Zhao Huaiyuan looked at the Third Prince and clicked his tongue twice. "The Third Prince is here too! You stayed so quiet I didn't even know who it was!"
With that, he walked over and deliberately tripped, sending the teacup on the table crashing down. Jing Shaoxuan failed to dodge in time and was splashed all over with scalding tea. He raged, "Zhao Huaiyuan, you did that on purpose!"
Seeing how helpful his little buddy was being, Jing Luoluo couldn't help chiming in loudly, "Oh dear, oh dear, it's all just a misunderstanding! Let's let this matter go and never speak of it again!"
Anyone with eyes could see Zhao Huaiyuan had done it on purpose—who trips by the edge of a table and manages to launch everything onto Jing Shaoxuan?
Yet Jing Luoluo's words made everyone realize that the Third Prince was openly taking Jing Shaoxuan's side!
Immediately, people covered their mouths with polite coughs, though a few still failed to hold back and snickered.
The Third Prince's gaze turned sharp as he swept it across the crowd, causing the muffled giggles to vanish instantly as heads pulled back and hid behind others.
"I wasn't aware that Young Master Jing's tongue was so sharp." The Third Prince stared at Jing Luoluo with a murderous look, but the latter showed no fear at all.
Jing Luoluo puffed out his small chest and said, "You're too kind, you're too kind! After walking through the gates of hell and back, if I didn't get a bit smarter, it really wouldn't make any sense!"
Choked by the reply, the Third Prince angrily stood up, ready to leave. Zhao Huaiyuan called out from behind him, "Aren't you taking Jing Shaoxuan with you, Third Prince? Isn't he your study companion? How can you just leave him behind here? Look at how pathetically drenched he is—what if he doesn't have the silver and gets beaten out of the teahouse? It's the imperial family's face that would lose dignity!"
The Third Prince glared darkly at Zhao Huaiyuan, then cast a vicious look at Jing Shaoxuan, spat out the word "useless," and stormed out in the lead!
Jing Shaoxuan hurriedly scrambled to follow. In his haste, his hair, which had had its crown undone during the chaos, suddenly came completely loose.
The students watching the commotion downstairs gasped out loud. In the Dayi Dynasty, whether male or female, going out in public required one's hair to be neatly styled; failing to do so was a matter of losing face!
Especially under the Grand Tutor's tutelage, creating such a massive spectacle made the severity of the incident quite obvious.
Jing Shaoxuan nearly lost his breath, his knuckles gripping the wooden railing so hard they turned white. In a moment of sheer panic, he covered his face with his hands and bolted outside!
Jing Luoluo, watching the show, shouted aloud, "Oh, not bad! Very smart—cover your face and nobody will know it's Jing Shaoxuan!"
With that, he turned around and pulled Zhao Huaiyuan up from the floor. He still had to figure out a way to alter this kid's doomed fate!
Although the original owner hadn't spent much time with Zhao Huaiyuan, after a whole day together, Jing Luoluo understood that the chubby fellow was a loyal friend worth keeping. Given the sheer boldness with which Fatty was willing to charge into battle for his friends, Jing Luoluo had to find a way to save him.
He promptly fished into Zhao Huaiyuan's waist pouch, dug out a silver ingot, tossed it down, and dragged the fellow off to a medical clinic.
As soon as he stepped through the door, he hollered, "Where's the doctor? Hey, little buddy, go get your senior physician out here, my friend needs to see a doctor."
The young apothecary looked at the newcomer in confusion. What did he mean, "little buddy"?
Still, he understood the rest of the request and led them back to a rear courtyard room before stepping away.
The senior physician sported a head of snow-white hair and a long beard, showing not a shred of impatience as he looked at the two young masters who had barged in.
"You must be the senior physician! Check him over and see what's wrong with him!" Jing Luoluo shoved the fellow down without room for argument, grabbing Zhao Huaiyuan's thick arm and pushing it toward the doctor for a pulse check.
Zhao Huaiyuan frowned deeply. "What are you doing, Little Jing? This Prince is as healthy as an ox! Prince An's Estate has imperial physicians specifically hired to check our pulses regularly!"
