Chapter 12: House Call

Dawn broke, and the world was still shrouded in gray.

Chen Ji sat up slowly from his bed. He instinctively reached for the phone beside his pillow, but there was nothing there.

In that moment, he suddenly understood: the world he had once lived in was no longer a place within his reach; it had become his hometown.

"Wait, shouldn't I be in the courtyard?" Chen Ji’s last memory was of standing by the apricot tree practicing the art of "carrying stones and embracing the post." Yet, upon waking, he was back in the west wing, still wearing the same tattered clothes from the night before.

Did Master send him back? Or perhaps his two fellow disciples? Chen Ji couldn't be sure; he remembered nothing at all.

At this very moment, the "ice flow" rested quietly within his dantian, no longer possessing the ferocious appearance it had the night before.

Chen Ji pondered, "Who caused the ice flow to surge this time? The first time it appeared, it came from Zhou Chengyi; the second time was..."

Both times the ice flow appeared, several people had died. But the commoners at Zhou Chengyi’s estate hadn't triggered it, nor had the maid who died at Wanxing Garden...

Could this time be from the fetus that Consort Jing had just miscarried?!

As this thought crossed his mind, She Dengke, at the end of the communal bed, suddenly sat up, eyes closed, and muttered, "Master, just beat me to death. If you beat me to death, there will be no one left to bury you!"

Chen Ji turned to look at him, speechless. After She Dengke finished speaking, he fell back down with a thud. It was just sleep-talking.

The rooster had not yet crowed.

Strangely, Chen Ji had returned at the hour of the Ox (1:00 AM – 3:00 AM) last night. Even though he had slept for less than four hours, he felt full of energy, without a trace of fatigue or drowsiness.

Was this the change brought about by the ice flow and the art of carrying stones?

He sat on the bed in deep thought for a long time before finally getting up to change his clothes. He went to the courtyard, shouldered his carrying pole, and the thin, youthful figure set off toward Anxi Street outside the gate with two wooden buckets.

Yesterday, while waiting for his family to send his tuition money, Chen Ji had observed that there was a well there. The entire neighborhood had to go there to fetch water, and if one went too late, there would be a long line.

As he stepped out, Chen Ji paused. He saw the black cat from Wanxing Garden crouching on the eaves of the grain shop across the street, watching him quietly.

So, it hadn't been an illusion last night. This black cat had truly been attracted by the bead in his sleeve, even persistently following him all the way outside the Prince's mansion!

Chen Ji walked along the bluestone path in the morning light toward the well, while the black cat followed silently on the gray tiles of the eaves, its gaze never leaving him.

There was no one else on the long street, and only one cat on the eaves.

They walked side by side, passing through the thin mist of the autumn morning, as if traveling through a long stretch of time together.

He stopped, carrying his pole, and looked up at the black cat across the distance, curiously asking, "Meow-meow?"

The black cat just stared at him coldly.

What kind of decent cat is named Meow-meow?

Seeing no reaction, Chen Ji tried again: "Sang Biao?"

The black cat: "..."

Chen Ji tentatively held out the bead in his palm: "Is this what you want?"

Although the black cat was covered in wounds, it still looked at Chen Ji with a noble posture, showing no reaction, as if waiting for the boy to offer the bead voluntarily.

Chen Ji raised his hand a little higher.

This time, the black cat stood on the gray-tiled eaves, its body leaning forward slightly, preparing to jump down and snatch the bead. But the moment it stretched out its neck, Chen Ji closed his palm and tucked the bead away.

The black cat: "..."

It opened its mouth, wanting to meow, but ultimately couldn't let go of its pride.

In the end, it resumed its cold, aloof posture, silently watching the boy.

Chen Ji tucked the bead into his sleeve and continued slowly toward the well. The black cat followed silently, watching him coldly. A wound on its brow bone, freshly made last night, made it look a bit fiercer.

Chen Ji stood by the well, turning the wooden handle to lower a bucket. Just as he was about to crank it back up, he saw the black cat jump down from the eaves and come to the edge of the well, looking up at him.

"You..." Chen Ji thought for a long time before suddenly asking, "You want this bead, right? Here, take it."

He opened his palm, holding the bead out, no longer teasing the little cat.

But the black cat just stood on the well's rim, the corner of its right mouth curling up slightly in what looked like disdain: I will never fall for your tricks again!

"Wait, is that expression mocking me?" Chen Ji hadn't expected to see such an anthropomorphic expression on a cat... He glanced at the empty street, then placed the bead on the ground and stepped back three meters: "It's there. Go ahead and take it."

Animals have instincts; they seem to naturally know what to eat and what not to eat, and even if they are poisoned, they will find their own antidotes.

Humans lack such instincts; they dare to eat anything, even taking pleasure in eating poisonous mushrooms...

Therefore, Chen Ji wasn't worried that the black cat would come to harm if it ate it. He wanted to know why the cat was attracted to it, and what would happen if it swallowed the bead.

The answer to the ice flow lay within this black cat.

