Li Lianhua walked over to the table and poured himself a cup of tea, looking at Bai Buyu with a calm expression. "Why, does Miss Buyu think I look like a miraculous doctor?"
"Not at all." Bai Buyu shook her head.
"Then..."
"Well, this young lady has never seen the miraculous doctor Li Lianhua, but naturally, I've heard of him. I've heard that Fang Duobing, the young master of Tianji Hall, has quite a connection with the miraculous doctor Li Lianhua. I'll take you to meet Fang Duobing, and then you'll naturally know whether you are the miraculous doctor Li Lianhua or not."
Li Lianhua sighed softly and said in a gentle tone, "Li Lianhua is just Li Lianhua. Whether I am the miraculous doctor Li Lianhua or not, why should it matter?"
"You miraculous doctors really do live up to your undeserved reputations." Bai Buyu curled her lip, sat down, and poured herself a cup of tea. "A miraculous doctor, indeed! Afflicted with a rare poison, if you hadn't run into this young lady, you probably would have gone to see King Yama long ago."
"True," Li Lianhua smiled. "Miss Buyu can just assume that I used the name Li Lianhua to swindle and bluff my way through the pugilistic world too many times, and now that I've managed to return from the dead, I naturally don't want to continue roaming the martial arts world under the identity of the miraculous doctor Li Lianhua."
"Whether you're Li Lianhua, Li Ahua, or even if you say your name is Li Lianpeng, it's none of my business." Bai Buyu tilted her head, her large eyes staring at Li Lianhua. "As long as you fulfill your three-year pact with me, I don't care who you are."
Li Lianhua took a sip of tea. "That would be wonderful."
"But your poison..." Bai Buyu thought for a moment. "My grandmother will definitely have a way. Why don't we set off for Jiutao Mountain tomorrow to find my grandmother?"
"Is the Jiutao Mountain Miss Buyu mentioned Shenyang Five-Finger Jiutao Mountain?"
"Yes."
"Then your grandmother is..."
"Medical Immortal Madam Yu?"
A sudden realization dawned on Li Lianhua. So that was it—no wonder Bai Buyu had happened to save him by sheer coincidence.
"Medical Immortal, schmedical immortal. My grandmother despises those empty titles the most. Although I can temporarily suppress the poison in your body, it is ultimately not a long-term solution. If you want to completely cure this Bicha Poison, you still need to find my grandmother."
"Miss Buyu needn't trouble yourself over this." Li Lianhua seemed somewhat drowsy. He had washed up and changed into new clothes early in the morning, and after bustling about all morning, the simple act of drinking tea finally brought on a wave of exhaustion. He rested his chin in one hand on the table, preparing to fall asleep right there. "Whether this poison is cured or not makes little difference to Li Lianhua. This life of mine was borrowed in the first place, so things are quite good as they are."
"That simply won't do." Bai Buyu stared at Li Lianhua. The man's breathing was even now, looking as though he had already fallen asleep. "Three years is the limit, and this young lady won't let you get the short end of the stick. Your poison—I will definitely get it cured for you. Tomorrow we set off to find my grandmother, and once the poison is cured, we can go out and roam the pugilistic world together."
After delivering this self-assured, grandiose speech, Bai Buyu tiptoed out of the room.
Li Lianhua, who had been sleeping with his eyes closed, curved the corners of his lips into a faint smile.
That young miss had finally left after rattling on with all those words.
The daylight today was simply too lovely; it would be an absolute waste not to use it for sleeping.
The next day, Bai Buyu dragged Li Lianhua along, insisting on setting off for Jiutao Mountain. Li Lianhua had originally suggested hiring a carriage, but after asking for the price at the post station and waving her hands repeatedly in bitter frugality, Bai Buyu weighed her options. After several rounds of bargaining, she finally pulled out thirty taels of fine, glistening silver with great reluctance to buy the two skinniest horses she could find at the market.
"Miss Buyu certainly understands the art of business management," Li Lianhua evaluated objectively.
Bai Buyu carefully tucked away the remaining silver, went to an inn before leaving the city to pack two portions of pastries for the road, and once everything was ready, the two of them leisurely rode their skinny horses out of the city.
Who would have thought that less than three miles outside the city gates, they would be surrounded and blocked by a large group of people.
"Bandits?" Li Lianhua asked Bai Buyu with a pastry stuffed in his mouth. "How could there be bandits on the imperial highway?"
Bai Buyu: "They really are getting far too unbridled."
"Who are you calling bandits?!" The leading captain of the guards simply couldn't listen any longer. Especially when Bai Buyu dropped that remark about them being far too unbridled, he was on the verge of a complete breakdown.
"You female swindler, fake physician! How do you even have the nerve to say we're unbridled? The Jin Family Fortress hasn't even settled accounts with you yet for poisoning our young master! Our young master hasn't even been buried yet, and I'm going to tie you up right now to take you back for trial, to pay with your life for our young master!"
"Poisoned whom?" Bai Buyu suspected she had misheard. She lowered her head and earnestly asked a junior guard standing closest to her, "Did your young master die from diarrhea? That's not right, though—I clearly only administered three days' worth of croton bean medicine that day. If he could die from just that, his constitution must be far too weak."
"This..." Confronted by Bai Buyu's wide, bright eyes, the interrogated junior guard felt a baseless flush of embarrassment. "They said the young master's orifices were bleeding and he died with a particularly terrifying expression. The mis... mistress said it must be you, a fake physician, who acted with a ruthless heart and poisoned our young master to death."
"This is simply... alarmist nonsense!" Bai Buyu declared righteously. "Although this young lady couldn't stand your young master's bloated, fat-eared appearance and his bullying behavior toward commoners and women, I wouldn't go so far as to poison him to death."
"Cut the crap, take her down! And this fellow too—he looks just like this female swindler's accomplice. Brothers, tie them both up together and take them back to report to the master."
The head guard didn't care about Bai Buyu's sophistry. He had spent days searching around the surrounding towns and had finally managed to catch Bai Buyu; this little life of his could finally be considered saved.
Bai Buyu wanted to say something more, but she saw Li Lianhua very cooperatively dismount his horse and very cooperatively extend his hands to let someone tie him up.
He even nodded and smiled at her with complete calm and ease after being bound.
In that smile, Bai Buyu understood his meaning: was he... telling her to cooperate as well?
Li Lianhua and Bai Buyu got their wish and boarded a carriage, albeit in the status of prisoners.
Li Lianhua showed not a shred of self-awareness as a captive; instead, he felt extremely satisfied to finally be able to ride in a carriage. After all, riding the old, frail, and skinny horse Bai Buyu had bought made him feel quite guilty just sitting on its back.
"There's still some distance to the Jin Family Fortress, isn't there? Why doesn't Miss Buyu elaborate on what this is all about?"