Chapter 71: Three Don't Help

As the morning rooster announced the dawn, Chen Ji detached himself from the battlefield in his dream, slowly got up, and limped into the main hall of the medical clinic. He sat on a bamboo chair, waiting for Joy Cake's arrival.

Liang Cat Child, dressed in a set of gray cloth clothes, also got up early and went out to carry water.

Chen Ji wanted to help sweep the floor, but Liang Cat Child pressed him back onto the bamboo chair. "Your injury still needs a month of recovery. Don't move around unnecessarily. I can handle all the chores in the medical clinic by myself."

Chen Ji said curiously, "Actually, you can also see that everyone doesn't object to you living here. So, Brother Cat Child, you don't need to rush to finish all the work."

Liang Cat Child said in a low voice, "It doesn't matter how much work I do, as long as you don't blame my brother for not helping yesterday. He has his reasons for his difficulties."

"Why did he set three 'not helps' for himself?" Chen Ji asked doubtfully. "Did he often deal with the Eunuch Bureau before?"

Liang Cat Child carried the shoulder pole and stood in the main hall in silence for a long time. Finally, he said, "Actually, I lied before. My sister-in-law wasn't completely lost after she left."

"Where did she go?"

Liang Cat Child hung his head. "My sister-in-law was discovered by the Secret Spy Office when she left the Ning Dynasty. Heavenly Horse intercepted her in a border town. How could she be a match for Heavenly Horse? She was captured on the spot."

"At that time, the Inner Minister sent people to find my brother and said that he could not send my sister-in-law to the inner prison, but could send her back to Lu City. However, the condition was that my brother could not be an enemy of the Eunuch Bureau afterward, and he still needed to help the Eunuch Bureau do three things."

"Then why didn't your sister-in-law come back?" Chen Ji suddenly realized that the Eunuch Bureau must have suspected the identity of that female knife guest early on. They had been waiting for her to escape, then used her to control Liang Dog Child.

Liang Cat Child laughed. "My brother agreed to the Inner Minister's condition, but he didn't let the Eunuch Bureau send my sister-in-law back. Instead, he chose to let the Eunuch Bureau release her."

Chen Ji was silent for a moment. He didn't expect such an answer. "That Smoke Girl in Red Clothes Alley really liked your sister-in-law, right?"

"Yes," Liang Cat Child laughed honestly and went out. "I'm going to carry water. I still need to cook later."

Just as he stepped out the door, he saw the girl Joy Cake hurrying along the green stone road of An West Street, her skirt lifted. She happened to brush past Liang Cat Child at the door threshold.

Chen Ji smiled and got up to greet her. "Joy Cake, why are you coming to the medical clinic so early?"

Joy Cake saw him and hurriedly said, "Chen Ji, I was just looking for you. White Prajna was injured again by some bad person. Madam asked you to go and treat it. I don't know who is so vicious, actually laying a poisonous hand on the Prajna twice! It's too immoral!"

Chen Ji lowered his head slightly, feeling a little ashamed. "Joy Cake, I can't go to the Prince's Manor to treat it. I was injured by a bad person a few days ago. My leg injury is still not well."

According to the principle of information transfer, Chen Ji should meet with Cloud Concubine face-to-face to discuss important information, to avoid errors in the information transfer. However, the Gold Pig's people were still staring from the second floor across the street. If he went to the Prince's Manor with a limp, it would definitely make Gold Pig suspicious.

Chen Ji stood beside the red wood counter and picked up a brush. "I'll write you a prescription. You can get the medicine later and take it back to apply externally on White Prajna. It will be fine."

Joy Cake hesitated for a moment. "Okay."

Chen Ji weighed the medicinal materials, wrapped them in yellow oil paper, and tied them with hemp rope. After tying them, he also put the prescription in the gap of the hemp rope. "Go back and apply it externally twice a day. White Prajna will be fine."

Joy Cake took the medicine package from his hand and returned to Flying Cloud Garden. Outside the building of Flying Cloud Garden, Cloud Concubine's gentle voice came from inside the room. "White Carp, Mr. Wang said you've been dozing off in class recently. This won't do. Your father will definitely scold you when he comes back."

"Mr. Wang is a great scholar, how could he also... White Carp muttered: saying bad things about people behind their backs!"

Cloud Concubine pretended to be angry and hit White Carp's palm once. "This is not saying bad things about you, it's being responsible for you. Don't talk about Mr. Wang like this again later."

"Understood..."

At this time, Joy Cake quickly took a few steps and came to the room. "Madam, little Doctor Chen was injured and couldn't come, but he wrote a prescription and got the medicine."

"Little Doctor Chen said that White Prajna has only an external injury, and applying some medicine will make it better."

"Madam, put the medicine package here first. Go and tell Joy Tang that the Prince sent a fast horse to deliver a message. He has already prepared all the military grain and is preparing to return. Let Joy Tang bring people to clean the Prince's Manor thoroughly, especially Jing An Hall and Ming Zheng Hall. Even the glass tops need to be wiped clean."

After Cloud Concubine finished speaking, she turned to White Carp and said, "Self Carp, go review your lessons. You need to hand in your calligraphy tonight, otherwise I'll cut your monthly silver... White Carp!"

White Carp came back to her senses, got up and took the medicine package from Joy Cake's hand. She took out the medicine prescription clipped on top and looked at it carefully again and again. Except for some wrong characters, she didn't find any clues.

