Chu Tianxing watched her retreating figure, his mouth opening and closing slightly.
The tea stall owner added insult to injury from the sidelines.
"Little miracle doctor, it seems you really did a good job."
Chu Tianxing's face turned ashen.
After a while, he picked up his medicine box, stood by the roadside, and shouted at the top of his lungs.
"Five coins for a pulse diagnosis!"
"A doctor's visit only costs five coins!"
"Difficult or complicated illnesses are fine, even minor ailments like headaches and fevers are fine, just don't try to fool me with promises of repaying a debt in the next life!"
A passing coachman glanced at him.
"Are you crazy?"
Chu Tianxing turned around and went back.
"A madman charging five coins for taking a pulse? The prices in the capital are utterly inhuman!"
The driver cracked his whip and drove off, muttering to himself.
"That doctor really talks a lot."
Chu Tianxing stiffened his neck.
"What's wrong with being talkative? Being talkative means you have strong lung qi. People with strong lung qi are usually good doctors."
The tea stall owner overheard this, tried to hold back, but couldn't help himself.
"Why don't you take a look at yourself too? Can poverty be cured?"
Chu Tianxing looked at him.
"It can be cured."
The boss became interested.
How to treat it?
Chu Tianxing spread his hands.
"Lend me ten coins first, and I'll demonstrate for you."
The boss turned and left.
"Roll."
Chu Tianxing shouted at his retreating figure.
"Your condition is more serious; it's called being stingy to the bone, and it requires long-term treatment!"
The dining hall of Prince Yi's Residence.
Gu Moran had just sat down when he heard Shen Ling'er speak.
" Sister Su, I have two throat lozenges left. I'll save them for you."
Su Yao held the teacup but did not take it.
Thank you, but no need.
Shen Ling'er held a piece of green bamboo shoot between her chopsticks, which hovered in mid-air.
"Really don't want it? You must have been reading for too long last night."
Su Yao put down her teacup and glanced at her.
"I read by candlelight every night, undisturbed, and my voice is perfectly fine."
Shen Ling'er blinked.
"So fierce. Are you jealous because you feel neglected?"
Su Yao stopped eating.
"I'm not like Younger Sister Ling'er, who goes out of the hospital in the middle of the night."
The dinner table fell silent for a moment.
Gu Moran pretended not to hear and reached for the pork knuckle with her chopsticks.
But Lin Qingdai's chopsticks had already arrived.
Two pairs of chopsticks are holding the same piece of fatty meat.
Lin Qingdai looked at him.
"Put."
Gu Moran asked, "Does Madam uphold martial virtues?"
Lin Qingdai said, "We won't talk about this at the dinner table."
Gu Moran let go.
"Fine, I can't afford to mess with them."
Lin Qingdai took the fatty meat and put it into her own bowl.
"Good to know."
Xie Wanqing glanced at Shen Ling'er, then at Su Yao, and placed a piece of steamed fish in the small dish in the middle.
" Sister Su, please make the fish softer."
Su Yao looked at her.
"Thank you for your kindness, sister."
Shen Ling'er put the bamboo shoots back into her bowl and muttered to herself.
" Sister Xie, you're so thoughtful to give me fish; I'm just too talkative when I bring you medicine."
Gu Moran put down his teacup.
"The banquet table at the Prince's residence is truly lively."
Lin Qingdai took the last piece of fatty meat.
If you say less, you can eat more meat.
Shen Ling'er looked at the empty plate.
" Sister Lin, how come you eat your chopsticks so fast?"
Lin Qingdai said, "I practiced it."
Shen Ling'er asked, "Can you teach me?"
Lin Qingdai looked at her.
"Take the beating first."
Shen Ling'er withdrew her hand.
"Then studying medicine would be a good idea for me."
Murong Xue pulled the beef closer to herself.
"People from the Central Plains fight with their mouths every day."
Lin Qingdai said, "If the princess is not used to it, we can sit at separate tables."
Murong Xue looked at her.
" Gu Moran hasn't even spoken yet, and you're already setting the rules for the Prince's residence?"
Their eyes met; steam rose from the hot soup on the table.
Seeing the tense atmosphere between the two, Xie Wanqing silently pushed the bowl of soup to Shen Ling'er's side.
" Ling'er, drink your soup."
Shen Ling'er immediately smiled sweetly.
" Sister Xie is so kind."
Su Yao didn't speak.
Liu Ruyan sat in the corner, her bowl empty.
Just as Gu Moran was about to speak, Liu Ruyan raised her hand and beckoned her maid.
Add half a bowl of rice.
The maidservant was taken aback for a moment, then quickly took the bowl.
Gu Moran's gaze lingered on her.
Liu Ruyan noticed and looked up.
"What is Your Highness looking at?"
Gu Moran picked up the serving chopsticks and placed a piece of steamed tofu on the small plate in front of her.
