Madam Zhou fell ill, ever since the night she dreamt of that man, she had been languishing, her mood depressingly dulled, without a hint of appetite for food.
This made Qiu Xiang and the others quite anxious; they called a doctor to diagnose her, but the doctor said only that her liver fire had risen, and her heart was burdened with too much melancholic thought, leaving them puzzled. With all her needs well provided for, what weighty thoughts could their Madam possibly have?
Only Madam Zhou herself knew that hers was a sickness of the heart, for which no medicine could help.
"Madam, could it be that you are missing the young Miss?" Qiu Xiang personally brought her medicine and tended to her, saying, "Doesn't the young Miss send Ping An to visit every now and then? Please don't worry. If you burden yourself with such thoughts and harm your health, when the young Miss returns, she would certainly punish us, your servants!"
