As her voice faded, Ji Yunsu’s gaze sharpened slightly. She spoke solemnly to the sturdy, robust girl beside her.
“Miss, please lend a hand and help remove your father’s clothing.”
“Oh.” The sturdy girl, unconsciously inspired by the calm words of the veiled young lady before her, responded naively and quickly helped undo the clothes.
At that moment, the middle-aged man’s chest was fully exposed under Ji Yunsu’s watchful eyes.
Her eyes narrowed intently, a focused gleam passing through them.
Immediately, she reached out and pressed on a spot two centimeters outside the second rib on the left side of the middle-aged man’s chest.
After confirming the position, Ji Yunsu gripped the hollowed-out brush handle she had prepared, raising her arm high into the air.
“Heavens! If she really stabs him with that brush handle, will he survive?”
“Oh my, this veiled girl is too reckless. She’s clearly asking for a prison sentence!”
“Miss, think carefully. If you stab him with that brush handle, it could be fatal. While there’s still time to turn back, you should apologize to Qin Shenyi now!”
Amid the murmuring crowd, someone couldn’t help but loudly remind her.
Qin Zhong immediately raised his head high, wearing a smug expression and pretending to be magnanimous as he said calmly, “Miss, as long as you kneel and apologize to me now, I can let you off considering your youth and ignorance.”
Then, he immediately turned to the sturdy girl, feigning concern as he said, “Your father was already beyond saving. If he gets stabbed with that brush handle, he’ll definitely die on the spot. You should think this through carefully.”
Hearing this, the sturdy girl’s round face unconsciously showed a hint of hesitation.
Seeing this, Qin Zhong struck while the iron was hot, deliberately sighing and making indirect criticisms: “These days, every Tom, Dick and Harry wants to ride on my reputation as a divine physician.” It’s truly ridiculous.”
This was clearly mocking Ji Yunsu.
Anyone with functioning ears and normal hearing could understand the implication.
However, the sturdy girl now spoke in her simple, honest voice: “Physician Qin, just because you can’t treat him doesn’t mean others can’t.”
“This young lady says my father can live. I believe her!”
Then, the sturdy girl spoke earnestly to Ji Yunsu: “Miss, please quickly save my father! My father’s life is in your hands!”
Ji Yunsu nodded, rewarding the sturdy girl’s unconditional trust with a brilliant smile.
As the corners of her lips curved upward slightly, the hand holding the hollow brush handle high in the air suddenly descended!
“Thump!”
Along with the dull sound of the sharpened brush tip inserting between the ribs, the middle-aged man who had been lying on the broken door plank—his face purplish-black from suffocation and struggling to breathe—suddenly exhaled a large mouthful of turbid air!
“Hah… hah…”
The middle-aged man gasped for breath in large gulps, like a fish returned to water after being stranded on shore. In the blink of an eye, his breathing began to stabilize.
Witnessing this, the surrounding crowd stared wide-eyed in disbelief.
“That girl’s father’s eyelids are moving! Is he waking up?”
At that moment, someone in the crowd shouted at the top of their lungs.
As soon as the words fell, the middle-aged man lying on the broken door plank slowly opened his eyes.
“Father!”
The sturdy, robust girl burst into tears of excitement, throwing herself into the arms of the middle-aged man.
“Jixiang, what happened to me?” The middle-aged man, named Ji Sanshun, looked bewildered as he saw his daughter crying and rushing toward him.
“Father, you were knocked unconscious by a carriage this morning. By the afternoon, you suddenly took a turn for the worse. I thought you were going to die, wuwu…”
The sturdy girl named Jixiang, seeing that her father was fine, raised her voice emotionally in agitation.
As she spoke, Jixiang abruptly knelt before Ji Yunsu with a “thud.”
“Young lady, you saved my father’s life! You are my benefactor!”
“From now on, my life is yours. If you tell me to go east, I will go east. Whatever you ask me to do, I will do it. I will serve you like an ox or a horse to repay you!”
With that, Jixiang pressed her forehead to the ground, kowtowing repeatedly with loud “thump, thump, thump” sounds.
