Niao Ni

Chapter 82 Entering the Room

Fan Xian stepped into his "fiancée's" boudoir for the first time, using the guise of a doctor. The first things that caught his eye were the bed adorned with azure snail decorations and purple crystal hooks, followed by three young women: Ye Ling'er, his own younger sister, and another who was bent over, busily adjusting the bed curtains—the head maid.

Fan Xian cleared his throat twice and walked forward, settling onto the round stool the maid offered. He adopted the demeanor of a seasoned physician, stroking the beard beneath his chin. However, the newly glued-on beard wasn't very secure, and he nearly pulled it off. He quickly abandoned the pretense and asked, "May I trouble the young lady to extend her hand?"

The Lin family's daughter was naturally lying in bed. Even through the curtains, one could vaguely discern her graceful figure. Upon hearing the doctor's voice, she slowly extended her left hand and rested it upon the soft wrist pillow. The pillow seemed to be a standard item, always kept nearby, suggesting that imperial physicians from the palace often came for consultations.

Fan Xian gazed at the wrist, white as still jade, and his heart stirred. He couldn't help but think that if he were to marry the owner of this wrist, he could caress it to his heart's content, experiencing boundless joy... He quickly regained his composure, extending a finger to touch the wrist. The instant his fingertip made contact with Miss Lin's wrist, both of them, for reasons unknown, felt a slight tremor.

Ye Ling'er didn't dare to disturb the doctor's pulse-taking. She curiously observed this student of Lord Fei, noticing that he only used one finger. Remembering the rumors surrounding Lord Fei's methods, her confidence grew. Little did she know that although Fan Xian possessed some medical knowledge, he had only studied for a year. He couldn't possibly match the erudition of a true imperial physician. His only strengths lay in his use of medicine and his limited insights from his previous life. He deliberately used the one-finger pulse diagnosis simply to impress those around him and establish an image of himself as a divine doctor.

Fan Xian's finger felt a smooth, clean sensation, and he couldn't help but feel a strange sensation, almost reluctant to let go. After a moment's thought, he said, "The young lady's pulse is somewhat weak, but it is also full of dryness. Deficiency and heat are mixed, and it is as thin as a silk thread, which is a bit troublesome."

"What's wrong?"

"Could I see the young lady's face for a better diagnosis?"

"No!" The head maid rejected the suggestion without hesitation. Although the Qing Kingdom had a relatively open-minded atmosphere, the person in bed was the Emperor's adopted daughter, making her status too special. Even imperial physicians were not allowed to see her face, let alone this unknown doctor from who-knows-where.

Fan Xian was a little disappointed and said, "I heard that the imperial physicians have diagnosed the young lady with tuberculosis?"

It was still the head maid who answered him. Miss Lin seemed somewhat weak, lying in bed and not saying a word: "Yes."

Fan Xian thought for a while, feeling somewhat confident. After all, tuberculosis was essentially tuberculosis from his previous life. Although he didn't bring a first-aid kit with him when he crossed over like other powerful figures, there were always many ways to treat the disease. So he continued to ask, "Does the young lady often feel tired? And does she cough frequently?"

"Yes."

"Is her body gradually becoming thinner?"

"Yes."

"Does she often feel a surge of heat?"

"Yes."

Fan Xian was a little annoyed at the head maid's quick responses. He rolled his eyes and asked, "Does she often experience night sweats?"

"Yes," the head maid answered, still trying to be the first to speak.

But Fan Xian didn't seem to hear her. He touched the palm of the soft hand that extended out of the bed curtains, discovering that it was indeed slightly moist. Miss Lin never expected the doctor outside to be so bold, and she hastily withdrew her hand in shame and anxiety—Fan Xian's movements were quick, so the three young women outside the bed didn't see it.

Fan Xian frowned and said, "She hasn't coughed up blood yet, right?"

"She has already started coughing. It got better in the spring, but it started up again a few days ago." Seeing that the young doctor accurately described the symptoms, the head maid withdrew her contempt and answered with a hint of anxiety and hope.

