Chapter 410: Chapter 152: Night Encounter with the Marshal
"Ah—"
Qi Yutai suddenly sat up from the low couch, his face covered in cold sweat.
The room was silent, and the air seemed to still carry a lingering fragrance of Spirit Rhinoceros Fragrance.
A concerned voice came from beside his ears, "Grand Preceptor, are you alright?"
He looked up and saw a strange woman standing not far from the low couch, who, upon seeing him wake, spoke while reaching for his wrist.
"Get away—"
Qi Yutai pushed away the person in front of him, and said fiercely, "Who are you?"
In extreme fright, he momentarily forgot he was in the Board of Rites Office, his tone was fierce and volatile. The other party looked at him in astonishment, seemed slightly aggrieved, pursed her lips without speaking, and silently stepped back a few paces.
It was Jin Xianrong who stood behind the woman and stepped forward, giving a light cough and volunteered to smooth things over, "Yu Tai, this is Doctor Lu from the Hanlin Medical Institute. You wouldn’t wake up just now, so I had her come to see if you were ill."
Medical Officer?
Qi Yutai was stunned for a moment.
The voice of the person in his dream seemed to still linger in his ears. He couldn’t quite remember that voice, but it was vaguely a woman’s. She whispered in his ear, inquiring and probing about the murder on the night at Fengle Building, like a ghostly woman who had come for revenge.
It sent chills down his spine.
He looked towards the strange woman at the door, his expression somewhat suspicious, "What just happened? Why are you all here? Who was talking in my ear just now?"
"Talking person?" Jin Xianrong looked around, "No, you’ve been the only one here in this room."
"Just me alone here?"
"Yes, Doctor Lu was busy administering acupuncture and preparing medicine for me. I wanted to ask you if you needed Doctor Lu to check on how your cold was recovering. When I entered the room, you were lying on the table and wouldn’t wake up, which gave me quite a scare. I thought something had happened to you."
Jin Xianrong scrutinized Qi Yutai’s complexion, "Yu Tai, did you just have a dream? Is it possible that your cold hasn’t completely cleared up and you’re not feeling well? If you ask me, there’s nothing much going on at the Ministry of Revenue. If you’re still sick, you should rest in the residence for a few more days. Otherwise, if something happens, the Grand Preceptor might blame me, and it would be hard for your brother to explain..."
As he spoke on, Qi Yutai was still somewhat bewildered.
Just now... was it a dream?
But the person’s voice was so clear, as if whispering right next to his ear.
He looked up again towards the young woman standing by the door, and that’s when he noticed that she was wearing the blue robe and skirt of a newly appointed Imperial Medical Officer.
Indeed, a Medical Officer no doubt.
After hesitating for a moment, he asked the female doctor, "Just now, you didn’t enter this room?"
The woman shook her head, "This subordinate was always in the hall making medicine for Lord Jin."
Jin Xianrong nodded, "Doctor Lu is busy finishing the medicine and then has to go back to the Medical Officer Institute." He looked Qi Yutai up and down, then suddenly smiled knowingly, "Yu Tai, did you have a good dream just now?"
Since the other party was so certain, there was no need for Jin Xianrong to lie to him; thus, Qi Yutai began to doubt himself, and it might indeed have just been a dream he had.
Yet the dream felt far too real.
Jin Xianrong took two steps forward, seeing the cold sweat on Qi Yutai’s forehead had already soaked his collar, he couldn’t help but advise, "Yu Tai, you look a bit pale. Why not let Doctor Lu take your pulse and see. If your cold hasn’t cleared up, you might as well go back to your residence to recover."
Before Qi Yutai could respond, Jin Xianrong turned to the woman and said, "Doctor Lu, please trouble yourself to examine Young Master Qi."
The woman agreed.
Qi Yutai, sitting on the low couch, then suddenly realized that Jin Xianrong was excessively polite to this woman. Jin was always lustful and would normally tease any moderately attractive woman he met. Qi Yutai was already accustomed to this behavior. Although this woman was beautiful, Jin Xianrong was talking to her without a hint of flirtatious disrespect; his manners were as if he had become a different person.
Jin Xianrong couldn’t change his nature, so could this woman have another identity?
As he thought about this, the woman had already walked up to him, her fingertips touching his pulse.
Qi Yutai suddenly shivered.
The female doctor’s fingers were very cold, as cold as ice, and the place she touched felt as though it were being frozen by a piece of ice, gradually stiffening and giving off a deathly stillness like dry water.
In contrast to her touch was her countenance.
She was very beautiful with a delicate facial structure and fine-boned elegance. Her ears, hidden under her coiffed hair, were white as jade, making her face even more enchanting like the driven snow.
As the beautiful woman bowed her head to concentrate on taking his pulse, her long lashes cast down like the wings of a butterfly, stirring a ripple in the heart of a man like him, who was so accustomed to beautiful sights.
Since when had the Medical Officer Institute acquired such a beauty?
Just as he was becoming intrigued, the female doctor suddenly withdrew her hand and stood up.