By the well, the black cat approached cautiously, looking at the bead, then warily at Chen Ji. After a long while, it finally crept up and sniffed the bead from a distance.

"Eat it," Chen Ji watched with anticipation.

However, when the black cat opened its mouth to snatch it, the thin, snake-like gray mist inside the bead churned violently as if it were alive, and the black cat was knocked back by an invisible force!

"Eh?" Chen Ji was shocked by this supernatural phenomenon. He was certain that an invisible force had erupted from the bead, pushing the cat away!

The little black cat arched its back, taking a fighting stance against the bead, no longer daring to approach.

"Why is this?" Chen Ji wondered.

As he spoke, the sound of rapid hoofbeats echoed in the distance.

Chen Ji turned to look and saw a carriage approaching from afar, heading toward the medical clinic, shattering the quiet mist. The carriage passed him, the driver looking anxious—perhaps there was an urgent matter.

"Looks like they're coming for Master. I need to get back," Chen Ji said. "By the way, you..."

When he turned back, the black cat had already vanished, leaving only the bead lying quietly on the ground.

...

...

When Chen Ji returned to the clinic, swaying under the weight of his carrying pole, the carriage was parked outside. The two horses were handsome and powerful, their muscles knotted, their manes neatly groomed.

The wooden carriage body was engraved with canary patterns, the bird tails extending to the rear, intricate and exquisite.

Beside the carriage, She Dengke was helping the driver load some luggage.

Chen Ji approached with his pole and asked, "What's going on?"

She Dengke’s eyes were filled with irrepressible joy: "Master is going to see a patient."

"Why are you so happy..."

"Of course I'm happy!" She Dengke lowered his voice. "Once Master leaves, he'll be gone for at least ten days or half a month. We won't have to be beaten or scolded, and we won't be tested on our studies. Aren't you happy? We can go to the East Market together, or Red Robe Alley... If my third brother helps the nobles host a performance, I can sneak you guys in to watch the big plays. I heard a few days ago that the Ma Troupe from the Pear Garden is coming back to perform!"

"Who is he going to see?" Chen Ji asked curiously.

She Dengke lowered his voice further: "I heard that when the Secret Intelligence Agency of the Inner Minister was investigating spies from the Jing Dynasty, they arrested several young descendants of the Liu family and threw them into the inner prison. One of them was tortured to death. When the old patriarch of the Liu family heard the news, he fainted from rage and is now on his deathbed."

Hearing this, Chen Ji suddenly recalled Yun Yang’s half-smiling expression in front of the Zhou mansion—a sense of crisis that he still couldn't shake off. "The Secret Intelligence Agency has that much power?"

"You bet," She Dengke said. "The old patriarch's daughter is the current Empress Dowager, and his son is the Minister of Personnel. Even with a family background like that, the Secret Intelligence Agency still arrests whoever they want. People in the martial arts world say the Agency can execute first and report later, with the Emperor's special permission."

Chen Ji felt something was wrong. Even if the Agency was powerful, they shouldn't be able to disregard the Empress Dowager and the Minister of Personnel, right?

As they were talking, Old Man Yao walked out of the clinic, accompanied by a dignified-looking middle-aged man.

Old Man Yao instructed his three disciples: "While I'm gone, none of you are allowed to take pulses for patients privately. If a patient brings a prescription, just fill it. Don't mess up the weights and make me lose money. I'll check the inventory the moment I get back. Whoever makes me lose money will pay it back out of their own pocket!"

Chen Ji felt a jolt of alarm. He hadn't figured out what to do with that old ginseng yet. What if Old Man Yao checked the inventory and found it missing?

The middle-aged man accompanying him said, "Old Master Yao, let's get going. My family is waiting, and we must at least delay things until my father returns from the capital to see the old patriarch one last time."

Old Man Yao nodded. "Let's go."

Liu Quxing stepped up to help Old Man Yao into the carriage. The carriage sped away, the sound of hooves clattering crisply against the bluestone road.

She Dengke sighed in admiration: "How much would a carriage like that cost?!"

Liu Quxing laughed: "You're so ignorant. See those canaries on the carriage? That’s a pattern that can only be used after being bestowed by the Imperial Court, once my Liu family had a second-rank official in the government. In our Great Ning Dynasty, even if commoners ride in a sedan chair, it's a violation of protocol. How many heads do you have to ride in a carriage like that?"

She Dengke sneered: "You talk as if you're actually part of the Liu family!"

Liu Quxing glared at him: "How am I not part of the Liu family?"

"Your family is just a distant branch that has nothing to do with them. Do they even acknowledge you?" She Dengke retorted. "My family might be poor, but we have backbone. We earn our living on the docks through our own hard work; we never try to climb the social ladder."

Liu Quxing was furious: "I even went with my parents to the old patriarch's ninetieth birthday banquet!"

"Right, sitting at the servants' table."

"You bastard!"

Chen Ji watched them bicker as they retreated into the clinic, speechless. Suddenly, he noticed something strange. He turned his head and saw that the little black cat hadn't really left; it was hiding in the shadows of the eaves across the street, secretly observing them.