You seem to have a good appetite today.
Liu Ruyan looked at the piece of tofu.
"Your Highness even cares about this?"
Gu Moran said, "Feeding my beloved concubines is my most important matter."
Liu Ruyan lowered her gaze, picked up the tofu, and said nothing more.
Shen Ling'er immediately joined in the fun.
" Sister Ruyan has asked for more rice, and she's talking more too; this is the first time."
Liu Ruyan said, " Younger Sister Shen shouts again, the whole capital will know."
Xie Wanqing suppressed a laugh and gently pressed a handkerchief to the corner of her lips.
Su Yao glanced at Liu Ruyan but didn't say anything hurtful.
The rice cooked in the kitchen today was really good.
Liu Ruyan said softly, "Mmm."
The system panel in Gu Moran's mind lit up.
[ Liu Ruyan's favorability +3, currently -8.]
[Source of fluctuation: Sense of security.]
[Tag: Warmth of family.]
Gu Moran looked at the words, the tension that had been building in his chest eased a little.
The fact that she was able to ask for more rice shows that she finally stopped treating the Prince's mansion's dining table as if it were a banquet at the Flower-Between Pavilion.
Shen Ling'er suddenly placed a pine nut candy next to Gu Moran's bowl.
"My husband eats too."
Su Yao paused for a moment with her chopsticks.
Lin Qingdai watched the spectacle.
Murong Xue gnawed on the meat.
Xie Wanqing lowered her head and drank her soup.
Liu Ruyan sandwiched tofu.
Gu Moran at the candy; under the table, Shen Ling'er's shoe toes were still tugging at him.
Oh, what a troublesome little devil.
Night falls.
Just as Uncle Fu was about to leave the study, the undercover agent hurriedly entered.
"Your Highness, Chu Tianxing reached the outer city and, unable to afford an inn, is resting in a dilapidated temple. His only possessions are a broken medicine chest and five copper coins."
Gu Moran up.
Five?
"Yes. He shouted for half an hour at the city gate that he could take a pulse for five coins, but the guards thought he was too noisy and almost chased him away as a beggar."
Gu Moran's lips twitched.
"He was scammed so many times?"
The undercover agent found the list.
"From the south to the capital, I was cheated fourteen times."
Gu Moran tapped on the table.
In the original novel, Chu Tianxing arrived in the capital with a bulging purse and a full medicine chest, able to afford fine medicinal herbs, stay in fine restaurants, and associate with high-ranking officials and nobles.
The moment the silver needle touches the skin, the noble person owes a debt of gratitude; the moment the prescription is written, the powerful and wealthy make way.
Things are different now.
He could only afford to take pulses for five coins, examine the backs of porters, check the legs of old women, and prescribe cheap remedies for water carriers.
The poor suffer from many illnesses, have little money, are burdened with heavy emotions, and have many trivial matters to attend to.
If a miracle doctor is stuck in this poverty, even if Heavenly Dao wants to pave a golden road for him, it will first have to make him pull his feet out of the mud.
Who's at the south gate?
" Chen Er."
"Let Chen Er go pick him up as soon as possible."
The hidden stakeout was stunned.
"Pick it up?"
"Arrange a job for him at the Chengnan Charity Hall; they'll provide food and lodging. He's so poor, he'll go wherever there's food."
Uncle Fu noted it down and looked up.
"That place is only separated from Ye Qingyun's courtyard by an alley."
"Right."
"Your Highness, isn't it a bit much to keep them so close...?"
Gu Moran pressed the paper down.
They'll run into each other sooner or later, so why don't I set up a table first?
The hidden stakes lowered their heads.
"Understood."
Gu Moran's fingertip touched Shun'an Lane.
"A poor but skilled doctor, and a talented scholar with internal injuries."
"But when it comes to treating illnesses, if you cure them, you owe them a favor; if you fail, you make enemies."
Uncle Fu remained silent for a moment.
"Is Your Highness trying to set them up?"
Gu Moran looked up.
"I, as a matchmaker, have always been considerate. It's more interesting when dogs fight each other."
"Let the people from the charity assess his basic skills first; don't let him stand out for now."
The hidden stakeouts quickly retreated.
Just as Gu Moran was about to look at the map of the southern city again, she heard the soft snorting of a horse outside the window.
It was very light, unlike the usual noise from the stables in the Prince's mansion.
He raised his hand, signaling Uncle Fu not to move.
I walked to the window and pushed it open a crack.
Moonlight fell on the open space in the backyard.
Murong Xue led her chestnut horse, changed into smart riding clothes, tied her hair up, and hung her sword beside the saddle.
She didn't bring Batuer.
one person.
Gu Moran looked at the horse, then at the knife at her waist.
On a full moon night, a man from the Northern Territory leads his horse alone to the backyard.
This doesn't look like a nighttime stroll.