Chapter 239: Good Medicine Is Bitter

But that was exactly what puzzled Li Wuhua. If the man were a fraud, coming here to swindle them so brazenly would be little different from courting death.

Anyone who was not a fool should understand what consequences awaited a man who pretended to be the Ghost Doctor's disciple but could produce no means of treatment.

Then again, the man himself had never claimed to be the Ghost Doctor's disciple. Jinzhou's people had happened to stumble across the connection on their own, while he had refused to admit it from beginning to end.

Was he counting on that as a fallback? If he failed to accomplish anything, could he simply turn around and say, I never said I was the Ghost Doctor's disciple? Li Wuhua sneered inwardly and followed them inside to see what would happen.

"Mr. Ming, this is the patient."

Hai Ruyue gestured toward Xiao Tianzhen, who was seated on the couch. Xiao Tianzhen seemed unmoved, as though he had long grown accustomed to scenes like this.

Mr. Ming removed the rattan case from his back. A stool had already been placed beside the couch, and Zhu Shun gestured for him to sit.

Stroking his beard, Mr. Ming looked Xiao Tianzhen over from left to right, then sat and extended a hand. "Give me your hand."

Xiao Tianzhen merely watched him coolly, as though someone else were being treated rather than himself. He did not extend his hand at all. He himself had already given up hope. Zhu Shun quickly helped Xiao Tianzhen lie down and moved his wrist to the edge of the couch.

Mr. Ming placed his fingers on the pulse. With his other hand he stroked his beard, gently swaying his head, eyes half closed.

Only after quite some time did they hear him murmur to himself, "So it really is Heavenly Yin Damaged Meridians..."

Li Wuhua privately scoffed. Xiao Tianzhen's strange affliction was hardly a secret. The others watched from the side. Expectation shone in Hai Ruyue's eyes. Whenever a physician came, no matter who it was, she always looked this way, forever hoping a miracle might appear.

This Mr. Ming, however, did seem different from the others. He kept taking the pulse for an extraordinarily long time. By the end, he looked almost as though he had fallen asleep, sitting there motionless with his eyes shut.

Even Xiao Tianzhen, who had lain there without much reaction, eventually became curious. He slowly turned his head to study the physician holding his pulse. Everyone else could only stare and wait.

A full hour passed before Mr. Ming finally opened his eyes. His fingers left Xiao Tianzhen's wrist, and he rose as well.

Hai Ruyue hurriedly asked, "Mr. Ming, how is he?"

Mr. Ming ignored her and said to Xiao Tianzhen, "Open your mouth."

Zhu Shun quickly urged, "Young Master, open your mouth."

Xiao Tianzhen slowly did so.

"Opening it that little, are you waiting to suckle? Wider," Mr. Ming scolded.

Xiao Tianzhen rolled his eyes but obediently opened wider. Without warning, Mr. Ming moved swiftly, caught the tip of his tongue between two fingers, and pulled it out, turning it this way and that as he inspected it. Xiao Tianzhen stared at him with wide eyes.

After releasing his tongue, Mr. Ming pulled at both cheeks and peered inside. Then he walked to the foot of the couch and pointed at Xiao Tianzhen's feet. "Someone take off his shoes and socks."

Zhu Shun naturally hurried over to do as instructed, exposing Xiao Tianzhen's bare feet. Mr. Ming lifted one foot and examined the sole. Xiao Tianzhen's soles truly did differ from an ordinary person's; the blue-green veins stood out distinctly.

Truth be told, even Hai Ruyue had not properly examined the soles of her son's feet in many years. Things like washing his feet naturally did not require her personal attention. Now, seeing them up close, she realized they really did appear different from normal. Everyone began watching Mr. Ming's reactions carefully. Even Li Wuhua noticed that this man examined patients differently from ordinary physicians. Precisely because he was different, Hai Ruyue's expectations rose another degree.

After examining the soles, Mr. Ming spread Xiao Tianzhen's toes one by one and inspected them closely, repeatedly nodding to himself as though he had discerned something.

