Chapter 42: Go On, Quickly

“Eldest Young Miss… Eldest Young Miss, what’s wrong?”

Chu Mingxi returned to her senses and saw Qingdai sitting beside her, looking at her with concern.

She shook her head. Before she could say anything, the coachman outside said alertly, “Boss, that squad of riders is coming back.” Chu Mingxi’s heart leaped. She heard the coachman continue, “Seems like they’re heading straight for us…”

Qingdai’s eyes widened in alarm. Worried about what might happen, she simultaneously reached out to shield her young lady, but found that her Eldest Young Miss had already acted a step faster, without any hesitation, pushing the carriage door open once more.

Qingdai’s eyes grew even wider!

Outside the carriage, a squad of riders was indeed galloping towards them. The one at the head was a handsome youth, a jade-like young gentleman, riding with one hand and raising a whip with the other. The hoofbeats came one after another, each beat exactly like that person, stepping step by step into Chu Mingxi’s heart.

Wei Qingchen soon reached the carriage side, reined in her horse, and dismounted cleanly and neatly. She walked in a few strides to the carriage shaft, looked up at her wife, her face full of smiles.

“I thought it looked like our family’s carriage. Sure enough.” The undisguised delight in her voice made Chu Mingxi’s eyes curve along with it.

Traveling away from home, she wore an outer robe of lotus-root pink brocade, with tight sleeves and short boots, a jade belt cinching her waist. It made her shoulders seem straighter and her back more upright.

Chu Mingxi blinked, pretending she hadn’t been sizing her up just now.

The carriage shaft was high. The maid hadn’t come down yet, and the coachman had also retreated to the side with his hands down. Chu Mingxi signaled Wei Qingchen to move aside first. Wei Qingchen smiled and spread her arms, looking as if she was going to carry her down.

Chu Mingxi quickly pressed down on her arm, giving her an embarrassed and annoyed glare. Not to mention their own coachman and maids, there were all those people standing several dozen paces away. Did she really think they were all blind?!

Wei Qingchen was still smiling, her whole heart full of delight. “What are you doing here?!”

“In the county up ahead, someone requested medical attention. It wasn’t convenient for the seated physician, so I came to take a look.” Chu Mingxi said, taking the portable stepping stool Qingdai handed over and preparing to set it outside the carriage. Wei Qingchen naturally took it from her, placed it in position, and still extended both hands, half-supporting and half-carrying her as she came down.

“Is it Li County?” Wei Qingchen gazed towards the road ahead and smiled knowingly.

“Yes.” Chu Mingxi held onto her shoulder to steady herself and looked up at her. “What is the Heir Apparent doing here?”

Chu Mingxi’s gaze moved up from Wei Qingchen’s sharply defined jawline. Hmm… somehow she felt…

“Some things came from above, ordering me and Old Five to handle them.” Wei Qingchen said, lifting her chin toward the squad not far away.

Chu Mingxi followed her gaze. A party of about ten people were all about fifty paces away, seemingly scattered casually but actually forming a circular protective formation around a spirited young man — it was unmistakably Mu Qishao, the Fifth Prince, who had also come to offer congratulations on their wedding day.

Mu Qishao hadn’t dismounted. Seeing her gaze from afar, he merely nodded slightly from horseback, a simple greeting. Chu Mingxi gave a small curtsy in return.

“Since you’re going to see a patient, why didn’t you bring any guards?” Wei Qingchen held her hand, unwilling to let go.

But her wife was thin-skinned. Chu Mingxi slightly turned, using the motion to naturally pull her hand free, though she was smiling. “Li County is not very far. I thought to return to the city tonight. Just going to see a patient, what use for bringing guards?”

Wei Qingchen was unhappy now, though it was unclear whether she was unhappy about her hand being pulled away, or that her wife didn’t care about her own safety.

Someone in the horse squad ahead reined in their mount, making a sound to halt the horse. The horses, impatient from waiting so long, snorted and huffed.

