Chapter 122

After dinner, Xu Ran accompanied Du Xin to the south of the city to see the doctor. Lin Hua, Zhao Chen and the carter went outside the city to book tickets for the tomorrow’s ship.

Last time, the doctor told them that Du Xin’s unmentionable disease could be cured. However, his treatment time would be relatively long, and he had to take not only acupuncture but also medicine. Anyway, it would be a very troublesome process.

Today, Du Xin was going to receive acupuncture treatment, and they would also ask the doctor to give a few more prescriptions. With the prescription, Du Xin would be able to get medicine even after he got home. In this way, he didn’t need to stay in Qingzhou County all the time.

Sure enough, Du Xin cared about himself. Xu Ran had forgotten about this. He still remembered that at the beginning, Du Xin was unwilling to see the doctor, but now he even took the initiative to come. Apparently, he had changed a lot.

When they just got to the clinic, the doctor was sending the last patient out. Seeing both Xu Ran and Du Xin, he greeted, “Here you are!” It seemed he was saying hello to his old acquaintances that long time no see.

Du Xin blushed immediately. To him, coming here was an unspeakable choice. However, the doctor seemed to find it interesting.

Xu Ran smiled, “No kidding, Doctor. It’s hard for him to agree to come. If you tease him away, his dad and daddy will come to get even with you for it.”

“Oh, this will really be a big deal. All right. I won’t tease you,” the doctor replied.

Then he continued, “Alright, I stop kidding. I guess that you’re coming for a medicated bath. I’ve got everything ready inside. Just go and dip yourself in the bath. Later, I’ll give you acupuncture treatment. And you’ll come again tomorrow.”

‘Well, this doctor was quite considerate,’ both Xu Ran and Du Xin thought.

Du Xin followed the doctor into the house. It was not convenient for Xu Ran to enter, so he could only sit outside and wait while chatting with the clinic attendents.

…

At this moment, in the house…

“How is everything? Are you sure it’s him?”

“I’m not sure, but I was told that it was he who had bought Gao Quan and Shao Yu back in the town. I haven’t visited his house yet, so I’m not sure if he’s Second Young Master’s husband.”

“What about the others? Can you contact them?

“I can’t. I don’t even know if these people are still alive. As the Emperor would spare none back then, I’m afraid few of the people who helped Second Young Master escape survived. ”

“No matter what, you have to confirm whether Xu Ran is the husband of Second Young Master’s. Although his status is a little lower, he is quite good a man. If Second Young Master really loves him, I think the prince won’t stop them.”

“I know. I heard Xu Ran say that he already has two children. And now that his spouse is pregnant again, I am afraid we must keep this secret first. If Xu Ran’s spouse is really Second Young Master, I guess the prince will definitely vent his anger when he knows that Second Young Master has given birth to a few children for others.”

“Don’t worry. The prince still knows nothing that we have the news about Second young Master. I will hide it first. You just have to do your own business well. You can just sit in the water for a while. I will give you a few prescriptions to avoid being discovered by Xu Ran.” With that, he left and took away the clothes placed by the tub.

“Hey, hey, you really want me to sit naked in the water?! Come back and return the clothes to me.”

However, the people who had already left turned deaf ears to him.

These two people were Du Xin and the doctor in the clinic.

The purpose of Du Xin getting close to Xu Ran was to find out Liu Tong’s identity. As for the reason why he said he had unmentionable illness was that he wanted to meet the doctor in the clinic.

The doctor was called Lu Qi, and he was a subordinate of the king of the Yan, who was in the Qingzhou County to search for the king’s younger brother’s whereabouts.

King Yan was the only king of the opposite sex in the Great Xia. He did not fight for the throne himself, but inherited it. The story happened twenty years ago, when, the current emperor suspected that King Yan then cherished the wild ambition and ordered to kill the two children of King Yan, who were now the present King Yan and his younger brother.

That very year, King Yan fled with his eldest son to the northernmost part of the Great Xia, while the second son was protected by his subordinates and fled to Qingzhou County.

The assassins sent by the Emperor chased them all the way to Qingzhou County. Most of the people who protected the second son died and in the end the second son was nowhere to be found.

King Yan passed away not long after he arrived at the north, and the Emperor also stopped his hunting for King Yan due to the pressure from the imperial court. As a result, he gave the northernmost states and counties of the Great Xia to King Yan as their fief, renamed Yanzhou, and also ordered King Yan not to enter Changjing without being summoned.

King Yan was stabbed by an assassin on his way to escape. Worse still, his second son’s whereabouts were unknown. With such excessive sadness, he passed away in just a few years after he got to Yanzhou.

The throne was thus passed to the present King Yan, that is, the master of Lu Qi.

A few days ago, Lu Qi heard from Du Xin that someone had seen a person who looked like the King of Yan. There were even people who saw Gao Quan and Shao Yu. Du Xin also heard that Gao Quan and Shao Yu were bought back home by a farmer, and the lord of the family happened to be the one who looked like the King of Yan.

Du Xin said that he also found out that the lord of the family was called Liu Tong and his husband was Xu Ran. Xu Ran would come to Qingzhou County to participate in the county test.