He released Xiao Tianzhen's feet, then took both his hands and examined them as well, bending and inspecting each finger in turn.

Only after he had completely finished did he let Xiao Tianzhen go. Stroking his long beard, he studied the boy and nodded solemnly, looking as though he already had the matter well in hand.

"Mr. Ming, how is he?" Hai Ruyue asked again.

Mr. Ming turned toward her. "I don't treat people for free. We'll settle the price first, then talk about treatment."

Hai Ruyue and Li Wuhua exchanged a glance. That tone certainly resembled what they had heard about the Ghost Doctor. According to rumor, when the Ghost Doctor agreed to treat someone, he discussed the price first. If the patient could afford it, he treated them. If not, he did not.

Even then, he had to find the patient pleasing. If he disliked someone, he absolutely refused treatment, and no amount of coercion worked. Rumor had it that one of the nine supreme experts had once tried to force the Ghost Doctor to treat someone and still failed. Yet if the Ghost Doctor took a liking to a patient, then no matter how strange the illness or how costly the cure, he might be willing to save them for a single copper coin.

What price he demanded also depended entirely on his mood. Sometimes one copper coin was enough; at other times he demanded an astronomical sum.

Money was still the easiest price to handle. It was said that the Ghost Doctor often demanded human lives instead: one life for another!

That was also why so few people dared offend the Ghost Doctor. If someone crossed him, there was no telling whether that person's life might someday become the price in one of the Ghost Doctor's bargains, only for some expert to suddenly appear and hunt them down.

Hai Ruyue cautiously asked, "What price does Mr. Ming require?"

Mr. Ming raised one finger on his left hand. "No one is to be told that I treated him. If word leaks out, then whatever I can cure, I can take back twice over!"

Hai Ruyue hurriedly nodded. Over the years, her side had continually sought information about the Ghost Doctor. She knew of this rule as well. She had not expected his disciple to follow the same custom.

It was precisely because of this rule that the Ghost Doctor's whereabouts were so difficult to trace. Presumably it was also one of his means of protecting himself.

There had once been someone who, after being cured, could not keep his mouth shut and boasted about having received the Ghost Doctor's treatment. In the end, his entire household was exterminated.

"We are begging Sir to save him. Naturally, we will follow Sir's rules," Hai Ruyue agreed without hesitation.

Mr. Ming raised one finger on his right hand as well. "One hundred thousand gold coins. If you agree, I'll treat him. If not, forget it. Give me an answer."

Hai Ruyue secretly relaxed. Money was good. She had heard all sorts of bizarre stories about the Ghost Doctor, including one where he saved a man's son but demanded the man's wife's life in payment.

Li Wuhua watched Hai Ruyue's reaction, then spoke. "One hundred thousand gold coins is no small sum. What if you can't cure him?"

Mr. Ming replied, "There is no illness beneath Heaven that anyone can guarantee they'll cure. Once I've taken the money, if I can't cure him, I'll remain here and keep treating him. Enough nonsense. Are you agreeing or not? If not, I'm leaving. Don't waste my time."

"Fine!" Hai Ruyue agreed at once and told Zhu Shun, "Go bring the money."

"Yes!" Zhu Shun hurried away.

When he returned, he presented ten gold drafts worth ten thousand each to Mr. Ming with both hands. The corner of Li Wuhua's eye twitched. He clearly saw a flash of excitement in Mr. Ming's eyes when the man saw the gold drafts. Would the Ghost Doctor's disciple be short of money? Li Wuhua's vigilance immediately rose sharply.

After tucking the gold drafts into his robes, Mr. Ming did not waste another word. He walked to the rattan case he had brought, opened it, and revealed a collection of bottles and jars. He selected several containers, removed their stoppers one by one, and set them on the nearby stool.

Finally, he took out a small silver bottle. The moment he removed its stopper, an unusual fragrance quickly spread through the room, making everyone instinctively sniff the air.

From each of the containers he had taken out earlier, he poured a small amount of powder into the silver bottle. Then he inserted a long silver needle and stirred rapidly.