Chu Mingxi glanced half a circle down the road and said, “Go on now, quickly. They’re all waiting for you.”

She didn’t ask where she was going. Matters from “above” likely meant the current Emperor. Regarding Imperial movements, it was better not to know.

Wei Qingchen also knew the importance and urgency of the matter. But this unexpected meeting in a foreign place was truly rare and precious. She couldn’t bear to part just like this. Thus, she still reached out, gently holding the hand half-hidden under the sleeve. Chu Mingxi still struggled slightly; with people watching from inside and out, it was quite embarrassing. But unable to break free, she let her be.

Wei Qingchen then beamed, casting her eyes down to look at her. Full of words she wanted to say, reaching her lips, only one sentence remained: “Take good care of yourself. Wait for me to come find you, and we’ll return to the capital together.”

Chu Mingxi softly agreed. She was about to urge her again when Wei Qingchen seemed to suddenly remember something. She lowered her head, leaning close to her ear, and said seriously, “Something has happened in the Eastern Palace. If you hear any rumors, pay no heed to any of them.”

“Alright.” Just that one response, with no further questions. The warmth of the breath brushed her cheek. Chu Mingxi’s brow arched slightly, her reply dignified and demure.

This was originally a most serious matter, but Wei Qingchen still saw her fair earlobe quietly flush red. Perhaps it was because she was too close to her. That spot of red seemed to carry a heatwave, igniting in Wei Qingchen’s eyes.

She really wanted to kiss it.

This thought came without warning. Even with Wei Qingchen’s mischievous and unrestrained nature, she couldn’t help but blush with shyness.

“Mm?” Chu Mingxi didn’t hear her speak, but saw her face blushing vividly, as clearly as a steamed crab.

“Hot… It’s the heat!” Wei Qingchen knew what she was looking at and hurriedly preempted the question before it was asked.

Chu Mingxi’s thoughts turned, and for no reason, her own face turned a bashful red.

What on earth is this fellow thinking!

“Mingxi…”

Wei Qingchen was utterly captivated, pulling the hand she held gently towards herself. Chu Mingxi had already regained her composure, bracing her hand against hers. “Go on, quickly.”

Ah. How was one supposed to bear leaving?

Chu Mingxi saw the reluctance and longing in her eyes, and a sweetness rose in her heart, like the malt candy her grandmother used to place in her mouth when she was little — a sticky, sweet delight.

She pulled her hand from her palm, smiled faintly, and gently smoothed along her arm.

“Be good.”

Wei Qingchen felt soothed. She didn’t tarry further, nimbly mounting her horse. On horseback, she nodded once at her, lightly squeezed the horse’s belly with her legs, and without looking back, headed back into the formation.

Unwilling to show too much in front of outsiders, Chu Mingxi waited only a moment before letting Qingdai help her back into the carriage.

The woman in the plain blue cart behind them had long been stupefied, her mouth agape, her head full of questions. Who were these people? What was she doing? What were they doing?

It wasn’t until the carriage wheels began to roll forward that she remembered to close her mouth. Her mind was buzzing and numb. Should she tell the Master and Madam about this when she got back? These people were clearly either rich or noble — no, no, no, noble upon noble. She had followed the Master and Madam for many years; she still had that much discernment.

The two carriages hadn’t traveled even a bowshot’s distance when the sound of galloping horses came from behind again. The sound drew closer and closer. Before the coachman could inform his Boss, the person had already arrived before them.

“Young Mistress,” Kang Ze said loudly through the carriage window, “The Young Master ordered me to follow you. Once you return to the Chen Prefecture branch, I will then rush to rendezvous with them.”

Chu Mingxi understood this was Wei Qingchen’s thoughtfulness for her safety and consented from inside the carriage. The party set off once more.

This time, nothing else happened. They traveled smoothly all the way into Li County.

The county was not large. The Deputy County Magistrate’s home was in the northeast corner, a small two-courtyard residence. The carriage stopped right outside the main gate, with little ceremony.

