“If you’ve never heard of it, that can only mean that you’re ignorant.” Zhou Donghuang had not planned to bother about the Yang head elder, Yang Ping, but seeing as he had no intention of stopping once he began questioning him, he replied coldly as he glanced condescendingly at him.
The Russell’s viper was a rare venomous snake. Its head was strikingly similar to the mandala flower, hence giving it the common name the “mandala snake”. The viper did not bite to poison but used its nose to release its venom, poisoning whoever breathed in the toxins.
As Yang Ping’s expression changed, Zhou Donghuang turned to look at the Yang family chief, Yang Yunji, lying on the bed. He said flatly, “I can treat the snake poison in the chief.” With that, the whole room turned quiet.
Even the Yang head elder, Yang Ping, who had been prepared to argue with Zhou Donghuang, kept his mouth closed. He stared at Zhou Donghuang incredulously, eyes filled with suspicion. This young man said that he could treat the poison of their Yang family chief?
“Medicine Master Zhou… are you serious?” The third master, Yang Yunchong, who had just entered the room, happened to hear Zhou Donghuang’s words. After his initial shock, he was the first to respond as he asked Zhou Donghuang seriously.
“If my young master says he can, he definitely can treat it,” Fu, who had been standing behind Zhou Donghuang, said impatiently, seeing that they disbelieved his young master’s words. To him, his young master was almost god-like and could achieve anything. For someone to doubt his young master was simply blasphemous and unacceptable to him.
“Medicine Master Zhou, please help treat my uncle.” After Yang Zixi had recovered from her shock, she looked at Zhou Donghuang agitatedly. Although they had just met, she could tell that Zhou Donghuang was a man of his word.
“Medicine Master Zhou, you… really can treat this poison?” Yang Yunji struggled to open his eyes as he lay on the bed. In his muted gaze, there was a glimmer of hope.
“I do not wish to repeat what I’ve already said.” Zhou Donghuang looked at Yang Yunji, then at Yang Zixi. “I need thirty-six, two-inch-long gold needles, the finer, the better, and they must be totally straight. If you prepare it within three days, I’ll be able to completely cleanse his body of the snake poison in ten days,” he said.
Before Yang Zixi could speak, Yang Yunchong had already turned to Yang An and said, “Second Elder, you are in charge of the gold treasury here… please help to prepare the needles that Medicine Master Zhou has requested.”
“Alright,” Yang An responded and left. Although he did not really believe that the young man could detoxify his chief, but if even Medicine Master Xiao could do nothing about it, then they could only cling on to this last hope.
“Fu, pen and paper.” After Fu had passed a pen and paper to him, Zhou Donghuang wrote some herbs and quantities on it and passed it to Yang Zixi.
“Prepare these herbs within three days. After I detoxify your chief, you will have to brew these herbs for him to drink… with this medicinal soup, he will be able to completely recover his strength once the poison has been purged from his body,” said Zhou Donghuang.
“I will do it.” Yang Ping took the prescription from Yang Zixi and left without looking back. Their Yang family chief’s health had everything to do with the success of their family, and even though he doubted this young man, he was prepared to try what he had offered. If it worked, it would be a cause for celebration. And if not, it would not be too late to make the young man answer for it.
“Hmph! I want to see how he treats the Yang family chief in three days!” Shi Yu, who had come into the room with Yang Yunchong, muttered to himself as he saw that all the Yang family members had believed the young man’s words. He turned and left the household with his servant.
“Medicine Master Zhou, do you live far from our house? If not, do you want to stay here for the next three days?” Yang Yunchong asked Zhou Donghuang. Quietly, he was also worried that this young man would disappear after making such a bold claim. If he was prepared to stay, he would be more trusting of his words just now.
“I just arrived in Chu royal city and am staying temporarily at an inn,” answered Zhou Donghuang. “That inn is indeed quite a distance from here.”
Yang Yunchong’s eyes lit up as he suggested, “Medicine Master Zhou, why don’t you get your servant to return the room? Our guest room here is definitely much better than the inn’s,” Yang Yunchong said as he looked at Zhou Donghuang.
“Alright,” said Zhou Donghuang with a nod.
Seeing Zhou Donghuang agree, Yang Yunchong could not help but feel a flutter within him, because this meant that this young man was probably someone with real ability. If not, he would not have agreed to stay.
