Chapter 62: Vomiting

  It's been almost a year since I last strolled through the night market, which was during last year's Mid-Autumn Festival.

  Unexpectedly, I ran into Chen Jiong.

  Fate is indeed strange.

  After parting with Chen Jing, Xi Wen stood still on the spot until their figures disappeared around the corner before coming back to her senses, feeling a bit bored.

  She didn't even feel like strolling through the night market anymore, so she returned to Wanyun Building.

  Back at Wan Jun Ge, it was just after 11 pm, which was the busiest time for Wan Jun Ge.

  It's a pity that Wen doesn't enter from the front door either.

  There is a small side door in the alley that leads directly to the back garden of Wenyuan Pavilion. Deep in the back garden is Xiweng's boudoir, Qionglan Residence.

  The corner gate is specially guarded by a turtle slave, which is to prevent someone from entering the room of Xiwen by mistake.

  Back at Qiong Lan's residence, she found Wan Niang sitting on the first floor, checking accounts while waiting for Xi Wen. She couldn't rest until Xi Wen returned.

  Regretfully, he called out for his mother.

  "....Had a good time?" Yuanni smiled warmly, with a hint of doting motherly love, asking Xiwén.

  "Ah, it was fun." Xiwen sat down beside Yuanniang and told her everything she had seen and heard at the night market.

  She and Wan Niang had a good relationship, the two were inseparable. On nights like this, countless wealthy young masters would bring large sums of silver to see Xi Wen. She could earn a lot of money just by playing a few tunes. But Wan Niang allowed her to indulge in going out to have fun, this kind of pampering, Xi Wen understood.

  Then, Xiwen told Wan Niang about her encounter with Chen Jing.

  Wan Niang had a good impression of Chen Jing, and smiled: "I told him that in the future he can often come to Wan Jun Ge to play. Unexpectedly, he actually went and never came back."

  "His family is quite strict." Xiwen smiled and said, "Didn't Mother say that the Chen family has a strict household, and it's a scholarly family?"

  Wan Niang smiled slightly.

  The mother and daughter exchanged a few words, seeing Wen Ping return safely, Yuanniang also felt at ease, called people to collect her account book and abacus, left the Qionglan residence, and returned to her own courtyard.

  The maids of Qionglou served Xiweng by combing her hair and helping her change clothes.

  After washing her hair, Xiwen sat in front of a copper mirror, letting the maid wipe her black locks.

  The beauty who has just come out of the bathtub, with fair and ruddy skin, looks languid and charming. The window is half open, and the moonlight passes through the pear tree, casting a light shadow on the dressing table, adding a few degrees of coolness to the woman's delicate face.

  Xī wén zhèng zhèng xiǎng zhe shén me.

  Translation:

  Regretful Wen was lost in thought.

  She was in a daze, staring blankly, without her usual quick wit.

  "What about the incense I brought back today?" Xī Wén suddenly turned her head and asked the maid who followed her out.

  "It's been put away." The maid replied.

  "Bring it out and light it up." said Xiwen.

  The maid was slightly surprised.

  Xīwén likes fresh flowers, although the house is often filled with fragrance, it's not from incense. Even when incense is really needed, she just places the incense in her closet.

  She doesn't like the smell of incense and smoke.

  Qiong Lan's residence had incense and an incense burner, but they had never been lit before.

  The maid saw her abnormality and didn't dare ask more questions. She quickly went to find the incense burner and brought the three boxes of incense she had brought back today in front of her.

  Xianwen herself took a wooden incense ball and threw it into the incense burner.

  At first it was a bit pungent, she frowned slightly.

  The maids thought it was okay, the fragrance of Osmanthus fragrans smelled good, elegant and rich, but unfortunately, Wen couldn't afford it.

  She endured it for a while, but still felt stifled and coughed several times.

  "....Miss, why don't you just throw it away?" The maid asked her cautiously.

  "Be careful not to lose it, this incense is very expensive, if you lose it I won't forgive you."

  The maid pouted, thinking to herself: Does he really think I'm inexperienced? This kind of incense can be bought for seven or eight boxes with one or two silver coins, how expensive is that? At the time when Master Chen paid the money, I was right by his side.

