The sound of Si Shuo's voice was met with a fit of violent coughing from inside the stone house, startling her so much that she stopped in her tracks, refusing to take another step.
She grabbed Wei Ce's arm in fear. "Brother Ce, I'm not very strong myself. From the sound of it, the Yichu Saintess is about to cough up a lung. Let's just stay out here and talk to her from the doorway."
Yichu's hoarse, weak voice drifted from inside the house. "Qiang, open the wooden window for Mother. I want to have a word with your sister-in-law."
"Mother, you're still sick! It's cold outside. If we open the window, rain will get in and make the room even damper," an angry young male voice replied. "And what 'sister-in-law'? If she really were family, would she be so repulsed by you being sick that she won't even cross the threshold?"
