"What? Caught a chill recently? Cold seeped into your lungs?" Old Man Nine Shadows immediately sensed the crux of it.
"I'm fine, I'm fine. Probably didn't have enough blankets when I slept a few nights ago." The old man waved it off, indicating it was nothing, and continued setting out the chess pieces.
Without another word, Nine Shadows reached out and gripped the old man's wrist, carefully taking his pulse. He asked several more questions about his symptoms, then examined his complexion, tongue coating, pupils, and so on.
"I'll write you a prescription when I get back. Fill it according to the prescription and take it for a month straight. You should be fine then," Nine Shadows said with a smile.
"Fine. I trust your medical skills." The old man sounded unconcerned.
The two continued their game until the daylight gradually dimmed. Nine Shadows ate with his old friend before taking his leave.
Once outside the courtyard—
He did not immediately return to Black House Mountain. Instead, he slowly walked to the highway outside the county town and waited in silence.
Before long, a black ox cart pulled by a one-horned black bull came rumbling down the highway and stopped beside him.
Nine Shadows narrowed his eyes and stared at someone behind the cart's cloth curtain.
"We haven't met in so many years, and you suddenly summoned me here. What is it?"
He did not speak in the language used here in Taizhou, but in another dialect that no one nearby had ever heard before.
"Nine Shadows, I happened to come across a medicine made by your hand before. That was how I knew you had returned." An elderly woman's voice came from behind the curtain.
"So what? Speak. Why did you seek me out?" Nine Shadows asked coldly.
"We