Ning Yun was moping around. She was just lying there staring up at the wooden ceiling which was the floor to someone else. She laid on the floor thinking of the person who might be up there and the chance of said people falling through their floor to crush her. Now that she was thinking about it, she found that the chance of someone really falling into her room was low. After all, it’s not like this structure was used for an inn for nothing. If the frame was that fragile, then inns would be one story rather than two. Good business didn’t come with didn’t come with people falling from floor to floor. Of course, there was the chance of a fight happening in the room above, and with some type of cultivation technique used to attack a person may fall through the floor. But, the chances of that were small too.
“It’s not every day a fight would break out in such a peaceful city as this one.”
At least, that’s what it seemed like. There were always things that she never saw. Oh so many things she never saw or knew. And yet, she knew so much. It was ironic really. She saw nothing but knew of everything. Corruption, death, every dark side of a human. And even though she never saw it, she used that to judge every single person.
Was that wrong of her? Of course it was. It was bad to make assumptions of people. However, there was also nothing wrong with expecting the worst out of people. There was nothing wrong to think everyone who laughed behind you was laughing at you. Nothing at all because that’s how she lived, and she turned out just fine, right?
Ning Yun sighed. Her second life, it wasn’t what she expected it to be. Her situation was nothing like all of the books, mangas and manhwas she read. It was quite boring, or maybe she found it more interesting to read those stories then actually live them out. There was no way of knowing that, seeing as she didn’t really understand herself without her little self therapy secessions.
“What are you doing just laying on the floor?”
Ning Yun shot up, so she could see who was talking to her. Since she wasn’t really used to Ning Qian’s voice, she didn’t know it was him until she saw his novel-like good looks that were dashed with a dark disappointment.
“And here I thought…” he sighed, “Get off the floor, there is somewhere we have to go.”
Hmm, Ning Yun didn’t want to get up though. Nor did she want to go anywhere. She found the cool wooden floor of the inn better than the outside. It was better for her to mourn, but as she laid there for the few milliseconds she was told to get up, Ning Yun realized that she didn’t have a choice. It was either, get up or be forced up, and she’d much rather get up on her own. Which is why Ning Yun got up from the floor, to which Ning Qian sighed again.
“Your hair is a mess. It definitely is not a good look for you.”
So, where were they going that needed her appearance to be the best it could be? Either way, Ning Yun had no idea how to fix it, so she just shrugged.
“You handful of a child…Go sit on the stool.”
“Okay,” Ning Yun said and sat in the same spot her hair was first done.
Ning Qian undid the messed up hair style, combed out Ning Yun’s hair, and created something completely different. Now, she had two braided buns sitting on the top side of her head. It was a hairstyle she’d always seen in movies or manhwas, and, to be honest, it was kind of cute.
“Now, let us get going. The patient is dying.”
Patient? He’s joking right?
Unfortunately, he wasn’t. Ning Qian was being completely serious. He took Ning Yun to her first medical experience without so much as a warning.
There was an almost dead person laying on a bed in a room filled with the stench of illness. It was almost like the smell of the hospitals in her past life. A deadly one at that. It made Ning Yun wonder if this is what hospitals smelled like in England during that Black Plague, which brought her to remembering where the black plague originated from. She couldn’t stop herself from laughing inside of her head. Though, thankfully, she also remembered the cure to the plague. At least, the cure to the early stages. However, the way of making the cure could be considered witchcraft in this day in age, and it wasn’t like she knew how.
“Ning Yun. Open the window.”
“Of course,” Ning Yun said, returning to her own mind. Right, she had to start paying attention to the present. After all, she was going to be a real doctor now. That was the path she decided to take in this life. Now that she had more than her life to look after, she had to be more attentive to the outside. It was going to be her new lifestyle, and there was no telling if she was going to regret it or not.
Ning Yun quickly walked to the window which, thankfully, wasn’t right behind the bed, so she didn’t have to climb over the patient. She moved the curtain, allowing light in the room, and used her small hands to push the window open, airing out the room.
