Chapter 7 Parents
The long street is silent, with gray-eaved buildings of different heights scattered around. The curved eaves are like waves in the black ocean at night, frozen in time.

Old man Yao walked slowly in front with his hands behind his back, and Chen Ji followed silently behind. He had a lot of questions to ask, such as where is Uttarakuru, do you know a young man named Li Qingniao, and what is the Forty-Ninth Heaven.

But he knew he couldn't ask, so he could only bury those questions in his heart.

Old Man Yao was puzzled: "You usually talk as much as a piece of rag, why are you so quiet today?"

Chen Ji's heart tightened: "It's because of the things in Zhou's house that you don't let me mention."

Old Man Yao suddenly asked, "Did you kill someone?"

Chen Ji was silent for a long time: "No."

Old man Yao chuckled and asked no more questions.

During this journey, the old man never asked about what happened tonight, as if nothing had happened.

After walking for about an hour, Chen Ji finally saw the broad vermilion-lacquered gate of Prince Jing's Mansion from afar. Guards stood in front of the gate, holding halberds and wearing iron armor. The stone lions on both sides of the gate looked mighty and overbearing.

Two white lanterns with the Chinese characters "Prince Jing's Mansion" inscribed on them were hung under the grey tile eaves. There was a plaque on the door with the words "Open and Honest" written in gold.

Doctor Yao did not enter through the main gate, but led Chen Ji to the side of the palace, where there was a clinic closely adjacent to the palace, named "Taiping".

There was a plaque on the door with four big characters written on it: "No Credit".

Old man Yao pushed open the door of the clinic and stepped over the high threshold. Inside the room, a kerosene lamp was lit on the long counter.

Outside was a dark long street and night, and inside the house was a warm orange-red light, as if the world was in black and white, and only this clinic had color.

It seems that as long as Chen Ji walks in, he can shelter from the wind and rain and find peace.

Old man Yao stood inside the door and glanced at Chen Ji: "Throw away the things in your hand. The clinic doesn't need them."

Chen Ji was startled and threw away the broken porcelain pieces still in his hand, which were still stained with blood.

He looked at the high threshold of the clinic and the hunched back of old man Yao, and finally stepped inside, closed the door, and kept the darkness out.

……

……

This clinic is a small courtyard, separated from the palace by only a wall, with a gnarled apricot tree in the middle of the courtyard.

A majestic crow was standing on the top of the branch, and it flew away when it saw someone coming.

Old man Yao seemed tired and waved his hand, saying, "Go to bed."

Chen Ji stood there without moving... Where to sleep? There were three rooms in the back of the courtyard, and he didn't know which one to go to. If he went to the wrong place, it might arouse suspicion.

When Old Man Yao saw that he didn't move, he turned back suspiciously and asked, "Why don't you go to bed?"

As soon as he finished speaking, a tall and thin young man in a long gown came out of the west wing. He looked at Chen Ji with disdain and said, "Chen Ji, you took so long just to deliver some medicine. I even bothered Master to find you... Master, you must be tired. I'll boil some water for you so you can soak your feet and rest."

Chen Ji silently looked at this...senior brother.

How can a person flatter someone so specifically?

Old Man Yao said, "Everyone go to bed and don't delay tomorrow's morning class."

"Okay," the tall and thin boy went back to the west wing decisively.

Chen Ji followed him in. There was a large bunk bed in the room. A burly figure was lying in the innermost part, soundly sleeping. He had no idea what had just happened in the outside world. The tall and thin senior brother was sleeping in the middle of the bunk bed, and his bed was next to the door.

The wooden windows in the apprentice's dormitory were dilapidated, and there was no other furniture except some pots and pans.

In the dim room, the tall and thin senior brother sat on the bunk bed with a blanket wrapped around him. He stared at Chen Ji with sparkling eyes and asked in a low voice, "What happened? Why did you take so long?"

"Nothing happened," Chen Ji shook his head and climbed into the bed tiredly, looking quietly at the wooden beams on the roof and the long-caught spider webs.

The tall and thin senior brother turned over and lay down, saying, "Forget it!"

The room became quiet again, with only the sound of breathing remaining.

Only at this moment did Chen Ji stop and think carefully about his situation: Would Jiaotu and Yunyang let him go? Definitely not.

The abilities that I demonstrated tonight are definitely not something that an apprentice in a clinic can possess, and I happened to appear in the home of a Jing Dynasty spy. How could those two vicious people not be suspicious?
But why did they let him go? Was it because of his master's identity, or did they have other plans?
No matter what the reason is, Chen Ji's best choice now is to stay in the clinic. This clinic is adjacent to the royal palace, and the other party may be cautious about what they want to do.

While he was thinking, Chen Ji's pupils suddenly contracted.

A cold breath in his dantian was spreading throughout his body, devouring the warmth in his muscles, bones, and blood.

That was... a stream of ice that penetrated into Zhou Chengyi's body when he died. At that time, it only felt cold, as if it was an illusion, but now it was like a ferocious beast trapped in Chen Ji's body, angrily looking for a exit, but it could not rush out of Chen Ji's body.

boom.

