Chapter 10: Ninth Miss, Frail and Short-Lived

 Chapter 10: Ninth Miss, Frail and Short-Lived

At the Marquis’s residence.

After questioning the servants, Lang Zhengping hurried toward the side chamber where Lang Jiuchuan had been taken. He noticed Cui Shi standing at the doorway, her face dark and cold, yet she did not step inside. His footsteps slowed slightly.

Hearing him approach, Cui Shi turned, bent her knees, and greeted him softly: “Elder Brother.”

The sight of her instantly brought to Lang Zhengping’s mind his own younger brother, born of the same mother. Back when the Lang family was at its weakest, his brother had risen to become the courageous and strategic General of Anbei—defender of the realm, protector of the people, the pride of the Lang family. And yet that pride had died young on the battlefield.

On the night before his brother’s death, Cui Shi had suddenly gone into premature labor. After more than a day of agonizing difficulty, she gave birth to a child barely seven months along—just as the terrible news of her husband’s death arrived.

Her husband’s death unhinged her mind. She raved that the child was not hers, but a curse-bringer. In her grief and madness, she nearly lost both her own life and the child’s.

Thus, from birth, Lang Jiuchuan had been raised apart in her mother’s quarters. One might have thought that would suffice to keep peace, yet at the three-year memorial for Lang Zhengfan, Cui Shi nearly drowned the girl with her own hands. Witnesses swore her gaze in that moment was not a mother’s but an enemy’s.

At that time, Master Xuanjing of Huguo Temple declared that if the child was to survive, mother and daughter must never live together. So Cui Shi was sent away with the child to a country estate for two years, and from then on Lang Jiuchuan was raised apart.

Cui Shi herself had never remarried, living as a widow all these years. And yet, even now, it was clear she could not release her hatred.

As the elder brother, Lang Zhengping could hardly reproach her—she had kept faith as his brother’s widow. After a pause, he only said gently: “Second Sister-in-law, the child has just returned. We can teach her slowly.”

To strike her own daughter, and in front of outsiders no less, was to wound not only the child’s body but the pride of his late brother’s only offspring.

Cui Shi lowered her gaze without replying.

Just then, an elderly maid hurried up and bowed. “Young Marquis, Second Madam. Ninth Miss has returned. The Old Madam heard of it and is overjoyed—she wishes to see her.”

Lang Zhengping’s expression brightened. “Has Mother regained her clarity?”

Nanny Wang gave a wry smile and shook her head. “You know well, my lord, that the Old Madam’s memory worsens by the year. Even of Ninth Miss…” She cast a careful glance at Cui Shi. “She remembers only at times. The young lady is inside? Allow this old servant to go in and greet her.”

Lang Jiuchuan had already overheard the commotion outside. She was still lost in thought when she heard a sharp intake of breath. She turned and saw the Lang family physician, summoned insistently by Wu Shi to examine her injured hand, staring at her with a pale face full of shock.

“Physician Chen, what is it?” Wu Shi’s heart leapt in alarm at his expression. Could her husband truly have damaged her little sister-in-law’s hand beyond repair?

“The pulse…”

Following his gaze, Lang Jiuchuan felt her heart jolt.

Damn. I forgot. I was so caught up in anger I neglected to sustain this frail body. The pulse is gone.

“I have been weak since childhood. Perhaps you should check more carefully?” She extended her left hand, discreetly channeling a thread of energy into it.

Physician Chen steadied himself. Surely it was only his fatigue—after tending so many during the household’s mourning—that caused him to miss the pulse. With deep focus, he placed his fingers on her wrist and concentrated.

At last, he let out a slow breath of relief. He must have been mistaken before. Yet soon his brows knit again. For the girl’s condition was truly dire. Her body was dangerously depleted—so frail, so short of vitality, that it was a wonder she still lived at all.

“Ninth Miss’s pulse is exceedingly thin and sluggish. It reflects both congenital weakness and severe loss of qi and blood. She must be carefully nourished, or else…” He hesitated, then added softly, “If she is not well tended, not only will marriage and childbearing be impossible, but even her lifespan may be cut short.”

What he did not dare say was that her body already resembled that of a candle guttering in the wind.

Delicate, frail, and short-lived.

Wu Shi froze at his words, then instinctively glanced from Cui Shi—who stood in the doorway—to Lang Jiuchuan, whose face still bore the fresh mark of a slap but remained utterly calm. A heaviness pressed against her chest.

(End of Chapter)