These two were not relatives of high-ranking officials but rather magnates of commerce and trade. Although their family was wealthy, they lacked power and hence did not recognize Doctor Cui from the palace.
Hearing mention of the palace naturally left no room for doubt, and the elder Madam Hua, beaming with smiles, eagerly brought her daughter to Doctor Cui, saying, "This humble woman is blind to Mount Tai and hopes Doctor Cui won’t take offense. It’s not that I doubt Doctor Cui’s skills, it’s just that my daughter’s condition... before, it was Doctor Gu who examined her, and she had prescribed some medicine to take, stating that we should come back today... for a follow-up."
Miss Hua hastened to add, "Right, right, for the follow-up."
Gu Youyou had a habit of asking patients to return for follow-ups, which the two doctors, after a long tenure at Jisheng Hall, were well aware of.
Of course, they did not have this practice themselves. In their view, if a patient recovered, they naturally would not come back, nor was there a need. If not cured, patients would come back on their own even without being told to do so for a follow-up.
Seeing the mother and daughter’s sudden change in attitude, Doctor Cui’s brows gradually relaxed.
She was accustomed to bringing up her past experiences in the palace and relished the adulatory looks from others.
Only after sufficiently establishing her stature would she attend to the mother and daughter.
Before Gu Youyou had emerged, Shopkeeper Hu, responsible for the dispensary, found Lin Qianqing, who was dividing medicines, and said, "Miss Lin, may I trouble you to ask in the backyard when Doctor Gu will be out? She mentioned that she consults for four hours each day, and it’s getting late. In a little over an hour, we’ll have to close up."
The backyard was where Gu Youyou conducted her experiments, so everyone in the medical hall knew that, unless necessary, outsiders were not allowed in.
Of course, Lin Qianqing was allowed to come and go freely.
Thus, Shopkeeper Hu had no choice but to ask Lin Qianqing for help.
Lin Qianqing herself had been waiting left and right without seeing Gu Youyou and Yue Rujing come out and was already feeling somewhat annoyed. Since Shopkeeper Hu had made such a request, she handed the remaining undivided medicines over to him, stood up, dusted off her hands, and said, "Then I’ll go in and take a look."
"Ah! Thank you so much, Miss Lin."
My cousin and the Princely Heir were inside feeding snakes and perhaps had some matters to discuss, but they had really been in there for quite a long time.
Lin Qianqing, previously preoccupied with her tasks, now felt increasingly uneasy and quickened her pace towards the backyard.
Pushing open the door, she had several thoughts in mind, but she could have never imagined such an eye-searing scene.
What did she see? Behind several plum trees, she vaguely made out two overlapping silhouettes. Her cousin was lying on top of the Princely Heir, a posture far too intimate, stirring wild imaginations.
Moved by the noble principle of "see no evil," she initially intended to close the courtyard door.
But she immediately sensed something was amiss. Why were they motionless? Could something have happened?
With that thought, Lin Qianqing hurriedly gathered up her skirts and ran closer to inspect.
Their postures were indeed compromising, and the Princely Heir’s clothes were visibly... disheveled!
Gu Youyou’s face was buried in Yue Rujing’s chest, so she couldn’t see her expression. But Yue Rujing’s pallid complexion and the frost on his eyebrows were all too clearly visible to her.
Indeed, something had gone wrong.
Lin Qianqing cried out loudly and rushed to pull Gu Youyou up.
"Cousin, cousin, wake up, what’s happened to you?"
Gu Youyou showed no response; her complexion was terrifyingly pale, and like Yue Rujing, her eyebrows, too, were frosted over.
Lin Qianqing turned pale with fright and extended her hand, trembling as she reached for Gu Youyou’s breath.
The bone-chilling cold that struck her the moment she touched the tip of Gu Youyou’s nose immediately startled her so much that she quickly withdrew her hand.