Morning light filtered through the window lattice, driving the chill from the corridor. Xiao Xiaoxiao remained curled up until her limbs had gone stiff and numb before slowly raising her head. Her eyes were red and swollen, her face pale, yet there was an unfamiliar determination in her gaze.
The door to the quiet room remained tightly shut. She rose and moved her cold, numb body a little. Rather than leaving, she turned and went downstairs to the inn's kitchen.
Teacher Shao Xin and Teacher Lu Qibin had been busy all night and were resting now. Xiao Xiaoxiao found the inn's cook, quietly asked a few questions, then took out several Gold Soul Coins to borrow the stove and ingredients. She remembered Teacher Shao saying that Tang San's injuries needed careful nurturing. Besides medicine, suitable medicinal food could also help his recovery.
She did not know how to cook. Even in modern society, the most she had ever made was instant noodles. Yet now, she followed the cook's instructions with exceptional care, selecting medicinal herbs, controlling the heat, and cautiously simmering a pot of strongly scented medicinal congee. The thick smoke made her eyes stream with tears, and scalding porridge splashed onto the back of her hand, instantly reddening it. She did not notice at all, simply staring intently at the bubbling clay pot as though she were carrying out an immensely important mission.
When she carried a bowl of perfectly cooked congee, fragrant with medicine and rice, to the quiet room's door, she happened to run into Teacher Shao, who had come to check on Tang San.
Teacher Shao looked at her bedraggled state—her smoke-blackened cheeks, swollen red hand, and the bowl of congee that had clearly taken much effort—and paused. Then he sighed. "Go in. He just woke