77 Imperial Physician Hall

Walking out of the hall, Lin Dalong asked, "Do you want to visit the imperial physician hall now?"

Thinking about it, Bai Shuixian felt that now was better than later, so she nodded. Anyhow, she was quite enticed to see how the most famous physicians looked like and she wanted to exchange knowledge with them. At the same time, she was also interested to know about what herbs the imperial physicians held or collected over the years.

Leading her to the imperial physician hall, Lin Dalong started explaining, "The Imperial Physician Head is Yuan Ping. He is a trustworthy person, though he may show a negative attitude most of the time. Also, don't take his words to heart."

"How old is he?" Bai Shuixian asked, her eyes staring up to the side of his face.

"That old man is about to turn sixty years old. In fact, if you manage to get close to him, he may even invite you to his birthday celebration," Lin Dalong joked while staring back at her.

"Even if I do get invited, I don't want to go," Bai Shuixian commented, retrieving her stare and facing forward instead.

"Hm? Why's that?" Lin Dalong asked, his eyes still boring into her beautiful silver pupils.

"I don't like crowds," Bai Shuixian briefly answered. "Hm? Is that the hall for the physicians?"

Bai Shuixian immediately asked while pointing to a certain place when she saw the huge building leaking an intense medicinal smell. Even though they were still at a distance where only the shadow of the building could be seen, she had a sensitive nose towards smell. This was especially so the case for herbs and medicine as she was trained from young to recognize as many things as she can.

Secretly smiling at her childish appearance, Lin Dalong answered, "Yes. How did you know?"

Lin Dalong was hiding a smile at the moment because when Bai Shuixian asked the question, her eyes lit up brightly. She had silently made a small tiny movement with her legs as though to jump in excitement, but contained it. Not only that, he could even see a slight smile on her mostly expressionless face.

At the same time, Lin Dalong wondered why she knew where the hall was at because they were still too far from it. In fact, although it was a huge hall, there were many gardens beside it and also the servant quarters with a few lowly concubine halls. Of course, the concubine halls were unused as Lin Tengfei had no other wife aside from the empress, a special case that stands out from the rest of the emperors.

"The smell of medicine is very strong," Bai Shuixian answered, her steps becoming lighter and faster.

Seeing that Bai Shuixian was walking faster in excitement, Lin Dalong also sped up and told her, "The Imperial Physician Hall is always very busy with the physicians walking to and fro, so if you get scared, you can hold my hand. Of course, if you get bullied, you can also ask me for help."

"Hm? No need," Bai Shuixian refused, a special confidence being excluded from her. "I'm only scared of the normal humans. Physicians are special."

Chuckling at how Bai Shuixian was separating the physicians from the commoners, Lin Dalong asked, "How are they special? They still age and die like normal humans."

Flashing a small smile at Lin Dalong, Bai Shuixian explained, "Physicians have learned the art of healing. They are also not as scheming as normal people. In other words, they are more trustworthy."

Lifting a brow at her explanation, Lin Dalong pointed out, "You know, there are bad apples amongst good ones, right?"

"Of course I know that," Bai Shuixian immediately responded. "But, I also know that the good ones should not be tainted for something they didn't do."

Shaking his head, Lin Dalong turned to the small page boy in charge of guests and ordered, "Tell Imperial Physician Yuan that Oracle Bai is here."

Nodding to Lin Dalong after bowing, the small boy ran inside the hall. When he came back out, Yuan Ping followed after him with a cold face. It was as though the people visiting him were not guests, but people that owed him a huge debt.

"Your Highness, Oracle Bai," Yuan Ping bowed with respect.

However, the moment Yuan Ping got up, he blatantly stared at Bai Shuixian with an imposing gaze. There was a clear feeling that could be told. He clearly did not think that she was skillful like how the rumors made her to be.

"Yuan Ping, stop it," Lin Dalong warned, seeing that the staredown was increasingly being lengthened.

"I apologize, Your Highness," Yuan Ping said. "I just do not see how a small girl like her knows how to save people. I think that as long as she doesn't kill them, it's more than enough."

"Before we start discussing anything, let's go in. This is not an appropriate place to talk," Lin Dalong addressed.

