Chapter 15: How Are You Doing?
It was noon that day.
“Mom, what do you want to eat? I’ll make it for you—”
Before the words could fully leave her mouth, Yunxi watched her mother suddenly spit out a mouthful of dark red blood and slump helplessly onto the bed. It played out like a horrific slow-motion shot, sending a wave of absolute panic crashing through her.
“Mom?!”
Her brain went completely numb, as if it had been struck by a physical blow, and a desperate scream tore from her throat.
She took a panicked step backward, collided violently with the wooden cabinet, and tumbled onto the floor. The sharp sting of the impact snapped her out of her daze.
Scrambling to her feet, she rushed to the bed and checked her mother’s breathing. She was still alive. Yunxi immediately tried to lift her, but to her utter fury and despair, her small body simply lacked the physical strength to carry her mother away.
Gritting her teeth, she bolted out of the house and sprinted toward Doctor Sun’s clinic.
Faster!
I need to run faster!
A tsunami of bitter regret washed over her as she ran. Why hadn’t she taken her physical training seriously when she was younger? If she had worked harder, wouldn’t she have been strong enough to brave the mountains and find her father before it was too late? If she had enough strength right now, couldn’t she just pick up her mother and carry her straight to the doctor? If she had actually bothered to learn medicine from her mother instead of slacking off, she wouldn’t be standing by so utterly helpless.
Unfortunately, the world offered many things, but a second chance was never one of them.
Wiping the hot tears from the corners of her eyes and sniffing hard, Yunxi forced herself to calm down. By the time she burst into Doctor Sun’s clinic, she had managed to steady her voice enough to speak clearly without dissolving into hysterical sobs.
“Doctor, please, you have to come quickly! My mother just collapsed—she’s coughing up blood!”
Doctor Sun flinched in surprise. He rapidly threw together a handful of emergency medicines, grabbed his medical crate, and hurried after her back to the Lu residence.
As he pressed his fingers against the patient’s wrist, the physician’s expression grew increasingly grim. His brow furrowed into a tight, strained knot, causing Yunxi’s heart to sink into a bottomless abyss.
After what felt like an eternity, Doctor Sun withdrew his hand, stroked his white beard, and let out a long, heavy sigh. He quickly administered a round of acupuncture, barely managed to stabilize her condition, and ushered Yunxi out of the room.
Standing out in the corridor, the doctor looked down at her with a somber face. “Xi’er, your mother’s constitution has been fragile since her youth, and now her spirit is completely crushed by grief. Even the most potent medicine won’t have any effect here. You must understand, an illness of the heart can only be cured by peace of mind.” He patted her small shoulder, his tone heavy with grief. “You should prepare yourself, child. If your mother continues to pine away like this, I’m afraid… she won’t survive the year.”
“Less than… a year?!” Yunxi repeated the words mechanically, her mind struggling to process the verdict.
A quiet rustle from inside the bedroom finally snapped her out of her stupor. Moving her stiff, heavy limbs, she walked over to the courtyard well and vigorously splashed cold water on her face, doing everything she could to make herself look presentable before stepping inside.
“Mom, how are you feeling?” She gently took her mother’s frail hand, a desperate urge swelling inside her. She wanted to beg her not to give up, to plead with her to find a reason to live, to tell her…
Yet, the moment she looked up and met her mother’s incredibly gentle, serene smile, the words died in her throat.
Her parents had loved each other deeply, even if they had rarely flaunted their affection in public. After her father passed away, her mother had clearly only kept herself breathing for her daughter’s sake. Her body was still here, but her soul had died the very same day her husband did.
This was exactly why Yunxi had refused to leave her side for even a second. In the months following her father’s death, she had watched her mother constantly zone out in the middle of her embroidery, or freeze and sigh while wiping down a table, completely detached from reality. Her mother didn’t even realize she was wasting away.
Every single day, Yunxi had lived in a state of perpetual terror, paralyzed by the fear that her mother would suddenly vanish into the night. Yet, the more tenderly her mother treated her, the less she could bring herself to be selfish. She simply didn’t have the heart to force a broken spirit to stay bound to this world just for her.
Lu Yuniang smiled softly, her frail hand reaching up to pat her daughter’s head. “I’m sorry for scaring you, my darling. I’m quite alright. It’s likely just a flare-up of my old ailment.”
