Chapter 9 : Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Moving Amid Danger

Three apprentices, born in the same year, same month, same day, same hour.

It was as if fate had chosen us together, part of some special arrangement.

I thought of Old Man Yao’s habit of casting hexagrams with the Six Lines method and the Stone-Bearing Stance that countered the icy current. I couldn’t shake the feeling that this master hid many secrets.

Could the Six Lines method in this world truly probe the heavens above and the underworld below?

As I pondered, a middle-aged man in a dark blue robe entered. Liu Quxing hurried forward with a smile: “Steward Wang, visiting the clinic this late?”

The man bowed to Old Man Yao: “Physician Yao, my lady’s been vomiting and diarrheic since lunch. She’s now unconscious in bed. My master sent me to request your visit for a diagnosis. If you come, there’ll be generous thanks.”

Old Man Yao glanced at him, tossing six copper coins on the counter: “Earth-Fire Mingyi, Wind-Lake Zhongfu… Not auspicious to go out tonight. I’m not going.”

I: Huh?

The steward looked troubled: “Master Yao, you’re a doctor with a healer’s heart. How can you ignore a life over a vague hexagram?”

“There are plenty of doctors in Luocheng. Do they need me?” Old Man Yao glared. “Your Li family’s always stingy. Last time I visited at night, you promised generous thanks. I cured your lady’s headache with one needle, and she thought I earned it too easily, trying to dodge the payment. When I left, all I got was two smoked fish. Let someone else go!”

Steward Wang grew anxious: “Physician Yao, my lady’s elderly. Please understand…”

Old Man Yao stroked his beard: “Don’t talk about age. She’s over thirty years younger than me. No one in Luocheng can play the ‘old card’ with me.”

Steward Wang: “…”

Old Man Yao waved: “She Dakang, see him out!”

After She Dakang escorted Steward Wang out, he returned and said: “Master, why not let us take cases? One visit could earn a tael of silver.”

Old Man Yao snapped: “You’ve been here two years and can’t even take a pulse properly. Sending you out is like sending an assassin!”

She Dakang’s breath hitched: “Master, I’ve been studying hard…”

Old Man Yao swung his bamboo stick, striking She Dakang’s arm: “Go cook dinner!”

She Dakang hurried to the back courtyard, with Liu Quxing trailing behind—one tall and burly like a tower, the other thin as a reed.

In the back courtyard, She Dakang said gravely: “You went too far today. We’re fellow disciples. You don’t treat people like that.”

Liu Quxing froze: “Too far? How? His family won’t pay his tuition—is that my fault? Don’t forget, Master only takes one true disciple!”

She Dakang fell silent. The true disciple would inherit a position in the Imperial Medical Academy. The three of us were rivals.

…

…

The kitchen’s aroma wafted out. A low table and stools were set in the courtyard. Old Man Yao sipped millet porridge slowly from the bowl’s edge.

On the table sat a dish of pickled vegetables and tofu. She Dakang and Liu Quxing sat on low stools, waiting for Master to finish and wipe his mouth before picking up their chopsticks.

Unable to pay tuition, I had no seat and stood aside, gnawing on a coarse grain pancake.

The pancake, mixed with some wild greens, was hard to swallow. I scooped water from the tank, forcing it down, then carried a bucket and rag to the main hall.

Old Man Yao glanced at me: “Working this late?”

“Afraid I won’t finish tomorrow’s tasks, so I’m scrubbing the floor now,” I explained.

Old Man Yao scratched his eyebrow: “Playing the pity card? It won’t soften me.”

I smiled: “No, Master. I’ll earn the tuition and pay you soon.”

I genuinely wanted to stay in the clinic. Whether it was the threat from Jiaotu and Yunyang or the mystery of the icy current in my body, I needed to stay here to find answers.

My situation in this world wasn’t great… but there was no use complaining. The world had given me a second chance at life—that was enough.

The pessimist is always right, but the optimist keeps moving forward.

I set the bucket down, wrung out the rag, and wiped the floor. But as I bent over, the icy current surged without warning!

A bone-chilling cold hit, rapidly draining my body’s warmth.

In mere breaths, I trembled, as if thinly clad in the depths of winter.

“What is this icy current? A vengeful spirit? Maybe I’ll find out when Master beats one of my brothers to death…”

Trembling, I assumed the Stone-Bearing Stance to suppress it. Oddly, this time the current didn’t retreat to my dantian but kept crashing through my body, as if searching for something.

Following its pull, I looked toward the counter, where rows of vermilion medicine cabinets stood.

“What’s drawing you?” I shuffled toward the cabinets, pulling open the drawer labeled “Ginseng.”

A fifty-year-old ginseng root, the only one in the drawer.

Guided by the icy current, I touched the ginseng’s tendrils. Six of its roots melted into a transparent liquid in my palm, condensing into a thumb-sized bead.

