“You’ve come,” he said, looking down at Yan’er.

“Uncle, let’s go find Auntie,” Yan’er said, tugging at his hand.

Uncle… Auntie…

Chang Yuncheng’s smile carried a bitter edge.

“Yan’er, don’t call her Auntie anymore,” he said softly.

“Why not?” Yan’er stared at him, looking unhappy.

“Because she’s not your auntie anymore,” Chang Yuncheng said, reaching out to gently stroke her hair.

“Uncle doesn’t want Auntie anymore?” Yan’er cried out.

“It’s that Uncle doesn’t deserve to be wanted by her anymore,” Chang Yuncheng said with a smile, patting her head. “Be good, Yan’er. Don’t call her that anymore—it’s not good for her.”

Yan’er glared at him angrily and swatted his hand away.

“I won’t! She’s still my auntie!” she shouted, then ran off with quick steps.

The maids and servants looked at Chang Yuncheng with no hint of apology, but rather with displeasure as if to say “why did you make our young miss unhappy,” and followed after her.

Chang Yuncheng watched the direction Yan’er had run.

How wonderful to be a child—to be able to run toward her without restraint…

Yan’er arrived at Qianjin Hall but didn’t see Qi Yue.

“Yan’er’s here!” The disciples knew her well and greeted her warmly.

“Do you need my help?” Yan’er also put on the air of a little adult.

The disciples laughed heartily.

“Master is at the Wang family’s garden,” they told her after some joking. “Wait here, she’ll be back soon.”

But Yan’er didn’t want to wait.

“Is that Wang Qiao’er’s family garden?” she asked nervously, jumping down from her chair.

Everyone nodded.

“That won’t do—that bad girl’s house will bully Auntie,” Yan’er said, her feet already moving as she turned to leave.

The disciples laughed behind her.

Who could bully your auntie? It would be good enough if your auntie didn’t bully others…

Wearing a mask and gloves, Qi Yue slowly scraped the blue-green mold from the rotting sweet melon with a small bamboo scraper.

Several disciples stood quietly around watching.

“Just like this—put all the scraped mold into the culture medium,” Qi Yue said, pouring the scraped mold into a small dish beside her.

This was distilled water.

“Can this really extract penicillin?” one disciple couldn’t help asking curiously.

Qi Yue paused.

Of course… it couldn’t.

“Let’s try,” she said.

Everyone immediately became excited.

“There’s enough mold now. Next, everyone focus on making the culture solution,” Qi Yue said.

The disciples responded in unison.

“Be sure to maintain the temperature in the incubator,” Qi Yue instructed again. “Otherwise, the culture solution won’t work properly.”

The disciples responded and scattered about busily.

The room quieted down. Afternoon sunlight fell on Qi Yue sitting in her chair as she concentrated on stirring the small vessel.

“Without a microscope, who knows if the spore suspension meets standards…” she muttered to herself, but her hands didn’t stop. She smiled to herself, estimating it was about right. She stopped, used a hollow feather as a makeshift dropper, and carefully drew out drops to place in another vessel.

This contained a culture solution made from boiled carrots.

She had just finished filling one vessel when she heard commotion outside, accompanied by a child’s shrill crying.

Yan’er grabbed Wang Qiao’er’s hair with her hands.

“…She’s my auntie! My auntie, not your stepmother!” she screamed shrilly.

Wang Qiao’er hadn’t expected this girl to suddenly pounce on her. Caught off guard and getting the worse of it, she jumped about frantically and grabbed Yan’er’s hair without showing any weakness.

“…Who wants her as a stepmother! She wishes! I haven’t agreed yet!” she shouted.

But Yan’er paid no attention. She had only heard that her auntie was going to become this hateful girl’s stepmother, which made her both angry and heartbroken. Remembering Chang Yuncheng’s words about not calling her auntie anymore only confirmed her suspicions.

“You’re a bad person, you’re a bad person! Auntie doesn’t want you!” she shouted, shaking Wang Qiao’er by the hair.

Being bested by a child younger and uglier than herself, Wang Qiao’er felt deeply humiliated.

“Look at your ugly face—who would want to be your auntie!” she shouted, giving her a hard push.

Being a year older, she managed to push Yan’er to the ground.

