Family…

Alone in this strange world, Chen Ji could only cautiously explore it, sensing its mystery and danger. Every step felt like walking on the edge of a cliff, potentially falling into an abyss at any moment.

The word “family” held a unique appeal for him. Chen Ji clearly understood that the so-called family was this body’s family, and he was merely a trespasser who had entered this world after the original owner’s death.

But a thread of curiosity inevitably arose in his heart… What if his parents, after death, also came to this world?

After the morning class ended, Chen Ji and his two fellow apprentices squatted beside the large water jar in the southeast corner of the courtyard to wash up. He took a willow twig, pressing the inner branches into a brush shape, and, mimicking his senior brothers, stiffly scraped his teeth.

The stoutest senior brother, who had slept very soundly the previous night, squatted on the ground grimacing: “Master was in a bad mood today, definitely don’t provoke him. He beat me half to death, my dad never hit me this hard!”

Chen Ji spat out the salty water in his mouth and tentatively said: “Maybe practicing this is useful?”

Liu Qu Xing curled his lip: “Useful for what? I’ve been practicing for over a year and don’t feel anything. Do you feel anything?”

“No,” Chen Ji shook his head, confirming that the warm current was something only he could feel.

The stout senior brother asked while brushing his teeth: “Liu Qu Xing, when your mother comes later, will she still bring those delicious oil pancakes from last time?”

Skinny Liu Qu Xing rolled his eyes and spat out his mouthwash: “She Deng Ke, stop thinking about the food my mother brings.”

She Deng Ke was unhappy: “We’re fellow apprentices, what’s the big deal about eating some of your food?”

Chen Ji laughed happily: “Yeah, what’s the big deal about eating some of your food?”

At this moment, the old man Yao came out of the main house carrying bamboo strips: “Still in the mood to joke? Wait until tomorrow when I test your studies, let’s see if you can still laugh. All of you, get back to the main hall and read!”

After washing up, the three apprentices didn’t even eat breakfast. They lined up and sat on the threshold of the medical hall, each holding a medical book and flipping through it.

Everyone’s mind was actually not on the book at all. Their eyes eagerly awaited their families to come and bring money and food. Only Chen Ji silently flipped through the pages because he had too many gaps to fill.

She Deng Ke said: “Master is testing our knowledge tomorrow. We apprentices share blessings and difficulties. No one is allowed to secretly review, understood?”

Liu Qu Xing’s eyes darted around: “I haven’t touched a book recently, and I’ve forgotten everything Master taught me before.”

She Deng Ke sneered and clenched his fist: “You better be telling the truth!”

Liu Qu Xing shrunk his neck: “Why don’t you say Chen Ji? This morning he got the least amount of bamboo strips, and he’s still looking at the book!”

She Deng Ke closed the book in Chen Ji’s hand: “No looking! We’ll get beaten together tomorrow. My dad found someone to calculate my fortune, and I can live to over seventy. Master can’t beat me to death!”

Chen Ji: “…That fortune is tough?”

Time seemed to return to the harsh but beautiful high school era. Everyone would walk to class with their arms around each other, leave together, sweat together on the playground, and get scolded by the teacher together.

Chen Ji thought, if life in this world was always like this, could he accept it? It seemed he could.

After a short while, they saw Liu Qu Xing suddenly jump up, welcoming a middle-aged woman wearing a green ru skirt. The woman had silver hairpins in her hair, wore embroidered shoes, and was elegant and gentle. A maid followed behind her.

She laughed when she saw Liu Qu Xing, her laughter especially gentle: “Xing Er, have you provoked Master recently?”

“No, no, Master is probably fond of me. How could I ever provoke the old man?” Liu Qu Xing happily handed a bundle to the other side: “Mother, these are my change of clothes. Please wash them for me when you go back.”

She Deng Ke sat on the threshold and sneered: “No ambition, how old are you and you’re still asking your mother to wash your clothes!”

