57 Treating The Patient - 18.1

As soon as Fu Qing Tian finished speaking he immediately gave an order to his men to go and disperse the crowd while both Bai Nian Zu and Fan Zhu Xia gave a signal to their group to help and assist in accomplishing the task.

With the combined efforts of the three, the gathered crowd of onlookers were efficiently scattered off without any incident while Fu Qing Tian turned to Fan Zhu Xia with a serious look on his face.

"Young Miss, will you go along with us inside the Jade Herb Medicine Hall to provide treatment for this little girl? You have already stabilized her condition perfectly and I really do believe that once we determine what kind of treatment or prescription was given to her previously, you'll be able to quickly address the problem and be able to cure her. We from the Jade Herb Medicine Hall would just like to get this opportunity to apologize through actions and provide you with any necessary help, whether it be pills, herbs or medical assistance while treating the girl."

Seeing the sincerity on his face, Fan Zhu Xia paused for a moment and taking her silence as a sign of hesitation, Fu Zhenzhen became worried and flustered as she hurriedly spoke and explained in a fast manner.

"Please Young Miss, don't let my actions and my brother's earlier anger affect your judgement! It wasn't that Older Brother was mad at what you did! He just misunderstood things because of what I said, please don't blame him! Older Brother is just extremely protective of me and gets easily mad whenever he finds out that Zhenzhen is being bullied."

Seeing the weird look on Fan Zhu Xia's face, Fu Zhenzhen's eyes widened before she waved her hands worriedly and hurriedly added and said, "Not that you were bullying me! Of course you're not! Young Miss is definitely not a bully... You're more like an elder sister reprimanding me... did I say that right? Ehh...why does Zhenzhen feel like it's wrong? I... uhh... Brother, Zhenzhen is confused!"

Fu Zhenzhen then said with a troubled and teary look in her eyes. Her whole state, looking worried and panicked and very much confused left the three; Fu Qing Tian, Bai Nian Zu and Fan Zhu Xia, not knowing whether they should laugh or cry at her expense.

Feeling pity for her, Fan Zhu Xia then gestured for Min Sheng to carry the little girl before straightening up and patting Fu Zhenzhen's head in a reassuring manner.

"Enough of that. This Young Miss knows what you mean. No more need to worry."

"Really?" Fu Zhenzhen asked timidly.

"En." nodding, Fan Zhu Xia replied first before turning to face Fu Qing Tian and giving him a look before speaking.

"This Young Miss knows and understands where you are coming from. On behalf of this two children, this Young Miss thanks you. Now will Young Master Fu lead the way?"

Sending Fan Zhu Xia a grateful look, Fu Qing Tian nodded before gesturing for them to follow him in as he said, "Come."

Following his lead, Bai Nian Zu and Fan Zhu Xia followed Fu Qing Tian and Fu Zhenzhen inside while bring four escorts each while Fu Qing Tian's men dragged the beaten manager of the Jade Herb Medicine Hall behind them.

Upon entering, all the attendants of the Jade Herb Medicine Hall stood in attention while several doctors and alchemists came forward and gave a respectful bow to Fu Qing Tian and company.

Eyeing them, Fu Qing Tian then asked, "This Young Master sees that not everyone is present which is still understandable but now this Young Master asks all of you if you know who is the person responsible in the treatment of this little girl?"

Looking at the pale as a sheet little girl being gently carried in Min Sheng's arms, no one spoke and practically every single one of them kept their eyes lowered in apprehension. Only some of the more senior doctors and alchemists kept their heads up while one of the old men stepped forward and spoke his thoughts.

"Young Master, this old man has been making pills and elixirs for Jade Herb Medicine Hall for years now yet this is the first time that a patient has come back with a complaint."

Looking at him, Fu Qing Tian neither denied nor validated his words and just replied in acknowledgement.

"That may be so but that does not mean that the Jade Herb Medicine Hall is blameless in this incident."

"What if this two children weren't treated here?" another old man asked and hearing the implications, Fan Zhu Xia couldn't help the smile of wry amusement from tugging the corner of her lips upwards.

"Are you saying that this Young Miss orchestrated this and deliberately made trouble?"

Alarmed that Fan Zhu Xia would actually tell everyone his inner thoughts in such a blunt and straightforward manner, the old man hurriedly shook his head as he quickly replied, "Of course not, Young Miss! It's just that-"

"Enough! We don't need excuses, we need facts and answers! Do you really think that someone that Commander Bai can and will vouch for would really have the need to do this kind of play?" Fu Qing Tian asked coldly, cutting the old man's excuse off mid-sentence.

"Just because this Young Master just arrived doesn't mean I didn't hear the crowd talking about today's incident! This Young Master can assure you that there were a lot of people who saw this two children ask for treatment yesterday afternoon in exchange for a medicinal herb that the boy said he got from the outskirts of Abyss Valley Mountain Range. Now is anyone going to tell me who provided the treatment or will all of you just equally share the punishment that this Young Master will be doling out?"