When Ning Yun turned around and walked to the side of the bed to look at her first patient, she saw them huffing and puffing for their life. Sweat ran down every inch of their body hitting and being absorbed in the sheets. Out of the heavy breathing were occasional coughs that sounded dry. It was a real sick person, a person who could die the second she looked away. It made Ning Yun wonder. Was it okay for the quack to be looking after him? Then again, it wasn’t her place to step in, but thanks to her medical training she had to take for her career oath in her last life, she knew a little more than the average person when it came to diagnosis. Using that, it looked like the person lying in bed with one foot in the grave had the flu. Well, she didn’t know because there was no common test, but it was the likely cause.
“Go fetch some water and make sure it is clean.”
Too bad she never looked up the historic cure for the flu before she died.
“Of course.”
Clean water…So, she had to find a well. Thankfully, the patient seemed to be well off as their house was large and filled with servants, so, in this situation, all she had to do was ask one of the servants in the house.
“Excuse me,” she caught the attention of a servant, “Would it be possible to get a bowl of clean water and a clean cloth?”
“Of course, little doctor,” the servant responded.
Little doctor? Well, that was a new one. One she was going to have to get used to because there was no chance in her growing anymore then she already was.
In just a few moments, the servant came back with exactly what Ning Yun asked for.
“Thank you,” she said, remembering her manners from her past life, “I appreciate it.”
The servant smiled, “I’m happy knowing that such a polite girl is taking care of our young lord.”
Guess the guy really is that influential. Made sense since this is how he lived, surrounded by people willing to tend to his hands and feet with a single word. Ning Yun smiled and nodded, then returned back to the sick person’s room where she was ordered to wipe the patient down.
Ning Yun is going to be honest with herself. Never in her life has she seen the full body of a male all at once. Not because she never had the opportunity. In high school, there were a whole bunch of horny teenagers who would do anything to lose their virginity and what of it. Honestly, the adult world wasn’t much different. It’s just that adults were a little less up front with their desires. Back to the point, Ning Yun had many opportunities to see a naked man, but she never really cared to do so. Well, she’d already had an idea of what it looked like thanks to the uncensored panels in her favorite bl manhwa which gave her the impression that it wasn’t much to look at.
Proving her impression right, the male parts of the body weren’t all that. It wasn’t as impressive as some of her friends said it was. It was just a normal part of the human body. An unpleasant one at that. See, rather than being embarrassed of seeing a male counterpart for the first time, she was rather disgusted because it looked exactly how she expected it to. It was insanely underwhelming. So much so that she couldn’t help but sigh before wiping down the lower half of the patient's body with cool clean water.
“I would say the female body is more alluring, but that would be a lie,” she said to herself as she finished up her task. This is why Ning Yun considered herself to be asexual.
Ning Qian was having a conversation with the family about the medical treatment, the cost, and everything else that came up.
“So then, do you think you can save our son,” asked the madam of the house who, like all of the women of the historical era, dressed themselves up in elegant clothes and covered their faces in makeup. Then, there was his husband right next to her that tried to emanate dominance.
Ning Qian looked around the room, trying to assess the standing of the family whose son he could save. He looked around trying to assess just how much he could take from these people, and he hoped that it was enough for a nice pile of paper, some ink, and a nice slim brush that fit perfectly in the hand of a fifteen year old girl. Either way, even if they didn’t have that kind of money, he could wring out as much as he could and move onto the next family until he had enough. After all, no amount of money was more than a person’s life, especially when they were close to you. Ning Qian knew that better than anyone.
“I can. However, it might take a few days, and I do have other patients I promised to see,” he was going to take every last one of their coins, “some in even more dire conditions than your son.”
“Please doctor!”
Hearing that her son might be abandoned for another child whose life was also hanging off the cliff, sprung the madam into action.
“I am willing to give you anything you want!”
He still shook his head, “I have other patients to dedicate my time to. Unfortunately, I don’t think-”
“I bet those families are not as well off as we are!”
And here it was. The turning point of the wife giving up everything she can for her dear son. Of course, there was no movement from the lord. After all, caring for children was never the role of the male head of the house. In these situations, it was more or less his job to watch as his wife pleaded for her child’s life to be saved, and after, it was up to him if he wanted to spend that money on his own kid. When it came down to that, there was always a 50/50 chance of him giving everything he had or not a single penny.
“Right! You are traveling with a young girl, correct? I bet she would love to have some cute clothes to wear! Or maybe you could build yourself a small clinic? Does that not sound nice?”
