Chapter 570: Chapter 200 Replaced
All around was silence.
Cui Min stared fixedly at the face before the wind lamp.
That face... that face still had the look of memory, yet it was wholly different from the face in his memory.
Jet-black hair had gone salt-and-pepper, smooth skin was covered with wrinkles, and his beard, which he had no idea when had grown long, was piled on his chin, appearing disheveled even when combed.
This face must have had a hard life, bearing the marks of weather and age, a peeled and worn cane supporting the side of his slightly curled legs, his clothes of coarse hemp fabric.
Yet this face seemed to have lived well, his brows and eyes showing no traces of gloom, the voice that had come from behind the felt curtain earlier brimming with joy, and even now at this encounter, his face showed only bewilderment, not anger or resentment.
He stood rooted to the spot.
This was his old friend—
Miao Liangfang.
His confidant waited under the carriage; Cui Min heard his own voice, ethereal and hardly clear.
"...Why are you here?"
Miao Liangfang opened his mouth, but Lu Tong smoothly took over the conversation, "Of course, he’s here; Mr. Miao is the Resident Doctor of the Benevolent Heart Medical Hall."
"Resident Doctor?"
Cui Min felt it was absurd.
"He is a criminal; how can he be a resident doctor?"
"Why can’t he?"
Lu Tong smiled slightly, her tone still calm, "Back then when Mr. Miao was expelled from the Medical Officer Institute, nowhere in his punishment did it state that he was forbidden from practicing medicine in the future."
Cui Min paused.
No, it hadn’t stated that.
But...
How could this be?
More than ten years ago, when Miao Liangfang was expelled from the Medical Officer Institute, he too had people discreetly inquire about the other’s whereabouts.
The once celebrated and triumphant medical genius, when he fell into the abyss, experienced no miracles. Miao Liangfang had also sought help from former friends, but a commoner medical officer who had offended others and carried a crime on his back, no one would risk reaching out to him.
He was like a weed that had carelessly encroached upon the garden of the nobility, easily removed by someone in passing.
Cui Min learned that Miao Liangfang later lived in destitution, turned to alcohol, developed a limp, and spent his days in a haze, mingling with beggars, gradually paying no more attention to this person.
He did not annihilate him completely, leaving him a way to live out of the friendship they shared years ago when both worked as helpers in a pharmacy. He hoped Miao Liangfang would live, but not too well; like countless busy and mediocre people, he would eventually fade into a speck of old dust.
Years passed, and Cui Min never saw Miao Liangfang again; he thought the other must have perished in the harsh ways of the world, perhaps dead. The name "Miao Liangfang" would occasionally flash before him in an instant during his sleepless nights, like a false illusion, gradually dismissed from his mind.
He never expected him to appear suddenly before his eyes.
Not fallen, not depressed, the man looked well-fed and average, yet seemingly more at peace than in his younger years.
"You..."
Miao Liangfang snapped back to reality, as though awakened from the momentary bewilderment as well, setting aside past grudges for the time being, he instinctively took a step forward, locking eyes with Cui Min and spoke coldly, "What are you here for?"
"Envoy Cui came looking for me," said Lu Tong.
"Indeed, I came—"
Cui Min suddenly paused, looking again at the two people before him.
The inn’s wind lamp was dim, but the faint light made the subtle expressions on their faces particularly clear.
Miao Liangfang stood in front of Lu Tong, a protective stance, their conversation and expressions close, as if familiar with each other.
Suddenly, an absurd thought crossed his mind.
"...Are you two in league with each other?"
Miao Liangfang was taken aback, not understanding.
Lu Tong, however, smiled without a word.
Cui Min took a couple steps back in shock.
Lu Tong and Miao Liangfang clearly looked like old acquaintances, but when had the two met?
Was it in the past few days when Lu Tong was suspended and returned to West Street, was it some days ago on Huangmao Hill when Lu Tong was injured, or was it when Lu Tong first entered the Medical Officer Institute?
He had never regarded West Street highly, and the Benevolent Heart Medical Hall was even less significant to him, just a rundown hall; he only knew that a resident senior doctor had taken over Lu Tong’s position, but no one ever told him who that resident doctor was.
Cui Min looked at Miao Liangfang: "When did you start residency here?"
Instead of Miao Liangfang, Lu Tong answered, "He’s been here since before the spring examination." She asked, "Why did Envoy Cui suddenly come? Could it be... Young Master Qi had another attack?"
Upon hearing this, Cui Min’s face changed drastically.
She had guessed it!
No, it might not be a guess, but rather...
If Lu Tong was Miao Liangfang’s person, it would be impossible for her to enter the Medical Officer Institute without a purpose. Considering Miao Liangfang’s old grudge against him, the only possibility was that Lu Tong joined the Medical Officer Institute to seek revenge on his behalf.
The ten prescriptions during the spring examination, the seemingly earnest correction of errors in the study room, those unfounded, conspicuous accusations...