Seeing such a beautiful mother, even Jiang Xue seemed to forget to breathe, especially the plum blossom makeup on her jade-like face, which added the finishing touch.

Jiang Xue looked at Xi Yang in confusion, but Xi Yang was fixated on that face and smiled.

"This was painted by my daughter Xi Yan for her aunt, saying that if her aunt were to wake up, she would definitely want to look beautiful!"

Murong Han asked curiously: "Xi Yan?" 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Xi Yang nodded in response: "My uncle has a son and a daughter. The elder son is called Xi Yue, and the younger daughter is called Xi Yan. Xi Yue is twenty-five years old this year, often away and seldom returns. The daughter is seventeen this year, also traveling outside, occasionally returning. In the future, you will have plenty of opportunities to meet them."

Jiang Xue naturally knew Xi Yue and Xi Yan, but she still didn’t know what they looked like. As cousins, she naturally felt it was important to get to know them well.

"Uncle? Why haven’t we seen Aunt?" The brother and sister duo only now realized they seemed to have forgotten to introduce someone?

Xi Yang: "You’ll see her at dinner; she’s in the Medicine Valley at the back mountain researching the poison blood your mother expelled!"

Jiang Xue was touched, feeling an inexplicable warmth towards her future aunt.

Once again, she cast her gaze on her mother, an extraordinary look flickered in her resolute eyes.

"Mother, you can rest assured; I will definitely strive to cure you, and our family will soon be reunited. So, you must hold on."

After saying this, she took her brother’s hand. The siblings were on either side, holding Xi Yue’s cold and slender jade hands. As the warm hands met the cold ones, droplets immediately formed and she gently caressed the back of Xi Yue’s hand, her voice choked with emotion.

"Mother, can you feel it? This is your brother and I holding you; can you feel it?"

When Murong Han wiped away her tears, she suddenly thought of something, turned Xi Yue’s hand over, and bent two fingers, quietly checking her pulse.

Time passed second by second, according to custom, Jiang Xue meticulously examined Xi Yue’s ears, nose, lips, mouth, and other organs, then turned her head to ask Xi Yang.

"Uncle, could you draw some of Mother’s blood? I need to study it."

Xi Yang pointed to the rack behind them: "All the tools are there; you’re her daughter, so you can decide for yourself!"

Jiang Xue thought for a moment, found a box of glass bottles with corks from the shelf. Although the bottles looked clean, she couldn’t help but rinse them with water, then cut Xi Yue’s finger to drip an adequate amount of blood, and stopped the bleeding before she placed it down.

She then turned to Xi Yang: "Uncle, can you give me a quiet place? I want to study right now."

Murong Han asked urgently: "Do you need my help? You might get overwhelmed alone?"

Jiang Xue declined: "No need, I can manage on my own."

Due to her eagerness to research her mother’s condition, she didn’t return to the Bamboo Realm with them, directly asking Xi Yang for a stone chamber and secluded herself, refusing to see visitors, even ordering her meals to be sent to her room.

In this way, more than half a month passed.

One morning, as the entire island was still shrouded in mist, the stone door of the forbidden area finally opened from the inside out, and Jiang Xue walked out in a disheveled state. Shui Yixuan and Murong Han rushed forward to greet her, but she waved them away repeatedly.

"Move aside, move aside, quickly get me some hot water, I want a bath, ugh, so disgusting, smells like mold."

At the Bamboo Realm, finding a room to rest, she plopped down on a bamboo stool, the maid handed her a cup of hot tea, which she drank in one gulp, her eyes showed a trace of exhaustion as she weakly looked at her brother and Shui Yixuan who had unknowingly followed her in.

"I’m fine, you don’t need to worry, but as for you two, how did you get so dark?"

Shui Yixuan got excited upon hearing this, grabbed a stool to sit down, and with a woeful face looked at Jiang Xue.

"How could I not be dark? Grandfather and uncle both agreed your brother and I are too weak, personally took us two for martial arts training."

Jiang Xue rejoiced in others’ misfortune: "And how do you two feel? Have you gained anything?"

"They didn’t avoid letting me join, which was quite a surprise to me, considering I’m an outsider and didn’t mean to learn, but your uncle pulled me in, saying whether it’s herding one sheep or a flock, and given my courage in coming along with you, it shouldn’t be wasted. He also said that learning together would even stimulate your brother’s motivation!"

Jiang Xue nodded continuously: "Uncle is indeed far-sighted, those words are quite right."