Chapter 38: Business

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Shao Diandian ignored him.

The siblings went to the academy.

Once again, they entered through the back gate.

The gatekeeper was still the same old man.

However, he did not let them pass so readily today. He glanced at the half-eaten pastry in Shao Erdan’s hand and drawled, “Give me one.”

Shao Erdan: “...”

—

Shao Erdan had no idea that his sister had come to treat someone. He still thought they were there to do business with the academy.

“But Sis, we’ve sold all our pastries! There are only these left in the bowl...” He had already eaten half of one, and had just given the old man two more.

They had agreed on one, but the old man had taken two!

What a lack of honor!

“We aren’t selling anything today. First, we’ll get the order list from Shen Chuan, then make everything according to the list and deliver it tomorrow,” Shao Diandian explained in detail, making no attempt to brush him off simply because he did not understand.

“Oh, I see!” Shao Erdan suddenly understood.

“In that case, we don’t have to wait here to sell them, Sis! How did you think of that?”

Shao Diandian gave a thoughtful hum. “I just did. Perhaps... I’m clever?”

Shao Erdan: “...”

The two went to Dean Shen’s courtyard. The servants had already been instructed to let the plump village girl pass.

“He is...” The servant looked at Shao Erdan.

“My younger brother,” Shao Diandian said.

“Ah, please come in.”

The servant politely ushered them into an elegant side room.

The Shen family were not wealthy aristocrats, but they ran an academy and were nevertheless considered a prominent household in town.

The table, the chairs, the writing desk, and even the books inside were all exquisitely made.

An ordinary countryman visiting for the first time would inevitably feel somewhat ill at ease.

Shao Diandian was just about to tell her brother to relax and not be so nervous when she turned her head and saw Shao Erdan sprawled grandly across a chair, already asleep.

Shao Diandian: “...”

Shao Diandian went to the patient’s side room, which was right next door.

Jing Yi was there as well.

He had just wiped the sweat from his cousin’s brow.

Sweating meant that the high fever was subsiding.

“You’re here,” he said. “My cousin’s fever keeps returning. Why is that?”

“Recurring high fevers for three to five days are perfectly normal,” Shao Diandian replied. “Was he able to eat last night and this morning?”

Jing Yi nodded. “He ate a little plain porridge.”

That suggested some improvement, at least. He was able to keep food down now.

The physicians from Benevolence Hall had treated him for several days without any sign of improvement, yet as soon as she arrived—

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Jing Yi gave her a long look, recalling White Ze’s report from the previous night.

“She is a young woman from Apricot Blossom Village, surnamed Shao. Her household consists of her father, one younger brother, and three children. The three children call her father Grandfather and her younger brother Uncle. They should be her sons.”

Three children—how old could she possibly be?

“Her husband—”

“Has not come out of the room.”

He was merely some country bumpkin, so White Ze had not continued keeping watch over him.

“Who was your teacher?” Jing Yi asked.

Shao Diandian sighed. “My master is very private and normally forbids me from speaking of him. But if you insist on knowing, I suppose I can make an exception. His surname is Fu, and he lives in Spring Willow Lane.”

White Ze had indeed reported that, after leaving the academy yesterday, she had gone to the home of a physician surnamed Fu in Spring Willow Lane.

Fu.

Could he be Imperial Physician Fu from all those years ago?

No. Imperial Physician Fu had died many years ago, and his age did not match that of the physician in the lane.

“What? You don’t believe me?” Shao Diandian asked.

Jing Yi said blandly, “I do. I merely find it unusual for a physician to be willing to take on a female disciple.”

Shao Diandian spread her hands. “Isn’t it because I possess extraordinary talent and an exceptional constitution? A genius who appears only once in a century!”

Exceptional constitution...

Jing Yi looked at her plump little body, and the corner of his mouth twitched.

“I’m about to begin treating the patient,” Shao Diandian said. “Would you be so kind as to wait outside?”

Jing Yi turned and left the room, closing the door behind her.