Frozen in place, everyone remained stunned and speechless before one of younger male attendants gathered enough courage and stepped out before hesitantly speaking with a slightly shaky voice.

"Y-Young Master, if you'll please calm down and pardon us lowly servants. This lowly one knows that none of the esteemed doctors and alchemists present here were involved in the little girls treatment yesterday since most of the alchemists were refining pills and medicine yesterday while the doctors and physicians were all handling individual cases."

"Is that so? Then do you know who treated the little girl?"

"If this servant's memory serves right, it should be Old Doctor Gu who treated her. This servant remembers because Manager He told me to bring the boy to

a waiting room to wait for the treatment to be over then he took the little girl and the small wooden box where the herb was and left to go to Old Doctor Gu's refinery room."

After the attendant finished talking, there was a moment of silence first before Fu Qing Tian then spoke out and asked, "Where is Gu Lang?"

"He's in his refinery room, Young Master. He said he was going to try refining something new today." the attendant answered respectfully answered.

"Very good, the rest of you, go and fix your assigned rooms and follow my escorts back to the Fu Manor." Fu Qing Tian ordered before pointing to two guards and a couple of attendants and saying, "You two, go and fetch Old Doctor Gu while some of you stay behind to assist us later."

The people Fu Qing Tian pointed to, inmediately straightened themselves and gave him respectful nods as they simultaneously said, "Yes, Young Master!"

As the two guards were leaving, both Fan Zhu Xia and Bai Nian Zu also gave a low order and one from each of their escorts quickly followed the two guards in fetching Old Doctor Gu Lang. Despite seeing their actions, neither Fu Qing Tian nor Fu Zhenzhen gave any comment, making the leaving attendants, doctors and alchemists look at each other with meaningful gazes as they hurried their pace to leave the Jade Herb Medicine Hall.

Just a short moment has passed after almost everyone left with only the people brought by Fu Qing Tian, Bai Nian Zu and Fan Zhu Xia were left, along with Fu Zhenzhen and a handful of attendants when they heard a muffled shout and a small scuffle before a couple of minutes passed and the people who went to fetch Old Doctor Gu appeared with an old man wearing charcoal black robes with white hair tied back with a ribbon made out of a strip of cloth that's the same material as his robes and a long beard in tow, looking slightly haggard and very much indignant.

Seeing them arrive, Fu Qing Tian asked, "What happened?"

"Answering Young Master, Old Doctor Gu did not want to follow us earlier so we had to convince him to come."

After hearing how the guard dismissively explained the incident, an affronted look appeared on Gu Lang's face as he snorted and angrily exclaimed.

"Young Master Fu, you of all people know that an alchemist cannot be interrupted in the middle of refining yet these bunch of guards actually burst into my refinery room and demanded for me to stop half-way the refining process! One of them even snatched away one of the herbs that this old man was about to place in the pill furnace!"

Glancing at the guards, the guard who Fan Zhu Xia sent stepped forward and presented a small wooden box from his chest and said, "This was where he took the herb he was going to use and from the description that the attendant told us earlier, this one matched so this servant took the initiative to take it and prevent him from using it."

Seeing the wooden box, the attendant nodded with a sure lool on his face and exclaimed, "That's it! That's the exact box that the boy brought in yesterday, Young Master!"

Hearing the attendant's outburst, Fu Qing Tian, Bai Nian Zu and Fan Zhu Xia all gave approving nods while Fan Zhu Xia spoke.

"Good job. Keep the box first and we'll return it to the boy later when he wakes up." Fan Zhu Xia said before turning to Fu Qing Tian after some thought and asked, "That is, if that's alright with Young Master Fu?"

"Of course, it shall be done according to what the Young Miss deems is fit."

Smiling slightly in appreciation, Fan Zhu Xia then replied, "Many thanks."

Hearing the two's conversation, Old Doctor Gu felt his feeling of indignation rise to a whole new level until he finally burst out, full of complaints and loudly voiced his thoughts of injustice.

"Young Master Fu, why would you side with this unknown young miss and just give her the herb that this old man obtained as payment for a treatment this old man performed? Isn't it this old man's right to own that herb that this old man got through proper means?!"

Scoffing disdainfully at the old man, Fan Zhu Xia spoke in a cold tone, her soft, gentle voice, surprisingly chilling and filled with contempt.

"Proper means? Is the treatment you gave the little girl yesterday even qualified to be called the correct way of treating a patient and curing their illness? Don't make me laugh!"

Furious at the insult, the old man felt his blood pressure rise as fast as his anger that he almost spat out blood!

"How dare you insult this old man! Don't you know that, I, Old Man Gu Lang is well-known and well-respected as a renowned alchemist and one-of-a-kind medical practitioner?! On what basis did you have the right to accuse me of malpractice?!"

Equally angry, Fan Zhu Xia snapped and angrily retorted back without qualms as if hearing everything Gu Lang said didn't matter one whit with her.

"On the basis that you're treatment ended up in poisoning this little girl!"