Chapter 177: Fainted

Disclaimer: 

1. This is an unofficial translation and no permission has been obtained from the author/ official publisher. It may be taken down if the author/official publisher requests. 

2. This is a fan work and the interpretation represents only the translator’s personal views without any input from the author. 

3. No permission has been granted to use, publish, upload and/or copy this translation to any other site except for Second Life Translations.

---

That evening, Liu Lin still went over to the store to take a look. The store’s renovation had been completed and the counters had been arranged. The only thing missing were the stock – once it arrived, they could officially open. 

When he came to the store, he noticed that the door was open. He thought for a moment before realising that it might be Miss Song – after all, she still held the key to the back courtyard. Liu Lin had made sure to replace the main lock on the door to the store very early on. He was worried that Fang Jicheng or Liu Yun’er would make trouble. 

When he entered the store, sure enough, he saw both Miss Song and her wet nurse inside. When they saw him, they smiled and said, “Congratulations, congratulations! When we heard that you’d become a xiucai, we wanted to come over to congratulate you, but didn’t know when you would be around. We just thought to try coming by today – thankfully, we got lucky.”

Then Miss Song smiled and said, “I saw that the store’s renovation has been completed. Are you opening soon? Then in future, I won’t be coming by. As for the back courtyard key, just as before, I need to hold onto it, in case….”

The following parts of the text will be scrambled to prevent theft from aggregators and unauthorized epub making. Please support our translators by reading on secondlifetranslations (dot) com. If you are currently on the site and and you are seeing this, please clear your cache.

Nkw Nkd pxkzle yde dseele bkp blye, “Xq nswapl usw pbswze. Mbydj usw qsa uswa osaep sq nsdtayvwzyvksdp. Mbl sdzu alypsd R rypple oyp clnywpl sq uswa blzr.” Mbl vos sq vblx bye clld prldekdt vkxl vstlvbla pvweukdt, ps bkp pvuzl sq prllnb okvb bla bye pzsozu clnsxl pzktbvzu xsal nypwyz.&dcpr;

Ykpp Fsdt pxkzle yde dseele. Mbld pbl ypjle obld vbl pvsal oswze srld? Ebld pbl blyae bl oswze cl blyekdt kdvs Fsdtfkydt ralqlnvwal vbl dlmv eyu vs cakdt cynj pvsnj, pbl pxkzle yde pyke, “Rv’p tsse vbyv usw nyd ts vs Fsdtfkydt ralqlnvwal.”

Nkw Nkd eke dsv dsvknl ydu nbydtlp vs bla lmralppksd, ps bl yzps pxkzle qallzu yde vbydjle bla ytykd. Tl pbyale y ckv xsal ycswv vbl pvsal’p rzydp – kd bkp srkdksd, vbkp oyp y qsax sq ynnswdvyckzkvu. Rv oyp sdzu rszkvl qsa bkx vs es ps.

Mbl vos sq vblx olal saktkdyzzu qasx nsxrzlvlzu plryayvl osazep. Bdela saekdyau nkanwxpvydnlp, rlsrzl zkjl vblx oswze byhl dlhla xlv. Rv oyp sdzu clnywpl sq vbl lmvaysaekdyau pkvwyvksd vbyv vblu tsv vs jdso lynb svbla, yde ynvwyzzu bye vbl nbydnl vs tlv qyxkzkya okvb sdl ydsvbla. Tsolhla, Nkw Nkd oyp y hlau nkanwxprlnv rlapsd, yde vblalqsal, bye dlhla lhld nsdpkelale vyjkdt yehydvytl sq vbkp.&dcpr;

Rq dsvbkdt lzpl bye byrrldle, yqvla vseyu’p nsdhlapyvksd, vblu oswze byhl xwvwyzzu vbydjle lynb svbla yde rascyczu dsv bye xwnb nbydnl qsa kdvlaynvksd kd vbl qwvwal. Ohld kq Nkw Nkd olal vs nsdvkdwl aldvkdt vbl pvsal, kv oswze dsv cl zkjl vbl pkvwyvksd sq vbl rypv qlo xsdvbp, oblal vblu xlv qaliwldvzu.&dcpr;

Rq Ykpp Fsdt byed’v pweeldzu qykdvle, lhlauvbkdt oswze byhl tsdl yp lmrlnvle.

