Ink Burns

Chapter 258 Shoe Prints
It's not roasting rabbit.

They are burning paper money.

A man, kneeling on one knee, half-squatting, burns paper money one by one.

The ashes from burning paper money piled up into a small hill, which was then blown high into the air by the wind.

The brass clamps on the door were old and in disrepair, and they creaked loudly when pushed.

Hearing the noise, the man raised his eyebrows. After the flying ashes of paper money and the flickering flames, the murderous intent hidden in his eyes slowly faded as he saw who it was.

Shui Guang was stunned for a moment, but then immediately turned around and slammed the wooden door shut!
Burning paper money is strictly forbidden in the Forbidden City!

The people in the palace eat dried radish every day and are not allowed to fart, which is already pitiful enough; the ghosts in the palace are even more pitiful than the people in the palace. Whether it is Qingming Festival, Ghost Festival, Spring Festival, or New Year's Day, they can't eat the incense offerings of the human world!
Why are there so many ghost stories in the palace?
If you don't have enough to eat, will you make a fuss?

"Master—" Shui Guang lowered her voice, her round eyes sparkling. She spread her hands out and clasped them together, bending over and scooping upwards like she was using a winnowing basket. She looked clever and obsequious: "Go ahead and burn it, burn as much as you want, burn as much as you want! I'll lock the door tight for you!"

The man's gaze remained unmoved, as if he hadn't reacted for a moment.

Shui Guang exclaimed "Ouch!" and casually pulled off the headscarf, revealing a high bun and messy sideburns. Her eyes were practically closed with laughter as she reminded her brother, whose status seemed even higher than that of the powerful Wu Dajian: "It's me! Qiu Shui Du Xing Lin Tang! Hey—look at you, so forgetful! How could you forget your savior! Wei Ru Chun! Oh no! He Shui Guang!"

Xu Quyan lowered his eyes slightly, and after a long while, he chuckled softly: He thought this girl had figured out his identity long ago, but she still believes he is her father-in-law.
A few months ago, Xue Xiao sought help from Wu Min (Wu Dajian), who suggested that Wei Sibu be reassigned to the Department of Medicine.

He rejected the proposal.

With the six departments about to be liquidated, if people are still placed in the Department of Medicine, the truth might come out at any time, and the identity of "Wei Ruchun" might be brought up again, which would inevitably be unsafe.

If you're going to change your appearance, you might as well change your gender too.

He transformed from a woman into a man, bypassing any complicated medical department, and went directly to the Imperial Hospital.

If you don't see things through to the end, you'll find it hard to succeed as a person.

Since you're determined to follow the path of traditional Chinese medicine, the Imperial Medical Academy is the best place to go.

Both Chief Physician Liu and Physician Sun are nearing the end of their lives, so they naturally cannot follow along.

There was a doctor named Lin from Jiading Prefecture in Sichuan Province in the Imperial Medical Academy. He was not from a family with extensive medical knowledge, but just a village doctor. Emperor Zhaode of the previous dynasty often suffered from headaches, and Lin's acupuncture skills could greatly alleviate them. Therefore, he was promoted to the Imperial Medical Academy. Later, when Emperor Zhaode was seriously ill, he was given Liu'an Powder to prolong his life. While taking the powder, all his worries disappeared, but after taking it, he suffered from a splitting headache. The head of the Imperial Medical Academy, Liu, asked Dr. Lin to use acupuncture to relieve the headache. However, the old doctor Lin refused, saying, "Liu'an Powder has already opened the pulse. Once acupuncture is applied, all the orifices will be opened. If it is applied in reverse, the person will surely die."

Then, Imperial Physician Liu demoted Doctor Lin to Xinglin Hall in the suburbs of Beijing.

It wasn't until he ascended the throne that he reinstated Doctor Lin to the Imperial Medical Academy.

Dr. Lin may not be the most skilled, and he is an honest and simple man, but once Chief Physician Liu and Physician Sun fall from power, he, as a veteran of two terms, may not necessarily have no good future.

With Wei Sibu as his protégé, he could naturally take over Wei Sibu's career path in the Imperial Hospital.

Upon receiving the order, Wu Dajian quietly placed Wei Sibu into the Imperial Hospital under the guise of his own nephew from his hometown.

Xu Quyan assumed that Wei Sibu had already guessed his true identity, or at least that he hadn't warned Wu Min not to tell Xue Xiao this secret.

But now that he saw the young imperial physician, now renamed He Shuiguang, still addressing him as "Grand Eunuch," he immediately understood that Wu Min had never had any private dealings with Xue Xiao.

This realization gave him a strange sense of security: he trusted Wu Min, and by extension, he trusted the Inner Palace Bureau behind Wu Min; he trusted Xue Xiao, and was also willing to trust the Censorate led by Xue Xiao, but if the two forces crossed the safe distance and became entangled, he would definitely feel extremely uneasy.

No qualified emperor should ever be seen through by others.

Every excellent chess player always has a trump card up their sleeve.

He didn't want his trump card to be known to all three parties.

