Broken Bonds

Chapter 14

T/n: During Beitang and Yan Feili's conversation later this chapter, Beitang refers to himself informally, i.e. he uses (我：I) instead of his usual (本座). Beitang is a rigid cun——bastard... who is anal about rules and propriety so him dropping formality is something notable. The italicized pronouns indicate the return to formal speech.
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When Yan Feili's eyes opened, the first thing they saw was the unfamiliar coloured canopy surrounding his bed, followed by the face of Qiu Yeyuan—the relief within his expression quite obvious.

Yan Feili felt his head seemed rather fuzzy, and upon lightly moving his body, a burst of unbearable pain erupted from each and every inch.

Qiu Yeyuan quickly said to him: "General Yan, your body has endured too much frostbite along with a high fever that only just stated to decrease. Your body is weak, so you cannot move about as you please. You need to get some proper rest."

Upon hearing his words, Yan Feili remained confused for a while. "What happened to me? Where is this place?"

Qiu Yeyuan knew his mind was not yet completely awake, so he answered softly: "You have been unconscious for three days, and this is Master Beitang's bedroom."

It so happened, that on the day where he lost consciousness, he was soon carried into the residence of Beitang Ao. His entire body was frostbitten, a high fever had begun, and his lower region was still leaking blood so he could not be moved around freely. Not long passed before Beitang allowed him into is bedroom, made Qiu Yeyuan look after him there, then found another room in the house for himself. Hearing Qiu Yeyuan say this, Yan Feili slowly recalled these previous events—his heart pained.

"General Yan, till now you have not eaten anything, so here's some warm porridge. Have a bit of it, alright." Having said that, he helped Yan Feili sit up slowly.

Yan Feili however had no appetite in the slightest, but seeing the worried expression on Qiu Yeyuan's face, he forced himself to eat a bit soon after.

"Doctor Qiu, I'm truly sorry for troubling you this much." Yan Feili softly apologised to Qiu Yeyuan.

"General Yan, why are you saying such things. Saving lives is a doctor's philosophy, so how can you say it was trouble? Qiu'mou has not done anything special at all." Qiu Yeyuan gazed at Yan Feili's appearance, unable to help the pang emerging in his heart. Just thinking about how that man had given birth to a son, and then in less than a day, that child was never to be seen again, as well as it being most likely Beitang Ao was the one who took that child away.

"General Yan, Qiu'mou has some things he must inform you as your doctor. With there being not even being three full days since you had given birth, your health not being taken care of properly, and your kneeling in the snow for three hours; you, despite your physique not being similar to a female's, there may be some lingering health effect which may arise in the future. My fear is that if you fall ill, it would be rather difficult for you to make a full recovery, so I need you to prepare yourself for that."

An incompletely cured illness, and so on and whatnot... Yan Feili paid no attention at all.

This body of his turned out to be nothing but a curse, a deformity—something that should not exist! So much so, that even he himself had begun hating it. Were it not for his strange physique, he would not have given birth to that little thing, nor would he be in so much pain because he had lost it.

For half a month, Yan Feili had remained lain within that bedroom of Beitang Ao's, while his his fever and frostbite slowly began to recover. During that time, Beitang had went to see him twice. But as luck would have it, on both those occasions, he was still fast asleep.