It was only three days after hearing the conversation between Old Hua and the woman from the Xuan family that Xu Feng woke up next.
At this time, he was in a rustic but well-equipped room. The walls were made of sturdy yellow-red brick and the ceiling was solid, no thatch in sight like the last room he awoke in.
After a few seconds of exploration with his eyes, Xu Feng could no longer ignore the burning sensation deep in his throat. As he shuffled on the old-fashioned stone bed, a voice came from outside the room.
"Did you hear that? Is the ger awake?" came a young and vibrant voice.
"Don't call him so rudely. To be given one of the inner rooms, he should be called a distinguished guest at least." A deceptively stern yet youthful voice shot back.
"Ah, yes," the first girl laughed nervously before correcting her address, "the distinguished guest seems to be awake, no?"
"The distinguished guest just turned over; it has happened frequently over the last few days. You would know if you weren't always running off to play, Si."
"Hahaha…" Si laughed embarrassedly, apparently, she was guilty of running off to play frequently. By the sound of her voice, she was most likely at the age where play was often on the mind.
"If the big madam hadn't sent a message of her arrival in the next few days, you would still be off playing with the villagers at the foot of the mountain. You need to understand we aren't like the children from the village. We are servants of the Xuan family, and must uphold the Xuan family honor at all times."
The second girl began seriously nagging the other servant girl, Si, for her playful and immature ways while giving Xu Feng some background on where he was currently.
"The young master was promoted again for his academic prowess. It is only a matter of time before he marries a wife or takes a few concubines. As soon as the young master has a child, it will only be the best young servants of the Xuan family that can become book-boys and handmaids for the young, young masters."
"But San," Si complained, "we're only servants in a village estate, won't the servants in the capital be chosen?"
"Yes, we're not servants from the main estate, but haven't you noticed the madam has been coming to our Nanshan estate every new moon?"
The girl paused for a moment before continuing.
"Before old nursemaid, Lin brought this distinguished guest for us to care for, she has been meeting with the madam. They always make all the other servants leave before their discussions. And now this beautiful, distinguished guest has been brought here…"
While Xu Feng could already understand what San was hinting at, the free-spirited Si seemed to still be confused. He listened in for a bit longer gaining, tiny bits of information, the original owner of this body wasn't privy to.
The residence they were at was one of several dozen properties of the Xuan family, an influential family in the capital. As for the name of the capital or the era they were in, Xu Feng had no idea, and the memories from the original owner—a farmer's ger child —wasn't helpful either.
After only a few minutes, Xu Feng's consciousness began to fade in and out, as extreme exhaustion overtook him. In his delirium, he began mumbling about his sore throat before once again passing out.
"Water…so dry…dizzy…brick walls…"
.
.
.
When Xu Feng opened his eyes next, he saw a stern-looking woman with gray and black, peppered hair and a defined face peering back at him.
They stared at each other in silence for a few moments, before the woman deciding he wasn't going to pass out again, finally spoke.
"You're awake. The village doctor wasn't sure if you would be able to wake up again. He said you were given a dose of sleeping drugs that would knock out large livestock."
The woman said such a shocking sentence with a completely unaffected face before leaning over and bringing a cup of liquid to Xu Feng's lips.
"Thank…you," he pushed out the words before slowly moving his hands from below the cotton blanket and accepting the offered cup with shaky hands.
The liquid was sweet and smooth, like honey water, but less sweet and a bit thicker in consistency. Xu Feng wasn't sure what the concoction was, but his throat felt great even after only a few sips.
Before he removed the empty cup from his lips, the woman began to speak again while retrieving the cup and placing it beside the stone bed.
"Your family has removed you from the ancestral lineage. As a ger, you can either set up your own household or marry into another family. Either option requires even more money without any family backing."
Without giving Xu Feng any time to contemplate her words, she continued.
"If you're planning to go back to your village, Sun Village is a seven-day ride by horse carriage and a 26-day journey by foot with no guarantee of safety from bandits. The journey nearly killed you the first time."
What the woman didn't know was that the ride and the drug overdose given to him by his stepmother HAD killed the original, Xu Zeng.
"Your family gave you to Old Hua from your village to sell you in a town farther away, and I paid a small fortune for you. While forced slavery is no longer allowed in Donghua, you are still accountable for the price the Xuan family paid. You can pay us back outright, or work as a servant for the Xuan family…"
The woman paused for a moment before looking the understandably shocked Xu Feng up and down.
He had pieced together some information from the conversations between Old Hua and Old Lin, and Si and San, but the situation was still shocking.
"There is a third option. If you're fortunate, when the mistress comes in a few days, you might be given the opportunity to serve as a concubine for the young master."