The Female Supporting Role Shows Out

Translator: thornling | Editor: thornling

Li Zhong was standing guard just outside the door, so he obviously overheard the conversation between the eldest young master and the second young master. Seeing that there was no movement inside for a long time, he braced himself and walked in, only to find the eldest young master foolishly sitting on the bed, his expression flickering between gloom and happiness, extremely complicated.

"Sir, don't let the second young master's words lead you astray. The second young master is prejudiced against Miss Lin; that’s the only reason he slandered her like that. Haven’t you clearly seen how meticulously Miss Lin takes care of you these days and what kind of a person she is?" Li Zhong persuaded.

When Lin Dan first came, everyone in Xiaofeng Pavilion did indeed hate her to the bone. But after interacting with her on a daily basis, her meticulousness and diligence, her deep affection and friendship, her tolerance and integrity, had already moved all of them. Whether she was sincere or insincere to the eldest young master, couldn’t they tell?

"I know." Xue Boyong waved his hand weakly: "In Xiaofeng Pavilion, she does everything for me personally. For me, she learned to cook, do laundry, and embroider; for me, she wore coarse clothing to be a traveling doctor in the countryside. If she had wanted to live an easy life, how would she be so willing to suffer these hardships?"

It was because he saw it so clearly that he reacted so violently to Xue Jiming's words. He didn’t care whether Lin Dan was duping him. He was more afraid that she was wasting her life by being his caretaker. He was already useless, so how could he have any other extravagant hopes?

Thinking this, Xue Boyong covered his face and sighed dimly.

Seeing that he was thinking rationally, Li Zhong didn’t say anymore, just tucked in the corner of the quilt and went out.

The next day, Xue Boyong originally planned on distancing himself from Lin Dan, but he often found himself inadvertently approaching her. When Lin Dan asked him if there was anything he wanted to eat before she left, he shook his head and said there wasn’t. Lin Dan turned around and entered the kitchen, where she made the decision to stew a pot of mutton, which happened to be exactly what he had been craving recently. Although she didn’t return for lunch, the familiar flavor still accompanied him.

When she returned in the evening, Lin Dan disregarded him rejecting her with all his might, put him in the wheelchair and pushed him out, circling the yard several times. Seeing her cheerful little face, looking at her big sparkling eyes, even if he had more words to reject her, Xue Boyong couldn't bring himself to speak them.

After being sent back to his room and saying good night, he rubbed the space between his eyebrows and finally surrendered to Lin Dan. The distance between them had always been controlled by her. If she wanted to get close, he could only be forced to accept it. If she wanted to stay far away, he couldn't catch up even if he wanted to. This kind of feeling really made one restless. Xue Boyong, who had already gradually accepted the machinations of fate, looked at his useless legs and felt an extremely intense rush of unwillingness out of the blue.

He began to actively seek doctors and request treatment. The pills that he had rejected so stubbornly in the past were now being attentively taken. Doctor's orders were also followed one after another, and he did not dare to be careless at all. Madam Xue and the old madam observed his changes, feeling very happy. As for what Lin Dan did during the day, he wouldn't let them ask, so they pretended not to know.

Unconsciously, time passed. In the blink of an eye, it had been three months. Lin Dan's use of internal energy had reached a state of perfection, to the point where she could wield it with ease, and her medical skills, through the grind of daily practice, also advanced by leaps and bounds. She no longer only treated headaches and internal heat, but began to delve into difficult diseases. If she encountered a particularly rare case, she would wholeheartedly devote her attention to it, without concerning herself with how much time and energy she needed to spend. If the disease was not cured, she would feel frustrated for several days, then review her experience and continue moving forward; if the disease was cured, she would record the treatment method in detail for future reference.

Her obsession with medicine almost reached the point of forgetting to eat and sleep, but even so, she didn’t neglect her care of Xue Boyong at all. The two bodyguards followed her, witnessing her transformation from an inexperienced wandering physician to a renowned miracle doctor. She managed to successfully treat one instance of stroke paralysis, one of tuberculosis, and one of gangrene, three diseases that had been known as incurable up until now.

The two bodyguards originally thought it was just luck, but they did not expect that when she encountered a patient with the same symptoms, eight or nine times out of ten, she could cure them. The one or two exceptions were cases in which the disease had already attacked the vitals, progressing too far to treat.

She had constantly been accumulating experience and improving her medical skills. She began to break away from textbook knowledge, learning to create new prescriptions, boldly overturn the prescriptions of her predecessor, and combine the two together. She didn't realize how extraordinary her actions were, and even more so didn't consider her medical skills to have already reached the pinnacle. She continued to constantly strive for progress. Since she only practiced medicine in remote areas, her reputation was limited to rumors in the countryside. Those in or near the capital were completely unaware of the existence of this miracle doctor.

Slowly, the two bodyguards respected Lin Dan more and more, to the point where they obeyed her without hesitation.

Lin Dan didn't feel that she was all that amazing. After all, her ancestor was a true expert. Treating stroke paralysis, tuberculosis, etc. was as casual for him as treating headaches and internal heat. On this day, she spent tremendous effort before she was able to cure a patient with tympanites.* Thinking of the glorious achievements of her ancestor, she could not help but sigh: "I spent twenty-nine days and consecutively swapped out seven or eight different prescriptions to barely bring the patient back. I'm still a million miles away from the real dao of medicine. I'm ashamed, ashamed!"