“I’m so pretty, and my daddy is pretty too. Of course she’s crying and begging to be my stepmother,” Wang Qiao’er said smugly.

The children’s fight finally drew the attention of the maids and servants who had been following behind.

Finally, someone came to break up the fight. The disciples standing not far away, preventing the children from running into the laboratory, breathed a sigh of relief.

“How can you act like this, child… How can you bully people… Why are you bullying our young miss…”

“Hey, how can you be so unreasonable? It was clearly your young miss who started it…”

“Who are you talking about? Which eye saw that… Where did you come from? So ill-mannered…”

“You’re the ones who are ill-mannered…”

“Who are you talking about? Why are you hitting people?”

“I am hitting you, so what…”

The disciples stared in shock as the servants and maids from both sides started fighting.

Was this… breaking up a fight?

What kind of servants behaved like this…

Qi Yue came out to see this chaotic scene.

“Speak up! Why are you fighting?” she demanded, looking at the separated Yan’er and Wang Qiao’er.

“What business is it of yours?” Wang Qiao’er said smugly, covering her disheveled hair with her hands.

“Auntie…” Yan’er grabbed her and cried loudly, her hair equally messy. “Don’t abandon Yan’er…”

Qi Yue was completely confused by what she was saying.

“I just don’t want you, ugly thing!” Wang Qiao’er said with some satisfaction.

“Shoo, shoo,” Qi Yue glared at her. “Where are you good-looking? Go look in a mirror! Besides, what does being pretty or ugly have to do with you? What are you so proud of? It’s just what your parents gave you. If anyone should be proud, it should be your parents. What does it have to do with you!”

Wang Qiao’er stared at her in shock.

This… this awful woman…

She spat and turned to run away.

Qi Yue pulled the crying Yan’er close, wiping her face and straightening her hair and clothes.

“Auntie, you’re still Yan’er’s auntie, right?” Yan’er asked through her tears.

“Yes,” Qi Yue smiled.

“You won’t go be someone else’s stepmother, right?” Yan’er asked with sniffles.

Qi Yue was amused by the question.

“Don’t listen to that child’s nonsense,” she laughed.

Though young, Yan’er knew this wasn’t the answer she wanted.

Auntie was auntie because of Uncle. If she didn’t want Uncle anymore, then naturally she couldn’t be auntie anymore…

Auntie was going to become Wang Qiao’er’s stepmother…

From then on, she would have nothing to do with her anymore…

Thinking of this, Yan’er cried even harder.

“Auntie, you won’t abandon Uncle, right?” she asked, clutching Qi Yue’s sleeve tightly.

Qi Yue didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at her question.

“I will always be Yan’er’s auntie,” she smiled.

“Really?” Yan’er asked.

Really—you’ll understand when you’re older, Qi Yue smiled and nodded.

Only then did Yan’er break into a smile through her tears.

Madam Xie’s carriage drove away from the city gates. Chang Yuncheng turned around to look at those who had come to see them off.

Only Chang Chunlan had brought Yan’er…

This certainly wasn’t out of respect for Madam Xie, but rather for his own sake.

“Big sister, go back now,” he said.

Chang Chunlan nodded.

“Will you come back?” she asked.

“No, I plan to settle Mother in first, then leave directly from Shanning Prefecture,” Chang Yuncheng replied.

“Take care of yourself out there,” Chang Chunlan said.

Yan’er ran over and grabbed Chang Yuncheng’s hand.

“Uncle, Uncle, don’t worry! I already asked Auntie, and she said she won’t abandon you,” she said happily.

Though he knew these were just words to comfort a child, they still made him feel good.

Chang Yuncheng smiled and reached out to pat her head.

“That’s wonderful. Uncle is so happy,” he said.

Yan’er cheered with joy.

“I’ll definitely tell Auntie,” she said.

Chang Chunlan turned her head to quietly wipe away tears.

Because of Madam Xie’s injuries, the carriage moved very slowly.

“How can that Imperial Physician Zhou behave like this!” Old Madam Xie complained, lifting the carriage curtain. “We invited him here—how can he just abandon us?”

“Didn’t he examine her and say Mother was fine? With Old Physician An here, that’s enough,” Chang Yuncheng said.

“I think even if your mother had problems, he wouldn’t care,” Old Madam Xie snorted, glancing back at the gates of Yongqing Prefecture. “All he cares about is circling around that woman!”

