Tian Yao and Yan Hui calmly rested that night. The next day bright and early, Zhu Li knocked on Tian Yao's door.
Yan Hui's and Tian Yao's rooms were close to each other. When Zhu Li knocked, she actually was already awake. When she got up, servants from outside came in to serve her. Yan Hui wasn't used to this kind of treatment. She wanted to dismiss them, but then one of the servants spoke: "Miss, you are going to meet the prince today. It's best that you wear Qing Qiu's hair style today."
Yan Hui thought about it; it did make sense. After all, she entered another's domain. It's was already miraculous the demon clansmen weren't discriminating against her for being a xian cultivator. For other matters, she should do as the natives so as much as she could.
Thus she stood in front of the dressing mirror and allowed the servants to comb her hair and dress her.
When they were done, Yan Hui covered her wound and looked in the mirror. She felt like Qing Qiu's style suited her pretty well.
Yan Hui exited her room. Zhu Li and Tian Yao were waiting for her in the courtyard. When Zhu Li saw her, his eyes instantly brighted, and his cheeks flushed red. He hurriedly looked away and with a shaking voice said: "You....you suit...."
"How's your facial wound?" Tian Yao cut off Zhu Li. "It wasn't bandaged last night?"
Tian Yao picked a good topic. At his words, not only Yan Hui, but also Zhu Li himself didn't further wonder why Tian Yao interrupted him.
Yan Hui touched her chin: "The attendant who applied the medicine last night said they were scared of it interfering with today's treatment, so they didn't bandage it."
Zhu Li nodded: "I came precisely to talk you two to the doctor. Right now the doctor is at my Third Uncle's residence to treat his illness. I came by to get your wound treated, and it just so happened that Third Uncle also wanted to meet Tian Yao."
Wanted to meet Tian Yao? Yan Hui mulled over it. That's right, probably everyone in Qing Qiu wanted to meet Tian Yao.
Zhu Li continued: "....then we will meet the King of Qing Qiu."
"Meet.....who?" Yan Hui was stunned. "The king? Your king?"
Zhu Li nodded.
Yan Hui instantly was wary.
She was a xian cultivator. Since childhood, she was taught the Nine-tailed Fox Demon Clan's strength was highly untouchable, especially their king. It was unknown how many years the king has lived. Rumor was he could swallow 10 people whole.
Yan Hui was braver than the average xian cultivator, but she wasn't so brave that her legs didn't tremble at hearing she was about the meet the strongest demon alive. Especially with the hostility between xian and demons right now, one misspoken word, and she might lose her life....
If she were to die here in Qing Qiu, probably no one would speak out on her behalf.
"I'm not going." Yan Hui repeatedly shook her head. "The one your king wants to meet is definitely Tian Yao. If he goes, that'll be enough. I'll return to the courtyard by myself to recuperate."
The tip of Tian Yao's eyebrow twitched when he saw how easily Yan Hui abandoned him. Zhu Li quickly said: "Don't be scared. Us clansmen know the difference between grudges and gratitude. You saved me at Chen Xing Mountain, so you're my savior. Royal Grandfather just wanted to thank you."
"Thanking me is easy. Just give me money."
Zhu Li was slightly angry: "How can my life be valued with money!"
"To me it can be."
Zhu Li: "...."
"First get her wound treated." Tian Yao broke apart their conversation and took the lead on leaving the courtyard. His words temporarily shelved the topic.
The Nine-tailed Fox Demon Clan's Third Prince had lost his eyesight several years ago. His body was also weak. He already relied on medicine to keep him alive. Every few days, the doctor would come to the prince's residence. Thus, there was a courtyard just for the doctor to stay and rest in.
Yan Hui went straight to the doctor's courtyard. She didn't wait long before someone notified her the doctor was coming.
Zhu Li, who was sitting by Yan Hui, coughed and reminded her: "I heard the doctor today isn't in a good mood. When the doctor comes to look at your injury, don't talk. Don't say a word."
Yan Hui raised an eyebrow: "You're scared of the doctor?"
"No way!" retorted Zhu Li, but his voice was somewhat weak. " I just.....we respect the doctor for healing and treating us."
At the end of his words, the doctor appeared with a case in hand.
Yan Hui didn't expect Qing Qiu's revered doctor to be female. The doctor placed the case on the table with a thunk.
The doctor's expression wasn't good. While others greeted Zhu Li, she didn't even spare him a glance. Instead she directly walked to Yan Hui: "You're the injured one?" Her tone was extremely impatient.
Yan Hui's face relied on her to treat, so Yan Hui silently kept her mouth shut and endured the attitude.
The doctor pinched Yan Hui's chin in her hand and brusquely turned it to the right. In a split second, Yan Her could practically hear her neck pop.
Damn....a little more strength and her neck would've been broken.....
Yan Hui's back broke out in sweat. She was thinking about asking for another doctor when the female doctor spoke: "The knife wound has cold poisoning. Injury is a day old, and the poison has entered the bone. Requires nine days of acupuncture, nine days of medicine to dispel the cold." As she spoke, the boy by her side recorded.
The doctor spoke rapidly. She didn't even look to see if the boy could keep up. She only cared about finishing her diagnosis and then picked up her medicine case to leave. No one dared to stop her. Even Zhu Li could only look at her. Everyone remained silent. Only Tian Yao frowned and spoke up: "Will the wound scar vanished when it heals?"