"Never mind him, Doctor—just see if there's anything wrong with him!"
Gazing into the younger boy's concerned eyes, the old physician placed his fingers over Zhao Huaiyuan's wrist and closed his eyes to feel the pulse.
A moment later, the old physician's brow furrowed almost imperceptibly. He opened his eyes and told him to open his mouth. With a quick smack from Jing Luoluo, Zhao Huaiyuan had no choice but to open his mouth wide.
Only after pulling his hand back did the old physician calmly say, "Does my young friend eat meat at every single meal?"
Zhao Huaiyuan nodded blankly, looking puzzled. "When the imperial physicians take my pulse, they always say I was sickly as a child and need plenty of nourishment! Is there a problem?"
The old physician nodded knowingly. "Judging by your pulse, you likely had a mild heart condition in your youth. While it wasn't life-threatening at the time, consuming rich, meaty foods over a long period has placed an increasing burden on your body. Furthermore, your liver fire is very strong, which is a sign of frequent anger. If this continues, it may trigger your heart condition—mildly leading to chronic illness, and severely... costing you your life!"
Hearing this, Jing Luoluo understood instantly. In the book, Zhao Huaiyuan had died of a heart attack; but if a regular clinic physician could spot it so easily, there was no way the imperial physicians in the palace didn't know!
"Huaiyuan, do you guys eat this richly every single day?" Jing Luoluo asked with a worried heart.
Zhao Huaiyuan's face flushed with embarrassment. "Not quite. It's just that my mother has doted on me since I was little, and because my health was poor back then, I was as skinny as a monkey. Later, the imperial physician said I needed more nourishment, so my maternal aunt found a famous chef from the town. With all sorts of tonics going into my belly day after day... well, I ended up looking like this!"
The old physician listened closely from the side and chuckled. "The imperial physician was right—you certainly needed nourishment in your youth, but you were nourished in all the wrong ways. The most urgent task now is to control your diet, get outside more often, and build up your body's vital energy naturally. Things will improve on their own!"
With that, he picked up a brush, wrote out a prescription, and handed it to Jing Luoluo. "Young friend, have the medicine filled according to this prescription, and brew a few doses daily. It will certainly turn things around."
Jing Luoluo took the prescription and glanced it over. Thanks to the original owner's memories, he could recognize the characters.
"Astragalus, poria, tangerine peel, and hawthorn—two qian each. Boil in three bowls of water down to one bowl, and take orally!"
After reading the characters aloud, he treasured the paper like a precious object and called the apothecary over to fill the prescription. Once they paid the consultation fee and left, neither of them had any mood left for wandering the streets.
Zhao Huaiyuan looked thoroughly dejected. "Little Jing, was what that old doctor said true? Am I really not going to live much longer?"
Jing Luoluo patted him consolingly. "Don't worry. Look, the medicine is all filled. We'll start brewing it today, and you have to drink it, you hear? Oh, and no more meat dishes starting from now!"
Hearing this, Zhao Huaiyuan's face crumpled even further. "My favorite chicken legs and pig trotters—I can't eat any of them anymore?"
"It's not that you can never eat them again. Once you slim down, I'll take you out to eat them—how's that?"
The next day in class, the instructor—a rigid scholar in his forties—stared at Jing Luoluo for a long moment before asking, "Head better?"
Jing Luoluo flashed a mischievous grin and nodded at the instructor. "Pretty much fully recovered! I just missed the academy so much I couldn't wait to come back and study!"
There was no help for it; the original owner had been a fearless, reckless character, and if he didn't try his best to imitate him, he was afraid someone would discover the truth.
"Flippant!"
After a full class, Jing Luoluo was surprised to find that the books this body had read could actually be remembered quite clearly, leaving him feeling rather uneasy. Could it be that he had brought his own golden finger into this world?
He had no intention of taking high-stakes college entrance exams in his past life only to spend this life buried in archaic books chanting classical prose!
After gaining a deep understanding of the system here, Jing Luoluo found a broad and smooth path perfectly suited for himself!