Chapter 53 Disappearance

I spent the entire night in a state of light sleep, feeling as though I were simultaneously dreaming and awake. When I got up in the morning, my head was throbbing terribly.

After having breakfast with Wang Lantian, we headed to the classroom. It was not too late, and many of the students had not yet arrived. Ma Wencai's seat was still empty.

Students trickled into the classroom one by one. Tao Yuanming strolled in with his hands clasped behind his back, scanned the room, and shook his head helplessly at Ma Wencai's vacant seat before beginning the lecture.

Ma Wencai was skipping class again; what a stubborn fellow. He did not even care about the academic ranking anymore. Nowadays, every casual stroke of Tao Yuanming's brush was tied to one's future prospects—what a fool.

I sat in the classroom feeling drowsy. Thanks to Wang Lantian pulling my sleeve several times, I might have otherwise slid straight down under the desk. I managed to stumble through the morning classes.

One advantage of rooming with Wang Lantian was that I did not have to go to the dining hall to fetch food myself. Since he always ate in the room, I ate there too, and having me around made it a bit less lonely for him.

The ancients said one should not speak while eating or talking while sleeping, but I particularly enjoyed chatting at the dinner table; otherwise, eating in silence was terribly dull. However, I truly lacked the energy for it today, so I finished my meal hastily and crawled into bed to catch up on sleep.

Wang Lantian was always very quiet and moved around practically without making a sound, so I had no worries about him disturbing my peaceful slumber. Yet, that accursed Zhu Yingtai, just what offense had I given you? Why must it be so difficult even to catch a nap?

"Liu Yiqing, get up quickly." Zhu Yingtai pushed open the door and strode toward me.

Damn it, sister here had just lain down, and the bedding hadn't even warmed up yet. I sat up looking thoroughly irritated. "What is it? Can't you see I'm sleeping?"

"Wencai is missing. Do you know where he went?"

What? Ma Wencai was missing? Could it be that he hadn't been in his room the entire morning?

"Brother Yingtai, Yiqing has been with me all day. He hasn't seen Ma Wencai. You should go look elsewhere," Wang Lantian said.

Liang Shanbo pulled Zhu Yingtai aside. "That's right, Yingtai. Brother Wencai might have gone somewhere else and will be back shortly." Liang Shanbo glanced at me, and seeing my weary expression, added, "I see Yiqing is exhausted, likely from not sleeping well last night. We shouldn't disturb his rest."

Zhu Yingtai cast a resentful glare at me, turned on her heel, and stormed out. Liang Shanbo followed right behind her.

Should I go along and take a look? I wondered to myself. Where on earth could Ma Wencai have gone? Surely he wouldn't do anything foolish? No, no, I immediately dismissed the thought; he must have simply gone somewhere else.

I burrowed back under the covers, but all sleepiness had vanished. My mind was filled with the image of Ma Wencai hiding inside the wardrobe with that panicked, terrified look in his eyes. Heavens, could something actually have happened to him?

No, I still had to go and check the situation.

I crawled out from under the blankets, threw on my outer robe, and was just about to open the door and leave when Wang Lantian stopped me. "Yiqing, you only just managed to move out of Ma Wencai's room. Don't go meddling in these murky waters again."

"Brother Lantian, I know you have my best interests at heart, but... but Ma Wencai and I did spend a long time together after all. I ought to go and see how things are. An upright person is untainted by slander; I believe rumors cease with the wise."

I nodded at Wang Lantian and hurried out of the room.

He wasn't in the room, he wasn't in the classroom, and he wasn't in the stables. I searched everywhere he might frequent, but there was no trace of him. Where on earth could he have run off to?

I hurried back from the back mountain. In the distance, Zhu Yingtai and Matong were talking about something. I immediately ran up to them. "Matong, where is your young master?"

"I, I don't know either. When I went to deliver his washing water this morning, the young master was already not in his room. I thought he had already gone to class," Matong said.

He hadn't been in his room since morning. "What about last night? Did he return to his room last night?"

"Before I went to sleep, I delivered some sesame cakes to Wencai's room. At that time, he said he had no appetite and didn't want to eat, so I came back," Zhu Yingtai said.

"What time was it when you went?"

"The hour of You (5:00 PM - 7:00 PM). It started pouring rain shortly after I returned to my room, so Wencai shouldn't have gone out last night," Zhu Yingtai said.

The hour of You—when I saw Ma Wencai hiding outside the window, it was already the hour of Xu (7:00 PM - 9:00 PM). Could it be that he really hadn't returned to his room the entire night? Then where on earth could he have gone?

"Yiqing? Yiqing?" Liang Shanbo called out to me twice upon seeing me stand frozen.

I instantly snapped out of it and asked Matong, "Where else does your young master usually go? Have you checked everywhere?"

Matong looked at me with a suspicious expression. "Young Master Liu, where my young master usually goes, you should know better than I do."

Me? I knew better? Damn it, is he your young master or mine? "I've checked everywhere I know of, and he's nowhere to be found. Could he have gone down the mountain?"

"No way... Everything is fine, why would he go down the mountain?"

Just as we were exchanging guesses back and forth, Wang Hui came running over anxiously from a distance. "Brother Zhu, Brother Liu, Brother Liang... It's terrible, something's wrong..."

"Sister Xiaohui, take your time and tell us what happened," Ma Wencai's figure immediately flashed across my mind. Could it be... "Xiaohui, has something happened to Ma Wencai?"

Out of breath, Wang Hui nodded. "This morning, my elder sister, Xinlian, and I went up the mountain to gather herbs. On our way back down, as we passed through the peach blossom grove, we saw—we saw Ma Wencai lying unconscious in the grove. His clothes were soaked through, and my sister said he must have been there since last night."

"What? He was there since last night? With such heavy rain last night..." Zhu Yingtai panicked, immediately grabbing Liang Shanbo and running toward the infirmary.

I stood rooted to the spot at a complete loss, not knowing what the current situation was like or whether I should go check on him. Reason told me I shouldn't go—I had only just changed rooms yesterday, and today such an incident occurred. If Ma Wencai were to utter any delirious nonsense later, then... then even if we jumped into the Yellow River, we would never wash ourselves clean!

"Young Master Liu! Young Master Liu! What are you standing there in a daze for? Let's go..." Wang Hui pulled me all the way to the entrance of the infirmary.

We followed closely behind Zhu Yingtai. Upon stepping through the doorway, we saw Ma Wencai lying quietly on the bed, his lips pale and his face haggard.

Ma Wencai, what are you trying to do? Are you deliberately making things difficult for me? Looking at him in this state, a stinging sensation instantly hit my nose. When had I also become so sentimental?

Zhu Yingtai grabbed Doctor Wang anxiously and asked, "Miss Wang, how is he? Is it nothing serious?"

"He was soaked in the rain for too long and has a bit of a fever. There are no other major problems, except..." Doctor Wang hesitated, stuttering.

"Except for what? Do spit it out, Miss Wang!"