Down to Business (II)

Bai Long Qin

"Master Ma, a few young masters are requesting for a meeting with you." An old servant walked up to a plump man who was going over a book in his hand with another assistant. Around him, piles of herbs were stacked into different bags in the shelves and floor.

"Me?" Ma Rou closed his book with a loud thud, "Hm, more money running in, let's go." The middle-aged man was dressed in a bling bling robe which was rather contradicting his job selling medicine.

In the reception room, two young masters sat at the table with a wide hat covering their faces. Both were dressed in dark robes, yet they were excluding noble air to the people around them.

Then the side door, a plump man dressed in golden robes with accessories walked into the room where the two mysterious young masters were sitting.

"Good day! Young masters! What can this Ma Rou do for you both?" Ma Rou greeted both of them with his loud voice.

To that, one young master stood up with his hand behind his back. He walked closer towards the plump figure like a lion walking towards it's prey before whispering, "This young master has heard something concerning your daughter…" The young master then slowly walked around the owner of Bai Long Qin, "One heard that if she had a drop of Dragon's Blood, then she would get better?"

Immediately, Ma Rou's hands began to shake. Nevertheless, he kept his cool and in his appearance, nothing changed. These people, he did not know who they were, so there was no way that he would give it away to strangers, "Young masters, to be truthful, this Ma Rou does not know what you are talking about. The doctors have all said that there is no cure, so I have already given up hopes."

Right after Ma Rou had spoken, the young master who had been sitting gave a shake to his head towards the other young master before he uncovered his sleeves slightly to reveal a black jade bracelet that was blinking white light from it.

The young master who had been standing behind Ma Rou revealed a smile underneath his wide hat, "Oh? Is that so. Then my information must have been wrong...sigh, it's a shame I brought the Dragon's Blood with me. Thought that I would be of help...only to fail miserably. Then, I shall take my leave and report to my master that this student had failed to help out a citizen, let's go then..." The young master not only spoke of leaving but was already making his way towards the door.

The other young master who was sitting had also got up and turned around to leave.

The only person left behind was the middle-aged man who was frowning as he thought of what to do. Now that he was alone, his nervousness that he had been hiding was finally prevalent in his face.

...Aiya, what to do. The Physician had also said he had found the medicine to cure his daughter, but these two young masters had the legendary Dragon's Blood...what to do ah, what to do.

In his entire life, he had not been this desperate before.

However, as he looked up, and as he watched those two mysterious young masters leave, it was as if his only hope was drifting away.

In the end, he could only call out, "Wait!"

The young master who had his hand on the door paused, "Oh? Does Mister Ma have something to tell me?" He then turned around to face the middle-aged man.

"I...I…"

…

The two young masters were brought into a room that was covered in different kinds of herb scent. The herb scent was so strong that it was hard to even breathe.

Nevertheless, soon, they were brought into the inner chambers where a weak young lady was sleeping.

"Here is my daughter." Ma Rou introduced them to his one and only daughter. His wife had already passed away since she gave birth to his daughter. The only family he had left, was his little girl here.

"May I?" One of the young masters who had been sitting down before spoke up.

Ma Rou hesitated but in the end complied, "Yes."

Right after, the young master then went to check the young lady's pulse and was tentatively listening to it.

While the other young master was listening to the pulse, Ma Rou turned to talk to the young master who had been talking with him since the beginning, "You said...who is your master again?"

"Oh," The young master turned to talk to Ma Rou, "He doesn't have any special name, but my master has a very complicated identity that I cannot disclose. But I do not know if you've heard about this medicine house...it's my masters, but he always tells me to not tell anyone, so please keep a secret."

"A medicine house?" Ma Rou was truly surprised by such information. If it was the same medicine house, then...

"That's right. You see, my master has sent both of us off to this vast world to explore and only have we returned. Upon returning, he had given us this task for us to do which was to prove ourselves and help out some of the citizens. We helped out a few along the way before we heard of your daughter…"

"Hm, only in this medicine world, do people know about my daughter…" Ma Rou spoke as if he had given up hope.

"Don't lose hope yet, you have us. Hm, how's the young lady?"