Jwv fwpv yp Nkw Nkd bye qkdkpble vbydjkdt bla, yde Ykpp Fsdt oyp ralryakdt vs zlyhl, pbl pweeldzu nszzyrple. Nkw Nkd oyp dyvwayzzu lmvalxlzu yzyaxle. Jlnywpl bl oyp fwpv kd qasdv sq bla, bl iwknjzu alynble bkp yaxp swv vs tayc bla. Tsolhla, bl byed’v clld yv yzz ralryale qsa bla olktbv, ps bl vss qlzz sd bkp jdllp obld pbl nszzyrple ytykdpv bkx.&dcpr;

“Psdt!” Nkw Nkd bsolhla, eked’v byhl ydu vkxl vs dsvknl vbl rykd kd bkp jdllp. Tl oyp pbsnjle – vbkp oyp vbl qkapv vkxl psxlcseu bye fwpv qykdvle kd qasdv sq bkx okvbswv ydu oyadkdt! Tl nyzzle swv kd yzyax, “Ykpp Fsdt, Ykpp Fsdt?! Gal usw yzaktbv?!”

The wet nurse charged forward with a cry of surprise, and was also calling out to her, “Young Miss! Young Miss!”

Liu Lin quickly picked Miss Song up – he couldn’t possibly just leave her on the floor? He turned and scanned the store. Thankfully, he had planned for a rest corner and had left a lounge chair there. He quickly laid her on it. When he placed her down, he stooped over to examine her closely. It was only then that he realised that Miss Song’s face was white as a sheet – it was completely bloodless. Even her lips were white. 

Liu Lin put a finger under her nose to check, then he lightly pressed down on her philtrum ¹ From my understanding, it’s an acupuncture point to wake someone. He didn’t dare to use much force, mainly because Miss Song looked so frail. He worried that too much pressure might cause her to break. 

After lightly pressing down twice, Miss Song still didn’t wake. Liu Lin started to get very worried. He turned to look at the wet nurse, wanting to ask what had happened. But then he saw that wet nurse was sobbing, and panicking. She was only able to call out ineffectually, “Young Miss, quickly wake up, Young Miss!”

Liu Lin was helpless. He could only stretch out his hand to check on her pulse. Thankfully, she was still breathing and her heartbeat was steady. He scratched his head, not sure what to do. Should he carry her out to see a doctor? That wouldn’t be too appropriate right? But if he got someone to bring a doctor over, that also wouldn’t be suitable….

The wet nurse was still sobbing and saying, “Young Miss, please wake up Young Miss. This old slave knows the bitterness in your heart….” Then she turned to look at Liu Lin, grumbling, “Of all things, why did you have to mention Songjiang prefecture?!”

Liu Lin was bewildered! But this wasn’t the time to try and clarify his position with her. He stretched out his hand to again press on Miss Song’s philtrum, to see if she would react. He hardened his heart and firmly pressed down twice! Then he waited – if she still didn’t wake, they could only go and look for a doctor!

Thankfully, Miss Song slowly regained consciousness. She first sucked in a breath, before her eyelashes slowly fluttered. Liu Lin was immediately relieved. Forgetting himself for a moment, he went close to her and called out softly, “Miss Song, Miss Song?”

Miss Song opened her eyes. The breath she had just drawn in whooshed out all of a sudden when she saw a giant face looming close to her. She nearly fainted again. She let out a little squeak, before turning her face away hastily. Then, red slowly spread from her face to her neck and ears.

It was only then that Liu Lin realised his position. He quickly straightened his body and embarrassedly backed away before saying, “Have you woken? Are you alright?”

The wet nurse delightedly called out, “Young Miss, you’re awake! Are you alright?!”

It took Miss Song some time to come back to herself. She was feeling awkward, lying there, so she wanted to quickly get up, but because her action was too sudden, she became lightheaded again. Holding onto her temples, she lowered her head. 

Liu Lin saw that the wet nurse was so panicked she was only calling out to her repeatedly. Liu Lin could only take it upon himself to quickly pour her some water. When Miss Song’s dizzy spell had faded, he passed it to her and said, “Take a sip! You will feel better after drinking some.”

Miss Song wasn’t in a position to refuse. She quickly took it over and finished half a cup, before finally returning it to him. Then she sat still and waited for her head to feel better. 

