cold clothes

"Slap!" Leng Yi received a hard slap across the face.

The sight of Leng Yi's bleeding eyes startled everyone present, and Master Xu, witnessing it up close, found it particularly gruesome and terrifying. Qin Mama, the head of the front courtyard, was alarmed. After bowing and apologizing to Master Xu, Qin Mama raised her hand and slapped Leng Yi across the face.

"Ningbi, you're quite something! Even as a third-class maid, you can still cause trouble!"

"It was just an accident, Granny." Despite the burning pain on her face, Leng Yi remained calm.

"Who cares if it was an accident! Accident? That's just an excuse! You should be thankful that Master Xu has a good temper and doesn't blame you, otherwise I would have thrown your corpse to the dogs by now!" Granny Qin said viciously, her venomous gaze fixed on Leng Yi. Leng Yi was soaked to the bone and trembling involuntarily, the blood on her face congealed and turned black. Although angry, Granny Qin knew she couldn't kill Ning Bi, so she ordered someone to quickly take her to the herbal medicine hall for treatment.

Breathing in the piercingly cold wind outside, Leng Yi couldn't help but laugh. Free air, freedom! She deliberately let herself drown, causing her eyes to crack and bleed… She would rather face this perverted torment than endure the knife-like pain she was feeling now.

If no one saves her, she will save herself, as long as her heart is still beating and pumping hot blood.

She arrived at the herbal medicine hall. Her current appearance must have frightened Doctor Xie and the young boy. She chuckled into the darkness, "Sorry, I seem to have come here in a sorry state again."

Someone immediately pulled her into their arms; the warm and reassuring feeling came from Dr. Xie.

Doctor Xie anxiously instructed, "You need to change your clothes quickly, let's go back to the room. Xie Yin, bring out the new winter clothes I gave you."

Xie Yin? Leng Yi keenly grasped these two words. Was this the boy's name? Was it Yin or Yin?

She had never savored two words so carefully before, as if she had found a piece of candy with a thousand flavors and wanted to explore every taste with the tip of her tongue. Xie Yin? Xie Yin? Xie Yin? Xie Yin? Xie Yin?

As Dr. Xie helped Leng Yi take off her clothes, she noticed the boy was still standing beside her and quickly waved her hand, saying, "Go away, go away, don't look at what's improper."

"This is my room, my clothes..." the boy muttered resentfully, and reluctantly walked out.

Leng Yi smiled knowingly, feeling a little smug as she thought about how Doctor Xie had taken care of her and how she was wearing the boy's new clothes.

Doctor Xie's heavy snort shattered Leng Yi's smugness. "What happened tonight that made you want to destroy your own wound? Do you still want your eyes? If this happens again, you might really go blind and even a god couldn't save you. Sigh, I know that being a third-class maid is not easy, but you don't need to use such an extreme method. You're only hurting yourself."

"How did Aunt Fang know I did this myself..." Leng Yi felt guilty, thinking that Aunt Fang's judgment was too accurate.

Dr. Xie sighed, "You are both obedient and good at flattery. I believe you can please guests if you want to, but you are also stubborn and don't care about yourself at all."

“I’m not obedient to everyone, I’m only nice to Aunt Fang,” Leng Yi pouted.

Just then, the boy's voice came over. This description might seem grammatically incorrect, but to Leng Yi's ears, it certainly sounded that way.

The young man said calmly that the medicine had been brought, and Doctor Xie changed Leng Yi's dressing. Tearing off the bandage, still damp with recently congealed blood, was extremely painful, and Leng Yi couldn't help but complain a few times. Leng Yi felt the atmosphere was somewhat strange because neither Doctor Xie nor the young man spoke during the dressing change. She wished they would talk, even if it was just to scold her, not to remain silent like the maids at Fengxiang Pavilion, who seemed lifeless. Without hearing a sound, she was now left only with darkness.

"If you're afraid of pain, then don't hurt yourself anymore. You come to the herbal medicine shop several times a month, and I haven't had a single sheet to change. — Now I don't even have any new clothes." The boy's muttering voice was exactly what she wanted.

"Hehe, it's obvious that I'm Aunt Fang's real niece!" Leng Yi waved her hand proudly, showing off her newly changed cotton coat.

Hehe, you can already imagine how angry the boy was.

Doctor Xie paused slightly as he tied the knot in his hand, then touched the damp hair in the cold clothes and told the boy to help Ningbi dry her hair while she went to make a warming soup. The boy asked why he wasn't the one to make the medicine, but received a cryptic smile from Doctor Xie.

The boy sighed, "What is Aunt Fang thinking about...?"

At this moment, Leng Yi brushed her hair aside and said apologetically, "I'm sorry for getting your sheets wet."

"Weren't you so smug just now? Why are you apologizing to me now?" the boy teased, and went to find a clean towel.

"I'm quite pleased with myself right now, but I'm just putting on an act of apologizing." Even if the sky were to fall, Leng Yi's mouth would be so winding and unpredictable that it would never straighten out.

The boy found a towel, sat down next to Lengyi, and gently gathered Lengyi's long hair in his hands, softly wiping it. Lengyi said, "My braids aren't undone yet, and my hair isn't combed. Won't wiping it make it even messier?"

"..."

Well, she knew everything from the boy's silence.

"You have high standards, Miss Ningbi." The boy sighed, took his comb, and clumsily tried to untangle Lengyi's braids. He was willing but unable, and the more he tried, the more tangled it became. The boy gave up and wrapped Lengyi's hair in a towel and ruffled it haphazardly.

"Never mind, I'm not a slave."

"Hmph, you said I could command you—Xie Yin." When she said Xie Yin's name, Leng Yi's breath hitched for a moment, and her face subconsciously turned to the boy, as if she wanted to see his reaction.

"Drive?" The warm, humid breath touched Leng Yi's nose. "Did Miss Ningbi hear this word from a guest?"

This was unexpected for Leng Yi. She paused for a moment, then said, "No, I've also been to school." She thought the boy was belittling her education and was retorting, but her Chinese wasn't actually very good. Had she used the word "drive" incorrectly...?

"So what happened tonight?" the boy asked, continuing to dry his hair.

Leng Yi felt as if she had fallen into a pit following his words. What had happened tonight? The sounds, the smells, replayed in her senses through memories, and her mouth and hands were instantly enveloped by disgusting sensations. "Ugh—" Leng Yi couldn't help but gag, covering her mouth, but then disgustedly put it down the next second.

Her hands disgusted her to the point of nausea.

"What's wrong?" the boy asked anxiously.

"Bring me water, I want to wash my hands, I want to wash my hands!" Leng Yi said while vomiting, her eyes seemed to be about to cry but no tears came out, and she felt a stinging pain like being pricked by needles.

The boy realized he had said the wrong thing. He looked at his cold clothes, which he was scrubbing his hands so hard he felt like he was washing off a layer of skin, and felt very guilty.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked you something you didn't want to talk about."

“It’s not your fault,” Leng Yi said. “I’m fine, I can get through this, I just can’t adapt right now…”

Who is the guest you are serving today?