Lili was happy that she had been right, so she calmed down and waited quietly for the old man to speak.
"I... am from Xixiang County, and I recently traveled to Nanlin County."
Ah, people from Xixiang County, did they flee to Nanlin County because of the severe drought and famine?
"There's a severe drought in Xixiang County. Are you also here to escape famine?"
The old man nodded gently: "Xixiang County's produce is not as good as other places. Years of drought have left Xixiang County almost barren, and even the tree bark has been stripped off and eaten."
“Oh.” Lili nodded. “Then you are a doctor? I see your basket is full of herbs.”
"Yes, my name is Sikong Qi."
"Grandpa Sikong."
Lili shouted.
Wait, Sikong Qi...!
Was the legendary doctor that Dr. Zhu mentioned yesterday surnamed Sikong?
"Wow, we've saved a miracle doctor in our family?"
Lili looked at the divine doctor Sikong with newfound curiosity. His hair was sparse and gray, his eyes were slightly cloudy but still gentle, and he had a white beard just like her grandfather.
The divine physician Sikong smiled and sighed almost imperceptibly: "A doctor cannot heal himself. What kind of divine physician am I? I don't even know if I can make it to tomorrow."
Lili thought suspiciously, "With her there, how could she not make it?"
Lili asked, "Don't you know your own physical condition?"
The Divine Physician Sikong closed his eyes, looking utterly exhausted and resigned to his fate: "What's the use of seeing it? Either I know when I'm going to die, or I have to live in this world for a while longer. It's so boring. I've long since given up on living. I might as well not see it. If I die, I die."
Lili laughed out loud. Doctor Sikong, he sounded like a hermit with an ethereal aura, but she never expected him to be so stubborn.
Lili's gaze fell on the wound on her waist: "You want to live too, don't you?"
The divine physician, Sikong, opened his eyes.
“Otherwise, you wouldn’t have tried so hard to make the blade deviate by a fraction.” Lili wasn’t asking a question, but rather stating a fact.
Doctor Zhu said that if Doctor Sikong's waist wound had been off by even a fraction of an inch, it would have struck a vital spot, and the cut was also deep. If it hadn't been off by that tiny bit, he wouldn't have survived until someone came to his rescue; he would have bled to death long ago.
Moreover, Physician Sikong even took out the Agrimony and placed it on the wound to stop the bleeding.
The divine physician Sikong was slightly taken aback and remained silent for a long time. When the small candle was almost burned out, he sighed and said, "It's not that I'm afraid of death, I just don't want to die at the hands of those people."
Smelling the scent of gossip, Lili's eyes lit up, but Doctor Sikong saw through her thoughts and shook his head, saying, "Knowing too much is not good for you or your family; it will only bring harm."
"Oh, okay." Lili didn't ask any more questions; she knew she would find out eventually anyway.
"Thank you, you saved me," Physician Sikong said earnestly.
“Wo?” Lili pointed to herself. “No, it was my older brother who carried you back. It was my family who went to fetch Doctor Zhu. It was Doctor Zhu who saved you.”
"If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have been discovered."
The last candle burned out, and the little house was plunged into darkness once more.
The Divine Physician Sikong seemed to have thought about it seriously for a moment, and then said to her, "I don't have many days left. In my sixty-three years of life, I have only taken on one apprentice, but he is now an imperial physician and cannot practice medicine throughout the land. I remember your brother today. If I die, there is a thatched hut where I will temporarily reside in the highest mountain thirty miles to the north. All my medical books are there. Go and get them, and give them to your brother so that they will at least not be lost."
"Really? You're giving them all to my fourth brother?"
In the darkness, Lili's eyes shone brightly, perhaps because she was happy to hear about the gift.
Looking into those clear eyes, Physician Sikong nodded: "Well, consider it repayment for saving my life. Anyway, I'm a dying man, there's nothing more I can do."
Lili thought for a moment, but didn't rush to say that he wouldn't die. She said, "Grandpa Sikong, why don't you take on more disciples? You are a divine doctor, and many doctors admire you. Your medical skills should be passed down."
The Divine Physician Sikong chuckled self-deprecatingly: "I wander the world, without a fixed abode, and taking on a disciple would be too much trouble. If I were alive, I wouldn't care about all that; I'd just find a disciple and teach him all my medical skills. It's just a pity I'm going to die."
"Hehe, what do you think of my fourth brother? He loves reading medical books. He's only a few years older than me, but he's read quite a few medical books!"
The divine physician Sikong has now become a Buddhist; since he's about to die, anything he says is good.
"Take it, take it, even a puppy will do, let's talk about it when it's alive."
"Then it's settled! You'll take my fourth brother as your apprentice!"
The divine physician Sikong felt something was off; why did this little dumpling look like it had gotten a good deal?
After thinking about it, I realized that he was about to die, so why was I thinking so much? Oh well.
Doctor Sikong felt extremely tired, and the wound on his waist kept aching, preventing him from falling asleep.
"Die, die..." the Divine Physician Sikong murmured with his eyes closed, "Die sooner rather than later..."
Lili, who had gotten the better deal, was in a great mood. She patted her bottom, stood up, and said, "Didn't you realize you have the energy to talk so much?"
When Doctor Sikong opened his eyes, Lili had already walked to the door and opened it.
Moonlight shone through the crack in the door. Lili turned to look at him, the silvery moonlight shining on her, making her look like a fairy who had just stepped down from the moon.
"You won't die, goodnight."
The door was closed, and the moonlight that had just squeezed in was blocked out again, plunging the small room into darkness once more.
Looking at the small skylight above his head, Physician Sikong surprisingly felt that the pain in his waist was not so bad.
The divine physician Sikong took his pulse and found that beneath the extremely dangerous appearance lay a glimmer of hope.
As drowsiness slowly crept in, the divine physician Sikong gazed at the night sky outside the window and gradually drifted off to sleep.
In a daze, the divine physician Sikong thought,
That little dumpling has a strange, magical power...
………..
Lili told the Shen family about the identity of Doctor Sikong. The Shen family was somewhat surprised and quickly thought about whether they had done anything wrong.
"Grandma, don't worry, Doctor Sikong is a very good person, and he is very grateful to our family," Lili comforted her.
Old Mrs. Shen breathed a sigh of relief and couldn't help but marvel at Lili's luck, saying, "Our Lili is a miracle doctor when she saves someone. Luckily, our family doesn't just stand by and watch someone die."
Now that Physician Sikong's identity has been revealed, the Shen family is no longer so wary of him. Before, because he was an outsider, everyone was cautious about him.
Since it's the renowned Physician Sikong, there's nothing to be wary of.
He's a miracle doctor, do you think he'd be interested in the meager produce from your humble farm?
The divine physician Sikong has been in good health these past few days, except for a brief fever on the third night, which was treated by Doctor Zhu as soon as he arrived.
The Shen family took great care of him, and Lili also took Shen Jiaqing to chat with Doctor Sikong every day.
In addition, Doctor Sikong himself was a physician and was well aware of his own body.
Therefore, Physician Sikong recovered very well.
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