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"Long Yi!"
Until someone called out his name, the Dragon Shadow Guard finally let go of Gu Jiao.
Gu Jiao didn't dare to stay for even a moment longer and quickly escaped!
When Gu Jiao returned to Bishui Alley, Xiao Liulang had also finished his duties at the Hanlin Academy and returned home. He was by the well, washing his brushes in a basin of water.
Gu Jiao walked over slowly.
Only heaven knew how afraid she was of the Dragon Shadow Guard catching up to her. She used all her strength, the same strength she had used in her previous life to escape after her stealing mission. She plopped down on a small stool opposite Xiao Liulang, gasping for breath.
Xiao Liulang looked at her with a puzzled expression and asked, "What's wrong? Did something happen?"
"...Nothing." Gu Jiao said in a despondent tone, "I just played with charcoal pencils all afternoon."
Xiao Liulang wasn’t surprised by her cross-dressing as a guy. She often wore Gu Yan's clothes when she went out, and Yao Shi had made her several sets of clothes for that purpose.
His gaze fell upon Gu Jiao's blackened little hands. He assumed she had been playing with Little Jing Kong and didn't suspect anything. However, his own expression became distant for a moment, as if he remembered something from a long time ago.
Gu Jiao noticed Xiao Liulang's absent-mindedness. Leaning forward slightly, she asked, "Husband, is something wrong?"
Xiao Liulang snapped out of his thoughts and brought another basin of water for her to wash her hands.
"It's nothing." He lowered his gaze and said, "I used to play it too when I was a child."
Except she wasn’t really playing, she had been captured and subjected to torment and abuse!
Gu Jiao secretly swore that her little sack would come in handy again someday!
Hiss...
Her hand felt sore.
The next day, after the family finished breakfast, the children went to school, and the adults went about their respective duties. Gu Jiao happened to have a house visit in the morning to remove the stitches from a patient's wound. It was on the way to the Hanlin Academy.
The two of them took Liu Quan's carriage and arrived near the Hanlin Academy.
At this moment, the street was filled with Hanlin officials and Hanlin bachelors, blocking the way. The carriage couldn't get through.
Xiao Liulang got off the carriage.
"I'll walk you there." Gu Jiao said as she also stepped out of the carriage.
Xiao Liulang didn't refuse.
On the way, Xiao Liulang remained silent.
"Husband, are you unhappy?" Gu Jiao asked.
"What?" Xiao Liulang was slightly taken aback.
"You seem a bit unhappy lately." Gu Jiao paused and corrected herself, "Not exactly unhappy, but... you seem to have something on your mind."
Since they rescued Grandaunt, he had been like this. Gu Jiao carefully recalled the events. Nothing major seemed to have happened that evening, except perhaps that he got his face pinched by the Dragon Shadow Guard.
Hmm.
She was also angry.
Her husband could only be pinched by her.
"It's nothing." Xiao Liulang's gaze flickered slightly as he denied it. "I'm not unhappy."
As they were talking, they heard a conversation ahead between a few Hanlin officials.
"Hey, have you heard? Princess Xinyang has returned to the capital!"
"Are you serious? Princess Xinyang has really returned?"
"I heard it with my own ears. It can't be fake!"
"Why would she return to the capital? Didn't she say she would never come back here in this lifetime?"
"Yeah, isn't she afraid of being reminded of the Little Marquis who died in the fire?"
Those people continued into the Hanlin Academy without noticing that Xiao Liulang and Gu Jiao were right behind them.
Xiao Liulang's expression didn't change much, but if one paid close attention, they would notice a slight stiffness in his body.
Gu Jiao saw that he was acting as if nothing had happened, so she held back from asking him further.
After seeing Xiao Liulang walk into the gates of the Hanlin Academy, Gu Jiao turned back and returned to Liu Quan's carriage. "Uncle Liu, I'm going to Zhuque Street."
"Alright!"
Liu Quan drove the carriage to Zhuque Street.
It was one of the streets closest to the imperial palace, known to be inhabited by either old locals or the wealthiest and most influential people in the capital.
The family Gu Jiao was visiting lived at the eastern end of Zhuque Street. Due to recent road repairs, the carriage couldn't go any further.
"I'll wait for you here." Liu Quan said.
"Thank you, Uncle Liu." Gu Jiao replied. She got off the carriage and walked towards the patient's house with her back basket.
The patient was a thirty-year-old scholar who had injured his right hand, from the back of the hand to the palm, almost circumventing it. Gu Jiao had stitched it with over a dozen stitches.
His healing was going well, and after removing the stitches, Gu Jiao asked him to move his hand.
"How does it feel?" Gu Jiao inquired.
"It... It's fine." He hesitated to use much force at first, experiencing slight pain but no other discomfort. "Will I be able to write again in the future?"
"Naturally." Gu Jiao reassured him. "Take your time to practice, don't rush, and don't be afraid."
"Great!" He became ecstatic. Then, with a sudden change in demeanor, he looked around at the entrance and, ensuring there was no one nearby, whispered to Gu Jiao, "By the way, Physician Gu, since you're so skilled in medicine, can you... can you treat tuberculosis?"
