Chapter 12 Visiting the doctor
At dawn, the world was still gray.

Chen Ji slowly sat up from the bed. He subconsciously reached for the cell phone next to the pillow, but there was nothing there.

At this moment he suddenly realized that the world he once lived in was no longer the place within his reach, but his hometown.

"Wait, shouldn't I be in the yard?" Chen Ji's last memory was standing next to the apricot tree practicing the art of carrying a stone and hugging a stake, but when he woke up, he found himself back in the west wing, wearing the same clothes he wore last night, tattered.

Was it his master who sent him back? Or was it his two fellow disciples? Chen Ji couldn't be sure. He didn't remember at all.

At this moment, Bingliu stayed quietly in his Dantian, no longer as ferocious as he was last night.

Chen Ji pondered: "Who caused the ice flow this time? The first ice flow came from Zhou Chengyi, and the second time was..."

When the ice flow appeared twice, several people died each time, but the ordinary people in Zhou Chengyi's house did not have ice flow, and the maid who died in Wanxing Garden did not have ice flow either...

This time, could it be from the fetus that Concubine Jing just miscarried? !

When he thought of this, She Dengke, who was at the end of the bunk bed, suddenly stood up, closed his eyes and said, "Master, you might as well beat me to death. If you kill me, there will be no one to take care of you in your old age!"

Chen Ji turned his head speechlessly and looked over. After She Dengke finished speaking, he lay back down with a thud. It turned out to be a dream talk...

The cock has not yet crowed.

What’s strange is that Chen Ji came back at Chou time last night and had slept for less than four hours, but now he is full of energy, without any sign of tiredness or sleepiness.

Is it the change brought about by the ice flow and the technique of carrying stones and holding stakes?
He sat on the bed and pondered for a long time. Finally, he got out of bed, changed his clothes, went to the yard to pick up the shoulder pole, and the thin figure of the young man carried two wooden barrels and walked towards Anxi Street outside the door.

Yesterday, when I was waiting for my family to send me money for school, Chen Ji had observed that there was a well there. The whole neighborhood had to go there to fetch water. If you went too late, you would have to wait in a long line.

When he went out, Chen Ji was stunned for a moment. He saw the black cat of Wanxingyuan squatting on the eaves of the grain and oil shop opposite, looking at him quietly.

It turned out that it was not an illusion last night. The black cat was really attracted by the bead in the sleeve, and even secretly followed it outside the palace!

Chen Ji walked towards the well on the bluestone road in the early morning, while the black cat followed silently on the gray tiles on the eaves, never taking its eyes off him.

He was the only one on the long street, and there was only a cat on the eaves.

They walked side by side, through the thin mist in the autumn morning, as if they were walking through a long time together.

He stopped, carrying the pole and looking at the black cat from a distance, and asked curiously: "Meow?"

The black cat just looked at him coldly.

Whose serious cat is meowing?
Chen Ji saw that it didn't react: "Sang Biao?"

Black Cat: "..."

Chen Ji tentatively spread the beads in his hand: "Do you want this?"

Although the black cat was covered in wounds, it still looked at Chen Ji with a noble attitude, without any reaction, as if waiting for the young man to take the initiative to hand over the beads.

Chen Ji stretched his hand upwards.

This time, the black cat stood on the eaves of the gray-tiled house, leaning forward slightly, ready to jump down and take the beads away, but the moment it stretched out its neck, Chen Ji closed his palms again and took the beads away.

Black Cat: "..."

It opened its mouth and wanted to meow, but in the end it couldn't let go of its pride.

Finally, he regained his cool attitude and stared at the boy silently.

Chen Ji stuffed the beads into his sleeves and continued to walk slowly towards the well. The black cat followed silently, staring at him coldly. The wound on its brow left last night made it look a little fierce.

Chen Ji stood by the well, turning the wooden handle to lower a wooden barrel. Just as he was about to raise the barrel, he saw a black cat jump off the eaves at some point, come to the well, and look up at him.

"You..." Chen Ji thought for a long time, and suddenly asked: "You want this bead, right? Here it is for you."

He opened his palms, held the beads in them, and stopped teasing the kitten on purpose.

But the black cat just stood on the edge of the well, with the right corner of his mouth slightly raised, as if with some contempt: I will never be fooled by your dog again!
"Wait, are you laughing at me with that expression?" Chen Ji never expected that he could see such an anthropomorphic expression on a cat... He looked around the empty street, and finally put the bead on the ground, then stepped back three meters: "Leave it there, take it away yourself."

Animals have instincts. They seem to know naturally what to eat and what not to eat. Even if they are poisoned, they will find the antidote themselves.

Humans lack this instinct and dare to eat anything, even poisonous mushrooms for fun...

Therefore, Chen Ji was not worried that something might happen to the black cat after eating the bead. He wanted to know why the black cat was attracted to it and what would happen if the black cat swallowed the bead.

The answer to Bingliu lies in this black cat. Beside the well, the black cat approached cautiously, looking at the beads for a while, and then looking at the traces cautiously. After a long time, it finally came up and sniffed the beads from a distance.

