Chi Can was unhappy and simply left directly.
Tao Sheng was chatting idly with Ye Luo when he saw this and hurried to catch up: “Young Master, umbrella, umbrella!”
He wasn’t as tall as Chi Can and had to stand on his tiptoes to hold the umbrella for his master.
Chi Can turned back to glance at the expressionless guard, Ye Luo, and sneered: “What nonsense were you talking about?”
Tao Sheng looked aggrieved with a bitter face: “What could I talk about? Young Master, you don’t know—that man is like trying to squeeze blood from a stone. His eyes kept staring at the door as if he was afraid you’d eat his general.”
“Who could chew through that?” Chi Can got a headache just thinking about having to tell Prince Rui that the “borrowed” divine physician wouldn’t be returned.
That bastard Shao Mingyuan didn’t care, but he still had to bargain with Prince Rui. He couldn’t let that scoundrel sell himself.
Master and servant stepped into the curtain of rain. Shao Mingyuan, who had chased after them, saw this and shook his head with a smile before returning to the private room.
Physician Li was leisurely eating a strip of beef. Seeing him enter, he asked: “That boy left?”
“Mm.” Shao Mingyuan walked over and sat down.
“What’s wrong with him? From his look just now, it seemed like he wanted to eat this old man alive.”
Shao Mingyuan smiled faintly: “Divine physician, don’t take it to heart. He just has a quick temper—he doesn’t mean anything else. I asked Shixi to help me negotiate with Prince Rui.”
“Will Prince Rui agree?” All these people’s roundabout ways of doing things when seeking help without showing their faces—he really couldn’t understand it.
“He will agree.”
Seeing Physician Li’s doubtful expression, Shao Mingyuan smiled to reassure him: “Because I am Marquis Guanjun.”
He was the Northern Expedition General who commanded heavy troops. Even though he was on leave at home, his prestige in the army remained unmatched. He was even confident that, despite the end of military campaigns and the emperor recalling the tiger tally that allowed him to deploy troops, as long as he was willing, he could still command the iron-blooded elite soldiers he had personally trained.
Physician Li looked at the young man with his gentle smile and suddenly put away his playful attitude, asking him: “When will you treat Qiao Mo’s injuries?”
He had forgotten that this young man, who was at most his grandchild’s generation, was already someone whose mere stamp of the foot in the Northern Territories could shake all directions, and was equally influential even in the current capital.
With this boy’s support, perhaps his old friend’s remaining bloodline could have a smoother path in the future.
Hmm, when he was in a good mood, he’d casually remove the cold poison from this boy. As for now, let him suffer a bit—consider it revenge for that Qiao girl.
“My cousin might not want to owe me favors. Please wait until my late wife’s funeral, divine physician. He will come that day, and you can speak with him directly then.”
Physician Li glanced at Shao Mingyuan, feeling inexplicably complicated, and muttered: “The marquis is quite considerate.”
Shao Mingyuan smiled, then asked: “Divine physician, after leaving Prince Rui’s residence, would you prefer to stay at Marquis Jing’an’s residence, or do you have other arrangements?”
“What’s the difference between staying at Marquis Jing’an’s residence and remaining at Prince Rui’s residence? Find me an ordinary place to stay, without a large group of people following me around. This old man wants to go wherever he pleases. How about it—can you manage that?”
Physician Li’s request sounded simple, but was quite troublesome.
First, Physician Li was treating Prince Rui’s illness, which touched on certain people’s interests. Those people had been waiting for an opportunity to take his life and eliminate the problem at its source.
Second, countless people throughout the capital were watching this divine physician, waiting for him to leave Prince Rui’s residence so they could quickly invite him to treat illnesses and save lives.
Just these two points made it extremely difficult for Physician Li to achieve freedom of movement.
However, Shao Mingyuan nodded without hesitation: “Yes, I’ll arrange a place for you right away.”
As Shao Mingyuan spoke, he called out: “Ye Luo—”
Guard Ye Luo, who was waiting outside, pushed the door open and entered: “What are the general’s orders?”
