Malicious Medical Princess of the Marquis House

HOUYUAN, PROVINCIAL GOVERNOR’S FU, JINZHOU PREFECTURE

Holding a bowl of freshly concocted medicine, maid Tao Hong pushed the door and entered the room.

“Is guniang awake?”

“Not yet. Tao Hong jie, shall I wake her up?”

“Wake her up. The doctor said that the medicine should be drank while it’s hot.”

Xiao Cui hung up the muslin canopy covering the bed frame. She looked down to look at er guniang who was sleeping on the bed. Her cheeks were gaunt, her skin was waxy and yellow, but her features were delicate and exquisite.

Er guniang was sickly since childhood. This time, she was sick for half a year and had lost a lot of weight. She must have been feeling very uncomfortable. Even while asleep, her brows were knitted. Xiao Cui said softly, “Guniang, you need to take your medicine.”

She thought that she had to call  guniang several times to wake her up, like before. But unexpectedly, the moment she spoke, guniang opened her eyes.

“En…” Gu Jiu answered. She turned her head with a frown and saw Xiao Cui. Her eyes were clear and cold. But in a flash, they reverted to being weak and delicate.

Xiao Cui was stunned. Guniang’s expression just then was so strange and unfamiliar. Was she seeing things?

Before she could think too much, she heard guniang’s soft and feeble voice.

“Help me sit up.”

Xiao Cui recovered from her daze and hurried to help Gu Jiu up.

Tao Hong held the bowl of medicine and beside the bed. “Guniang, you should drink the medicine now.”

Gu Jiu wasn’t in a hurry. Covering her mouth with the handkerchief, she coughed lightly. Her small face was pale and weak.

As the strong medicinal smell assaulted her nostrils, she subconsciously frowned.

This medicine had a heavy smell with an overbearing effect. How could a frail fourteen-year-old girl who had been ill since birth drink it?

Gu Jiu raised her head and glanced at Tao Hong. The seventeen or eighteen year old maid was like a blossoming flower, looking tender and lovable.

Gu Jiu continued to cough, her complexion becoming increasingly pale.

Tao Hong was a maid sent by taitai. A few years ago, she had been sent to her side to serve her.

“Guniang, you should drink the medicine,” Tao Hong said again. Her tone was more forceful than before. The impatience and disgust in her eyes was seen clearly.

Disgust?

Impatience, she could understand. Even as a servant, taking care of a patient for long could give birth to impatience. That was only natural.

But where did disgust come from? Gu Jiu lowered her head, a trace of doubt and ridicule flashing in her eyes. Looking at Tao Hong, she said softly, “Come closer, I don’t have much strength.”

Tao Hong walked towards her holding the bowl. Gu Jiu gasped for breath twice before reaching out to take the bowl.

As her hand touched the bowl, Tao Hong let go. Gu Jiu’s fingers suddenly trembled and her hand immediately shrank back and fell to her side.

Bang!

The bowl of medicine shattered to pieces on the ground and the hot medicine splashed all over Tao Hong and Xiao Cui.

“Ah…!”

Both girls cried out at the same time.

Unexpectedly, Gu Jiu who sat on the bed had avoided this disaster.

She covered her mouth with her handkerchief and coughed lightly, her face filled with self-blame, sadness, weakness and helplessness.

“Are you both alright?” She said tremulously, as if she were crying.

Xiao Cui hurriedly said, “Guniang doesn’t need to be anxious. Nubi, nubi is fine.”

Saying so, she wiped the stains on her clothes.

Tao Hong frowned, looking at her new clothes she had worn that day. The decoction had left a large stain on her skirt. It looked extremely ugly.

Her face twitched as she looked at Gu Jiu, annoyed. Even while ill, she continued to cause trouble.

Gu Jiu suddenly sat up as she coughed violently, her face flushing with exertion.

“Guniang, are you okay?” Xiao Cui asked nervously.

Gu Jiu waved her hand, indicating that she need not worry.

She stopped coughing with great difficulty. Gasping, she said weakly, “Tao Hong, I have to trouble you to prepare the medicine again. Change your clothes too on the way. Your clothes have been dirtied, it doesn’t look very good.”

Tao Hong was filled with resentment. Her voice was very aggressive as she said, “Guniang, nubi had prepared the medicine well with great difficulty. How could you be so careless?”

