Shen Lixue was furious and blurted out a question: Bai Ling'er is the Ghost Doctor's apprentice, and it's understandable that she cherishes the Ghost Doctor's name. But she is a doctor, and her priority should be treating patients. How can she only care about her reputation and not care about the lives of others? She even treats human life as a game and kills innocent people indiscriminately in order to gain a good reputation. What's the difference between such a doctor and a villain who treats human life like dirt?
"Shen Lixue, don't try to argue!" Bai Ling'er's expression instantly turned extremely ugly.
Logically, since Ye Qianlong paid them, they should find his heart. However, Dongfang Heng was also their employer, and they were the ones who replaced his heart. If they were to dig it out again, it would be going back on their word. Therefore, whether she answered yes or no, she was contradicting herself.
Shen Lixue was determined to humiliate her.
"I'm just stating the facts. What's the difference between saving one person, killing another, and not saving anyone at all?" Shen Lixue looked at Bai Ling'er, whose appearance was as beautiful as a fairy, but whose heart was as vicious as a snake. If she became the next Ghost Doctor, many innocent people in the world would surely die. "As a medical student, don't you have even a shred of medical ethics?"
"Shen Lixue, your fiancé is Dongfang Heng. You don't side with him, but with Ye Qianlong, who has no relation to you. You can't even distinguish between close and distant relatives, or between what is important and what is not. What right do you have to talk to me?" Bai Ling'er looked at Shen Lixue provocatively and asked sharply.
Shen Lixue smiled coldly: "Dongfang Heng is my fiancé, and Ye Qianlong is my friend. I don't want to hurt one of them for the other. How can you be the same as me being selfish and only thinking about the name of the Ghost Doctor?"
Bai Ling'er's little face flushed red and then turned pale, changing more than a dozen colors in an instant. Shen Lixue was clever and quick-witted, even more capable than she had imagined.
"This is a pharmacy. I need to get my medicine dispensed and cannot be disturbed. Please, Your Highness, move outside!" Unable to win a verbal battle against Shen Lixue, Bai Ling'er coldly issued an order to leave.
“Miss Bai, please look carefully. This is the pharmacy of the Holy King’s Mansion. I am the future Princess Consort of Anjun, the owner of this place, while you are a doctor who has come to treat patients, a guest. What right do you have to drive me away?” Does Bai Ling’er consider the Holy King’s Mansion her home?
“I need to prepare medicine for Prince An, and I need a very quiet environment where no one can disturb me. Doesn’t Princess An agree to this?” Bai Ling’er raised an eyebrow at Shen Lixue, a hint of threat and mockery flashing deep in her eyes.
"What if Prince An's illness worsens, and I'm so anxious and flustered that I haven't even finished concocting the medicine yet? If Prince An's life hangs by a thread, who will be to blame?"
She was the apprentice of the Ghost Doctor of Southern Xinjiang. They asked her to treat Dongfang Heng's illness. When she was in a good mood, she would naturally prepare medicine well. But if she was in a bad mood, it was uncertain whether the medicine she prepared would be effective.
"The medicine is prepared in the side room, but you are different and are being prepared in the main room. You even drove me away as the host. You have quite the airs!" Bai Ling'er is really arrogant and domineering. Does she think that just because Dongfang Heng invited her to treat his illness, he should treat her like a saint and not allow her to disobey him in the slightest?
Bai Ling'er's pretty face turned completely black, and her beautiful eyes changed more than ten different expressions in an instant. Finally, she glared fiercely at Shen Lixue, picked up a basket of herbs, and hurried out: "Thank you for the reminder, Princess. I have learned a lot!"
Shen Lixue watched Bai Ling'er walk over indifferently. As they brushed past each other, Bai Ling'er gently tossed the basket in her hand towards Shen Lixue.
Shen Lixue smiled slightly, and the moment the basket touched her clothes, she exclaimed in surprise. She suddenly stumbled and hit the basket with her small hand. The small splinter on the inside of the basket pricked Bai Ling'er's waist.
Bai Ling'er's gloomy gaze suddenly changed, and in alarm, she instantly tore off the splinter from the basket. Just as she was about to apply pressure to her waist, Shen Lixue slapped her arm hard: "Miss Bai, what's wrong? Are you alright?"
"Ah!" Bai Ling'er exclaimed in surprise. The basket fell to the ground, and her arm was filled with pain and numbness. She could no longer use it.
Bai Ling'er clutched her arm tightly, and a small patch of crimson blood could still be seen seeping through her white sleeve. Shen Lixue narrowed her eyes instantly: "Bai Ling'er, is your arm injured?"
Bai Ling'er's face was pale, and she covered her bleeding arm with her hand, forcing a smile: "I accidentally cut myself on a knife on the shelf while putting out herbs. It's just a minor injury, nothing serious!"
He gritted his teeth in hatred, realizing that Shen Lixue had deliberately injured her arm and prevented her from using acupressure.
Shen Lixue smiled, her clear, cold eyes filled with icy coldness: "Last night, an assassin was stabbed by a guard, and the wound was in the exact same spot as Miss Bai's!"
