The long street was silent, with rows of gray-eaved buildings of varying heights, their upturned eaves like waves in the dark ocean of the night, solidified in time.
Old Man Yao walked slowly with his hands clasped behind his back, while Chen Ji followed silently, saying little. He had many questions he wanted to ask, such as where Bei Ju Lu Continent was, if he knew a young person named Li Qing Niao, and what the forty-nine levels of heaven were.
But he knew he couldn't ask and could only bury those doubts deep in his heart.
Old Man Yao asked doubtfully, "You're usually as talkative as old cotton cloth, how come you're so quiet today?"
Chen Ji's heart tightened. "It's still because of the matter at the Zhou residence. You told me not to mention it."
Old Man Yao suddenly asked, "Did you kill someone?"
Chen Ji was silent for a long time. "No."
Old Man Yao lightly hummed and didn't ask any further.
Along the way, the old man really didn't ask any more about the night's events, as if nothing had happened.
After walking for about an hour, Chen Ji finally saw in the distance the wide red lacquer gate of Jing Wang Fu. The guards in front of the gate stood with halberds, wearing iron armor, and the stone lions on either side of the gate were majestic and imposing.
Under the gray tile eaves hung two white lanterns, with the words "Jing Wang Fu" written on them. The plaque on the gate was inscribed with "Zheng Da Guang Ming" in gold lacquer.
Yao Tai Yi didn't enter through the main gate, but led Chen Ji towards the side of the Wang Fu. There was a medical hall tightly nestled against the Wang Fu, named "Tai Ping".
The plaque above the door read "Gai Bu She Qiong".
Old Man Yao pushed open the large door of the medical hall and stepped over the high threshold. Inside the room, a kerosene lamp lit the long counter.
Outside was the dark long street and the night, while inside the room was the warm, orange-red light, as if the world was black and white and only this medical hall had color.
It was also as if as long as Chen Ji walked in, he could shelter from the wind and rain here and find peace.
Old Man Yao stood inside the door, turned his head, and glared at Chen Ji. "Throw away the things in your hand. This plaything isn't needed in the medical hall."
Chen Ji was startled and threw away the broken porcelain piece he was still gripping. Blood was still stained on the broken porcelain piece.
He looked at the high threshold of the medical hall and Old Man Yao's hunched shadow, and finally stepped inside the door, closing it and blocking the dark night outside.
...
...
This medical hall was a small siheyuan, separated from the Wang Fu by only one wall. In the middle of the courtyard was a twisted old apricot tree.
On the branch of the tree stood a majestic crow, which flew away when it saw someone coming.
Old Man Yao seemed tired, waved his hand, and said, "Go to sleep."
Chen Ji still stood where he was... Where was he supposed to sleep? There were three rooms in the back of this siheyuan. He didn't know which one was the right choice. If he went to the wrong place, it might cause suspicion.
Old Man Yao saw that he wasn't moving and turned back suspiciously. "Why aren't you going to sleep?"
As he spoke, a thin, tall young man in a long gown emerged from the west wing room. He looked at Chen Ji disapprovingly and said, "Chen Ji, you took so long just to deliver medicine, you even made Master go find you... Master, are you tired from walking? I'll boil some water for you to soak your feet before resting."
Chen Ji silently looked at this... senior brother.
How could one person flatter so effectively?
Old Man Yao said, "All of you, go to sleep. Don't be late for tomorrow's early class."
"Alright," the thin, tall young man quickly went back into the west wing room.
Chen Ji followed him in. Inside the room was a large communal bed. The innermost person was a burly figure sleeping soundly and completely unaware of what had just happened in the outside world. The thin, tall senior brother slept in the middle of the communal bed, and his bed position was by the door.
The apprentice's sleeping room had old wooden windows. Other than some basins and cans, there was no other furniture.
In the dim room, the thin, tall senior brother sat on the communal bed wrapped in a quilt, his eyes shining as he stared at Chen Ji. He asked in a low voice, "What happened? Why were you gone for so long?"
"Nothing," Chen Ji shook his head and tiredly climbed into the quilt. He quietly looked at the wooden beams on the ceiling and the old spider webs.
The thin, tall senior brother turned over and lay down, muttering, "If you don't want to say it, then forget it!"
The room became quiet again, with only the sound of breathing remaining.
Only at this moment could Chen Ji stop and properly think about his situation: Would Jiao Tu and Yun Yang let him go? Certainly not.
The ability he showed tonight was definitely not something a medical hall apprentice would have, and he just happened to appear in the home of a Jing Chao spy. How could those two snake and scorpion-like people not suspect him?
But why did they let him go? Was it because of his master's identity, or did the other party have other plans?
Regardless of the reason, Chen Ji's best choice now was to stay inside the medical hall. This medical hall was next to the Wang Fu, and the other party might have scruples about doing anything.
Just as he was thinking, Chen Ji's pupils suddenly constricted.
A stock of ice-cold air was spreading throughout his body from his dantian, devouring the temperature in his muscles, bones, and blood.
That was... a stock of ice flow that had entered his body when Zhou Cheng Yi died. At that time, he only felt a cold chill, as if it were an illusion. Now, it was like a fierce beast trapped inside Chen Ji's body, angrily searching for an exit, but always unable to rush out of Chen Ji's body.
Bang.
Chen Ji heard the sound of his blood flowing like an avalanche, as if what was flowing through his blood vessels was no longer blood, but ice sand.
