Everything was sliced and ready to go in the soup pot, at last!
Jiang Yanli would be free to join her brothers and their friends in the living room while it cooked. From the sounds of things, a rather epic MarioKart battle was in progress. She smiled happily, something inside her warm and relaxed if her brothers were happy.
The nicely sliced lotus root and assorted ingredients were ready for the pot. It was going to be delicious! And once it was cooking, she was going to wreck her darling baby brothers on Rainbow Road.
It was so nice to have the boys home for the weekend, from college. And if it had been a surprise that they’d brought people without telling her, well, Lotus Pier had plenty of room. And it was so good to see her brothers making friends. Even A-Cheng had brought someone. These people weren't just A-Xian's friends!
With a happy hum, she picked up the cutting board and turned to put the contents into the pot of bubbling stock. But a sudden, sickeningly familiar, creeping numbness in her hands and wrists had the cutting board drooping in her grasp.
She lurched forward with a bitten-off cry, getting the contents into the pot but nearly tipping the boiling liquid on herself in the process. Only a few drops splashed onto her hands, thankfully. But she couldn’t feel it. Tears welled up in her eyes, her happy mood ruined. Carefully, carefully, she centered the pot over the burner with her elbows and nudged the cutting board off to the side where it wouldn’t burn.
Of all the times for this to happen! She bit her lip, trying not to cry. Jiang Yanli had been doing so well. There hadn't been a flare-up in months. Now she would be useless for hours. The familiar depression rolled over her thoughts, sinking them into a morass of self-loathing and self-pity.
“What was that?”
Jiang Yanli gasped, whirling to see Wen Qing, one of A-Xian’s new friends, staring at her from the doorway. Those sharp, dark eyes held no pity or fear, only a sharp analytical calmness that had made Jiang Yanli feel like a mouse pinned down by a hawk. Ever since Wei Wuxian had introduced them, Jiang Yanli had recognized another jiejie but this one was so fierce! Wen Qing was petite, slender, and unspeakably beautiful. But when she turned the whole of her attention on someone, that person felt like a child facing a juggernaut.
There was no malice, just unwavering awareness. Jiang Yanli wasn’t used to so much attention. Or rather, such intense attention. Wen Qing wasn’t being creepy she was just intense.
“Ah, um, hello, did you need something?” Jiang Yanli asked, feeling stupid and dull. How much had this girl seen?
"I need you to tell me what’s wrong with your hands,” Wen Qing said, unruffled and implacable. She approached Jiang Yanli and held a hand out. “May I examine them?”
Jiang Yanli blushed, turning away. “It's nothing. Just a bit of silliness. Would you like a soda?”
Wen Qing walked over to her, leaning against the counter to stare up at Jiang Yanli. “If I asked your brothers, would they say it’s nothing? Would they think it was silly?”
Jiang Yanli bit her lip, trying not to cry. It wasn't fair! It was bad enough she was so weak and useless but who did Wen Qing think she was, rubbing her nose in it?
“I’m pre-med,” the Wen girl said, not unkindly. “For Western medicine. But I learned Eastern medicine in the cradle. That’s what my branch of the family was famous for. Maybe there’s something I can do to help.”
“It’s sweet of you to worry,” Jiang Yanli said, wiping her cheeks on her shoulders, “But really, I’m fine.”
Wen Qing sighed, frowning a little bit. "I expect this sort of stubborn attitude from those idiot brothers of yours,” she declared with quiet exasperation. “But I thought, as a woman, you’d have more sense.”
That made Jiang Yanli giggle outright. “You've never met our mother. She’s the definition of stubborn.”
“I've heard the stories,” Wen Qing allowed, in a dry tone. Then carefully, she asked, “Does this have something to do with why Jin Zixuan was so rude to you at the last Conference?”
Jiang Yanli was stung. Even people who hadn't been there were privy to her humiliation? That was too much. She felt an ugly flush creeping up her cheeks but couldn’t stop it. Tears began falling again and she sniffled. Wen Qing had the good grace to look guilty beneath her exasperation.
The next thing Jiang Yanli knew, she was being hustled on to a stool at the kitchen island while Wen Qing stirred the soup and began preparing tea. Jiang Yanli wasn’t quite sure how it happened.
“I’m … it’s something I was born with but there’s no diagnosis. My hands and arms just go numb sometimes. The thing with Jin Zixuan is …” Jiang Yanli bit her lip again, wishing she could blow her nose. “He doesn’t want to be trapped in a marriage like his parents or mine. It doesn’t ever end well, you see?”
Wen Qing nodded, fixing two cups. “Well he’s an idiot, I’ve always thought so. You're wasted on him.”
“Most people say it the other way around,” Jiang Yanli said quietly.
“There are a lot of very stupid people in the world,” Wen Qing agreed. “Now tell me about this numbness if yours. How often does it happen? How long does it last? Are there any other symptoms?”
Wen Qing’s brisk attitude wasn’t bad, Jiang Yanli decided, trying to flex her weak and tingling fingers. She was just prickly, like A-Cheng. And that wasn’t so bad. Jiang Yanli had never had a female friend at the same social status as her. Could this be counted as friendship?
Jiang Yanli hoped so. “I’ve had it ever since I was a baby. The first few times it happened, I was still in diapers. My parents were terrified. but the doctors can’t find any reason for it. It can last for hours but the longest was a full day. I have terrible headaches sometimes,” she said, watching Wen Qing pour the tea with effortless grace. “Sometimes there’s a rash. My brothers … they don’t know how bad it is. Mom and Dad don’t want me to tell them. I didn’t mind because this is the first time I’ve had a flare in over a year. I thought, whatever it was, I was growing out of it!”
“Hmm.” Wen Qing brought the tea to the island and sat across from Jiang Yanli. “I'd like to examine you, if you don’t mind. I have a few ideas.”
That shocked Jiang Yanli. No doctor had come up with any ideas in years. The going theory was that it was all in Jiang Yanli’s head.
She blinked away fresh tears, staring at Wen Qing.
The tiny Wen woman reached out and put her hand over Jiang Yanli’s own. It felt like static shocks, pins and needles, like tiny ants marching over her skin.
“One jiejie to another,” Wen Qing said, “Let me help.”
