章 40: Come Again Tomorrow

編集者: EndlessFantasy Translation

"Your surname is Jing? What is your father's name? And your mother's? What other family members do you have?" The old man asked agitatedly.

Jing Yunzhao became even more curious.

"I am sorry but I am an orphan. I was the only one in the family," said Jing Yunzhao.

Ye Qin had passed away and she had separated from the Qiao Family. It was not wrong to call herself an orphan when she did not know about her real parents and their whereabouts, or whether they were even alive.

"So you are local? Do you know a woman with the surname 'Xu'? She is in her forties," the old man asked, frowning as he pulled Jing Yunzhao back into the yard.

Jing Yunzhao's mind had gone completely blank. She nodded and then shook her head, looking terrified.

The old man continued to stare at Jing Yunzhao's face, seeming more disappointed the longer he studied it.

"Not exactly like her if I look closely. Too young, eyebrow peaks too sharp, eyes too sharp as well, aura too strong…." The old man muttered strangely, starting to wobble as if he was going to fall. The man quickly went to the old man and held his arm..

"My surname is 'Xu', please don't mind my rudeness," the old man said, waving his hand.

"No problem," said Jing Yunzhao, unable to help but blame the strange old man.

The old man looked extremely exhausted as he walked back to the house.

"Are there any more herbs that you want to sell?" The old man turned to ask Jing Yunzhao as he walked back.

Jing Yunzhao nodded. She had plenty more herbs to sell.

"Then come again this time tomorrow," the old man said and entered the house without looking at her again.

Jing Yunzhao was now thoroughly confused and started to understand why the man from the pharmacy had called this old man weird. He definitely was - probably the weirdest person in the whole of Huaning County.

But he was just an old man after all. Since she knew basic martial arts, Jing Yunzhao was not worried about him hurting her.

Su Chu was worried sick by the time Jing Yunzhao got back to the apartment. On the sofa was a fair boy who looked clean and rather handsome – this must be Gan Jinchen.

"You are too daring, Yunzhao! Why would you go out at this time? Aren't you afraid of bumping into bad guys?" Su Chu asked worriedly, sighing in relief when she saw Jing Yunzhao.

"I am sorry for keeping you up, I had some errands to run," said Jing Yunzhao apologetically. She was so used to being neglected in her previous life, and she would definitely have told Su Chu beforehand had she known that she was going to wait for her.

Gan Jinchen glanced at Jing Yunzhao briefly and went back to his room without a word, but Jing Yunzhao caught his contemptuous and doubtful expression.

After all, his grandfather had taken her in as his god-granddaughter; it was normal for him as his real grandson to feel uncomfortable, especially when she had a bad reputation in school.

"Don't mind him, he has always been weird," said Su Chu brightly, sticking her tongue out at Gan Jinchen's receding figure.

Remembering what the old man told her, Jing Yunzhao explained the situation to Su Chu so that she wouldn't get worried the next day. Considering the strange incident at the traditional Chinese medicine maniac's house, she omitted some details from her story.

"By the way, Chu Chu, is the test you were talking about yesterday the test Grandpa will be giving us?" Jing Yunzhao remembered suddenly and asked.

Su Chu huffed bitterly and scoffed, "Yes, Grandpa set a goal for Jinchen and I since we were young to become medical practitioners, be it Chinese or western. That is why we have to sit for this test monthly, and the questions are always unreasonably hard! But how do you know about the test? Is Grandpa also making you…"

Su Chu was stunned at the conclusion she had just come to.

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章 41: The Wrong Season

編集者: EndlessFantasy Translation

Was her grandfather serious? Su Chu pursed her lips in confusion. She and Jinchen had been studying medical knowledge since they were young. Having been raised that way, she and Jinchen had a strong foundation in medicine and could handle the test if they crammed for it, but Jing Yunzhao…

While Jing Yunzhao may be good at studying, medical knowledge was quite hard to understand. Su Chu herself still didn't understand plenty of old medical terms, and she couldn't imagine Jing Yunzhao taking the test without having broached this area of knowledge before.

"You are doomed, you are doomed… You have no idea how strict grandpa is when it comes to medical knowledge. Just remember not to write what you are not sure of during the exam. It's actually better to hand in a blank test paper than one with the wrong answers," Su Chu explained to Jing Yunzhao, gazing at her sympathetically.

Jing Yunzhao wouldn't call herself an expert when it came to medical knowledge but she was confident about knowing the basics. After all, Jing Yunzhao did not learn her medical knowledge from scratch. If there was something she did not understand, all she had to do was search the Naling Jade for the information to absorb.

And even if she was not able to absorb the information at that moment, it would still remain in her mind and not fade away.

Not knowing the advantage Jing Yunzhao had, Su Chu continued complaining.

According to Su Chu, Grandpa Gan had set out strict punishments for those who did not do well in the test. If a blank test paper was handed in, it simply meant that no effort had been made and the punishment would normally be copying one whole medical book.

However, if a test paper full of wrong answers was handed in, that would be a problem of attitude, and a different set of punishments would be imposed. Not only would their pocket money be deducted, they would also be brought home, be grounded, be lectured, be forced to work out in the morning, and be monitored in basically every aspect of their lives.

Jing Yunzhao began to admire this god-grandfather of hers. After all, a physician with such strong medical ethics was very rare these days.

The next day, Jing Yunzhao went to school as usual and went to the alley at night as promised with a basket of cnidium seeds.

Unlike yesterday, the door creaked open as soon as Jing Yunzhao knocked, and the old man was sitting in the center of the yard, staring at Jing Yunzhao with a straight face.

Jing Yunzhao began to get nervous at the way the old man was staring at her.

"These are some fine herbs. Do you know what they are for?" The old man asked mysteriously.

"Dang Shen is mostly used for 'qi' and 'jin' injuries, and 'qi' and blood deficiencies, while cnidium seeds are mostly used for warming kidneys and strengthening 'yang'," Jing Yunzhao answered slowly.

"You harvested them in the wrong season," said the old man as if he did not hear Jing Yunzhao. "Cnidium seeds are best sowed during the hottest period of summer as it would enhance the effect of the herb. You shouldn't have brought them here at this time."

It was spring now, when no one would have harvested these two herbs.

Jing Yunzhao listened to the old man, her face turning pale when she realized that she hadn't taken that into consideration.

"I will take the cnidium seeds back then, Mr. Xu, I won't sell them now," said Jing Yunzhao quickly, worried that the old man might ask how she managed to harvest the herbs during this season.

"I will take them. They are fine herbs after all," the old man glanced at Jing Yunzhao and said, "follow me."

He did not give Jing Yunzhao the opportunity to respond and instantly started walking towards the backyard. Although she didn't know what the old man was up to, Jing Yunzhao decided to follow him.

The old man walked to the backyard where a large shed was built on a raised terrain with limecrete floors for damp-proofing. Inside the shed were various types of herbs.

"How will you convince people to buy from you when you don't even know the right time to harvest herbs? There is a lot to learn about medicine. Come here every day after this to learn about them and not waste anymore of your fine herbs," said the old man emotionlessly, his expression difficult to read.

Jing Yunzhao was tempted when she saw the variety of herbs the old man had in the shed.

She had learned about concocting herbal formulas, but reading them in the Naling Jade and actually seeing them were two entirely different things.

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