Chapter 18: Golden Mountain Temple

The next day.

When Luo Zijun woke up, Xiaohuan had long since risen and was in the small courtyard helping his sister wash clothes.

That petite figure was bathed in the golden morning sun, obedient and clever, full of energy.

"Young Master, let this servant help you wash up."

As Luo Zijun walked out from the room, she hurriedly stood up and said.

When the young maid spoke to him, she kept her head lowered, her cheeks flushed red; in the sunlight, she was like a flower bud just beginning to bloom, green, shy, and deeply moving.

Luo Zijun only then realized that this young maid was actually quite pretty.

He wondered how many taels of silver his sister had spent, and where she had bought her.

Luo Jiaorong glanced at him and smiled: "Xiaohuan, let him go himself; it's not as if he has no hands or feet. You continue helping me wash the clothes."

The Young Maid let out an "oh," and only then sat back down.

After Luo Zijun finished washing up, he took a pancake from the kitchen, greeted them, and prepared to head out.

Luo Jiaorong asked: "Do you have anything on tonight? If not, come back early."

Luo Zijun suddenly remembered that he might still have to go to the Brothel with Su Bie and the others tonight, so he hurriedly said: "I might be going to discuss poetry with some friends, so I'll be back a bit late. Don't wait for me for dinner."

Luo Jiaorong frowned and warned: "Making friends is fine, but you must not associate with those riffraff, and you must especially not go to those places of debauchery, do you understand?"

Luo Zijun gave his word.

After he left, Luo Jiaorong then asked Xiaohuan, who was at her side: "Did that fellow really not touch you last night?"

Xiaohuan shook her head with a blushing face.

Actually, it should count as having touched her; when she woke up in the morning, one of Young Master's hands was gripping her foot.

Luo Jiaorong wore a thoughtful expression: "Could it be that he still doesn't understand?"

"Xiaohuan, do you know how men and women... um, have children?"

Xiaohuan shook her head in ignorance.

Luo Jiaorong thought to herself: That's right, these two little ones have no one to guide them, they don't understand anything.

"Xiaohuan, come into the room in a moment, I will teach you some things."

"Oh."

Luo Jiaorong decided to give it her all.

Although it was embarrassing to teach these things, as his sister, she had to shoulder this responsibility.

"I will have Zhengshan go buy a few of those books today and put them in Zijun's room; he can learn for himself, so I don't have to be so embarrassed teaching him."

Thinking this way, she quickly finished washing the clothes and took the Young Maid into the room.

"Xiaohuan, when a man and woman sleep together, it actually isn't just about lying together; sometimes, you also need to do some... um, rather interesting things..."

"Touch... touch the feet?"

"Hmm???"

Bao'an Hall.

When Luo Zijun arrived at the Pharmacy, Su Dafang was holding the Medicine Chest and preparing to leave. Upon seeing him, he hurriedly said: "Zijun, come, go with me to the north of the city."

Luo Zijun took the Medicine Chest and discovered that today's chest was especially heavy.

"It's packed with some medicine; the patient's symptoms are quite severe, I expect we will need to administer medicine on the spot."

Su Dafang said this, then hurried out the door.

Luo Zijun hurriedly shouldered the Medicine Chest and followed behind. He looked back at the shop; Su Qingling, standing behind the counter, was also looking at him. Seeing his gaze, she rolled her eyes.

Luo Zijun waved and said: "Senior Sister, hurry and put it away, I'll take it when I get back!"

Su Qingling: "..."

Su Dafang looked back, puzzled: "Put what away?"

By the time he turned his head, Su Qingling had already put it away.

Luo Zijun said: "Food, Senior Sister seems to have brought me some snacks."

Su Dafang glanced at the shop, then looked at him again, said nothing more, and walked forward with hurried steps. The journey was silent.

The two of them soon arrived at a household in the north of the city.

This family lived at the very end of a small alley; the old house was already somewhat dilapidated, and the weeds growing at the entrance had not been cleared.

A woman wearing a coarse cloth dress led the two inside.

The woman's eyes were red, and she said with a sobbing tone: "It has already been five days. My husband has been lying in bed the whole time, he has taken a lot of medicine, but it does no good... Other doctors have all come to see him, but they couldn't tell what illness it was..."

Su Dafang entered the room while listening.

The room was dim, the windows tightly shut.

On a bed near the corner, a young man lay there, wrapped in a thick quilt, shivering. He looked pale, his eye sockets were sunken, and his lips were dark blue; he looked to be on the verge of death.

Su Dafang walked to the bedside, first observing the man's complexion, then lifted the man's eyelids to look for a moment, then with a grave expression, began to take his pulse.

A moment later.

!

He looked at the woman and asked in a deep voice: "Are there any other symptoms? You must say everything, do not hide anything."

The woman seemed somewhat embarrassed, but after only a moment of hesitation, she spoke.

"Since my husband returned five days ago, he talks in his sleep every night, and then he will... laugh out loud in his mouth. The next day... It has been like this for five consecutive days..."

Su Dafang looked at her and said: "Do you remember what he said in his sleep?"

The woman blushed and said: "I do remember some; he is always shouting 'beauty, beauty, I... I will kill you'..."

Su Dafang said nothing more. He lifted the quilt, extended two fingers, and placed them on both sides of the man's waist. After a brief examination, his expression was immediately one of shock.

Seeing this, the woman hurriedly asked with a trembling voice: "Doctor, what is wrong with my husband?"

Su Dafang examined him for a while longer, helped the man cover himself with the quilt, and looked toward the woman, asking, "Five days ago, where did he go?"

The woman said, "Hanshan Temple in the suburbs; he said he wanted to go there to worship Buddha."

"Hanshan Temple?"

Su Dafang was startled for a moment, then asked again, "Did he go alone?"

The woman nodded.

Su Dafang frowned and pondered for a while, then suddenly lifted the quilt again and pulled up the man's clothing over his abdomen.

Below the man's navel, a black spider mark had shockingly appeared!

The woman was startled and said with a trembling voice, "This... what is this? It wasn't there before; I even helped him wipe his body last night..."

Su Dafang's brows were tightly locked; he put down the quilt, shook his head, and said, "I am truly sorry, but for this illness, this old man is powerless."

After speaking, he said to Luo Zijun, "Let's go, we are heading back."

Upon hearing this, the woman hurriedly knelt on the ground with a "thud," tightly hugged Su Dafang's leg, and cried, "Doctor, I beg you, I beg you to save my husband! I still have a three-year-old child at home; if he is gone, what are we, a widow and an orphan, to do? Wuwu..."

Su Dafang sighed and said, "It is not that this old man will not save him, but that this old man is also at his wit's end."

The woman continued to hug his leg and cry loudly.

Su Dafang was helpless and could only say, "How about this, you go to Hanshan Temple or Jinshan Temple and see; go and beg the monks there, perhaps there is still a glimmer of hope."

Upon hearing this, the woman hurriedly raised her head and said, "Really?"

Su Dafang nodded: "But you must be quick, you cannot delay."

The woman immediately wiped away her tears and stood up: "I will go right now!"

The three of them went out the door together.

The woman hurried ahead and soon disappeared at the entrance of the alley.

Luo Zijun could not help but ask, "Master, what kind of illness does that man actually have?"

In his heart, he actually already had a faint guess.

Su Dafang shook his head and said, "We will talk when we get back."

Luo Zijun glanced at his expression and did not ask again.

Jinshan Temple?

Isn't that the temple where Fahai resides?

(End of this chapter)