The young man in a blue robe ignored the broker woman’s persistent attempts to dissuade him and walked out of the cellar on his own.
Seeing daylight again, Gu Qing took a deep breath of fresh air.
The broker woman chased after him, still chattering nonstop. It wasn’t that she was some kind-hearted person refusing business for no reason.
It was just that today’s customer was Gu Qing. If she sold such a defective “product” to him, by tomorrow the neighbors along the street would probably drown her in their scorn.
“My mind is made up. No need to keep persuading me. How much?”
Feeling the added weight in the basket on his back, Gu Qing stopped and asked.
Seeing his insistence, the broker woman could only sigh and say helplessly, “If you really want her, just take her. But don’t blame me for being blunt. This worthless thing, let alone serving anyone, it’d be a miracle if she survives the night after you bring her home.”
“I understand… how much?”
“Just give three copper coins. That’s the cost price.”
The broker woman wasn’t lying. She had picked up this little beggar off the street two days ago and fed her a bit just to keep her alive. She really was only worth two or three copper coins.
Gu Qing said nothing more. He took out three coins from his pocket, placed them on the counter, and stepped out onto the long street.
The transaction ended just that simply.
From beginning to end, the girl in his basket did not make a single sound. She remained as quiet as if she were already dead.
Has she already grown used to being treated like merchandise?
As Gu An thought to himself, he noticed the snow was still falling from the sky. He stopped beneath an eave and set the bamboo basket down on the ground.
His movements were gentle, almost cautious.
The basket had originally held an oil-paper umbrella. Now, it contained something else as well.
Gu Qing examined this “something.”
Shoulder-length black hair lay scattered about. Long-term malnutrition had left it dry, coarse, and tangled into clumps, stained with unknown grime that faintly gave off a foul odor.
The girl’s face was hidden beneath the messy hair, with only a small portion revealed. She was pale and utterly devoid of color.
Lower down, her body was barely covered by tattered rags, and the exposed patches of skin were mottled with dark purple bruises.
Numb. Cold.
That was the first impression she gave.
Gu Qing frowned but said nothing. He simply took the oil-paper umbrella out of the basket, slung the basket back onto his shoulders, and set off again.
Opening the umbrella, he walked along the long street, heading all the way toward the southern part of the city.
As a wandering physician, although Gu Qing did not own a medicine shop of his own, he did have a small residence.
The courtyard was located in the south of the city, far from the bustling center. Its advantage was its quietness and, of course, its low cost.
After walking for about half an hour under the umbrella, Gu Qing arrived at his doorstep, took out the key, and pushed the door open.
The courtyard was indeed small. The walls were mottled and covered in moss. Only the old apricot tree by the wall looked somewhat imposing, standing tall and sturdy.
“We’re home.”
Letting out a soft breath, the young physician stood in the courtyard, as if speaking to himself.
As expected, there was no response.
It seemed that not only was her body severely injured, but her mind had also suffered tremendous trauma.
Gu Qing walked into the main hall and set the basket down on the floor.
Outside, the wind and snow still raged, but inside it was much better. With the stove already lit in advance, warmth soon began to spread through the room.
He first went to the kitchen to boil a pot of hot water, then returned to the hall and approached the basket.
Squatting down, he slowly reached out and lifted that dirty, tangled hair.
One eye was revealed. It was open. Its pupil was pitch black, devoid of light or color, and was unsettling to behold.
It was the left eye.
Gu Qing continued, wanting to see her entire face.
At that moment, he keenly noticed the girl’s frail shoulders tremble slightly, yet she neither avoided him nor made a sound to stop him.
Just as she had felt all along… utterly numb, as if she no longer cared about anything in the outside world.
In the next instant, as his hand moved, the messy hair was fully brushed aside, and Gu Qing finally saw the girl’s face in its entirety.
What should have been a soft and delicate face was covered in countless small cuts. Some had scabbed over and darkened to a purplish black, while others were still seeping faint traces of blood and were swollen and festering.
Most striking of all…
Gu Qing’s gaze fell on the right side of the girl’s face, and his heart jolted.
Her right eye was even darker and deeper than the left…because there was nothing there.
Nothing at all, except an empty socket.
As if it had been gouged out by someone.
“I’m sorry.”
For some reason, Gu Qing spoke instinctively. He lowered his hand, and the messy hair fell back down, covering the girl’s right eye.
That left eye continued to stare at him. Upon hearing the apology, the girl’s pitch-black pupil shifted slightly, as if puzzled why this man before her would suddenly say such a thing.
“I’ll heal you.”
Gu Qing did not avoid her gaze. After meeting her eyes for a moment, he said this.
His voice was not loud, yet in the quiet hall, it sounded especially clear.
Unfortunately, the girl’s expression did not change in the slightest, still filled with numbness.
The hot water for her bath would take a while longer to boil. Squatting beside the basket, Gu Qing continued examining the girl’s battered body.
First her hands, then her legs.
The more he looked, the more alarmed he became.
It was hard to imagine how much torment and suffering she had endured at such a young age.
Fine wounds covered her entire body, fingers crudely chopped off, both legs broken…
And that eye, forcibly gouged out.
Gu Qing fell into deep silence.
This was no accident. It was obvious that whoever had harmed her had done so deliberately, leaving her barely alive on purpose.
The cruelty of the methods was something Gu Qing had never witnessed before, in either this life or his previous one.
Even more strange was that, upon closer inspection of these wounds, he discovered that any fatal injuries had miraculously “healed”.
Healed in the literal sense. It closed up.
They no longer bled, preventing her from dying of excessive blood loss.
Yet the torment and pain she had suffered during the process had not been reduced in the slightest.
Undoubtedly, it was the work of immortal techniques.
At that thought, an inexplicable heaviness gathered in Gu Qing’s chest. He took a deep breath to steady himself, then began to remove the girl’s clothes.
“Let’s get you cleaned up first. I’ll apply medicine afterward.”
He spoke softly in explanation.
His hands moved gently over the girl’s body, which bore not only fatal injuries but also many small cracks in the skin, resembling frostbite wounds that had been forcibly split open by the cold.
Perhaps it was because of his explanation, or perhaps because the girl simply did not care, but she made no attempt to resist.
After a moment, the man lifted her out of the basket.
She was very light, almost weightless. He held her carefully in his arms, as if cradling a newborn infant.
“It’s going to hurt… no, it’ll probably hurt a lot. But you’ll have to endure it.”
Hearing this, the girl finally raised her gaze, looking at him with her one remaining eye.
What a strange person.
She thought.
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