Seeing this, Ji Yunsu quickly stepped forward to help Jixiang up.
Once Jixiang was on her feet, she suddenly seemed to remember something and blurted out, “Qin! My father has been saved by the young lady. What do you have to say now?”
Suddenly called out, Qin Zhong, who had been tiptoeing away to make a stealthy escape, froze in his tracks, his portly body stiffening. Beads of cold sweat, as large as soybeans, broke out incessantly on his forehead.
At this moment, Qin Zhong was utterly disconcerted. He never expected that a shabbily dressed young woman, who didn’t look like a medical expert, could revive a dying man with nothing but a simple brush!
This was even more miraculous than an immortal!
How… how was this possible?!
Qin Zhong refused to believe it. He simply couldn’t!
Almost simultaneously, Qin Zhong stiffened his neck, stubbornly clinging to his pride, and challenged Ji Yunsu.
“If you have the skill, explain the cause and symptoms of this middle-aged man’s condition in detail!”
“Otherwise, you’re just a blind cat stumbling upon a dead mouse—pure luck!”
Beneath the Weimao that concealed her face, Ji Yunsu wore a mocking sneer. “Physician Qin, you truly won’t give up until you’re proven wrong. Is it so hard to admit your medical skills are lacking?”
Hearing this, Qin Zhong’s face, usually haughty and self-righteous, stiffened noticeably.
Just then, Ji Yunsu’s clear, melodious voice, like a babbling brook flowing through a mountain stream, rang out.
She asked Jixiang, “Before your father fell ill, did his chest suffer a severe impact?”
“Yes, yes! You’re right, young lady! My father was hit by a carriage this morning. At first, he seemed fine, but in the afternoon, he suddenly couldn’t breathe!”
Jixiang nodded vigorously, like pounding garlic, her eyes filled with admiration as she replied.
With these words, the truth was laid bare.
The onlookers also raised their thumbs in praise, showering Ji Yunsu with admiration.
A troublemaker in the crowd deliberately raised his voice: “Qin Shenyi, this young lady in the Weimao has already explained how Jixiang’s father fell ill. Aren’t you going to fulfill your bet?”
As soon as the words were spoken, the crowd chimed in with a chorus of comments.
“Calling himself a divine physician? He’s nothing but a half-baked quack, pretending to be someone important!”
“We were truly blind! This Baohe Hall, with its century-old reputation, is nothing special after all!”
“Exactly, exactly…”
Qin Zhong’s face turned pale then flushed, trembling with rage at the commoners’ remarks!
He stared fixedly at the mysterious woman wearing the weimao before him, pointing a trembling finger at Ji Yunsu. “You… you… you…” he stammered for a long while, yet couldn’t utter another word.
Finally, his eyes rolled back in shame and fury, and he fainted outright!
“Master!”
“Master!”
“…”
The servants of Baohe Hall immediately fell into chaos, scrambling to lift Qin Zhong up as the whole crowd surged toward the back hall.
Meanwhile, the commoners gradually dispersed following Ji Yunsu’s departure.
However, news quickly spread that Baohe Hall, a century-old establishment, was merely resting on its reputation, and that its master Qin Shenyi had been publicly exposed by a mysterious weimao-wearing woman for his inadequate medical skills.
“Young mistress, I’m your maid now. Wherever you’re going, please take me with you!”
Jixiang, supporting her father Ji Sanshun, hurriedly caught up with Ji Yunsu’s steps.
Ji Yunsu paused and looked at the father and daughter she had met by chance. A faint warmth rose in her clear almond-shaped eyes.
Concerned about retrieving the Qi Yu Nanzhu Cao for her mother from the Ninth Prince’s Residence, Ji Yunsu spoke bluntly: “Jixiang, I need to retrieve something from the Ninth Prince’s Residence now. There will be danger if we’re discovered.”
“You’d better not get involved with me. Quickly take your father home.”
Upon hearing this, Jixiang’s eyes lit up, and she immediately exclaimed eagerly: “Young mistress, I’m familiar with the Ninth Prince’s Residence!”