"Hmm." After pondering for a moment, Fan Xian said solemnly, "The young lady does indeed have tuberculosis."

Hearing him ask so many questions only to state a fact that everyone already knew, the head maid bit her lower lip, wishing she could kick the doctor out. Ye Ling'er glared at him, and Fan Ruoruo felt a little embarrassed, lowering her head.

Fan Xian ignored them and went to the desk, took a pen, and began to write a prescription. After he finished, the head maid took it and looked at it, finding that it was still a lily and golden soup, but with two additional herbs, purple pearl grass and black mountain gardenia, and also a Chinese skullcap. She frowned and asked, "Chinese skullcap is bitter and cold, clears heat and strengthens Yin, but it is too harmful to vital energy. Can it be used?"

As the saying goes, prolonged illness makes one a doctor. Over the years, the maid had watched different doctors treat the young lady, and she was thoroughly familiar with the prescriptions for treating tuberculosis, so she immediately pointed out the problem. Fan Xian looked at her, admiring her a little, and explained, "As long as the patient is in good health, it should be fine. Use strong medicine to attack the illness first, and then slowly plan for long-term treatment."

The head maid glanced at him, a little annoyed, and said, "The young lady has tuberculosis and is very weak. How could she withstand it?"

Fan Xian smiled and didn't get angry: "Since the young lady is already coughing up blood, then the illness is a bit serious, so she must first be nourished before using medicine."

"Should we use strong medicine first or nourish her first?" Ye Ling'er was already a little confused.

Fan Xian coughed twice: "From now on, give the young lady a bowl of goat milk every day, and remember to drink it raw." He had heard this folk remedy in his previous life, and it was indeed very effective. He asked again, "How is the young lady's diet?"

The head maid was thinking about the goat milk and heard this question. She proudly replied, "Every day, she eats light porridge and vegetables, and she has never touched any meat."

Fan Xian was furious, thinking, "She's already so sick, how can you still do this?" A weak little girl, and you're not even letting her eat well! It's too much! Seeing the strange looks in his sister's and Ye Ling'er's eyes, he realized that he had gotten angry for no reason. Given Miss Lin's status, it was impossible for anyone to skimp on her food. There must be another reason. He smiled self-deprecatingly and asked, "Why does she eat like that?"

The three women looked at him like he was an idiot, thinking that tuberculosis patients should avoid meat and greasy food. Everyone in the world knew that.

But Fan Xian, based on his education, didn't know this. So he insisted, "The young lady must eat some good things, and she should no longer avoid greasy food. She must drink goat milk, and her daily diet must be more varied. If she can't adapt to it immediately, use one tael each of raw yam and raw Job's tears, grind them into coarse dregs, boil them until they are soft, then crush half a tael of persimmon cream cake, mix it in, and drink it. After half a month, use the prescription I wrote earlier."

He talked to himself, but the others frowned, and no one dared to listen to him.

At this moment, the old nanny who had been stopping them from coming in earlier, supported her waist and walked in. It was unknown what she had been doing, but she looked exhausted, and her voice was weak: "How did you get in here?" The head maid smiled and greeted her, explaining, "This is a doctor invited by Miss Ye. The young lady agreed to let them take a look." The old nanny was a little unhappy and said, "The imperial physicians from the palace come to diagnose her every two days. What's so special about this doctor?"

The head maid smiled and said, "It is indeed a bit special. After determining that the young lady has this disease, he even told us to prepare delicacies for the young lady every day."

When the old nanny heard this, she shook her head desperately, saying that this could never be allowed. What if it delayed the young lady's condition? After saying only two or three sentences, her expression changed, and she hurriedly excused herself and left. A hint of a smile flashed in Fan Xian's eyes. He said to the maid, "This prescription of mine must be taken with the food I mentioned earlier, or it will not be effective."

The maid still refused to listen to him, which made Fan Xian very annoyed. He thought, "If I can really share the bed with your young lady in the future, I will definitely make you work hard making the bed!" He said helplessly, "I have some ready-made pills here. Take two pills first to nourish her. If the effect is good, you should believe me, right?"

