Chapter 138 — Once Comrades-in-Arms
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
"So you and Grandpa Guan know each other? Even better — that saves me the introductions." Yang Huaijun let out a breath of relief. With that, his duty as the go-between was discharged; since the two of them were already acquainted, their talk could only go all the more smoothly.
Yang Huaijun took Wei Zhao's words lightly enough, but they landed on Guan Xuemin's ears like a thunderclap. He had assumed that a man as young as Wei Zhao must surely come from some reclusive clan of practitioners, and that keeping a few lost formulas of the ancients in hand was only natural.
But Wei Zhao had gone to a bookstore to look things up so that he could write a prescription for Yang Huaijun — now that was startling. In other words, the prescription was wholly Wei Zhao's own composition, not something ready-made off the shelf. From this alone one could see to what heights his study of Chinese medicine had climbed.
Only... he did not even grasp the properties of the herbs well, and had to consult a bookstore on the spot, yet he dared write out a prescription and dared put a patient on it... That was a boldness beyond measure. And Yang Huaijun had actually trusted him, actually taken the medicine. Just what was the relationship between these two?
Guan Xuemin was old and seasoned; from the moment Wei Zhao and Yang Huaijun arrived, he could read in their subtle gestures and manner that the bond between them ran deep. But precisely what that bond was, Guan Xuemin could not guess.
Yet judged by its effects, the medicine Wei Zhao had compounded truly worked on Yang Huaijun — and that was what astonished Guan Xuemin most. It seemed Wei Zhao did not lean on his family's formulas; he was genuinely formidable. Which meant today's meeting was something worth looking forward to.
"You flatter me, you flatter me." Guan Xuemin shook his head a little sheepishly. "Back then I even urged you to sit the entrance exam for my college of Chinese medicine. But who in that college could teach you? You would be better fitted to be our teacher!"
"Ha, Director Guan jests," Wei Zhao said politely. "What I know are merely some out-of-the-way corners of the field, after all. Chinese medicine isn't my main line of work..."
"What? You don't study Chinese medicine?" Guan Xuemin was all the more astonished at this. He even thought to himself: surely the young man isn't putting on airs with me? Yang Huaijun's illness — how many specialists had held consultations without finding a way, and you casually cure it, and Chinese medicine isn't even your main line?
Still, seeing the utter sincerity on Wei Zhao's face, and recalling those neither-humble-nor-haughty words Wei Zhao had spoken in the bookstore that day, Guan Xuemin could not but believe that Wei Zhao was telling the truth.
"Yes. My main occupation right now is being a high school senior," Wei Zhao said, scratching his head. "Actually, Brother Jun knows about my situation... don't you?"
Yang Huaijun was rather helpless. How could he casually tell Guan Xuemin about Wei Zhao's affairs? He looked at Wei Zhao awkwardly: it's your business; if you won't say it, how am I supposed to?
"Ha..." In truth, Wei Zhao had no wish to hide anything from Guan Xuemin either. Since Guan Xuemin had been treating Yang Huaijun's wounds all along, he must know perfectly well how Yang Huaijun had been injured and what sort of work he had once done — otherwise he could never have devised the most effective course of treatment for him. So there was no need to conceal it from Guan Xuemin. Besides, that stretch of life in which he had fought shoulder to shoulder with Yang Huaijun was only a tiny fragment of his own; speaking of it did no harm. "Director Guan, Brother Jun and I were once comrades-in-arms."