The summer of the thirty-seventh year in Baoqing reign came silently after a loud thunderstorm.
It was evening and the weather was hot and humid.
The back door of Lizhi mansion in Suzhou creaked open. An elegant woman walked out behind the door and dashed into the horse carriage. This woman, whose surname was Xu, was the Lizhi houshold most adored concubine.
Her servant in green glanced around carefully before hopping onto the horse carriage and whispered into the coachman’s ear.
After an hour, the carriage stopped in a narrow alley. The servant then helped Xu down and both of them walked about a 100 meters before they entered a house.
Once they entered the house, Xu was taken aback. The queue was nearly 10 meters long from the main room. She britted her teeth, but did not dare to complain, and she quietly joined the queue.
The time had past midnight. It was finally her turn.
The young employee smiled at her and said softly, “Missus, please follow me!”
They bypassed the main hall, walked along a long corridor and penetrated through the artifical mountain and fountain before they reached a very small hut. The employee stopped.
“What’s your surname, ma’am?”
“Xu.”
“Where do you stay?”
“The Liu residence, located at the mouth of the alley.”
“Hold on.” The employee said after asking her a few simple questions and went in to inform the person of her arrival.
Xu glanced around her and noticed that the surrounding was dark. The atmosphere felt weird, yet she could not explain the reason.
The servant in green seemed to notice it too as she grabbed tightly onto Xu’s arm.
“Ma’am, Physician Jin said you can come in!”
A moment later, the employer returned to his station.
Xu took a deep breath before she pushed her servant’s hand away and entered the room.
…
The decoration in the room was very simple. There was only a set of table and chair.
Behind the table sat a person in black. The face was covered with a piece of veil and a pair of eyes were staring at her indifferently.
Xu felt a chill down her spine. She elegantly sat down on the chair and she coughed gently. She then began, “Physican Jin, I…”
“Stretch out your hand!” A clear yet cold woman’s voice was heard.
“You’re a woman!”
The legendary Physician Jin who could revive a dead person was actually a woman. Moreover, she sounded young. Xu raised her eyebrows as she stared at the physician unbelievably.
The masked person looked at her and said nothing. She placed three fingers on Xu’s pulse.
“Judging from your pulse, your body is cold and damp, and you are having a lot of vaginal discharge. Your period is often irregular and your womb is weak, which makes it hard for you to get pregnant. In fact…”
“In fact what?” Xu asked anxiously.
The masked person sighed gently and said, “Let me ask you. Do you have a habit of consuming bird’s nest drink every night?”
Xu immediately nodded her head and asked, “How do you know?”
“There’s a small amount of mercury in your bird’s nest drink. If you consume it every day, it’s naturally hard for you to get pregnant. If I’m not wrong, you have very little menstruation blood every month and your period is becoming shorter. Your blood tends to be fresh red. Even if you get pregnant, it’s hard for you to keep your child.”
Xu’s face became pale after hearing her words and she fell onto the ground.
“Great Physician, please rescue me. You must rescue me.”
The masked person looked at her emotionlessly and said, “You do know my rules.”
“I know. I know. I need to help you to do one thing. Once it’s done, I will recover!” Xu answered. She had researched carefully before coming over.
“Since you know my rules, I’ll prescribe you with the medicine. The toxins in your body will be dispelled after three months. After half a year, you’ll definitely get pregnant!”
Xu was overjoyed. She quickly asked, “What do you want me to do?”
The masked person’s eyes sparkled. Her voice was crystal clear.
“I want you to destroy the marriage between the foolish son from the Lizhi residence and the sixth lady from the Gu residence.”
…
It had already past 3 a.m.
With the last patient leaving the house quietly, the main door shut tight. The employees in the house started their drinking spree.
In the night, Yue Niang brought the food box into the hut, “Lady, have some plain porridge. You’ve worked hard the whole night.”
Gu Qingwan had already removed her black clothings and the veil on her face. She was busy reading the few pieces of prescriptions under the candlelight and was thinking intensively.
When her thought was interrupted by Yue Niang, she simply kept her prescriptions and started to gobble up the small and exquisite dishes brought in by Yue Niang.
After eating a few mouths, a thought suddenly struck Gu Qingwan’s mind and she asked, “Did Uncle Fu write to us?”
Yue Niang shook her head and said, “How is it possible for him to reply us so quickly? South Zhili is far from Suzhou. I guess it would take about a month for the letter to be delivered to-and-fro. This time round, you’ve asked Uncle Fu to open a new branch. I think he will only return half a year later.”
“Guess I’m too anxious!”
Gu Qingwan smiled gently, revealing her absent-mindedness on the beautiful face.
In the blink of an eye, five years had passed.
For the past five years, she had appeared as the retarded sixth lady in front of the Gu family members, yet in the dark, she had became the famous Great Physician in South Zhili. Qingfeng Hall was a well established medical hall in South Zhili and had been earning profit every day.
No one knew how much hardships she had been through for the past five years. Only she herself knew how cautious she had been in every step she took.
Yue Niang noticed her lady’s expression and knew she had thought of the past again. She quickly added, “Lady, it’s time to return. The sun will rise shortly.”