Chapter 183

The post station by the official road generally only accommodated those delivering official documents for the court, officials traveling back and forth, and scholars rushing to the capital for the imperial examination, not ordinary people.

Therefore, not only was the environment quiet inside, but the overall facilities were also much better than those of ordinary inns. It was also safer.

Of course, the cost of food and lodging was much higher.

In the situation of being tired and weary, Shen Cui couldn’t care less about the money at this time and immediately settled down.

Moreover, the cost of the post station outside the city was expensive.

Compared with a guesthouse in a prefectural city like Qingzhou Prefecture, this place was definitely considered cost-effective.

Therefore, many scholars who had some spare money but were not affluent enough to spend in the capital would stay at this post station for a considerable period of time.

In the original story, Mu Yunchuan arrived in the capital with a hundred taels of manuscript fee and settled down here first.

However, after staying for a long time, his reputation as a talented scholar spread, and many students living in the post station came to him for advice, which kept him from studying in peace, so he had to move to another place.

Knowing this, Shen Cui decided to let everyone settle here first, but she didn’t plan to stay here for long.

She thought about staying for a day or two before entering the city to rent a courtyard.

After making the decision, she didn’t have to worry about the rest.

Lao Buyu and the young men arranged the rooms appropriately.

Wei Shu and Wei Xi shared a room, Lao Buyu shared a room with Cui Fei, Mu Er Pang shared a room with Mei Ruochu and Shen Aoshuang, and the servants slept in a big room. Shen Cui had a room to herself.

Moreover, they specifically looked at the layout of the rooms and arranged Shen Cui in the middle room.

This room was not only the most spacious, with a screen separating the inner and outer rooms, but also, if anything happened, as long as Shen Cui called out, everyone else could hear it.

After everything was arranged, the servants started to move the luggage from the carriage into the room.

Shen Cui first placed ten taels of deposit at the counter, and just as she was about to arrange the food, Mu Er Pang, seeing her pale face, immediately helped her up to the room.

“We are not children anymore, and we have a teacher. We can take care of ourselves. Mother, you should rest first.”

It was Mu Er Pang’s fifteenth birthday not long ago.

Although he didn’t celebrate his birthday grandly every year, according to the customs of Shuiyun Village, Shen Cui would personally cook him a bowl of longevity noodles and then make him a pouch egg.

During the journey, the conditions were really limited, and nothing was prepared.

Shen Cui still had this in mind.

When she entered the room, she said, “I should be able to recover after resting for a night. I’ll cook you longevity noodles tomorrow morning to make up for your birthday.”

Mu Er Pang, the little steward, frowned and said, “It’s just a birthday. It’s really not worth it. Your health is not good, and I won’t enjoy my food.”

Shen Cui was helpless when it came to this.

The original body had a good physical foundation, but she suffered from severe seasickness.

Of course, because of limited technology at the time, boats were not very stable on the water.

Unless someone like Lao Buyu, who had traveled extensively in his early years and was used to boats, most people would feel very uncomfortable when traveling by boat for the first time.

People like Mu Er Pang, who were taking a boat for the first time, were also very uncomfortable. Shen Cui bought motion sickness medicine from the system for them to take.

As for herself, she couldn’t take those specially made interstellar technology medicines.

She could only take ordinary motion sickness medicine from later generations, which had limited effects.

Just as mother and son settled into the room, Wei Xi brought rice soup over and asked Mu Er Pang to fetch it from the screen, helping to feed Shen Cui.

He stood in the outer room himself.

Shen Cui smiled weakly and said, “I used to cook rice soup for you, but now it’s you who’s cooking it for me.”

Wei Xi also smiled and said, “I’ll use the same answer you gave me before, which is just sitting there and watching the fire, not tiring at all.”

Before she could finish the rice soup, Wei Shu and Shen Aoshuang came in together, followed by a middle-aged man carrying a medicine box.

It was obvious that they had called a doctor.

Wei Shu first let the doctor pulse Shen Cui.

Shen Cui’s constitution had dropped by 5 points on the data panel, now at 65, which hadn’t fallen below the passing line.

Her condition was seasickness and discomfort from the change in water and soil, so she knew her problem was not serious.

However, to reassure everyone, she obediently let the doctor examine her.

After the doctor finished examining her pulse, he said that she was exhausted from continuous labor and the hardships of travel by boat and carriage.

As long as she rested quietly for a while and took care of herself, she would be fine.

Everyone was relieved and let the servant accompany the doctor to write the prescription.

Wei Shu then said, “I had someone prepare a horse to go to the city to find a doctor, but fortunately, Brother Shen knew of a village nearby with a doctor. Otherwise, going back and forth would have been tiring, and we might not have made it back before the city gates closed. However, it’s just a village doctor after all, and we don’t know how good his medical skills are. Wei Xi and Ah Fei both have some knowledge of medicine, so they will have to look at the prescription first.”

Shen Cui said, “I’m really fine. If it were serious, I would have taken you all to the city to find a doctor immediately. It’s just that I was a bit seasick and tired. A good night’s sleep will make me feel much better tomorrow.”

Although she said this, the others didn’t know that she might have seen her condition in the system.

Naturally, they still felt reassured only after hearing the doctor’s words.

At this point, Shen Cui asked, “Is Aoshuang’s family in the capital?”

After all, not only did they find a doctor this time, but also the advice Shen Aoshuang gave during the journey to the capital, such as when to change rides, when to travel by land, was more useful than the information provided by the servants who came from the capital.