"The pills may be good, but meat must not be eaten," the maid was really stubborn.

Fan Xian was grinding his teeth in anger, but he didn't know what to do.

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As he coughed up blood, she was coughing up blood; as he was anxiously grinding his teeth, she was also anxiously grinding her teeth. Behind the gauze curtain, the delicate young lady lying weakly on the sickbed, hearing the doctor's voice outside, was already so anxious that she didn't know what to do. That voice was so familiar, obviously the young man she had met in the Qing Temple side hall. Although she didn't know why he had come to her house, and she didn't know how he had become Lord Fei's student, but, but...

Miss Lin's hands tightly gripped the edges of the silk quilt, and her adorable, pearly white teeth gently bit her lower lip. She was very excited, and an unhealthy but exceptionally charming shade of red colored her cheeks. What should she do? Knowing that the person was just outside the curtain, she didn't know how to meet him. It was truly frustrating, and she was deeply in love.

Hearing that the conversation outside seemed to be gradually ending, and the owner of that voice was about to leave, the young lady finally couldn't help but prop herself up and lean against the headboard, using all her strength to call out in a voice as small as a mosquito:

"Wait a moment!"

...

...

Hearing the voice behind the gauze curtain, the four people outside had completely different reactions. The maid went over first and asked softly what was the matter. Ye Ling'er looked concerned. Ruoruo was thinking that her brother had risked disguising himself to come here today, but he hadn't been able to see Miss Lin, so she subconsciously looked at her brother's expression—but she saw a dazed goose.

After hearing the words "wait a moment," Fan Xian was stunned. He transformed into a dazed goose, staring stupidly at the bed, seemingly trying to see the woman inside through the layers of curtains, to confirm that it was the voice he remembered. In the Qing Temple, he had heard the white-clothed girl speak, especially that sentence, in fact, only that sentence: "Who... are you?"

The gentle three words in the Qing Temple had left an incredibly deep impression on him, and he had never forgotten them.

Fan Xian immediately knew who was behind the gauze curtain. A burst of ecstasy, the joy of regaining what had been lost and then regained, rushed into his brain, making him feel numb and a little lost for a short time. After the shock, he immediately thought of Huang Lixing's song: "The sound waves are too strong, if you don't shake, you will be knocked to the ground..." So he swayed a little, but he quickly regained his senses and forcefully stopped the urge to rip open the curtain in front of the bed.

"Miss, is there something wrong?" the maid asked softly at the bedside. Ye Ling'er also walked over, frowning: "Chenchen, lie down first. Why are you sitting up?"

"This... this doctor, what he said earlier seems very... to make sense." The girl behind the gauze curtain seemed a little anxious about how to phrase it. "... A face-to-face examination might... give the doctor more confidence."

Hearing that the young lady had said so, but remembering the rules, the maid had no choice but to cast a pleading look at Ye Ling'er. At this time, Ye Ling'er was already a little suspicious of Fan Xian's medical skills, so she said a few unhelpful words of persuasion, but she couldn't resist Miss Lin's insistence. A pang of sadness went through her heart, thinking that her sister knew that she didn't have much time left, so she didn't want to give up any hope. She sighed and reached out to pull back the gauze curtain.

Just then, that hateful old nanny came upstairs for the third time. Seeing this scene, she was shocked and went to pull Fan Xian away. Fan Xian felt a surge of anger. "You are really a nuisance." He glared over with eyes like a thunder god in fury. Where his gaze fell, the old nanny clutched her stomach and fled in panic.

Fan Ruoruo naturally knew that her brother's gaze couldn't hurt anyone. It was the laxative still having a strong effect. She couldn't help but cover her mouth and laugh. At this time, Fan Xian also had a slight smile on his lips, watching the gauze curtain being gradually pulled back, waiting for the moment when the two of them would meet.

The gauze curtain was pulled back. Within the silk quilt, a delicate young woman with fair skin, watery eyes, and rosy cheeks appeared before everyone, as if there was no one else present. Two pairs of gentle but firm eyes met.

