ch 64 – An Injured In the Deep Mountain (3)

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“Kui, how’s Mei coming along on the task that I had assigned to him?” After drumming a few times on the table with his fingers, Ling Juechen asked Yin Kui, who had been standing behind him quietly this entire time.

“Hallmaster, Mei had already taken off with the sage apothecary a few days ago. They should be inside of Dongling by now.” Yin Kui’s fair face showed no emotions whatsoever. It was almost like he was wearing a mask.

“Mmm!” Chilling cold light flashed passed Ling Juechen’s eyes. His full lips stretched into a thin line and he said, “After he arrived at the destination with the sage apothecary, have Yin Ba and Yin Mei return right away. I can’t stall the Second Prince for much longer….”

“Yes, Sir!” Yin Kui’s face still showing no emotions at all.

“It looks like… I will need to light some fire under it and speed up the escalation of the situation!” Ling Juechen’s mind was where the little figure was; that made him lost the interest as a cat toying with a mouse. The Second Prince had been happily active lately; one just didn’t know how much longer he remain being so active.

At this same time, the little girl that had been occupying his mind was reaping all the generous gifts from the mountain. Her little back basket has already been covered by all sorts of herbs.

“Owwww… Owwwww….” As she was squatting down and digging up a wild gastrodia plant, Gu Ye heard an almost inaudible faint groaning. Did some villager accidentally wander too far into the woods and was injured by a beast?

She turned her attention away from the gastrodia plant and followed the sound. She walked about 2-3 li 1of mountain road and found an injured person leaning against a rock in the middle of a pile of rocks.

It was an old man that she had never seen before. His beard was all white but there weren’t a lot of wrinkles on his face. The fabric of his clothes were of good quality and a tipped over medicine basket could be seen lying next to his hand and some freshly collected herb scattered all over the ground. He was gripping his ankle with both hands and moaning loudly.

Aer hearing some noises, the old man opened his eyes and, with a painful look, weakly called out to her, “Help me… please help me….”

Gu Ye frowned a little and her instinct told her immediately that something was off. An old man his age appearing all alone in this beast infested deep mountain? Something was not right about it!

“Little girl, I… I twisted my ankle. Please come and help me!” Seeing that the little girl stopped a distance away from him and looked at him dubiously, the sage apothecary’s interest was piqued. Looked like the disciple that the Hall Master of Hall of Hidden Soul had found him was, indeed, extraordinary!

Gu Ye didn’t bite. She pointed at his medicine basket and said, “Aren’t you a doctor? Why would you need help just for a twisted ankle?”

“Who said only doctors can collect herbs? Can’t I just be an apothecary who collect herbs in the mountains for a living.” The safe apothecary, sitting on the cold and hard rocks, the chilliness was getting into his bones. There was a hint of impatience in his voice.

“Apothecarys collecting herbs from the mountain would wear an outfit that cost upward of 2 taels?” Gu Ye crossed her arms in front of her and said, “You need to try ahead. Even a kid won’t buy your story!”

“Well, doctors make the worst patient! Besides, I really am an apothecary, not a doctor!” The sage apothecary found it both aggravating and funny at the same time. He was already quite fond of this little girl who acted just like an adult.

“Apothecary? You know how to make drugs?” Gu Ye’s eyes beamed. She took a few steps forward and smelled an unmistakable smell of herbs coming from him. She then looked at his hands. He has prominent knuckles and the lines in his palms were colors of herbs that would not wash off. She felt more confident about his words.

“Hey! Not only do I know how to make drugs, my apothecary skills was top of this world!” said the safe apothecary full of pride. He glanced at the herbs inside the back basket of the little girl and said, “Oh mi! You are able to recognize some herbs. That’s quite good! If you save me and take me back, I’ll take you as my disciple. What do you say?”