CH 140

February 10, 2023Merchie

Shen Huan froze.

She must have been too obvious in her attentiveness toward her little disciple, which ended up producing this misunderstanding.

Shen Huan didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, “Disciple, don’t worry, don’t be scared, let your master explain.”

In the end, Shen Huan went in circles for a long while, and finally succeeded in making both Shen Shijiu and Yue Nu dizzy with her words.

“All in all, your body is just fine, you’re at the peak of good health.”

Shen Huan exhaled. After saying such ridiculous things to her pure, innocent little disciple’s face, she felt terrible. Could she really continue to lie to him like this? But after another period of time, his stomach couldn’t be hidden any longer. When that time came, what would she do?

The chief of the foreign tribe arranged accommodations for the three of them, in a mud brick building with an antique feel to it, surrounded by a short railing.

The moment Shen Huan came back, she began to develop a formula. After observing the condition of the infectees, she had already come up with a few ideas for a cure.

Shen Shijiu circled the mud brick house. When he stood on the second floor and looked out, the view he saw was completely different from that of the Imperial City.

Everything in the Imperial City was neat and orderly. The moment one looked upon the city, it was lined with row upon row of houses and streets.

But here in the foreign tribe, not only were there many strangely shaped buildings, but from a distance, one could even see the desert near the border of the territory.

After passing through this desert, one would reach barbarian territory.

Shen Shijiu had never seen a desert before. He stood on his tiptoes, staring at the land near the border, but he couldn’t get a clear view.

“Shi, what are you doing?”

Yue Nu had come upstairs at some point, and asked from behind Shen Shijiu.

“A-Yue, quick, come take a look, what’s that over there?”

Yue Nu was yanked forward, and he looked into the distance.

“That’s a desert, it’s all sand. If you carelessly rush inside with no understanding of the desert, it’ll be very easy to get lost, and you’ll probably die of thirst or freeze to death in there.”

Yue Nu recalled when he had secretly followed Zhao Litang’s army, and they had passed through a desert. That time, they had encountered a brutal sandstorm; before they had even engaged with the barbarian army, their troops had already suffered heavy casualties, so Yue Nu had a deep, lingering fear of deserts.

Shen Shijiu nodded. So it was actually quite a terrifying place. Then he definitely wouldn’t go over there. He slowly slumped over the second-floor railing, staring quietly at people as they came and went, and the peddlers shouting from their stalls.

Yue Nu carefully looked Shen Shijiu up and down, and really couldn’t tell that anything had changed. He also didn’t know why Master Shen was feeding him so much medicine.

Yue Nu wanted to speak several times but faltered. He had a question, but he couldn’t figure out how to voice it. In the end, he asked cautiously, “Shi, why did you and Master Shen… suddenly come here? Weren’t you staying at the Prime Minister’s Manor?”

When he heard the three words “Prime Minister’s Manor”, Shen Shijiu froze, slumped over the railing, completely motionless.

Yue Nu gently patted Shen Shijiu’s shoulder, “Shi? Shi?”

Shen Shijiu wiped the corners of his eyes with his sleeve and looked back. His eyes were rimmed with red.

“A-Yue,” His voice was soft and full of aggrievement.

Yue Nu sighed and hugged him.

Shen Shijiu said, “A-Yue, Shifu was the one who said we had to go back to the foreign tribe. You know, when we left, Pei-gege was severely injured and still hadn’t woken up. Truthfully, I’m still really worried about him.”

Yue Nu understood, and consoled him, “It’ll be okay, Lord Pei will definitely get better, don’t worry too much.”

But in truth, while he was in the barracks, Yue Nu had heard about the things that had happened in the Imperial City. He heard that Prime Minister Pei had caused a disturbance in the Imperial Court, and was immediately targeted by the other ministers. The Empress had also played a part in this, but that was the extent of Yue Nu’s knowledge.

At this moment, there was an urgent knock on the door downstairs. The pair slumped over the railing looked down; it was actually a group of Celestial Dynasty troops.

Shen Huan went to open the door, and said with a smile, “Sirs, is something the matter?”

“Have you seen any outsiders around here?”

Shen Huan thought for a moment, “Nope, I didn’t see anyone, just you, sirs.”

The soldiers said, “If you see anyone from the Celestial Dynasty, you must report it immediately. The same goes for barbarians, understood?”

Shen Huan nodded, “Got it, got it. Sirs, please don’t worry.”

Just as the soldiers were about to leave, a crashing sound echoed from upstairs, and everyone’s eyes shifted upward.

“Who’s up there?”

Shen Huan became a bit nervous, “Up, upstairs-”

“Miaowu,” Shen Shijiu copied the sound of a kitten’s meow; it really was quite similar to that of a real cat.

Shen Huan hurriedly said, “Upstairs is a cat I’ve been taking care of. It’s a bit disobedient, it might’ve knocked something over.”

Those soldiers all exchanged looks; they ended up believing Shen Huan, and they finally left.

After the soldiers left, the pair upstairs poked their heads out.

“Shifu, what did they want?”

Shen Huan glanced at Yue Nu beside him, “Do you even need to ask? They were definitely looking for him. This Zhao Litang really is gutsy, he actually dares to make such a big scene while searching for someone in foreign territory. Only, no one else knows that those who travel with General Zhao are very disobedient, having fled all the way to the foreign tribe.”