Fan Xian's eyes were full of joy and happiness, but Miss Lin's eyes were... very blank and disappointed! Fan Xian immediately realized that he was wearing makeup today. This fiancée, whom he had only met once, naturally couldn't recognize him on the spot. A trace of laughter and helplessness couldn't help but appear in his eyes.

Miss Lin sat up with the help of the maid, looking at the unfamiliar young doctor in front of her. It was difficult to hide her disappointment, but gradually, her brow furrowed, as if she was recalling something, as if she had discovered something in the young doctor's smiling eyes.

Ye Ling'er suddenly found Lord Fei's student's gaze very annoying and urged, "Why are you standing there like an idiot?"

Fan Xian smiled and walked forward, carefully looking at the beautiful face that he had been thinking about for days. Looking at that unhealthy blush, he felt a thousand times of pity in his heart and said softly, "You must eat and take medicine according to the method I said earlier, you know?"

Hearing this voice again, seeing this completely different face, Miss Lin felt a little dizzy. She supported herself on the bed and said softly, "Thank you for your trouble."

...

...

When leaving Miss Lin's boudoir, Miss Lin politely thanked the young doctor and Miss Fan. She knew that this Miss Fan was very likely to become her "sister-in-law" in the future, so she couldn't help but feel some inexplicable emotions. Looking at the young doctor again, she felt even more agitated. Clearly, the voice was his, but why wasn't it him?

Seeing that the young doctor was about to walk out the door, Miss Lin was very anxious, but there was no way to stop him. As a nominal Princess, insisting on seeing the doctor had already been an extremely bold move. Was she supposed to ask him if he had been to the Qing Temple a few days ago, and if he had seen a white-clothed girl, and if he remembered that chicken leg?

-- Forget it, forget it. It's clearly not that person. It's just that the voice is a bit similar. It seems that she has been sleeping too deeply these days and thinking too much about that voice, so she has become a bit obsessed.

Just as the young lady was feeling anxious and gradually disappointed, Fan Xian suddenly stopped at the doorway, turned around with a strange smile, and said, "Drink goat milk, eat meat, and if you're hungry, prepare a few more chicken legs."

Miss Lin's eyes lit up and asked, "But my appetite hasn't been very good these days, and I often feel nauseous and want to vomit."

"It doesn't matter, just vomit and vomit until you get used to it." Fan Xian realized that his future wife was a clever person. He was very happy and said, "You can ventilate during the day, but you must remember to... close the windows at night."

Ye Ling'er and the maid thought that this doctor had a problem with his brain to say such things.

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In the carriage back to the Fan residence, there were no outsiders, only Fan Xian with a smile on his face and Fan Ruoruo, who was secretly laughing beside him. Fan Ruoruo saw her brother trying to suppress the urge to burst out laughing, but he was trying very hard. She smiled and said, "Just laugh if you want to, why hold it in?" As soon as she said this, a burst of extremely happy laughter came from the carriage. It was very loud, startling the pedestrians on both sides of the road and scaring Teng Zijing, who was guarding in front.

"The things in this world are really coincidental." Seeing her brother happy, Fan Ruoruo couldn't help but feel happy for him. "I didn't expect that Miss Lin would actually be the girl you met at the Qing Temple, brother."

"It is a coincidence." Fan Xian scratched his slightly itchy eyebrows and said with a smile, "Don't call her Miss Lin anymore, call her sister-in-law."

Fan Ruoruo teased him, "She won't be married until October. Isn't it a little too early to call her sister-in-law now? And ah... you know that Prime Minister and the Eldest Princess don't like you. Didn't you once think about rejecting this marriage?"

Fan Xian smiled a little embarrassedly and said, "Times have changed. Now, brother is determined to marry that woman. Don't mention Prime Minister and Eldest Princess, even if the Director of the Monitoring Bureau returns to Kyoto, I won't care about him."

Fan Ruoruo suddenly asked curiously, "Actually, today was the first time I saw Lin... sister-in-law." She couldn't help but laugh. "Although sister-in-law is pretty, she's not as beautiful as you described last time, brother."

