A Certain Demise

"So only a family profession? I thought it was something you enjoyed doing, it should be easy to change." Xue'er said reassuringly.

Li Yang did not know what to say, indeed it was a family profession, but he enjoys it as well. The feeling of saving a person was a moment he was proud to do. The feeling that his countless years of laborious studies and restless nights all amounted to life continuing to live. It was something that made him far happier than anything else he ever felt.

"If you enjoy saving people so much, then why do you cover your dagger in such a lethal poison?" Xue'er asked holding onto her wounded finger. Truly, she perhaps would have died if she was not already used to the effects.

"Let me take care of that." Li Yang returned to his desk, opening many drawers before he found a strange brown pill and placed it into her hand.

As Xue'er received the pill, she held it in her hand, playing around it for a while. Her actions made it feel as though she was reluctant to swallow it.

Li Yang wanted to speak up and tell her that time was of the essence, and if she did not take it now, her blood may have well already coagulated in her body.

After a while of 'inspecting' it, Xue'er finally swallowed it.

She could have broken it in half, directly swallowing one of the halves, while crushing the other one in her fingers allowing it to seep into the wound.

How very interesting he was, to give her the correct antidote, yet not giving her the proper dosage. Did he want her to suffer, yet not die from the poison? Or was it that he himself did not know the proper dosage, believing the painful process was a part of the antidote?

"In that case, thank you physician Li." Xue'er said with a bright smile.

"No worries." He said as he cleared a chair, preparing to allow her to lay down as the pain passes.

Xue'er allowed him to guide her to the long chair made of wood. It was hard but had enough sturdiness to support a person's posture. Her body stretched onto the hardwood surface. A part of her skin touched the surface of the wood, making it so that she felt all the scratches and bumps that had accumulated over the years. Curling herself in a comfortable position and closing her eyes, she waited for the throbbing feeling in her veins to pass.

It was unknown how long she had closed her eyes, but when she opened them again, she could see Li Yang silently brewing a decoction of medicine. When he was in a concentrated state, he had the air of a scholar to him, the enclosed space prevented air from flowing around properly and caused the area to get stifled in heat. There were beads of sweat that flowed from his temples to his chin.

Seeing him in such concentration, Xue'er did not want to discourage him. But the smell that was coming from the decoctions told her that it was a prescription he designed himself in an attempt to save and possibly cure them.

Her gaze returned to the plain curtain, and a discontent expression appeared on her lips. She sat up to look at him.

"You really won't be able to save them with the medicine that is meant for an epidemic." She chided him.

There was no response, it was as though her words had vanished into thin air before reaching him. He showed no change in reaction to her words, as though saying 'I will try' without the need for saying anything out loud.

"You'll see. They will meet a certain demise by the end of this month." Xue'er said silently as she resumed her rest.

Li Yang did not seem to care much, putting more sticks in the furnace to continue to fuel the growing steadily growing fire. The warmth of the fire caused the chamber to warm up slightly.

By the time he had finished, he poured the medicine into a small porcelain bowl, making the medicine clear of dregs before serving it to his patients. Xue'er silently opened her eyes and observed as he carefully had his patients take the medicine before taking their pulses an hour later.

He emerged from behind the curtain with a frowning expression. Believing that he was not skilled enough to cure this strange affliction. Xue'er observed his fluctuating emotions as he returned to his desk to crack open a few books and reread the medical texts to see if there were any such cases of this strange disease within the annals of medicine.

By the time night fell, he still could not figure out anything. Disheartened, he looked up to see the girl had been observing him for a while.

'Why do you say so?" He suddenly asked. If he could not find his answer, he might as well listen to what she had o say.

"Simple, they smell like death, they will not last long." She shook her head helplessly.

"Useless."

Xue'er did not seem to care too much, hearing him berate her with one word. On the other hand, she was fascinated by how he only said one word, expecting her to feel terrible. Were all scholars like this, or were there some who would let out a string of endless curses, completely losing the scholarly air around them.

"When will you help me find Xiao Ya?" Xue'er mumbled, somewhat incoherently, but it was quite easy to pick out precisely what she meant.

"Your friend might be in an underground place, constructed for this specific purpose. They would most likely target children who are usually on the streets with no parents or those with parents who have no power to protect them. Either way, no one will go through so much to look for a person who has been taken. You should not either, it is dangerous." As he stopped speaking, he could see the girl in front of him put on an expression of apathy, not caring for a single word of his.

"Danger…?" Her voice trailed off. There was an innocence to her eyes, as she continued to ponder the warning. "I have never thought of it." There had never been a sense of danger when she was walking around this town that was filled with all sorts of secrets, the scent of blood that she smelled every night when she had first arrived had never bothered in the first place. She had never harbored thoughts of getting to know where that came from either.