Cuddling with the Cold Female Protagonist – Chapter 15

Volume 2: The Captivating Splendor of Jingdu

Those Who Don’t Observe Spousal Duties Must Kneel in the Ancestral Hall

Su Yi insisted on finding Ji Qingchi. The Su Family Head couldn’t stop her, so they had to comply with her wishes.

However, she had been unconscious for nearly four days and was extremely weak. Unable to walk far on her own, they had to have people carry her to the ancestral hall.

            

The Su family’s ancestral hall naturally enshrined the Su family ancestors. Even going back to their founding ancestor’s generation, their status was merely that of an eighth-rank minor official, while Ji Qingchi’s ancestors were already Marquises at that time.

For Ji Qingchi to kneel before them would be an insult to her status.

For the sake of the Su family’s fortune, and for the sake of her own knees, Ji Qingchi naturally wouldn’t kneel.

            

After the servant girls who brought her there left, Ji Qingchi found a hidden spot, slowly sat down, and closed her eyes to rest.

Because Su Yi hadn’t woken up yet, the Su Family Head wanted to teach her a lesson, so when mealtime came, no one brought her food.

When the guards outside grew lazy and left their posts, Ji Qingchi calmly slipped out through the side door of the ancestral hall, used qinggong [轻功 | qīng gōng | martial arts technique for lightweight movement] to reach the wilderness ten li [5 km or 3.10686 miles] away, caught two rabbits, ate her fill, and secretly returned.

            

That’s how she happily resolved her three daily meals.

She had to admit, the capital’s rabbits were quite plump, though eating them constantly did become a bit greasy.

The next day, as lunchtime approached and she was preparing to go out, she suddenly heard footsteps and voices from outside.

            

The two servant girls attending Su Yi couldn’t keep their voices down, “Young Miss, the ancestral hall is right ahead. We’ve walked so far, would you like to rest?”

Su Yi’s voice was too soft for her to hear the response, but that didn’t matter – just from the servant girls’ voices, it was clear that Su Yi had arrived.

Ji Qingchi immediately stood up and walked to the meditation cushion [蒲团 | pú tuán | a round cushion used for meditation] in the center. She half-sprawled on the ground and used her qi energy to seal an acupoint [穴道 | xué dào | specific points on the body used in traditional Chinese medicine and martial arts] in her chest. Instantly, cold sweat broke out on her face, and even through the thin human skin mask, one could see her face and lips turning pale.

            

Su Yi was carried into the ancestral hall, and upon seeing Ji Qingchi sprawled on the ground, her heart turned ice-cold.

It’s over, it’s over! Could the female protagonist have fainted from kneeling? Will she later have us and my mother drawn and quartered [千刀万剐 | qiān dāo wàn guǎ | literal: a thousand cuts and ten thousand]?

Remembering the bloody scenes from the book, Su Yi began to feel dizzy and hurriedly called out to Yanshen, “Quick… quickly… help the Lord up…”

            

She had to catch her breath several times just to speak that sentence, sounding as if she were about to die.

Ji Qingchi, lying on the ground, heard the tone of her voice and felt a jolt in her heart, filled with doubt. Could it be that Feng Ruoqing’s diagnosis was wrong, and Su Yi was about to die?

While still pondering this, she felt someone lifting her up.

            

Yanshen carefully turned her over and held her, seeing her tightly closed eyes, and hurriedly called out, “Young Miss, the Lord has fainted!”

“Gancao… help me… go see…”

Su Yi, moving like a slow elderly person, was helped step by step to Ji Qingchi’s side.

            

Seeing the cold sweat on Ji Qingchi’s forehead and pale complexion, she was even more horrified and hurriedly called out, “Quick, call for a physician! Quick— *cough cough cough*…”

Her mother had said the female protagonist had been kneeling for more than a day, and no one had brought her food – could she have fainted from hunger?

It was over; their Su family would face extinction.

            

“Fulang…” Su Yi, thinking of the tragic fate of their family’s extinction, couldn’t help but feel devastated, crying so hard her body trembled, “Fulang… you absolutely cannot be in danger…”

If anything happened to you, our family would face extinction.