  In ordinary times, a silver ingot worth five taels is given away casually, but now that dizzying incense is treasured like a precious thing, who knows what's on their mind!

  After a moment, the room was filled with the fragrance of sandalwood.

  Regret also made an effort with this flavor, and no longer coughed.

  "It smells really good." Wen Xiang smiled sweetly and her eyes curved upwards. When she smiled like this, she was a completely different person from the famous courtesan who played the pipa with elegance.

  When sleeping, Xi Wen also didn't let the maid extinguish the incense burner, she had to keep it lit.

  She had barely slept for a short while when she felt a sharp pain in her stomach and couldn't catch her breath, so she woke up. She sat on the edge of the bed and called out to the maid to bring in the lamp.

  The maid was busy sewing a piece of outerwear, got up and replaced Xiwu's hanging curtains, and moved the candles to the inner room.

  The dim yellow light filled the quiet bedroom.

  "Miss, what's wrong?" The maid saw that her complexion was strange and couldn't see clearly under the lamp, so she had to ask.

  Xīwén's stomach churned with wave after wave of nausea.

  She scrambled up, without even putting on her shoes, and rushed into the bathroom.

  In an instant, the sound of vomiting and a pungent smell wafted from the inner chamber, causing the other maids serving there to hold their breath in unison, not daring to breathe.

  There were four maidservants in the house, all of whom became anxious.

  Someone went and told Wan Niang.

  At this time, Wan Jun Ge's business had not yet ended, and Madame Wan was still awake.

  It was said that Xiwen vomited, and Yuanniang's face changed greatly. Xiwen was the cash cow of Yuankun Pavilion, and Yuanniang was most afraid that she would have an accident.

  When Wen Niang arrived at the Qiong Lan residence, Xi Wen was already sitting downstairs, gasping for breath, clutching his chest, and frowning.

  "Qing'er, where are you uncomfortable?" Yuanniang stepped forward and gently wrapped her arms around Xiwén's shoulders.

  Xianwen had just vomited and was feeling extremely uncomfortable. After a moment, he finally spoke up: "My chest hurts..."

  She pointed to her stomach.

  "What's wrong, why did you throw up?" Nuanniang comforted her by stroking her arm, "I'll send someone to invite the doctor, he'll be here soon, don't worry..."

  Xī wén nodded slightly.

  Wan Niang asked the maid beside her: "Miss, did you eat something bad today or catch a cold?"

  Wen ate a lot of things today.

  "... nothing was spoiled anyway." The maid who followed Xiwen out the door wasn't at Xiwen's table at the time and didn't know that Xiwen had eaten a midnight snack more lavish than what an old man would eat.

  "The young lady brought back several boxes of incense and insisted on lighting them. The smell was not to the young lady's liking, and she even coughed." A maid suddenly thought of this and said it to Yuanniang.

  "What's the fragrance?" asked Wan Niang.

  The maid went to fetch it and brought it back for Madame Wen to see.

  Wan Niang was aware of her daughter's temperament. The family didn't use this kind of incense, but it was Wan Niang's habit, which had gradually been passed down to Xi Wen. Seeing this thing, Wan Niang also got a headache and ordered: "What's the point of lighting this? If you want osmanthus fragrance, go to my place and take some perfume..."

  Then she said to the maid, "Take it out and throw it away!"

  "Stop throwing!"

  Her voice was abrupt, startling both Wan Niang and the maids.

  "Don't throw it away!" Xiwen emphasized again, "From now on, I won't even use it, just leave it to play with."

  Wan Niang thought that those incense were sent by Chen Jing to Xi Wen.

  This way of treasuring things was something that Wan Niang had never seen before.

  Xī Wén had been following Wǎn Niáng since she was a child, and Wǎn Niáng treated her like a daughter. Although she used to be a serving maid, she never got involved in any serious trouble, and was even more refined than the young ladies from wealthy families.

  Making a living in the entertainment industry, money comes quickly, and being frugal is unnecessary.

  Xī wén yě shì cóng xiǎo dà shǒu dà jiǎo.