The woman took the clothes and handed a wooden box and a cloth bundle from the maid’s hand to Liu Qu Xing: “The cloth bundle contains this month’s school fees and change of clothes. The box contains some snacks I made for you. You can share them with your senior brothers.”

At this instant, Chen Ji clearly heard She Deng Ke swallow a mouthful of saliva.

However, Liu Qu Xing didn’t share the snacks with them. He opened the box on the spot and stuffed the oil pancakes and mung bean cakes inside one by one into his mouth. He watched Liu Qu Xing stuff food for a quarter of an hour, finally stuffing all the snacks down his throat, then returned the box to the woman: “Mother, please take the box back.”

Chen Ji: Ah?

She Deng Ke muttered: “You motherf***er…”

Mother and son talked for a while longer, then Liu Qu Xing happily carried the cloth bundle back. He even let out a full burp as he stepped over the threshold.

The pedestrians on the street gradually increased. Children chased each other in the small alleys between the uneven buildings, and women carried basins to the edge of the Luo River to wash clothes. Some people drove ox carts eastward. The oxen would swing their tails, dropping manure, and the entire street was filled with a mixed smell of soil and grass.

Chen Ji was immersed in it.

She Deng Ke and Chen Ji waited eagerly until noon. Only then did a capable-looking man arrive carrying a bundle. The dark-skinned man wore a short ru shirt on his upper body and gray cloth pants on his lower body. His sleeves were rolled up to his arms, revealing twisted tattoos: “Youngest!”

“Third Brother!” She Deng Ke’s eyes suddenly brightened.

The man laughed heartily: “I went to the East Market early to help people and got delayed. Here, Mother prepared two strings of cured meat for you. One string is for your Master, and one string you keep for yourself.”

“Where did the meat come from?” She Deng Ke asked in surprise.

“Me and Big Brother encountered a wild boar in the mountains a few days ago. It’s a pity it was male, it has some gamey smell,” Third Brother replied with a laugh.

She Deng Ke beamed with joy: “Having meat to eat is good enough, who cares about a gamey smell!”

“Go, there’s a wealthy family holding a gathering at the East Market tonight. I’m going to help set up the stage, and I can also catch a show,” Third Brother said decisively, turning and walking away without hesitation.

She Deng Ke strode back into the medical hall. Liu Qu Xing leaned against the door frame and said sourly: “I heard male wild boar meat all smells like urine…”

Chen Ji praised: “Senior Brother Liu, you are simply the moral low ground of our medical hall.”

She Deng Ke glared fiercely at Liu Qu Xing: “Do you believe I’ll knock out your front teeth?”

Liu Qu Xing immediately shrunk his neck. He turned his head to look at Chen Ji again: “You haven’t come yet this time, your family probably isn’t coming, right?”

Chen Ji shook his head: “I don’t know.”

Liu Qu Xing gloated: “Or they are unwilling to pay your school fees. Two hundred wen a month is indeed a significant amount for an average family. Or you can go beg Master, let him extend it.”

Just as he finished speaking, the old man Yao stood behind the counter, counting accounts, and said leisurely: “Laws are not easily passed, the Way is not cheaply sold, a Master does not follow the way, a doctor does not knock on doors. I only teach sincere people. If your family even thinks two hundred wen is too much, you don’t need to learn.”

“Understood, Master,” Chen Ji replied.

She Deng Ke scratched his head: “Master, we will still take care of you in your old age. There’s some feeling, right?”

The old man Yao stroked his beard: “A son is not necessarily truly filial to his own father. Can I count on you? You’ll understand everything when you’re old. Money is the most important. Feelings will all change. Life is even more insulting. With money, you can have dignity. Your family pays the school fees, I teach you skills. We don’t need too much Master-disciple sentiment.”

Chen Ji silently sat on the threshold, from early morning until noon, and then from noon until evening. He had only returned to the medical hall at the third watch last night and was tormented by the icy current until the fifth watch. He really couldn’t hold on anymore, so Chen Ji leaned against the door frame and fell into a deep sleep.

