Life and death, death and life.
That was all Madam Qin had felt in these past two days.
Looking at her son, who had just been carried back to his bed, she felt she might faint as well.
But she couldn’t.
“Hurry! Go fetch Lady Cheng!” she shouted. Then, without waiting, she rushed out herself. “I’ll go. I’ll go in person.”
Even after banging on the gate at Yudai Bridge, no one answered.
“Go to Tai Ping Residence,” Madam Qin said through tears.
The carriage raced off again, speeding toward the outskirts of the city.
Tai Ping Residence was just as it had always been—only now, it seemed there were far more people around.
As Madam Qin’s carriage came to a stop, Zhou Liu-lang stood at the back courtyard gate. When he saw Madam Qin, weeping as she stepped down from the carriage, his face turned pale, and the hand hanging at his side clenched tightly into a fist.
“Lady Cheng!” Madam Qin called out. Her steps were unsteady, yet she moved quickly; the servant women had to hurry to keep up.
Zhou Liu-lang stepped forward to block her path. His lips trembled, but no words came out.
“Liu-lang, Liu-lang,” Madam Qin looked at him through tears, “thank you.”
Zhou Liu-lang’s breath caught in his chest.
“Go see him—go quickly,” Madam Qin sobbed as she looked at him. “Shi’san can walk now. Shi’san can walk again!”
Zhou Liu-lang broke into a run, but after only a few steps, he suddenly stopped and turned back to look.
Madam Qin had already rushed to the front of Cheng Jiao-niang’s room when she was stopped again.
“My mistress is still asleep,” the maid said sharply, brows raised. “What do you want?”
Still asleep?
Madam Qin was taken aback.
“She exhausted herself treating your son,” the maid continued with a stern look. “You should stop crying and just leave.”
Madam Qin raised a hand to cover her mouth, forcing back her sobs.
“I won’t cry. I won’t disturb her,” she said, choking up. “I just wanted to thank her… and to ask—can my son really walk again?”
“Of course,” the maid replied. “Our lady never lies. If she said she’d treat him, she will cure him.”
Because I never lie.
Zhou Liu-lang stood staring at the hall. In his mind, he could see that lady’s blank, expressionless face.
Master Zhou stepped into the room and, seeing the piles of large and small bundles stacked messily, lifted his foot and kicked them over.
Madam Zhou let out a sharp scream.
“Master! I just finished packing—what are you doing? There’s no time left!” she cried, frantically picking up the scattered bundles while murmuring through tears, “If we don’t leave now, it’ll be too late…”
“Leave? Leave where? No one is going to drive the Zhou family out!” Master Zhou roared, bursting into loud laughter.
Everyone in the room was frozen in fear.
“Look at him—he’s lost his mind!” Madam Zhou wailed, clapping her hands and weeping.
Trouble had just erupted in official circles, only for it to pass after rushing back in a panic. She had barely begun to relax when now, another disaster had struck—the kind that could destroy the whole family. With such shocks and upheavals, who wouldn’t go mad?
At the same time, the door to Old Master Chen’s room was suddenly flung open.
“Father! Chunqiu zhizhong! It really is Chunqiu zhizhong—just like the noble son Pei Wenzhi, loyal unto death!” Chen Shao exclaimed as he strode in.
When he had first dared to utter those words, it was only to try to calm Qin An down—even just for a moment. Deep down, he hadn’t been confident at all. But to his surprise, it had come true. His guess had been right.
It really was a treatment. It really was that method—infuriating and humiliating the patient. And it had actually worked.
All the daughters seated in Old Master Chen’s room turned to look at him, their expressions tinged with surprise.
Chen Shao quickly composed himself, feeling a little embarrassed to have lost his composure in front of the ladies.
“Father, what does Chunqiu zhizhong mean?” Chen Dan-niang asked curiously.
“It’s an old story from ancient times,” Chen Shao said, kneeling down as he explained to his daughter. “Once, the King of Qi fell gravely ill, and someone was sent to Song to summon Wen Zhi…”
Old Master Chen lowered his gaze to the scroll in his hands.
The Annals of Lü Buwei.
He opened the scroll to the eleventh entry in the Records of Midwinter.
“…Wen Zhi arrived and examined the king’s illness. He said to the crown prince, ‘The king’s illness can certainly be cured. However, if it is cured, he will surely kill me.’” Chen Shao continued.
Chen Dan-niang let out a small gasp, her eyes widening.
“Why would he do that?” she asked.
Chen Shi’ba-niang quickly hushed her.
“Let Father finish. Don’t interrupt,” she whispered.
