12. House calls
At dawn, the world is still gray.
Chen Ji slowly sat up from the bed. He subconsciously touched the cell phone next to the pillow, but there was nothing there.
At this moment, he suddenly realized that the world he once lived in was no longer the place within his reach, but his hometown.
"Wait, shouldn't I be in the yard?" Chen Ji's last memory was standing next to the apricot tree and practicing the technique of carrying a stone and hugging a stake, but when he woke up, he found himself back in the west wing, still wearing the same clothes from last night, which were tattered.
Was it his master who sent him back? Or was it his two fellow disciples? Chen Ji couldn't be sure; he had no recollection.
At this moment, Bingliu stayed quietly in his dantian, no longer as ferocious as he was last night.
Chen Ji pondered: "Who caused the ice flow this time? The first ice flow came from Zhou Chengyi, and the second time was..."
During the two ice surges, several people died each time. However, the ordinary people in Zhou Chengyi's mansion did not experience the ice surge, nor did the maidservants who died in Wanxing Garden...
This time, could it be from the fetus that Concubine Jing just miscarried? !
When he thought of this, She Dengke, who was at the end of the bunk bed, suddenly stood up, closed his eyes and said, "Master, you might as well beat me to death. If you kill me, there will be no one to take care of you in your old age!"
Chen Ji turned his head speechlessly and looked over. She Dengke finished speaking and lay back down with a thud. It turned out to be just a dream talk...
The cock hasn't crowed yet.
What's strange is that Chen Ji came back at midnight last night and had slept less than four hours so far, but now he is full of energy and not a trace of fatigue or sleepiness.
Is it the change brought about by the ice flow and the technique of carrying stones and holding stakes?
He sat on the bed and pondered for a long time. Finally, he got out of bed, changed his clothes, went to the yard to pick up the shoulder pole, and the thin figure of the young man carried two wooden barrels and walked towards Anxi Street outside the door.
Yesterday, while waiting for my family to send me silver for school, Chen Ji observed that there was a well there. The whole neighborhood had to go there to fetch water. If you went too late, you would have to wait in a long line.
When he went out, Chen Ji was stunned for a moment. He saw the black cat of Wanxingyuan squatting on the eaves of the grain and oil shop opposite, looking at him quietly.
It turned out that last night was not an illusion. The black cat was really attracted by the bead in the sleeve, and even secretly followed it outside the palace!
Chen Ji walked towards the well on the bluestone road in the early morning, while the black cat followed silently on the gray tiles on the eaves, its eyes never leaving him.
He was the only one on the long street, and there was only a cat on the eaves.
They walked side by side, through the thin mist in the autumn morning, as if walking through a long time together.
He stopped, carrying the shoulder pole, and looked at the black cat from a distance, and asked curiously, "Meow?"
The black cat just looked at him coldly.
Whose serious cat is meowing?
Seeing that it didn't react, Chen Ji asked, "Sang Biao?"
Black Cat: “…”
Chen Ji tentatively spread the beads in his hand: "Do you want this?"
Although the black cat was covered in wounds, it still looked at Chen Ji with dignity, without any reaction, as if waiting for the young man to take the initiative to hand over the beads.
Chen Ji stretched his hand upwards.
This time, the black cat stood on the eaves of the gray-tiled house, leaning forward slightly, ready to jump down and take the beads away, but the moment it stretched out its neck, Chen Ji closed his palms again and put the beads away.
Black Cat:
“…”
It opened its mouth and wanted to meow, but in the end it couldn't let go of its pride.
Finally, he regained his aloof demeanor and stared at the boy silently.
Chen Ji stuffed the beads into his sleeve and continued to walk slowly towards the well. The black cat followed silently, staring at him coldly. The wound on its brow, left just last night, made it look a little fiercer.
Chen Ji stood by the well, turning the wooden handle to lower a wooden barrel. Just as he was about to raise the barrel, he saw a black cat jump off the eaves at some point, come to the well, and look up at him.
"You..." Chen Ji thought for a long time, and suddenly asked: "You want this bead, right? Here it is for you."
He opened his palm, held the beads in his hand, and stopped teasing the kitten deliberately.
But the black cat just stood on the edge of the well, with the right corner of its mouth slightly raised, as if with some contempt: I will never be fooled by your dog again!
"Wait, are you mocking me with that look?" Chen Ji hadn't expected to see such an anthropomorphic expression on a cat... He looked around the deserted street, then placed the bead on the ground and stepped back three meters. "I'll leave it there. Take it yourself."
Animals have instincts. They seem to know naturally what to eat and what not to eat. Even if they are poisoned, they will find the antidote themselves.
Humans lack this instinct and dare to eat anything, even taking pleasure in eating poisonous mushrooms...
Therefore, Chen Ji was not worried that something might happen to the black cat after eating the beads. He wanted to know why the black cat was attracted to the beads and what would happen if the black cat swallowed the beads.
The answer to the ice flow lies in this black cat.
Beside the well, the black cat approached cautiously, looking at the beads for a while, then looking at the traces cautiously. After a long time, it finally came up and sniffed the beads from a distance.