It was as if a sword was hidden within his thin body, or a dragon that had existed thousands of years ago. Chen Ji felt as if he were in a dark deep pool, desperately being dragged to the bottom by a hand.
The cold was piercing.
Chen Ji struggled to turn his head and look at the others in the room, only to find that they were sleeping soundly and completely unaware of anything. He wrapped the quilt tightly, but the cold air was from the inside out. Even if he covered himself completely in the quilt, it was no help.
Could it be that Zhou Cheng Yi's wronged soul was clinging to his body?
Gradually, before he could think clearly, he curled up into a ball and fell into a muddled state.
He didn't know how long had passed, but in the distance, a clear rooster crow sounded, as if it had penetrated through layers of thin fog and torn the fog apart.
Chen Ji was startled awake and sat up in bed, as if he had just been pulled out of the water like a fish, breathing greedily.
His hands and feet were ice-cold. What had just happened wasn't a dream. The ice flow was still raging.
...
...
Outside the window, the thin sunlight was blocked by the white paper window, and the room was dim.
Beside him, two senior brothers were still sleeping soundly side by side with their heads covered. The rooster crow seemed to have no effect on them; they were still snoring.
Just as Chen Ji was in a daze, with a creak, the door of the room was pushed open by someone.
He saw his master, "Old Man Yao," standing at the door holding a bamboo strip, with a look of disdain on his face. "The rooster has crowed and you're still not up. People who know you know you're apprentices. People who don't know might think you're the legitimate eldest son of some family."
Saying this, he waved the bamboo strip and struck.
Chen Ji struggled to flip over, put on his clothes, and hid to the side. "Master, I'm already up!"
Old Man Yao saw the situation and went to hit the others, but heard a series of wails erupt. The two senior brothers were hit by the bamboo strip and scurried around holding their heads. "Master, don't hit! Get up, get up!"
But no matter how the two senior brothers dodged, the bamboo strip always accurately landed on their bodies. That hunched-back small old man was clearly already ninety-two years old, but his hands and body were extra agile.
Old Man Yao waved the bamboo strip and drove the three people into the middle of the courtyard, saying in a cold voice, "Stand pile!"
Chen Ji originally thought that Tai Yi Hall's early class would be reciting medical books. He didn't expect it to actually be standing pile?
He turned his head to look and saw that the two senior brothers simultaneously struck a strange posture, not a horse stance, but more like a posture of carrying a giant stone on their shoulders and climbing a mountain ridge.
Before he could secretly learn, there was a crack, and the bamboo strip had already crisply landed on his body. The moment the bamboo strip came into contact with his body, a pain seemed to explode from the seams of his bones.
The heart-piercing pain, accompanied by a cold, weak feeling, suddenly made Chen Ji almost faint. He imitated the two senior brothers' appearance and stood pile, and Old Man Yao then laughed coldly. "Don't pretend to be weak in front of me, it's useless. Also, don't think that if you flatter me, I won't hit you."
Saying this, the bamboo strip again landed on the body of that thin, tall senior brother. "Liu Qu Xing, wasn't I talking about you? What kind of ghost thing are you standing?"
Liu Qu Xing said with a crying voice, "Master, aren't we learning medicine? Why do we have to learn this every day?"
Old Man Yao laughed coldly and hit him with another bamboo strip. "Still dare to talk back? Heaven has three treasures: sun, moon, and stars. People have three treasures: essence, qi, and spirit! Without essence, qi, and spirit, you can't learn anything!"
In a short quarter of an hour, the three senior brothers were hit by the bamboo strip and cried and howled. Chen Ji was also punished for the first time, and he was the one who received the most bamboo strips among the three brothers, because he was the most unfamiliar with this posture.
Only.
At a certain point during the standing pile, a stock of warm flow surged out from Chen Ji's lower back, slowly offsetting the cold air from last night.
This warm flow was sometimes there and sometimes not... or rather, when the standing pile action was correct, it would generate; when the action was not correct, it wouldn't.
Chen Ji changed his posture according to the feeling. When there was a warm flow surging out from his lower back, he maintained the posture and no longer moved. It was as if someone had prepared the answer for him and he just followed the clues.
Old Man Yao walked to his side at this time, originally wanting to casually hit him with a bamboo strip, but discovered that Chen Ji's posture was completely correct, and the hand he had raised couldn't be brought down for no reason...
Later, Old Man Yao simply didn't look at him, only hitting the other two senior brothers.
Chen Ji didn't know what was special about this posture that it could offset the ice flow. He silently observed the appearance of the other senior brothers, who didn't seem to feel that this standing pile had any benefits.
Could it be that only he could feel this stock of warm flow?
Half an hour passed, and the ice flow inside Chen Ji's body was suppressed back into his dantian and didn't move. He let out a breath. If this ice flow continued to rage, it was hard to say whether he could survive today.
Old Man Yao laughed coldly, "Okay, today's early class is over. Chen Ji has made progress."
The three senior brothers grinned and rubbed their injuries. If they took off their clothes now, they would definitely be covered in bruises.
"Quickly get over to the main hall door and wait for your families. Today is the day to pay tuition silver. If I don't see the tuition silver, you'll immediately pack your bags and go home!" Old Man Yao said in a cold voice. "Chen Ji, when your family comes later, remember to ask for money. The medicine money lost last night was three hundred and twenty wen. Not a single wen can be less."
Chen Ji was startled.
Family...
Did he still have a family in this world?
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