In order to get close to Xu Ran, Du Xin had tried a lot of ways making himself quite embarrassed. He even made up a lot of reasons for himself like his spouse’ infertility and his dad’s forcing him to take a concubine. Du Xin didn’t expect that Xu Ran would believe him so easily, with no little bit doubt about him.

To be honest, he felt very happy on the way. And just as he was giddy with happiness, he received a message from Lu Qi as soon as he arrived at Qingzhou County, asking him to see him.

However, Lu Qi was a doctor. It would be strange if he, as a healthy person, went straight to see him.

Just as Du Xin was racking his brain about the problem, Xu Ran suggested him to see the doctor to find out if he was suffering from some unmentionable illness. Although it was really difficult to speak out about it, it was still a way to see the doctor.

Therefore, he went to find a doctor himself. After his explicit hints, the doctor recommended Lu Qi to them. Thus Du Xin could finally come to see Lu Qi fair and square.

Consequently, there was the conversation between them just now.

Du Xin was now still lying in the bathtub and feeling sorry for Xu Ran. After all, Xu Ran really regarded him as a friend, while he approached him purposefully and might even hurt him in the end.

Just as Du Xin was there deep in thought, Lu Qi came in again. He reached out and stirred the water in the bathtub. Then he threw the clothes to Du Xin, “OK, time is almost up. You put on your clothes. I’ve prescribed some medicine for you. It won’t hurt your body. After you go back, you should decoct the medicinal herbs and drink it. Don’t arouse suspicion. ”

Du Xin stood up from the bathtub, wiping himself with a towel and then putting on his clothes. At the same time, he asked Lu Qi, “Xu Ran is sitting outside. He won’t doubt us, will he? I always feel that acupuncture is not the way to treat this unmentionable disease. ”

Lu Qi rolled his eyes at him, “Do you really expect me to prescribe you some medicine for that kind of unmentionable illness? Don’t say you’re not sick. Even if you are, I’m not going to treat you. ”

Du Xin pouted. After so many years, this person in front of him was still like this. He was really a merciless man and only he could endure his tantrums.

After Du Xin got dressed, he snorted and walked out. Lu Qi followed him but said nothing

After coming out, Du Xin’s face immediately changed. He pulled Xu Ran and complained how ruthless this doctor was, how much he had suffered when receiving the acupuncture treatment, and he even wanted to take off his clothes to show Xu Ran.

Xu Ran hurriedly stopped him, “Don’t disgrace yourself in public, okay? Besides, you look so ugly that I don’t want to see you naked.”

However, this sentence was quite hurting. Du Xin, who was enthusiastic just now, immediately became dejected. He walked a few steps away from Xu Ran and shouted, “Mr. Xu, how can you be this rude? Last night you told me that I was the best looking… ”

Hearing this, Xu Ran shivered and got goose bumps. When he looked up, he saw that the young doctor was staring at Du Xin coldly. However, when he saw him looking over, he immediately withdrew his gaze. Although Xu Ran felt a little strange, he didn’t think much about it.

The doctor gave Du Xin several prescriptions, and then two of them left the clinic with the medicine and the prescription.

It was almost dark when they were walking back.

But the night scene was just in time.

Xu Ran and Du Xin strolled back. The streets were still humming with life, where pedestrians were hurrying to and fro and where people’s laughter and peddlers’ crying their wares lingered in the air.

Xu Ran looked at Du Xin with disgust, and then he said, “This should be a place where I am strolling with my spouse. However, I’m now actually with you. It’s really boring.”

Similarly, Du Xin also detested Xu Ran, “Hey, do you think I’d like to come around with you very much? If it’s not because of that… ”

As he said that, his voice subconsciously trailed off. Their surroundings were too noisy, and Xu Ran didn’t hear him clearly. He gave no reply but turned his head to look at the scenery by the street.

When they returned to their inn, Lin Hua and the rest were already there and were sitting in the lobby downstairs chatting together.

Seeing Xu Ran and Du Xin, Lin Hua went forward and asked, “Are you two okay? Is everything done?”

Xu Ran nodded, “It’s nothing. It’s too hot these days during the test. Du Xin is a little uncomfortable, so he asked me to go to the clinic with him. He felt that it’s embarrassing for a man to get heatstroke, so he didn’t tell you about it. Did you book tickets for tomorrow?”

“We’ve booked them. Fortunately, you asked us to go there today. There were many people who wanted to book tickets like us when we were there,” Lin Hua said.

Xu Ran replied, “Of course. Think about it. Although many candidates don’t have money, there are still so many of them this time coming for the test. Even if one of the ten candidates is rich, the total number is quite a lot, not to mention that some of the passengers are not candidates like us. Now that you’ve made a reservation, we’ll have an early rest today so that we’ll have a good time tomorrow. ”

None of them had any objections and thus they all went back to their rooms.

Xu Ran lay in bed but couldn’t sleep that night. He was missing Liu Tong. By and by, however, his mind turned to Du Xin and the young doctor. He felt a little strange why he would think about them, but he couldn’t find out the reason for it. He tossed and turned for almost all night before he finally fell asleep.