Chapter 345: Dog-Scratch Calligraphy (Two Chapters Combined)

The patient assigned to Du Ruo's group was a dark-skinned, thin man in his thirties.

The man was drenched in sweat, coughing incessantly, accompanied by rapid, labored wheezing.

"Doctor... Goddess Doctor... *cough, cough*, please take a careful look at me... what exactly is this illness... I, *cough, cough, cough*, I feel so terrible, I can barely catch my breath..."

After speaking, he coughed even more violently, as if his lungs were about to be coughed up the next second.

Judging by these symptoms alone, even if one called it consumption, people would believe it.

Of course, even without scanning, Du Ruo knew it absolutely could not be consumption.

Consumption was a highly contagious disease; in ancient times, it was practically equivalent to a terminal illness. Wen Shiyuan was known for his benevolent heart; how could he possibly place a consumption patient in such a crowded setting?

Based on Du Ruo's experience, it was most likely bronchitis.

She reached out and began to feign taking his pulse.

In her mind, the system finished scanning quickly and provided the correct answer: "Male, bone age 31, all internal organs are intact with no lesions; body temperature 38 degrees, heart rate rapid at 120 beats per minute, no other abnormalities."

No abnormalities?

Du Ruo was surprised. "No bronchitis?"

"None." The system's tone was very certain.

This was strange.

If there was no bronchitis, why was he coughing so severely? And why the fever?

"What about acute pharyngitis?" Perhaps he had caught a cold.

The system denied it again, "None of that. He is even healthier than you, host."

Du Ruo was confused.

Looking at the man's agonizing appearance, he was definitely ill, but the system's detection couldn't be wrong. So where exactly was the problem?

Her gaze swept over the man, and suddenly, it fixed on one spot.

"Please, roll up your sleeves and let me see," Du Ruo said.

The man, while coughing, cooperated very well.

His arms were equally dark and thin, but not the frail kind of thin; it was a lean, muscular thinness without an ounce of fat, and his biceps were very well-developed, indicating regular exercise.

Her gaze moved downward.

His palms were rough, with obvious calluses on the web of his thumbs, prominent knuckles, and veins thicker than those of a normal person.

Du Ruo's heart skipped a beat.

If she wasn't mistaken, this should be a martial artist.

As far as she knew, if a person's internal energy was strong enough, they could use certain methods to accelerate their pulse...

"Host, actually, it might not be that complicated," the system's tone carried a hint of teasing. "With your current appearance, any man would inevitably experience tachycardia just looking at you."

Du Ruo: "... Get lost."

Even if a fast heart rate could be explained that way, what about the fever? Could it be that he was burning up just from seeing her?

*Pfft*, hahahaha!

The system laughed until it nearly collapsed. "There's no need to think every man is that lecherous. There are plenty of ways to raise body temperature, like drinking several large cups of hot water before going on stage, or taking special medicine; all of these work."

So that was it. Du Ruo fell into deep thought.

"Time is up!" A servant pointed at the hourglass and reminded them.

Du Ruo hurriedly vacated her seat.

She then walked to the other side, where three desks were set up, all equipped with brush, ink, paper, and inkstone.

It was time to write the prescription.

Du Ruo sat down at one of the empty desks, spread out the white paper, and began to write.

The moment she wrote the first character, she realized something was wrong.

Damn it, she didn't know how to write traditional characters!

She could recognize them; when she was young, Xiao Liangchen had taught the original owner a few, but she only knew how to write simple ones, like her own name. She didn't know the complex ones.

There was no other way; she had to cheat again.

"Little System..."

"I know, I know." The system rolled its eyes. "I told you to study more, but you spent all your time making money and fighting. Now you're stuck, aren't you?"

Complaining aside, the system resignedly displayed the corresponding traditional version based on Du Ruo's thoughts.

Du Ruo immediately copied it stroke by stroke.

Her calligraphy was terrible, even ugly.

This was mainly because she was poor when she was young; she had neither the money nor the time for extracurricular classes, so she poured all her energy into core subjects, as that was her only way to change her fate.

Fortunately, there weren't many characters, and she finished quickly.

Put down the brush, done!

Du Ruo checked it carefully, confirmed there were no typos, and then carefully picked it up and handed it to the servant.

The servant glanced down, then looked up at Du Ruo, his expression strange.

He seemed to have something to say but hesitated.

However, he said nothing in the end and turned to head toward the judges. Seeing that Wen Shiyuan and Mu Shanyue were busy, he handed the prescription to one of the relatively idle elders.

As luck would have it, it was Elder Hua.

Elder Hua glanced at it casually, and his face immediately darkened. "What kind of garbage is this? Are these characters? Even a chicken scratching the ground would look better than this!"