Well, Ning Qian didn’t really know much about the kid he was traveling with. All he knew was that she had a connection with a foreigner and was a troublesome kid. He didn’t even know what color or flower the girl preferred, and at the moment, he didn’t care. His only goal was betting money for the materials she needed to learn. That’s why he decided to take on a patient after wandering around for the past year. It was what she needed, so he was going to do his best to get it.
“No, I cannot allow that child’s interests to affect the patients I treat. That is unprofessional of me.”
Usually, it was around this time that Ning Qian would give in and let the wife give him whatever she was able whether she had her husband’s permission or not. However, to get enough money in one go, he was going to need the lord of the house to step in and offer him something.
“I treat all of my patients equally because all lives are equal,” Ning Qian said as though he was a saint that wasn’t trying to get all the money he could out of one poor family rather than taking on more patients.
“No lives are equal,” there it was, “As my wife said, whatever you want, however much you want, just heal our son.”
Now, Ning Qian had rung in both of the parents and was more than willing to save the kid. After all, though it looked like a bad illness, it wasn’t anything serious. At least, for him. It wasn’t anything he couldn’t cure.
“Well, I can stay here for a total of two days. After that, it will become your responsibility to look after the kid.”
The madam almost broke out in happy tears, “Thank you. Thank you so much!”
There was no reason for her to be that grateful to Ning Qian. He was going to take everything he could from this family over an illness that was curable, so there was no reason to be crying tears of joy. Rather, they should be showing him hostility. He was going to take everything from them with his saint-like behavior.
“He may be a quack, but he’s a damn good scammer.”
Ning Yun covered her mouth after realizing that she used her native language from her last life.
“Ning Yun, come here,” she heard her teacher call out to her from behind the sliding door.
Guess, I talked too loud, Ning Yun thought. Then, collecting herself, she slid the door open and walked into the room with as much fake confidence she could gather.
“I finished wiping down the patient and put a cool cloth over his forehead. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like his fever is going down.”
Ning Qian nodded, “So what do you think it is?” He asked his student as though she’d already come up with her own diagnosis which wasn’t wrong because she did.
“He probably has the flu which is highly contagious, and without proper treatment, could be the start of a pandemic. One of multiple which could cause the disease to further mutate into something incurable.”
Ning Qian raised one of his eyebrows. He was a little impressed that Ning Yun could give him an answer and sound so sure about it, though there was nothing in the books he gave her about illnesses. Even if there was, he doubted that she actually retained the information from them.
Well, he did think of the possibility that she was bullshitting. Actually, he thought that she was, but for a moment, he actually believed in her diagnosis. It was crazy to think that she was more fit for the life of a scammer than a doctor. It kind of made him question the girl’s origins for a bit, but then he remembered that it doesn’t really matter. He’d already taken the kid. There was no point in throwing her onto the street or back into a grave.
“The flu, you say? I’ve never heard of that disease before,” said the lord of the house. Looks like he did some research while looking for a doctor. Ning Yun came to a pause. She wasn’t really into knowing the history of a disease, but it looked like the flu wasn’t always called the flu which makes sense. However, it also means that she would have to make another cover story. It really was one lie after another in this world. You might not think it, but she actually dislikes lying. It’s really hard to keep up with. Stringing a web of lies is harder than it seems in all of the stories she read.
“Actually, I named it right now. Seeing as this disease could appear in more than one person consecutively because of its rapid spreading, it’s better to give it a name, so the disease is easily recognizable. Then, once the cure is found,” Ning Yun softened her facial features to make her lie a little more believable, “when hearing the name of the disease, people know that there is a way for them to get better. Rather than patients having to suffer because of an uncertain future, it’s better for them to feel closure by knowing that there’s a sure guaranteed chance of recovery.”
“...What a perfect girl you are,” the madam of the house said.
In truth, Ning Yun didn’t know what words were going to come out of her mouth. She just knew that part of what she was saying was going to be a lie. She didn’t think that her true feelings would slip out too, and in such a calm and meaningful way too. Still, she was glad that it worked out that way. If she seemed like a saint, she would be given more out of gratitude.
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“Thank you,” Ning Yun nodded.
Ning Qian gave his little apprentice a side look then sighed. The girl wasn’t a good scammer, she was just someone who faced herself without knowing it. That made her a mature person that was great at hiding herself. Still, it was helping her. Ning Qian stood up from his seat, “Good. Now, let us make the patient's future a certain one.”