"Eat it," Chen Ji looked at him expectantly.

However, when the black cat opened its mouth to pick it up, the snake-like narrow gray mist in the bead began to churn violently like a living thing, and the black cat was swept away by the invisible force!

"Huh?" Chen Ji was shocked by this supernatural phenomenon. He was very sure that an invisible force had just burst out from the beads and pushed the black cat away!
The little black cat arched its back, took a fighting stance towards the beads, and dared not come closer again.

"Why is this?" Chen Ji wondered.

As soon as he finished speaking, the sound of hurried horse hooves was heard in the distance.

Chen Ji turned his head and saw a carriage approaching from afar, rushing towards the clinic, breaking the tranquil fog. The carriage passed in front of him, and the driver looked anxious as he drove the carriage, perhaps there was something very important.

"It seems like you are here to look for Master. I have to go back quickly," Chen Ji said, "By the way, you..."

When he turned back again, the black cat had disappeared, leaving only the beads lying quietly on the ground.

……

……

When Chen Ji staggered back to the clinic carrying a shoulder pole, the carriage was parked outside the clinic. The two horses were handsome and strong, with muscular bodies and cleanly combed manes.

The wooden body is engraved with canary patterns, and the canary tail extends all the way to the rear of the car, which is complex and exquisite.

Next to the carriage, She Dengke and the driver were moving some luggage into the carriage.

Chen Ji came over with a shoulder pole and asked, "What's going on?"

At this moment, She Dengke couldn't suppress his joy: "Master is going to diagnose patients."

"Why are you so happy..."

"Of course I'm happy!" She Dengke lowered his voice and said, "Master will be gone for at least ten days or half a month. We won't be beaten or scolded, and we won't be tested on our studies. Aren't you happy? Then we can go to the East Market and Red Clothes Lane together... If my third brother helps the noble to hold a party, I can take you to sneak in and listen to the opera. I heard a few days ago that the Ma Clan of the Opera Troupe will come back to perform in the party!"

"Whose doctor are you going to see?" Chen Ji was curious.

She Dengke lowered his voice and said, "I heard that when the Secret Service of the Minister of Internal Affairs was tracking down the spies of the Jing Dynasty, they arrested several young members of the Liu family and put them in the inner prison. One of them was tortured to death in prison. When the old man of the Liu family heard the news, he fainted from anger and is now on his deathbed."

When Chen Ji heard this, he suddenly recalled Yun Yang's half-smiley expression when he stood in front of Zhou's house. That was the sense of crisis that he couldn't get rid of now: "Is the Secret Service so powerful?"

"Of course," She Dengke said, "Old Master Liu's daughter is the current Empress Dowager, and his son is the current Minister of Personnel. Even with such a low status, the Secret Service still arrested them. People in the martial arts world say that the Secret Service can execute first and report later, and it is a special permission granted by the emperor."

Chen Ji felt something was wrong. Even if the Secret Service had great power, it shouldn't have ignored the Empress Dowager and the Minister of Personnel, right?

As the two were chatting, they saw Old Man Yao walking out of the clinic, accompanied by a dignified middle-aged man.

Old Man Yao said to his three apprentices, "During the few days I'm away, you guys are not allowed to check patients' pulses in private. If a patient comes with a prescription, you must prescribe the medicine according to the prescription. Don't make a mistake in weighing the medicine and make me lose money. I will count the inventory as soon as I come back. Whoever dares to make me lose money will make up for it!"

Chen Ji was shocked. He hadn't figured out what to do with the old ginseng yet. What if Old Man Yao found a problem when he came back to count the inventory?
The middle-aged man accompanying him said, "Mr. Yao, let's hurry up. I'm afraid my family can't wait any longer. We have to wait until my father comes back from the capital to see the old man for the last time."

Old Man Yao nodded: "Let's go."

Liu Quxing went over and helped Old Man Yao onto the carriage. The carriage sped away, and the sound of horse hooves on the bluestone road made a crisp sound.

She Dengke exclaimed: "How much does it cost to buy a carriage like this?!"

Liu Quxing laughed and said, "You are ignorant, right? Did you see the canary on the carriage? This is a gift that can only be used when my Liu family has a second-rank official and is awarded by the emperor. In my Great Ning Dynasty, even if ordinary people ride in a sedan chair, it is beyond the rules. How many heads do you have to ride in this kind of carriage?"

She Dengke sneered: "You talk as if you are really a member of the Liu family!"

Liu Quxing glared at him: "Why am I not a member of the Liu family?"

"Your family is just a branch of the Liu family, will they recognize you?" She Dengke asked back: "Although our family is poor, we have backbone. We make a living on the dock with our own ability and never try to curry favor with the rich and powerful."

Liu Quxing was furious: "I went to Old Master Liu's 90th birthday party with my parents!"

"Yes, at the servants' table."

"What the hell!"

Chen Ji watched in silence as the two men wrestled into the clinic. Suddenly, he noticed something strange. He turned around and saw that the little black cat did not really leave. Instead, it was hiding in the shadows of the opposite eaves, secretly observing them.

(End of this chapter)