Chapter 388: Chapter 145: Genius Medical Officer_3
Lin Danqing originally thought that Lu Tong’s visit to the Jin Mansion today must not have been very pleasant. However, upon her return, seeing Lu Tong appear as usual and after asking her a few more questions, she gradually felt relieved. Lu Tong said she was going to the pharmacy to fetch some materials, so Lin Danqing volunteered to go with her.
"That Mr. Jin probably got his just deserts after suffering from a kidney abscess and that’s why he’s not so cocky anymore. My father told me that back when he used to act wildly, even the female dogs he passed by weren’t spared a touch for his advantage," Lin Danqing said, whispering in her ear, "I bet even Heaven couldn’t stand it anymore, that’s why it struck him with this illness. Honestly, if you weren’t the medical officer sent to treat him, I’d wish that he was impotent so he couldn’t bring harm to anyone ever again."
She spoke without any filter, and Lu Tong just laughed without saying anything, bowing her head to pick out the herbs she needed from the various medicine cabinets.
Lin Danqing helped her pick them out, and while doing so, she asked, "But Younger Sister Lu, you also went to the Palace Marshal’s Mansion today, how was it?"
Lu Tong: "What do you mean, ’how was it’?"
"How were the Imperial Guards?" Lin Danqing said, "I’ve heard that the Imperial Guards at the Capital Marshal’s Mansion were all selected through rigorous selection processes. They were chosen not only for their martial skills, but also for their stature and looks. It’s said that all of Shengjing’s most handsome men are in the Capital Marshal’s Mansion, and just by looking at their Commander you can tell. Now that you’ve been there, did you see them? Are they all handsome and valiant?"
Lu Tong closed the medicine drawer: "If you want to go, I’ll speak to Chief Physician Chang and let you take my place."
Her mind was occupied with Qi Yutai from the Ministry of Revenue; running back and forth was wasting her energy, especially since facing Pei Yunmeng’s probing wasn’t exactly pleasant. It would be better to let Lin Danqing take on this task, and do her a good turn in the process.
Lin Danqing was stunned: "You’re too generous." Then, thinking it over, she shook her head, "An old ancestor of mine once said that for a woman, looking at handsome men is another form of self-care. It opens the heart, brings cheer and pleasure. You’ve already hurt your eyes with the sight of Jin Xianrong’s face, so you might as well repair the damage by looking at the handsome men of the Marshal’s Mansion."
"Younger Sister Lu, as a friend, I would never steal your prescription formulas!"
Lu Tong: "..."
In this world, indeed, one man’s honey is another man’s poison; what she desperately avoided was somehow the elixir of life to someone else.
After a few more words, they had picked all the necessary ingredients into the bamboo basket. Lu Tong and Lin Danqing left the pharmacy, intending to head back to their residence, but no sooner had they reached the entrance of the pharmacy’s courtyard, they heard footsteps approaching.
Suddenly, a child’s voice rang out: "Who goes there?"
The two looked in the direction of the voice.
In the distance, they saw two long, dark shadows cast in the yellow halo of light beneath a locust tree by the lanterns.
One shadow was shorter, trailing behind a young attendant in green. As for the other one...
It was a young man with a slender figure and an elegant appearance. Wearing a light blue brocade robe, his black hair was pinned up with a green bamboo hairpin, like a lone crane amidst the clouds, or a solitary bamboo in the night, emanating an aura of tranquility and nobility. He approached Lu Tong and Lin Danqing from afar.
When he reached the stone steps at the entrance of the courtyard, he stopped. Lin Danqing seemed to recognize him. As soon as she saw his face clearly in the lantern light, she quickly spoke up: "Doctor Ji."
Doctor Ji?
He sounded like a Medical Officer from the Medical Officer Institute, but his robe was not the blue one worn by the Imperial Medical Officers.
Lu Tong didn’t say anything, but followed by bowing her head in greeting.
The young man glanced over the bamboo basket in Lu Tong’s hands: "Why are you still picking medicinal materials so late?"
Lin Danqing laughed: "Doctor Lu is in charge of a patient with a complex condition and plans to use these materials to develop a new formula, hoping to create a new medicine."
The Medical Officers of the Hanlin Medical Institute always sought stability, and few ever tried anything new. Hearing this, the man known as "Doctor Ji" was taken aback, and he looked at Lu Tong with surprise.
That look lingered for a moment.
She stood at the bottom of the stone steps of the pharmacy courtyard, the night breeze swaying the hem of her water-blue skirt—its blue hue as light and subdued as its wearer’s quiet demeanor.
He suddenly frowned.
Lu Tong could feel his scrutinizing gaze on her face, as if a cool evening breeze. Then she heard his cold voice:
"Have we met somewhere before?"
Lu Tong was taken aback all of a sudden.
Something began to rise from the depths of her heart, like a dull stone hidden in dark waters, unexpectedly exposed to daylight. The previously calm surface of water now rippled slightly.