Chapter 31: Healing

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There was rather a lot of medicine, and he kept swallowing some only to spit it back out, leaving himself in a miserable state.

This was the scene that greeted the man’s personal attendant when he entered the room.

The attendant’s expression changed. He strode forward with a shout. “What are you doing? Let go of my young master!”

The anti-inflammatory and antiviral medicines had already been taken. Shao Diandian was just about to give him some cough syrup.

Before the attendant could rush over, she pushed the last spoonful into the man’s mouth.

Then she slipped aside.

The attendant lunged and missed.

Without Shao Diandian’s support, the man toppled onto the bed.

The attendant’s expression changed again. Forgetting all about catching Shao Diandian, he turned and helped the man lie down properly.

“Young master! Young master!”

The fever medicine had begun to take effect. Sweat broke out all over the man’s body, leaving him clammy from head to toe.

The attendant grew even more frantic. How could he suddenly be sweating so profusely?

“Young master… Young master, what’s wrong? Don’t frighten me, young master! Young master—young master—”

“What happened?”

Dean Shen hurried in, his expression tense.

He had just finished teaching a class. The moment he entered the courtyard, he heard Changping’s wails.

Changping was sprawled over the man, sobbing loudly. At the dean’s words, he turned around, his face streaked with tears and mucus, and cried to Dean Shen, “Dean… someone has harmed my young master…”

Dean Shen’s face changed dramatically as well. “Your young master… Who harmed him?”

Changping raised a hand and pointed at Shao Diandian, who was trying her best to make herself inconspicuous. “Her!”

“I didn’t,” Shao Diandian said earnestly.

Changping wailed, “I saw everything! Don’t even think of denying it! My young master was perfectly fine just moments ago… It was you… You poisoned my young master!”

Only then did Dean Shen notice the chubby little girl in the room. Judging by her clothes, she looked like a village girl from somewhere.

Although their academy was not a government office or restricted compound, they certainly did not allow just anyone to enter—much less into the dean’s own courtyard.

If something truly happened to the young master because of his negligence, he would never be able to atone for it, even with a thousand deaths.

“Who are you? How did you get in?” he asked coldly.

Shao Diandian spread her hands. “I just walked in.”

“That’s impossible!” Dean Shen rejected the answer outright. “You’re neither a student nor a servant of the academy. The gatekeeper could never have let you in.”

“I came through the back gate.”

“Then it’s even more impossible!”

That old man had a temper worse than anyone’s. Would he really let some village girl into the academy for no reason?

Dean Shen thundered, “You’d better confess everything honestly. Otherwise, I’ll have no choice but to send you to the authorities!”

Changping choked back sobs and roared angrily, “You harmed my young master! How cruel can you be? My young master has never wronged you! Why did you try to harm him? Speak! Who sent you?”

Shao Diandian sighed helplessly. “I didn’t harm your young master. I was saving him. He was coughing so badly that he could barely breathe, and his fever was dangerously high. Without immediate treatment, he would have been in serious danger. If you don’t believe me, feel his forehead. Hasn’t his fever gone down?”

Changping reached over and touched his young master’s forehead.

It really was no longer burning.

No, that was wrong. A corpse would grow cold too.

This chubby girl was definitely the one who had harmed his young master!

“Stop making excuses! Someone come here! Tie her up!”

“Don’t tie me up! Don’t tie me up! Don’t tie me up!”

Shen Chuan rushed in, blocking Shao Diandian from view. Panting heavily, he said, “Listen to me! We’re all on the same side… We’re all on the same side… There must be some misunderstanding…”

Shao Diandian tilted her head and glanced at him. “Oh, Shen Chuan?”

Shen Chuan turned around and gave her an embarrassed smile. “Miss Shao.”

Dean Shen’s brows drew tightly together. “Shen Chuan! What are you doing?”

Shen Chuan explained, “Father! I was the one who had her let in! I already informed Uncle Qiu and the servants in the courtyard!”

Shao Diandian nodded. No wonder she had gotten in so smoothly.

Changping choked out in disbelief, “Young Master Shen, my young master has never wronged you…”

Shao Diandian thought, Here we go again. Could this attendant ever change what he says?

Shen Chuan said firmly, “I would never harm your young master, and neither would Miss Shao. She just said she was saving him. You have to believe her! She knows medicine!”

As he spoke, he looked straight into his father’s eyes without the slightest hesitation. “Father, remember the girl I told you about—the one who saved the child choking on food at Brocade Records? That’s her!”

After hearing his son’s explanation, Dean Shen’s expression grew even colder. “So you found some country girl to treat the young master? Have you forgotten my warning? This is utter nonsense!”

“I…” Shen Chuan hesitated.

He had not invited Miss Shao to treat anyone. He had not even had the chance to mention such a thing to her.

But explaining that now seemed rather…

Dean Shen said in a low voice, “Shen Chuan! Step aside immediately!”

The servants outside had already taken their positions, ready to rush in and seize the chubby village girl.

Shen Chuan panicked. “Father, can’t you trust me just this once?”

Dean Shen clasped his hands behind his back and said sternly, “I’ll say this one last time! Step aside! Otherwise, I’ll have you taken to the authorities along with her!”

Shen Chuan let out an aggrieved snort. “And you still say I wasn’t adopted? Is this how anyone treats his own son?”

Dean Shen was so furious that the corner of his mouth twitched.

Shen Chuan happened to glance toward the doorway. “Young Master Jing! You’re here!”

The servants outside hurriedly bowed.

Dean Shen also instinctively turned his head.

“Miss Shao, forgive me!”

Shen Chuan seized Shao Diandian by the wrist and dragged her toward the doorway.

“You unfilial son!”

Dean Shen was livid.

Shen Chuan pulled Shao Diandian and bolted, but no one expected him to rush out of the room only to retreat in panic a moment later.

Standing before him was a burly guard and a richly dressed youth wearing a nine-section whip.

The youth’s gaze was icy, and his presence imposing.

Though he was only sixteen or seventeen, he carried a chilling aura of slaughter, as if he had ridden through countless battlefields.

As if he had killed before and tasted blood.

The instant Shen Chuan saw him, he gave up all resistance.

Only one thought drifted through his mind.

It was over. Completely over.

That cursed mouth of his had really summoned Young Master Jing.

It seemed that he and Miss Shao were destined to have no escape today.

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