"Tuberculosis? Pulmonary tuberculosis?" Gu Jiao asked, looking at him.
The scholar spoke in a low voice, "Yes, that's right. I overheard my mother talking about it. She even told me not to visit the other party’s house anymore."
Gu Jiao responded, "Pulmonary tuberculosis is contagious to some extent. Your mother was right not to let you visit them."
The scholar sighed, "I understand. I don't blame my mother, but... it's a pity. Their family isn't that well-off, though they have been living here for generations. They actually used to be prominent, but now they don't have much left. If this disease isn't cured soon, their whole family might be burdened, and they might have to sell their house."
Gu Jiao asked, "Here? Their family also lives on this street?"
"Yes." The scholar nodded. "It's... it's the mother… of my classmate."
His classmate? His sweetheart was more like it.
Gu Jiao saw through his words but didn't expose him, "Where do they live?"
Half an hour later, Gu Jiao arrived at another mansion located at the eastern end of Zhuque Street... in front of the back door.
Yes, it was the back door.
The scholar didn't dare to leave through the front door, fearing that his parents would catch him. He had sneaked with Gu Jiao through the small street from the back door, but unfortunately, they were caught halfway by his mother.
In his panic, he quickly pointed out the way to Gu Jiao.
He had also paid the consultation fee.
Gu Jiao looked at the slightly ajar back door in front of her, "This should be the place. Strange, why is there no one here?"
Indeed, it was said that this family had fallen on hard times and had already dismissed their servants. During the day, the scholar’s classmate studied at the academy while the classmate’s sister and the patient stayed at home.
However, because tuberculosis was contagious, the patient lived in the secondary courtyard at the back and hardly allowed his children to come over.
So, Gu Jiao was right to come through the back door. Once inside, she would be able to see the patient's room.
"Which one is it?"
Gu Jiao stepped over the threshold.
The courtyard was well-maintained, with flowers planted on both sides. Gu Jiao didn't know much about flowers, but she thought these flowers were even more beautiful than the ones in the imperial garden.
Despite being ill, they still had the leisure to grow flowers. It didn't quite match the languishing on a sickbed and leading a passive life description from the scholar.
A low cough came from one of the rooms.
Gu Jiao put on the facemask she had taken out of her medicine chest and approached the room. She gently pushed open the door.
Inside the room, there was someone else aside from the patient. This person was sitting on the beam and Gu Jiao failed to notice him. On the other hand, he had noticed Gu Jiao at first glance.
However, he didn't do anything and let Gu Jiao approach the bed.
The bed was covered with a thin canopy. Gu Jiao gently lifted the canopy.
She expected to see a patient with a pale complexion, ravaged by disease, and in a pitiful state. Instead, she saw an indescribably beautiful face.
The person was lying under a thin blanket, and her jet-black hair was as smooth as silk, accentuating her porcelain-like skin.
Unfortunately, Gu Jiao only managed to take a glimpse before the person turned in their sleep, facing away from her. Gu Jiao couldn't see her face anymore.
Despite catching just a glimpse, the stunning image remained vividly in Gu Jiao's mind.
"Is this really the tuberculosis patient that the scholar described as being in a critical condition?"
It wasn't that tuberculosis patients couldn't be beautiful, but when seriously ill, their complexion would usually be poor. Plus, throughout the journey, the scholar had been warning her not to be scared by the patient's appearance, mentioning her unkempt appearance and all that.
But this was considered unkempt?
There was no one in the world cleaner and more elegant than her.
Gu Jiao couldn't figure out what was going on for a moment. The idea that she might have entered the wrong house didn’t cross her mind at all.
She gently reached out and took the patient's pulse.
From the pulse, it didn't seem like tuberculosis.
She then took out her stethoscope and carefully listened, eventually confirming that it wasn't tuberculosis but myocarditis, a type of heart disease.
Heart diseases were complex ailments, and any form of them posed significant challenges.
Fortunately, her heart condition wasn't severe enough to require surgery, but Gu Jiao couldn't afford to be careless. Judging from her appearance, she must have suffered quite a bit in her daily life.
For this type of heart disease, beta blockers and amiodarone were effective treatments, but the research institute had independently developed a more potent medication with better results.
Gu Jiao opened her medicine chest and took out a box of the specialized medication. She planned to transfer it to her own porcelain bottle, but she realized that the porcelain bottles in her basket were all used up.
Coincidentally, there were several medicine bottles on the table. Gu Jiao casually picked one up, emptied its contents, and sniffed the pills.
"These are just high-grade health pills, without any targeted efficacy." Gu Jiao emptied the pills from the bottle and filled it with the white tablets of the specialized medication. She attached a small piece of cloth to the bottle, noting the instructions and dosage. Afterward, she got up and left.
Meanwhile, in the front courtyard, a woman in her thirties wearing a light green cloak helped the Crown Princess onto the carriage.
"Lady Yu Jin, there’s no need to see me out." The Crown Princess said gently.
The woman addressed as Yu Jin politely replied, "Thank you, Crown Princess, for visiting Her Highness and giving her medicine. I will inform Her Highness when she wakes up that the Crown Princess has come."
Raz P.'s Thoughts
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