Chapter 20: Let Him Handle It After All

Twilight gathered, and the wind felt cooler than it had during the day, yet Xie Yun’s heart felt colder still.

She lowered her gaze to her swollen ankle, pondering for a moment before quickly laying the blame entirely on Pei Shijin. If not for him, how could she have twisted her foot?

The culprit, leaning against the doorframe, raised a hand to touch his nose, feigning composure to mask his guilt. He addressed the young boy standing before Xie Yun with a serious tone: "Little doctor, her ankle injury is quite severe. I fear it must be set back into place; please be gentle."

Earlier, Xie Yun had twisted her ankle in front of the Jade Cosmetics shop. Pei Shijin, unwilling to cause a scene with overly intimate gestures on the bustling street, had been forced to accompany her, step by step, to the nearest small clinic.

This clinic, located on Vermilion Bird Avenue, was exceptionally quiet. The only person inside was a boy of about ten, who claimed his master had gone up the mountain to gather herbs, insisting he could handle simple injuries with ease. Pei Shijin, half-doubting, told Xie Yun to sit down.

The boy grasped Xie Yun’s ankle, examined it from both sides, and muttered something under his breath. Xie Yun couldn't hear him clearly, but as he began to fumble with her foot, a thin layer of sweat broke out on her forehead. "It hurts a bit, little doctor, please be gentle."

The boy looked at her with a strange expression, lowered his head to rub his hands, clenched his fists, opened them, and prepared to fix her foot in place. Pei Shijin, pressing a finger to his brow as he watched the boy’s technique, finally could not help but interject, "Let me do it."

He could no longer bear to watch. Having been trained in martial arts by Cao Yuanchun in his youth, he had suffered his share of injuries and had long since learned to treat himself. Had it not been for the proprieties between men and women, he would have handled it himself long ago, rather than letting this boy dawdle.

Xie Yun looked at him with suspicion, but Pei Shijin simply crouched down, mused for a moment, and removed her silk stocking. Having been raised with delicate care, her hands and feet were exquisitely formed. Feeling a man’s hand clasp her ankle, she instinctively recoiled. This slight withdrawal caused a wave of unease to surge within Pei Shijin.

His phoenix eyes flickered. He remembered a time when he had gone to the Thousand Gold Pavilion to make an arrest and inadvertently overheard some men’s lewd talk, claiming that a woman’s delicate feet were the most prized objects for a man to toy with in the intimacy of the bedchamber. At the time, he had found such talk filthy. Now, holding this jade-like thing in his hands, he experienced an untimely moment of realization.

Xie Yun’s earlobes turned red. She felt like kicking him regardless of the pain, and urged, "What are you doing?"

Pei Shijin snapped back to reality, heat rising to his own ears, and hurriedly composed his expression. "Bear with it."

Xie Yun had waited long enough and was about to urge him again when, without warning, a sharp movement from him drew a short cry from her. It hurt—it truly hurt. And it was all the fault of the man before her.

In the dim candlelight of the clinic, Pei Shijin looked up. Her bright, beautiful face seemed veiled in mist; the muffled groans forced out by the pain caused her to bite her red lips, and strands of hair at her temples were dampened by sweat. Though it was spring, why did he suddenly feel so warm?

He swallowed hard, stood up, and leaned against the doorframe, feigning calm. "It will only hurt for this moment; you will feel much better soon."

Xie Yun moved her foot slightly, her almond-shaped eyes brightening. She thought to herself that it was indeed better. She had not expected that a civil official like him would possess such skills. Recalling the strike he had dealt Zhao Yuanliang, he did not appear to be a man who lacked strength. She wondered if this man, skilled in both the pen and the sword, was destined for some great endeavor in the future.

Pei Shijin, indifferent to her thoughts, bought medicinal wine from the clinic and handed it to her, instructing, "I will have someone see you home later. Be more careful when walking in the future."

Xie Yun nodded. With the sky already so dark, she knew Wang Chengdai must be worried about her, and it was indeed time to return.

Pei Shijin watched until she had boarded her carriage before turning to walk in the opposite direction, though a lingering sense of unease remained with him.

...

When Wang Chengdai saw Xie Yun’s ankle, she began to apply the medicinal wine with such care that tears almost fell from her eyes. In the small room, the candlelight flickered; the silhouette of mother and daughter sitting by the frame bed appeared profoundly warm from outside the window.

In front of her mother, Xie Yun no longer tried to hide her pain, shrinking her foot back several times. Wang Chengdai looked at her with a mix of exasperation and amusement. "Your father said you should rest properly in your room for the next few days."

Hearing this, Xie Yun’s pain seemed to dissipate. She grasped Wang Chengdai’s hand and said, "How can that be? I was planning to go to the tavern to help you!"

Wang Chengdai froze, looking at her daughter’s fair, delicate face under the lamp light. "You have lived a life of such refinement; how could you show your face to do business? No, that will never do." She refused without a second thought.

Xie Yun, however, had her own plans. She hurried to say, "I heard Father say that you haven't been to the tavern these past two days because Master Xue, the accountant, had to leave the capital for personal matters. But I know how to manage accounts and do calculations! You only need to wait two days for me to recover, and then you can take me with you!"

Wang Chengdai was stunned. "You know how to manage accounts?"

Xie Yun nodded repeatedly. It wasn't just accounting—she was capable of so much more!