“Fulang… *cough cough*…” Su Yi threw herself forward to embrace Ji Qingchi, crying as miserably as possible, “My body is too useless… I didn’t take good care of you, letting you suffer such grievances. My mother was just being overprotective of her daughter, she had no ill intentions. Who would have thought it would harm my fulang to this extent… fulang…”

            

As she continued crying, her emotions became too intense. Her weakened body, having just regained consciousness, couldn’t handle such extreme emotional swings. Unable to catch her breath, she fainted directly onto Ji Qingchi.

Just as Ji Qingchi was about to open her eyes, she felt something pressing on her body. Though not heavy, it felt strange. Before she could look, Su Yi’s two servant girls’ sky-piercing cries reached her ears, “Someone come quickly! Help! The Young Miss has fainted again!”

Feng Ruoqing felt she had never been this busy before.

            

She had just finished treating the Su family’s eldest young miss, hadn’t even had time to sit down for a cup of tea, when the Su family servants urgently dragged her away again. Even during her free clinic days, she had never been this busy.

Following the servant girls without her feet touching the ground, she arrived at where Su Yi had fainted. Both unconscious people, Su Yi and Ji Qingchi, were placed on separate soft couches [软榻 | ruǎn tà | traditional Chinese furniture for reclining], with servant girls fanning them on both sides.

The Su Family Head was already waiting there, pacing anxiously. Upon seeing Feng Ruoqing, she excitedly took a few steps forward to grab her hand, “Quickly, quickly, Miss Feng, please examine my child. She just woke up, how could she have fainted again?”

            

Feng Ruoqing set down her medical box, carefully examined Su Yi, and said, “Don’t worry, Family Head. The Young Miss merely fainted from excessive grief, her spirit is unstable, but her body is fine.”

Looking at Ji Qingchi lying on the other side, she added tactfully, “Although there’s no serious danger this time, experiencing too many extreme emotions can easily damage the heart meridians [心脉 | xīn mài | pathways of qi energy in traditional Chinese medicine]. Young Miss Su is physically weak and cannot withstand such strain.”

Why did Su Yi faint as soon as she came to see Ji Qingchi?

            

The Su Family Head asked the servant girls around her, who all said she fainted after seeing Ji Qingchi unconscious.

The Su Family Head immediately hated the iron for not becoming steel [恨铁不成钢 | hèn tiě bù chéng gāng | idiom: to feel disappointed in someone who fails to meet expectations].

As they say, deep love brings deep concern. Who would have thought that in just a few days, her daughter would develop feelings for this unruly husband? Otherwise, why would she care so much?

            

The Su Family Head sighed silently, thinking that for her precious daughter’s sake, she could no longer punish Ji Qingchi arbitrarily.

“Enough, enough. Why should I, an elder, meddle in the affairs of the younger generation? Miss Feng, my son-in-law has also fainted. Please examine what’s wrong.”

“Yes.”

            

Just as Feng Ruoqing walked over, Ji Qingchi awoke, speaking “weakly,” “Mother… I’m fine… I… I was just heartbroken… I… I… truly haven’t failed in my spousal duties…”

As she finished speaking, two tears fell from her eyes, her nose tip reddened – a sight that would move anyone to pity.

Seeing her expression up close, Feng Ruoqing was greatly shocked.

            

This Miss Chi’s skill at changing faces was truly impressive – she had been expressionless just moments ago.

Perhaps this fainting spell was also feigned.

The Su Family Head didn’t notice anything unusual. Seeing her pitiful, submissive appearance from afar, she sighed and said, “Yi’er protects you so, rushing here despite not having recovered. It’s clear she cherishes you deeply. Since she likes you so much, I as her mother shouldn’t be too harsh with you, lest I appear to be breaking up a pair of mandarin ducks. You must strictly follow your spousal duties and be devoted to my Yi’er, understand? If you harbor any unfaithful thoughts, even if my daughter becomes heartbroken, I’ll have you drowned in a pig cage!”

            

“I respectfully accept Mother’s teachings.” Ji Qingchi lowered her head, looking even more pitiful. “This humble son-in-law understands.”

