The recent fluctuations in temperature have brought more patients to the town's medical clinic.
"Decoct one dose of medicine daily, abstain from alcohol and irritability, rest more, and you'll recover within five days."
Butcher Fan, his face bruised and swollen, took the medicine. He tried to smile and offer thanks but pulled at the wounds on his face, sucking in a sharp breath of pain before muttering a curse under his breath, "That bastard Li Ergou."
Cang Shubai kept his head down, recording the account in his ledger, pretending not to hear Butcher Fan's crude language.
Butcher Fan glanced to the side.
Doctor Hu was a man in his thirties, thin with prominent cheekbones, which gave him a rather harsh appearance. He sat coldly watching the clinic's only assistant busy at work while he himself lounged in a rocking chair, leisurely shelling sunflower seeds, rocking back and forth in great comfort.
Butcher Fan lowered his voice and said, "Young doctor, with Doctor Hu working you so hard like this, doesn't your lovely wife feel heartache for you?"
Cang Shubai paused his writing brush and slightly raised his eyes.
Butcher Fan suddenly shivered and hunched his shoulders.
He was from the same village as Cang Shubai and naturally knew about the beautiful young woman in the village. It was a mystery how she was raised, so fresh and delicate. When she smiled with her eyes curved, it could melt a person's heart.
Unfortunately, she already had a husband, and this husband's appearance was also extraordinary—handsome and elegant. The young couple came and went together, truly a match made in heaven.
Butcher Fan had enough self-awareness to know that the beautiful young lady would definitely not fancy someone like him. He just saw that Cang Shubai seemed good-natured, so his mouth grew mischievous, and he wanted to tease a little.
Somehow, Butcher Fan felt a chill run down his spine just from that one glance from Cang Shubai. He swallowed, "I have things to do, I'll be off now."
Butcher Fan picked up his medicine and hurried out.
With no other outsiders left in the clinic,
Doctor Hu suddenly jumped down from his chair. Holding the plate of shelled sunflower seeds, he scurried over obsequiously, "Godfather, please rest, I'll handle the work!"
Cang Shubai didn't look up, ignoring the offered plate, and continued writing the medicinal list, his tone indifferent, "I've told you before, don't call me that."
"There's no one else around now, it's fine for me to call you godfather!"
The man who previously wore a harsh expression now resembled a bootlicker, utterly fawning and ingratiating, quite a comical sight.
Cang Shubai set down his brush and walked out from behind the counter.
"Godfather, don't move, I know you must have prepared the turtle jelly. I'll go pack it!" Doctor Hu put down the plate and ran into the courtyard behind the clinic.
Cang Shubai let him be, sat in a chair, poured a cup of tea, and opened a copy of "Medical Classics."
Not long after, Doctor Hu ran back out, carefully carrying a bamboo container filled with turtle jelly, and gently placed it on the table.
"Godfather, this thing is troublesome to make, and no one buys it. Why do you always make it?"
"To put in milk. Ranran likes it."
Doctor Hu cautiously observed Cang Shubai's expression and muttered under his breath, "Didn't godfather come to experience a mortal lifetime to break through a cultivation bottleneck? Marriage is a crucial part of mortal life's mundane affairs. But now, it seems godfather genuinely treats that low-level female cultivator as his wife?"
Cang Shubai said, "She is my wife."
Doctor Hu was stunned for a moment, then put on an ingratiating smile, "Then I'll make more turtle jelly for my martial aunt from now on!"
It must be said, having followed Cang Shubai for a hundred years, he did have some sense of perception.
Cang Shubai closed the book and stood up, "Someone's coming."
Doctor Hu swiftly sat back in the rocking chair, crossed his legs, and said haughtily, "Xiao Cang ah, you better work hard, or I'll dock all your wages!"
A man walked in.
He was hunched over, head lowered, swaying with each step, his posture bizarre.
Doctor Hu sensed something was wrong and sat up straight.
The man staggered crookedly to the counter, "D-d-doctor... I feel terrible, I need... need treatment, please... please examine me."