“Zixi, go ahead with Aunt Mei to prepare the guest room for Medicine Master Zhou,” Yang Yunchong instructed Yang Zixi.
Yang Zixi had already viewed Zhou Donghuang as her uncle’s saving grace. She excitedly brought Zhou Donghuang to the guest room and prepared the best room for him.
“Medicine Master Zhou, you said that you just arrived in Chu royal city? You are not a local?” Yang Zixi asked curiously.
Zhou Donghuang shook his head. “No.”
“Medicine Master Zhou, you look just one or two years older than me… can I call you ‘Brother Zhou’? You don’t have to address me as Lady Yang either, just ‘Zixi’ will do,” said Yang Zixi with a smile.
“Sure,” said Zhou Donghuang with a nod. To him, it didn’t matter.
“Brother Zhou, my… how can I treat it?” As she remembered the hidden illness that the young man had mentioned earlier, Yang Zixi was embarrassed. Her cheeks flushed red.
“Yours is just a small illness… once the golden needles are ready, I’ll do some acupuncture on you, and you’ll be fine,” Zhou Donghuang said dismissively. “But you must make sure to rest and monitor your emotions to prevent it from coming back.”
“As for you…” Zhou Donghuang looked at the lady behind the young girl. “Tomorrow morning, come and collect your prescription from me… if you take the medicine for three days, your pain will subside. After a month, your hidden illness will be treated,” he said.
“Thank you, Medicine Master Zhou,” the lady thanked him profusely, her face full of joy.
“Aunt Mei, you get back to work first… I’ll stay here and talk to Brother Zhou,” the young girl said to the lady.
“Yes, Ma’am,” the lady said as she left.
After the lady had left, the young girl was about to kneel before Zhou Donghuang but was stopped by him. He asked with a frown, “What are you doing?”
“Brother Zhou, I want to thank you for treating my uncle,” said the girl.
“You don’t have to thank me.” Zhou Donghuang shook his head. “I helped to detoxify your chief only because of your Yang family’s ten-year survival weed.”
“Brother Zhou, not just one stalk of the weed, even ten stalks of the ten-year survival weed would not be enough to repay your help,” said the girl seriously. “Saving my uncle is akin to saving our whole Yang family!”
If her uncle died from this poison, the whole Yang family would go from a grand family to just a preeminent family and lose all of their current glory. Of course, she did not care whether the family was a grand or preeminent family. As long as her uncle was fine, even if the Yang family became a lesser family, she could accept it. All she cared about was her uncle’s health.
“And I kneel not on behalf of the family, but as myself.” Finally, the girl insisted on kneeling down and kowtowing to Zhou Donghuang. “Since my parents passed away when I was young, my uncle raised me. To me, he’s my father.”
Seeing the stubbornness on the girl’s face, even Zhou Donghuang was moved. Chen Dandan could hardly compare to this young girl.
“Don’t worry. As long as your second elder prepares the needles within three days, your uncle will be fine.” Zhou Donghuang helped the young girl up. This time, his tone was gentler than before. In some ways, the young girl had earned his recognition.
“Thank you, Brother Zhou.” In Yang Zixi’s memory, this was the first time that she had been in such close contact with a man. Instantly, she blushed even redder. Usually, she disliked those rich playboys and steered clear of them, but she felt no animosity towards this young man in front of her.
In fact, after he had helped her up and let go of her, she had felt a strong sense of disappointment. When he had helped her up, although she did not understand why, she felt a strong sense of security as if she did have to fear anything as long as she had the young man by her side. Once the young man had stepped away, this sense of security had dissipated, and in that moment, she felt as if she was just a lone boat in the middle of the vast ocean, with nobody to depend on.
“Brother Zhou, where are you from?” Furthermore, the young man’s abilities had filled her with admiration. She was curious about where someone like him had come from.
“Yunfeng prefecture,” said Zhou Donghuang.
“Yunfeng prefecture?” Yang Zixi was shocked because she had never heard of such a prefecture. Within Yunyang country, she knew all the superior and intermediate prefectures, but she was not as familiar with the inferior prefectures. “Brother Zhou, are you not from Yunyang country?”
Yang Zixi had not imagined that Zhou Donghuang had come from an inferior prefecture, because she believed that an inferior prefecture could not possibly have produced a man of such caliber. She thought that Zhou Donghuang had come from another country.
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