Chapter 119 Comrades
Inside the private room of the Zuixianlou Restaurant, the air was filled with the fragrance of incense.
Ji Nian'an pushed open the door and entered, where Ma Wenbo was slowly pouring tea.
He held the teacup between his fingers, looked up at her, and a cold smile flashed in his eyes.
"Physician Ji is indeed punctual." Ma Wenbo gestured for Ji Nian'an to sit down. "Please sit down, let's have a good talk."
Ji Nian'an didn't move, but stared at him coldly: "Doctor Ma, what are your instructions?"
Ma Wenbo chuckled and said slowly, "Tell me, if the Censorate knew your identity, what would they say about you?"
It is immoral for women to mingle in military camps!
Such behavior, like a hen crowing at dawn, is truly a disruption of the natural order!
A woman who disguises herself as a man to deceive the emperor should be executed to set an example!
A woman who is restless and unfaithful deserves to be drowned!
Ji Nian'an's fingertips trembled slightly, but she still forced herself to remain calm: "What do you want?"
Ma Wenbo put down his teacup, lowered his voice, but each word was like a knife: "It's very simple—you will marry my illegitimate son, Ma Cheng."
"What?"
Ji Nian'an almost thought she had misheard.
"Don't rush, let me finish." Ma Wenbo stood up and walked to her side. "Once you marry into the family, your achievements and your position will naturally belong to the Ma family. After all, a woman is supposed to follow her husband after marriage, and everything you have belongs to your husband's family."
Ji Nian'an laughed in anger, gritting her teeth and saying, "Wishful thinking!"
Instead of getting angry, Ma Wenbo laughed: "Wishful thinking?"
He slowly pulled a memorial from his pocket. "Take a look at this."
Ji Nian'an took it, glanced at it, and her face turned deathly pale instantly.
It turned out to be a memorial impeaching her, detailing her crimes of disguising herself as a man and deceiving the emperor, and even including "witness testimonies".
It is said that when she was changing clothes in the military camp, she was seen by many people in her female form, seduced the soldiers, and defiled the military camp.
Ji Nian'an's pupils contracted as she saw a familiar name.
Among the wounded soldiers she had saved, some confessed to having affairs with her.
"Do you recognize these names?" Ma Wenbo pointed, afraid she wouldn't be able to see them clearly.
Ji Nian'an's mind flashed back to Wang Tiezhu, the man who always helped her dry medicinal herbs.
Last month, when he knelt down and begged her to save his mother, his forehead bled from the impact.
His signature on his confession is still fresh, with a bloody fingerprint next to it.
“Impossible…” Her voice trembled, and the words on the memorial began to blur.
"You think you have a choice?" Ma Wenbo sneered. "Obey your husband and raise your children. Your achievements will be carried forward by the Ma family. As for your skills in using acupuncture needles to treat acupuncture, you can use them to serve your in-laws."
He pointed at the memorial, "Otherwise, this memorial will be sent to His Majesty's desk at tomorrow's morning court. For the crime of deceiving the emperor, you wouldn't have enough heads to behead even if you had eight."
Ji Nian'an almost crushed the memorial to pieces, her chest heaving violently.
Ma Wenbo watched her reaction with satisfaction and added, "Although my Cheng'er is an illegitimate son, he is gentle and will never mistreat you."
He narrowed his eyes. "Of course, if you don't know what's good for you, then I will..."
"Then what should be done?"
Suddenly, a clear, melodious female voice rang out.
Ma Wenbo's words came to an abrupt halt, and the smugness on his face instantly froze.
He turned his head sharply and saw a figure emerge from behind the screen.
"Your Excellency, Grand Preceptor!" Ma Wenbo staggered back two steps, his official hat askew. "This humble official was unaware of your presence..."
Lu Yao's lips curled into a half-smile: "Doctor Ma, you're quite the big shot."
"No, no..."
Lu Yao reached out and picked up the memorial.
"A hen crowing at dawn? That sounds familiar." She scoffed. "I was already tired of it when I took office. How come the Censorate hasn't come up with any new insults after a year?"
Ma Wenbo knelt down with a thud, his forehead hitting the blue bricks heavily: "The Grand Preceptor's contributions to the country are far greater than those of a lowly servant girl who has infiltrated the military camp!"
