“Do you mean…” said Shui Ruolan with a trembling voice.
“What triggered it? Was it the same in the previous years?” asked Qin Wanru, as she caught the implication, and tried to hold back the despair in her heart.
“In the past, the illness was also triggered by unforeseen circumstances, when the weather turned cold in autumn and winter. On one hand, it was because your grandmother’s body was unable to withstand the cold because age is catching up with her. On the other hand, it could be because of the hayfever which was caused by the pollen of flowers that blooms during autumn. This could be one of the most important triggers to your grandmother’s illness.”
The reverend of Jingxin Monastery explained. She did not want to mention these two factors because she thought that Shui Ruolan was after all Old Grandma’s niece who did not really have control over anything, and Qin Wanru was still a young girl. She thought it was not appropriate for her to explain to them Old Grandma’s conditions.
However, she finally told them the truth when she saw how sincerely concerned they were about Old Madam Qin.
“What flower was it that produce the pollen?” asked Shui Ruolan earnestly, as she suppressed the sadness in her heart.
“It was a plant called Qingqu Grass. It only blooms during autumn time. I had mentioned this General Qin and his misses and even made a sketch of the flower. Later on, Mrs. Qin said that there wasn’t any Qingqu Grass in the mansion, so I concluded that coughing was the result of her growing old. However, looking at Old Grandma’s condition, I’m certain that her cough was triggered by the pollen from Qingqu Grass. In addition, she must have been exposed to a considerable amount of the pollen. Otherwise, the cough wouldn’t come so aggressively and seriously.
The reverend of Jingxin Monastery revealed the entire truth about Old Grandma’s condition and moaned.
“Which is to say that someone must have been carrying something made of the Qingqu Grass?” Shui Ruolan contemplated as the expression on her face changed drastically.
“I suppose so,” said the reverend, nodding. “In the previous years when Old Grandma’s cough came on, it was not so sudden and aggressive. Since the two of you had accompanied the Old Madam here, we have to take even more take when conditioning her illness. While there isn’t any Qingqu Grass in Jingxin Monastery, we can’t be sure if there’s anyone who would bring it in.”
“Does Qingqu Grass produce any smell?” asked Qin Wanru as something flashed across her mind.
“To the insensitive nose, it would seem that Qingqu Grass is odorless. However to patients like your grandmother, her body would instinctively detect the smell quickly trigger her illness would be triggered, although she herself would not know it in her conscious mind. The Qingqu Grass tastes a little bitter though,” said the reverend of Jingxin Monastery.
Qin Wanru’s hand trembled as if something came to her mind abruptly. It was the fragrant sachet which she saw every year. She did not take special notice because it was something so familiar to her and it did not really smell of anything. She knew that Mrs. Qin was never stingy about this.
She was the daughter of Duke Yong, so she took great care in what she wore and ate. Even in Jiangzhou, where it was far from the capital city, she made sure whatever she used was high class. She never wore anything old and worn and she would replace all accessories with custom-made, fashionable ones. This was to upkeep her status as the daughter of a respected, wealthy family.
Whatever she possessed was unique in Jiangzhou.
Would she be carrying an old fragrant sachet with all the time? In retrospect, she realized that Mrs. Qin would be carrying this same fragrant sachet around autumn time every year.
“What would happen to Old Grandma’s body if she were to smell this Qingqu Grass now?” asked Qin Wanru as she felt she was going crazy with worry.
“If this grass were to be brought before Old Grandma again, I’m afraid her body wouldn’t be able to take it…” said the reverend with a fallen face.
Qin Wanru’s hand jerked as she suddenly called to mind another incident. In her previous life, Mrs. Qin was carrying the fragrant sachet on her waist when Grandmother passed away. Not only did she carry it with her in Jiangzhou but also in the capital city, which was really not her usual practice. This indicated that something was amiss.
A chill went up her spine and spread to her limbs. Qin Wanru felt as if she was being submerged in icy water.
