The Eldest Brother is Handsome but Sick. - Chapter 7

Since geese were off the table, Su Huai bought two chickens instead and built a makeshift straw nest in a corner of the courtyard.

However, the straw nest didn’t last half a day before Little White Plum trampled it. Su Huai decided to head into the mountains to chop some timber, intending to build a more substantial coop.

Early that morning after breakfast, he sat before the half-finished coop, tinkering away. He was meticulous and skillful; the coop was taking the shape of a miniature house, looking quite professional.

Suddenly, one of the chickens flapped its wings and flew onto Su Huai’s head, letting out a triumphant, earth-shaking “Cluck-cluck-gaaaaa!” as if declaring victory.

Su Huai knit his brows and looked at Yan Jin, who was sitting nearby. “Stop playing and go back to your room to rest.”

Yan Jin had come down with a fever that morning and was so dizzy he could barely walk straight. He had originally planned to go out and shop for New Year supplies, but halfway there, he had walked head-first into a tree. He wasn’t seriously injured, but the impact made his head spin even worse. After stumbling a few steps, he had toppled backward, narrowly avoiding cracking his skull on a rock.

It was only then that the household realized their Eldest Senior Brother was unwell. They hurriedly carried him back to his room. Xia Qingyan went out to handle the shopping, Lin Jiebai took over the consultations in the front hall, and Su Huai was left in the backyard to look after him.

It wasn’t the first time Su Huai had cared for a sick Yan Jin, but that was years ago, before Yan Jin had been ground down into the “stubborn thorn” he was today. Su Huai was prepared; from the start, he had locked the door and forbidden Yan Jin from leaving.

However, having lived an upright life for over a decade, Su Huai was unfamiliar with the art of incarceration. He had overlooked the dog hole in the man’s room. Within fifteen minutes, Yan Jin had slipped out.

But let him slip out; a teenager of ten-odd years was destined to lose against a twenty-year-old “old fox.” Having him under his nose was better than having him wander off outside. Thus, Su Huai tacitly allowed Yan Jin to trail behind him.

A sick Yan Jin was much like a drunken one, he lacked his usual “sky-soaring monkey” energy but there were differences. When drunk, he was talkative and moody; when sick, he was wilted. Now, he sat on a low stool next to Su Huai, huddled into a ball with chicken feathers and straw stuck in his hair, looking for all the world like a soft, squishy osmanthus honey dumpling.

Yan Jin didn’t reply. He propped his head up, his eyes half-closed, while he scattered handfuls of corn into the coop like a deity throwing flowers, causing the chickens to flutter and squawk.

Once the corn ran out, he could only watch Su Huai work. After an unknown amount of time, he suddenly murmured, “I wonder how things are back home.”

Su Huai’s hand paused. He had never heard Yan Jin mention his family, only learning from Xia Qingyan that the man was originally from Yangzhou. Yangzhou was a fine place, a city that naturally produced someone of Yan Jin’s temperament.

Strangely, Yan Jin had never returned once in all these years. Even during the New Year, he only wrote a single letter and reportedly, that letter wasn’t sent to the Yan family main house, but to his uncle.

“The New Year is coming,” Su Huai noted nonchalantly.

“Mhm.”

Su Huai asked further, “Are you going back?”

Yan Jin switched hands to prop up his head. “No. After my mother died, the old man back home went mad. There’s no point in going back.”

A rustle came from the courtyard wall. He looked up to see two sparrows hop down and perch side-by-side on the tiles, preening each other’s feathers.

By mutual agreement, neither spoke again. Su Huai’s relationship with him had mellowed significantly lately; though Yan Jin didn’t know the reason, he found it pleasant and didn’t press for answers.

For a moment, it felt as though they had returned to those two years when they were all each other had.

This kind of warmth was something Yan Jin had rarely experienced, even in his past life. He had been a sickly invalid then, too his most frequent residence had been the hospital. In the early years, his parents, though busy, offered a modicum of care. Then, his parents were gone.

At ten years old, he had transformed from a sickly child into an unwanted, sickly child.

Others pitied him, but in private, they would whisper, “A child this small, death would be better than a lifetime of suffering.”

It was funny; at that tiny age, he had been arrogant enough to want to do battle with Fate itself. Looking back, he figured he’d simply read too many wuxia novels.

Later, he met the System, which raised him until he transmigrated here. He became the only son of the wealthiest man in Yangzhou, but ironically, he remained a “parentless,” incurable invalid. It felt like destiny.

He remembered a summer years ago the details were fuzzy, but the sun had been scorching. The cicadas on the trees were screaming their hearts out to mark their brief lives. Someone, hoping to flatter his father, had gifted a rare golden canary to cheer him up.

“Am I to be like this bird, trapped in a cage until I die?” he had asked. He returned the canary. “It won’t live long with me. Please, take good care of it.”

That year, his condition fluctuated. His mother passed away early, and his father, overcome with grief, left the family business to the extended relatives, having no energy left to care for his son.

The System had been forced into hibernation to keep him alive. Having never left home in two lifetimes, he headed north for the first time. In front of Sansheng Hall, he was joyfully lured inside by a group of eccentric masters and disciples.

Then, he met Su Huai.

“Why don’t you stay with me from now on?”

When Su Huai, then a mere “little radish,” had said that to him, it had nearly turned him into a heart-fluttering idiot.

Yan Jin grew sentimental; the sound of wood being shaved acting as a lullaby.

Suddenly!

A loud CRASH from outside made his hair stand on end. Lin Jiebai kicked open the courtyard gate and rushed inside, his chest heaving violently.

A sense of foreboding surged in Yan Jin’s heart. He frowned and slowly stood up.