After listening to Shen Huan’s ambiguous words, Yue Nu slowly lowered his head. In truth, he was incredibly embarrassed to trouble Shen Huan and Shen Shijiu all the time. But if he returned with Wu Quan and the others, the general would definitely send him back to the Imperial City.

He was unwilling to be so far away from the general.

“All right, you two, hurry up and come down. Come with your master, we’re going out.”

Shen Huan had already developed a formula for resisting the plague, but she would only know if it was effective once she found people to test it.

The master, disciple, and Yue Nu all walked out.

When they arrived at the temple from last time, there were several foreign soldiers guarding the door. Several infected people had been tossed inside, and heart-wrenching screams rang occasionally rang out from within the temple.

“Stop! You lot, what are you doing?”

The soldiers outside stopped them, “Everyone in there is infected, yet you still dare to go inside, are you trying to die?!”

Shen Huan showed them the token that the chief had given her, and those soldiers respectfully made way for them.

Shen Huan stepped forward and pushed open the door. A rotten, bloody stench immediately wafted out.

Shen Huan stopped Shen Shijiu, “Little disciple, don’t go in, wait outside for me. Yue Nu, come with me.”

Yue Nu nodded, and had Shen Shijiu wait outside with those soldiers, before he followed Shen Huan into the temple.

Shen Huan waited outside for a while before Shen Huan and Yue Nu finally came out.

In truth, some of those infectees had drank the medicinal soup Shen Huan had given them last time. After they found that it really did ease the pain, their impression of Shen Huan changed.

This time, as Shen Huan was distributing the medicine, some of them came over and thanked her, before they asked for a bowl of medicinal soup and walked away.

From then on, when the three of them came to distribute medicine, these infectees treated her with the utmost respect, because after drinking the medicine Shen Huan had given them, the open sores on their bodies miraculously began to heal.

After just a few days, those who had been infected by the plague were almost recovered. Shen Huan, Shen Shijiu, and Yue Nu were all dubbed miracle doctors.

And gradually, these people left the temple and returned to their normal lives, and the names of these miracle doctors were spread throughout the streets.

Many people came to ask Shen Huan to cure them of their illnesses, and there were some people who actually thought she was a god. The moment they saw her, they would start bowing; Shen Huan didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

The chief of the foreign tribe also thanked Shen Huan profusely. Once again, with her incredible skill as a doctor, she had saved the foreign tribe from a disaster.

The chief hosted a banquet in their honor; he had to reward the three of them with a proper feast.

Foreign officials who had previously been infected by the plague, but were now fully recovered, had also been invited.

Those officials lifted their cups and toasted Shen Huan, spouting a mountain of words of thanks and appreciation. They praised Shen Huan so much that even she felt a bit embarrassed.

Those officials gulped down their wine, and Shen Huan also emptied her wine up.

Next, a few more people came over to toast Shen Huan, and there were even people who toasted Shen Shijiu, but Yue Nu had already exchanged the contents of Shen Shijiu’s cup for tea.

The banquet was coming to an end, and Shen Huan had drunk quite a bit. Being surrounded by so many people, the corners of her mouth were about to rise into the sky.

“Shifu, Shifu,” Shen Shijiu tugged the corner of Shen Huan’s robe, “Shifu, don’t drink too much, you’re about to be drunk.”

“It’s fine, your master’s alcohol tolerance is very strong.” Shen Huan hiccupped.

At this moment, there was a commotion in the banquet hall, and several people were shouting nonstop.

Shen Shijiu managed to make out what they were shouting, “Someone’s dead! Someone’s dead!”

Shen Huan was still drinking, so Shen Shijiu hurriedly ran over to inspect the situation.

Lying on the ground was that official who had just toasted Shen Huan. He had clearly already recovered from the plague, but somehow, he had relapsed. The skin over his entire body was blood red. He had already stopped breathing, having bled to death from his seven orifices. It was quite the horrifying sight.

Everyone present was alarmed by the situation; out of fear that they had been infected as well, they hurriedly ran out.

Only Shen Shijiu was left squatting beside the corpse. His brow creased as he thought for a long while, but he still couldn’t figure out what had gone wrong.

At this moment, someone shouted, “He was definitely let out before he was completely recovered! What ‘miracle doctors’, they didn’t even cure him! I say it’s all nonsense!”

The person who had just yelled was Hu Lan, who had always coveted the position of chief, and he was using this opportunity to slander the old chief.

Shen Huan instantly sobered up. She saw that everyone in the room was standing at a distance, gazing warily at her little disciple. She clenched her fists and walked toward the corpse.

“Little disciple, out of the way, let your master take a look.”

Shen Huan examined it for a long while, but she couldn’t find any peculiarities. If she wanted to find the cause of this person’s death, she would have to dissect the body.

But just as Shen Huan made this request, everyone else in the room yelled in dissent; foreigners believed that after someone passed away, the corpse had to remain intact. Otherwise, they would be unable to reincarnate.

Shen Shijiu stood to one side, clutching his sleeves. Right now, everyone else’s eyes were pinned on them, full of suspicion and doubt. Under their stares, Shen Shijiu felt a bit frightened.