Heavenly doctor Ming was casually marking up the prices of his medicines when he had an epiphany.
He had already asked around in the market as to whether any short men had entered or bought anything, or had even simply been spotted around.
It pained his heart to look around asking about a short man knowing that said man was disguised as him. His height had always been his weakness.
Seventy years ago in the mountains as a child he had learnt medicine from a great and wise master who was famed to be the best in the kingdom, if not the best in the world. Even this great master could not fix his height.
Heavenly doctor Ming had always been shy and reserved and that didn't help him at all. Especially when courting women.
Now, he had finally realised that even with all his fame and glory, at the age of almost eighty it was unlikely he would ever find a wife.
His story was a tragic one.
As an orphan in the outskirts of the kingdom he took a test for the best school in the kingdom, and passed with the highest marks ever, at the youngest age ever.
He was hailed as a genius who was even slightly taller than the children his age.
Then once in school he realised he was no longer growing.
All his efforts were ignored, and from being hailed as a genius he became a student often shunned and mocked for being just slightly taller than a midget.
Heavenly doctor midget, is what his classmates called him.
Imagine going from tall to short, Bai Jingfei would understand his pain if she was told about it.
Anyways, heavenly doctor Ming walked around stealthily like a crab, inspecting the only road the intruder could have come in from.
After great painstaking measures he had discovered that the only way someone could have entered the nobles' market was through the Bai family mansion, as the earliest accounts of the intruder were from a candy shop a few feet from the mansion.
Heavenly doctor Ming decided to go inspect said road, and found a hole in the wall bordering the market.
A hole big enough for him to squeeze through.
And if said hole could fit him, it could most definitely fit the person pretending to be him.
So heavenly doctor Ming stuck his head through the hole and squeezed his way into the Bai family mansion.
Of course for an old man like him this was quite a pain, but he persevered and squeezed through eventually.
His cheap robe was now covered in mud at the knees and he was sweating profusely from the exercise. His hair was a mess and his beard was in disarray.
He peaked around the garden as if pretending to be a cat or something of the sort, and was looking incredibly suspicious when he felt himself being lifted into the air by his collar.
"Father! I've caught a rat!"
Bai Liu's scream caught his father's attention and prime minister Bai slowly walked out of the study and toward the garden only to see his son hold heavenly doctor Ming up in the air by his collar, much like one would with a stray cat.
"What do I do with this thing?" asked Bai Liu after his father didn't respond for a few minutes.
Heavenly doctor Ming who was still being held up by his collar, had stopped moving out of fear. The kingdom's trespassing laws were quite strict and he had no good reason for intruding into the Bai family mansion without prior permission.
"It looks like this man is the one pretending to be heavenly doctor Ming. I shall send someone to notify the emperor about this-"
"I'm not pretending! I really am the heavenly doctor…"
Bai Liu and prime minister Bai both gave heavenly doctor Ming similar, speechless looks. It was evident neither of them believed that this man could be a dignified doctor.
Feeling his arm starting to ache, Bai Liu casually tossed the heavenly doctor to the side, signalling at a guard to watch him.
Heavenly doctor Ming rubbed his bruised butt in pain, much like a certain cave creature had done many many many times.
Bai Liu decided to tell his younger sister to stay in her room, lest she be in danger due to this man. Of course no one wants their cute younger sister to interact with frauds and psychopaths.
Too bad for them, Bai Jingfei was the number one fraud but maybe not psychopath.
Now sitting on the grass alone, heavenly doctor Ming contemplated his entire life so far.
What exactly was he thinking when he snuck into the Bai family mansion. As a heavenly doctor he easily could've come in through the front gate with permission, and inspected the hole from inside.
He sat there hugging his dirty knees like a little girl in the sandpit waiting for her turn on the swings at the playground.
He almost could feel himself tearing up.
He had no means of proving who he was, so he was probably going to be sitting here, on the floor, in the grass, till the emperor arrived and probably scolded him.
As heavenly doctor Ming sulked, a little cave creature snuck out of her room to take a peek at the "intruder" her brother had warned her about.
Of course he had said not to come out, but when had Bai Jingfei ever followed orders anyway?
She snuck over to the garden, 3 candies in her pocket, dressed in a lovely green cheongsam that was covered in embroidered peonies.
She looked the very definition of an obedient young miss.
Unfortunately she was a very disobedient, of-age miss.
She stepped onto a stone in the garden, not wanting to dirty her pretty golden shoes when she spotted the intruder. It was someone whose face she was very familiar with, in more ways than one.
'What the heck is heavenly doctor Ming doing here?'