He didn’t know how long had passed when someone patted Chen Ji’s shoulder. He tiredly opened his eyes. She Deng Ke held a rice bowl, scooping cured meat while saying indistinctly: “Chen Ji, why don’t you go eat something first? I’ll watch here. If your family comes, I’ll call you.”

Chen Ji didn’t answer.

Across from the medical hall, the clerks from the rice shop, pawn shop, and grain and oil shop came out, putting up the door boards one by one, preparing to close. A clerk saw Chen Ji and greeted him with a smile: “Little Doctor Chen, waiting for someone?”

He smiled back: “Mm.”

However, Chen Ji’s family never came. His own parents would never forget such an agreement.

As the setting sun gradually sank westward, the pedestrians returning home gradually thinned. The light and shadow slowly faded from his face until night fell. Someone once said, never wake up at dusk. At that moment, the distant bell sound and the heaven and earth were silent. The sun had also rolled over the horizon. The gray sky looked especially far, as if he was going far away alone.

He suddenly remembered, before the gears of fate turned, someone had once asked him: “Can you endure loneliness?”

Chen Ji had answered at that time: “Yes.”

…

…

The evening afterglow fell, finally disappearing behind the uneven buildings. Chen Ji sat on the threshold, watching the last shop opposite close its door boards and the last pedestrian return home, then stood up and patted the dust off his body. Life still had to continue. Returning to reality, he had to seriously consider his situation.

At this time, the old man Yao was just standing behind the counter counting accounts, and said disdainfully without lifting his head: “What, your family doesn’t want you?”

Chen Ji thought to himself that this Master’s mouth was like quenched poison. He smiled and replied: “Master, they might have been delayed by something. They will send the school fees tomorrow.”

The old man Yao sneered: “You’ve been with me for two years. The other two families at least know to bring things during New Year festivals. Your family hasn’t sent anything. Even if they can’t pay the school fees on time, I don’t want a disciple like you.”

“Give me a month, and by then perhaps I can pay the school fees without relying on home,” Chen Ji said sincerely.

The old man Yao shook his head: “Who doesn’t make empty promises?”

Chen Ji thought for a moment: “The monthly school fee is two hundred wen. If you extend it for one month, I will pay two hundred forty wen every month after that.”

The old man Yao pondered for a moment, took out copper coins from his sleeve, and threw them six times. After interpreting the divination, he calmly said: “This indeed shows some sincerity… But you don’t even qualify to receive a consultation fee as an apprentice. Where will you earn money?”

“I will find a way.”

“Heh, such a big tone. Although you are an apprentice now, you can’t even accurately take a pulse. What do you rely on to earn money?” The old man Yao casually fiddled with the abacus beads, ridiculing him.

Liu Qu Xing, who was watching the fun on the side, said happily: “Chen Ji, why don’t I help you?”

“How does Senior Brother Liu plan to help?” Chen Ji asked.

“The three of us take turns working. Tomorrow it should be my turn to carry water, sweep the courtyard, and wipe the floor of the main hall. If you can help wipe the floor, I’ll give you two wen; if you can help sweep the courtyard, I’ll give you one wen; if you can help fill the water tank, I’ll give you two wen. Although it’s not much, at least you can earn fifty wen a month.”

The ranks among the apprentices were instantly cleared.

Chen Ji: “Okay, I’ll help Senior Brother Liu with the work.”

She Deng Ke looked at the old man Yao: “Master, is this appropriate?”

“As long as you can make up the school fees for me, it’s appropriate,” the old man Yao said indifferently.

She Deng Ke looked at Chen Ji: “Aren’t you angry? Liu Qu Xing this grandson is using you as an odd job.”

Chen Ji smiled and said: “Senior Brother Liu is also helping me.”

“What ‘Dog Senior Brother Liu’? The three of us were born on the same year, same month, same day, even the same hour. What does he rely on to be a senior brother?” She Deng Ke said disdainfully.

Chen Ji was slightly stunned. Why did the imperial doctor select three apprentices with the same eight characters?