Fan Xian was stunned and asked seriously, "That's not considered as beautiful as a celestial being?"

Fan Ruoruo said objectively, "It's not."

Fan Xian thought about it, feeling a little bewildered. After a long while, he said, "Could this be called... beauty is in the eye of the beholder?"

"Brother, I can roughly understand the meaning of what you said, but where is Xishi from?" Fan Ruoruo was eager to learn.

At this time, Fan Xian's mind was full of Miss Lin, and he had long lost the fine tradition of being his sister's teacher and mentor for all these years. He casually fooled her, "Xishi is a girl selling tofu in Danzhou Port. She is very pretty and has very white skin."

"Liar." Fan Ruoruo was a little dissatisfied, finding that her brother had been a little distracted ever since he confirmed that his future sister-in-law was his sweetheart.

Fan Xian comforted her, "Why would I lie to you? When you were little, you secretly sneaked out of the other residence with me to go to the vegetable market. She was selling tofu there at the time, but you were too young to remember."

Fan Ruoruo was half-convinced.

Looking back on today's events, Fan Xian was filled with emotion: "This isn't a time-travel story, this is clearly a romance novel."

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Miss Lin's surname was Lin, her given name was Wan'er, and her nickname was Yichen. She had grown up in the imperial palace since she was a child and didn't have too many friends. Her background was a bit peculiar, so although she knew that her father was the current Prime Minister, she didn't have many opportunities to meet him. She was closer to her uncle, especially after her uncle arranged the marriage for her four years ago. Even her mother was deprived of the right to manage her, so she had some easy and free days. It was just a pity that these days were inevitably a bit lonely. Ye Ling'er often followed her brothers to go crazy in Dingzhou, so even if she was in Kyoto, it wasn't very convenient for her to enter the palace. As a result, she didn't even have someone by her side to talk about her private thoughts.

At the beginning of the year, for some reason, her uncle had someone reveal the relationship between her and her father. At the time, she thought that her uncle was preparing to embarrass her father and force him to resign, but who knew that things would turn out completely differently. Instead, the marriage that had been put on hold four years ago was brought up again.

A private illegitimate son of Lord Fan, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, in Danzhou, named Fan Xian? A bitter smile floated on Lin Wan'er's lips. It seemed that the other party was also a miserable person who hadn't seen his parents since he was a child. But why did she have to marry him? Could it be that her identity was so dishonorable that she could only be randomly given to Fan... Xian?

She wondered what Fan Xian looked like.

Lin Wan'er couldn't help but think of the doctor she had met during the day. A hint of a smile welled up in the corners of her mouth, and she covered her mouth to laugh. That person was so funny that he had thought of such a way to sneak into the villa. She knew that this was a royal villa with tight security, and she didn't know how he had done it--by impersonating a student of Lord Fei? What a daring person!--But she immediately thought that this person had come with the Fan family's daughter. Could it be that he had some relationship with the Fan family? Then he must know about her marriage with that young master of the Fan family... Heavens! Since he clearly knew all of this, why did he still come to see me? Why did he say those words to me?

Two blushes on her cheeks were as beautiful as rosy clouds. The maid who was making the bed beside her stared blankly at the Princess, who was leaning against the head of the bed, and asked with a smile, "Miss, what happy thing are you thinking about again? You've been smiling for no reason for the past two days."

Lin Wan'er was a little embarrassed and said, "Can't I even laugh?" The maid stuck out her tongue and walked to the window to close it. It was already late at night and it was time to go to bed. Lin Wan'er thought of the last sentence that the young man had said during the day and said softly, "Go get some incense." The maid wondered if there wasn't any left, but she didn't say anything and went downstairs by herself.

Lin Wan'er walked to the window and placed her slender fingers on the small horizontal bars of the window frame, thinking, "Should I close it or not?" When she thought about the illness she had, and that she had already been promised to a stranger named Fan Xian, Lin Wan'er felt a pang of pain in her heart. Her fingers exerted force, and she tightly shut the window.