Resplendent – Chapter 438

Chapter 438 – Night Talk

Lady Jun sobbed as she said, “I bit you so hard, and you didn’t even feel any pain. I knew it. This must all just be a beautiful dream of mine, right? You can’t feel pain in dreams…Wuu wuu wuu…” 

Chu Bufan shook his head, torn between laughter and tears. “My lady, didn’t you notice that when I said it didn’t hurt, it was just to comfort you?” He pointed at the deep bite marks on his hand. “Looks like our daughter’s medicine works pretty well. You’ve got quite the strength when you bite!”

“Brother Fan, did I hurt you?” Lady Jun lifted her small face apologetically and blew gently on his hand. Then, as if remembering something, she rummaged at the bedside and pulled out a jade bottle, smiling joyfully like a child. “It’s not a dream. This is the medicine our daughter gave me. Brother Fan, we finally found our daughter. Even if I died now, I could leave in peace…” 

“What are you saying? Ptooey, ptooey!” Chu Bufan pulled his wife into his arms and spoke softly. “Physician Zhang already said it. Our daughter’s medicine is exactly what you need. Be good and take your medicine, get your body back to health quickly. Our daughter has just been found. You should take her to more flower-viewing gatherings and such, help her meet more young ladies…” 

Lady Jun nodded in her husband’s arms and said, “You’re right! In the blink of an eye, our daughter is already thirteen. Girls from other families start receiving suitors at this age. Just thinking that in another year or two she’ll leave us to get married. My heart feels so uncomfortable!”

Chu Bufan froze at her words. It took him a long moment to recover before he huffed angrily, “Our daughter won’t marry until she’s twenty. Better yet… we should bring in a son-in-law to live with us. With us and her brothers around, that brat wouldn’t dare treat her poorly!” 

“You’re talking nonsense again! At twenty she’d already be considered an old maid. Aren’t you afraid she’ll resent you? Besides, would you even consider the kind of men willing to marry into another family? You have to find a son-in-law early, or all the good young men in the capital will be snatched up by other families!” Though Lady Jun was reluctant, her daughter’s lifelong happiness was at stake. She couldn’t take it lightly.

The Duke’s face stretched into a long scowl. Just thinking that his adorable little daughter would be carried off by some detestable big bad wolf in a few years made him want to explode. He pretended not to hear his wife’s words. 

His daughter would have no trouble finding a husband. What was wrong with keeping her at home a few more years?

Full of energy tonight, Lady Jun began pulling her husband into a discussion about which good young men in the capital were worthy of their precious daughter. The two of them (well, really just Lady Jun talking) chatted all the way past midnight. Only when she truly couldn’t stay awake anymore did the conversation end.

Meanwhile, back at Mingzhu Pavilion, Gu Yehad just finished her bath, unaware that her parents were losing sleep over her marriage prospects, one worrying about finding her a husband, the other about keeping her home longer.

With her long hair loose around her shoulders, she sat by her dressing table, nibbling on her pen as she wrote a letter to Brother Chen! She poured out everything that had happened since entering the city, listing it all like entries in a diary, filling three large sheets of paper.

Fortunately, she had found a fountain pen and ink in her spatial storage. Otherwise, if she had to write all that with a brush, it would have worn her out completely. Looking at the sheets of paper she had completely filled, Gu Ye felt quite pleased with her own wildly free-flowing handwriting.

Yue Yuan stretched her neck to take a peek and couldn’t help feeling a headache on her master’s behalf: My lady’s handwriting is just too flamboyant. Ordinary people really wouldn’t be able to read it. 

She wasn’t sure whether her master would even be able to guess what it meant!

“Oh, right! Where is Hua Hao now? Any news?” Gu Ye folded the letter and placed it into a small bamboo tube, planning to have Xiao Bai deliver it first thing in the morning.

Yue Yuan replied immediately, “Not yet! Even if there is news, it will only be sent to Qingfeng Pavilion or Yinzhen Pavilion. I’ll send someone to ask tomorrow. Don’t worry, Miss. With Yin Hong accompanying her, she will be fine.” 

Gu Ye glanced back at the warmly decorated bedroom, the corners of her lips lifting gently. “Yue Yuan, from now on, this will be our home! I finally have parents who love me! Back when I was in Qingshan Village, I’d watch other families with loving mothers and filial children, and I would secretly comfort myself, telling myself that parental love is a matter of fate. I just had a weak fate with my parents. I never expected that Heaven wasn’t treating me lightly at all. It has given me the best parents in the world…”

“Miss, please don’t cry. This is a good thing!” Yue Yuan hated that she was so clumsy with words. Seeing her young lady silently shed tears, she couldn’t think of how to comfort her.

Gu Ye wiped her tears and smiled. “These are tears of joy—happy tears! Heaven must have pitied how hard my childhood was, so it granted me the happiness I have now. From now on, I will protect this happiness properly!” 

Yue Yuan took a comb and gently loosened her lady’s long hair, then used a dry cloth to dab it bit by bit until it was dry. She was sincerely happy for her and said, “Miss, this is what they call ‘sweetness after hardship’—bitterness gone, sweetness follows! Oh, right, Miss. Tomorrow, remember to go to the post station and inform Young Master Jiang, or else he’ll end up like Young Master Jun, unable to find you.” 

Gu Ye grinned. “Right! I can’t forget Jiang Xiaotian either! And our luggage—tomorrow let’s have Father send people to move it over for us. Tomorrow I’m going into seclusion for a day to custom-make medicinal pills for Mother.” 

Yue Yuan asked in puzzlement, “Miss, didn’t the imperial physicians say that your Blood Rejuvenation Pill is exactly suited to Madam’s condition? Why do you still need to make a separate one?” 

Gu Ye patiently explained, “The Blood Rejuvenation Pill is just a general-purpose medicine. It is suitable for Mother’s symptoms, but it works a bit too slowly. I’ve taken her pulse and understand her physical condition. A medicine specially formulated for her symptoms will help her recover much faster.” 

Realization dawned on Yue Yuan’s face. “No wonder some wealthy merchants carry thousands of gold and pulse records to beg you to make medicine for them.”

“The wealthy and especially the powerful fear death most! That’s also why so many high-ranking nobles are willing to lower themselves to befriend grand pharmacists. But the pharmacist community has rules. Pharmacists must not get too close to the powerful. That’s one reason why grand pharmacists seem so lofty and unreachable. There are some grand pharmacists and senior pharmacists who, once they reach a certain level, swell with pride and become arrogant. But most pharmacists are still fairly humble like my Senior Brother!” Gu Ye chatted with her maid, sharing what she’d learned from her junior. 。

Yue Yuan thought for a moment, then suddenly asked, “Then yesterday when Grand Pharmacist Jiang had dinner with Prince Tai, does that count as befriending the powerful?” 

“That doesn’t count! Prince Tai invited me to the banquet to apologize to me. Senior Brother was just there incidentally,” Gu Ye said with a wave of her hand. 

Yue Yuan furrowed her round little face and cautiously asked, “Then does that mean you are befriending someone powerful? Will it affect your future prospects?” 

Gu Ye thought seriously for a moment, then said, “It’s fine! I’m not even considered a pharmacist yet. What’s there for anyone to curry favor with? Besides, think about my current status: the eldest daughter of the Duke of Zhenguo. I am the powerful one. Why would I need to curry favor with anyone else?”