Chapter 394: Chapter 147: Jade Pendant
"How long have you been studying medicine?"
Lu Tong was startled and looked back.
The young man was sitting in front of a small table in the room, vigorously fanning himself with a palm-leaf fan. The medicine pot made a "gurgling" boiling sound, and white steam rose up, blurring his expression not so clearly.
He always personally prepared the medicine for Lu Tong.
Ji Xun’s coachman had once offered to do it for him but was refused by Ji Xun, who insisted that the medicine would be ineffective if not cooked with the correct flame and timing. He insisted on preparing it himself.
Lu Tong didn’t understand him—a young master, who appeared to have been raised in comfort, was personally preparing medicine for a passerby they had met by chance.
Either Ji Xun was scheming something significant, or he was just a foolishly kind-hearted fool.
After a moment of silence, she said, "I am not a doctor."
"When you opened your medicine box earlier, there was a line of mulberry bark in it." Ji Xun lifted the lid of the medicine pot, glanced at the medicinal liquid, then put the lid back without adding more fire.
Lu Tong couldn’t figure out what he wanted to say and could only reply, "I just picked up a little knowledge carelessly from others. I can’t really practice medicine."
Upon hearing this, Ji Xun paused for a moment.
After a while, he shook his head, "There is the Imperial Medical Bureau in Shengjing, if you truly want to study medical classics and pharmacology, you could study there."
The Imperial Medical Bureau?
Lu Tong furrowed her brows.
This was the first time she heard of this name and had no idea what place it was, but she could vaguely guess a little from the other’s words.
Lu Tong found it absurd.
"Young Master Ji must be joking," Lu Tong said, "How could a commoner like me go to the place you mentioned?"
She thought that this young master from an exalted background probably never experienced the life of a commoner and didn’t know that the invisible barriers between commoners and nobility were enough to separate so very much.
"It’s no trouble," he still sat in front of the medicine stove, speaking indifferently: "If you come to Shengjing in the future, you can visit me at Ji Family in Chang Le Alley."
He spoke very seriously, as if it were not a joke.
Lu Tong was stunned.
A fallen leaf, carried by the breeze from somewhere outside the window, landed on the desk. She picked it up, absentmindedly twirling it in her fingers, feeling like her heart was as messy as the leaf.
After a while, she softly said, "I won’t go to Shengjing."
Of course, she wouldn’t go to Shengjing; she was poisoned by Lady Yun personally.
In fact, for a brief moment, Lu Tong considered asking this young man from Shengjing for help, to reveal everything and ask him to take her away from the mire.
But in the end, she didn’t.
Ji Xun could find the "Cold Silkworm Rain," but he didn’t detect the poison Lady Yun had placed on her even earlier. As long as the poison wasn’t cured, she’d be under Lady Yun’s control.
Lady Yun was stubborn and would never be forced to cure her poison unless she took the initiative.
To live and return to Changwu County, she could only stay at Luomei Peak and continue to look for another opportunity.
The leaf in her hand became crumpled, its original form unrecognizable. Lu Tong extended her arm out the window, opened her hand, and the leaf fluttered down, gradually becoming invisible.
Ji Xun’s medicine seemed very effective.
The cold poison in Lu Tong’s body grew weaker day by day.
Gradually, she no longer needed to wrap herself in heavy blankets and did not feel cold even in a single layer of clothing. Sometimes, when the sun outside the window was too strong, she even felt a bit too warm.
"Your poison is cured," Ji Xun said to her.
Lu Tong said, "Thank you." Then pursing her lips, she added, "I have no silver to pay you."
"No need for silver."
He handed her a piece of paper, along with several packets of carefully picked medicinal herbs.
"This is a prescription. I have never seen the poison that you were afflicted with before. To be safe, I’ve prepared several doses of medicine. You should continue to boil and take them for a few more days. It might be even better."
Lu Tong asked him, "Are you leaving?"
Ji Xun nodded, "I’ve delayed too long here." He continued, "I’ve paid for five more days of lodging. You can rest here for a few more days,"
Lu Tong didn’t speak.
He walked over to Lu Tong, with the lush green view from the window behind him. The young man’s figure was clear-cut, as clean and straight as a willow in the spring moon, and his gaze was as warm as the spring sun on Su Nan Bridge.
He said, "Seventeenth Miss, if you are injured in the future, make sure you treat it in time. As a healer, you should understand this principle."
"After I leave, do not shy away from seeking medical assistance."
Lu Tong was silent for a long time, then softly murmured an acknowledgment.
The next day, early in the morning, Lu Tong got up, not waiting for Ji Xun’s customary knocking.
After a moment of thought, Lu Tong opened the door, only to see that the door of the room next door was wide open. As she walked in, there was no sign of Ji Xun or the coachman, nor were their bags and personal effects present in the room.
Ji Xun had left.
Without greeting her, without notifying anyone, on this clear spring morning, perhaps before dawn, while she was still in her slumber, the two of them had quietly departed.