Silent Lover (The Silent Concubine) - Chap 83

After Shen Yu escaped back to Shao Hua Courtyard, in the study, Prince Zhenbei, who originally had a strong desire, suddenly stopped while pressing Hong Lian underneath him, and glanced sideways at the darkness outside.

“Your Highness, what’s wrong?” Hong Lian, already eager, wrapped his legs around Prince Zhenbei’s waist and actively moved towards him.

“It’s nothing, you can go back now,” Prince Zhenbei said, getting up and putting on his robe. Hong Lian, puzzled, put on his clothes and was inexplicably driven out of the study by Prince Zhenbei.

…

After repeated requests from Shen Yu, he packed his belongings himself. Inside were just a few changes of clothes. Song Qing couldn’t resist him, so he moved to the woodshed in the backyard of Shao Hua Courtyard overnight. For some reason, Shen Yu slept on a mat as if everything had settled down, and he fell asleep in a moment, sleeping very deeply. Despite calling out to him several times and even closing the creaky wood door, Song Qing couldn’t wake him up.

Shao Hua Courtyard didn’t have any servants to attend to them. Washing and cleaning were all arranged by Song Qing using servants from elsewhere. From that day on, even the servants were spared. Shen Yu washed his clothes, cleaned the windows of the room spotlessly, worked harder than a servant, wiped the floor so clean it was spotless, and even cleared the snow in the courtyard…

However, Song Qing noticed that he often seemed absent-minded. Clothes that had just been hung out to dry would be thrown back into the basin for scrubbing over and over again. When he had nothing to do, he would sit for only a short while before fetching a basin of water to clean every corner of Shao Hua Courtyard.

Song Qing was worried, but Shen Yu’s face showed more smiles than before. Song Qing hadn’t seen Shen Yu look so relaxed in a long time; it seemed that he was most at ease when he was working.

Watching him deftly pick up an axe to chop wood, Song Qing noticed that he didn’t have much strength now. After chopping for several times without success, he ended up sweating profusely.

“Don’t do this kind of work.”

Song Qing had advised him more than once, but Shen Yu never listened. Every night, while he slept, Song Qing would change the bandages on his hands. Instead of healing, the wounds on his palms had worsened, and frostbite scars had formed. Either they were blistered white by the cold or the scars that had just healed would crack again, turning his once tender hands into a mess of scars.

When Song Qing went to get medicine, Bian Shisi began to doubt his own medical skills. Otherwise, how could such minor injuries linger for so long without healing?

At first, Song Qing worried that applying medicine would wake him up, but later found that he slept too deeply, perhaps because he was too tired during the day.

After some time, Shen Yu had repeated the chores in Shao Hua Courtyard countless times and couldn’t find anything else to do. He went to the servants’ room to snatch some work. At first, the young maids and servants were wary of him, keeping their distance and not daring to talk to him or assign him heavy tasks.

But as they got to know him, they found that this mute was willing to work hard, even willing to do dirty work like cleaning dung. Although the old maids secretly cursed him for being a fool, they were happy to let him do the dirty work, after all, having a fool willing to endure hardship made their lives easier.

Shen Yu exerted a lot of physical strength, so he didn’t bother to pick and choose his meals like before. He went to the servants’ kitchen every day to get leftovers, gobbling them down as if they were more delicious than the fine food and wine he used to eat. The cook was a kind person who specially left a portion for him and sometimes even added a piece of fat or a fish tail.

Every night, after Shen Yu returned to the woodshed, he would make a mark on a thin piece of paper. Song Qing didn’t know what he was writing; he had sneaked a glance once, but it was just some numbers.

Song Qing only saw his originally slender body now thin as paper, ready to blow away with the wind.