Broken Bonds

Chapter 15

T/n: The italicized pronouns indicate formal speech.
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Yan Feili stayed at the Shenmei Courtyard for a few days. Once he recovered enough to be able to leave the bed, he had planned to return to the Bamboo Garden. Beitang Ao, having seen his frostbite and other illnesses improved by a lot, said nothing more against the matter then.

Back at the Bamboo Garden, Yan Feili had thought the place would have been left abandoned and cold after being gone for twenty days. Never expecting that it would instead be neat, tidy and remarkably clean; even the heater had already been lit, making the entire house warm and cozy.

He did have an elderly servant who took care of him before this, but that old servant of his was along in years along with having poor vision and a hearing impairment, therefore eventually the work became much too strenuous for him. So, a few years earlier, Yan Feili had paid him a lump sum of silver and allowed him enter into retirement. Plus, at around that time, the condition of Yan Feili's body posed an inconvenience, as he also had no idea when that child would enter the world, prompting him to not dare ask for another servant, and afterwards had always lived on his own.

But now, upon seeing how incredibly well the Bamboo Garden was tidied up by others, he could not help his astonishment. And, just as he was thinking of this, a male and female servant both entered from outside then knelt before him.

"Our Northern Sect's Master has dispatched us here to serve General Yan."

Yan Feili released a sigh.

Of those two persons, the man was unfamiliar, however he did recognise the female servant, who was a high-ranking maid in Beitang's own kitchen. But to those two people, despite them saying they were there to serve him, he feared the must have also had the intention of keeping an eye on him as well.

"You may rise."

The high-ranking maid's name was Xi Mei, which Yan Feili knew, so he then asked the male servant: "What's your name, and where are you from?"

"I am Ling Qing, and prior to this, I was in charge of the main stables in the Shenmei Courtyard. However, since a lot of people had requested their annual leave to head back to their family homes for the New Year celebrations, there is insufficient staff, so I was transferred to the Liuxiang Residence of the Shenmei Courtyard. Afterwards, the head caretaker of the official at that residence spoke quite highly of my handling of the work I had been assigned there well, and had recommended me to the Sect Master who then ordered me to enter his residence. Sect Master then instructed both Xi Mei and myself to look after General Yan yesterday, thus both of us came here at dawn."

Yan Feili nodded, saying, "Both of you can stay then."

"General Yan, do you have any orders for us?" Being quite diligent from the get-go, the quite clever Ling Qing then asked.

Unable to have anything come to mind after a while, Yan Feili simply asked them to leave.

Afterwards, he slowly made his way to his bed. With the frostbite covering his body not yet completely healed, a lot of places were still bruised and swollen, which caused him pain when they rubbed against his clothing.

So then, sitting on the edge of his bed, gripping the sides tightly, Yan Feili felt as if a knife was ripping through his heart. This was the same bed he was on when he had given birth to that child, where he had only held held him that one time—not even being able to give the little one a name before he had vanished from his embrace.

"Li'er..." Yan Feili then cried out in a whisper.

***

Qiu Yeyuan came to see him a few times following his return home, helping him change his dressings as well as taking his pulse. Xi Mei and Ling were also quite competent people, and serving him was not difficult at all. So without even realizing it, the New Year's holidays were over, and the season of Spring had arrived in a flash.