Chapter 697: Chapter 236 Notes
The silence all around was so profound, not a single sound could be heard.
Medicine Man?
What Medicine Man?
Lin Danqing looked at Pei Yunmeng, bewildered, and asked, "Marshal Pei, what do you mean by this?"
Ji Xun also furrowed his brows and looked at him.
"Do you remember the celebration feast at Renxin Medical Hall? Miao Liangfang mentioned the Mo Family’s daughter from Shengjing, Mo Ruyun, did he not?"
He raised his eyes, sweeping over the people in the room, and slowly said, "She had been Mo Ruyun’s Medicine Man."
Such a statement was shockingly unconventional, and the people in the room exchanged glances, momentarily unable to comprehend.
After a moment, Lin Danqing questioned in confusion, "Didn’t Mo Ruyun die? How could Younger Sister Lu be her Medicine Man?"
Everyone had been present at the feast at Renxin Medical Hall. Miao Liang had said that Mo Ruyun had been exposed for raising a medicine attendant and had already perished in the great fire in Shengjing. At the time of her death, Lu Tong was still very young and in Su Nan, so there was no way these two could have been connected in any way.
"She is still alive," Pei Yunmeng said after a moment of silence, his voice rough, "on Luomei Peak."
The third young lady of the Lu Family from Changwu County, had gone missing during a great epidemic nine years ago, while Lu Tong, who had appeared in Shengjing two years ago, had been relentlessly avenging the Lu Family with merciless and decisive means.
A person’s demeanor drastically changing from childhood to adulthood, one can only imagine what transpired in those seven years.
When he first learned of Lu Tong’s identity, doubts had already stirred in his heart.
Lu Tong claimed to have been taken away by a passing teacher, but if it was to study medicine, why wasn’t the family informed in the least? Moreover, nine years ago, Lu Tong was nothing but a frail child, and the Lu Family had no medical heritage, so the emphasis on innate talent seemed odd.
Perhaps, Mo Ruyun did not give her the chance to bid farewell to her family, and the reason for taking her away was not to impart teachings but to use her as a test subject for medicine.
Test subject for medicine.
He closed his eyes, experiencing a momentary suffocation in his heart.
Ji Xun stepped forward two paces, grabbed Lu Tong’s hand, and before Chang Jin could stop him, he lifted her sleeve.
"Doctor Ji..." Lin Danqing called out.
Ji Xun did not respond, his gaze fixed on the sight before him.
The lifted sleeve revealed the area up to the elbow without a single blemish; the woman’s arm was delicate like a bare branch of a plum tree, marked by a long, hideous scar.
Ji Xun’s pupils constricted.
"The scar... it’s still there..." he muttered.
On Huangmao Hill, during a hunting trip, the scar from a bite by Qi Yutai’s vicious dog was still visible on Lu Tong.
In an instant, Ji Xun understood.
After Lu Tong was bitten, he had provided her with plenty of Immortal Jade Skin Ointment.
The Immortal Jade Skin Ointment he made personally was not guaranteed to remove all traces of a scar, but it would certainly lighten it a great deal. Back at the Medical Officer Institute, seeing that Lu Tong’s scar had not improved, he asked her a few more questions. Lu Tong responded that the ointment was too precious to use, so he made several more bottles to give her.
That much medicine would have been enough for her to fade the scar significantly, not leave it as prominent as it was now, indistinguishable from before.
Looking at it now, it wasn’t that she was reluctant to use it; rather, ordinary ointments simply had no effect on her body anymore.
She had been a Medicine Man, and that’s why Ding Yong had so vehemently opposed trying a new drug, a departure from his usual behavior.
So this was the crux of the problem.
The room fell silent.
As medical practitioners, they could all see something was wrong with her wound. Lin Danqing’s voice trembled as he spoke, "How long has she... been a Medicine Man?"
Pei Yunmeng looked at the person on the bed, "I don’t know."
Chang Jin approached Lu Tong and re-examined her pulse, his expression changing subtly.
"The pulse doesn’t reveal any problems. If she has indeed been used as a test subject for medicine for many years, her body has become accustomed to various toxins, making it hard to find any trace of her true condition."
Just like a tree that looks healthy on the outside but has been eaten away by ants from within, only in its final decay can anyone detect a hint of the damage.
"Chief Physician Chang," Pei Yunmeng suddenly said.
Chang Jin looked at the man before him.
"Save her," he said.
Chang Jin paused for a moment.
In the Imperial City, he had seen Pei Yunmeng many times.
No matter how amiable and approachable the Commander appeared to be, Chang Jin always felt a bit intimidated whenever he saw him. Pei Yunmeng’s reputation always had two extremes: those unfamiliar with him praised his warmth and geniality, while those who knew him described him as perverse and terrifying.
It seemed like no one had ever seen Pei Yunmeng genuinely bow to anyone; even when saluting in the Imperial City, there was a hint of arrogance, let alone pleading in such a tone.
He always seemed in control.
Now, that composure was shattered, and it was for Lu Tong.
It appeared that the rumors in the Imperial City weren’t unfounded.
Concern breeds chaos.
"Even if you hadn’t said anything, we wouldn’t have ignored her," Chang Jin raised his head, "She is a Hanlin Medical Officer, once a doctor who saved lives. Now that the doctor is sick, she has become a patient."