Lin Jiebai had run so hard his throat was parched; he swallowed hard before he could get the words out: “It’s bad, Eldest Senior Brother. Something has happened to Sister Xia.”

Hardly had he finished speaking when a roar erupted from the front of the clinic!

“Quack doctors harming the people! If we don’t get an explanation today, we won’t leave!”

Several burly men in coarse work clothes kicked open the clinic doors. The leader, a massive brute, flipped over a medicine cabinet. Porcelain jars and bottles shattered across the floor, sending clouds of medicinal powder into the air. The young pharmacy assistant scrambled forward to stop them but was shoved hard, nearly toppling over.

“My old mistress took the medicine your doctor prescribed and is now suffering from vomiting and diarrhea! She’s bedridden!” The brute grabbed the assistant by the collar, his eyes wide with rage. “Either pay a hundred taels of silver or I’ll smash your sign to pieces!”

His companions grabbed stools, making as if to swing, sending the patients scattering in panic. The assistant stamped his feet in desperation but didn’t dare step forward. Just as the situation was about to spiral out of control, the neighbors gathered. Someone shouted, “Go report this to the officials!”

Hearing this, the brute sneered. “Report it? Even when the magistrate comes, he has to listen to reason!” However, his grip loosened slightly; clearly, he didn’t want the situation to escalate too far.

He stepped to the door and shouted to the crowd, “My old mistress has always been frail. She usually takes medicine from other clinics and remains perfectly fine. A few days ago, she met Dr. Xia of Sansheng Hall and thought she seemed kind, so she sought her out. Who would have thought she was a quack!”

The brute’s voice grew tearful at the end, looking ready to nail the crime to Sansheng Hall’s door.

In the midst of the standoff, someone suddenly spat on the ground. “You say your mistress is fine with other medicines but has trouble with Sansheng Hall’s. Let me ask you: why do we recover so quickly here, yet your family has nothing but problems?”

“Exactly! Who doesn’t know Physician Yan Jin? He’s a good man who often pays for our medicine out of his own pocket! For Physician Yan’s sake, we trust Sansheng Hall!”

“You Qi family members are always using your stinking silver to bully others. Everyone knows it! I don’t believe a word you say.”

“Right! Smashing someone’s clinic without rhyme or reason, I bet your master isn’t any good either!”

The crowd chimed in, one after another. Seeing the situation becoming uncontrollable, the brute moved to smash something for intimidation. The pharmacy assistant ducked down to protect the herbs; seeing the stool about to strike the boy’s back, he curled into a ball and screamed in terror.

But the expected pain never came. A faint scent of medicine drifted by as Yan Jin caught a corner of the stool. The massive force sent a jolt of numbing pain through his entire arm.

Yan Jin grunted but didn’t retreat an inch. He was already weakened by his fever, and this latest exertion made his face turn even paler.

He exhaled a breath of turbid air and sneered. “Bullying a child? What kind of skill is that? If you have the guts, come hit me.”

Taking advantage of the brute’s shock, he snatched the stool away. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you: I’ve always been frail. A shove takes half my life; a punch sends me straight to the afterlife. Gauge your strength carefully.”

The brute was too stunned to move. Yan Jin tossed the stool at the man’s feet and turned around. “Su Huai, take the assistant and the patients out of here. Lin Jiebai, report this to the officials!”

“Wait!” A voice called from the crowd. A man stepped forward and waved the brute away.

The man rubbed his hands and smiled. “Physician Yan, there’s no need to involve the officials.”

He had a greasy, round face with sagging jowls that squeezed his triangular eyes into tiny slits. His eyes darted about, filled with calculation. Several prominent black moles sat on either side of his nose, with stiff black hairs sprouting from them. His lips were thin and wide, revealing a row of uneven yellow teeth when he smiled, and his triple chin quivered as he spoke. He looked exactly like a toad.

Yan Jin was so disgusted he wouldn’t even look at the man. He sat down and gave Lin Jiebai a meaningful look. “I was wondering who was putting on such grand airs. So, it’s Boss Qi. Surely your family business is large enough that you don’t need to come here to cause a scene?”

“Physician Yan is as humorous as ever,” Boss Qi said, stroking the hairs on his mole. “It isn’t that I wish to be difficult, but the fault truly lies with Miss Xia.”

Yan Jin’s expression darkened instantly. The place where Xia Qingyan went to buy supplies wasn’t far; there was no reason for her to be gone this long, especially with such a commotion at the clinic.

“What have you done to my Junior Sister?”

“Rest assured, she is fine,” Boss Qi replied. “Sansheng Hall has a great reputation; I am terrified of wrongly accusing a good person. Therefore, I simply invited Miss Xia to my manor for a little visit.”

Lying piece of trash!

Yan Jin cursed in his heart. But getting Xia Qingyan back to Sansheng Hall was the priority. He took a deep breath to suppress his rage. “I’ve heard about the Old Mistress. It must be a misunderstanding. I can go with my Junior Brother to diagnose her again.”

“That is too simple. Since ancient times, a life must be paid with a life. How can you simply ‘try again’ after harming a patient?” Boss Qi countered.

“If it truly is my Junior Sister’s fault, Sansheng Hall will pay whatever compensation is required. I will take full responsibility for the consequences.”

“Physician Yan is a straightforward man!” Boss Qi laughed. “Since you are so reasonable, I won’t be difficult. I see that Sansheng Hall is quite destitute; I doubt you could produce the silver I require. However”

Yan Jin’s brow twitched. He had a feeling this dog-mouth was about to spit out something foul.

Sure enough, the man gave a lewd smile. “If you agree to give Miss Xia to me as a concubine, Sansheng Hall and the Qi family will be in-laws. At that point, I would naturally drop the charges.”