Chapter 247
Du Ruo tried the temperature on Qin Jiu’s forehead with her hand before she breathed a sigh of relief. “No fever.”
Seeing the dryness of Qin Jiu’s lips, Du Ruo went and poured her a cup of warm tea as she muttered.
“Young miss, you secretly opened the window last night, didn’t you?”
It was now the twelfth lunar month, and the weather was cold so houses would put a charcoal pot in their rooms to keep them warm but Qin Jiu dislikes it as she feels stuffy so she would often get up at night to secretly open the window.
Du Ruo had previously talked to Qin Jiu about this several times, but despite being admonished repeatedly, Qin Jiu was unrepentant.
Feeling somewhat guilty, Qin Jiu did not dare to retort.
Du Ruo looked at her wilting appearance and felt distressed. She said, “Young Miss, let me ask a doctor to see you.”
“No need!” Qin Jiu hurriedly refused.
“I’m just suffering from some cold. I can just drink this with some ginger soup and sleep for two days. Why do I need to see a doctor for?” Most importantly traditional Chinese medicine is extremely bitter.
Du Ruo frowned slightly, remembering how the young miss persuaded Duan Wang Fei to see a doctor, and could still vividly hear how eloquent she was in saying how she would be afraid if she refused to be seen.
Knowing Du Ruo, Qin Jiu immediately knew that she was going to nag, so she quickly changed the topic.
“Du Ruo, I’m a little sleepy, I’ll go to sleep first!” She then covered her head with the quilt, looking like he was about to fall asleep.
Du Ruo had no choice but to step back and said, “Then you should go to sleep first young miss. If you still feel uncomfortable, you should call a doctor!”
Qin Jiu was very courteous as she got out of the quilt and nodded hastily.
“I’ll listen to Du Ruo!”
Hearing Qin Jiu’s brown-nosing, Du Ruo finds her funny. Before going out she glance at the incense and saw that it was about to run out so she added more incense.
When Qin Jiu saw this, she yawned and said, “Don’t add more, I’m dizzy.”
Du Ruo complied and put out the incense from the incense burner.
Qin Jiu closed her eyes drowsily and when she woke up, she continued reading a book as she enjoys Du Ruo’s attentive service and barely getting off the bed.
After resting like this for two days, Qin Jiu became active and beaming again.
Qin Jiu: “It’s just a little cold! And I’m all good now, so it was just nothing after all!”
Qin Jiu smiled proudly, but Du Ruo felt a little sad. Knowing that the young miss was abused by Zhao Aman and his wife while she was little, she must have fended herself for those times when she was sick and survived on her own.
Qin Jiu ineffably saw a touch of bitterness in Du Ru’s eyes and wondered if Du Ruo had been aggrieved by something, but before she could say anything, she saw Du Ruo receive a carved wooden box from a young maid behind her and said,
“Young miss, this is the silver ingot that the Yinlou* just sent this morning, take a look.”
(*Silverware store/ jewelry center)
The wooden box contains a box of silver ingots, each of which was of different sizes and shapes, and was very delicate and cute, including cats, rabbits, peonies, ladybirds, eagles, and so on.
This was specially made to order by Qin Jiu from Yinlou, she was planning to give it to Qin Zining, Qin Zeyu, and Gu Zhen as New Year’s gift.
Qin Jiu divided the silver ingots with great spirits, putting them into several pouches one by one, and also put silver ingots on Gu Zezhi’s embroidered pouch she prepared.
Ah, let’s put an extra one for the golden thigh.
Qin Jiu generously put another silver ingot into a purple purse embroidered with a green parrot.
Qin Jiu gave Du Ruo a quick glance and after pondering for a while she quietly prepares New Year’s Eve money for her as well and instructed.
“Du Ruo, you help me fetch the box of Jiuhe incense.”
Du Ruo then went to fetch a box of Jiuhe incense over and asked, “Young Miss, do you want this maid light it up for you?”
While opening the box of Jiuhe incense, Qin Jiu said, “I’ll do it myself, go and fetch me another smudge cage. It is said in the Imperial Incense Book that Jiuhe incense has a very good effect of calming the mind and nourishing the qi, so I want to try daubing Jiuhe incense onto the pouch.”
Qin Jiu did as she wanted and personally lit Jiuhe incense and put it into the smudge cage. She covered it with the smoke cover that Du Ruo had brought, before she sent all the servants out, and then cheerfully smoked the pouches by herself.
The smell of Jiuhe incense was as fresh as orchid, with a hint of plum fragrance, which was delicate and classic.
Qin Jiu had nothing to do on the sidelines, so she flipped through the book again, and before she knew it, she had read half of the book, and was once again a little dizzy.
She put down the book, yawned twice, and fell asleep on the gufei couch*…
(*imperial concubine couch)
“Third young miss, third young miss……”
When Du Ruo woke her up, Qin Jiu realized that the sky was already quite dark. She raised her eyes to look out the window, it was already sunset.
Obviously, she had slept, but instead, she felt dizzier, her body seemed heavy and she felt uncomfortable.
“Third young miss, it’s time to go to Ronghe Hall.” Du Ruo reminded while fixing Qin Jiu’s clothes and tucking loose hair on her temples.
It was now time to pay her respect to her elders, Qin Jiu smoothed out her clothes before she stood up and went out.
As soon as she came out of the house, a biting cold wind greeted her, making Qin Jiu shiver.
Du Ruo hurriedly put on a cloak for Qin Jiu.
Qin Jiu on the other hand stood there in a daze and didn’t move for a while.
When Du Ruo was about to ask, she heard Qin Jiu ask one step ahead of her, “Have I been using Jiuhe incense when I go to sleep recently?”
“Yes. Jiuhe incense calms the spirit, so this slave servant lit it while you slept.”
Du Ruo nodded, “It’s just that after you fell ill, young miss, you didn’t use it these few nights.”
Qin Jiu: “…”
Qin Jiu gathered her cloak, her eyes flickered, and said nothing more as she slowly walked down the stone steps and went to Ronghe Hall to pay her respects to Old Madam Qin.
By the time Qin Jiu returned to Wanxiang Courtyard, the setting sun had already set in half, dyeing the western sky like brocade.
Qin Jiu went into her small study and turned over the “Imperial Incense Manual” until she reached the page about Jiuhe Incense on page 15.
Jiuhe Incense, produced in Bogo, was a treasure in the incense. Its scent was as fragrant as orchid and plum, it helps with cleansing, and has the effect of calming the mind and nourishing qi.
Qin Jiu stared at the page for a long time and then closed the “Imperial Incense Manual”. She said, “Du Ruo, go to the Duan Mansion and hand over a letter that we’re visiting. Tomorrow we will visit Duan Wangfei to pay our respects.”
It was already late, so Du Ruo was a little surprised, but she still complied. She prepared the letter as quickly as possible and went to the palace to send it over cautiously.
***
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