Otherwise, the journey would not have been shortened to within a month.

It could be seen that Shen Aoshuang was extremely familiar with the area around the capital.

Shen Cui had long noticed this, and since Shen Aoshuang hadn’t mentioned it, she deliberately didn’t ask.

Now that they were close to the capital, Shen Aoshuang was also preparing to find an opportunity to explain the situation to everyone.

However, having kept it from everyone for so long, he didn’t know where to start.

He felt grateful for Shen Cui’s tactfulness and nodded, saying, “Headmaster is right. My family is originally from Qingzhou Prefecture, but my elders settled in the capital many years ago…”

Just as he was speaking, a waiter came to knock on the door and asked, “Is Mr. Shen here? Your family is looking for you downstairs.”

Shen Aoshuang stopped talking and went downstairs with the waiter.

After he left, Wei Shu said, “It was said that Brother Shen’s demeanor is different from ordinary people, so his family environment should be good.”

Shen Cui nodded in agreement.

After all, for the past two years, Shen Aoshuang’s food and lodging expenses had been paid to her on time and in full.

However, Shen Aoshuang had always been secretive about his family situation and never mentioned it proactively.

After this sentence, no one continued to inquire further, thinking that they would know when he was willing to tell them.

Not long after, Shen Aoshuang returned with an embarrassed expression. “My grandfather came to see me. He heard that you, Headmaster, were unwell and wanted to check your pulse.”

Everyone, including Shen Cui, suddenly realized that the Shen family in the capital was a family of doctors.

Such an old doctor would certainly be much more skilled than the doctor they had temporarily brought in from a nearby village.

However, there were still proper etiquette to be observed when meeting parents, so Shen Cui asked Mu Er Pang to help her get out of bed.

Mu Er Pang refused and insisted that she stay in bed, but he acted as her human pillow, supporting her to sit up.

Soon, Shen Aoshuang informed them, and an ordinary-looking, short elderly man entered with his hands folded.

The old man appeared to be nearly eighty years old, older than Shen Cui had imagined, but his eyes were extremely clear, without any cloudiness.

The students of Cuiwei had described Minister Wang as having sharp eyes, as if he could see through all the tricks of the world.

Shen Cui had thought it was an exaggeration.

Today, seeing this old man, Shen Cui realized that there really were such sharp and discerning eyes in the world, which made people not dare to be deceitful.

However, she hadn’t done anything wrong, so she wasn’t afraid.

She apologized, “Master, please have a seat. I’m not feeling well today and can’t personally attend to you. I hope you can forgive me.”

The old man replied succinctly, “No need,” his voice full of vigor.

Although his expression was not deliberately stern, and his demeanor was friendly, his entire presence…

How should I put it, ever since he entered, the young men in the academy couldn’t help but breathe more lightly.

Shen Aoshuang brought a chair for him and placed it in front of the bed.

The old man lifted his robe and sat down.

Shen Cui extended her wrist, and he placed two fingers on it.

After a while, the old man showed no reaction.

Although the previous doctor had examined Shen Cui and confirmed that she was fine, he was only about forty years old, far less experienced than the old man, who exuded an aura of a master.

Seeing this, everyone couldn’t help but think, did the village doctor make a mistake in his diagnosis earlier, and was there really something wrong with Headmaster’s health?

The young men didn’t dare to disturb the old man’s serious examination, and in the end, Shen Cui asked, “How is it?”

The old man shook his head with a sigh.

Shen Cui felt Mu Er Pang, who was beside her, hold his breath, but then he withdrew his hand and muttered, “Can’t figure it out. It’s different from what I read in the medical books.”

This statement…

everyone looked at Shen Aoshuang one after another, and Shen Aoshuang felt so embarrassed that he wished he could find a hole to hide in.

Fifteen minutes ago, Shen Aoshuang had met his grandfather, and naturally, both were very excited to see each other.

However, expressions of affection in the Shen family were always subtle.

Therefore, when the grandfather and grandson met, although their emotions were turbulent, they didn’t show much on their faces.

Shen’s grandfather said lightly, “You still have some resemblance to me back then. With a half-disabled body, you actually passed the exam and became a top scholar. You have not disgraced our family’s reputation.”

Shen Aoshuang was not proud and said, “It’s all thanks to Headmaster Shen for helping me recuperate. If I were still like before, I’m afraid I would have dropped out of the government school long ago.”

Many details had already been explained in his family letter, so there was no need to elaborate now.

After saying a few words, Shen’s grandfather expressed his wish to meet Shen Cui, the head of Cuiwei Academy.

Shen Aoshuang hesitated and said, “Our head is not feeling well, and it’s late now. I’m afraid she doesn’t want to see guests at the moment. How about next time…”

“Next time? When will I have time next time? I don’t even know myself.”

Shen’s grandfather stood with his hands behind his back, his eyes flashing.

He came up with an idea, “Go tell her that I want to check her pulse. She should meet me then.”

So, Shen’s grandfather didn’t actually know medicine.

At most, he had read a few medical books in his early years because of Shen Aoshuang’s illness, but he had always been busy and had no time to study them thoroughly.

Therefore, he couldn’t even be considered to have a rudimentary understanding of medicine.

However, he didn’t say he wanted to treat Shen Cui’s illness, only that he wanted to check her pulse.

Didn’t he check it? Yes, but he couldn’t see any symptoms.

So what’s the problem?