As the strange fragrance grew stronger, Mr. Ming sat beside the couch and told Xiao Tianzhen, "Open your mouth."

Xiao Tianzhen looked curiously at this odd man and obediently opened his mouth.

Mr. Ming was just about to pour the contents of the silver bottle into Xiao Tianzhen's mouth when Li Wuhua suddenly shouted, "Wait!"

Everyone turned toward him. Li Wuhua said heavily, "How do I know whether your medicine is poison or a cure?"

That was indeed a troublesome question. Yet hope flared in Xiao Tianzhen's eyes. Few of the physicians who had examined him in the past had ever been able to prescribe him anything at all.

"I'm standing right here," Mr. Ming said indifferently.

The tilted mouth of the silver bottle slowly released a thin, paste-like substance. It was mottled with greens and other colors, and a faint red radiance flickered within it.

Li Wuhua, who had been about to stop him again, froze. The medicine actually gave off a faint treasure-light. It was obviously no ordinary drug. The runny paste flowed into Xiao Tianzhen's mouth. His brow immediately furrowed. What kind of absurd taste was this?

It was fragrant, sweet, sour, and bitter all at once, so strange that it was almost unbearable. Just as Xiao Tianzhen tried to close his mouth, Mr. Ming used spiritual power and poured the rest of the paste from the silver bottle straight down his throat.

"Good medicine is bitter. If it tastes awful, that's right. Swallow it!" Mr. Ming moved the silver bottle away and gave the order.

Xiao Tianzhen's face was twisted in misery. After forcing himself to swallow, he immediately opened his mouth and shouted, "Water!"

Zhu Shun quickly asked, "Mr. Ming, may he drink water?"

Mr. Ming nodded. He had already risen and begun putting everything away, returning the bottles and jars to the rattan case.

He appeared to be finished. Hai Ruyue hurriedly asked, "Mr. Ming, that's enough?"

Mr. Ming glanced at Xiao Tianzhen, who was sitting on the couch drinking water with a pained expression. "He still needs two more medicines, one tomorrow and one the day after. I'm tired. Find me a room where I can rest."

"Of course!" Delighted that he was not leaving yet, Hai Ruyue immediately waved for Zhu Shun to arrange it personally.

After watching Zhu Shun escort him away, Li Wuhua immediately beckoned over one of his disciples and instructed, "Watch him closely. Don't let him run."

"Yes!" The disciple swiftly departed.

Hai Ruyue moved closer to Li Wuhua and asked softly, "Elder, what do you think?"

Li Wuhua pondered for a moment. "Hard to say. But the medicine he compounded truly was extraordinary."

In a quiet, elegant courtyard, Zhu Shun escorted their honored guest into a room and repeatedly told him to give orders if he needed anything. Mr. Ming waved him away, signaling that he did not want to be disturbed.

The moment Zhu Shun left, Mr. Ming hurriedly shut the door, leaned back against it, and patted his chest. "Scared me to death. Scared me to death. You'd better not get me killed!"

His hand happened to touch the gold drafts inside his robe. He quickly pulled them out and counted them again and again. At once, his face blossomed into a grin, and every trace of his lofty, dignified bearing vanished...

"Madam, something's wrong with the Young Master!"

Hai Ruyue and Li Wuhua were walking through the garden when a servant suddenly rushed over with an urgent report. Both were startled and hurried toward Xiao Tianzhen's quarters. The moment they entered, they saw Zhu Shun and the others clustered around the couch at a complete loss.

The two pushed through the servants and saw Xiao Tianzhen constantly kicking his feet and tugging open the clothes across his chest. His skin was flushed scarlet as he kept calling, "Hot... hot..." When he saw Hai Ruyue, he said miserably, "Mother, I'm so hot!"

Li Wuhua immediately caught his wrist and examined his pulse with spiritual power. After a while, he slowly released him.

Hai Ruyue asked anxiously, "How is he?"

Li Wuhua shook his head. "There are no signs of poison harming his body. The medicine is taking effect!"

[End of Chapter 239]