Xu Quyan lowered his head, let out a soft sigh, and then spoke in a steady voice with a hint of sudden realization: "Oh, it's Clerk Wei—" Xu Quyan slowly stood up and smiled gently: "Or should I now address you as Physician He?"

The phrase "Imperial Physician He" made Shui Guang beam with joy.

The little girl's hands trembled wildly: "Oh dear! What imperial physician? He's just a menial apprentice! He's a million miles away from being an imperial physician!"

so happy!
Imperial Physician!
Shui Guang chuckled, "You can just call me Shui Guang."

Xu Quyan lowered his head and patted the dust off his knees.

As night fell, Shui Guang, the junior doctor on duty tonight, was supposed to stay in the palace, but she was curious about the chief eunuch: "Aren't you going into the palace to serve today?"

Xu Quyan paused in his patting motion: Although he was pleased to learn that Wu Min had not been in contact with Xue Xiao, being constantly mistaken for a eunuch was not something to celebrate.

But besides eunuchs, it seems there are no other shields? Guards are not allowed to enter the inner palace.

"No need." Xu Quyan's voice was somewhat stiff: "Wu Min is inside."

"Oh—" Shui Guang suddenly realized, "You're on duty in shifts?" Then she fell into doubt, "Tsk? Why does everyone in the palace only know the name of Eunuch Wu, but not yours?"

Xu Quyan pursed his lips.

Shui Guang immediately realized: You can't question a man's career!

"Ah, I don't mean you're not successful! You're the most amazing eunuch! The best of all eunuchs! The vanguard among eunuchs!" Shui Guang quickly escorted the young and handsome eunuch up the steps, making him feel very proud.

Xu Quyan's lips twitched slightly, and after a long while he said, "Wu Min went out with the Emperor more often, while I stayed behind to guard the Linde Hall more often. Our duties were different, so there was no question of who was better than whom."

Oh.

After all that talk, it turns out that Eunuch Wu is the one who's in the favor.

The things a man is willing to take out are the things he likes best.

Shui Guang looked on with pity at the man's desperate attempt to save face, feeling a pang of sadness. Working in this wretched palace was hard enough; she ate nothing but dried radish every day. This seemingly glamorous grand eunuch, with his exceptionally handsome face, had to compete with that wrinkled old pumpkin, Wu Dajian, for food!

"Achoo—" Outside Yongxiang, Wu Min, the chief eunuch of the inner palace, sneezed, rubbed his nose, and was a little confused: It's getting cold, and my body is not as strong as before. When I was young, I could run two or three laps around the palace after killing the empress. Now I can sneeze even from a gust of wind. Tomorrow I have to ask the Imperial Kitchen to pick more radishes to help with circulation and keep warm, so I can get through the winter!

"What is your surname?" Shui Guang asked tentatively.

"Fang." Xu Quyan lowered his voice: "Miss Shuiguang can be called Mingguan."

Fang Mingguan.

Some of them sound nice.

As expected of the chief eunuch of the Taihe Hall, those junior eunuchs were all called things like "little earthworm" and "little sea creature," which sounded very uncultured.

“Yes, Your Honor.” Shui Guang readily agreed with a smile, looking down at the pile of paper money, which was burning red inside and covered with a thick layer of ash. He then laughed, “In my hometown, we say that the best way to burn paper money is like this, so that the wind can’t blow it away. This way, the silver sent to the underworld won’t be blown away, and it will be enough for our ancestors.”

The two of them can talk for so long while just standing there.

Xu Quyan glanced at the horizon not far away.

The palace has already been lit up.

But strangely, he had no intention of returning home.

Instead, Xu Quyan lifted his robe and sat down on the steps of the side chamber.

Since there's no intention of going back, then we should honestly burn all the paper money we brought.

Xu Quyan tore the paper money into pieces and threw them back into the fire.

Shui Guang clicked her tongue in disapproval: This eunuch Fang must have never done any manual labor! Look at those delicate hands and feet! How long are they going to keep burning themselves like this? Is it because this place is too remote, so the patrolling eunuchs can't catch them?!

Shui Guang stomped her foot, reached out and grabbed a thick stack of paper money, bent down and placed it under her feet, stepped on it, and then fluffed it up with her fingers as if she were fluffing cotton. She handed this stack to Xu Quyan and then went to get a second stack.

Xu Quyan did not answer.

Shui Guang frowned: "Eunuch Fang, what's wrong?"

There were shoe prints on the paper money.

This was burned for his foster mother, Empress Ji.

A slight anger rose in Xu Quyan's heart.

Following Xu Quyan's gaze, Shui Guang saw the light footprint on the paper money and said knowingly, "It's alright—even if it's been stepped on, it's still usable! You wouldn't refuse to use a banknote with a shoe print on it, would you?"

Xu Quyan was taken aback.

This seems to be the case.

Even if a valuable item is covered with a layer of dusty stains, its value cannot be concealed.

On the contrary, those who dwell on this stain are the ones who are truly worthless.