His voice attracted another elder from the next table, who leaned over to look and shook his head repeatedly.

"Oh my, for a medical practitioner, handwriting is very important. Using such ghost-drawn symbols to write a prescription, if the person filling it accidentally misreads it, wouldn't that cost a life?"

In short, the handwriting was ugly, and the consequences were severe!

Elder Hua looked at the servant in front of him and asked unhappily, "Whose prescription is this?"

The servant pointed at Du Ruo, who was on the competition field. "That young lady over there."

Following his finger, both elders looked over simultaneously.

When he saw the young lady's face, Elder Hua paused. "It's her!"

The other elder asked suspiciously, "You know her?"

"I know her, how could I not?" Elder Hua snorted. "She was the one I assessed yesterday. She's quite arrogant."

He had long disliked Du Ruo.

A young married woman who knew she was alluring, yet instead of staying home to serve her in-laws and husband, she loved to show her face in public—what kind of decorum was that?

Perfect. He would take this opportunity to eliminate her, to prevent her from causing trouble later...

Elder Hua couldn't be bothered to look at the prescription anymore; there was no need to. The fact that the handwriting was ugly was reason enough.

He picked up his brush, ready to mark an 'X', when the prescription was snatched from his hand.

Immediately after, a dignified voice with a hint of a smile sounded, "Let me have a look as well."

Elder Hua hurriedly stood up and bowed. "Your Highness."

The one who snatched the prescription was none other than Prince Yu, Zongzheng Yun.

Zongzheng Yun looked at the ugly characters and felt like laughing.

Sure enough, it was still "dog-scratch" calligraphy.

He still remembered when they were young, because Du Ruo's grades were good, several elderly people in the village, reluctant to spend money during the New Year, went to Du Ruo, giving her two White Rabbit candies as payment, asking her to write a few couplets.

Du Ruo agreed readily, first eating the candies, then stuffing one into his mouth before picking up the brush.

When that handwriting appeared, the elderly people were stunned.

Later, they left cursing.

Thinking of this, Prince Yu's heart softened, but then he remembered that Du Ruo was already Jiang Li's woman, and his heart felt a pang. His gaze shot obliquely toward the man standing tall beside him.

He had indeed admired Jiang Li in the past, but now...

Hmph, he looked like he needed a beating!

Jiang Li keenly sensed Prince Yu's dissatisfaction with him, though he didn't understand why.

However, he didn't care. He only needed to fulfill his duty and protect Prince Yu; whether Prince Yu liked him or not was unimportant.

Flowers bloom on their own, and butterflies come on their own; he still had confidence in himself.

Zongzheng Yun pulled his attention away from Jiang Li and looked back at the prescription, saying with a smile, "It has quite a distinct style."

A distinct style?

Elder Hua twitched the corners of his mouth. "Your Highness is truly good with words. As the saying goes, handwriting reveals the person. If the handwriting is this ugly, it shows the owner is also unpleasant."

"Is that so? I don't think so. I quite like it."

He smiled and said, "I have been sent by the Imperial Court to preside over the Medical Conference. I feel it necessary to remind Elder Hua not to lose sight of the main point. The Medical Conference is about medical skill, not calligraphy. Whether the handwriting is good or bad is unimportant; what matters is whether the prescription is correct."

These words were reasonable and well-founded, yet contained a hidden threat.

Elder Hua's old face changed slightly, and he hurriedly bowed in agreement. "Your Highness is correct."

Zongzheng Yun handed the prescription back to him. "Then take another look. Is what she wrote correct?"

Elder Hua respectfully took it, only then noticing the content.

It was only a short sentence.

"No illness, no need for medicine. Medicine is three-tenths poison; taking too much is not good either."

Elder Hua: "..."

Damn it, she showed off again.

"Well? Is it written correctly?" Prince Yu asked.

Elder Hua could only suppress his anger and nod. "... Correct."

He had reviewed the files of all the patients beforehand and had a particularly deep impression of the patient in Du Ruo's group. In fact, that was not a real patient, but a centurion specially requested by Wen Shiyuan from the military camp. He was very healthy and was only pretending to be ill to confuse the participants.

The purpose was to test the participants to see if they would persist in their own judgment.

Or if they would be misled by appearances.

It should be said that this group was the most difficult because the eyes could deceive.

But he hadn't expected that the beautiful young woman he looked down upon would actually have some real skill and see through it.

"Since it is written correctly, what should be done then?" Zongzheng Yun looked at Elder Hua with a smile.

What else could Elder Hua say?

"Naturally, she passes."

Zongzheng Yun nodded with satisfaction. "Very good. Elder Hua is indeed impartial and selfless."