"Stop shouting! If you don't want to live, just say so!"
With a loud bang, the door was kicked open, and the scarred man rushed menacingly toward Fu Yingzhi, brandishing a short scabbard.
At the critical moment, she moved with lightning speed. The young girl flicked her wrist, and silver acupuncture needles pierced the air with a whistling sound like flying arrows, one of them flying with pinpoint accuracy straight toward the scarred man's Baihui pressure point.
Fast! Fierce! Accurate!
The next second, the scarred man's legs went weak, and he collapsed straight to the ground.
Seeing this, Fu Yingzhi flashed aside and hid behind the pile of straw by the door.
The commotion inside instantly caught the attention of the burly man at the entrance.
He strode into the room, and as soon as he crossed the threshold, he saw his accomplice lying on the floor.
The burly man's heart skipped a beat. With trembling hands, he reached out to check the scarred man's breath.
"Big brother... you're not dead, are you?"
Just as he spoke, a silver needle flew through the air, striking the burly man right between the eyebrows, followed by a sharp pain.
He jerked his head up, and seeing no one else in the room, let out a piercing shriek, "Ah! Ghost!"
In an instant, another silver needle flew out swiftly like a phantom.
This time, it accurately pierced the acupuncture point on the burly man's chest.
A tingling numbness instantly spread through his entire body, and the burly man was horrified to find that he couldn't move!
Only then did Fu Yingzhi dust off her hands and walk out from behind the door with a beaming smile, her almond-shaped eyes locking directly onto the burly man's terrified gaze.
Pearly drops of sweat the size of beans dripped down the burly man's forehead. As he looked at Fu Yingzhi, whimpers of plea for mercy tumbled endlessly from his lips.
Looking at this comical sight, Fu Yingzhi couldn't help shaking her head helplessly.
Is that it?
She snorted softly, retrieved the silver needles from the two men, and turned to leave. Suddenly remembering something, she rummaged through her sleeves, pulled out the handkerchief embroidered with the word "Jing'an," and with a beaming smile, shoved it into the hand of the burly man, who was currently looking at her with a grievously wronged expression.
Once upon a time, the original owner had guarded this handkerchief with her life to protect her stepsister's reputation, yet how had her stepsister treated her?
This time, let it go where it belonged.
Fu Yingzhi tidied the stray hairs behind her ears, a playful smirk flashing across the corner of her lips.
Presumably, Xiao Yu should be arriving right about now to "play the hero saving the damsel in distress."
Since he wanted to make a big fuss, why shouldn't she add fuel to the fire?
Thinking of this, Fu Yingzhi rushed to the doorway and shouted "Help!" at the top of her lungs over and over again.
Hearing the sound of footsteps growing denser all around, she lifted her skirt and ran toward the path at the other end of the alley.
Doors flashed past her on either side. Listening to the commotion growing louder behind her, just as Fu Yingzhi was wondering where to hide, a faint, lingering fragrance of herbs drifted into her nose.
It was the scent of schisandra and white peony! She thought to herself with a silent gasp, could there be an apothecary ahead?
With that thought, she ran without hesitation toward the herbal scent...
In a moment, she reached a half-open door.
Hearing the footsteps behind her closing in from afar and growing clearer by the second, she took a deep breath, forcefully suppressing the unease in her heart, reached out and gave the door a gentle push. It opened...
As Fu Yingzhi walked into the room, she mentally organized her words, wondering how best to start the conversation so as not to appear abrupt when she met the master of the house.
Suddenly, the crisp sound of a blade leaving its scabbard made the hairs on her body stand on end.
This is... murderous intent!
She thought to herself that things looked bad—could the mantis be stalking the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind?
Fu Yingzhi instinctively hugged her head and slowly turned toward the source of the sound...
Inside the room, behind the turquoise gauze curtain at the two o'clock position, sat a man whose build suggested he was around sixteen or seventeen years old. Dressed entirely in black with his hair tied high in a ponytail, the sharp blade in his hand gleamed coldly in the sunlight.
Yet listening to his breathing...
She concentrated and listened intently for a moment, and already had a judgment in her heart.
Fu Yingzhi bowed gracefully toward the turquoise gauze curtain and said softly, "Sir, I entered this place by accident. I only ask that you let me take temporary shelter here for a moment. Once I weather this crisis, I will certainly be able to help you escape your predicament."
"Help me... escape my predicament?" A voice that was both chilling and imposing came from behind the turquoise gauze curtain.
Fu Yingzhi took a deep breath, trying hard to calm her racing heart, and spoke slowly once more.
"You are at the age of manhood, yet your breathing is as rapid and strained as clashing metals, and when you draw breath, an intermittent sound faintly emerges from your chest. This is a sign of acute pain attacking the heart. No doubt you are suffering greatly from agony at this very moment."
