Family...
Having come alone to this unfamiliar world, Chen Ji could only reach out to it with great care, sensing its mysteries and dangers.
Every step was like walking along the edge of a cliff, with an abyss waiting below.
The word "family" held a peculiar attraction for him.
Chen Ji understood clearly that this so-called family belonged to the body he now occupied, while he was a stowaway who had slipped into this world after its original owner died.
Still, he couldn't help feeling a flicker of curiosity... What if his parents had also come to this world after they died?
After the morning lesson, Chen Ji and his two fellow apprentices squatted beside the large water vat in the southeast corner of the courtyard to wash up.
He took a willow twig, pressed its wood into the shape of a brush, and awkwardly scraped his teeth with it, copying his fellow apprentices.
The tall, sturdy senior brother who had slept like a log the night before squatted on the ground, grimacing. "Master's in a foul mood today, so whatever you do, don't provoke him. It hurts like hell. Even my dad's never beaten me that hard!"
Chen Ji spat out the salt water in his mouth and ventured, "Maybe practicing it helps?"
Liu Quxing curled his lip. "How could it help? We've been practicing for over a year, and I haven't felt a thing. Have you?"
"No." Chen Ji shook his head. Now he was sure that he really was the only one who could feel the warm current.
As the tall, sturdy senior brother brushed his teeth, he asked, "Liu Quxing, when your mother comes later, will she bring those delicious fried cakes she brought last time?"
The skinny Liu Quxing rolled his eyes and spat out his rinse water. "She Dengke, stop thinking about the food my mother brings me."
She Dengke bristled. "We're fellow apprentices. What's wrong with me having a little of your food?"
Just then, Old Yao came out of the main house carrying a bamboo strip. "You still have the mood to joke around? We'll see if you can still laugh when I test your studies tomorrow. Get your arses to the main hall and memorize your books."
After washing up, the three fellow apprentices sat in a row on the threshold of the clinic without even eating breakfast, each leafing through a medical book.
In truth, their minds had long since wandered from their books as they waited eagerly for their families to bring money and food. Only Chen Ji read silently, for there were too many gaps he needed to fill.
She Dengke said, "Master's testing our knowledge tomorrow. As fellow apprentices, we share blessings and bear hardships together. No one's allowed to review in secret, got it?"
Liu Quxing's eyes darted about. "I haven't looked at a book lately, and I've forgotten everything Master taught us before."
She Dengke sneered and clenched his fist. "That had better be the truth, you little bastard!"
Liu Quxing shrank back. "Why aren't you saying anything to Chen Ji? He got the fewest strokes of the bamboo this morning, and he's still reading!"
She Dengke closed the book in Chen Ji's hands. "No more reading. We'll get beaten together tomorrow. My dad had someone read my fortune. I'll live into my seventies, so Master can't beat me to death!"
Chen Ji said, "...Your eight characters are that tough?"
Before long, Liu Quxing suddenly sprang to his feet and dashed out to meet a middle-aged woman in a blue-green ruqun.
A silver hairpin adorned her head, and she wore embroidered shoes. She was elegant and gentle.
She smiled when she saw Liu Quxing, her smile especially tender. "Xing'er, have you made your master angry lately?"
"No, no. Master likes me a lot. How could I make him angry?" Liu Quxing cheerfully handed her a bundle. "Mother, these are my dirty clothes. Take them home and wash them for me."
Sitting on the threshold, She Dengke sneered. "Useless. You're this old and still saving up your clothes for your mother to wash!"
The woman took the clothes and handed Liu Quxing a wooden box and a cloth bundle that her maid had been carrying. "The bundle has this month's tuition and a change of clothes. The box has some snacks I made for you. You can share them with your fellow apprentices."
At that moment, Chen Ji distinctly heard She Dengke swallow.
Liu Quxing, however, didn't offer them any snacks. He opened the box on the spot and stuffed the fried cakes and mung bean pastries into his mouth one after another.
After watching Liu Quxing stuff his face for two quarters of an hour, they saw him finally cram every last snack down his throat. Only then did he hand the box back to the woman. "Mother, take the box home with you."
Chen Ji: Huh?
She Dengke muttered, "You motherfucking..."
Mother and son talked for a while longer before Liu Quxing returned, happily carrying the cloth bundle. He even belched as he stepped over the threshold.
There were gradually more pedestrians in the street. Between the uneven rows of buildings, children chased and scuffled with one another in the alleys, while women carried basins to the Luo River to wash clothes.
Someone drove an ox cart eastward, the ox swishing its tail as it dropped dung. The whole street was filled with the grassy smell of earth-stained hay.
Chen Ji immersed himself in it.
She Dengke and Chen Ji waited eagerly until noon, when a capable-looking man finally came hurrying over with a bundle.
The dark-skinned man wore a short jacket and gray cloth trousers, his sleeves rolled up to his upper arms to reveal twisting tattoos. "Little Brother!"
"Third Brother!" She Dengke's eyes lit up.
The man laughed heartily. "I went to the East Market early to help someone out, and it held me up. Here, Mother prepared these two strings of cured pork for you. One's for your master, and the other's for you to keep and eat."
"Where did the meat come from?!" She Dengke asked in delight.
