17. Overwhelmed
Zicheng thought it was best to leave him to grieve his family but he still kept eyes on all throughout the night till the next day.
When the first nurse came, he instructed him to watch over him from afar so that he will not harm himself or run amok.
He slipped out and went to the guild to update his younger brother on the events that had taken place for the day.
"So he's asleep now? That's good. Now we'll have to discuss with him how he wants the funeral ceremony to be.", Yunfeng said.
"Isn't that too early? Considering his circumstances?", Zicheng asked.
"Early? No. It's rather too late. They should have been buried a week ago but it got dragged on because of his situation.
Now that he was coming around, I think we should bury them as fast as possible.", Yunfeng said.
"Okay. Will try and bring him here tomorrow. I need to send a letter to his highness as soon as possible. I'm sure he would want to know what's happening here.", Zicheng said.
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Chen Yan was asleep when Zicheng returned from his brother's place at the guild.
The nurse that came in the morning had already changed shifts with the one supposed to take care of Chen Yan from the afternoon till evening.
Since Chen Yan was asleep, Zicheng went about his other plans the day. A few hours later there was a knock on the door to his study.
He surmised it might be the nurse on duty and indeed that was so when he asked the person knocking to come inside.
"He's asking for you sir." said the nurse.
"Okay. Tell him I'm right behind you."
"Okay sir." The nurse said with a bow and left the study.
Zicheng wrapped up what he was doing and left to Chen Yan's room.
"You asked for me?", he asked Chen Yan who was not sitting on the bed. His face much worse than how it was when he left him for the guild that morning. 'Ah, he still cried even after I left.', Zicheng thought.
"Yes I did. Erm, please is there any place that hires manual labourers and provides them with some form of accommodation?", Yue Yan asked Zicheng with hopeful eyes.
'What has come over him? Why does he look somewhat different from earlier? It's as if he's having some hopefulness about life now.
And though his eyes are still swollen from too much crying, they look a lot more bright now.", Zicheng thought as he looked at him.
He's confused to his new countenance as opposed to just a few hours ago.
"No. No one is hiring." Zicheng answered matter-of-factly but immediately explained it less harshly when he noticed his face turned grim upon hearing the 'no' as an anwer.
"It's winter now and there's not much farm or building work going on so there are many people in search of other jobs to do for the period. For this reason, they hire those who live near so they will not incur the extra cost of lodgings for the workers.
Also, because of the winter, it becomes too expensive having to provide a well heated place to accommodate these workers.
Some may even die due to the cold whether, so people avoid giving accommodation to workers during the winter season altogether.
When winter ends and farming and construction activities increase, most of the people here have their own farms and will leave to work on them.
Even those who do not work on farms will find other better paying jobs since the demand for workers becomes very high then.
So it's then that they would hire others from other places and with it, comes accommodations too."
Zicheng ended saw that his long explanation did little to nothing about Chen Yan's now gloomy mood. He seemed to be lost in thoughts. "Why do you ask? Are you asking for yourself?"
"Yes. I need a job and a place to stay.", Yue Yan said.
"Wait, what?!", Zicheng screamed causing the nurse to rush back in to check on what was going on with them.
He apologised and dismissed the nurse for the day since his closing time was only in just a few minutes.
Yue Yan flinched at his earlier outburst. 'What's wrong with what I said. Must he should like he just found out that I slept with his woman?
No wait, there are no females here.", Yue Yan thought and flicked his own forehead for that dumb analogy he just made in his head.
'Ah, I guess I'm really fine now seeing how I can jest about stuff in this situation. Aah, may the universe help me through all this. Right now, I'm choosing to believe that there has to be a reason why I have been brought here and why everything is going the way it is.'
Zicheng returned his focus back on Chen Yan after he was done with the nurse. "Now come again, you mean to tell me that you need a job and a place to stay?"
"Yes?"
"I would understand the job part, seeing that you don't have your full past memories but what about the place?"
'What does he mean by I don't have my full past memories?' Yue Yan thought. He still has not realised that he only has the last past five years of Chen Yan's memories.
"Yes I would need a place to stay. I don't want to go home. Both my parents and my second brother hates me. I don't think they would be happy to see me alive still." he explained.
"Parents?! Brother?! Chen Yan what are you even talking about now? Are you sure you're alright now? Perhaps you have a hay-fever?"
Zicheng asked as he kept checking Chen Yan's body for any abnormalities. Confused and worried are lighter words to describe his emotions at the moment.
"Why do you have to scream at every word I say?" Yue Yan asked, now he was getting infuriated by this annoying stranger- helper. He got up to leave the room. He felt he needed some air.