Chapter 307 - 305: Covert Confrontation

Chapter 307: Chapter 305: Covert Confrontation

Doctor Wang recited a long list of precautions to Sister Fang before slinging his medical kit over his shoulder and leaving. As she watched his retreating figure, Zhou Lian let out a soft sigh. She was genuinely a little intimidated by Doctor Wang. After she had given birth to Yanyan, Li Xiu had spent more than half a month consulting with the doctor to nurse her back to health. All those medicinal soups and tonics were things Li Xiu had concocted with him. Just thinking about the taste made her shudder in hindsight.

Sister Fang returned from seeing Doctor Wang out, and seeing Zhou Lian’s expression, she laughed unsympathetically. She even jabbed, "Scared now, are we? Should’ve thought of that earlier! We’ll see if you dare to abuse your body like this again. Now, don’t think about anything else. Just focus on resting and getting well."

"Alright. Thank you for everything, Sister Fang." Zhou Lian understood what she meant and didn’t argue. Sister Fang was right. ’Harming only myself is the most foolish thing to do.’ She was well aware of how much Li Xiu prized her health. ’How could I possibly put myself through this again and make him worry and his heart ache for me?’

Seeing the worried, pained expressions on Professor Xiao’s and Professor Fan’s faces, Zhou Lian said in a placating tone, "I’m fine now. Professor, Professor Fan, please don’t worry, alright? Look, my fever has already broken. I’ll be better in no time!"

Seeing her normally healthy and cheerful student lying so weakly in bed, Professor Xiao’s typically stern expression softened a great deal. She said gently, "Alright, Professor Fan and I won’t worry. You just focus on resting and getting well. We’re going to go make you something nice to eat."

"Okay, thank you, Professor, Professor Fan!" Zhou Lian knew they would worry, so she didn’t stand on ceremony. ’It’s better to let the two of them stay busy, otherwise they’ll just fret over me.’

Watching Professor Xiao and Professor Fan leave, Zhou Lian fought through the aches in her body and sat up. She asked quietly, "Sister Fang, did you send a message over to the compound?"

"I did," Sister Fang said softly, draping a jacket over Zhou Lian’s shoulders. "I told them you caught a chill and developed a fever, and that anything important would have to wait a few days. Don’t worry, it was just a brief message. By the way, should I have Li Xiu come back?"

Shaking her head, Zhou Lian said in a raspy voice, "We can’t have him return to the Capital City. If he comes back now, all his work will have been for nothing. I’m fine, it’s just a little cold. Even if you told him, I’d be over it by the time he returned."

"Alright, I won’t tell him. But you have to take good care of yourself and get well. Otherwise, he’ll be heartbroken with worry when he gets back!" Sister Fang sighed softly. ’I knew she’d say that.’

Zhou Lian just smiled and said no more. Her fever had just broken, leaving her body sore and weak, and her throat was excruciatingly painful. When a cup was offered to her, she looked up at Sister Fang’s pained expression, took the cup with a smile, and drank the water. A warmth spread through her chest. She couldn’t deny it—waking up to find Sister Fang, her professor, and Professor Fan all gathered around her, their faces etched with concern, made her feel much better. ’See? Sincerity can be returned in kind.’

The days trickled by as Zhou Lian recuperated. Finally, one day, she managed to persuade her professor and Sister Fang to let her get some fresh air on the covered veranda. But when she saw how Sister Fang had bundled her up in layer after layer, she had a fleeting impulse not to go out at all. Still, being cooped up in her room for the past few days had been terribly dull, so she allowed Sister Fang to help her outside, wrapped up like a little bear.

Breathing in the cool, crisp air, Zhou Lian felt her body relax. She leaned against the railing and looked up at the deep blue sky, feeling the stuffy frustration of the past few days melt away. ’You really shouldn’t be so hard on yourself,’ she thought. ’Harming only myself... I must never do something so foolish again!’

Just as Ping Jing and the Eldest Young Madam stepped through the ornamental gate, they saw Zhou Lian standing there in a long, white, embroidered cloak. Sunlight filtered through the tree branches, dappling her upturned face and making her already lovely features seem ethereally beautiful.