Yunxi swallowed her tears, forcing a bright, reassuring smile onto her face. Both mother and daughter smiled intensely at one another, desperately pretending that everything was perfectly fine.
As the months bled together, however, her mother’s physical condition deteriorated at an alarming rate.
Even though Yunxi went to extreme lengths to procure fresh milk and practically forced her mother to eat five eggs a day, her vitality continued to drain. As for meat, ever since her father’s passing, her mother rigidly refused to touch a single bite, sternly reminding Yunxi that they had to strictly observe the traditional period of deep mourning.
An agonizing, suffocating pain wrapped itself around Yunxi’s heart. She could only anchor herself to her mother’s side, even moving into her bed at night to ensure she would immediately notice any sudden crisis.
Shortly after Yunxi quietly marked her tenth birthday, her mother’s body finally reached its absolute limit.
“Mom…” She held the porcelain-pale hand, forcing a peaceful smile onto her face, terrified that any sign of her own distress would make her mother anxious in her final moments. She wanted to tell her that she was strong, that she could survive perfectly fine on her own and support herself. She wanted to soothe every last one of her worries.
But her throat felt as though it were blocked by a wall of ice, and she couldn’t utter a single syllable.
“Xi’er, my beautiful girl… I’m so sorry,” Lu Yuniang whispered, her breath shallow. Yet, even as life trickled out of her, her face maintained that incredibly gentle smile as she softly stroked her daughter’s cheek. “I have to go and join your father now. I’m afraid he’s been waiting by himself for far too long… You will be alone from now on. You must live a good, beautiful life. Your own journey has only just begun…”
Yunxi pressed her cheek firmly against her mother’s palm, nodding vigorously as tears finally spilled over.
“Mother knows how deeply you wish to carry on the Lu family’s hunting legacy,” Lu Yuniang rasped after a moment of hesitation, her voice laced with maternal worry. “But tracking beasts is simply too dangerous. Focus on your embroidery in the future, my darling. Once your skills mature, you will be able to build a comfortable, safe life for yourself.”
She paused, taking a ragged breath. “If it truly bothers you, then whenever you have children of your own in the future, you can simply give one of them the Lu surname. Or you can adopt a child and pass the ancestral archery techniques down to them.”
Yunxi stiffened slightly, nodding her head without offering a verbal promise.
“Oh… go and open my dressing table,” her mother suddenly murmured, a spark of urgency flaring in her dulling eyes. “Take out the wooden box hidden inside.”
Yunxi quickly located the box and brought it back to the bedside, watching as her mother’s trembling fingers pried it open. Inside lay a modest collection of silver jewelry—earrings, hairpins, and necklaces. They weren’t ostentatious or overly luxurious, but the craftsmanship was remarkably elegant and unique.
“Your father gifted these pieces to me over the years. Keep them as a keepsake or wear them when you grow up,” her mother whispered. With a faint click, her weak fingers found a hidden latch, releasing a secret compartment at the bottom of the chest.
From the concealed space, she withdrew a vibrant, translucent green jade bracelet, a broken half of an intricately carved jade pendant, and a crisp scroll of parchment. The parchment was the official deed to their courtyard house, now being formally passed down to her.
“This jade bracelet is an heirloom passed down from my own mother. It is said to possess the power to aid our family in times of dire need, though I have never managed to unlock its secrets.” Lu Yuniang stroked the polished stone, her gaze turning misty with nostalgia. “My mother passed away when I was a mere child. I still remember…”
Yunxi sat in absolute silence by the edge of the mattress, listening intently as her mother wove fleeting stories of a grandmother she had never known.
“…If the opportunity ever arises when you are grown, mother hopes you can find my sister for me,” Lu Yuniang murmured, her voice growing fainter by the second. “This broken pendant was originally a single, unbroken piece before it was split between us. One half remained with me, and the other half is with my sister. Cough… I wonder how my dear Zhuniang is faring out there…”
A profound tenderness and longing filled her eyes, and as the final words drifted away, her eyelids gradually fluttered shut.
Yunxi desperately choked back her sobs, watching the final trace of breath leave her mother’s body. Forcing her lips into a gentle, reassuring smile, she softly whispered her final vow: “Don’t worry, Mom. Rest easy. I will definitely find my aunt.”
Exactly one year after burying her father, she stood entirely alone, sending her mother into the afterlife.
