Chapter 558: Midnight dreams of Little Qi (1) (1/2)
Chapter 558: Midnight dreams of Little Qi (1)
Faced with Gu Qishao’s question, Long Feiye was silent. His heavy gaze turned complicated as Gu Qishao flew away from the roof, scarlet robes looking forlorn and desolate against the dark night sky. It was a sadness that came from an eternal loneliness. Tonight promised to be a restless one. Gu Qishao curled up in the branches of an old tree in the courtyard and dreamed about his childhood…
~~~
Endless mountain ranges stretched out in the space behind the medical academy, interspersed with luxurious plants and trees. But tonight, a sharp, bright wailing filled the air above the forbidden grounds of the Poison Sect, which had been deathly still for decades. At the mountain valley closest to the medical academy, a baby boy had been born in a small thatched cottage. There was no midwife present at the scene, only the boy’s own father. His mother had already lost consciousness and was quickly sent away, never catching a glimpse of her child. Because the baby couldn’t find his mother, he was crying nonstop as he sought comfort.
The father held the babe in swaddling clothes and gently rocked him to and fro as he cooed, “Child, be good…don’t cry, child, be good….”
He was born from an old and illustrious family in Medical City and was known as the medical academy’s most talented disciple to date. The head of the academy had already appointed him as his successor, making him the youngest vice-head in Medical City. They called him Vice Head Gu. Despite this, he had yet to marry anyone and was the only person who knew of the origins of this child. He was also the only one who knew why he wanted this son in the first place.
The baby’s cries grew louder and louder, a desolate sound in the still valley. Soon enough, a black-robed man appeared and took the babe from his eyes to inspect him, before proclaiming with a start, “He’s actually completely unharmed!”
While the baby was still in the womb, the two of them had already started performing all sorts of experiments on the foetus. They used specialized acupuncture to stimulate all sorts of illnesses in the baby, then observed the effects before treating each ailment, tracking the prognosis all the way. Over the ten-month pregnancy, they’d did a different experiment every month to break through a thorny disease that had plagued the pregnancy and find a proper cure and prescription. Although it was only one cure, its ramifications shook the medical community. Now both of their ranks had risen in succession—a double rank increase to Sage for one and a single rank increase to Primogenitor for another. Naturally, once they got rid of the mother, no one beyond the two of them would know the cruelties they’d inflicted on her womb.
“He’s been cured, so he’s naturally unharmed,” Vice Head Gu replied.
“Vice Head Gu, this child is hungry. Should he be fed milk or—”
“Feed him with medicine,” Vice Head Gu cut him off.
“He’s still too young. I’m afraid that—”
“He’s been eating medicine every day since he was in the womb and still survived fine. What else are you afraid of?” Vice Head Gu interrupted again. He was crazy about medicine to the point of obsession, especially when it came to researching pathological changes in the human body. He had wanted to perform this sort of experiment from the womb for a long time now, just to observe the properties of the human body at each stage of development, its reactions to disease, how it nurtured resistance against illnesses, and how it ultimately cured itself.
The other man was wholly subservient to the Vice Head and immediately went to bring over a pre-prepared bowl of medical decoction. One of them held the baby while the other used a small spoon to feed him. They treated the child with the same care one would treat a patient—exacting, prudent, and serious.
The baby’s first taste of food was bitter.
Without sweetness as a contrast, the child had no idea this flavor was ‘bitterness,’ or that the world considered it the worst flavor of all. He ate the medicine with relish, his tiny lips sucking at the medicine until he was satisfied enough to stop crying. His soup stained lips drew up into a sweet smile, inexplicably inviting others to grin with him.
His smile had been beautiful ever since he was a babe.
“Vice Head Gu, how about giving this child a name?” the man said with a grin.
“Today’s the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, so just call him Little Qi (Seven).”
Vice Head Gu only gave the child a nickname because he didn’t need a real one. He was a secret existence, after all. Just like that, they fed Little Qi days’ worth of medicine without any ill effects until the fourth day. He cried nonstop that day, spitting up all the medicine and water they gave him. Like a lost child looking for its mother, he rejected any form of comfort or coaxing. Both Vice Head Gu and the man were tormented for an entire day, their stone hearts shattering and fearful of his cries. Of course, they were more afraid that they’d lose their special child—the baby they cultivated with all effort with bring into this world. Without a choice, they could only stop the medicine and find a wet nurse for him. The woman immediately calmed Little Qi down, and the man was quick to find something off about the child’s pulse.
“Vice Head Gu, we have to stop the experiment for a while and raise him up a bit first. Otherwise, all of our efforts will be wasted.”
Vice Head Gu gently stroked Little Qi’s cheeks, his motion like that of a loving father as pity and fondness filled his eyes. Little Qi was his treasure, ah, his most alluring gem. Of course he’d dote completely on the boy.
“Let’s keep trying a bit longer,” he said.
For the next three days, Little Qi was alternately fed both milk and medicine until his pulse grew ever worse and erratic. Finally afraid, Vice Head Gu immediately stopped the medicine and began to treat him instead. He didn’t dare to sleep all day or night, holding Little Qi as he watched him sleep, wake, laugh, and cry. Ten days later, Little Qi recovered, but developed a bad habit as well. He would always have trouble sleeping unless someone rocked him to sleep for half the night.
Vice Head Gu would spend his nights personally holding the baby and coaxing him. “Qi’er, be good….Qi’er, good good…”
“Qi’er, be good and sleep….Qi’er, good, good…” His soft and gentle voice lulled Little Qi to sleep every time with a sweet little smile on his face. Even in his dreams, everything was still wonderful.
An infant’s memories were short. They didn’t understand how to hate, so they forgot about the first few days of suffering soon enough. Vice Head Gu and the man discussed things over as they analyzed the situation. In the end, they chose to raise Little Qi until he was six before starting their sacred experimentation. Just like that, Little Qi began to grow up in the Poison Sect’s forbidden grounds. When he was four months old, his wet nurse disappeared. From his earliest memories, there were only two people by his side: his daddy and a man surnamed Ling that he called Uncle Ling.1
As he gradually grew older, he began to have distinct likes and dislikes. He bravely ventured into the mysterious world of the Poison Sect’s forbidden grounds, filled with curiosity and pleasant surprises. When he found a tree he liked, he’d wait until nightfall to tell his father, “Daddy, Qi’er wants to be a tree and bloom flowers all over my body.”
When he found a high-flying bird, he’d wait until his father got home at night and declared, “Daddy, Qi’er wants to be a bird and fly all the way to the other side of the mountains.”
When he found that all the plants withered and died in winter, he would tell his father sadly, “Daddy, will Qi’er wilt away and die one day, too?”