Time Travel: The Best Doctor in Ancient Times

Chapter 47: Chapter 26 Changsheng Edition Monk Tang

Gu Changsheng, upon hearing this, felt completely frazzled!

“Oh dear, she’s really just like Monk Tang—merely went out to get some herbs and ended up with trouble!”

Fuming with anger, Gu Changsheng cursed, “What the hell, life doesn’t need to be this calamitous!”

Her rage manifested in action; she dashed forward like an arrow and in a blink arrived at the door, hands on hips, glaring at Xiao Cui in the courtyard, she bellowed, “Xiao Cui, you’ve dolled me up like this yet I still get into trouble, if you don’t provide me with a reasonable explanation, Madam will reshape you into Zhu Bajie!”

On their way to the location, Xiao Cui’s ostentatious face had attracted no small measure of trouble, and now, despite being dressed so ordinarily, the same was happening, which truly infuriated Gu Changsheng!

Walking to the back yard, Xiao Cui, utterly bewildered, faced the incensed lady who had emerged in the front courtyard; upon understanding her words, she hesitated before speaking up softly while holding the medicine bag, “My lady, they are looking for you, not me.”

The lady was terrifying, and she was innocent.

Gu Changsheng’s jaw dropped to the ground, and it took her quite a while before she incredulously pointed to herself, “Looking for me?”

But that can’t be right, she thought; she is so ordinary, and having just arrived in Liuzhou without stepping outside, she couldn’t possibly attract trouble! And the only Peach Blossom she rallied had already left.

Could it be she stirred trouble on the road to the medical hall when she entered Liuzhou?

Oh, dear mother! Could this be a sequence of blossoming Peach Blossoms? Gu Changsheng suddenly got excited; her furious demeanor melted into coquettishness, and with a flirtatious flick of her hair, she said, “Could it be that a handsome man has taken a fancy to me? Xiao Cui, come, lead me to see.”

Xiao Cui looked horrified at her mistress’s antics and quickly grabbed the medicine bag with one hand while gesturing with the other, explaining, “My lady, no, it’s not what you’re thinking, not a handsome… man, but Doctor Hu from the Hu Family Medical Hall at the end of the street; he’s the one looking for you.”

When Xiao Cui mentioned a handsome man, she hesitated slightly, the mistress’s words were really…

Upon hearing this, Gu Changsheng was stunned and then immediately roared, “What’s with that expression if it’s not a handsome man? Are you playing me for a fool?”

Xiao Cui touched her face, wondering about her own expression just now; she hadn’t shown the wrong emotion, had she?

Seeing Xiao Cui’s reaction, Gu Changsheng knew she had misunderstood. Xiao Cui’s hesitation and reluctance when she said “it’s you” was probably due to being scared by her, not the shyness Gu Changsheng had assumed.

Feeling chagrined, she withdrew her hand; so much for that posturing—she had thought as much, with her miserable luck, how could she be flourishing with Peach Blossoms? Sure enough, before the Peach Blossom even budded, it was spoiled!

“What do people from Hu Family Medical Hall want?” She had barely settled in when another practitioner came knocking—what was this situation?

“Madam, you best dismiss him. I will explain everything,” said Uncle Song excitedly from his bed upon overhearing the commotion.

Gu Changsheng paused, sensing something was up.

Without a handsome man to attend to, she couldn’t be bothered, so she waved Han Qiu over, “Han Qiu, you go. Tell him that I’ve just arrived home and need to freshen up before I can receive visitors. Ask him to return another day.”

Han Qiu complied and headed towards the main hall of the medical hall.

Gu Changsheng then instructed Xiao Cui to prepare the medicine and cook lunch before returning to her room. It was time to remove the needles.

Gu Changsheng’s acupuncture skills were highly honed, and unless a very specific point demanded the patient’s feedback for needle placement, she could sense the depth and remove the needles effortlessly.

After collecting the needles, she meticulously cleaned the silver needles with a clean cloth and carefully placed them back in the needle bag tied around her waist.

These silver needles and those surgical knives were the only items she had brought with her.

After making sure everything was in order, Gu Changsheng turned and inquired how Uncle Song felt; he responded in detail.

Gu Changsheng nodded with satisfaction. The ancients, never having undergone acupuncture, had acutely sensitive acupoints, making the effects particularly pronounced.

This was akin to someone who had never taken antibiotics suddenly using them with remarkable results, as their body had no resistance. Acupuncture worked similarly; although it was largely unaffected, the first treatment would almost always yield an ideal outcome.

Han Qiu was efficient; no sooner had Gu Changsheng inquired than she returned to report that Doctor Hu had left, but mentioned he would visit again soon.

After Han Qiu’s report, Gu Changsheng turned to Uncle Song, who had composed himself, signaling with her eyes for him to explain.

Without hesitation, Uncle Song clearly explained the cause and effect.

It turned out that the Hu Family Medical Hall had also been a Liuzhou medical family for generations. Before Gu Changsheng’s grandfather’s time, Hu Family Medical Hall and Gu Family Medical Hall had kept to their own, never encroaching on each other. However, this balance was disrupted during the generation of Gu Changsheng’s grandfather. Hu Family Medical Hall had a talented descendant, Hu Bingzhi, and Gu Family Medical Hall had Gu Changsheng’s grandfather, Gu Chengyi. From their names alone, it was destined that these two would engage in fierce competition. They competed from childhood into adulthood, and ultimately, Gu Changsheng’s grandfather was the first to receive a summons from the Court, awarded the title of Imperial Physician, and called to serve at the Imperial Medical Bureau. However, Gu Chengyi was diligently compiling medical texts at the time, recording all the prescriptions he had learned, encountered, and used throughout his life into volumes. Citing the unfinished medical texts that could not yet benefit the medical community as a reason, he politely declined the summons from the Court.