Chapter 664 - 243: Memory Recovery
Chapter 664: Chapter 243: Memory Recovery
Having suffered an unexpected calamity, Xu Suying pointed at De’an and scolded, "Jing is about to take the Imperial Examination. I don’t see you worrying about him, yet you fuss over all sorts of nonsense. Chen De’an, have you been beaten too little lately? Are you itching for a thrashing?"
Chen Wanqing’s heart ached for her brother. She hurriedly held her mother back. "He’s just like this. Why are you getting angry with him?"
Then she turned to De’an. "Just eat your food properly. If you keep getting distracted, you can live at the Imperial College from now on."
De’an immediately raised both hands in surrender.
The food at the Imperial College was practically like pig slop. The first time he took a bite, he had spat it right out.
Otherwise, wouldn’t it be nice to just live at the Imperial College? Coming home every day to face his mother’s cold expressions was agonizing for him too.
Throughout the entire second lunar month, the Xu Family revolved around Xu Suying and Zhao Jing.
The blood clot in Xu Suying’s brain had dissipated before the new year, but she still hadn’t recovered her memories. Left with no other choice, the Imperial Physician could only resort to acupuncture.
He didn’t dare to perform the acupuncture too frequently, maintaining a schedule of once every five days, or twice every ten days, with each session lasting for the duration of two incense sticks.
After a month of acupuncture, there were no noticeable results. However, upon entering the second month, Xu Suying began to dream frequently at night. Every time she woke up, she would be drenched in sweat. Sometimes, when she opened her eyes, she would even find herself being cradled in the old madam’s arms.
When asked what she had dreamed about, she couldn’t remember clearly. She would only murmur vaguely, "It’s so uncomfortable; I feel like I’m suffocating. My head hurts, my whole body hurts, and I’m so hungry that my stomach cramps..."
The old madam’s heart ached so much that she cried, repeatedly calling out, "My child, my poor Ying." Her weeping left the entire family feeling a sour pang in their hearts.
Xu Shiniang coaxed his mother. "This is a sign that my sister is getting better. Perhaps after two more acupuncture sessions, she will remember everything."
At the same time, looking at his sister’s bloodless face, he asked with heartache, "If it’s truly this unbearable, why don’t we stop the acupuncture?"
However, Xu Suying became resolute at this moment. "We must continue the acupuncture! I don’t want to spend the rest of my life racking my brain trying to figure out what was in those lost memories. Even more so, I don’t want to discard all the kindness you have shown me."
"It doesn’t matter if you discard them. We will just give you more in the future."
"That won’t do. That’s too agonizing..."
Unable to persuade her, the family could only watch helplessly as the Imperial Physician came time and time again to administer acupuncture to her. But for these recent sessions, the family members would come over to keep her company whenever they had free time.
He was, after all, an Imperial Physician who served in the palace. After he came two more times, Xu Suying’s dreams began to become clearer.
One time, when Chen Wanqing woke up early and went to her grandmother’s courtyard to pay her respects to her maternal grandmother and her mother, she saw a crowd of people gathered at the door of her mother’s room. Her heart tightened, and she hurried over.
The maids and older servant women at the door immediately curtsied upon seeing her, making way for her. Their faces were flushed with excitement, and unable to suppress their thrill, they said, "Miss Wanqing, you’ve come at the perfect time. Madam has remembered! She has remembered so many things."
The maids were generally young, mostly bought into the household after Xu Suying went missing. The nannies and older servant women, however, were mostly those who had served in the family since the early days. They had a deeper affection for the Xu family, and their affection for Xu Suying was even more profound.
At this moment, they were wiping their tears, crying and laughing at the same time as they spoke. "When I went to serve her early this morning, Madam saw me and said, ’Sister-in-law Tong, how have you aged so much?’ Ever since Madam returned to the manor, she had always called me Nanny Tong."
"Madam also asked me whether my daughter-in-law gave birth to a girl or a boy. SOB SOB SOB... Back when Madam went missing, I was just about to go into labor. I later gave birth to a boy, and now, my boy has even given me a grandson..."
Chen Wanqing’s heart leapt into her throat. She couldn’t bother to keep listening to the nannies’ words, simply striding briskly through the outer room and walking up to the floor-to-ceiling partition carved with an ascending-steps motif.
Beyond the partition, a folding screen blocked the line of sight. However, the screen could not block the voices that drifted out one after another.
Xu Suying was crying her heart out. "Mother, I’ve remembered everything. You said that when I returned, you were planning to take me to stay at my maternal grandmother’s house for a few days. You also said that maternal grandmother was about to celebrate her birthday, and you told me not to gift her a handkerchief this year. The longevity crane I embroidered looked as ugly as a wild duck. It was only my maternal grandmother who cherished me and thought that whatever I embroidered looked incredibly lifelike...
"Mother, I said that when the autumn air was crisp and clear, I would take you out hunting. That year, Kangning told me that a new flock of rabbits had been released on the West Mountain, and they were so foolish that I was guaranteed to shoot one with every arrow. I was planning to shoot them myself to make a vest for you...
"Yan Lin still owes me a few osmanthus candies. He lost a bet to me but had no money to buy the candies to pay me back. I promised to let him buy candies for me after he received his monthly silver the following month...
"Mother, I’ve remembered it. I’ve remembered it all. That damned Yan Cheng, he has ruined my life!"