Chapter 53 - A Price Paid In Advance (2)

Chapter 53 – A Price Paid in Advance (2)

Zhao Xi knew all this. Still, she was surprised. She had spent an eternity thinking she had done something wrong, because Shen Fei had never ever talked about the pain. Pain was good. Absence of pain meant loss of sensitivity. She had thought he was going to die, because she thought he didn’t feel the pain. She was relieved.

She trusted Ping An as well. It had let Shen Fei touch its tail, which meant it had accepted him as well. It was believed that black dogs know when death was coming, if a person was going to die, the dog would bite and snap and guard the door. A black bear was often compared with black dogs. It was believed that these animals had a keen sense of hearing and smell, and they knew when death’s shadow fell. Once, when Zhao Xi had returned from hunting with Ping An, it had refused to leave her side. It had made a groaning sound, like a sob. She was very confused. After a while, she felt a pain in her heart. When she checked her pulse, she realized she had been poisoned. She had prepared and drank the antidote and recovered. Zhao Xi, therefore, held onto this faint hope. Ping An had never shown any remorse, or sobbed when Shen Fei’s condition deteriorated, so she held onto that as a positive sign.

She took a deep breath, and prepared herself, “Alright then. Let’s begin.”

Shen Fei didn’t speak but removed the pillows from behind him and laid down. Zhao Xi cleaned the needles repeatedly, stalling for time. She boiled the medicine and wiped his body. She closed the doors and windows and plugged the gaps with clothes. She felt calmer now and walked to the bed to start the process. Shen Fei tried to lay on his stomach, but she stopped him.

“It’s okay. You don’t need to turn,” she said.

The procedure went on successfully. However, Shen Fei’s response was different. Yesterday, Shen Fei had endured without any major reactions till the ninth needle. But today, she heard a sharp intake of breath after the third needle. He was palpitating, it was hard and more painful for him to bear.

“Don’t move. We are almost done,” she said, looking at him with concern.

Shen Fei tried to resist the pain and keep still. He had made a fist, and Zhao Xi could see that his nails had drawn blood from his palms. He writhed and struggled, trying to keep still. The painful procedure finally ended. Shen Fei was drenched in sweat.

Zhao Xi noticed that his feet were shaking more than when the procedure was done yesterday. His calves were trembling only slightly yesterday. But today, he was shivering and shaking from calves to ankle. The pain was unbearable, and his ankle jerked. This almost unlatched the needle stuck there, and Zhao Xi hurriedly pressed him down to stop him from moving too much. Otherwise, all the effort and all the pain would have been in vain.

If one of the needles broken within his skin, it would not only be extremely difficult to remove but also would undo the effectiveness of all the other needles. This was why Rupture Acupuncture was extremely complicated and dangerous.

Fortunately, the needles were stronger and reliable than she thought. To her relief, they all stayed in place on different points of Shen Fei’s body. Zhao Xi removed the needles one by one, and she massaged his acupuncture points. All the pain wasn’t futile.

It was evident that Shen Fei could feel more sensation in his legs than before. If Zhao Xi applied even a little force when massaging his legs, his brows would be scrunched in pain. This was good news. It was a radical improvement. It meant that if they continued with the process, Shen Fei would definitely recover!

Zhao Xi was more careful today. Since she already knew the aftereffects, she had prepared him some medicine that would increase his blood circulation and decrease the blood stasis and stagnation. She mixed these medicines with his regular ones so that he could drink them together.

Shen Fei felt fatigued like yesterday and slept a lot. When he awoke, he was covered in sweat. His sweat had a tint of red. Shen Fei was showing signs of blood rupture. Zhao Xi was worried out of her mind. She wiped the sweat as much as she could because she didn’t want to scare him. With the profuse sweating, his hemoptysis also worsened. He coughed up blood and food whenever he ate or drank anything. He would even throw up the medicine sometimes. He was going pale and drastically losing weight.

Zhao Xi tried to make different kinds of food, in the hopes that he could eat them. She even mixed the medicine in the food to make it ingestible. Zhao Xi went up the mountain to collect black fungus while he was asleep. The fungus sprung up from the ground whenever it rained. She would dry them properly and then soak them to cook later. They had to be dried because fresh fungi were poisonous.

Sweet potatoes had also ripened in Zhao Xi’s backyard. She picked some leaves, washed and steamed them. She dug up the potatoes and cut them into slices, mixing them with the porridge. Shen Fei was so very frail and weak; he was low on blood to begin with. If he kept losing blood, it would turn out to be fatal. Zhao Xi decided to prepare food with more iron and blood-replenishing foods.

Shen Fei was able to ingest medicine through food more than when he drank it separately. Perhaps, when mixed with food, the bitterness was a bit tamed. So, Zhao Xi decided to mix them in the food instead. However, her expertise in cooking was limited. She didn’t know many varieties to prepare. She planned to go down the mountain to the village around afternoon, when Shen Fei was asleep, to ask Aunt Liu for some of her recipes. This way, she could cook something different so that it would be easier for his body to ingest.

Zhao Xi found that Aunt Liu was very occupied, so she helped her with some household chores. She asked for help with some recipes. It was already seven in the evening. She rushed back up the mountain, thinking he might be anxious or sicker.