*abdominal distension due to gas build-up, pronounced “tim-pa-NIGH-tees”

Bodyguards: "…" You brought someone with a fatal disease back to life, what else do you want? We’re afraid that you misunderstand “dao of medicine,” these three words!

The family members of the patient were also a little speechless, and quickly prepared generous remuneration to send this deity out.

The two boarded the ox cart and wobbled back to the west gate to see another guard waiting at the meeting point with an agitated expression, "Miss Lin!" He rushed up with large steps, yelling through the curtain, “We found someone!"

"Oh, where?" The curtain of the oxcart swished open, revealing an even more anxious face.

"In Xihe Town, Fengtian Province."

"Driver, change route to Xihe Town, Fengtian Province right away!" Lin Dan immediately ordered.

The driver hesitated and said, "Master, Xihe Town is quite far from the capital. It takes dozens of li* to go there and back. If we go now, I'm afraid we won't be able to make it back by nightfall!"

*about half a kilometer or a third of a mile

"Then we won’t go home tonight." Lin Dan wrote a note for a guard to send back to Xiaofeng Pavilion, and then brought the other guard to call on the patient. When the group arrived in Fengtian Province, the sky was already dark. The village was filled with the sounds of dogs barking and chickens clucking, a peaceful rural scene. Lin Dan, following the guard’s directions, arrived at the small courtyard of a humble cottage and explained why she came.

The door abruptly opened from the inside, and a woman hurriedly said, "Is what you’re saying true? Can you cure my son?"

"Let me take a look first. Don’t worry, ma’am, I won’t take a penny if I can’t treat it." Lin Dan cupped her hands and spoke with extreme courtesy.

Although the person who had come was a young girl, the woman didn't mind at all, immediately inviting her into the house. She pointed at the sixteen-year-old boy lying on the bed-stove and said, "This is my son. He was fooling around three years ago and was thrown down from the back of a cow, injuring his spine. Since then, he could no longer walk. Doctor, please take a look at him. If you can cure him, you can take whatever you want from this house. Although our land has already been sold, the deed to the house is still here. Let me take it out for you right away!"

As the woman spoke, she took out a deed from a chest, her face filled with an ardent expression. She lost her husband early and raised her son by herself. In order to cure her son, she was willing to try any method and pay any price. To say nothing of just selling the land and the house; even if Lin Dan wanted her life, she would not object.

The young man struggled to get up, but fell back down powerlessly over and over. He could only cry and beg his mother not to waste money on him. If he had the strength to kill himself, he would have died long ago. Why else would he have burdened his mother for so long?

Lin Dan turned a deaf ear to the boy's pleas and said: "I already told you, if I can't treat him, I won’t take any money, so you should put that back. I'll speak plainly. The reason I took the initiative to come to your door is because my older brother has the same condition. My treatment method is a bit unique. I have never attempted it on anyone before, and I was worried that I might harm him. That’s why I looked for a person with the same symptoms to experiment on. If you are willing, I can give you a sum of money as compensation. If you are unwilling, I will leave immediately. Although I am not completely certain that I can cure your son, I can guarantee that his condition will not worsen. What do you think? Would you like me to treat him or not?"

Hearing this, the woman's misgivings disappeared completely, and she nodded without pausing to think: "Treat him, we won’t take any money. Just treat him however you need to, doctor!"

The boy, who had been resisting desperately, also quieted down, as if he was seriously considering it.

"I appreciate both of you for your cooperation." Lin Dan sincerely thanked them. She stepped forward and lifted the boy’s pant legs, only to be surprised to see a pair of withered legs that were as skinny as dry firewood.

The woman said quickly: "Since the injury, his legs have shriveled up day by day until they became like this."

Lin Dan frowned for a while, then slapped herself on the forehead with a very annoyed expression. Of course, when one’s legs are never used, the muscles will gradually atrophy. Even if they are cured, it was more than likely that it would take a long time to exercise them until they could actually function. She was so focused on figuring out a treatment method, she forgot to help her brother maintain his muscles. Damn it! Fortunately, the massage technique passed down through the Lin family had a wondrous effect on muscle atrophy. Although it had been delayed for more than half a year, she still could use it to quickly restore Xue Boyong to his original state.

Thinking like this, Lin Dan tried her best to suppress the impulse to rush back immediately and started massaging the young man, saying as she kneaded: "His legs must be massaged three times a day to keep the muscles flexible. Carefully observe my technique, and then slowly learn it. When I'm not around, you can massage him like this. Otherwise, even if I treat his injury, it will still be difficult to walk on these legs without the support of his muscles."

"Yes, yes, of course, I will study hard! Thank you, doctor, thank you!" The woman shed tears of gratitude as she nodded.

The young man was originally still a little resistant, but when he heard this, he blushed and calmed down. Compared to Xue Boyong, he was much thinner. His spiritual state was also gloomier, and one could faintly see the will to die at the bottom of his eyes. However, Lin Dan had come. Everything would be different from now on.

After the massage, Lin Dan checked the boy's pulse and, finding that his symptoms were exactly the same as Xue Boyong's, finally put her heart down completely.

"His body is too feeble; he can't start treatment yet. His foundation and bones must be nourished first before we do anything else. I’ll start by prescribing him a few medicines to strengthen his body and build up his foundation. During this period, you can feed him some nourishing foods. Don’t worry about the expense." Lin Dan took out a silver banknote, put it on the table, and said seriously, "He is my brother's hope, and I will treat him diligently."