Chen Ji heard the sound of his blood flowing like an avalanche, as if the blood flowing in his veins was no longer blood, but ice. It seemed that there was a sword hidden in his skinny body, or a dragon that existed thousands of years ago. Chen Ji seemed to be in a dark pool, and was desperately dragged to the bottom of the pool by a hand.

Bitingly cold.

Chen Ji struggled to turn his head and look at the other people in the room, but found that they were sleeping soundly and didn't notice anything. He wrapped himself tightly in the quilt, but the cold air came from the inside out, and it didn't help even if he covered himself completely in the quilt.

Could it be that he is haunted by Zhou Chengyi's evil spirit?
Gradually, before he could figure things out, he curled up into a ball and fell into a state of confusion.

I don’t know how long it had been, but a loud crowing of a rooster came from the distant sky. The sound seemed to penetrate the layers of mist and tear the mist apart.

Chen Ji woke up from the bed and sat up, breathing greedily as if he had just been pulled out of the water.

His hands and feet were cold. What had just happened was not a dream. The ice flow was still raging.

……

……

Outside the window, the meager sunlight was blocked by the white paper window, and the room was dim.

There were two fellow disciples sleeping side by side. The crowing of the roosters did not seem to affect them and they were still snoring.

Just as Chen Ji was stunned, the door was pushed open with a creak.

But his master, "Old Man Yao", stood at the door holding a bamboo stick, and said with disdain, "You didn't get up when the cock crowed. People who know you know you are apprentices, and those who don't know you think you are the eldest sons of some aristocratic family."

As he spoke, he swung the bamboo stick and hit him.

Chen Ji struggled to get up, put on his clothes, and hid aside: "Master, I'm already up!"

Seeing this, Old Man Yao went to beat the others, but heard a wailing sound. Two of his fellow apprentices were beaten with bamboo sticks and fled away in panic: "Master, stop beating! Get up!"

But no matter how the two brothers dodged, the bamboo sticks always fell on them accurately. The little old man with a hunched back was obviously 92 years old, but he was extremely agile.

Old man Yao waved a bamboo stick and drove the three people into the yard, saying coldly: "Stand still!"

Chen Ji originally thought that the morning class at the Imperial Medical Clinic would be reciting medical books, but he didn't expect it to be standing still?
He turned his head and saw that his two brothers were in a strange posture at the same time. It was not a horse stance, but more like a posture of climbing a mountain ridge with huge rocks on their shoulders.

Before he could learn it secretly, the bamboo stick fell on him with a crisp snap. The moment the bamboo stick touched his body, it was like a pain exploding from the gaps between his bones.

The piercing pain and the feeling of cold and weakness almost made Chen Ji faint. He imitated his two fellow apprentices and stood up, while Old Man Yao sneered: "Don't act weak in front of me, it won't work. And don't think that I won't beat you up just because you flatter me."

As he spoke, the bamboo stick fell on the tall and thin senior brother again: "Liu Quxing, am I not talking about you? What the hell are you standing on?"

Liu Quxing cried, "Master, aren't we studying medicine? Why do we have to learn this every day?"

Old man Yao sneered and hit him with the bamboo stick again: "You dare to talk back? The sky has three treasures, the sun, the moon and the stars. People have three treasures, spirit! Without spirit, energy and spirit, you can't learn anything!"

In just a quarter of an hour, the three brothers were beaten with bamboo sticks until they screamed in agony. It was also the first time that Chen Ji was punished physically. Moreover, he was the one who was beaten the most among the three brothers because he was the most unfamiliar with this posture.

just.

At a certain moment while standing in the stance, a warm current surged out from behind Chen Ji's waist, slowly offsetting the coldness of last night.

This warm current sometimes appears and sometimes disappears...or in other words, if the standing posture is correct, it will grow, and if the posture is incorrect, it will disappear.

Chen Ji changed his posture according to his feeling, and when he felt a warm current flowing out from his waist, he maintained his posture without moving. It was as if someone had prepared the answer for him, and he just had to follow it.

Old Man Yao walked up to him and wanted to hit him with a bamboo stick, but he found that Chen Ji's posture was completely correct, and there was no reason for him to hit him with his raised hand...

Later on, Old Man Yao simply stopped looking at him and only beat his other two fellow disciples.

Chen Ji didn't know what was so special about this posture that could actually offset the ice flow. He silently observed the appearance of his other fellow disciples, and they didn't seem to think there was any benefit to this standing posture.

Is he the only one who can feel this warm current?

Half an hour later, the ice flow in Chen Ji's body was suppressed and returned to his dantian, motionless. He breathed a sigh of relief. If the ice flow continued to rage, it would be hard to say whether he could survive the day.

Old man Yao sneered: "Okay, today's morning class is over, Chen Ji has made progress."

The three brothers rubbed their wounds with grimace in their eyes. If they took off their clothes now, their bodies would surely be covered in bruises.

"Hurry up and get out of here and wait for your family at the main hall. Today is the day to pay the tuition money. If I don't see the tuition money, you will pack up and go home immediately!" Old Man Yao said coldly, "Chen Ji, remember to ask for money when your family comes later. The money for the medicine lost last night is 320 coins. Not a penny less."

Chen Ji was stunned for a moment.

family……

Do I still have family in this world?

(End of this chapter)