“Yes sir.”
That habit really is going to die hard.
Focusing back on the patient, Ning Qian examined the dying kid himself. There was a retaining high fever that needed to be broken before serious brain damage, dry coughing which showed aggravation in the throat or chest, and there weren't any other symptoms he could know of without the patient telling him.
“So you want to call this the flu?”
Ning Yun never thought that Ning Qian was going to take the words she said before seriously. Though, it was good to know that being a little emotional was enough to sway him, or at least, get his attention.
“I guess so…” she said, dragging out her words because of uncertainty. Deciding to name a disease like this was going to end up affecting the entire world, and whether she wanted it or not, some form of her was going to be written in history. With an undying body like hers, that wasn’t favorable to her.
“Whether you are sure about your decision or not, it is too late to take it back as a joke. When you say something with such vigor, it is going to happen.”
That reminded Ning Yun of something she used to say to herself every once in a while in her past life. It was a quote, but she could never remember where she first heard it. She bet it was from some manhwa or show she watched. It went a little like, “ If you lie enough, it’ll come true,” or something like that. Of course, life never worked out that way, but it helped her get through emotional breakdowns. Yeah, she kept herself in check by lying to herself. She knew she was lying, but it was easy to believe the lie because that’s just how life is. Lies are usually the most desirable truths anyway.
“Ning Yun.”
The girl looked at the face of the dying boy lying in bed wondering if her dead hands really were going to take part in saving his life, “Yes.”
“The person in front of you is a patient you deemed more important than your own life, so care for him as though you stand at salvation's door. Spare no thought to anything else.”
“I understand.”
After that, Ning Yun was left to care for the patient while Ning Qian did whatever a quack doctor does.
“First, his fever has to break,” but how? She remembered looking it up on the internet one time out of curiosity after watching one of those over dramatic doctor shows. It’s not like she did a thorough study about it, but she at least remembered the results of searching it up which is weird seeing as she’d always had a bad memory. It’s kind of surprising that she could remember that after all of this time.
Ning Yun shook her head. She had to stay on topic. This person in front of her was more important than her own life.
Alright, back to the fever breaking.
She remembered the results being all about keeping the person cool. Since that was the case, Ning Yun started cooling the patient off as much as she could. She pulled the multiple blankets off of him and threw them to the ground. She opened up his clothes as much as she could without making it weird. She stepped out of the room and asked for a large bucket of cold water along with multiple pieces of cloth.
The one servant she called came with the cloth and a male servant who was carrying the water.
“This is the coldest water we could find,” the male servant said. Ning Yun nodded, “Good, now bring a fresh bucket every hour.”
She took the cloth from one servant and dropped them in the bucket of water the other carried. Then, she took the bucket and shouted the two away.
“Make sure no one comes into this room but me and Ning Qian. It’ll be a pain if more people start contracting the disease.”
“Yes!”
Ning Yun went to reach for the pieces of cloth in the water, but she found that her sleeves were digging in the water, which was really annoying. However, she didn’t know how to roll them up, so she called another servant to have them tie her sleeves up and out of her way. Her hair was also a problem too, but since Ning Qian seemed to get angry when it was all messed up, she decided to just deal with it.
Ning Yun wringed out a cloth one by one and laid it on different body parts. Two laid over his feet, another two over his hands, one was draped over his neck, and the last replaced the cloth that was already on his forehead. Now, she was going to be attentive to every single one of the patient’s movements and dunk the cloths back in water when they were no longer cold. When he woke up, she was going to give him food and fill him with liquid until he was about to pop.
Right now, she wished for the modern convenience of the thermometer. Then, she could accurately measure his temperature and can be sure about his chances of getting brain damage. Too bad though, she was not in the modern area. She missed the convenience of that era sometimes.
Ning Yun went to touch the pieces of cloth and found that all of them were already hot. She took them all off, dunked them all back into the water, wrung them out, and put them back where they were.
She repeated the action over and over as the pieces of cloth continue to dry out or lose their cold temperature. Once the water matched the temperature of the room, she heard a knock on the door to which she grabbed the next bucket of cool water and replaced it with the lukewarm water in the room with the order to dump the old water.