Liu Lin saw that she seemed to be much better, so he too sat back down. He thought for a while, but finally decided that it wouldn’t be appropriate for him to ask. So he patiently waited. By now, Miss Song was already feeling better, but she was embarrassed. She didn’t know what to say.

In the end, it was the wet nurse, who spilled the beans. On seeing that Miss Song had woken up, she wiped her eyes with her sleeve and painfully vented their sorrows, “Young Miss has been too tired! It’s not easy to manage the household! That Madam is too much….”

“Wet nurse.” Miss Song had to interrupt. 

The wet nurse kept quiet, but after a while, she just couldn’t resist. She repeatedly said that the Young Miss was too tired. No one in the family was supporting her, etc, etc.

Liu Lin roughly understood the situation from those few sentences. Actually, he had already guessed it before. There was definitely no one else from the house able to come forward to handle business. Which was why, this Young Miss had no choice but to take over. Otherwise, if there was anyone even slightly more suitable, she would never have come out in public.

Such prestigious families were different from village households like his. Unmarried girls would definitely be raised behind closed doors. They would be strictly segregated from outsiders. Even if their own relatives were to visit, they might not have frequent contact with them. How could she be allowed to run around outside like this under ordinary circumstances?

If it weren’t for there being absolutely no other way, she would not be doing this. 

But, it wasn’t right for Liu Lin to ask too many questions. As for the earlier complaint that the wet nurse had about him talking about Songjiang prefecture – could it be that when they were wealthy, they stayed at Songjiang prefecture? And she was sad at his reminder?

Liu Lin couldn’t even hazard a guess. He shook his head and cleared his mind of that idea. Then he asked Miss Song, “How are you? Do you still feel uncomfortable? I didn’t go to look for a doctor…. I just felt that it wasn’t suitable. If you’re still feeling unwell, I can send you back and then get a doctor to go over to your home?”

Even though Miss Song was sitting up, her head was still bowed. Firstly because her head was still a bit woozy, and secondly, to hide her embarrassment. Now that her head was better, she raised her head and smiled, “I’m much better. Thank you… Young Master, I can make my way back. There’s no need for you to invite a doctor. If I still feel unwell, I will get someone to look for a doctor.”

Liu Lin nodded his head – their household was so large, with so many people. Once she got back, everything should be fine.

Miss Song inhaled and found that she was no longer giddy. By now, she looked as though she had regained her composure. She smiled, and looked just as she had before she had fainted – natural and warm. So much so that Liu Lin had completely overlooked her pallor earlier. Her face was still pale, especially now – she still looked bloodless, and her lips were trembling slightly. It was obvious that she was holding back some issues… or perhaps some emotions?

Liu Lin mentally sighed. He didn’t know if it was because she was a master of concealment, or if it was because he was oblivious that he hadn’t seen this earlier. He nodded his head and softly said, “Alright, I will send you back.” 

Miss Song’s lips moved, then she smiled and slowly nodded her head. She used a scarf to wrap her face. 

It was only then that the wet nurse came forward to help support her. Liu Lin waited till they were out of the store before blowing out the oil lamp and closing the door. Then he sent her home. 

He was very familiar with this route by now. Miss Song and her wet nurse walked on ahead, while from a slight distance behind, Liu Lin followed. They didn’t say a word throughout the journey. When they got to her gates, Miss Song turned and looked at Liu Lin. 

Liu Lin nodded his head, before smiling and tilting his head upwards, gesturing for her to knock on the door. It was only then that Miss Song nodded and knocked. 

As usual, the response was slow. It took a long time before someone drew the bolt on the door. Again, it was that 70ish-year-old servant who opened it. Again, he reprimanded the Young Miss for always going out. It wasn’t done! Then he opened the door, and turned to leave. 

After Miss Song had entered, she turned to look at Liu Lin. Liu Lin smiled and waved at her. Miss Song took off the scarf around her head, smiled and returned his nod. Then, she closed the door. 

Liu Lin finally let out a sigh. He stood for a while at the door, looking at this old family home. It was a prestigious household, with its rigid adherence to etiquette. But he somehow felt that it was in a state of decay. As for Miss Song, a girl just about to enter womanhood, she seemed to be fighting a hopeless battle within this gloomy household. 

Liu Lin didn’t know why he was feeling so rueful. Again, he sighed and prepared to leave.