Now she realized that Grandma did not die just because of her but also because Mrs. Qin had a hand in it. She had missed such an important piece of information in her previous life! Her hands which were inside her sleeves were trembling so hard that she had to hold them together tightly to stop the shaking. Mrs. Qin was absolutely evil.
She would definitely not let her off in this life!
“Would the smell go onto clothes or accessories?” said Qin Wanru after she finally found her voice. She batted her lashes as she tried hard to keep the grief in her eyes from showing.
In her previous life, Grandma had left her since she was young, and this was all part of Mrs. Qin’s evil plan. At that time, Father had led the army to the border where there were some conflicts between. When Grandma passed away, as the army general, he could not come home for her funeral lest he lost his office. For this reason, Grandma’s death and the funeral were kept low-keyed and Mrs. Qin was the sole overseer of all the funeral arrangement.
Things happened in this way all because of that evil Mrs. Qin.
She had deceived everyone to believe that she was a virtuous, gentle, prim and proper wife.
With her sensitivity, Qin Wanru managed to figure out an important point. Mrs. Qin’s evil plan which out of the blue was the reason why Grandma had tried to protect her.
However, because of all the rush to carry out her plan, the flaws in Mrs. Qin’s plan was picked up by Qin Wanru. If Mrs. Qin had just gone with the flow as in the previous years and allow Grandma’s illness to set in gradually, no one would trace the source of trigger all the way to her.
“The smell is easily diffused into the wind. If one was wearing clothes or accessories which had been smoked, basically the smell of Qingqu Grass would have no effect and would not trigger the onset of coughing. The smell had to be highly concentrated to be effective. However, it could still affect those patients who have low immunity by nature. In such cases, the patients won’t be able to withstand it even if there is just a little effect.”
Therefore the fragrant sachet must be the culprit! This was the critical moment to be watchful, she was not going to let Mrs. Qin cause further harm to Grandma.
“What shall we do now, reverend?” Qin Wanru asked after she calmed herself down.
“We could only try to condition her illness. She must not be exposed to the smell of Qingqu Grass ever. At least we do not have Qingqu Grass within the grounds of Jingxin Monastery, but…” the reverend stopped mid-sentence. It was obvious that she was trying to tell them that she had a close relationship with Old Grandma, so they should feel comfortable letting her know some of the more private family matters.
“Rest assured, reverend. I will watch over my aunt and carefully check through all the things she uses to make sure that she would not smell the Qingqu Grass anywhere close to her,” said Shui Ruolan in a serious tone. She seemed to have calmed down a little after the shock.
“Not only the things that Old Grandma uses or ingests, but also that of those people around her,” the reverend reminded Shui Ruolan with a look.
“I know, thank you, reverend,” said Shui Ruolan, as she bowed respectfully to the reverend. When she looked up again, she looked heavy-hearted.
Although she did not know the entire situation, through the conversation between the reverend and Qin Wanru, she managed to gather some necessary information. She took in a deep breath and made a resolution in her heart.
There was no way she was going to stay in the family temple for the rest of her life. She still had her aging aunt and the young Wanru to protect from danger. To her, Mrs. Qin owes her a standing in the household. She was going to ask for her rightful place in the household even if Mrs. Qin was unwilling now.
The ladies from the General’s Mansion finally settled down in Jingxin Monastery for now.
Old Grandma’s condition required her to be conditioned in a quiet place, so she was given the quietest guestroom which was further away from the Qin Sisters’ rooms. It was also Old Grandma’s wish for the two sisters to nurse their wounds in quiet. However, Shui Ruolan would be sharing Old Grandma’s room with her, together with Nanny Duan and Qu Xiang, who served Old Grandma.
Everyone who had a chance to come close to Old Grandma would have to go through Shui Ruolan first.
Every time Qin Yuru came over, she stayed outside the door and conversed with Old Grandma through the gap of the door because Old Grandma would not let her into her room. She only allowed Qin Wanru to enter and they usually had a good chat after that. They had only been to Jingxin Monastery for a few days and already Old Grandma was looking much better than when she was back in the General’s Mansion.