“I didn’t do it on purpose,” Gu Jiu’s eyes immediately brimmed with tears. “I know that my body is very disappointing and has dragged you down. I also want to recover quickly. Cough, cough… Tao Hong, ever since you came to serve me, you have been wronged. If you’re unwilling, why don’t I request taitai to take you back and serve by her side?”

“Guniang shouldn’t speak nonsense! Since taitai sent nubi to guniang, nubi must serve guniang for a lifetime! Xiao Cui, take good care of guniang. I will prepare the medicine again.”

Saying this, Tao Hong left the room. Once she left, Gu Jiu immediately put away her tears; there was a faint look on her face.

“Guniang, don’t be sad. Tao Hong jie’s mouth is a bit fierce,” Xiao Cui consoled Gu Jiu.

Gu Jiu smiled indifferently. Such a foolish girl. It was not just Tao Hong’s mouth that was fierce.

“Xiao Cui, hand me that broken piece.” Gu Jiu pointed to a big fragment of the broken medicine bowl.

Xiao Cui was puzzled. “What does guniang want it for? You will injure your hand with it.”

“It’s okay, you give it to me.”

Xiao Cui picked up the piece. There was still some medicine left on it. She gave it to Gu Jiu.

Gu Jiu carefully sniffed the medicine. Dipping her finger in it, she put it in her mouth and tasted it. She was able to finely distinguish between the ingredients.

Notopterygium root, root of Chinese thorowax, forsythia, black atractylodes rhizome, dried orange peel….

This was a syndrome-relieving medicine, used to disperse disease-causing factors and remove symptoms.

There was no problem with the prescription but the medicine was incorrect for her illness. The medicinal ingredients also had problems.

Sure enough, as she had guessed, the medicine she was taking had a problem.

“Guniang?”

Xiao Cui was a little nervous. She didn’t know what guniang was doing.

Gu Jiu gave her a mild smile and kept the fragment with her. “The smell of the medicine is too strong. Clean up the room.”

“Nubi obeys!”

Xiao Cui cleaned the ground and the footstool.

Gu Jiu looked around at the ancient ambience and sighed. She really didn’t expect that the heavens weren’t unkind to her. She had traversed to another time-space into the body of a an unmarried girl, also named Gu Jiu.

She came from the modern age. Because of complications in her heart, she passed away. She was quite unfortunate to have suffered from a congenital heart disease.

But she was also lucky. Before she was born, her family business was on the verge of bankruptcy. After her birth, her family business miraculously rose from the dead.

In just over a decade, Gu family’s business, an insignificant company with only about 100 employees grew to a global conglomerate with over 10,000 employees.

Her parents did their best, travelling all over the world to treat her illness. Her two older brothers pampered and spoiled her, making her the happiest younger sister in the world.

Her father said that she was their family’s god of wealth, their lucky star, bringing them good fortune.

It was a pity that only she wasn’t that lucky.

From the moment she could eat, she began taking medicines. From the moment she could read, she began reading medical books.

From a young age, she went through dozens of big and small heart surgeries and one heart transplant. But even then, she couldn’t avoid complications and died on her twentieth birthday.

But before she died, she didn’t have any regrets.

Since childhood, she had a prosperous life having parents and two handsome brothers who cared for her and doted on her.

In addition, there was Professor Hu who treated her like his disciple and taught her everything he knew. Professor Hu was a doctoral tutor at a medical university, a distinguished academic and her attending doctor.

During her last moments, when she was saying her goodbyes to everyone in her family, she told them that she would be going to another world so that they wouldn’t grieve too much after her death.

This sentence was said casually as a joke. But unexpectedly, when she woke up from her dream, she really went another world. The original owner of this body was also called Gu Jiu.

She was born prematurely and had been frail ever since. Her biological mother Su shi had named her Gu Jiu hoping that she could have a long life.

Six months after her birth, Su shi fell ill and passed away. After her death, the original owner’s father immediately raised his concubine Xie shi to the wife’s status.

Since then, she and her full-blooded older brother lived in the shadow of their stepmother, Xie shi.

Early winter the previous year, the girls of the governor’s fu were invited to the Hezhong Magistrate’s fu as guests. There, the original owner was pushed into water.

Later, she was rescued, but she immediately developed a high fever.

The magistrate’s wife invited a doctor to relieve her fever. Even though the fever subsided, the original owner suffered from a coughing ailment ever since.