"Eat it," Chen Ji looked expectantly.
However, when the black cat opened its mouth to pick it up, the snake-like narrow gray mist in the bead began to churn violently like a living thing, and the black cat was swept away by the invisible force!
"Huh?" Chen Ji was shocked by this supernatural phenomenon. He was very sure that an invisible force had just burst out from the bead and pushed the black cat away!
The little black cat arched its back, took a fighting stance towards the beads, and dared not come closer again.
"Why is this?" Chen Ji wondered.
As soon as he finished speaking, the sound of hurried horse hooves was heard in the distance.
Chen Ji turned to look and saw a carriage approaching from a distance, rushing towards the clinic, breaking the tranquil mist. The carriage passed in front of him, the driver driving anxiously, perhaps with something important to do.
"It seems like you're here to look for Master. I have to go back quickly," Chen Ji said. "By the way, you..."
When he turned back, the black cat had disappeared, leaving only the beads lying quietly on the ground.
…
…
When Chen Ji staggered back to the clinic carrying the shoulder pole, he saw the carriage parked outside the clinic. The two horses were handsome and strong, with muscular bodies and their manes combed cleanly.
The wooden body is engraved with canary patterns, and the canary tail extends all the way to the rear of the car, which is complex and exquisite.
Next to the carriage, She Dengke and the driver were moving some luggage into the carriage.
Chen Ji came over with his shoulder pole and asked, "What's going on?"
At this moment, She Dengke couldn't suppress the joy between his eyebrows: "
The master is going to diagnose people."
"Why are you so happy..."
"Of course I'm happy!" She Dengke lowered his voice and said, "Master will be gone for at least ten days or half a month. We won't be beaten or scolded, and we won't be tested on our studies. Aren't you happy? Then we can go to the East Market and Hongyi Lane together... If my third brother helps a noble person organize a performance, I can take you in secretly to watch a big opera. I heard a few days ago that the Ma Clan of the Opera Troupe is coming back to perform in the performance!"
"Whose family are you going to see for treatment?" Chen Ji was curious.
She Dengke lowered his voice and said, "I heard that when the Minister of Internal Affairs' Secret Service was tracking down Jing Dynasty spies, they arrested several young members of the Liu family and imprisoned them. One of them was tortured to death in prison. When the old man of the Liu family heard the news, he was so angry that he fainted and is now on his deathbed."
When Chen Ji heard this, he suddenly recalled Yun Yang's half-smile as he stood in front of the Zhou residence. That was the sense of crisis that he couldn't shake off now: "Is the Secret Service so powerful?"
"That's right," She Dengke said, "Old Master Liu's daughter is the current Empress Dowager, and his son is the current Minister of Personnel. Even with such a low status, the Secret Service still arrested him. People in the underworld say that the Secret Service can execute first and report later, with special permission from the emperor."
Chen Ji felt something was wrong. Even if the Secret Service had great power, it shouldn't have ignored the Empress Dowager and the Minister of Personnel, right?
As the two were chatting, they saw Old Man Yao walking out of the clinic, accompanied by a dignified middle-aged man.
Old Man Yao instructed his three apprentices, "During the few days I'm away, you're not allowed to take patients' pulses privately. If a patient comes with a prescription, you must prescribe the medicine according to the prescription. Don't make mistakes in weighing the medicine or I'll lose money. I'll count the inventory as soon as I get back. Whoever dares to make me lose money will make up for it!"
Chen Ji was shocked. He hadn't figured out what to do with the old ginseng yet. What if Old Man Yao found a problem when he came back to count the inventory?
The middle-aged man accompanying him said, "Mr. Yao, let's hurry up. I'm afraid my family can't wait any longer. We have to wait until my father returns from the capital to see the old man for the last time."
Old Man Yao nodded and said, "Let's go."
Liu Quxing went over and helped Old Man Yao get on the carriage. The carriage sped away, and the sound of horse hooves on the bluestone road made a crisp sound.
She Dengke exclaimed: "How much would it cost to buy a carriage like this?!"
Liu Quxing laughed and said, "You're ignorant, aren't you? See the canary on the carriage? That's a gift only given to our Liu family when they have a second-rank official. In the Great Ning Dynasty, even for ordinary people riding in a sedan chair is considered unruly. How many heads do you have to ride in a carriage like this?"
She Dengke sneered: "You talk as if you really are a member of the Liu family!"
Liu Quxing glared at him: "Why am I not a member of the Liu family?"
"Your family is just a branch of the Liu family, so how can they recognize you?" She Dengke asked in return, "Although our family is poor, we have integrity. We make a living on the docks based on our own abilities and never try to curry favor with the rich and powerful."
Liu Quxing was furious: "I even went to Old Master Liu's ninetieth birthday party with my parents!"
"Yes, at the servants' table."
"You fucking bastard!"
Chen Ji watched in silence as the two men wrestled into the clinic. Suddenly, he noticed something strange. He turned around and saw that the little black cat had not really left. Instead, it was hiding in the shadows of the opposite eaves, secretly observing them.
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