The two assistants watched cautiously as Liu'er emerged from the backyard.
Liu'er waved the small flag in her hand.
"Sister Liu'er, is Miss Jun still going out?" one assistant asked bravely.
Liu'er glanced at them, her face showing confusion.
"Of course, she is," she said. "Why wouldn't she go?"
Why wouldn't she go? After being scolded like that, she still dares to go out? How thick-skinned must she be?
"Scolded for what? They can rant all they want; what does that have to do with my Miss? They simply aren't qualified enough for my Miss to treat them. It is they who should be ashamed," Liu'er said with a snort.
Realizing just how thick-skinned she was, the two assistants thought back to how the rumors about Miss Jun being an object of ridicule in Yangcheng began.
Someone entered from the door.
"Is Miss Jun here?" accompanied by the question.
Since no one had come in for a long time, the sudden arrival of someone looking for Miss Jun startled the two assistants in the room.
Could it be someone coming to scold them?
They turned and saw a young nobleman.
"Noble Son Ning?" said Liu'er, looking at him. "It's been some days since we've seen you."
In the beginning, he came every day to court Miss, but ever since she opened her own clinic and became a bell healer, he had been absent. Was it disdain?
Ning Yunzhao naturally understood Liu'er's implication.
So, she had that kind of thought too?
He had stopped coming because he was concerned that she might misunderstand his excessive attention.
But he had forgotten that both sudden negligence and sudden attentiveness could equally lead to misunderstandings.
She must have misunderstood.
Maybe not.
But was there a little bit of misunderstanding?
So, she was rejecting his kindness?
Amidst his pondering thoughts, Miss Jun came out from the back, carrying her medicine chest, and upon seeing him, smiled as usual.
"Noble Son Ning, you've come," she said. "What brings you here?"
Ning Yunzhao looked at her calm expression, for he was a man who spoke his mind.
"Is it because of me that you refused to provide treatment?" he asked directly.
Although he prided himself on creating an ingenious trap and making thorough preparations, she was still her, with her keen intuition. Suddenly, someone comes asking for her medical assistance, claiming it was an old matter from Runan, and she would surely think of him who also knew of the Runan affairs.
Indeed, he had confirmed this by finding a relative of the Ning Family. He knew about the old Runan incident, so, naturally, the Ning family members would too. It's normal for family to spread such gossip in everyday conversation, so one couldn't assume it was his arrangement.
But no matter how thorough his avoidance, she would still guess it was his doing.
He didn't delude himself about this.
Miss Jun paused at the question.
"That Wang from the Cao Family, ah," she said, as if she had just understood, laughed, and shook her head, "Of course not, Noble Son Ning, you're overthinking it."
Ning Yunzhao watched her expression.
"Do you know who Wang from the Cao Family is?" he asked, with a touch of confusion in his eyes.
Miss Jun laughed.
"Ning," she began to speak, on the verge of saying Ning Yan, but caught herself, "... your cousin's wet nurse."
She knew Wang from the Cao Family? It wasn't just because Wang suddenly approached her to seek medical treatment that she became suspicious.
How did she know Wang from the Cao Family?
Wang from the Cao Family was just a servant, and even if his uncle was famous in the capital, a wet nurse from a relative's household wouldn't be famous in the capital because of that.
Ning Yunzhao looked at Miss Jun with some surprise, then his gaze fell on the two assistants in the hall.
De Sheng Chang.
Although Miss Jun was new to the capital's circle, De Sheng Chang had been entrenched in the capital for many years. Those intricate and entangled relationships of the capital's people, they knew them very well.
Realizing this and seeing his expression, Miss Jun suddenly understood.
"So that's how it is," she said. "So Wang from the Cao Family was introduced by you, Noble Son Ning."
Ning Yunzhao laughed self-deprecatingly.
"I'm ashamed," he said.
"No, no," Miss Jun shook her head with a smile. "I knew who she was, but didn't know she had anything to do with you."
With a sincere expression, she continued.
"Noble Son Ning, you're overthinking it."
Thinking too much?
Ning Yunzhao looked at her, the girl's straightforward expression and clear eyes calming the soul.