“Oh, by the way,” Shao Diandian added, in an apparently casual tone, “if you want to know something in the future, you can ask me directly. There’s no need to send someone sneaking around to climb onto my roof.”

Jing Yi clenched his large fist.

With White Ze’s light-footedness... she had actually noticed him?

Shao Diandian took in every detail of his reaction.

Good. It really had been him last night.

Without changing expression, Shao Diandian walked over and, right in front of him, slid the bolt firmly into place.

Jing Yi: “...”

Shao Diandian took a first-aid kit from her small back basket. Shao Erdan had found it earlier, but he had not opened the bundle.

She took out a stethoscope and listened to the patient’s heartbeat and breathing. There was not much improvement.

“It seems the medicine is working too slowly.”

Shao Diandian decided to give him an intravenous infusion.

As she tied the tourniquet around his arm, he woke.

He looked at Shao Diandian in confusion and surprise.

In a gentle voice, she said, “I’m the physician Young Master Jing invited. I’m here to treat you. It may hurt a little, so please bear with it.”

The man nodded and obediently remained still.

Physicians loved well-behaved patients best.

“Don’t worry. I’ll be very gentle.”

And then she missed the vein.

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This body lacked the muscle memory of her previous life. Her chubby little finger drove the needle in with the amount of force her mind remembered, and she pushed it in far too deeply.

Shao Diandian looked at him sheepishly. “Um... I may have to try again.”

The man smiled weakly and gently, indicating that he was fine.

It was not until the third needle that Shao Diandian finally got it right.

...

Jing Yi remained silently beneath the covered corridor.

Changping had been ordered not to approach. He stood far away in the courtyard, casting resentful glances at Jing Yi while anxiously peering at the tightly closed door.

Young Master Jing really was something else. With his exalted status, how could he allow a little village girl to treat him?

If she made the patient worse, how would Young Master Jing explain himself when he returned to the capital?

The patient was in poor spirits, and not long after the infusion began, he fell asleep again.

Shao Diandian came out twice during the process, mainly to check whether Shao Erdan had caught cold.

Jing Yi had a servant bring a brazier into the room.

The last time Shao Diandian came out was an hour later.

Shen Chuan had returned from his lessons. The moment he saw Shao Diandian beneath the corridor, his eyes lit up.

“Oh, Miss Shao, you’re here!” he greeted her with a smile.

When he noticed the young man beside her, his smile faded somewhat. He cupped his hands and said, “Young Master Jing.”

Jing Yi gave him a faint nod.

Shen Chuan looked at Shao Diandian, then at Jing Yi. It was obvious that he had something he wished to discuss with Shao Diandian in private.

Without expression, Jing Yi entered his cousin’s room.

Shen Chuan’s smile immediately returned. He took out a note and handed it to her.

“Miss Shao, everyone said your pastries were delicious after tasting them yesterday! Twenty-three people placed orders in total. The exact quantities are all written on the list. There should have been even more, but I was afraid you wouldn’t be able to make them all!”

“You went to a lot of trouble,” Shao Diandian said.

Shen Chuan had thought things through carefully. If the orders had been too numerous, her current workforce truly would not have been able to keep up.

“It’s convenient for me too!” Shen Chuan replied. “Now I won’t have to travel all the way to the Brocade Memorabilia Bakery and stand in line! Come to think of it, do you only sell wife cakes? Do you have any other pastries?”

“I do,” Shao Diandian said.

Shen Chuan clapped his folding fan against his palm. “Wonderful! Wife cakes are delicious, but if everyone keeps eating them nonstop, I’m afraid they’ll eventually grow tired of them.”

You just want to eat more yourself, don’t you?

Shao Diandian realized that the young master of this academy was nothing but a complete glutton.

“Oh, and about the patient,” she added. “There’s one medicine he no longer needs to take. Please continue helping him with the others.”

—

After giving Shen Chuan his instructions, Shao Diandian woke Shao Erdan, who was sleeping with drool running freely from his mouth, and the two of them left the academy together.

Who could have guessed that they would run into an acquaintance right outside the academy gate?