  Translation: Wenxian was also extravagant since childhood.

  "What's the point of keeping it? It's not like it's something good..." Yuanni's eyes slightly sank.

  Wan Niang's words made Xi Wen unhappy too.

  Xianwen didn't dare to argue with Wanniang, but instead lowered her eyelids and softly said: "I like it, that's a good thing!"

  Wan Niang was stunned and stared at her.

  Regret filled his heart, and he lowered his head in dejection.

  The clean room upstairs was tidy, the smell had dissipated, but Xianyu was supported by Yinger as she went upstairs and lay down. The whole house still had the scent of incense that she had lit, which made her stomach uncomfortable.

  Wan Niang is here, Xi Wen endured and didn't dare complain.

  After lying down, her stomach hurt in waves, making Xiwen almost faint. She weakly asked Yuanniang: "Should we still invite Liu Lingsheng?"

  The last time she was ill, it was Liu Ling who made her condition worse, and Wenwen no longer believes in him.

  "No, it's Mr. Nai," said Wen Niang.

  "Why didn't you invite Mr. Chen?" asked Xiwen.

  Her illness, Chen Jing should be most familiar with, why ask other doctors?

  "Master Chen is not a nominal doctor, and now it's midnight, so it's not good to disturb him casually." Yuen Niang explained to her.

  Chen Jiong's elder brother was a scholar and their family had some social status.

  Making house calls in the middle of the night is also a difficult task for doctors.

  Wan Jun Ge is just a humble abode, it's okay to hang a nominal plaque. As for inviting Chen Jing, it's a bit too much, feeling disrespected and making the other person unhappy.

  Wan Niang doesn't easily offend people.

  "Invite him!" Xi Wen said, "He is a good doctor. Last time I had that minor illness, it was also botched by an incompetent doctor. If it's botched again, wouldn't that be suffering?"

  She only trusted Chen Jing's medical skills.

  Wan Niang hesitated for a moment.

  Xiwén's painful expression moved Yuanniang to pity, and she ordered the maid: "Go ahead and tell them to send someone to invite Officer Chen."

  The maid replied, "Yes."

  Xīwén's stomach has been hurting all along.

  She didn't dare tell Wen Niang about her midnight binge. Wen Niang always reminded her to eat until she was seven-tenths full. If she ate too much, her waist would become thick and stout, and then she wouldn't be able to do business anymore.

  Xiwén was young and sometimes greedy, often secretly asking people to go out and buy things to eat, all hidden from Wǎnniáng.

  I'm feeling so uncomfortable now, I don't know if it's because I ate too much or was affected by that fragrant smoke.

  Qī wān xiàng bàn yè bèi qiāo mén shēng rǎo xǐng.

  Translation:

  Qi Wanxiang was awakened by the knocking on the door in the middle of the night.

  Li Balang woke up first and lit a lantern to open the door.

  The other party is a tall and handsome bodyguard.

  Li Balang inquired about the matter and learned that the other party was from Wanjun Pavilion, asking Chen Jing to see a patient. Li Balang immediately became angry: "This is not a medical clinic! What kind of rules do you have, daring to disturb us at midnight?"

  Qī wān xiàng shì jǔ rén lǎo yé fǔ shàng, páng rén duō shǎo gěi yǐ jǐ fēn jìng zhòng.

  Translation:

  The Qiwan Lane is the residence of the imperial examination candidate, and outsiders give a few points of respect.

  The nurse saw Li Balang scolding him and was also intimidated, explaining: "In the past, our family's young lady's illness was also cured by Mr. Chen. Our mother and young lady only trust Mr. Chen."

  Chen Jiong also got up.

  He put on his clothes and came out, saying to Li Balang: "I'll go take a look."

  "What's going on, it's the middle of the night." Li Balang thought Chen Jing was weak and at someone else's beck and call. He was also a scholar, yet he was being driven out in the middle of the night and still went so readily.

  "When you're ill, every day feels like a year. What's the difference between midnight and dawn? Don't waste any more time, I'll go and come back early." Chen Jing smiled and turned to leave.