When Old Grandma felt that she had recovered a great deal, she did not wish that Qin Wanru and Shui Ruolan be tied down by her, so she had the reverend prepare Shui Ruolan another guestroom close to Qin Wanru’s room so that she did not need to watch over her every night. She could go around Jingxin Monastery during the day.
Old Grandma was nursed back to health, so Shui Ruolan and Qin Wanru felt much more assured and they took turns to keep Old Grandma company in the morning and afternoon respectively.
This day, Qin Wanru had just returned to her room from Old Grandma’s room when she was invited to go to the reverend’s room.
“Second Miss Qin, how is going for that matter which I asked you to find out for me?” asked the reverend.
“Did you mean that medicine?” asked Qin Wanru as she lifted her injured arm. A period of time had passed and the wound on her arm had more or less fully recovered and lifting it did not cause her any more pain.
“Alright,” said the reverend, whose eyes looked to be staring at something afar.
“My grandmother was not the one who applied the ointment on me, it’s…” hesitated Qin Wanru as she knew she was not supposed to reveal anything about Chu Liuchen to anyone.
“It was actually another person who had applied the ointment on me, but he didn’t anyone to know about him,” Qin Wanru gave a vague answer after pausing to ponder about it.
On one hand, she could not reveal the details, yet she did not want to lie to the reverend of Jingxin Monastery.
“He… he’s still like that,” said the reverend under her breath, and chuckled.
“Reverend, do you know him?” asked Qin Wanru, stunned, as a surprised look flashed across her eyes. Never would she expect the reverend of Jingxin Monastery to know Chu Liuchen.
“So what if I know him?” the reverend sounded bitter, then continued, “It’s been so many years! I don’t know how he is now. I suppose this ointment he applied on your wound had worked well! I’m surpised he would ever lift a finger to help others!”
All of a sudden Qin Wanru thought that the reverend must have misunderstood.
So many years? It did not sound like she was referring to Chu Liuchen, who was only around fourteen to fifteen years old this year.
“Who is this the reverend is talking about?” asked Qin Wanru blinking her eyes in puzzlement.
“Forget it, let’s not talk about him. It doesn’t really matter if we talk about him or not!” sighed the reverend. She lifted her face to reveal a calmly smile, an indication that she was no longer troubled over this matter.
“Is the person you talking about a young man in his teens, reverend?” asked Qin Wanru, unable to suppress her curiosity which had been aroused.
“How could he be a young man in his teens?!” cried the reverend in surprise.
“But this person whom I met is just a young man in his teens!” said Qin Wanru, who immediately knew they were not talking about the same person.
“Could the young man be his disciple?” asked the reverend, who broke into a surprise smile and she continued, “Can you ask him to come and see me?”
“This… this would be difficult!” said Qin Wanru, looking to be in a dilemma. She did not dare to make a decision with regards to Chu Liuchen. She was also not sure if the Prince had left her house, but she supposed he could not just keep on staying in her house.
“Then… forget it!” sighed the reverend as she continued, “Let fate decide if we meet!”
Qin Wanru could see that the reverend did not want to continue talking about this, she changed the topic of conversation and said, “Reverend, where had Mingqiu Nun gone? I haven’t seen her?”
Qin Wanru had been looking for Mingqiu Nun for the past few days but without any luck.
“She had gone on a tour and had not returned. I have no idea where she went!” said the reverend helplessly, rubbing the place between her eyes. This junior sister apprentice was only staying in Jingxin Monastery by name. In reality, she did not spend much time in there.
“Do you know when she will be back?” asked Qin Wanru.
“I can’t say when. It could be today, or tomorrow, or even next spring!” replied the reverend.
“Is there a way to ask her to come back earlier?” asked Qin Wanru earnestly.
“Why are you looking for my junior sister apprentice, Second Miss Qin?” asked the reverend curiously.
“I want to study medicine from Mingqiu Nun!” said Qin Wanru truthfully. Her let the opportunity slip in her previous life, and she was not going to miss this chance again in this life.
She wanted to study medicine with Mingqiu Nun…
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