As her voice trailed off, a slender, well-proportioned hand parted the curtains.
The youth had sword-like brows pointing into his temples, a high bridge of the nose, and deep eyes—features clearly carved from cold jade, yet at the moment they were as pale as plain white silk, with a faint sheen of cold sweat on his forehead and his thin lips tightly pressed together.
Fu Yingzhi's breath caught, and she stared in a daze. It wasn't until the man let out an unconscious cold snort that she finally managed to pull her thoughts together.
"You know medicine?" Seeing the young woman staring blankly at him, the man couldn't help letting out a cold snort, the slight upward curl of his lips making his face look all the more bewitching.
Fu Yingzhi gave an awkward, light cough and walked quickly toward the bed. Seeing that the man was still gripping his sword with one hand and staring at her vigilantly, she couldn't help curling her lips, pulling up her sleeves to show the man her bare hands and forearms.
With an innocent look on her face, she said, "Don't worry, I just want to take your pulse."
The skin exposed by the young girl was as smooth and flawless as suet jade, her ten fingertips tapered like bamboo shoots, and her wrists like white lotus roots. The man couldn't help blushing.
Though he muttered "Improper!" under his breath, his hand stretched out involuntarily.
Seeing this, Fu Yingzhi moved lightly with dainty steps toward the bedside, lowered her gaze, and focused on taking his pulse.
The prolonged silence made the man's heart tighten involuntarily. Just as he was about to speak, he heard the young girl say slowly, "Has sir been suffering from a stomach ailment for the past two years? When it flares up, do you frequently experience a bitter taste in your mouth, dizziness, and relentless stomach pain?"
Fu Yingzhi raised her eyes and, seeing the man's eyebrows twitch slightly, knew that what she had said was spot on.
She lightly bit her lower lip, composed her expression slightly, and continued, "Whenever sir takes medicine, does the pain in the epigastric region find relief? Yet lately, the illness has been striking with increasing frequency, and the efficacy of herbs and stones is no longer what it once was?"
If what she had said before still fell within the scope of an ordinary physician, after these words dropped, the man couldn't help raising his eyebrows—everything this woman said was completely, flawlessly accurate!
Looking at the man's expression, Fu Yingzhi couldn't help feeling rather proud.
She was a doctoral candidate in Traditional Chinese Medicine from a top medical university in the 21st century. After more than ten years of grueling study, coupled with residency training and practical experience, she had long since integrated TCM theory and clinical practice into a seamless whole. Such an ailment was nothing more than child's play to her.
If she had three taels of peeled Ramulus Cinnamomi, six taels of Radix Paeoniae Alba, two taels of Radix Glycyrrhizae...
Just as she was pondering the herbal prescription, she suddenly remembered the family genealogy passed down through generations in her home—the "Apricot Grove Records" that documented the famous physicians of the Fu Family through the ages.
The Fu family had practiced medicine for generations, and her elders were all infatuated with the medical path, attaining profound mastery. Only she had been the most rebellious one in the family. Had it not been for an older sister to inherit the family business, her parents would never have let her follow her own whims.
Yet fortunes are unpredictable, and man cannot control his fate; that sudden car crash had shattered all peace and tranquility.
"Ahem." The man cleared his throat slightly, pulling her back from her thoughts.
Looking at everything before her, Fu Yingzhi's gaze darkened again. This was ancient times; even if traditional Chinese medicine had been passed down for thousands of years, it still fell short of future advancements. Those refined medicinal herbs and advanced instruments—could they possibly exist here?
The man's arm beneath her hand twitched slightly, suggesting he was losing his patience.
"Don't move!"
She stopped him, then closed her eyes again, silently reciting the prescription taking shape in her mind, wondering to herself if there were any ancient herbs that could serve as substitutes.
Yet the moment she finished silently reciting the prescription with her eyes closed, she discovered that the exquisite Hainan huanghuali rosewood round box had appeared once again! The medicines she had just thought of in her mind had converged into the box in the blink of an eye, condensing into a single pill!
Immediately afterward, her right arm felt heavy again. Fu Yingzhi's heart tightened; she reached out to probe and found that there really was a pill there! If the first time had been pure coincidence, then this time...
Frowning deeply, she popped the pill straight into her mouth, only to be jolted awake by the extreme bitterness, which instantly confirmed one thing—this pill was precisely the one produced by the formula she had just devised!
In sheer astonishment, she jerked her head up, only to crash right into a pair of pitch-black, deep eyes.
In her panic, Fu Yingzhi stood up to cover her embarrassment, but her embroidered shoe stepped on her long hem, and in a stumble, her entire body plunged straight into the man's embrace.
Her wrist inadvertently swept a medicinal cup off the desk, and the moment the porcelain shards hit the floor, their jade-like shattering sound pierced the quiet room.
The next second, earth-shaking pounding echoed against the door outside...