After noon passed, the shop was empty.
Du Changqing took Ah Cheng ho, saying that a few days ago, his house sprung a leak and the craftsman hired to fix the roof had arrived today, planning to return to the dical hall tomorrow.
Miao Liangfang was also absent; half an hour before, a three-year-old child at the temple’s entrance had suddenly suffered from abdominal pain, and he hurriedly left with his dical kit to make a house call, with no telling when he would return.
The late sumr afternoon sun was not as scorching as before, but the heat was still stiflingly unbearable. There wasn’t a soul on West Street, and the stray cats lying beneath the awnings were too listless to move. Occasionally, a breeze would pass through, bringing a hint of coolness.
Yin Zheng looked outside the door, "It’s terribly hot, miss, I’ll go up front and buy two cups of Sweet Syrup to drink."
Lu Tong said, "Alright."
The long street was quiet at this ti, with few people around. Lu Tong sat in front of the workstation inside the shop and casually flipped through the dical books Ji Xun had brought. The leisure of the hot day slowly made her eyelids heavy with sleepiness.
There was so noise from outside, and a shadow fell across the entrance. She thought it was Yin Zheng returning with the Sweet Syrup, but when she looked up, she saw an old man with white hair and beard entering the door.
The old man was dressed simply, wearing hemp clothes and carrying a rattan cane. His white hair and beard showed his age, and he moved with so difficulty, clenching a square handkerchief in his hand. As soon as he entered, he started to cough quietly.
Lu Tong got up, erged from behind the dicine cabinet, and helped the old man to sit down at the table.
"Doctor," the old man paused his coughing to look at her, "Recently, I always feel dizzy and lethargic, with sleepless nights and fatigue accompanied by sweating. Could you please take a look?"
As he spoke, he extended a hand as gnarled and wrinkled as tree bark and laid it before Lu Tong on the soft cushion.
Lu Tong reached out to take his pulse.
The inner shop was quiet. After a mont, she withdrew her hand.
"Due to dampness, the head feels wrapped, the damp-heat not cleared, making the pulse difficult to flow."
She stood up, "Overthinking damages the spleen and stomach. When the spleen fails to transport and transform, there is no source for qi and blood production, clear yang does not rise, turbid yin does not descend, the muscles and limbs lack nourishnt, hence the head is muddled and the body feels weak."
"It is not a difficult problem. I’ll prescribe a few doses of heart-nourishing and tranquilizing, as well as spleen-strengthening and dampness-resolving, redies." Lu Tong walked to the dicine cabinet, took a paper and pen from the table, and wrote down the prescription. "Would the esteed gentleman like to get the dicines filled here or elsewhere?"
"Here."
Lu Tong nodded. Seeing the old man cough again, she quickly lifted the teapot from the table, poured a bowl of thirst-quenching dicinal tea, and handed it to him.
The old man shakily received the bowl and uttered a word of thanks.
Lu Tong then turned back to continue preparing the dicine at the cabinet.
Holding the tea bowl, the old man looked up to survey the surroundings of the dical hall. His eyes lingered on the golden banner on the wall, pausing for a while, before finally raising his gaze to the person standing at the dicine cabinet.
The woman was bent down, pulling open the drawers and carefully selecting the dicinal herbs listed in the prescription.
She worked diligently, not noticing the gaze from behind. One hand firmly supported the wooden tray filled with dicines, her movents both quick and deft.
"They say that Doctor Lu of West Street Benevolent Heart dical Hall is skilled in dicine. Having seen you today, I didn’t expect you to be so young." He suddenly spoke up.
Lu Tong paused, "The gentleman flatters ."
"I heard Doctor Lu is not from Shengjing."
Lu Tong closed the drawers, ticulously packaged the prescribed herbs in front of the cabinet, "I grew up in Su Nan."
The old man nodded as if chatting about family affairs, "Is Doctor Lu a local of Su Nan?"
"I suppose so."
"Why ’suppose’?"
Lu Tong bundled the herbs, carrying two large packages back to the table, placing them down in front of the man.
"I am an orphan. I was taken in by others at a young age, unaware of who my parents are or where I originally co from. Thus, I also do not know if I can be considered a person from Su Nan. As far as I rember, I grew up in Su Nan."
The old man seed surprised, looking at her with a gaze tinged with pity, "How pitiful. So, you were about five or six years old when you were already in Su Nan."
Lu Tong nodded, "It should be around three or four years old, perhaps even younger."
"Three or four years old..."
The old man pondered for a mont, then smiled, "That would be around thirteen or fourteen years ago. Speaking of which, I too visited Su Nan once, thirteen or fourteen years ago."
"Su Nan lies in the south, different from Shengjing. I still rember a stone bridge in front of the moat of Su Nan with many Buddha statues carved on it, but whether they carved the reclining Buddha or Manjushri Bodhisattva on top... My mory isn’t what it used to be. Since Doctor Lu grew up in Su Nan, could you tell , what exactly was carved on that stone bridge?"
Lu Tong raised her eyes.
The kind-looking old man in front of her was looking at her expectantly.
The Li Zishu tree blocked most of the sunlight from outside the door. In the dimness, she could finally see clearly that the old man’s eyes seed to be covered with a faint white film, appearing muddy and dull. He looked at her with a compassionate expression, waiting quietly for her answer.
Thirteen or fourteen years ago...
At that ti, she was only four years old.
"I don’t quite rember."
After a mont of silence, Lu Tong spoke again, "I’m not interested in statues of Buddha."
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