"Xiao Lian, the Eldest Young Master and the Eldest Young Madam are here," Sister Fang, who was by Zhou Lian’s side, whispered as she saw the two newcomers.

Giving her head a slight shake, Zhou Lian turned toward the Eldest Young Master and the Eldest Young Madam at the ornamental gate, a gentle smile on her face. Her voice was thick and nasal from her lingering cold. "What brings you here? I haven’t recovered from my cold yet; I wouldn’t want to pass it on to you. You especially have to be careful with Shengnan!"

"Don’t worry about it," the Eldest Young Madam said softly. "We heard you were sick and just wanted to come see if you were feeling any better."

Turning her head to Sister Fang, Zhou Lian said in a low voice, "Could you bring two chairs for the Eldest Young Madam and the Eldest Young Master? My cold hasn’t cleared up, so we shouldn’t go inside."

"Alright." Sister Fang hesitated for a moment before agreeing. ’Her cold hasn’t even gone away yet,’ she thought. ’If she stays out here too long, she might catch another chill...’ But when she saw Zhou Lian give her a slight shake of the head, Sister Fang swallowed the words of caution on the tip of her tongue and hurried into the living room to grab the chairs.

"I’m doing much better, I’m sorry to have worried you," Zhou Lian said gently, smiling at the Eldest Young Madam. "Let’s not sit inside. I haven’t fully recovered from this cold, and I’d hate to infect you by having us stay in the same room."

"We’re not that delicate!" the Eldest Young Madam protested with a smile. "You’re the one who isn’t well yet. You shouldn’t stay out here where you might get chilled again."

Shaking her head, Zhou Lian smiled at them. "It’s alright, I’m not that fragile. Besides, you two have Shengnan to look after. We can’t risk even the slightest thing going wrong with her right now!"

Zhou Lian smiled as she watched Ping Jing and the Eldest Young Madam sit on the chairs Sister Fang placed under the pomegranate tree in the courtyard. Then she saw Sister Fang emerge from the living room with a chair and a cup for her. ’Sister Fang truly is devoted to me,’ she thought with a smile.

Sister Fang had Zhou Lian sit down, tucked a hot water bottle into her arms, and handed her a freshly brewed tea of red dates, longan, and goji berries. She then served tea to the Eldest Young Madam and Ping Jing before turning to Zhou Lian and saying softly, "I’m going to go check on the kitchen. Call me if you need anything. You can chat for a bit, but don’t stay out too long, you hear? You’re still sick!"

As she spoke, she straightened Zhou Lian’s cloak and hat, then smiled and nodded at Ping Jing and the Eldest Young Madam before heading off.

Watching Sister Fang’s fluid, practiced movements, the Eldest Young Madam remarked with a hint of admiration, "Sister-in-law, your nanny treats you so well. She really knows her place, too. She’s quite a find."

Gently blowing on the tea in her cup, Zhou Lian lowered her gaze and said earnestly, "Sister Fang isn’t our nanny. She’s mine and Jin Chen’s older sister. She’s family."

’Nanny,’ she scoffed internally. ’What kind of nanny is like Sister Fang? Forget about how she treats Li Xiu and me—she’s even more fiercely protective of our two children than I am!’

Stung by Zhou Lian’s words, the Eldest Young Madam grew awkward. She opened her mouth, but couldn’t find anything to say. Ping Jing glanced at his wife before smoothly changing the subject to rescue her. "Sister-in-law, I wanted to discuss something with you. What should our next move be regarding the Sun Family?"

"That’s for you to decide," Zhou Lian said, looking up at the pair with a smile. "Putting aside the fact that I’m currently ill, this isn’t something you should be consulting me about, Big Brother. I trust that the Eldest Young Master of the Ping Family, once the talk of the Capital City, hasn’t lost his touch. A small matter like this should be well within your abilities."

’The human heart is a difficult thing to read,’ she thought, smiling self-deprecatingly to herself. ’Aren’t these repeated attempts to test me getting to be a bit much? How can a person’s heart change so quickly?’

Facing Zhou Lian’s smile, Ping Jing looked a bit sheepish. "It’s just... I’ve only just taken over these matters. Besides, I’ve been lying low for more than a decade. I’m a little out of touch with how things are now."