Chang Yuncheng also looked back, truly wishing he could see that woman one more time…

“Miss Qi, you really don’t want to come with me to the capital?” Imperial Physician Zhou asked with a face full of regret.

“No,” Qi Yue replied without hesitation, pushing the tea cup toward him. “Master Zhou, you’ve been saying this for several days now—your voice is hoarse. Drink more water.”

Imperial Physician Zhou looked helpless.

“The capital is very entertaining,” he said reluctantly, then thought of something and winked at Qi Yue. “There are lots of young men there too.”

Qi Yue’s face darkened.

“I’m giving these to you for free. I can’t accompany you any further—I have a class to teach,” she said, pushing a thick stack of Qianjin Hall advertisements toward him and picking up her books to see him out.

Imperial Physician Zhou pouted. This was the trouble with dealing with women. Men, well, they could be tempted with money, power, or beauty. But women? What could you tempt them with? Women just liked staying home—so troublesome!

He’d have to plan for the long term. Imperial Physician Zhou reluctantly grabbed the pile of papers and left Qianjin Hall.

“Are these… really that important?” he asked, shaking one of the sheets and looking at the writing on it. “Disinfection? Sterilization, preventing infection… Can infection really be prevented and treated?”

“Make way, make way…” someone shouted in the street.

Several people carried an injured person, running quickly.

Imperial Physician Zhou stepped aside, watching the group pass by Qianjin Hall and continue forward.

“Hey, the place that can save lives and cure diseases is here,” he couldn’t help shouting, then shook his head. “Choosing death over life…”

Those distant people couldn’t hear his words. If they had, Imperial Physician Zhou would probably have gotten a beating.

“Brother, everyone says Qianjin Hall is best at treating injuries from falls and blows…” one of them said, looking at the Qianjin Hall they were passing.

“No way. Other doctors say the physician at Qianjin Hall always likes to use knives—cutting legs or cutting bellies. Those methods greatly damage one’s vital energy… Originally it wasn’t necessary to do that. Everyone has always treated patients without doing that, and wasn’t everything fine?” the leader firmly refused.

By now they had rushed into a medicine shop.

There was already an injured person receiving treatment inside.

The doctor pierced the pus-filled sore and applied medicine.

“Good, go home and rest for two days, and you’ll be fine,” he said.

The patient was an old woman who nodded and thanked him.

“It’s the first time I’ve been bitten by a pig, and it raised such a big blister,” she laughed.

The doctor also laughed.

“Even rabbits bite when cornered, let alone pigs that are bigger than rabbits,” he said.

“I’ll slaughter that beast when I get home, and I’ll bring some meat to share with you, doctor,” the old woman laughed.

The doctor politely declined, watching her leave.

“Doctor, he was hit by a stone,” the family members of the injured person said hurriedly.

The doctor nodded and came over to look.

“The bone is broken,” he said after examining it.

“You won’t have to cut off the leg, will you?” the family members asked nervously.

The doctor laughed heartily.

“Our bodies and skin are gifts from our parents—how can we cut them lightly?” he said, shaking his head. “We’re not Qianjin Hall.”

This phrase had currently become a favorite saying among most doctors in Yongqing Prefecture. They would say it in their spare time to liven up the atmosphere and improve their mood, and everyone enjoyed it immensely.

The injured person and his companions laughed, breathing sighs of relief.

The doctor looked around and picked up a knife that had just been used nearby.

“Let me scrape away the crushed stones and dirt first,” he said.

“Ah, master, this knife was just used…” an apprentice reminded him from the side.

“What? Should we also do some kind of disinfection treatment?” the doctor said, then had another opportunity to say his favorite phrase. “We’re not Qianjin Hall…”

The apprentice smiled awkwardly.

Everyone laughed.

The doctor said nothing more, rinsed the knife in a nearby water basin, wiped it with cloth, and skillfully removed the sand, stones, and dirt from the patient’s wound, quickly finishing the treatment.

“See, how simple. If this were at Qianjin Hall, they would definitely require hospitalization and such…”

“It’s just to make more money. I heard that there, everything costs money—they even change the bed sheets once a day. The money flows like water into Qianjin Hall’s coffers…”

The injured person and his group happily chatted and laughed as they carried him away.