I said, "No, let me look through my master's notes and think about it. I want to take half a bowl of your third uncle's blood so I can test the medicine."
He nodded, and just as we were about to bleed Lou Sanjian, someone knocked on the door and came in, saying to Lou Xiyue, "Seventh Young Master, all the disciples we sent out to investigate this matter yesterday died outside Nanyang City."
Upon hearing the voice, I carefully examined the person. She was dressed in a neat and clean black outfit, with a vermilion dot on her forehead and upturned eyes that did not conceal her alluring charm. She was actually a girl.
Main text [16] The Chaos in Nanyang (Part 2)
Lou Xiyue frowned. "Where is the body?"
The girl replied, "I've already brought him back inside." Then she raised an eyebrow at me, leaned close to Lou Xiyue's ear, and whispered something.
Lou Xiyue paused, her eyes narrowing slightly. "Let's leave this matter here for now. We'll hold back until Third Uncle wakes up."
The girl smiled radiantly and said crisply, "Seventh Young Master, you haven't been to Nanyang for a long time. I've missed you."
Lou Xiyue was just pondering with his chin in his hand. Hearing her words, he was slightly stunned, then looked up and met her gaze. After a moment, a smile appeared in his eyes. "Ji Jiu, with Third Uncle injured, there aren't many people in the sect who can manage things in Nanyang. From now on, you'll stay by my side."
Ji Jiu smiled, "Yes, Seventh Young Master."
After Ji Jiu left, I asked Lou Xiyue, "So, this is yet another close female friend of yours?"
Lou Xiyue said with a smile, "Ji Jiu is quite skilled."
I said, "You're surrounded by waves of admirers."
He tilted his head and looked at me with great interest.
I retorted, "Don't look at me like that, as if I were the one flirting with that girl right here in front of your third uncle."
Lou Xiyue suddenly leaned closer, lifted my chin with her fan, and lowered her head. Her nose just brushed against my forehead, and she let out a soft, drawn-out "Hmm—?" Her long, gentle breath brushed against my cheek.
He stared at me intently, his dark eyes sparkling.
I simply don't understand.
Lou Xiyue raised her hand and lightly drew three lines on my forehead with her fingertips, teasingly saying, "It's a pity I can't see you setting up your fortune-telling stall."
I lowered my head and coughed lightly. "You flirted with a disciple in front of your own master, and now you're flirting with an elder. Later, your third uncle might sit up and vomit three liters of blood."
Lou Xiyue smiled, still no more than three inches away from me, raised her long eyebrows, and said in a low, ambiguous voice, "I just saw Ji Jiu and suddenly really want to see you in women's clothing. I'll get you a set?"
I said, "No, please."
He asked, "Why not?"
I took a step back, my face stern, and said, "Lou Xiyue, I'm your master. If I say no, I mean no. Why are you so scheming?" I gave him another solemn look, "Saving your third uncle is the priority. Let's bleed him out first."
Lou Xiyue chuckled softly as he approached Lou Sanjian, intending to slash his arm with his dagger.
He paused for a moment, "Xiao Xiang."
I looked at him. "Hmm?"
Lou Xiyue didn't look up. She made a cut, catching the blood as she said, "You were shy just now, weren't you?"
I paused, turned around, and said solemnly, "Why would I be ashamed? What do I have to be ashamed of?"
He heard a noise behind him and said in a flippant tone, "Oh—"
There was no sound for a while. I turned around and saw Lou Xiyue leaning against the bed with his hands on his hips. He looked at me, playing with his fan between his fingers, and said leisurely, "Your face is quite red."
I walked to the table, picked up the bowl of bloody water, and stepped outside. "You're the one who should be ashamed. Your whole family should be ashamed."
He took out his master's notes from the bundle. Inside, there were detailed records of some symptoms his master had seen over the years, as well as the medicinal properties of the herbs. His master's handwriting was rich and natural, like strong bamboo.
My master is very knowledgeable and has solved many difficult and stubborn problems. He recorded them one by one, which made this notebook particularly thick.
It's incredibly thick, so thick that I've never even turned past page ten.
I carried it from Yaowang Valley to Yangzhou, then to Muxue Manor, and finally to Nanyang because the yellowed pages carried the scent of my master. When I open the manuscript, I can always picture my master sitting quietly at his desk, his expression gentle as he writes.
Sometimes I would stand beside him and grind ink for him. The faint scent of ink would linger at the tip of my nose. Occasionally, my master would stop, pick up his teacup, take a sip, give me a gentle smile, and say softly, "Xiao Xiang, let me teach you how to use medicine."
The phoenix flowers outside the window were as vibrant as glass, and a gentle breeze rustled the notes on the desk.
In the past, when I copied medical books, I often got ink stains on my sleeves. But my master held his pen very upright, and his white robes were never stained with ink. After he finished writing a page, he would press it down with a stone weight, and after the ink dried, he would bind it into a book.
On sunny days, I would take my medical books out and place them on the rocks in the valley to dry. My master sat to the side playing chess with the three elders.
His posture when holding the chess pieces was just as graceful as his posture when holding a pen; it was beautiful in a perfectly balanced way.
The sun shines warmly, and life is peaceful.
I am far less interested in medical books than in plays. This is because medical books are far less vivid than plays.
If medical books also depicted little figures holding umbrellas in pavilions and young gentlemen drinking tea in their boudoirs, I would definitely memorize their contents thoroughly.
I think if I were to write a journal and pass it on to Lou Xiyue in the future, I would definitely draw the human body in it very clearly so that he could be familiar with it.
I made myself a cup of tea, propped my head up with my hand, and started reading the eleventh page of the journal.
On page eleven, there is a note about purple-stemmed grass. The master wrote beside it: "Purple-stemmed grass is hot in nature and can intoxicate the mind. Use with caution."
There is only this one line of text.
When the master was memorizing medicines, he would write down the symptoms of the people he had treated, such as convulsions, swelling, and bluish-purple complexion.
However, the page for the purple stem grass was completely blank except for this line of small print.