From early winter the previous year to late spring this year, half a year had passed. During this time, the original owner’s illness relapsed several times and she never fully recovered, becoming increasingly weak.

Ultimately, in the early hours of that morning, the original owner passed away and Gu Jiu of the modern age had replaced her.

Gu Jiu rubbed between her eyebrows. The original owner remembered very little about what happened at the magistrate’s fu the previous year.

She didn’t know who pushed her into the water. This incident wasn’t investigated either and the culprit wasn’t found.

The magistrate’s wife merely caught hold of two old servants and made them scapegoats to provide an explanation. She said that the old servants were negligent and didn’t take care of her well, causing her to fall into the water.

Gu Jiu frowned, wondering whether any of the young ladies in the magistrate’s fu had pushed her into the water, or whether it was one of her own sisters who harboured evil intentions towards her.

She remembered clearly that someone pushed her ruthlessly with one hand. This was, by no means, an accident. Someone was actually scheming against her.

In early winter, Hezhong magistrate’s fu would be freezing. Pushing her into the water in that weather was clearly wishing for her death.

“Guniang, do you want to lie down for a while? It will take some time before Tao Hong jie prepares the medicine again.”

Xiao Cui’s voice pulled Gu Jiu away from her contemplation. She glanced at Xiao Cui and didn’t say anything.

“Guniang, what’s the matter?”

Gu Jiu coughed softly. “Go call Qing Mei.”

Qing Mei was the first-class maid by the original Gu Jiu’s side. Since Tao Hong’s arrival, Qing Mei was marginalised. She had now become a needlework servant. Everyday she had to do needlework endlessly. She had a reputation of being good at needlework, so she had to do more of that work.

Xiao Cui said, “Qing Mei jie is probably busy now. If guniang wants to see her, it’s better to wait till the evening.”

Gu Jiu stared at Xiao Cui with a severe look. “Xiao Cui, who am I?”

Xiao Cui laughed naively. “Guniang is guniang!”

Gu Jiu shook her head.  “I am a guniang and also your master. Will you disobey your master’s words?”

Xiao Cui’s face instantly paled. “Nubi, nubi won’t disobey guniang.”

“Then call Qing Mei at once.”

“But nubi wants to serve guniang.”

Gu Jiu sighed, saying in an aggrieved manner, “I’m sick and you don’t put me in your eyes. Is that it?”

“No, guniang misunderstood. Qing Mei jie said that there should always be someone at guniang’s side.”

Gu Jiu smiled self-deprecatingly. “I didn’t know that Qing Mei was actually the master of this yard. I, this master in name, can’t even order a servant girl. Fine, then. Tomorrow, I will risk my health and request taitai. Qing Mei is so capable that taitai should recognise her as an adopted daughter. In the future, you can legitimately serve Qing Mei xiaojie.”

These were words which could put her to her death.

No matter how stupid Xiao Cui was, she clearly understood what these words implied.

Plop!

She suddenly knelt, her knees aching sharply.

Hearing this sound, Gu Jiu felt her own knees ache.

“Guniang, spare me, spare me! Nubi is stupid, nubi didn’t oppose guniang intentionally! Neither did nubi deliberately disobey guniang. Please give nubi another chance. Nubi will immediately call Qing Mei jie.”

Gu Jiu fixed her gaze on Xiao Cui. She knew why Xiao Cui disobeyed her and listened to Tao Hong’s instructions.

This was the mess created by the original owner. The original owner was naturally cautious and careful, not wanting trouble and unwilling to provoke Xie shi, her stepmother.

Since Tao Hong came to Zhilanyuan as long as she wasn’t too excessive, the original owner usually went along with Tao Hong’s ideas. Before long, letting Tao Hong decide everything became a matter of course.

The maid inside the yard did not approach Gu Jiu when they encountered problems but went to Tao Hong. In Zhilanyuan, Tao Hong was a servant only in name but actually lived the life of a master.

But that was a matter of the past. Now that she had arrived, the rules in Zhilanyuan had to be rectified.

Gu Jiu stared at Xiao Cui. “Do you know your mistake?”

Xiao Cui repeatedly nodded. “Nubi knows her mistakes.”

“Then I will give you a chance to correct them. Call Qing Mei and don’t tell Tao Hong.”

“Yes, nubi will immediately call Qing Mei jie and not inform Tao Hong jie.”