"Banqin, you don't feel comfortable here, why not come with me." He said suddenly.
Banqin lowered his head and saluted.
"Thank you, Mr. Sir, I don't want to leave." She said.
It is not up to her to decide whether a maid should stay or go. Qin Langjun should not ask her such a question, and she should not answer it.
Qin Langjun smiled, and Zhou Langjun snorted.
"Go down," he said.
Banqin saluted and withdrew with a bit of panic.
Night shrouds the Zhou family's house, and lights are everywhere in the first month of the year, making them festive and bright.
Banqin stood behind a big tree outside Cheng Jiaoniang's yard as always, looking at the yard that had not been closed yet.
She dug into the bark of the tree with her hands and stared blankly at the courtyard.
A woman walked out of the corridor, her delicate figure outlined in the intersection of light and dark.
This is that...banqin.
Banqin tensed up and looked through the door to see what the maid was saying. Two maids nodded respectfully and hurriedly walked out the door.
Banqin hurriedly shrank back behind the tree.
"What does Miss Banqin want with these so late?"
"Whatever you care about, if people want it, just go and deliver it quickly."
The two maids chatted and hurried past on the road, and the courtyard door over there was closed, cutting off Banqin's sight.
She was stunned for another moment, then turned around and took a step forward. She stumbled, but the feet she was standing on were numb from the cold. She bent over and rubbed them vigorously for a long time before she relaxed a little. She hugged her shoulders and ran towards her residence.
On the way, I met a maid on night watch, and I had to inspect her carefully. When I got back to my residence, the door was also locked.
She didn't dare to shout loudly, so she knocked on the door carefully, and after a while she opened it with several curses.
The lights in the room had already been darkened. When I walked in, I didn't know what I bumped into, and there was a burst of curses for a moment, and then everything fell into silence.
It was a nice sunny day, and a carriage stopped again just as it was about to turn a corner on the street.
"Dalangjun, Sanlangjun." The maid raised the curtain and shouted, jumped out of the car and saluted.
Fan Jianglin and Xu Maoxiu came over side by side.
"My sister is coming home?" they asked, looking at the carriage.
No woman appeared in the carriage again.
"No, Madam asked me to bring some food." The maid smiled.
Fan Jianglin and Xu Maoxiu nodded with smiles.
"You go back and tell your sister that the matter has almost been discussed. We will see when we can sign a contract." Xu Maoxiu said implicitly.
In other words, when will I have money?
The maid nodded and said goodbye.
People and cars go their separate ways.
Han Yuanchao stopped on the street.
"Yuan Dynasty? What's wrong?" his companion called back.
"I just saw that girl." Han Yuanchao said, looking behind him.
The carriage turned into a narrow alley and disappeared.
"Which girl?" asked the companion.
Han Yuanchao smiled and went ahead instead.
"No one." He smiled.
The companion smiled and shook his head to follow, but there was a commotion on the street.
"Get out of the way, get out of the way."
Accompanied by shouts, guards from unknown houses opened the way randomly with sticks in their hands.
Pedestrians on the street took cover one after another, and those who were hit could only admit that they were unlucky. His status as someone who could use guards to clear the way was naturally high, so he could not be charged with disturbing the people.
"Who is that?" Han Yuanchao and his companions were also squeezed aside and couldn't help but ask.
"Are you from outside?" someone next to him said, looking at the two of them, "You are still a scholar. Now that you are in the capital, you have to memorize the emblems of some people."
Han Yuanchao and his companions looked at each other and were both amused.
"May I ask, father-in-law, whose noble family is this?" they asked.
My father-in-law took pride in being well-informed.
"Let me tell you, this is the carriage of Tong Naihan's family." He said, thinking of something and laughing softly, "Is this Tong Naihan eating too much stalactite and going crazy?"
Neihan is an internal Hanlin scholar who is a close official of the emperor and drafts imperial edicts.
Han Yuanchao naturally knew about this stalactite, and he also knew about it because the elders in his family also took it.
But not everyone can afford this.
Gold, stone, and elixirs have always been enjoyed by the wealthy.
"Three thousand taels of stalactite." The old man shook his head and walked away. (Note 1)
This is not a rare thing in Beijing.
Han Yuanchao and his companions looked at each other, smiled, and continued to move forward.
People are coming and going again on the streets.
The speeding carriage stopped in front of a house. There were four or five men waiting anxiously in front of the door. They rushed over before the carriage stopped.
"Master Li, Master Li." They shouted in a noisy manner.
The car curtain was opened, and a child jumped out first, and then Doctor Li got out of the car tremblingly.
"Hurry up, hurry up." The person who greeted us urged.
"There's no hurry, no hurry." Dr. Li said.
The old man moved slowly, and the anxious people wanted to pick him up and run away. However, this old man was a medical officer of the Imperial Medical Bureau, or a medical officer who was given a purple robe by the Queen Mother, so they did not dare to take it easy.
The sound of crying in the yard was loud.
"Why cry, don't be discouraged!" A man from the room rushed over and shouted.
The servants and girls in the yard hurriedly covered their mouths.
Doctor Li walked into the room, and the women in the room didn't care to avoid it.
"Master Li, look at what happened to him?" Tong Neihan's wife said in tears, leading him inside personally.
Dr. Li walked into the room, where he saw a man in his late fifties with a fair complexion and a fat body, lying on his back on the couch. His whole body was shaking, his eyes were closed tightly, and he let out hoarse shouts one after another.
Doctor Li did not come near, but looked around. Sure enough, he saw a brocade box on a low table beside him, with a porcelain vase upside down inside.
"Take stalactite again?" he said.
"Yes, it's new from the south." Mrs. Tong said, wiping her tears, "It's the best. It happened just a few days after I ate it, and then it suddenly became like this."