Cang Shubai said, "You are not ill."
"Impossible, I am sick, I am sick!"
The man suddenly raised his head. His eyes were bloodshot, and his pale, bloodless face was marked with eerie black patterns, utterly horrifying.
"Blood, give me blood!"
The man stretched out his hands with abnormally long nails and lunged at Cang Shubai. But upon meeting Cang Shubai's gaze, he froze.
Those eyes had turned an icy blue, like the deep sea. The eerie blue light within them seemed capable of freezing even one's breath.
"You need blood. You should go outside to find it."
The man dazedly withdrew his hand, "I need to go outside to find it, I need to go outside to find it..."
He lowered his head again, hunched his back, turned around, and slowly shuffled out of the clinic.
Doctor Hu came closer, "A demonic cultivator is using humans to breed demonic beasts!"
There had been rumors lately of demonic cultivators killing people, but who would have thought one would actually come to this remote little town.
Not long after, exclamations of shock came from outside.
Cang Shubai lowered his eyes and turned another page of the medical book, indifferent to the surroundings.
Until a familiar voice was heard among the cries of alarm outside.
Doctor Hu felt a gust of wind, and Cang Shubai was already gone from sight.
A man in coarse cloth fell to the ground in terror. Before him stood the mutated man, opening a bloody maw towards him.
A small wooden ball was thrown over, landing on the beastified man and exploding, forcing him back a few steps.
But soon, the bloodied man steadied himself. He raised his crimson eyes, tilted his head, and headed straight for the meddlesome woman.
Mu Ran was about to turn and run when someone grabbed her hand and pulled her into a familiar embrace.
Cang Shubai raised his cold eyes, the killing intent within now unconcealed.
As the cold fish in his sleeve grew restless, a long sword flew through the air, piercing through the half-man, half-beast's body. The man vomited a mouthful of blood and collapsed to the ground.
The next moment, the blood spilled on the ground blossomed into clusters of red spider lilies. The man's corpse was quickly swallowed by the flowers, creating a bizarre yet strangely beautiful scene of macabre beauty.
The surrounding crowd gasped in astonishment.
The long sword soared into the air again, flew over the crowd, and returned to the scabbard on the back of a blue-robed Taoist priest. The priest approached, squatted down to look at the brilliantly blooming spider lilies, and said, "More evil heresy."
The priest looked at the big man who had fallen to the ground, "Are you alright?"
Brother Wang came back to his senses, quickly scrambled to his feet to express his thanks, then turned and bowed to Mu Ran, "Lady Mu, thank you for your help."
Mu Ran smiled, "Brother Wang, no need to be so polite. I didn't really help much."
This big man was their neighbor, the husband of Auntie Wang.
Brother Wang, having narrowly escaped death, was still shaken. But these were troubled times, and demons and monsters were not uncommon.
Besides, he still had his errand-running job. Pale-faced, he said he must invite Mu Ran and Cang Shubai for a meal another day, thanked the Taoist priest again, and then ran off on unsteady legs.
Too late, Muran sensed a low pressure in the air.
She felt inexplicably nervous. Lifting her face, she met Cang Shubai's expressionless countenance.
Cang Shubai rarely let his emotions show, and even now, it was impossible to tell if he was angry, yet she could still feel it.
He said, "Acting recklessly, are you trying to get yourself killed?"
Muran felt a chill run down her spine. "I knew it was dangerous too, but I couldn't help it."
"Is someone else's life more important than your own?"
Muran lowered her head, pursed her lips, and said in a soft voice, "I just thought... if it were Jinzhi in danger today, and if no one stepped in to help, how utterly helpless Jinzhi would feel."
Cang Shubai's long eyelashes trembled slightly.
That taste of helplessness—he had savored it for who knows how many years. Naturally, no one understood it better than he did.
She stole another glance at him. "And if Jinzhi couldn't come home... what would I do then?"
The fingers hanging at Cang Shubai's side curled almost imperceptibly. In the end, he raised his hand, brushed aside the stray hairs at her temple, and whispered softly, "What a silly goose."
