“Thank you, Lady.” Ning Shu curtsied.

  She had now become Lady Niohuru’s personal maid. That meant that Lady Niohuru probably trusted her now.

  Ning Shu went back to organizing the clothing again. The seasons were changing and these clothing were all handmade by the embroiderer. Her job was to check these garments for any abnormalities.

  She had to be especially careful with the inner garments.

  Ning Shu was pretty speechless. When would she be able to leave this world? When would this exam end?

  Ning Shu picked up a piece of clothing and flipped it over to examine it. After repeatedly examining it, she found some white stuff and water stains on the collar.

  She lifted the garment to her nose to sniff it, then frowned. She said to Lady Niohuru, “Lady, please come here for a second.”
Lady Niohuru was currently rocking the cradle but when she heard what Ning Shu said, she walked over. Ning Shu set the garment in front of her. Lady Niohuru reached out to pick up the clothing but Ning Shu hastily said, “Don’t touch it. There may be smallpox pus on it.”
Lady Niohuru immediately retracted her hand and backed away. She stammered in shock, “How could there be such a thing on the clothes?”
“Lady, this servant will go dispose of the clothing.” Ning Shu took the garment and left the room.

  She first put the garment in a pot of boiling vinegar, then used vinegar to repeatedly wash her hands. Afterwards, she boiled some medicine to drink.

  She had touched the garment, so she probably wouldn’t be able to take care of the child for a good while.

  After fishing the garment out of the pot, she threw it away. If she hadn’t boiled the garment first, other people may end up getting smallpox from touching it. There were a lot of children in the residence, so they would’ve been at high risk to get smallpox.

  She just wondered who was behind it? Their intention was too obvious, they had put it on the child’s inner garments after all. This method is way more skilled than having the wet nurse apply saltwater to their nipples.

  They had directly made use of such ruthless means. If such a small child caught smallpox, their chances of survival were extremely slim.

  Who exactly had done this?

  Tong Yu came to see Ning Shu and asked, “Miao Ling, the lady asked if you had finished disposing of the garment?”
“It has been disposed of properly.” Ning Shu nodded. “I won’t be taking care of the child for a while. I had touched the garment, so we’ll have to wait a while to see.”
“Spray vinegar to disinfect every part of the courtyard and make sure to wash your hands every time before picking up the child,” instructed Ning Shu.

  Tong Yu nodded to indicate that she understood.

  Ning Shu thought that she would be fine after taking the medicine, but unexpectedly, after a few days, she started having a fever. She felt completely strengthless.

  Ning Shu was pretty depressed. This body had never encountered smallpox before and had no antibodies, so it had no resistance against the virus.

  She thought that she would be alright since she had practiced the Unsurpassable Martial Arts, but unexpectedly, she had still gotten infected.

  Ning Shu simmered medicine and kept practicing the Unsurpassable Martial Arts, but itchy blisters still started appearing all over her face and body. It was so itchy.

  She felt really speechless.

  Ning Shu told Lady Niohuru that she needed to leave the residence. Lady Niohuru stood very far away. As she took in the sight of the blisters on Ning Shu’s face, she recalled her child, so she agreed to Ning Shu’s request to leave.

  Lady Niohuru had Ning Shu go to the manor that was part of her dowry and even sent a maid to take care of Ning Shu. However, Ning Shu refused to keep the maid. She didn’t want to implicate others.

  Lady Niohuru also gave Ning Shu a sum of money and told her to take good care of her health, saying that she would wait for Ning Shu to come back so she could continue to take care of her child.

  Lady Niohuru didn’t give up on Ning Shu. Everyone was aware that as long as someone survived smallpox once, they wouldn’t catch it again in this lifetime. Lady Niohuru hoped that Ning Shu could survive it.

  Ning Shu accepted the money, put on the cloak, and headed to Lady Niohuru’s manor. Lady Niohuru’s manor wasn’t very big, but there were a few tenant farmers.

  Ning Shu moved into a small house. She’d occasionally enter the mountain to find herbs, and she cooked her own medicine and meals.

  Due to her illness, no one approached the house that she lived in. If she wanted to eat something, she’d have to head to the vegetable garden to pick the food herself.

  Ning Shu originally wanted to use the system’s medicine, but she had a feeling that she wouldn’t be able to since this was the examination task.

  Fudge, it was so itchy.

  She still hadn’t recovered from this illness, so she didn’t know if she’d be able to survive.

  Right now, she was just seriously glad that she had learned medicine and was able to keep this illness under control. Otherwise, she would’ve had no choice but to just wait for death.