The chief secretary stood in front of the boy, his sleeves embroidered with patterns pulled low.
"Doctor, you can eat whatever you want, but you can't say whatever you want."
Chu Tianxing looked up at him.
"You should say that to the person who gave you the medicine."
The chief clerk's face darkened.
"We rescued someone by the roadside, and seeing a doctor at the free clinic, we brought them here to give it a try."
Chu Tianxing reached out and lifted the boy's eyelids.
The servant supporting the boy reached out to stop him, but his hand was slapped away by the boy.
"If you want to save me, get out of the way; if you want to die, take me back."
The servant recoiled in pain and turned to look at the chief steward.
The chief clerk remained silent.
He pressed his hand into his sleeve and ran his fingertips along the edge of the waist badge.
Chu Tianxing had already lifted the boy's eyelids.
"Dilated pupils, yellow lines in the whites of the eyes, and unnaturally red lips."
He then pressed on the boy's chest.
The boy arched his back in pain, coughing a few times. A second mouthful of blood choked him, its color darker than the first.
The onlookers took two steps back.
"Am I really going to die?"
"They were just saying they rescued her from the roadside."
"The kind person gave him Life-Sustaining Pill."
The chief clerk looked at the crowd.
"Everyone, be careful what you say. This doctor is talking about Life-Sustaining Pill right off the bat; who knows if he's just trying to scare people and extort money?"
Chu Tianxing chuckled, his nose still crooked, and his eyebrows twitched in pain as he laughed.
"Extortion?"
He raised his hand.
Ten taels.
The chief clerk thought he had misheard.
"What?"
Chu Tianxing opened his palm.
"Ten taels to save a life."
The chief clerk's face grew even uglier.
"Your consultation fee was only five coins."
Chu Tianxing pointed to the wooden sign.
"The consultation fee for a headache or fever is five coins."
He then pointed to the boy's chest.
"Feed someone until they're half-dead to test me, and you'll get ten taels."
The chief clerk sneered.
"You say he took Life-Sustaining Pill, where's the evidence?"
Chu Tianxing pulled the boy's collar open half an inch, smelled it, and then pressed his fingertips against the boy's throat.
"Danli contains deer antler, cinnabar, aconite root, and purple ginseng, which is good for the heart."
A Ling's pen stopped on the paper. Upon hearing the words "Aconitum carmichaelii," she broke out in a cold sweat.
If aconite is used incorrectly, it can be fatal.
Chu Tianxing continued, "A single Life-Sustaining Pill costs at least twenty taels. Can someone who can afford this medicine not afford ten taels to save their life?"
Someone in the crowd immediately chimed in.
"You've already taken twenty taels of medicine, and you're still reluctant to spend ten taels on the consultation fee?"
"Don't talk nonsense, they said they were rescued from the roadside."
"If you can find pills worth twenty taels each by the roadside, I'll go lie down by the roadside tomorrow too."
The chief clerk glanced at the man.
The man shrank back.
In the back room of the teahouse, Gu Moran stood behind a half-open window, his fingertips pressing against the window frame.
Uncle Fu whispered behind him, "Your Highness, Physician Chu really dares to ask for things."
Gu Moran looked at the Chief Secretary's stiff shoulders.
"If he asks for too little, the Crown Prince's Residence will become suspicious."
Outside, the chief clerk took out a silver ingot from his sleeve and threw it on the table.
Ten taels.
Chu Tianxing handed the silver to A Ling.
"Keep it safe, don't let anyone steal it."
A Ling was stunned for a moment.
"I'll accept it?"
"You're sitting next to me, are you just sitting there for nothing?"
A Ling put the silver into the bottom of the medicine basket. Her heart pounded as her fingers touched the silver.
Immediately write "ten taels" on the corner of the paper.
Chu Tianxing opened the needle pouch and swept his fingertips across a row of silver needles.
Lay the person flat.
The servant hesitated.
Chu Tianxing up.
"If you wait another half a cup of tea, you can save ten taels of silver."
The chief clerk closed his eyes briefly.
Do as instructed.
The boy was placed on a wooden board in the free clinic tent.