“From today on, you will personally protect the divine physician’s safety.”
Ye Luo glanced at Physician Li, whose face was full of wrinkles and looked gloomy, then at his own incomparably handsome general. Although he was a hundred percent unwilling in his heart, he still responded crisply: “This subordinate accepts the order!”
Physician Li looked at the guard with ordinary features and frowned: “Can he manage it?”
The usually taciturn Ye Luo lowered his eyes impassively, but snorted coldly in his heart: What kind of talk is that? How could he not manage?
Shao Mingyuan smiled: “Divine physician, rest assured. Ye Luo was the martial arts champion in the army—few can match him.”
Physician Li looked Ye Luo up and down: “Tsk tsk, really can’t tell.”
“Ye Luo—” Shao Mingyuan nodded at Ye Luo.
Ye Luo understood and raised his hand to smash a nearby tall table into pieces.
“Hiss—” Physician Li’s eyes lit up.
This boy would have a future helping him pound medicine!
Shao Mingyuan looked at the destroyed table and instructed, “Remember to pay for it.”
“Yes!”
“Use your salary.”
Ye Luo: “…” This wasn’t fair! This was for official business—official business! He wanted to save his salary to marry a wife.
The details of Shao Mingyuan’s arrangements for Physician Li needn’t be elaborated. By the time he returned to Marquis Jing’an’s residence, it was already dark.
Lanterns hung high at the main gate of the marquis’s residence, now lit, making the bluestone path appear as if covered with a layer of white frost, extending inside.
“Second Young Master has returned.” A servant dressed in white hurriedly opened the door for Shao Mingyuan.
Because Marquis Jing’an was present, although Shao Mingyuan was enfeoffed as Marquis Guanjun, the people at Marquis Jing’an’s residence still called him Second Young Master.
Shao Mingyuan nodded in acknowledgment and stepped inside.
He walked along the path of white frost, with corridors hung with rows of white lanterns that swayed constantly in the wind and rain. Though bright as daylight, there was an inexplicably eerie feeling.
Shao Mingyuan paid no attention and walked to the spirit altar where Lady Qiao’s coffin was placed. He knelt on one knee and took the spirit money handed to him by a young servant, burning it silently.
The yellow spirit money was licked by flames and quickly turned into wisps of black ash falling into the brazier.
Several old women responsible for watching over the spirit altar huddled together, not daring to make a sound, only secretly exchanging glances.
Second Young Master seemed quite attentive when burning spirit money for Second Madam, but who knew how he could be so ruthless back then, able to shoot Second Madam dead with an arrow?
Shao Mingyuan paid no attention to the old woman’s meaningful looks and burned the spirit money earnestly until Shao Zhi hurriedly arrived and said in a low voice: “General, the matter you had this subordinate investigate recently has some leads.”
“Let’s talk in the study.” Shao Mingyuan finished burning the stack of spirit money in his hands before rising and leaving the spirit hall.
As soon as Shao Mingyuan left, the old women immediately started gossiping.
“Tsk tsk, the Second Madam lying in there was killed by the Second Young Master’s hand. Don’t you think Second Young Master would be afraid kneeling here?”
“Afraid of what? Second Young Master has fought wars for so many years—who knows how many lives are on his hands? His heart is probably harder than stone.”
The old women chattered about the person who had just left, making the guards Shao Mingyuan had secretly arranged to watch over the spirit grind their teeth in anger. One whispered to his companion, “I want to stuff those old women’s foul mouths with stinking socks. How can they talk about our general like that! Without the general, would they have the leisure to spout such nonsense?”
His companion patted him: “Keep your voice down. It wouldn’t be good if those people discovered us. Bear with it. Once we move to Marquis Guanjun’s residence, we won’t have to hear such disgusting talk.”
Without the master’s tacit permission and indulgence, how could the residence allow such gossip to spread?
In the end, it was just that their general wasn’t favored by the Marquis’s wife.