The doctor's footsteps paused. Her gaze was cold when she turned to look at Tian Yao: "I am a doctor that heals injuries. I don't deal with beauty. What does leaving a scar have to do with me?"
Tian Yao hadn't replied when Zhu Li piped in: "Doctor, is Third Uncle's treatment for today finished?"
"Same shit as always." The doctor exploded into vulgarness. It was such that even Yan Hui, who usually viewed herself more like a man, raised an eyebrow. "Just let him die. I don't want to waste my time and energy keeping him half alive."
Zhu Li swallowed and silently retreated a step. Off to the side, a servant took this chance to back out of the room. It looked like he went to bring reinforcements. Seems like....this doctor often lost her temper.....
Everyone looked familiar with this routine.
Yan Hui decided that his doctor truly was a man.
After abusing Zhu Li, the doctor still wasn't done with being angry. She turned to look at Tian Yao. Fixing her gaze on him, she looked him up and down to size him up: "Huh, a dragon demon!" She paused, then continued with a strange, mocking tone. "You have a sinister appearance, but your inner breath is superficial. I heard twenty years ago you loved a widowed, cold xian cultivator and you were betrayed quite severely..."
When her words came out, everyone in the room was stunned.
Yan Hui was also surprised. What happened between Tian Yao and Su Ying had never been whispered about in the jianghu. Up to now, no xian cultivator knew that the one who Su Ying and Zhenren Qing Guang teamed up to kill was a Millennium Dragon Demon. And by the looks of Zhu Li's face, it was clear the average demon didn't know either.
Tian Yao only looked at the doctor with a slightly chilly gaze.
"Blame my race's heart for being different." The doctor had a peculiar expression as she spoke. It was extremely mocking toward Tian Yao, but her own eyes revealed pain. "Liking those heartless xian cultivators lead you to becoming like this. It's all your own fault....."
Tian Yao didn't say a word in retort.
Yan Hui had always known suffering "dismemberment" at the hands of Su Ying was Tian Yao's deeply hidden anguish. He couldn't forgive Su Ying and also couldn't forgive the love-struck him back then. He didn't refute the doctor's words because he couldn't refute them. His wound was bared open in front of everyone with no warning, but he didn't avoid it because.....
He was also punishing himself.
Punishing that stupid, love-struck self sitting in his heart for falling for Su Ying.
"It serves you right!"
"Enough." Yan Hui slammed her hand on the table and stood up. She stood in front of Tian Yao, blocking him from view. Yan Hui stared at the doctor with a cold light in her eyes. "What serves him right."
The doctor was inflamed that Yan Hui interrupted her: "Since when can I be interrupted by an outsider!" She threw a pill at Yan Hui. Yan Hui narrowed her eyes. From that throw, she could tell that although the doctor might be highly skilled in medicine, her athleticism really...
Was so poor.
With a casual wave of her hand, Yan Hui blocked the medicine pill and rebounded it, so it landed on the doctor instead. The strength of Yan Hui's throw was much more than when the doctor threw. When the pill landed on the doctor's shoulder, she cried out in pain. The pill exploded open, and her shoulder immediately broke out in an itchy, hard-to-cure rash.
The doctor gritted her teeth and promptly started to rummage through her medicine case for the cure.
"This Qing Qiu outsider will continue with what she was saying. The person behind me, what serves him right?" Taking advantage of the doctor's flustered state, Yan Hui loomed over her and said:
"If he loved, then he loved. If he got hurt, then he got hurt. If he was stupid, then he was stupid. Did he interfere with your business or life? It doesn't matter if he used to love a xian cultivator. Even if he loved a pig, or dog, or chicken, or even some rock lying in the road, that has absolutely nothing to do with you. He didn't do anything that let down others, that let down morality and ethics, that let down sincerity. The one that you should be scolding, the one that you should be rebuking is the one that schemed treachery and despicably trampled on a heart. This kind of base character has nothing to do if they are xian or demon, nothing to do with how they look. It's all to do with their heart and mind."
"Nothing to do with you, with me, and even more nothing to do with him."
The room was silent after Yan Hui's speech.
The doctor had found the medicine vial, but she didn't move. It was like the medicine she made no longer had the ability to cure the itch.
"Pu Fang!" From outside suddenly came a man's feeble sounding call.
The doctor recollected herself at the call. She grabbed her medicine case and, like a rabbit, ran out of the courtyard.
"It seems like you're forgetting how to control your temper. Get back here!" The person yelled out, but Pu Fang had already disappeared without a trace. The sound of coughing immediately followed.
Zhu Li immediately went to the doorway. It was a rare sight to see that half-grown, liked-to-pretend-to-be-arrogant child respectfully greet another: "Third Uncle."
The still coughing man was supported into the room by servants. Zhu Li also hurriedly went to help.
Yan Hui couldn't help sighing when she saw the man. The everyone in the Nine-tailed Fox Demon Clan was so attractive, really too attractive.....
Even with a pair of gray eyes and not a wisp of vigor, the man's facial features were at a level of sharp handsomeness that ordinary people could only dream of.
Zhu Li supported the man to sit in the middle of the room. Even though that half-grown child called him uncle, the man didn't look much different than how a 20 year old would look. It was just that his countenance had a weight younger people wouldn't have.
"Tian Yao...."
Yan Hui was still observing the man's appearance when she suddenly heard him ruefully sigh Tian Yao's name. "20 years have past since you left. Have you been well?"
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Tbh, I think the doctor and Yan Hui would've been good friends in another life.