Lu Gang

Following Duan Guiren, Bai Shuixian entered the dilapidated house. It was extremely small, so once the door opened she was able to see his brother laying on the bed. This also made her notice his small frame almost like a child and his skin that tinted blue.

"Gege, how are you? Are you still okay? Does it hurt?" Duan Guiren rushed to ask immediately upon reaching the bedside of his brother.

"Xiao Ren, calm down. So many questions, your brother won't be able to answer," she slowly calmed.

Nodding, Duan Guiren told his brother, "Gege, I brought a jiejie over."

Though weak, the brother sat up from his bed and introduced, "My name is Lu Gang. I apologize if my dear younger brother made any trouble."

"He is only a small child. There is not much trouble he can cause at this young age," she replied. "I heard him say that you are dying."

Lu Gang did not expect her straightforwardness, so his eyes went into shock before it calmed down and he responded with a wry smile, "I've been long dying. I just didn't know when."

Looking him up and down, she asked, "Do you know why? Have you seen a physician?"

"I'm too poor to afford a physician," Lu Gang admitted embarrassedly.

When it came to admitting that he was poor to other people of the same class as him, Lu Gang was not embarrassed. However, in front of someone that seemed to be dripping gold, he could only look away. There were not many good examples of rich people respecting the commoners, so he was not confident or prideful of himself in any way in front of wealthy men.

Hearing his admission though, Bai Shuixian also walked to the bedside and grabbed his wrist. Examining for a second and another, she realized that Lu Gang was born with a congenital heart disease. This explained why she saw that he had a blue-tinted skin and an undeveloped body.

Not only that, as she took his pulse, Lu Gang was having abnormal heart rhythms. At the same time, Bai Shuixian was able to take notice when he had a shortness of breath periodically. The only thing missing was the swollen body tissues, but she did not need to see such a thing to diagnose him.

"In your family, there is probably someone born with a congenital heart disease?" she asked after removing her hand from Lu Gang's wrist.

"Ah, how did you know?" Lu Gang curiously asked whilst answering at the same time.

"You have the same condition," she answered.

With sullen eyes, Lu Gang then said with sadness soaked in his tone, "Ah, it seems I'm really not meant to live a lifetime."

"Who says? Just because you're born with a weaker heart, it does not mean you are physically weaker. There are ways to combat a weak heart and there are ways to strengthen the heart," she said.

"That… is that true?" Lu Gang asked with open eyes that expressed both surprise and expectations.

"If your family had enough money to pay for a physician, they would still be alive," she replied.

"Ah, how did you know they died from the same thing?" Lu Gang asked with even more shock.

"Common sense," she answered.

Though he was in shock, Lu Gang still managed to ask, "Why are you helping me?"

Hearing his question, Bai Shuixian looked down at the tiny body of Duan Guiren and mysteriously said, "Because I believe we have a fate together."

Although still confused, Lu Gang accepted her answer and thanked her once again. Though Bai Shuixian only told him what was bothering and ailing his body, it was enough help for him. He knew that his family had a history with heart disease, but since his generation was born safe and healthy, he believed that he was also not suffering from the same disease.

As she stared around the house, Bai Shuixian said, "Laying in bed all day won't help you get better. I advise you to work and exercise everyday. It would also help if you eat three meals a day."

"Miss, just look at our house," Lu Gang stated with a wry smile once again appearing on his sullen face. "Not to mention money, we can barely get our hands on food."

Expecting that, Bai Shuixian took out some things from her cosmos bag. These things consisted of food, medicine, and many more items that she believed would aid the brothers in bettering their health. At the same time, she had taken so many things from a small bag that it shocked Lu Gang.

Lu Gang was just sixteen years old, but he still knew about a lot of things since he survived on his own in the world. His parents had died while he was still young and he was kicked out by the previous tenant, so he had to make due with what he had to survive. However, as life would have it, he was afflicted with a disease and was born weak.

"Miss… All of these things…" Lu Gang quietly said as he watched her continue to take out things.

Pointing to the bag of pills, she said, "These are for you. Eat these after every meal."

"Oh… Uh… Thank you," Lu Gang confusedly said.

"Gege, what's this?" Duan Guiren pointed to a plate of szechwan chilli chicken.

Not waiting for Lu Gang to answer, Bai Shuixian said, "That's szechwan chilli chicken."

"Why is there the word szechwan before the chicken?" Duan Guiren curiously asked as he stared at the plate with shining eyes.

Handing the little boy a pair of chopsticks to eat the chicken, she answered, "Because it was first made in the Sichuan region."

"Where is Sichuan?" Duan Guiren asked after grabbing the chopsticks.

"One day you will know. For now, just eat these," Bai Shuixian said as she pointed to plates of spring rolls and stir fried tofu with rice.

"This is all for me and gege?" Duan Guiren childishly asked with a smile.

"Yes," she answered.

Seeing that Duan Guiren was already eating, Lu Gang also accepted the chopsticks and started eating, too. In all honesty, he had never eaten such recipes before since he was too poor to afford just delicacies. Having a taste for the first time, he could only savor each and every bite for he did not know if he would be able to eat them again.

As they ate, Bai Shuixian quietly left the house without notice. Though she was a lazy person, she liked to handle things quickly and as fast as she could. Only in that way could she make time for breaks and such.

The best time to divine something was at night as the stars shone brightly and she did not have to go into a deep sleep for long. When she divined at night, she only fell asleep for a few days and it would not go over a week. Compared to in the daylight when she went into hibernation for weeks or months.

It was still daylight and she had already left the house belonging to the two boys, so she decided to continue her venture in the town. Since the town was not too far from the village, she did not have to worry about returning home late. Though, it did not matter because she was always a late sleeper.

When she had finished going through every single stall in the town, she decided that it was time to go back home. The sun was still up in the sky, but she had nothing else to do in the town and she hated socializing or being in crowded places so she did not want to venture into the restaurant. She also did not want to look at the inns because Zhong Chen had told her previously that it was full of grubby and wealthy people who mistreated the poor.

With her world views shaped by Zhong Chen and Zhu Jin, the things she knew came from books and what they told her. Otherwise, she had little knowledge of anything. Of course, she also gained her knowledge of the world from the personas.

Since she did not like to go outside much or interact with strangers, it was the personas that did the adventuring for her. Every time that they did, they would tell her of the things they experienced. The one person that told her the most was Xuan Yueji.

Xuan Yueji was the one that controlled the body the most. He controlled it even more than her, so he had lots of adventures. He had so many legends to tell that she even questioned sometimes whether the body belonged to her or to him originally.

However, at the same time, his storytelling was great so she had no complaints. Once in a while, Xuan Yueji would tell her about what the emperor was doing. Sometimes he would tell her about the prince that was just born or the empress finally gave birth to a princess.

It truly excited her when hearing these stories because she did not have the fortune to experience them herself. If she was more brave, she would also go to the capital and visit Su Guang. She would also stay in crowded areas and try out the many things that people normally did.

Unfortunately, she was a coward. Though she had lots of power, she did not use them and feared them. She was scared that one day, she would overexert herself and destroy herself.

In the end, this was all just her being paranoid. She may follow fate, but she was still fearful of everything that occurred in her childhood. Sometimes, time can destroy things, but they could not destroy the remnants that still stood weakly.