"You suspect I'm an assassin?" Bai Ling'er looked at Shen Lixue in shock.
Shen Lixue raised an eyebrow at Bai Ling'er, as if to say, "Isn't that right?"
"I'm the doctor you invited, what would I be doing as an assassin?"
Bai Ling'er's beautiful eyes filled with tears, looking pitiful. She screamed in fright, the sound echoing throughout the courtyard and startling the Southern Frontier Ghost Doctor and several guards.
"What happened?" The Ghost Doctor walked into the pharmacy and looked at Bai Ling'er, who was crying and wiping away her tears, and Shen Lixue, who was covered in ice and had a cold look in her eyes. He was slightly taken aback. What was going on?
"Master!" Bai Ling'er saw the Ghost Doctor of Southern Xinjiang and felt as if she had found her pillar of support. She threw herself onto his shoulder and burst into tears, "Master, let's go back to Southern Xinjiang." Her cries were sorrowful and pitiful.
The Ghost Doctor of Southern Xinjiang frowned and gently patted Bai Ling'er's back: "What's going on? Why do you suddenly want to go back to Southern Xinjiang?"
“When I return to Southern Xinjiang, no one will blame me for preparing medicine in the main pharmacy, and no one will suspect that I am an assassin…” Bai Ling’er buried her face in the shoulder of the Ghost Doctor of Southern Xinjiang, crying, her shoulders trembling.
Shen Lixue raised an eyebrow; this was a complaint against her to the Ghost Doctor of Southern Xinjiang.
The Ghost Doctor of Southern Xinjiang's face darkened: "Who suspects you of being an assassin?"
He traveled across mountains and rivers, enduring countless hardships to reach Qingyan, solely to cure Dongfang Heng's illness. Although the illness was not yet cured, he had been working tirelessly to alleviate Dongfang Heng's pain. Not only were the people of the Holy King's Mansion ungrateful, but they also suspected his disciple of being an assassin, which was outrageous!
"Waaaaah!" Bai Ling'er didn't say Shen Lixue's name, but her crying grew more and more sorrowful.
To outsiders, it seemed that she was being wronged because of that person's status and dared not utter a word.
The Ghost Doctor of Southern Xinjiang angrily said, "Ling'er, who exactly bullied you? Just tell me! Even if that person is the emperor or a prince, I will get justice for you!"
Bai Ling'er's crying subsided a little. She quietly lifted her head from the shoulder of the Ghost Doctor of Southern Xinjiang and looked at Shen Lixue defiantly.
"Miss Bai, I only said that the location of your injury is the same as that of the assassin. When did I say that you were the assassin?" Shen Lixue blinked, looking completely clueless.
The Ghost Doctor of Southern Xinjiang is treating Dongfang Heng. If she offends him, he will leave Qingyan in a fit of anger, and Dongfang Heng will surely die. Bai Ling'er is trying to use the Ghost Doctor of Southern Xinjiang to suppress her. What a fool's dream.
The Ghost Doctor of Southern Xinjiang was taken aback: "Is it Princess Lixue and Ling'er having a conflict?" Shen Lixue looked gentle and kind, not like someone who would bully others.
"I don't know if it counts as a contradiction. I just said that Miss Ling'er's injury was in the same place as the assassin's, and she screamed at me and cried loudly!" Shen Lixue frowned, looking aggrieved and helpless.
The Ghost Doctor of Southern Xinjiang frowned. If the man had bullied Bai Ling'er, he could have stepped in to teach him a lesson. But Shen Lixue was a girl, thin-skinned and weak. If he, as an elder, were to speak up and reprimand her, it would be bullying the younger one: "Is there some misunderstanding between you?"
“I also believe it’s a misunderstanding!” Shen Lixue smiled slightly and glanced at Bai Ling’er: “Miss Bai is not an assassin, so of course she wouldn’t have a guilty conscience and mistakenly think that my mention of assassins means I suspect she is an assassin!”
Bai Ling'er's beautiful eyes narrowed, and anger flared up in her chest. Shen Lixue was indirectly accusing her of having a guilty conscience.
The Ghost Doctor of Southern Xinjiang chuckled: "Ling'er is rather sensitive, Princess, please don't mind!" It's nothing serious when girls have disagreements; once they reconcile, everything will be fine.
A cold smile flickered in Bai Ling'er's eyes. Shen Lixue was indeed formidable, managing to calm this old codger down with just a few words. She wouldn't easily lose to Shen Lixue: "Master, Princess Lixue, she..."
"However, to be honest, the guards' swords are completely different from the knives used to cut herbs. Miss Bai, why don't you let me see your wound? Firstly, to prove your innocence, and secondly, to avoid any further misunderstandings!"
Shen Lixue interrupted Bai Ling'er. Her bright smile revealed a deep sense of smugness and provocation in Bai Ling'er's eyes. Bai Ling'er clenched her small hands tightly. "You bitch, you're pushing your luck."
“Yes, Ling’er, let the princess see your wound and dispel your doubts!” The Ghost Doctor of Southern Xinjiang said proudly, trusting his disciple and not afraid of Shen Lixue examining her.