Over and over, she repeated the same steps doing everything she can to not fall asleep. After all, doing this was quite boring. There wasn’t even a good book in the room she could read. She looked over the shelves and only found books for learning purposes. Like, statistics, history, all of the casual things. She’d already tried reaching out to look for her home, which embarrassed her since she’d already been in the historical world for a little over a month now.
In the middle of Ning Yun going through the representative action, her patient woke up. He didn’t say anything but groan which brought her attention to his face. When she did look at his face, she found that his black eyes had opened. Due to her nature built from her past life, rather than immediately call for food, Ning Yun gave the patient a smile and said, “Good morning.”
Though, her past life only bled through for a moment. After her little good morning, she opened the door to the room and yelled from someone to bring some soup with drinking water.
Almost immediately, the food and water was delivered by a servant to which she thanked. With that time before the food was delivered, she managed to get her patient to sit up with the feeble strength she had. Honestly, it was harder than one person would think it was.
Ning Yun took the spoon and stirred the soup around to release some of the heat.
“Can you open your mouth?” she asked him. There wasn’t much of a verbal response. Her patient had just weakly opened his mouth for her to start feeding him food. It seemed that just opening his mouth took all the energy he had.
Ning Yun fed him slowly. She fed him a spoon, waited for him to swallow and open his mouth again for another spoonful. During this, Ning Yun whispered, “Never thought I would be spoon feeding someone.”
Though she did say that, it wasn’t like she found it bothersome. After all, this was going to be something done frequently because of her job. She’d rather get used to it because she was going to be doing this all the time. Besides, it was nice to be useful to someone. Especially with the body she had in this life and her past.
“Look at that,” Ning Yun smiled, “You finished all of your food. Do you want anymore, Young Lord?”
Weakly, the patient shook his head. Ning Yun nodded in acceptance and put the bowl down on a nearby table where there sat a cup of water. She picked up the cup of water, “Drink this,” she said as she brought the cup to his mouth. The patient opened his mouth and allowed the water to flow down his throat to cool him down internally.
“I know speaking is a bit difficult right now, but if you need anything I’ll do everything I can to figure out what it is.”
The patient nodded, “Th…ank…you…”
His voice was raspy and weak from dealing with the flu for however long he was sick. Ning Yun knew that it must’ve caused him a great deal of pain to speak even if it was just two words. It was only right for her to smile, “You’re welcome.”
Ning Yun placed the cup down on the same table she took it from. After she laid the patient back down on the bed she picked a book off the sleeves, “How about I read you a book? Or would you rather have me tell you a story? Nod your head for a book and shake your head for a story.”
The patient shook his head asking for a story. Thankfully, Ning Yun was quite great at coming up with stories. She’d written many books whether it was completely original or a fanfiction. She didn’t mean to brag, but her stories did catch some attention. They had to be somewhat good. Besides, if her stories weren’t good enough, she read plenty to make up for that.
Seeing as the one wanting the story was a young boy, she figured that he would enjoy a hero-villain type story. She knew plenty of those and had plenty of favorites.
“In a land completely different from this one. Where carriages didn’t need to be pulled by ox, and there was a way of communication faster than letters and bird carriers. Where buildings were tall enough to touch the clouds and fire was no longer the only source of warmth. There was a system much like the one today where the strong was on top and the weak was on the bottom. Unlike this world, there were no monsters, ghosts, ghouls, or anything of that nature that originated from its lands. There was no such thing as cultivation or magic until gates, doors that opened up to another world, started opening in every corner of the world, and when those doors opened, monsters of all sorts emerged. Some were ugly with twisted features, some were beautiful beyond imagination, and others took a shape of neither human nor monster. Not the power of their futuristic weapons or their multiple battle strategies built overtime could defeat the monsters. Because of the appearance of these new beings, the land was ravished, the number of dead were in the thousands, their government was destroyed.”
Ning Yun looked at her patient and found that he was already fast asleep. She sighed, “Guess, I should’ve chosen a shorter story.”
Still, it was nice that he was able to sleep on a full stomach.
Just like that, Ning Yun was back to reading boring books from the bookshelf and changing the pieces of cloth all by herself again. She wondered what Ning Qian was doing while she was taking care of the patient. She guessed that he was probably collecting herbs or something of that nature.