"Am I overthinking it again?" he thought for a moment before asking.
Miss Jun smiled and nodded.
She recognized Cao Family's Wang not because of Ning Yunzhao, but because she already knew of her.
Of course, she had never met Wang Cao Family's lady; she only knew there was such a person living in this alley, a servant of Ning Yan's in-laws.
For someone of Ning Yan's rank, the residence and occupations of related people, even servants, were clearly known to Lu Yunqi.
She truly had not expected that Mrs. Wang of the Cao Family was arranged by Ning Yunzhao.
Thinking about this, she couldn't help but smile again.
Seeing her smile, Ning Yunzhao looked a bit uncomfortable but also seemed he wanted to smile.
So he smiled.
"Then that means you refused to treat patients not because you didn't want to owe me a favor," he said with a smile.
Miss Jun pursed her lips in a smile but did not answer this time.
There was no need to answer such a question.
Ning Yunzhao smiled as well.
The two shop assistants in the room watched the laughing man and woman, exchanged glances, and saw the complex and strange expressions in each other's eyes.
"So what you mean is you need to find someone who can truly help you to treat the illness?" Ning Yunzhao's smile faded as he composed himself and spoke.
Discarding those messy thoughts, he then began to make sense of the matter.
So the old saying "concern leads to chaos" was true.
Miss Jun nodded her head.
"I understand what you mean," said Ning Yunzhao, his eyebrows knitting slightly, "but isn't it difficult to find someone like that?"
Miss Jun thought for a moment.
"It's not easy, but it's not impossible either," she said.
Ning Yunzhao nodded his head.
"If you need help, just let me know," he said, "Don't..."
Don't make me worry.
He promptly bit off the rest of the thought; it could lead to misunderstanding.
"Don't be polite," he said.
Miss Jun nodded.
"I've never been a polite person," she said, looking at Ning Yunzhao with a smile, "Noble Son Ning should know that best."
Whether it was making the Ning Family pay five thousand taels for the marriage agreement or causing Lin Jin'er to be disgraced, she was never polite in her dealings.
Speaking of which, these matters were related to him and should be awkward, but why did he involuntarily smile?
She said, he should know best.
She said, he knew her best.
Xiaoding, watching the young man stride out of the main hall with a buoyant step and a smile at the corner of his mouth, was dumbfounded.
The Young Master had only been inside for a short time, and he had already undergone a transformation from a frowning face to this.
Was he really so easily appeased?
If he were to get married in the future, he would definitely not be the one in charge of household matters.
Xiaoding shook his head and followed.
---
"Is this what Tenth Noble Son Ning said?"
After hearing the assistant's report, Manager Liu asked.
The assistant nodded and his eyes flickered with evasion.
"Manager, it seems that Miss Jun and Noble Son Ning's relationship isn't too bad, huh?" he said in a low voice, "Isn't it said that the two families are enemies?"
But looking at these past few days, Noble Son Ning seems really concerned about Miss Jun, and they've even had several meals together, even going out for drinks at night, just like close friends.
If they were both men, one could say so, but with a man and a woman...
Manager Liu glared at the assistant who was making gestures with his eyebrows.
"Look at the time we're in, focusing on these irrelevant matters," he scolded, "What are you, a busybody?"
The assistant sheepishly lowered his head and stepped back.
"She will treat the illness only if she finds someone who can truly help her," Manager Liu muttered to himself, stroking his beard and frowning, "That means someone who can make a name for themselves. So, she would be looking for someone to cure a difficult, serious illness that others can't, and the patient's status must be considered too. But can she really find such a person wandering aimlessly around the city?"
Patients of status have already sought out famous doctors and are hidden away in wealthy homes. Who would hire a bell healer like her? And besides, she's now saddled with the reputation of being a healer who's greedy and selective with her patients, lacking a benevolent heart.
This seems absolutely impossible, and yet Miss Jun seems to have everything under control.
Interesting.
Manager Liu stood up.
"No, I have to see this for myself," he said, "To see what ingenious trap this remarkable woman is setting up next."