Chapter 128: Illness

“Why do you keep following me?”
Chang Sheng asked, his voice filled with suspicion.

Wei Jing Yi looked completely confused.
“I didn’t… I wasn’t… I…”
He stammered as he tried to explain.

Chang Sheng immediately became angry. “I’ve already noticed someone has been following me. This is the academy, not some marketplace! You’ve been trailing me every day, what are you trying to do?”

Wei Jing Yi looked around, hoping to find Lu Chang Qing’s figure.
He had clearly been following Lu Chang Qing here, but where had he gone so suddenly?

Meanwhile, Chang Sheng continued to argue. “Look at you, so guilty! You must have bad intentions! If you don’t tell me, we’ll go find the dean and confront him. Let’s see how the dean handles this!”

Chang Sheng reached out to grab his sleeve.

They were near the lotus pond at the academy, and many students were passing by.
When they saw the two of them seemingly about to argue, they all stopped to watch.

Wei Jing Yi was just about to make up some excuse when he heard a voice from behind.

“Junior, don’t misunderstand. This is my cousin, he must be looking for me.”

It was Lu Chang Qing’s voice.

Chang Sheng looked up, and when he saw Lu Chang Qing smiling kindly, his guard relaxed a little.

“Is he really here to find you? But he’s been following me for several days,” Chang Sheng asked.

“I didn’t, I…” Wei Jing Yi was about to explain, but Lu Chang Qing interrupted.

“He mentioned you to me before. He said you have a lot of character and seem like a talented person, and that he’d like to be friend you.”

“I didn’t…”
Wei Jing Yi felt like he might cry.

What was going on?

Chang Sheng sized him up. Seeing that Wei Jing Yi didn’t seem like a bad person, he said, “I don’t make friends with anyone, and you shouldn’t be following me anymore.”

Chang Sheng turned to leave, but Lu Chang Qing quickly stopped him.

“Junior, do you know who he is?”

Chang Sheng squinted at the person in front of him. “Who he is has nothing to do with me.”

“He’s a relative of the dean. If you could befriend him…”
Lu Chang Qing trailed off, but Chang Sheng quickly interrupted him.

“Stop talking nonsense,” Chang Sheng snapped.
“Even if he is a relative of the dean, Wei Jing Yi wouldn’t do anything underhanded. I won’t allow you to slander the dean.”

Lu Chang Qing fell silent.
He realized he had been too eager.

The words he just said were ones he shouldn’t have uttered.
It seems there’s no more information to be gleaned from Chang Sheng.

He cupped his hands towards Chang Sheng and said, “Sorry to disturb you.”
Then, he pulled Wei Jing Yi away.

Wei Jing Yi was left with a belly full of questions.
“But why?”
“What do you mean ‘why’?” Lu Chang Qing’s tone was harsh.
“Why do you insist on be friending a child?”

Earlier, in order to get close to Chang Sheng, Lu Chang Qing had lowered his stance, even at the expense of betraying his brother. Wei Jing Yi really couldn’t understand what he had to gain from this.
Had he really gone down the wrong path and developed some strange obsession?
“Stop overthinking.”

Lu Chang Qing clearly didn’t want to explain himself.
“After we return, don’t tell Aunt about this.”
“Then you have to promise, don’t follow that child anymore!”

Wei Jing Yi had to be cautious and take precautions.
“Naturally, I won’t look for him again.”
Lu Chang Qing agreed readily.
And he kept his word, never seeking out Chang Sheng again, not even going to the academy.

That very night, Lu Chang Qing fell ill.
He had always had a heart condition since childhood, though it had improved a lot over the years. However, if his mind wasn’t at ease, it was inevitable that the illness would flare up again.

Lady Leng didn’t expect that Lu Chang Qing, who had been studying so diligently, would suddenly relapse.
She repeatedly questioned Wei Jing Yi, and although Wei Jing Yi had his suspicions, he had promised his cousin earlier and could only shake his head, repeatedly saying that he didn’t know.

“How could you not know? You’ve been with him all the time. Whatever he says or does, you should be well aware of it. How can you not know?”
“But cousin really did nothing but study at the academy,” Wei Jing Yi explained helplessly.

Lady Leng, hearing this, drew another conclusion.
“So, he did nothing but study, meaning this illness came from overworking himself at the academy? Where is your father? I need to ask him what exactly is going on!”

Poor Wei Fu Shi, who was sitting at home, suddenly found himself involved in something that came out of nowhere.
Wei Jing Yi was taken aback.
If his father found out that this was the pit he had dug for himself, who knew how his father would deal with him in the future?

“Mother, cousin has always been in poor health, isn’t it normal that he’s sick? The doctor has already seen him today, it’s just the old heart condition. He just needs to take the medication and rest. Why do you have to make someone responsible for this?”
Lady Leng finally calmed down.
What Jing Yi said made sense. The most urgent thing now was to find a good doctor for Chang Qing.

Although the doctor who came today was a renowned physician from Yong Shun Hall, Lady Leng still couldn’t rest easy.

She immediately thought of Ye Xin Ran.

At this moment, Ye Xin Ran was the person she trusted the most.

“Quick, ask Steward Tong to invite Miss Ye over.”

“Mother, it’s already late. Everyone needs to rest. Cousin has taken his medicine and is no longer in serious danger. It’s better to wait until tomorrow to invite her,” Wei Jing Yi said.

Lady Leng looked at the sky and reluctantly agreed.

Lu Chang Qing had grown up in her care, and because of his frail health, Lady Leng always paid him extra attention.

A while ago, she had corresponded with her sister and had hoped that keeping him here for a year or so would benefit his health. Who would have thought that in such a short time, he would fall ill?

It was truly heartbreaking.

Whenever Lu Chang Qing’s heart condition flared up, he never allowed anyone to stay in his room.

It had been that way when he was in the capital.

And it was still the same here.

Lady Leng was deeply worried, so she made an arrangement with Lu Chang Qing. She sent two young servants to wait outside his door, telling them that if there was no sound from the room after two hours, they should enter and check.

Although Lu Chang Qing agreed, when the servants actually opened the door, they were met with either a vase or a pillow.

“Why is it that when Chang Qing is ill, he’s so different from usual?”

Lady Leng was helpless.

The servants were all nervous. After so many years in the Wei household, they had never been tasked with something so difficult.

Finally, the next day came.

Lady Leng sent Steward Tong early in the morning to Yun Bian Village to invite Ye Xin Ran.

Ye Xin Ran was discussing the construction of houses with the village chief. Upon hearing that Lady Leng wanted her to come check on her illness, she immediately tossed the blue prints to Xiao Huai’an, saying, “Husband, you take care of the house construction. I’ll go see what’s going on with Lady Leng.”

Steward Tong didn’t explain things clearly, so she thought Lady Leng’s condition had worsened.

It wasn’t until the carriage left the village that she realized it was actually Wei family’s guest who had a heart condition.

“Now I understand!”

Ye Xin Ran finally relaxed.

“Do you know which relative of the lady it is?”

She asked casually.

“It’s the lady’s nephew, the son of our mistress’s sister.

Young Master Lu and our young master are the best of friends, and the lady dotes on Young Master Lu very much. Yesterday, she wanted to invite Miss Ye, but it was too late, so she asked me to come get you early this morning…”

Ye Xin Ran didn’t hear the rest of his words.

At this moment, only one thought was in her mind:

“Lady Leng’s sister’s son? Then that means it’s her biological brother?”