"It's ridiculous. A rooster doesn't crow, but a hen does, and that becomes a sin?" Lu Yao sneered. "On the day the death warrant was issued, you didn't even dare to take her pulse. She treated the illness that you, Ma Wenbo, dared not or could not treat, and yet she's the one who deserves to die?"
Ma Wenbo trembled, beads of sweat forming on his forehead, but he still stubbornly tried to argue: "Your Excellency, please understand! I was worried that rashly contacting the patients would only accelerate the spread of the epidemic!"
He crawled two steps on his knees, his official robes leaving messy trails on the ground: "This girl just stumbled upon it by accident..."
Lu Yao chuckled upon hearing this: "What a wonderful accident."
She suddenly pushed open the carved window of the private room and pointed to the bustling street below: "Coincidentally, that charcoal seller has been coughing for more than half a month. Since Doctor Ma thinks Miss Ji's medical skills are not good enough, why don't we have a contest on the spot?"
With a flick of her wide sleeves, Lu Yao invited the hunched old man from the street corner into a private room.
The old man's face was still covered in coal dust, and each cough produced a rattling sound like a broken bellows.
"Please go first, Physician Ji."
Ji Nian'an took a deep breath and helped the old man sit down.
Her fingertips touched the old man's wrist, which was as rough as tree bark, and she suddenly frowned: "Is it night sweats and blood in your phlegm?"
Seeing the old man nod repeatedly, she quickly picked up the gold needles: "The lung vessels are damaged, so we need to puncture Taiyuan and Lieque acupoints first."
Ma Wenbo interjected, "Nonsense! This is clearly tuberculosis."
Ji Nian'an didn't even look up, the needle tip already precisely piercing the acupoint. "The old man's fingernails are purple, and his tongue coating is thin and white, clearly indicating carbon dust accumulation in his lungs."
She skillfully manipulated the needles: "If we treat it as tuberculosis, it could be fatal."
The moment the silver needle left his body, the old man suddenly coughed violently and spat out a mouthful of thick, black phlegm.
The old man patted his chest, his cloudy eyes gradually clearing. "Oh... I can finally breathe a sigh of relief!"
He stood up shakily and was about to kneel down in front of Ji Nian'an, "Thank you so much, young master, for saving my life! This old man has been coughing so badly for the past two weeks that he's almost lost half his life."
Lu Yao stopped him from kneeling, a sly glint in her eyes. "What if you knew, sir, that this 'young master' is actually a young lady?"
Ji Nian'an was startled, not expecting Lu Yao to so casually reveal her identity as a woman.
"What? Is our Imperial Physician Ji perhaps reluctant to part with this men's clothing?" Lu Yao smiled.
“No…” Ji Nian’an was stunned.
The old man's eyes widened, his face streaked with coal dust, first showing astonishment, then breaking into a simple smile: "Whether he's a young master or a lady, a good doctor is one who can cure illnesses! My wife always says I'm blind... Well then, thank you so much, young lady, for saving my life!"
Ji Nian'an looked at the scene before her, her lips slightly raised, but her eyes gradually reddened.
For the first time in many years, she didn't have to hide her identity as a woman or lower her voice to speak. She was praised as a good doctor simply because she was a woman.
“That’s right, Ji Nian’an is a woman, there’s no need to hide it. You’re a wise man, old man, it’s just a pity that there are so many fools in this world.”
Lu Yao clapped her hands and laughed, "I will personally present this memorial at the morning court tomorrow. I would like to ask the Imperial Censor, in this world, are illnesses treated differently based on whether the doctor is male or female?"
As Ji Nian'an gazed at the memorial in Lu Yao's hand, a surge of intense heat suddenly welled up in his chest.
She recalled that when she was ten years old, she secretly peeked through the window of the clinic to watch the doctor perform acupuncture, and was severely beaten after being discovered.
At the age of fifteen, she disguised herself as a man and became an apprentice at a pharmacy, smearing her face with stove ash every night to make it dark.
Now, this imperial advisor is going to question the entire court of officials in the Golden Palace on her behalf, on behalf of a mere insignificant female physician.
For many years, she believed that as long as her medical skills were good enough and she dressed like a man, she could earn a place in this world.
She never imagined that someone would remove this disguise for her, allowing her to stand proudly in the sunlight as a woman.
Ji Nian'an looked up and met the smiling eyes of the Imperial Preceptor.
Her gaze was clear as a spring, reflecting her reddened eyes.
At that moment, she suddenly understood the true meaning of Lu Yao's words "comrades".
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