Chu Tianxing unbuttoned the boy's shirt, revealing his pale, heaving chest.
He pressed three spots, then touched the boy's neck with the back of his fingers.
A Ling reads very quickly, and her pen follows her movements.
Eyelids, below the throat, chest, side of the neck.
Chu Tianxing glanced at her.
"You're writing so slowly, by the time you finish, you'll be cold."
A Ling bit her lip.
"You're too fast."
"No one is waiting for you at the clinic."
Chu Tianxing paused for a moment, then snorted.
"Aim carefully for the first injection."
A Ling immediately looked up.
Chu Tianxing lowered the silver needle in his hand and inserted it into the side of the boy's chest.
The boy raised his chest, suppressing his cough.
The second stitch was placed on the inside of the left arm.
The third needle was inserted into the sole of the foot.
The onlookers couldn't understand what was happening; they only noticed that the boy's breathing had slowed down.
The chief clerk, however, stared at Chu Tianxing's hand.
This doctor is too young.
So young it's hard to believe.
But the boy's lips had indeed lost their redness.
Chu Tianxing took out another black pill, smelled it, and put it back in the bottle.
"No, this medicine is too strong."
A Ling hurriedly asked, "Why?"
" The Life-Sustaining Pill has already aggravated the situation; using more hot medicine is like trying to hasten his death."
"Then what should we use?"
"Water."
The chief clerk frowned.
"Water?"
Chu Tianxing looked at him.
"You've come for a consultation?"
The onlookers burst into laughter.
The chief clerk suppressed his anger.
"Get some water."
A Ling brought over some warm water.
Chu Tianxing open the boy's chin, fed him only half a mouthful, and then patted his back three times with his palm.
The boy coughed up blood for the third time.
The blood was paler this time.
Chu Tianxing finished his needlework.
"Take it away."
The chief clerk was stunned.
"Is that all?"
Chu Tianxing cleaned the needle.
"Not ready."
The chief clerk angrily retorted, "Why did you stop the needlework before it was done?"
Chu Tianxing looked at him.
"I'm saving this last breath."
He pointed to the boy's chest.
"His life has temporarily returned, but the erysipelas remains. He is not allowed to take any tonics for three days after returning home; he should be kept alive with only water and rice porridge."
The chief clencher narrowed his eyes.
"You're not going to continue treatment?"
Chu Tianxing pointed to the wooden sign of the free clinic tent.
"Ten or twelve taels would be enough to pull him half a step back from the brink of death."
The chief clerk almost laughed in anger.
How many more treatments are needed?
Chu Tianxing thought for a moment.
"Ten taels per day, medicine costs are separate."
The crowd laughed again.
"This doctor really dares to ask for money."
"This person really can save lives. I wonder when the talented Ye will come to beg him for help."
"Anyway, it's better than those quack doctors. Let's wake the person up first, then talk about money."
The boy coughed and opened his eyelids a crack.
The chief clerk bowed.
"Woke up?"
The boy nodded weakly.
The chief clerk's expression finally relaxed a little.
He turned to the servant and said, "Take it back."
Chu Tianxing cautioned, "Don't ride in a bumpy carriage; the elixir energy will surge up."
The chief clerk stopped in his tracks.
"Then how do we get there?"
Chu Tianxing pointed to the old man's cart next to him selling vegetables.
"Put up the cart thickly and push it slowly."
The chief clerk stared at the cart covered in vegetable leaves, a vein throbbing on his forehead.
Gu Moran whispered from behind the window, "How interesting, having the Eastern Palace Prince's Chief Secretary push the vegetable cart back."
Uncle Fu lowered his head, suppressing a laugh.
"Your Highness is starting to sound more and more like Madam Shen."
The Chief Secretary ultimately did not resign.
He had two servants lift the boy onto a cart, and then bought the cart for fifty coins.
The wheels rolled over the mud and water, and the boy was pushed away.
A Ling looked down at the paper and realized that she had already filled half a page.
Chu Tianxing glanced at it.
"Ugly handwriting."
A Ling protected the paper.
"It's viewable."
"One acupoint was misplaced."
"Where?"