“Excuse me,” Ning Yun heard a knock on the door, “I’ve brought you a meal as well as prepared a bath.”
This was a little suspicious, she thought. She wasn’t supposed to leave the room; that was a given. It made no sense for them to prepare something without asking her first. What if there was something she was allergic to or something she didn’t like? Was that not something they considered in this day in age? Even if they didn’t, something in Ning Yun was telling her not to leave the room. Whether it be her new found enthusiasm for caring for patients or her bleak amount of common sense, she wasn’t going to leave the room. Then again, she was feeling a little dirty, but she could endure until Ning Qian walked in and took over.
“Thank you,” she shouted, so the servant could hear her from the other side of the door, “But, I’ll eat and bathe once my Master comes back to check on the patient.”
“I insist that you at least have a meal. I’m sure you’re hungry by now. After all, you're just a small child.”
Now, this is getting really suspicious. Ning Yun knew that in her past life she didn’t have much common sense half the time. She almost got herself kidnapped by getting in some random person's car multiple times even though she wasn’t intoxicated. There was also her little habit of waving at random people to which her best friend told her not to do for some odd reason. Still, despite all of that, in serious situations, her common sense pushed through, and to her, this became such a situation. Her senses were telling her to not leave the room. Rather, she shouldn’t even open the door.
“Well…” but what should she say.
“Then…please set the food down outside of the door. It’s not safe for you to be here.”
“I understand. Please enjoy your meal,” the servant said.
From there, Ning Yun kept her ears on the door, listening for the movements of the person outside of the door. She heard the setting down of a tray and the sound of feet walking away. Carefully, when the footsteps faded down the hallway, she opened the door to retrieve the food from outside. Getting the food, Ning Yun just placed it somewhere without much consideration about the people who made it. She was sure there was something in it, but if she wanted to be honest, there was a part of her that wanted to see if it would work. However, that was irresponsible of her. She’ll try it out after Ning Quian comes back. If something actually went wrong, it would be better if he was there.
A few hours later, Ning Qian came back with a bamboo basket full of herbs. He decided that since there was no official doctor's room that he would make the medicine in the patient's room. After all, there was no hurt in doing that.
“Go take a bath and eat something,” he said, seeing Ning Yun sitting by the patient’s bedside.
Immediately after that, he checked the patient's temperature to see if it came down some, and it did. He was still a little warm, however, Ning Qian could tell that his temperature had lowered.
“You did a good job,” he said, which Ning Yun took as her actual cue to go out and take care of herself.
Outside of the doors, there was already a servant waiting out there to show her to the room she was going to use for the few days of her stay.
The place was well designed with nature-like aesthetics. There were ink paintings hung on the wall like any other historical bedroom. It was something straight out of a manhwa character's room. Of course, it was significantly smaller because it was a lowly guest room, but Ning Yun didn’t mind that. Actually, there was a bath set up behind a paper screen that had pink flowers painted on it.
After that long day of taking care of a sick patient, Ning Yun really needed that bath. Her mind was screaming at how dirty her body was even when she tried keeping herself preoccupied with something else.
Ning Yun undressed her body and hopped into the wooden tub of water. Once, a servant asked if she needed help with the bath, but she turned them down because she didn’t need another person knowing what her bare back looks like. That and she didn’t want to get her peace shaken. Bathing was one of the few chill times in her life. It was the time she could be level headed and straight forward to herself. She didn’t need someone ruining that because she needed help with washing herself. Besides, she needed to have herself a little concert, and most of the songs she knew were in her past life native language which would be found suspicious if she was singing in a language commonly spoken in the west. Though, she had to remember that this wasn’t her house, so she couldn’t sing a song she would usually go all in for. She had to sing in moderation, but the song she wanted to sing–the only song she could remember at that time–was one that she had to sing her heart out whether she wanted it or not because the song was just that good. The song just wouldn’t hit if she didn’t sing with everything she had. It was a whole different song if she didn’t, but she didn’t want her head to be cut off.
So, she bathed singing herself a little song without the fire that the song deserved. It made the song super anticlimactic, but it was better than nothing.
After getting through her entire routine–well, the majority of it–Ning Yun was confused about what she should do with her hair. Should she put it in a nice hairstyle? Well, even then, she didn’t know how to. In her past life, her hair was curly, so she didn't have many options in hair creativity. She didn’t have much of a chance to try out all of the hairstyles that would pop up on her social media ‘For you’ pages.
