Guanshan Muyu

chapter 34

Xia Xun was lying on his bed, his forehead burning.

His hand ached, or rather his whole left side ached.

It was as if his body had been split in two, one half placed in the fire and scorched by the blazing flames, while the other half lay on the bed, held tightly by Shaobo.

Shaobo sat on the footrest, holding Xun’s right arm, changing the wet towel on his forehead so many times that the water from it soaked Xia Xun’s hair and dripped on the bedding.

Shaobo kept patting the back of his hand, telling him that it was all right, that someone would soon come to save him and that he would soon stop hurting.

In fact, Xia Xun didn’t cry out in pain; he didn’t even make a sound. He endured the pain in silence, just like he had done so many times before.

He hoped the grinding pain would pass soon, so he gritted his teeth and tried not to say anything.

Shaobo patted him for a while, and when she saw that he was still in pain, she was distressed and tears began to well up in her eyes again.

She had lost her parents at a very young age and had never been coaxed by anyone or cared for.

She didn’t know what else she could do to ease Xia Xun’s pain.

She shed a few silent tears and suddenly remembered something hidden deep in her memory.

It was the only memory of her mother that she had.

She was very young at the time; she seemed to be ill and was held in her mother’s arms.

Her mother was gently rocking her while singing a song to coax her.

What she sang was probably a children’s song of the Hu people.

Shaobo could not remember the lyrics, but vaguely remembered the melody.

She knelt down on Xia Xun’s bed and, following her mother’s example, took Xia Xun’s head in her arms and hummed the song gently.

Her voice was out of tune and her breath was uneven, but it was the last thing she could think of.

No, it wasn’t right.

She wiped the tears from her eyes.

She had another idea.

It was because Xia Xun didn’t agree with Xia Xing taking her as a concubine, so he tried his best to protect her. If she went to Xia Xing and said she was willing to be his concubine, Xia Xing might be able to let her find a doctor.

This thought in Shaobo’s mind grew stronger and stronger.

She thought, if Qi Yan didn’t come now, it might be too late. She couldn’t wait any longer.

Since she was a child, Xia Xun had been the best person for her.

For him, she would do anything.

She carefully put Xia Xun down, jumped from the bed, ran to the mirror and reluctantly freshened up.

It was raining heavily outside, the sky splitting with lightning and shaking with thunder, but she was oblivious to the rain and rushed to the courtyard gate.

“Open the door! Open the door! I’m going to find the second young master! Open the door!”

No matter how loudly she knocked on the door, no one answered.

Shaobo looked through the door and saw that the guard who had been standing outside was no longer there.

Her heart racing, she shouted: “How can there be no one there? How can there be no one there? Someone open the door for me! Somebody open the door! Open the door!”