Don’t Be a Kept Man

it’s not something that will kill me, so let’s go after the meal.”

Xiao Feng Wu didn’t move, only smiling fakely at him, and the two of them froze in place just like this.

The sun was shining in his eyes so much that Qin Ming Yue couldn’t open them and seeing Xiao Feng Wu hold onto him and not letting go, with his body still loosely wearing that long white robe and with his damp hair still casually loose over his shoulders, just like an ethereal being, his heart couldn’t help but be moved.

“Sixteenth Master,” Qin Ming Yue pointed at his palm, “the dumplings will get cold.
I made them especially for you.”

Xiao Feng Wu looked towards the house and then finally walked back into the room.
A white porcelain bowl holding multiple small dumplings with a layer of chicken oil on top to seal in the heat sat on the table.
The soup was still boiling hot and he ate them slowly with a spoon, showing off a charm even in his movements.

Wearing a black coloured robe, Qin Ming Yue’s aura was not like his beautiful and unbelievable appearance, instead it was more cold and confident.
In his hands, he held onto an alcohol cup as he casually rested himself on his side of the table, knocking randomly.
It was only when he saw Xiao Feng Wu finishing his dumplings did he raise his eyes and say,

“Sixteenth Master.”

“Hmm.”

Cushioning himself on his own elbow, Qin Ming Yue tilted his head to look at Xiao Feng Wu and his long elegant phoenix eyes were slightly squinted.
An expression of glee suddenly came upon him, and he looked so much like a devious fox.

As for what made him like this, he himself couldn’t express it clearly.

Bright and early in the morning, Xiao Feng Wu continued his way to Hui Chun Tang, but before he even got close, he could see a crowd of people outside all yelling about something.
De Gui was blocking the entrance, not letting them enter, and spending a great amount of effort trying to block them. 

“Ah, yeah, who comes so early in the morning to see if they are sick.
Physician Xiao has not arrived yet! Don’t be so hasty!”

Since the beginning of time, humans have always loved to be in the heat of things, soaking in all the drama.
Physicians duelling it out in a battle was a normal thing but since Xiao Feng Wu basically stomped on all of the famed physicians known for performing miraculous deeds, forcing more than thirty old men to respectfully call him their ancestor, his victory was all the more too crazy and mind blowing to think about.

Somehow what had happened had leaked out from the Min family, spreading far and wide bright and early in the morning, so much so that everyone came to crowd around Hui Chun Tang. 

Unfortunately, there were not many who needed to see an actual physician, and instead, many were here to check out the man of the hour.

Xiao Feng Wu was standing behind the crowd with a strange expression on his face.
In a glance, De Gui found him, and as if his saviour had arrived, he didn’t even care about blocking the door.
He came running as if a tail was wagging behind him, 

“Sixteen, you’ve finally arrived.
These people are all here to ask for a consultation.
I said you weren’t here, but they didn’t believe me!”

The moment De Gui spoke, the crowd all looked over.
Facing up against all those stares that had an indecipherable look in them, Xiao Feng Wu walked forward to push the door open and said, 

“Oh, here for a consultation.
Pay the consultation fee first and then it’ll happen.”

Most of the people were here to see the main character of the drama, so upon hearing his words, they didn’t dare to shuffle any closer.
They hid their hands in their sleeves and walked away, choosing to look from a distance instead.
But the amount of patients were still quite a bit more than Xiao Feng Wu expected and he asked De Gui, 

“Why are there so many patients today?”

De Gui said, 

“Ya, I heard that all the head physicians from the apothecaries, like Qian Jin Tang and Xin Lin Ge, have said that they were sick and couldn’t come to work.
They most likely were afraid to bump into you on the streets and be shamed.
They don’t have the courage to actually call you their master in public, so all the patients came here to Hui Chun Tang and probably wanted to see you, the main focus of the drama.
Oh, and I also heard that you slammed Li Si Mou with a brick and caused him to faint, and he still hasn’t woken up yet.”

Hearing the last part, Xiao Feng Wu immediately felt better and he laughed mockingly, 

“That was what he deserved.
He should count it as a blessing that I didn’t slam him right into his grave.”

There were far too many patients today.
Usually they were all folks from poor backgrounds, but now there were quite a few more who were quite lined in the pockets – each of them a fat pig to slaughter.
They all came hoping to ask for some prescriptions that could help them live better or longer and Xiao Feng Wu loved these types of patients the most as he could earn a lot without a lot of effort.

Yan Cheng’s most famous restaurant was Tao Tie Lou and their most famous dish, Bai Xian Soup1, was sincerely out of this world.
According to the legends, even if an ethereal being arrived, their tongues would fall off from the taste.
Yet this was not something that you could obtain purely with wealth.
Xiao Feng Wu had been a regular of theirs, and the patient in front of him had a bit of a familiar face.
He looked a bit more closely before he realized that this was the main chef of Tao Tie Lou, Liu Yi Dao. (Tidbit: Yi Dao means one knife)

Seeing him with an expression of pain on his face and his rough hands all scattered with little knicks, which although not serious, still looked quite scary, Xiao Feng Wu couldn’t help but furrow his eyebrows, 

“What did you do to have wounds like this?”

The most important thing to a chef was his pair of hands.

Liu Yi Dao shook his head, 

“Hoh, don’t even mention it.
The district magistrate is inviting a special guest to Tao Tie Lou and specifically mentioned that he wanted Bai Xian Soup.
This soup requires stone fish for its freshness but it’s currently out of season, so I had to bring some of my disciples to try and catch it in the far mountain area.
It took so long just to get less than 1 kilogram, and still that stone fish is smaller than half the size of my palm.
If it didn’t like to hide within the cracks of stones, I wouldn’t be as injured as I am now.”

Xiao Feng Wu asked while he mashed some medicine just to make some conversation, 

“What kind of special guest is it that they require such fanfare? If the district magistrate really wanted this, he should go get it himself.
That’s what’s called gifting from the heart.
Just a casual desire out of his mouth and he really just stomps on everyone below to their death.”

Liu Yi Dao took a look around before leaning forward and whispering, 

“What can we do as normal citizens with no power or status.
I heard the other is a high ranking official from the capital, coming here on the Emperor’s orders.
Otherwise, our Zhang-gui wouldn’t force me to go fishing.
The district magistrate is hoping to rise in the ranks, so why wouldn’t he try to bribe and say sweet words as much as he can.”

Xiao Feng Wu frowned, 

“On the Emperor’s orders? That doesn’t mean that he can play god.
The district magistrate is making such a fuss but who knows whether whoever’s coming is just some random nobody instead…..
Don’t take off the bandages after the injury gets wrapped.
Come here tomorrow for another application of medicine and after a while the wounds should close up.
Don’t do anything requiring strength when you go back, or when it comes winter, you’ll suffer your fate then.”

Notes:

*1 Bai Xian Soup: Literally translates to eight fresh, which usually means eight types of some sort of seafood/meat.