"Yes," Yuan Ping agreed and walked in with Lin Dalong as Bai Shuixian followed behind.

While they were walking through the halls to enter the study belonging to Yuan Ping, Bai Shuixian looked around up and down. Seeing the busy sight of every individual, she felt that this was truly the imperial palace. A place, always busy, with no relaxation.

Once they entered the study and Yuan Ping shut the door, he said, "Your Highness, what do you want me to do with this girl?"

Staring at Bai Shuixian who was standing still comfortably for a first, Lin Dalong said, "Ask her. She's the one with the knowledge. I am merely here to accompany her."

Sighing in resignation, Yuan Ping finally turned to Bai Shuixian and asked, "Oracle Bai, what would you like to do here?"

Carefully thinking about the question, Bai Shuixian answered, "Do the physicians here perform surgeries?"

"Surgeries? Well, it depends," Yuan Ping said. "It is a rare occurrence and the majority of us do not suggest that idea as the nobles will most likely reject it."

"Oh… I see. Then, what's the most used medicine?" Bai Shuixian asked another question, understanding that even though Yuan Ping did not think she was smart, he was still responsibly answering her inquiries.

"For the past years, medicine for fevers, colds, bruises, and cuts have been used the most. As the emperor has no concubines or consorts, we can finally breathe a sigh of relief and not have to find medicine for prenatal care," Yuan Ping answered, his face going expressionless again, not understanding why she wanted to know.

"Your Highness, do I get any benefits if I procure a new medicine for those things?" Bai Shuixian asked, turning to Lin Dalong.

"If you're willing to sell your medicine to the imperial family, you would get lots of money and rewards," Lin Dalong responded, thinking that Bai Shuixian was going to sell the medicine she made to the imperial physicians.

"What if I gave the recipes?" Bai Shuixian asked, giving him a deep stare. "By the way, I don't material objects. I have no use for them when I have more than enough to spend."

"Huh? The recipes? You're willing to give away the recipes?" Lin Dalong asked with full seriousness.

If there was anything Lin Dalong knew about physicians, it was that they were very stingy about training disciples or allowing people to enter their work space. The physicians that he knew disliked sharing their recipes for medicine. In fact, in the entire imperial physician hall, only a few disciples lurked, with the majority being old men that Lin Tengfei outsourced in order to maintain what people would call the "royal face".

"Can I get a few promises in return if I give my recipes?" Bai Shuixian continued to ask as she stared at Lin Dalong.

Although still in shock, Lin Dalong responded, "What promises do you want from me?"

"I only need one promise," Bai Shuixian stated. "Please promise me that as my only friend in the capital, you will never betray me."

A little surprised at how persistent she was about not betraying her, Lin Dalong slowly answered, "Alright… I'll never betray. In the entirety of my life, I'll never betray you. I promise you."

Hearing his words, Bai Shuixian gave a bright smile. This was the first time that Lin Dalong had seen her smile. He was immediately entranced by it.

Lin Dalong felt that it was full of innocence. For some reason, he felt that Bai Shuixian was the most innocent being in the entire world. That she needed to be protected or else she would be tainted by the darkness that lurked in the shadows of the world.

"Physician Yuan, I know that you look down on me for my appearance. In fact, it's not my fault that I look this young. However, I can promise you that I'm very experienced," Bai Shuixian started saying. "You can look at the recipes that I'm going to write. Can you get me some paper and ink?"

Still clearly full of doubts and suspicions, Yuan Ping stared at Bai Shuixian for a few seconds. However, when all he received was a blank stare in return, he went to his desk and grabbed the paper with the ink stone. As for Lin Dalong, he let go of his imperial grace and started to grind the ink for her.

After receiving the materials required, Bai Shuixian started to write down a few recipes. She wrote one for curing fevers and colds. On another paper, she wrote down the recipe for a salve that was especially useful for bruises and cuts.

When Yuan Ping looked at the recipe, his eyes opened wide in shock. He demonstrated such a huge response that it caused Lin Dalong to also look at the paper, curious about what she wrote. As for why he was so curious, it was because Yuan Ping rarely showed such huge reactions, especially since he became the imperial physician head.

However, when Lin Dalong read the recipes, he could not understand it, so he asked, "Yuan Ping, why are you so shocked?"