"Eldest Brother and I ran into a wild boar in the mountains a few days ago. Shame it was a male, so it smells a bit gamey," Third Brother replied with a smile.
She Dengke beamed. "It's good enough to have meat. Who cares if it smells gamey?"
"I'm off. A wealthy family's putting on a private opera performance at the East Market tonight. I'm going to help set up the stage, and I can watch the show while I'm at it." Third Brother turned and left as briskly as he had come, without the slightest hesitation.
She Dengke strode back to the clinic. Leaning against the doorframe, Liu Quxing said sourly, "I heard meat from a male wild boar smells like piss..."
She Dengke glared at Liu Quxing. "Want me to snap your front teeth off?"
Liu Quxing immediately shrank back. He turned to Chen Ji. "They still haven't come at this hour. I guess your family isn't coming, right?"
Chen Ji shook his head. "I don't know."
Liu Quxing said gleefully, "Could it be they don't want to pay your tuition anymore? Go beg Master to give you a little more time."
No sooner had he spoken than Old Yao, standing behind the counter and checking the accounts, said unhurriedly, "Methods are not lightly passed on, the Dao is not sold cheap, a master does not teach merely because he is passing by, and a physician does not knock on doors seeking patients. I only teach those who are sincere. If your family thinks even two hundred copper coins is too much, you needn't study anymore."
"I understand, Master," Chen Ji replied.
She Dengke scratched his head. "Master, we'll take care of you in your old age and see you off when you die. There ought to be some affection between us."
Old Yao stroked his beard. "Even a son isn't necessarily truly filial to his own father. Can I count on you lot? Your families pay tuition, and I teach you skills. We don't need much affection between master and disciple."
Chen Ji sat silently on the threshold, from early morning until noon, and from noon until evening.
He had only returned to the clinic at the third watch the previous night and had been tormented by the icy current until the fifth. He really couldn't hold out any longer, so he leaned against the doorframe and fell into a deep sleep.
He didn't know how much time had passed when someone patted him on the shoulder. He opened his eyes wearily.
She Dengke held a bowl of food, shoveling cured pork into his mouth as he mumbled, "Chen Ji, why don't you go eat something first? I'll keep watch here and call you if your family comes."
Chen Ji didn't answer.
Across from the clinic, the workers at the eatery, pawnshop, and grain and oil shop came out and put up their shutters one by one, preparing to close.
One of the workers spotted Chen Ji and greeted him with a smile. "Little Doctor Chen, waiting for someone?"
He smiled in response. "Mm."
But Chen Ji's family never came.
The last rays of evening sank, finally vanishing behind the uneven rooftops.
Chen Ji sat on the threshold and watched the last shop across the street put up its shutters and the last pedestrian head home. Only then did he stand and brush the dust from his clothes.
Old Yao was standing behind the counter checking the accounts. Without looking up, he said disdainfully, "Your family doesn't want you anymore?"
Chen Ji thought that his master's tongue was like it had been dipped in poison. He smiled and replied, "Master, perhaps something held them up. They'll bring the tuition tomorrow."
Old Yao sneered. "You've been with me for two years. The other two families at least know to bring me something for the holidays, but yours has never brought me anything. Even if they can pay the tuition on time, I don't want you as my disciple anymore."
"Give me one month, Master. By then, perhaps I can pay the tuition without relying on my family," Chen Ji said earnestly.
Old Yao shook his head. "Who can't make empty promises?"
Chen Ji thought for a moment. "The tuition is two hundred copper coins a month. Give me a month's grace, and from then on I'll pay two hundred and forty each month."
Old Yao pondered for a moment, then took some copper coins from his sleeve and cast them six times. After interpreting the hexagram, he said calmly, "That does show some sincerity... But where will an apprentice who isn't even qualified to charge consultation fees earn money?"
"I'll find a way."
"Heh, such grand words. You're only an apprentice now, and you can't even take a pulse accurately. What makes you think you can earn money?" Old Yao scoffed, idly moving the beads on his abacus.
Liu Quxing, who was watching from the side, was amused. "Chen Ji, how about I give you a hand?"
"How do you plan to help, Senior Brother Liu?" Chen Ji asked.
"The three of us take turns doing chores. Tomorrow it's my turn to fetch water, sweep the courtyard, and scrub the main hall floor. If you help me scrub the floor, I'll give you two copper coins. If you sweep the courtyard, I'll give you one. If you fill the water vat, I'll give you two. It isn't much, but it's fifty coins a month, at least."
Chen Ji said, "All right, I'll do the work for you, Senior Brother Liu."
She Dengke looked at Old Yao. "Master, is that proper?"
"As long as he can make up the tuition he owes me, it's proper," Old Yao said calmly.
She Dengke looked at Chen Ji. "You're not angry? That little bastard Liu Quxing is treating you like a menial servant."
Chen Ji smiled. "Senior Brother Liu is helping me too."
"Senior Brother Liu, my arse. The three of us were born on the same day of the same month of the same year, even at the same hour. What gives him the right to be a senior brother?" She Dengke said disdainfully.
Chen Ji froze. Why had an imperial physician chosen three people with the same eight characters as apprentices?