng finally loosened his grip. Xiao Shu collapsed to the ground and coughed several times before hurriedly continuing:
“Young Master Shen, I know you’re worried about Second Miss, but we don’t know what’s wrong either. At first, we thought she’d also caught the plague, so we gave her the leftover medicine—but it didn’t work at all!”
Xiao Cao nodded repeatedly beside her. “It’s true. We sisters can both vouch for it!”
Hearing this, a nameless fury surged in Ah Zheng’s heart.
Just a few days ago, Ah Heng had been perfectly healthy. Even after falling off the cliff, her injuries weren’t too serious.
But because of this d*mned plague, because she cared for him and everyone in the manor, she had pushed herself to the point of collapse.
“I’ll settle accounts with you both later. For now, take care of her. I’m going to town to fetch a doctor.”
With that, Ah Zheng stormed out, leaving the two maids staring at each other in shock.
Then he found a random horse in the manor and rode off toward the town.
He clearly had amnesia, and Ah Heng had said he used to be a frail scholar who couldn’t even kill a chicken. But for some reason, he felt as if he had ridden horses thousands of times before.
Still, this wasn’t the time to dwell on such thoughts. Saving Ah Heng came first.
Following the route in his memory, he headed toward the town’s medicine hall—only to find corpses littering the streets.
The few people still alive sat with lifeless faces, coughing up pools of blood. The scene was horrifying.
Only now did he realize how severe this plague was, just as the two maids had said.
But in Baixue Manor, almost no one had died.
It must be thanks to the medicine she had brewed.
Soon, he arrived at the medicine hall, which was even more crowded than when they came to sell dendrobium last time.
When the shopkeeper saw him, he approached with a worried look.
“Young master, are you here to sell herbs again? But these past couple of days, we can’t buy anymore. As you can see, the plague is everywhere—we’re busy saving people—”
Before he could finish, Ah Zheng grabbed him and threw him onto the horse.
Startled out of his wits, the shopkeeper shouted, “Put me down! What are you doing?!”
Already irritated, Ah Zheng was further agitated by the noise. Impatiently, he said, “I’m taking you to save someone! If you can’t save her, you can forget about ever running your medicine hall again!”
With that, he lashed the horse hard. It neighed and galloped off.
The shopkeeper trembled in fear and cursed loudly, “You’re abducting me in broad daylight! I have a whole business to run! Let me down!”
But in the next moment, a silver dagger was pressed to his throat.
“If you don’t want to die, shut up and save her.”
Feeling the chill of the blade, the shopkeeper instantly fell silent.
He had already sensed it last time: this man, when he came with that girl, had been covered in wounds but didn’t utter a word. Clearly a ruthless person, just pretending to be gentle in front of her.
Now, staying alive came first.
Though the journey was bumpy, and the shopkeeper felt like he would vomit up his gallbladder, they arrived at the manor in no time.
As soon as he entered, he noticed how unusually quiet it was.
Now that the plague had ravaged not just the town but the whole county, many villages around had been wiped out entirely.
Yet this manor remained orderly, with barely any corpses in sight.
The sight made him click his tongue in amazement.
Before he could marvel any further, he was dragged into a room.
There, lying quietly on the bed, was the young girl who had come to sell herbs a few days ago. Even her breathing was faint.
Seeing this, he sighed deeply in his heart.
Once as radiant as a blooming flower, her face was now ashen, her vitality nearly drained.
He checked her pulse, and soon his brow furrowed deeply.
He then questioned the two maids standing nearby.
“Has your mistress had any cough or fever recently?”
The two shook their heads.
The shopkeeper then gave his diagnosis. “She doesn’t exhibit any symptoms of the plague, so this isn’t it.”
He looked at Ah Zheng, his expression grave. “If I’m not mistaken, she’s had a congenital weakness—her body can’t handle strain.”
“I checked her pulse. She likely caught a chill at first and ran a fever for several days, draining her internal strength. Then she got injured and didn’t rest properly, and hasn’t slept for days. All these things together caused her collapse.”
Ah Zheng clenched his fists. A wave of guilt and anguish surged in his chest, making his head throb.
“Then is there any way to save her now?”
But the shopkeeper shook his head. “This kind of condition needs years of steady care. Even a god couldn’t make her wake up immediately.”
At that, Ah Zheng nearly lost control. To stop himself from hurting anyone, he grabbed a nearby teacup and hurled it to the floor.
With a sharp crash, porcelain shattered.
Only then did his rage slightly subside.
He gritted his teeth and asked, “Then what can be done to save her? Don’t tell me nothing—otherwise, I’ll kill you right here!”
Terrified, the shopkeeper stammered, “Th-there’s a way! Please don’t panic, young master!”
Looking at his expression, the shopkeeper knew that if he didn’t say something convincing, the man would probably devour them all alive.
“I don’t suppose your manor has any medicinal herbs? Otherwise, I’d need to return to town for them, which would waste a lot of time.”
Hearing this, the two maids quickly pushed forward the medicine box they’d received earlier that day.
The shopkeeper examined it carefully and finally nodded in relief. “All the necessary herbs are here. Heaven has shown mercy. Bring ink and brush—I’ll write the prescription.”
The maids moved swiftly and gathered the items, even fetching the small medicine stove used for decocting.
Before long, they finished brewing the medicine according to the list.
Seeing Ah Zheng’s frightening expression, the shopkeeper quickly explained, “Actually, this young lady doesn’t have any serious illness—she’s just severely weakened. I’ve prescribed a nourishing tonic. Let’s see how she responds after drinking it.”
Ah Zheng said nothing. Taking the medicine from the maids, he spooned it gently into Gu Heng’s mouth.
He didn’t consider himself a patient or tender person, yet in this moment, he was exceptionally gentle—feeding her spoonful by spoonful, not spilling a drop.
Watching this, the shopkeeper finally mustered the courage to speak. “Young master, I’ve written the prescription. May I return to town now? The medicine hall still needs me.”
But he was met with a firm answer.
“No.”
The shopkeeper panicked. “But she’s already had the medicine—there’s no point in me staying here!”
Ah Zheng placed the bowl on the table, helped Gu Heng lie down, then turned to the shopkeeper with a threatening look.
“Before she wakes up, I’m not letting you leave. Of course, you can try to run—but if you do, I’ll kill you with a single strike. No mercy.”
The shopkeeper’s legs gave out and he collapsed to the floor.
“Heavens! I’ve truly fallen into a den of beasts!”
