Chapter 375: Chapter 142 Marshal Breaks the Siege_2
"No!"
The one who spoke out was Lin Danqing.
Lu Tong turned in surprise and looked at the people around her, who all wore odd expressions. In the very front, Cao Huai, caught in astonishment, even revealed a smile, but no matter how one looked at it, the smile was schadenfreude.
Lin Danqing’s voice became strained in urgency, "Doctor Lu cannot go to examine Lord Jin!"
Lu Tong was puzzled, "Why not?"
Lin Danqing looked at her, his face gradually turning red as if struggling to speak. After a moment, he stammered out, "...Lord Jin from the Ministry of Revenue is urgently ill with an abscess of the renal cyst. You’re a woman, how can you administer an examination to him!"
Abscess of the renal cyst?
Lu Tong suddenly understood.
No wonder the people around had inexplicable looks on their faces, no wonder Cao Huai’s smile was malicious... No wonder Cui Min had been beating around the bush for so long, laying a lengthy groundwork for her to come here.
Because an abscess of the renal cyst is a man’s private condition!
The disease was not rare, but having a young woman treat this condition was not common.
Cui Min looked at Lin Danqing, and perhaps because of Lin’s father’s standing, he did not reprimand him but simply said, "Healers know no gender, when you studied at the Imperial Medical Bureau, this was the very first lesson you learned."
Lin Danqing frowned, "But Envoy, people’s words are to be feared!"
Healers may not differentiate between genders, but rumors do!
The world is already difficult for women; it’s tough enough for them to practice medicine, but for a younger woman to do so, she must be prepared never to marry if anything goes wrong. These female Imperial Medical Officers were somewhat better off, serving only to attend to the ladies of various palaces. But Lord Jin’s ailment was known to all of Shengjing Officialdom, and once Lu Tong entered the doors of the Ministry of Revenue today, rumors would spread like wildfire tomorrow!
Renal cyst abscess meant that the medical officer conducting the examination would need to touch the private parts of the patient. Moreover, it was Lord Jin, who was notoriously lecherous; even the ducks inside the Palace were not safe from his groping hands seeking unfair advantage, let alone Lu Tong, a maiden as beautiful as jade!
Lin Danqing could already picture that gruesome scene!
"Doctor Lu," Cui Min ignored Lin Danqing and, with his hands behind his back, turned to Lu Tong. In front of all the Imperial Medical Officers present, he asked in a gentle voice, "Are you willing to perform the examination?"
Lu Tong’s eyelashes trembled slightly.
She had already heard from Miao Liangfang that Envoy Cui was not above using any means necessary. That was why he could, with a clear conscience, take possession of his friend’s ancestral property and gain fame and recognition by deceit and imposture.
However, his despicableness was beyond what Lu Tong had imagined.
To reject Cui Min could result in offending Lord Jin and prove her medical skills to be less formidable than rumored, which would also call into question Qiu He of the Imperial Apothecary.
To accept the examination... One needed only to look at Lin Danqing’s expression to know that Lord Jin was not an easy man to deal with.
Pure as white jade, most afraid of a stain, a female medical officer, without doing anything herself, could be drowned by the surge of rumors at the slightest misdeed from the other side. Outsiders would not criticize the man for being lecherous; instead, they would blame the woman for inviting trouble. In the end, even beauty would be considered her guilt.
Cui Min perhaps did not wish for her to end up ruined but certainly wanted her moral conduct to be questioned. In the future, when anyone mentioned Lu Tong, they would not speak of her medical knowledge or pharmacology;, they would recall the romantic gossip and the infamous tales associated with her.
How malicious.
"Doctor Lu?" Cui Min pressed on insistently.
A buzz of whispered discussions started to rise around them, and Lin Danqing looked at her nervously.
Lu Tong took a deep breath, slowly raised her head, and was about to speak—
"Why is it so lively here?" A voice came from outside the door.
This voice...
Lu Tong paused in shock.
The crowd at the doorway suddenly parted, making way for someone to come in.
The dispensary was spacious, with walls hung with long scrolls filled with Medical Classics and Pharmacology. The young man’s silver knife at his waist added a hint of dangerousness to the elegant hall, clashing with its atmosphere, but he himself was extremely handsome. His vermillion red Official Uniform made the other men, dressed in medical officer robes, look dull as dust.
"Marshal Pei?" Cui Min was taken aback.
Marshal Pei Yunmeng, the Right Military Commander of the Palace Front Office, rarely came here. His sudden presence caught everyone off guard.
The youth walked into the hall, glanced around, and without pausing on Lu Tong, seemed puzzled, "Envoy Cui, what are you doing here?"
Cui Min bowed in respect, "Replying to Marshal, I was just instructing the new Imperial Medical Officers to perform their duty."
He nodded, "I see."
Seeing that there was no one else accompanying him, Cui Min pondered for a moment and then tentatively asked, "May I ask what brings the Marshal here so suddenly?"
The Palace Front Office and the Medical Officer Institute typically did not interfere with each others’ affairs, and there were no new appointments for examination services recently.