"Young Miss, the Lord has returned. He is currently in the Madam's chambers," Qin-er whispered, her voice tight with unease.
I checked the sky; it was the Hour of the Monkey (between 3:00 PM and 5:00 PM). I smoothed my robes and began the walk to my mother's room.
As I passed through the winding corridors, the servants cast quick, fearful glances my way before bowing. I could feel their lingering resentment toward the "old" Mo-Xian—the spoiled girl who had made their lives a misery. I sighed.
Changing my reputation with the staff was a slow crawl, but changing my father's heart was a mountain I wasn't sure I could even climb.
The silence outside my mother's room was unnatural. Even the cicadas seemed to have stopped their chirping. I stepped inside just as a roar shattered the air.
"If only I could divorce you, you useless woman!"
My father, the Prime Minister, stood in the center of the room like a looming shadow. My mother sat on the floor, her luminous skin marred by a violent red welt across her cheek. She was holding her face, her eyes wide with a mixture of terror and heartbreak.
"Your only job—the only value you have left—is to care for my son! And yet, he wilts like a dying weed!" He screamed, his finger inches from her nose.
My mother was the First Wife only because she had birthed a son, the sole heir to the Tang name. My father likely had mistresses tucked away in villas across the city, women he couldn't bring home because of my mother's powerful family. But behind closed doors, he treated her like a failing servant.
"My Lord, I have tried!" Mother sobbed, her voice breaking.
"I have called every physician in the capital, but the herbs do nothing!"
The shouting woke my nine-month-old brother. His high-pitched, ragged wailing cut through the room. As Mother scrambled toward the cradle, I stepped into the light.
"Father. Mother," I said, my voice steady despite the adrenaline. I needed to divert his rage before he struck her again.
Father turned his cold, venomous gaze on me. "Hmph! And here is your daughter, equally useless. This house is a nest of failures!" He didn't even wait for a response, he simply stormed out, the tail of his purple robes snapping like a whip.
I hurried to Mother's side. "Mother, are you alright?"
She didn't look at me at first, her hands trembling as she tried to soothe my brother.
"Xian-er, why did you come? You shouldn't be here when he is in such a state. I don't want his anger to fall on you." She touched my face, her eyes red with shame. "It is my fault. I am useless... I cannot even give your father a healthy heir."
"It is not your fault," I said firmly, taking her hand. It pained me to see her this way. She was the only person who truly loved me in this world, yet she was being crushed like this.
"Don't go against him, Xian-er," she pleaded.
"We only have a place in this manor because of your brother. But his health..." She looked at the cradle and wept.
I looked down at my brother. He was struggling for breath, his neck swollen with a large, unsightly lump. The palace physicians had blamed "unbalanced Qi" and "ghostly influences," but as an modern woman I saw something else.
He had a Goiter—a classic sign of iodine deficiency. And his "night blindness," which Father called a curse from Mother's bad luck? That was a clear Vitamin A deficiency. In an era where "noble" food was strictly boiled and lacked variety, it is not surprising.
"Don't worry, Mother," I said, my eyes hardening with a new resolve.
"Brother will be fine in no time. I know how to fix this." She looked at me with a spark of desperate hope. I stayed with her until the moon rose, sharing a quiet, bland dinner before returning to my courtyard. My mind was already racing through the "treatments" I could synthesize.
Shu-er," I called out as soon as I crossed the threshold.
"Yes, Miss?"
"Go to the market tomorrow at dawn. Scout for the merchants traveling from the Eastern Sea. I need seaweed—salty, dried strips of it. As much as you can find. And look for fish oils."
Shu-er didn't ask why. "I will go, Miss."
I looked out at the dark garden. My father thought my brother was cursed. My mother thought she was useless. But I knew better and I am determined, I would give my mother the shield she deserved.