In an instant, the icy current was sucked out of me, completely gone!

Hm?

What’s this for?

I held the bead, examining it closely. Inside the transparent bead, a snake-like wisp of mist slithered.

I wondered if I should eat it but thought better of it. If I did, wouldn’t the icy current return?

No rush to eat it—it wouldn’t run away. I’d check the books for information first.

I slipped the bead into my sleeve and looked at the ginseng. Its once-lush roots were now half-bare…

“Will Master notice? With his stingy nature, if he sees the ginseng’s damaged, how much will I owe? Will he kick me out of the clinic?!”

Panicked, I checked the clinic’s inventory ledger, flipping to the ginseng page: “Fifty-year-old ginseng, one root, three qian, fourteen tendrils.”

One qian was about three grams. The records were meticulous. If Old Man Yao checked, he’d notice the ginseng’s issue.

I frowned, closing the drawer. My already strained situation just got worse. I needed to fix this before his next inventory check.

But the more pressing issue was tomorrow’s academic test.

I finished scrubbing the floor but didn’t sleep. Instead, I pulled out

The Compendium of Medicine

to study. It was late to start learning, but I had to try.

Learn a day earlier, get beaten a day less.

Then, light footsteps came from the back courtyard. I hid

The Compendium

under the counter.

Turning, I saw Liu Quxing, draped in a padded jacket, sneaking a peek at me.

“Brother Liu, why’re you up?”

“Got up to pee and came to check on you,” Liu Quxing crept closer, looking sly. “I need to tell you something, or my conscience’ll bother me.”

“What?”

Liu Quxing said: “I offered you chores today to help you out. If you can’t pay tuition, Master will really kick you out. Don’t listen to She Dakang’s nonsense—I meant no harm.”

I smiled: “Don’t worry, Brother Liu. I know you meant well.”

“Good, as long as you know,” Liu Quxing said, heading back to the room, where She Dakang was still snoring.

He shook She Dakang: “Wake up! Wake up!”

No response.

Liu Quxing tried again: “Wake up quick—Chen Ji’s secretly studying!”

With a jolt, She Dakang sat up: “What?!”

Liu Quxing changed the subject: “I got up to pee and checked on Chen Ji. Guess what? He’s studying while we’re sleeping!”

She Dakang was shocked: “So sneaky?!”

“Exactly! Should we study too?”

She Dakang snapped: “Study in the middle of the night? Sleep! And you’re not allowed to study either!”

“Got it! No studying! Sleep!”

In the middle of the night, She Dakang woke up needing to pee. He got up and realized he was alone in the room.

Suspicious, the burly youth threw on a robe and headed to the courtyard, spotting an orange glow from the kitchen.

Pushing the door open, he found Liu Quxing, in his padded jacket, sitting on a stool by the stove, lit by a lamp of oil dregs, reading

Pathology of Febrile Diseases

…

“You son of a!” She Dakang clamped Liu Quxing’s mouth and started hitting him. I hadn’t expected my competitive streak to bring such cutthroat ambition to the clinic.

As the beating went on, a girl with a lantern hurried to the clinic’s door, shouting: “Physician Yao, Physician Yao!”

The white paper lantern bore three characters: “Prince Jing’s Mansion.”

Her shouts drew everyone’s attention. She Dakang stopped hitting Liu Quxing and ran out.

He opened the main hall door: “Chunhua, what’re you doing here in the middle of the night?”

Chunhua, about eighteen or nineteen, wore a bright green skirt, her face delicate. She said urgently: “She Dakang, where’s Physician Yao?”

Old Man Yao ambled over, hands behind his back: “What’s wrong?”

Chunhua rushed: “My lady’s in trouble. Please come take a look.”

Everyone looked at Old Man Yao, who paused: “Not auspicious to go out tonight. I’m not going.”

I: Huh?

Wasn’t this clinic dedicated to Prince Jing’s Mansion?

Chunhua, sweating anxiously, signaled She Dakang to speak up.

She Dakang said: “Master, it’s past midnight—a new day. Why not cast another hexagram?”

Old Man Yao glanced at him: “Fine, I’ll cast another.”

He pulled copper coins from his sleeve, tossing them six times, muttering: “Heaven creates in chaos, yin and yang begin to intertwine, giving rise to difficulty, moving amid danger, Water-Thunder Tun…”

Old Man Yao’s face changed: “Great misfortune! No way, no way—I’m definitely not going!”

Chunhua nearly cried: “Physician Yao, if I don’t bring a doctor back tonight, I’ll be dead. I came with the mansion’s token—you have to go!”

She Dakang stepped forward: “Master, if you really don’t want to go, I’ll go!”

Old Man Yao thought for a moment: “…Chen Ji, you go.”

I: “Huh? Me?”