“How could I be mistaken? A maid who was sentenced to caning—I was called in late at night, and she was already dying…” The old man didn’t like people questioning his memory and said with a snort, shaking his head and sighing. “So young, what a pity…”
Before he finished speaking, he heard someone cough behind him and call out “Doctor.”
The old man instinctively turned around and saw two fifteen or sixteen-year-old maids. He often moved among the servants of the Marquis Dingxi’s mansion and knew the hierarchy, recognizing from their dress that they were second-class maids. One of them looked lovely and charming, smiling at him cheerfully.
“Doctor, I died so miserably!” This maid suddenly stuck out her tongue, stepped forward abruptly, and said to him in a drawn-out low voice while shaking her head.
This sudden statement in broad daylight startled the old man.
Was this maid crazy? He couldn’t help but stare wide-eyed. Seeing the maid’s face clearly, he suddenly cried out and stumbled backward several steps.
The young maids, who had been about to bow and greet A’Hao and Liu’er, hadn’t noticed what A’Hao had said. Suddenly knocked into by the old man, they became confused.
A’Hao laughed heartily.
“Which girl is sick? Better get a different doctor. This one…” she shook her head, “this one isn’t very good…”
After saying this, she waved her hand with a laugh and walked away.
“Doctor, what are you doing?” The young maids all felt embarrassed and scolded the old man.
“Ghost… ghost…” the old man said tremblingly, looking at A’Hao walking away, his face terrified.
“What ghost? That’s Miss A’Hao from the Young Madam’s service,” the young maids said even more impatiently. It seemed this doctor was really no good, actually having delusions.
The old man stared, and in the sunlight, the maid walking ahead cast a clear shadow on the ground, swaying long and short with her movement…
She was really alive…
The old man opened his mouth wide, staring fixedly at the walking maid. Her figure was light, her steps leisurely, and she would occasionally turn her head to chat and laugh with the maid beside her. Her smile was vivid, her expression lively.
“Impossible, impossible,” he just kept murmuring, “Impossible!”
Although it was night that day, he clearly remembered that poor maid’s appearance. Perhaps because she was too young, perhaps because of the mansion’s dirty methods toward servants, or perhaps because of the genuine anxiety and care shown by the roomful of people he had rarely seen in his years of practicing medicine in this mansion—he clearly remembered that maid who had one foot in the gates of hell that night.
“Sister A’Hao, what are you doing?” Liu’er asked in confusion.
A’Hao shook her head and laughed.
“When this doctor first examined me, the first thing he said was that I was going to die. It scared me so much I fainted right then…” she said with some indignation. “If not for…”
Her words stopped abruptly.
“If not for what?” Liu’er was still waiting to hear and asked hurriedly.
“If not for my good fortune, I really would have been scared to death by him,” A’Hao said with a laugh. “This time I’m scaring him back.”
Liu’er laughed after hearing this, but when she looked back, she saw that old man A’Hao had scared staring wide-eyed and running toward them.
“Oh my, that old man is chasing us,” she said hurriedly, grabbing A’Hao’s arm to hide.
A’Hao looked back. The old physician had already rushed in front of her and reached out to grab her other arm.
“You… how did you not die? How did you not die?” he shouted loudly, his expression agitated. “Who saved you? Who cured you?”