After she finished her lecture, Su Yi also awoke, and her first words were to look for Ji Qingchi, “Fulang…”

The servant girls hurriedly helped the “weakened” Ji Qingchi walk over.

            

Seeing Ji Qingchi standing safely before her, Su Yi finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Fearing she might hold a grudge against her family, Su Yi quickly grasped her hand and said, “Fulang, I know what my mother did was wrong, but she had no ill intentions. It’s because I’m weak and sickly that she overthinks things.”

She lowered her voice and said, “If fulang is unwilling, I can write a divorce letter at any time, and when that happens, I will give fulang all the family property under my name.”

            

She had gone to such lengths; if the female protagonist still held a grudge against her, there would truly be nothing else she could do.

Indeed, after hearing these words, Ji Qingchi felt moved. She hadn’t planned to hold a grudge against the Su family in the first place, and now, hearing Su Yi speak this way, she could feel what it was like to be held dear in someone’s heart.

This Young Miss of the Su family seemed to truly like her husband.

            

But did she truly like her, or was it only because she was her husband that she showed such affection?

Ji Qingchi lowered her eyes in thought for a while before returning the grip on her hand, “How could Wife Master say such things? This slave is now part of the Su family, how could I mind such small matters?”

She still needed the Su family’s protection and would certainly not do anything against her own interests.

            

Moreover, she wasn’t the type to return hatred for the smallest grievance. The Su family had shown her kindness, and she wouldn’t repay kindness with enmity – otherwise, she wouldn’t have deliberately arranged for Su Yi to come.

Seeing no hatred in Ji Qingchi’s eyes, Su Yi finally felt relieved. She grabbed Ji Qingchi’s sleeve and slowly smiled, saying, “Fulang really is…”

Before she could finish speaking, she collapsed into Ji Qingchi’s arms.

            

Not just Ji Qingchi, but everyone was terribly frightened by this sudden change.

Feng Ruoqing hurriedly stepped forward to check Su Yi’s pulse, her brows gradually furrowing.

The Su Family Head was nearly scared to death, “Miss Feng, my child… didn’t you just say my child was fine?”

            

“The poison in Young Miss Su is truly strange and peculiar,” Feng Ruoqing said in confusion. “I had clearly sealed it off earlier, but now some has leaked out again, even breaking through the barrier of my silver needles.”

The Su Family Head asked in a trembling voice, “Then… what can we do?”

“I’ll seal it again. This poison may need to be expelled bit by bit. Young Miss Su is weak, and forcing out more poison today would certainly be too much for her. We can only wait until she recovers somewhat before making further plans.”

            

After a pause, she sighed and added, “If we had Silver Pearl Cardamom, perhaps Young Miss Su’s condition could be greatly relieved.”

This term was unfamiliar not only to the Su Family Head but even to Ji Qingchi, who asked curiously, “What is Silver Pearl Cardamom?”

“This medicine resembles cardamom in shape, but is silver-white like pearls, hence its name. I saw it in the medical text my master gave me. It’s said to suppress all poisons.”

            

The Su Family Head hurriedly asked, “Where does this medicine grow? How can we obtain it? I’ll send people to gather it.”

Feng Ruoqing shook her head, “According to the medical text, it grows at the border between the Yanxue Kingdom and the Huachen Kingdom. It’s a tribute item [贡品 | gòng pǐn | items exclusively reserved for imperial use] for the imperial family. How could ordinary people obtain it?”

Imperial tribute item?

            

Ji Qingchi’s heart stirred – perhaps it was in the national treasury. If she could return, she might be able to request some from Emperor Mother.

It seemed she needed to quickly contact her shadow guards and return to the palace.

Hearing this, the Su Family Head was also deep in thought, wondering if her grandmother’s Pingyang Marquis Manor might have some. If not, perhaps some imperial family members had it. She would need to carefully inquire about how to obtain it from them.

            

Seeing them both fall silent, Feng Ruoqing assumed they had given up and didn’t mention it further, continuing to apply acupuncture to Su Yi.

By the next morning, Su Yi awoke. Though still very pale, at least she could walk.

The Su Family Head had her rest for another day until she regained some color, then took her and Ji Qingchi, along with several large boxes of goods, to visit her mother’s residence.

            

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