The young master who had been checking on the young lady's pulse turned to reply positively, "Mister Ma Rou, you are in a luck today, with the Dragon's Blood, she will be just fine."

"Are you saying the truth?" Ma Rou's haughty cover had completely disappeared from him once he heard of it.

"En." The young master did not only speak but had also retrieved a small bottle from his sleeves and gently poured the contents into the young lady's lips. Soon after, he got up to stand beside the other young master.

A few minutes had passed, but nothing had happened, but then the young lady began to cough once and then followed by a few more. Ma Rou quickly went to sit beside his daughter, "Wei Wei, tell Die (father in Chinese) where does it hurt?"

Slowly, the young lady opened her eyes, "Die?" She then turned to look at the two strangers in her room, "Who?"

"Young lady, try moving your legs." The young master who had given the potion to the young lady reckoned to the lady on the bed.

"Ah? You must be looking down on me...I cannot…" Just then, she had accidentally moved her leg as she was trying to sit up, but her legs were not supposed to have any feelings to it nor was it supposed to be able to move.

Wei Wei began to move her legs bit by bit and Ma Rou could also see his daughter's leg move underneath the cover, "Wei Wei!" Ma Rou exclaimed in excitement.

"Die! My legs, I can move my legs." Wei Wei was on the verge of crying.

The two young masters turned to look at each other before looking at the touching scene in front of them.

After Ma Rou had given his daughter a hug, he quickly got up to give thanks to his daughter's two saviours, "Young masters, what would you like this Ma Rou to do for you? I, Ma Rou, will do anything for you." Ma Rou had passed many kinds of people and he also knew, there wasn't anything free in this world.

"Hm…" One of the young masters crossed his arms in front of him, "Actually, there is something I am interested in."

"What is it? If I can do anything, I would." Ma Rou not knowingly agreed to the offer before knowing what was to come.

Without any hesitation, the young master replied, "Your shop."

...

Kunning Palace

Physician Jin's eyes grew wide as he saw a figure enter the room. He began to make some soft ruffle noises from behind his ties.

Su Rong who had been sitting opposite Physician Jin quickly got up and turned around to the door.

Unlike Physician Jin who seemed to be mixed with different kinds of emotions, Su Rong revealed a wide smile on her pretty face.

...Oh how long has it been since she saw this friend of hers ah?

On the other hand, the figure who had stepped inside the room slowly lifted her face up. On her face, a cheeky smile was revealed on her face.

"How has my beautiful friend been coping in the palace?" Hui Lan proclaimed in the room teasingly.

"Aiyoo, you ah." Su Rong brushed it off shyly.

Meanwhile, Physician Jin sat looking at Hui Lan as if she had done something grave.

Having sensed the Physician's stare, Hui Lan tilted her head sideways to see the person behind Su Rong, "Oh? Physician Jin is in here? Aiya, how have you been? Did you miss Bengong so that is why you are?"

Hui Lan's ignorance caught Physician Jin speechless.

...Didn't she know what crime she had committed?

Hui Lan walked ahead and sat beside the Royal Physician who had been tied up, "Physician Jin, I'll take off the cloth on your mouth, but you must not make any loud noises, or else I'll cut your tongue."

Physician Jin furrowed his brows as he looked at the person in front of him.

"But then again, you are not that type of person are you, third prince?" Slowly, Hui Lan untied the cloth that was covering his mouth, "There."

"Empress, do you know what you have done?" Royal Physician spoke right after the cloth was untied.

"What have I done?" Hui Lan feigned an innocent face on.

"Empress!?" The Royal Physician could not help but raise his voice.

"Fine fine, where I went does not concern you. But what you should be concerned about is what you are going to do next, hm?" Hui Lan tilted her head as she wanted to hear what the Royal Physician would do.

"What is there more to say? I'm going to report this to the Emperor and Empress Dowager." There was determination in Physician Jin's eyes.

"Ah ah, not too fast Physician Jin. I wouldn't do that if I were you." Hui Lan reminded while playing around with the cloth.

"Why not?"

"Hm," Hui Lan put down the cloth before speaking, "Maybe you should think of your medicine house of yours."

