Chapter 47: Caretaking
Chapter 47: Caretaking
The sweet chirping of birds pulled Xiang Ling out of her deep slumber. She blinked her eyes a few times to get adjusted to the darkness that was still filling the bedchamber because of the closed windows.
Moving to a sitting position, she stretched her body for a few minutes before getting up to wash and get ready for the day. Half an hour later, she stepped outside her room and headed toward the kitchen.
After raining throughout the night, the weather was finally changing with the arrival of sunrise. The sky was clear and the cold air was warming up with the morning sunlight. Yet, rain droplets kept falling on the ground every time the leaves of trees shook because of the wind.
Walking into the kitchen, she started the work by filling two big buckets with the water from her stream. Then she quickly assembled the leftover fruits in a basket and started preparing a herbal soup along with dumplings for the refugees. She was selecting the herbs when Fu Xiao entered the kitchen and found her working there.
"My Lady..."
The young woman was immediately beside Xiang Ling and started helping the latter. "Why don’t you let me take care of these works?"
Xiang Ling smiled warmly at the girl before replying, "You can’t possibly do all the work alone. Until I find you some helpers, let me help you."
Fu Xiao was silent for a moment as she pondered on her lady’s words. "Are you going to hire servants, My Lady?" She finally asked after a moment or two.
Xiang Ling nodded her head in a positive response. "You are my personal maid but you also have to look after the Young Masters as well as the entire Manor. You alone can’t possibly be able to keep going for long. Once we return to the city, I will get us some new servants."
Fu Xiao nodded her head in understanding and started helping her lady prepare the breakfast.
~
After finishing her breakfast, Xiang Ling headed toward the school building in the village along with Li Xian. She left the task of feeding the refugees staying in the manor to Fu Xiao and Wei Guang.
Once she arrived at the school, she took her time checking on the health of each patient. Some were healing quickly, some were still badly injured, and then some had severe injuries and their health was only getting worse because of lack of proper medicines.
Xiang Ling took out the herbs that she had grown in her space along with some other herbs that she had kept in the summer cottage. She prepared medicinal soups, took out spiritual water from her space, and bandaged the wounds of the patients with clean wraps that she made from the clothes that she had in her cottage.
By the time she finished, it was already noon and she realized that she needed to make another trip into the mountains to get more fruits and herbs for the refugees.
As she walked out of the manor after finishing her lunch, she noticed Wei Guang and Xin Cheng following her with baskets on their back. Stopping in her tracks, she turned to face the men and kept her eyes glued on Wei Guang as she asked, "What are you two doing?"
Wei Guang shared a quick look with Xin Cheng before he answered her question. "We will accompany you to get fruits and herbs for the refugees."
"No need. I can go on my own." Xiang Ling quickly denied the offer and was about to resumed walking when she heard Xin Cheng speaking. "We are doing this for the refugees."
She finally turned her attention toward the man and stared into his eyes as she responded, "Then you can go on your own. Still no need to follow me." She didn’t wait to hear his response and just started walking in the direction of the mountains.
"Wait!"
Wei Guang was next to her a moment or two later as he caught her arm and pulled her to a stop. He let go of her hand as she turned to look at him and asked, "Did you two fight?"
"Obviously not." Xiang Ling quickly refuted as she tried to not think about the reason that had been making it hard for her to face Xin Cheng since the previous afternoon.
Wei Guang looked at her in suspicion as her expression didn’t support her statement much. He quickly exchanged a glance between his wife and Xin Cheng before adding, "Something did happen between you both. You two have been behaving too differently since yesterday."
Xiang Ling felt her cheeks burning up. Not wanting to let the Night Immortal delve deeper into the matter, she quickly spoke. "Follow if that’s what you want. Don’t waste my time." She didn’t wait even for a second and hurried toward her destination.
The three of them took over two hours to collect fruits and herbs before they returned to the village.
The days after that became identical as Xiang Ling spent most of her time looking after the refugees and improving their health. By the end of the fifth day of their stay in the Shengdu Village, almost all the refugees were in great health except for two patients who were still not fully recovered. The spiritual water and herbal soup she had been feeding the refugees made them even healthier than the villagers.
It was the night of the fifth day - Xiang Ling sat in the back courtyard of the manor while staring at the bright full moon. It had been five days and yet, there had been no attacks on the Shengdu Village, nor had they heard any news of attacks from the nearby village.
Were the rumors of demon attacks fake? She pondered on the matter but wasn’t able to guess what was exactly going on. What were the chances that demons were going against the peace treaty and were attacking the Mortal Realm?
She was deep in her thoughts when her eyes suddenly caught something moving in the shadows near the backdoor of the manor.