Since she didn’t know what to do, she just took a ribbon that Ning Qian put in her hair earlier and used it to tie up her hair as best as she could. It was a serious pain to get all of her hair together, but she managed to do it eventually. Then, right after, she hit the sheets and drifted off to sleep. It was a rest she really needed.
“Wake up, child,” Ning Qian said. His voice was a little blurry to the recipient in which it was going, but it was heard nonetheless.
In his ears, it felt like there was a rock of earwax just stuck in his ear and didn’t come out no matter how much he tried to dig. He tried lifting up his hand but couldn’t. His hand…No, his entire body was too weak to move. It was a miracle that his heavy eyes could open that were, like his hearing, incomplete.
“It is time to take your medicine,” Ning Qian said.
His eyes were exhausted just by opening, but he pushed himself to look around the room from his immobile state. Waking up, he remembered that there was another person that took care of him. No, it wasn’t the tall man in clean clothes, but there was someone else. He remembered that there was a girl. A girl that seemed younger than himself. His mind and eyes were blurry, his hearing was muffled, but he remembered her. She spoke in a soft voice, but it was loud enough for his sickened ears to hear. She fed him cooled down food in which she stirred and blew on herself. She changed the pieces of cloth draped over parts of his body with her chilled hands. She told him a story.
“I am going to lift your head up,” Ning Qian said, gently sliding his hand under the recipient’s head, and elevated it just slightly so the medicine would easily slide down his throat.
“The medicine is bitter, but that only means that you will get better.”
Well, it wasn’t like he had a choice. The recipient opened his mouth as much as he could with his weakened muscles in order for medicine to flow into his body.
Like Ning Qian told him, the medicine was insanely bitter. So much so that when his tongue tasted it for the first time, he gagged and caused himself a coughing fit.
After coughing, the recipient weakly opened his mouth and closed his eyes to bare with the taste of the medicine. Seeing his determination, Ning Qian went to feed the medicine again until the entire bowl was empty. Thankfully, the recipient was able to hold back another coughing fit, so the medicine was able to go down without much trouble.
With his job finished, Ning Qian gently set the recipient's head down on the bed where it was picked up from.
“Get some rest,” was the goodbye between the two commenced by Ning Qian since the other couldn’t bring himself to say anything.
When he woke up again, his eyes were lighter, his muscles were less sore, his sight was clear, and his hearing was no longer muffled. He still felt icky, but he felt his body getting better. It had been a while since his body felt this lax. Well, except for the fact that he was hungry, and he was feeling better. However, he wasn’t feeling well enough to yell for a servant or get up, so he was stuck there until someone came into his room. Thankfully, he didn’t have to wait long for a mumbling girl to walk in. A similar one that had told him a story. She seemed to be mumbling about the lack of rest she got, but as soon as she saw his eyes open, she smiled, “Good afternoon, Young Lord. Would you like for me to bring you something to eat?”
She asked that question as though she could read his mind, and he nodded a bit surprised.
“Alright then,” she said, “I’ll fetch something for you.”
Just like that the girl walked out of the room leaving him alone again, but then she came right back with a tray of food.
“Can you sit up?” she asked.
The patient used all of his newly gained strength to sit himself up to which Ning Yun smiled and said, “Time to eat.”
She took the spoon, like before and mixed the porridge around in the bowel until she was satisfied. Then, she scooped out a spoonful and blew until steam up slightly emanated from the spoon. She hovered the spoon over her free hand until it entered the patient’s mouth. The process happened over and over until the bowl was empty.
“I also brought water to wash everything down,” she said, carefully bringing the cup to his mouth and allowing him to drink it. When the water in the cup was gone, Ning Yun took the cup from his lips and stood up with the gathered utensils, bowels, and cup on the tray.
“Do you need anything else before I go?”
The patient shook his head and Ning Yun nodded in return before leaving the room.
When she got outside of the room, Ning Yun was actually surprised at the improved condition of the patient. It seemed like she was learning from a legit doctor. Of course, he was also a little bit of a scammer. Still, he saved people if given enough money, so he was as much a doctor as the ones in her previous life. Honestly, she was a little impressed on how he managed to get rid of the fever in a single night.