Doctor Li snorted.
"Didn't I say that it's best for you, Sir, not to eat this?" he said.
"Sir, the master's leg disease will only work if he takes this. If he doesn't take it, he won't be able to leave." Mrs. Tong said with tears.
Doctor Li shook his head and looked at Tong Neihan, who was still screaming hoarsely on the bed.
The child opened the medicine box and handed it over. Doctor Li picked up a golden needle from it, knelt down in front of the couch, held Tong Neihan's head with one hand, and inserted the needle into his hair with the other.
The roaring in the house suddenly disappeared.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
"Miracle doctor, miraculous doctor." There was a low voice of admiration from outside.
"What kind of miracle doctor am I?" Dr. Li muttered, stood up, and looked at Tong Nehan who was trembling on the bed.
"My lord is humble, my lord is humble," Mrs. Tong said hurriedly wiping her tears.
The sons on the side also hurriedly saluted and thanked him.
"Don't thank me, let's prepare for the funeral." Doctor Li said.
This sentence made everyone in the room take a breath and look horrified.
"grown ups!"
The room suddenly became chaotic.
"I have no choice but to use a needle to make him walk more decently, otherwise it would be really..." Dr. Li shook his head and said. He has seen too many reactions to this kind of life and death, and he also
He didn't feel anything anymore, so he called to the child, "Why don't you go ask another doctor to take a look."
Even the doctors at the Imperial Medical Bureau said it was hopeless, so where else could we ask for doctors?
Everyone in the Tong family suddenly looked ashen.
Since their father was indeed hopeless and the funeral ceremony was so important that nothing could go wrong, the sons of the Tong family immediately hurriedly invited their elders or sent letters to their brothers in other places. The sad atmosphere was somewhat diluted by the busyness.
When the women outside heard the news, they burst into tears again.
"Oh my God, sister, what should we do?" Several beautiful concubines in their twenties hugged each other and trembled.
With Tong Neihan here, these beauties have no worries about food and clothing. If Tong Neihan is gone, they will have nothing at home.
Mrs. Tong must either sell them or give them away.
It's okay to give them away, but some of them who have children are reluctant to part with them.
I couldn't help crying immediately.
The master is dying, the master is dying, and there is no cure...
Suddenly a beautiful concubine suddenly raised her head.
"You guys, have you heard about it?" she said tremblingly.
"What time has it been? What nonsense are you still thinking about?" a maid cried, "Don't worry about others for now. We, the Clay Buddha, can't save ourselves when we cross the river."
"No, no, there is someone, there is someone who said that it cannot be cured unless a person is mortal!" The concubine said, "Well, since the master is a mortal person now, then it can be cured."
Everyone was crying, they were whispering in the background, and soon everyone looked over.
"What are you talking about? Why not treat a dying person?"
The beautiful concubine looked into the room and bit her lower lip.
"Madam, madam." She stood up and shouted, crying, and rushed in. "Please invite someone to show me to the master."
The direct relatives who were discussing the funeral in the house were startled, and even more annoyed when they saw that it was a concubine.
"Madam, madam, that Mrs. Cheng who met the immortal." The beautiful concubine said hurriedly before she was dragged out, "Ms. Cheng who cured the old man of Mr. Chen's family, is from Jiangzhou, and belongs to the real person Li Daozu Li Shenxian.
Disciple, whatever she can cure, she said she would only cure those who are bound to die!"
People in the Tong family had heard a little bit about these rumors, but they didn't take them seriously.
"What trouble are you making?" Mrs. Tong cried, kneeling in front of the couch, supporting her husband who was exhaling a lot but not exhaling a lot, crying loudly.
"Madam, madam, it's true. It's spread all over the world. Madam, go and try it." The concubine also cried loudly and kowtowed on the ground, "Madam, let me try again. You don't want to
This is how the master died. If there is someone who can cure it, why not give it a try?"
Anyway, if the master is dead, she will not end well. Even if this angers the madam, it will not be a big deal. If the master is really cured, not only will the wealth be saved, but she will also be considered to have made a great contribution.
As expected, these words made Mrs. Tong furious, and her sons became even more serious.
"You bitch," they shouted, "Whoever comes here, beat him out."
"Madam, madam, it's really Mrs. Cheng from Yuxian. No one else can cure it. She said that only people who are about to die can be cured. Please, madam, let me have a look. Let me have a look.
, it can be considered as your best effort." The beautiful concubine shouted, rushing forward and hugging Mrs. Tong's legs tightly, "If the master is gone, we will not have a good life, Sanlang, Shiro, there is no help..."
These words made several men in the room look a little gloomy.
Tong Neihan's status is naturally enough for his descendants to help him, but he can only help his eldest son. The other sons either rely on studying for the imperial examination or waiting for their father to gain further merit.
After all, studying for the imperial examination is hard work. Although Tong Neihan is said to be a close minister of the emperor, he is not the kind of position where he can get credit at will, so the only way is to pass the qualifications, so that if the next sons fail to pass the imperial examination, they can
Come to shade.
If he died like this, the future of his children and grandchildren would be better than if his father were not alive.
"That Mrs. Cheng can really be cured?" one of the sons asked.
The beautiful concubine was overjoyed and kowtowed.
"Please sir, give it a try," she cried.
That son looks at other people.
"Then go and invite him." The elder made a decision and said.
"Wait a minute." Mrs. Tong shouted.
Everyone hurriedly looked over, and the beautiful concubine suddenly started crying again, and the sons also hesitated to persuade her.
"Madam, there are rules when it comes to medical treatment. People don't come to the door for consultation." Mrs. Tong cried, reaching out and patting the bed, "Hurry up and take your father!"
*******************
Note 1: Bai Juyi's poem "Three thousand taels of stalactites and twelve lines of golden hairpins"