Master Deng, whose specific name was not given, was over forty, with only one young daughter in his old age, whom he cherished like a precious jewel. Now at the age of sixteen, just at the marriageable age, she had suddenly contracted some unmentionable symptoms. Wanting to seek medical help but not daring to make a big fuss, the husband and wife were truly frantic with worry.

With great difficulty, they had finally invited a female physician. Master Deng personally received her in the main hall and offered tea. Seeing that the visitor was beautiful in appearance and extraordinary in bearing, her every move carrying the ease of a superior, Master Deng was both surprised and shocked inside. By the time Madam Deng came out to escort the guest to the back courtyard, he hurriedly summoned the woman who had gone to the Peaceful Ease Prefecture to fetch the physician. The woman, having held back a stomach full of words all this time, now that the Master asked, poured it all out.

Having heard this, Master Deng’s heart slowly settled back down.

A young man traveling with his retinue, meeting his own kin, daring to hold hands and talk right on the main road — they probably weren’t from some lofty, unapproachable great family. Moreover, hearing titles like “Young Master” and “Young Mistress,” they were likely a wealthy family in the city who had happened to learn medical skills and were enshrined at the Imperial Medicine Hall’s apothecary.

Chu Mingxi followed Madam Deng into the back courtyard. Miss Deng’s boudoir was built on the second floor. Qingdai, carrying the medical kit, followed the Eldest Young Miss up. Kang Ze stayed alone in the courtyard, and no one dared to neglect him.

The residence of an eighth-rank deputy county magistrate, even for the only young miss, the boudoir wasn’t very large. A small flower hall about ten paces square was partitioned by a screen; further in was the living and sleeping quarters.

A zither was set up in the flower hall. She didn’t know what incense was burning — it was sweet and cloying, drilling straight into one’s nose and mouth.

Miss Deng was naturally inside her chamber, separated by a bed curtain, talking with her cousin who sat outside. There was also a young maid attending to tea. Hearing that the physician had finally been invited from the Peaceful Ease Prefecture, the young man hurriedly came out from the room, greeted Madam Deng with utmost respect, and had the maid serve tea and water, bustling about as if it were his own home. Madam Deng, however, said nothing about it, instead explaining to Chu Mingxi that this was her nephew from her family home, raised in their mansion since childhood, just like a brother to her own daughter.

Chu Mingxi didn’t even glance at the person, but instead signaled the maid to lift the bed curtain. “Before it gets dark, let’s first look at Miss Deng’s symptoms.”

Everyone then reacted and hurried to clear a space. The young man walked to the window and pushed it open, making the room a bit brighter.

When the bed curtain was lifted, revealing Miss Deng’s face, even though she kept her head down, Qingdai was still shocked. This young lady was so young, with fair skin, but her face was covered in many red rashes, some large, some small, from her forehead to her chin, even extending down to her neck.

No wonder the Deng family didn’t dare easily invite a local doctor to examine her. This… this was a terrible disease!

The serving maids and matrons in the room quietly retreated a step or two, none daring to move forward. Only Madam Deng, looking at her daughter’s increasingly severe condition, had tears welling up in her eyes.

A young maid brought over an embroidered stool and stood obediently to the side. Qingdai took out the pulse pillow from the medical kit and placed it on the couch. When Miss Deng placed her wrist on the pillow, Qingdai immediately covered it with a thin silk handkerchief.

Chu Mingxi raised an eyebrow, giving her a sidelong glance. Customarily, when a female physician examined a female patient, there was no reason for using a handkerchief as a barrier.

Qingdai didn’t dare utter a sound, but she was unwilling to remove the handkerchief either. She looked at her Eldest Young Miss pitifully, her eyes conveying desperation.

This disease truly looked terrifying. Eldest Young Miss, please forgive me for acting on my own accord.

Chu Mingxi was amused inside, but her face showed no emotion. Her jade-like fingers lightly lifted and pressed down on the pulse, felt through the layer of the silk handkerchief.