"What about it?" Physician Jin had a bad feeling creeping up his back. How did she even know about his medicine house...

"Well, you see...this person in front of you here...how should I say this" Hui Lan looked as if she was thinking hard on how to speak her next few words, but in the end, she simply spoke, ���Well, the owner of Bai Long Qin...is me."

Physician Jin wanted to break free right away, "You!?"

Nevertheless, Hui Lan nodded, "Yes," Not only speaking, Hui Lan took out something from her sleeves and showed it to the Physician Jin before putting it back. It was none other than the Bai Long Qin's jade seal, "And I'm afraid if my customer is going to push me to cut off our ties with you...then, our Bai Long Qin would have to…"

"You!?"

"Hush now, it depends on the choice that you will make...Bengong, didn't want to use this method and just wanted to quietly return to the palace, but you found out...so…"

Physician Jin began laughing, "You speak so nobly. So, you want to threaten me by cutting off my supplies?"

"Hm, you can say it that way." Hui Lan nodded as she thought of how he placed his words.

"Then, what makes you sure that I would not tell my brother about this?" Physician Jin raised the stake of his cards.

"You won't. We all started things for a cause and you must have started the medicine house to help the citizens which is why I also want to take part in it, but it is unfortunate that I have to use this method, so wouldn't you at least think of this?" This, she truly meant it.

Regardless of what Hui Lan had said, the Physician laughed, "You think I would help you?"

"Physician Jin, I can choose to erase your memories if I wanted to, but here I am talking with you." Hui Lan pointed out that she did not completely disregard him.

Physician Jin felt tired and decided to ask something else, "How did you get Ma Rou to give in?"

"Dragon's blood."

Physician Jin nodded, "Hm. I had thought so…"

"I could see that you are interested in it…"

"So you gave it a shot and used it to heal Wei Wei?" Physician Jin finished the Empress' words for her.

"Hm, that is right."

Physician Jin rested his head on the pole behind him, "Then tell me, where did you go?"

"Mt. Yun." Hui Lan answered honestly. The other way to get on his good side was to be truthful, she wasn't much of a liar anyways.

"Mt. Yun?" Physician Jin's brow was raised up, "Why?"

"The reason has nothing to do with you."

"Then, I have no other choice but to report my brother."

"Hui Lan, don't bother talking with him and just make him forget everything." Su Rong disliked how the Physician was acting hard to get.

"I went to recuperate, is that enough?" Hui Lan finally answered in the end. Though it was not the entire reason, it was also one of the reasons why she went there.

"Hui Lan!?" Su Rong did not believe that Hui Lan had told the Physician the reason.

"It's alright Su Rong, you can go out and prepare me some warm water. I want to wash my face." Hui Lan let her friend go out first. She didn't really care much whether the Royal Physician gave out the news anyways.

...If he made any signs to give her news to the emperor, she'll make Su Juo take action right away anyways...

To that, Su Rong made her way out without turning back.

There was still some distrust in Physician Jin's face.

"You can check if I've gotten better. It was better than staying here in this palace."

Hui Lan's openness caught him slightly off guard.

Not only did she speak but she went over to untie him from the pole and gave her pulse for him to check.

As he was the Royal Physician for the royal family, he checked her pulse quietly.

To his surprise, she had completely improved drastically. Her weak pulse was now beating much stronger than ever before.

"You see? I only went to recover and not look for trouble. Do you believe me now?" Hui Lan spoke before sitting down on the floor in front of him.

"I still need to…"

"Think of it this way, if I told your brother would he ever let me go out? Besides, you have a debt that I fear you can never pay me off."

"Empress…"

"It depends on your actions from now onwards, Physician Jin. I will give you this whole night to think about it. Whatever you decide, tomorrow, we shall talk again." Hui Lan got up and went to sit beside the window. She no longer paid any attention to him.

Physician Jin could only sigh before getting up.

However, before he could open the door...

"I told you before, either way, you would have to choose which side you are going to take." Those were Hui Lan's last few words to him before he was no longer in the room.

Hui Lan gazed outside the window where she would usually sit.

...Tomorrow...she'll roam outside again.