The Unfamiliar in a Familiar Place
Cui Yan is very tight-lipped.
Even though Yi Shuo showed great interest in the gourd, the other party only provided a very brief introduction.
It is extremely difficult to obtain information from Cui Yan.
For a full hour, Yi Shuo still hadn't received the answer she wanted.
This made her a little discouraged as she searched for an opportunity to speak, feeling that she was too bad at finding out secrets. She had spent an hour in the same carriage with Cui Yan and still hadn't gotten any answers from him.
We finally arrived at the familiar Old Tree Alley.
After Yi Shuo gained access to the Empress Dowager's side through her medical skills, she rarely returned here. After all, Zheng Wukong, Zhang Xuezhou and others had gone far away, and there was a generation gap between Yi Shuo and her older fellow disciples.
She has her own small house, and she lives quite comfortably there.
Returning after more than half a year, Yi Shuo inevitably felt a sense of unfamiliarity.
The air was filled with the pungent smell of pork and the aroma of meat, a rather strange combination.
She searched for several seconds before confirming that the smells were coming from Zhang Xuezhou and the others' residence.
These days, it's normal to cook at home, but this smell is a bit too strong. Yi Shuo felt that she definitely couldn't concentrate on making medicines and refining herbs in this kind of place, and this porky smell is also a major taboo for medicinal materials.
Is Lord Dongfang home?
Cui Yan knocked on the door politely, while Yi Shuo tiptoed to peek at her teacher Zheng Wukong's house.
The house was quiet. Zheng Wukong was not there, and many of his fellow disciples rarely came to stay. Yi Shuo thought the main gate of the house was still locked.
Who is it?
An unfamiliar female voice came from inside, and Yi Shuo quickly turned her head back.
"The door isn't locked; you can just push it open and come in!"
After the sound was repeated, Cui Yan had no choice but to awkwardly push open the door.
The intensely rich aroma of meat wafted towards them, making Yi Shuo feel a bit uncomfortable as her nose was choked by it, while Cui Yan felt as if he had just eaten a bite of greasy, fishy-smelling fatty pork.
Cui Yan worked at Palace of Peace and Happiness, and his body was quite pampered. His taste was completely different from that of the hungry and those who did manual labor.
What the people of Zhang Household Village found delicious was torture for Cui Yan.
Where is Lord Dongfang?
Cui Yan pushed open the door and entered. He saw two elderly cooks in the kitchen tending the fire and cooking meat, while two helpers in the courtyard were cutting meat and washing offal.
Another young woman was idly squatting in the courtyard, playing with ants.
After thinking for a moment, Cui Yan decided to ask the young woman.
"Your birthday..."
The young woman raised her head and glanced at him, about to speak, but upon hearing Cui Yan mention Lord Dongfang, she immediately swallowed her words.
"Dongfang Shuo went shopping early this morning!" the young woman replied listlessly.
"Going shopping? He'd go shopping at a time like this?"
Cui Yan opened his mouth.
He arrived at a reasonable time; it was late 9 AM, not yet noon, which was the time for cooking.
Normally, everyone would go home around this time.
Cui Yan looked around, not understanding for a moment whether Li Shaojun was seriously ill, should eat so much pork, since the amount was indeed excessive.
As for someone like Zhang Xuezhou, it's a bit too casual of him to go shopping while a friend is seriously ill and staying at his place.
Normally, Zhang Xuezhou should have invited some doctors to Li Shaojun, and the courtyard would have been filled with the smell of medicine being brewed, which would have matched Cui Yan's expectations.
"Is Master Shaojun Li here?"
Cui Yan changed his mind.
The owner wasn't home, but he still had important things to do.
As long as Li Shaojun is still in good health, he will send an invitation to Palace of Peace and Happiness to Li Shaojun, and then Li Shaojun will enter the palace to pay homage to the Empress Dowager.
Within his small territory of Chang'an City, Cui Yan never even considered whether Li Shaojun would refuse to enter the palace.
In short, if you have a serious illness, you need to rest and recuperate; if you don't have a serious illness, you have to enter the palace.
Even if Zhang Xuezhou were lying down like before, Cui Yan felt that the other party still had the potential to enter the palace.
According to Cui Yan's criteria, as long as Li Shaojun did not die within a short time, he would meet the criteria for entering the palace.
He asked Li Shaojun, which made the young woman raise her head to look at Cui Yan, and then at Yi Shuo behind Cui Yan.
"That liar... Li Shaojun isn't feeling well. He thinks he needs to go for a walk, and he won't be back until he's done!"
"Shall we go for a walk?"
Cui Yan was also very dissatisfied that Li Shaojun wasn't in the house, but he was very pleased with the young woman's suggestion to "go out for a walk".
Li Shaojun can still walk, so walking to Palace of Peace and Happiness should be no problem for him.
He was so worried that he even paid out of his own pocket to have a doctor come to his door, but it turned out to be a false alarm.
"Can I wait here for Master Li?" Cui Yan asked.
"Then you can wait there!"
The young woman nodded, clearly unconcerned that Cui Yan was occupying a small area of the courtyard.
Her unreasonable response left Cui Yan speechless. He felt that this woman had no sense of social etiquette whatsoever. Even if he were an ordinary person visiting, he would be given a place to sit and a bowl of water, instead of being left standing and waiting.
"Cai Ma, come help us carry the meat outside to drain!"
"They're here!"
When a woman called from the kitchen, the young woman jumped up and ran to the kitchen with a fawning expression.
"Could you make me some stir-fried pork liver today?"
"Today we're having braised pork intestines. You might not like it at first, but you'll find it delicious once you get used to it!"
"What kind of 'fatty intestines'? The kind used for stuffing feces?"
"Jia Zhiyuan, clean your intestines thoroughly. If I find even a speck of poop, I'll feed it to you!"
I don't eat shit!
They exchanged a few whispered words in the kitchen, followed by a loud shout, and then a man washing intestines in the courtyard responded with a low murmur.
Cui Yan thought about pig intestines, and then about how these people ate them. Suddenly, he felt a churning discomfort in his chest.
Has Lord Dongfang's family fallen so low as to eat excrement?
Cui Yan had never eaten pig intestines in his life; only the poorest and most desperate people would use such offal as food.
He never imagined that Zhang Xuezhou's family was so poor.
Even with his hardened heart after all these years, he couldn't help but feel a pang of regret, realizing that Zhang Xuezhou's condition had been deteriorating ever since he lost his mind.
"Speaking of which, Lord Dongfang went out shopping. He's most likely eating out, and this food might be for the servants. Lord Dongfang's household seems to be in rather dire straits; the servants are forced to eat pig intestines to fill their stomachs!"
His mind was filled with thoughts, and he found a place to sit down.
Cui Yan had a jumble of thoughts running through his mind, while Yi Shuo looked around again and again.
The room was full of people, none of whom she recognized. This once familiar place felt so strange that Yi Shuo found it difficult to adjust.
"Lord Cui, the smell of pork here is quite strong, which is affecting our ability to distinguish the smell of medicine. I'm going for a walk upwind; I won't go far. Just call me if you need anything."
Yi Shuo whispered something to Cui Yan, which almost made Cui Yan want to go for a walk together.
But when he thought about the need to be most sincere and serious when carrying out the mission at Palace of Peace and Happiness, he nodded in Yi Shuo and then sat down abruptly.