But according to common sense, the medicine package should have been directly handed to a servant. Why did her mother ask Joy Cake to put the medicine package in the building and find an excuse to send Joy Cake away? There must be a problem here.

At this moment, White Carp had countless doubts in her heart. She suddenly thought that when she just returned from East Forest Academy, she also saw Chen Ji in Flying Cloud Garden, but she didn't pay attention at that time. Now, she clearly knew that Chen Ji's identity was problematic. Thinking back to when Chen Ji came to the door for consultation, she felt that there was more fog surrounding Chen Ji.

Outsiders might not understand the situation, but she was familiar with the people in the medical clinic and naturally knew that those three apprentices were not qualified to go out for consultations. One was a person being investigated by the Secret Plot Office, so why would they be linked to Flying Cloud Garden?

At this time, Cloud Concubine casually took the medicine prescription from White Carp County Lord's hand. "What happened, White Carp, suddenly so interested in the medicine prescription?"

White Carp shook her head. "Nothing, I'm just looking at what medicine the Taiyi Office prescribed for White Prajna..."

Outside Peace Medical Hall, an ox cart slowly stopped. Shopkeeper Yuan jumped down from the cart and walked into the medical clinic with a smiling, narrowed eyes, cupping his hands in a bow. "Imperial Doctor Yao, it's time to restock the medicinal materials again. I've come to deliver the goods for you."

Old Head Yao raised his head and glanced at him. "Look at the quality." He slowly came to the ox cart, untied the only hemp bag on the cart, reached into the bottom of the hemp bag, took out a handful of Luo Han Fruit, and held them in his palm to examine them.

Old Head Yao glanced at Shopkeeper Yuan and threw the Luo Han Fruit back into the bag. "The quality is not bad. It looks like you put effort into collecting the medicinal materials."

Shopkeeper Yuan said with a smiling, narrowed eyes, "When has our Hundred Deer Pavilion's goods ever had a problem? They're definitely the best. Take a look, which medicinal materials are you planning to prepare?"

Old Head Yao took out a list from his sleeve. "According to the list, plus ten branches of wild ginseng that are at least a year old. Remember, I won't want any that are less than fifty years old."

Chen Ji was startled inside the medical clinic. His master wanted ten branches of ginseng in one go! However, he heard Shopkeeper Yuan say with difficulty outside the door, "Imperial Doctor Yao, who would carry ten branches of ginseng everywhere? There might not be any on the cart, just some common medicines."

Imperial Doctor Yao said slowly and methodically, "No harm. You can deliver them before evening. Note this down. I'll check the quality of the other medicinal materials."

At this time, Liang Cat Child carried the shoulder pole and strode back to the medical clinic. Chen Ji saw at a glance that the chest of the gray cloth clothes on his opposite body had a long cut from a sharp weapon. "Cat Child, big brother, what happened to your clothes?"

Liang Cat Child heard the words and looked down, suddenly anxious. "It must have been that person who bumped into me just now. I'm going to find him! These are She Deng Ke's clothes!"

When Liang Dog Child and Liang Cat Child came to the medical clinic, they didn't bring any change of clothes. He could only borrow She Deng Ke's clothes for now. Now that the clothes were broken, Liang Cat Child was so anxious that he was fuming. How could he explain it to She Deng Ke?

Old Head Yao's face sank. He pulled back Liang Cat Child, who wanted to find the thief to settle accounts. "He must be a habitual thief. You won't find him. Carry the water back to the yard first. Later, let Liu Qu Xing mend it with needle and thread."

Liang Cat Child was so anxious he almost cried. "But you can still see it after mending! She Deng Ke only has two sets of clothes to change into, and his family isn't wealthy either..."

Old Head Yao sighed. "Don't be sad. He won't blame you." Towards the stingy Old Head Yao, he was not stingy with Liang Cat Child.

Taking advantage of Old Head Yao talking to Liang Cat Child, Shopkeeper Yuan walked back into the medical clinic with a smiling, narrowed eyes. He stood beside Chen Ji and asked in a low voice, "Joy Cake just came. Did you set the time and place for the second batch of delivery?"

Chen Ji answered calmly, "Tonight at midnight, Red Clothes Gold Workshop. You still need to find the old procuress and report the two characters 'Luo Tian'. This isn't the alley, so we shouldn't trade in the same place twice. But my legs and feet are not convenient now, and I can't meet with the person from the Prince's Manor face-to-face to discuss. So I can only use the prescription to pass the intelligence and set it at the old place."

"The old place it is." Shopkeeper Yuan slowly exhaled and patted Chen Ji's shoulder with a smile. "Very good, very good! If this succeeds, I must report it truthfully to the Division Head and ask for merit for you."

Chen Ji was silent for a moment. He turned his head and stared at Shopkeeper Yuan. "Why did you still want to hurt people today?"

Shopkeeper Yuan laughed happily. "I didn't know if you would follow my instructions. Moreover, it's also good to let you know that even if Liang Cat Child and Liang Dog Child are by your side, they cannot become your reliance. Work hard for the Military Intelligence Office and don't have other ideas."

"Understood." Chen Ji looked at Shopkeeper Yuan and his assistants as they rode the ox cart away, without joy or sorrow. He turned around and went back to the backyard. Behind that ox cart, there were still two small calico cats following.

In the yard, a crow stood on an apricot tree branch, watching Chen Ji lie on the bamboo chair, becoming calmer and calmer. Chen Ji slowly closed his eyes and returned to the battlefield in his dream. There were still many things to do today.

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