Dawn quietly rose on the horizon, spreading a blush of rouge across the sky.
Dong Dao, who had been up all night, drank a mouthful of strong tea to clear his head.
Before he could swallow, someone flung open the door and rushed in, overjoyed. "Xingdao, we've made a major discovery!"
The sudden shock drove away every trace of sleepiness. Dong Dao jolted awake and hurriedly steadied his teacup. "A discovery? What is it?"
The Xinglin Physician grabbed him and dragged him along. "Come and see!"
The cook they had captured last night had changed from her earlier alert state. Now she curled up into a listless ball, unconsciously making hoarse, "Huh, huh" sounds. Several Imperial Physicians were carefully recording them, speculating that different tones of "huh, huh" expressed different emotions. So far, they believed these sounds conveyed fear.
And the others' guess was right.
The Xinglin Physician excitedly revealed the new discovery.
"Look. This patient is extremely afraid of light."
The fifteen Xinglin Physicians had divided up the work. Dong Dao and a few others continued poring over the Medical School Sacred Hall's texts, while the rest observed this precious patient. When the rooster kept by the medical office began to crow, and the ink-black night slowly faded to pale gray, they noticed a change in the patient's mood. This might be a precious breakthrough!
"Light?" Dong Dao's gaze fell on the spent lamp in the candlestick. "The candles burned brightly all last night, and she barely reacted. There was moonlight everywhere on the way back, too, and still nothing unusual... It seems not just any light can provoke a reaction."
As he spoke, he took a palm-sized, round bronze mirror from his robes.
Standing by the window, he used the mirror to reflect the sunlight outside.
The cook