Chen Dan-niang stuck out her tongue playfully, then quickly sat up straight and looked at Chen Shao attentively.
“Wen Zhi said that in order to cure the king’s illness, he would have to enrage him—and if he enraged the king, he would surely be killed,” Chen Shao explained. “The crown prince bowed his head and earnestly pleaded, saying, ‘If that is truly the case, then my mother and I will plead for your life before the king. The king favors us, so please don’t worry, sir.’”
“He agreed to that?” Chen Dan-niang couldn’t help but ask.
Chen Shao nodded.
“He did. With the crown prince’s promise, Wen Zhi then had someone inform the King of Qi that he was willing to treat the illness,” he continued.
“…Later, Wen Zhi deliberately made three major breaches of decorum, which greatly angered the king. When he arrived, he didn’t remove his shoes before stepping onto the bed, trampled on the king’s robes, and asked about the king’s illness. The king, furious, refused to speak to him. Wen Zhi responded with even more insulting words, further provoking the king. The king jumped up in a rage—and the illness was gone.”
Old Master Chen looked down at the scroll, silently mouthing the words.
Chen Dan-niang couldn’t help bouncing with excitement.
“So you really can treat someone by angering and humiliating them!” she exclaimed.
“There are all kinds of strange remedies in this world,” said Chen Shi’ba-niang, glancing at her father thoughtfully. “Seems Lady Cheng knows this method too.”
Chen Shao simply nodded and smiled without saying a word.
“What happened afterward?” Chen Shi’ba-niang asked, her eyes gleaming slightly.
“Afterward, the king, enraged and silent, ordered Wen Zhi to be boiled alive,” Chen Shao said. “The crown prince and the queen pleaded desperately on his behalf, but to no avail—Wen Zhi was indeed thrown into the cauldron and boiled alive…”
Chen Dan-niang let out a gasp of shock.
“But… why?” she asked.
“Because he angered and humiliated the king,” Chen Shi’ba-niang replied.
“But he did it to cure him,” Chen Dan-niang said. “He saved his life.”
“Words of utmost loyalty often offend the ear,” Chen Shao said. “That’s why you must remember: when someone speaks hard truths, don’t get angry. Calm your mind and reflect on them. Don’t wrongly accuse the good and loyal—those who hate to hear the truth end up bringing ruin upon themselves.”
The daughters all responded in unison, “Yes, Father.”
“But Wen Zhi died so unjustly,” Chen Dan-niang said, still looking distressed. “He shouldn’t have treated the King of Qi at all!”
Chen Shao looked at his daughters. Though they said nothing, their expressions clearly showed they agreed with Dan-niang.
“That’s not quite right either,” he said. “Do you know what muxing means?”
Chen Dan-niang shook her head, of course.
“Muxing means: when others understand you, you are not encouraged; when others don’t understand you, you are not discouraged,” Chen Shao explained. “We shouldn’t avoid doing what’s right just because we might be misunderstood. There’s another story that comes before this one—about Lord Pei of Shen assisting the king in killing the rogue Suisi. Read that, and you’ll understand.”
The daughters nodded and bowed to thank their father for the lesson.
“Have the teacher add a lesson tomorrow—on the Midwinter Scroll of the Spring and Autumn Annals,” said Old Master Chen.
Chen Shao answered affirmatively.
The daughters then rose to take their leave, leaving father and son to speak alone.
“To actually be fortunate enough to witness Wen Zhi’s method in person—I once thought it was just an old tale, but it turns out there really is such a way to treat illness,” Old Master Chen said with a smile, tinged with both admiration and puzzlement.
Was enraging the young master of the Qin family done to cure his leg, or was it for that strict rule of hers that certain illnesses must be treated only by death? Or perhaps it was both.
Whatever the reason, there was no need to ask now. Seeing that the young master of the Qin family could walk again, all doubts disappeared.
He shook his head and laughed, finally releasing the heavy weight from his heart with a long sigh.
That lady truly followed the rules to the letter—impeccably.
“When others understand you, you are not encouraged; when they don’t, you are not discouraged,” he murmured. “She truly abides by the path of the wise.”
But she sure knows how to scare the life out of everyone every time.
Who knows what will happen next!
Old Master Chen shook his head with a bitter smile.
That fool from Jiang–zhou!
“Father, you still call her the Jiang-zhou fool?” Chen Shao laughed.
“Call her whatever you want—she doesn’t mind,” Old Master Chen smiled faintly. “The name doesn’t matter. What matters is the state of one’s heart. Take the Zhou family, for example. Now, when they call her the Jiang-zhou fool, the feeling behind those words is surely very different from what it once was.”
