Chapter 558: 196 Chapter Lady Yun_3
"It’s not bitter," he said earnestly to everyone, "It’s actually sweet."
Everyone: "..."
No one believed him.
Having tasted the bitterness himself, Du Changqing was not content to be the only victim and insisted on dragging everyone down with him. He glanced sideways and said, "Why aren’t you drinking? The host has drunk it, do you look down on him, or are you not giving face to Doctor Ji?"
"Lift your bowls, stop dragging your feet!"
Everyone’s face showed their reluctance.
Ji Xun felt a bit uncomfortable and explained softly, "Good dicine tastes bitter. Though it tastes a bit harsh, it is beneficial for the body."
His earnestness sohow made those who wanted to dodge the drink feel embarrassed not to drink. They thought that luckily the glazed pots were not large, just enough for one bowl per person, tantamount to taking a tonic. They might as well drink it and then have so preserved fruit to remove the bitter taste.
The crowd then lifted their bowls to comply, raised their wine bowls with auspicious phrases, and drank the dicine from the bowls before them.
The dicine was apparently very bitter.
There were those like Miao Liangfang and Ji Xun, who were older and more composed, preferring short pain over prolonged suffering, and drank it all in one go. And there were others like Zhu Ling and Duan Xiaoyan, who were as pale as death, retching after each sip as if they were drinking poison.
Lin Danqing and Yin Zheng fared better, but after drinking, their noses wrinkled tightly, clearly affected by the bitterness.
Pei Yunng was even more composed than the others, he took the wine bowl without hurry and finished it.
As poised and calm as if he had just drunk a bowl of clear water.
Lu Tong looked down at the wine bowl before her.
It was filled with a large bowl of bamboo extract, which at first glance appeared quite refreshing, but the overpowering bitter scent was truly unpleasant, instinctively making one want to avoid it.
Everyone else had swallowed their bitter liquid, leaving her as the only one delaying. Lu Tong took a deep breath, ready to lift the bowl before her—
A hand reached over from the side.
Lu Tong looked up.
Pei Yunng took the bowl from her hands, lowered his head, and poured the dicine into his own empty bowl.
He then refilled her bowl with the peach wine Yin Zheng had bought, saying casually as if it were an afterthought, "Drink this instead."
His movents were so natural that Lu Tong’s hand trembled, and as she looked up again, she t the varied gazes of all those present.
Lin Danqing, already bitterly close to tears, choked on his dicine at the sight and began to cough violently.
Even though Lu Tong hadn’t touched the dicine and even though Pei Yunng’s actions seed casual, perhaps...
they were also a bit too intimate?
Especially since Lu Tong was always so icy.
For a mont, no one knew whether to be surprised that the Commander of the Palace Front Office would take the initiative to deal with soone else’s leftovers or that Doctor Lu, who usually kept people at a distance, did not vehently refuse this ti.
Noticing everyone’s gaze, Pei Yunng looked up.
The young man’s handso face had a light smile; he didn’t seem as unapproachable as when he wore his official uniform. He seed approachable, almost like the boy next door. He "tsked" in amusent, seeming sowhat puzzled by everyone’s reaction, and innocently asked, "Why are you all looking at
like that?"
"Isn’t it valuable? It would be a waste to throw it away."
He looked towards Ji Xun, his lips curving into a smile.
"I drank an extra bowl of dicine; Doctor Ji wouldn’t mind, right?"
Ji Xun pursed his lips.
It was supposed to be nothing of consequence, but for so reason, he felt a surge of irritation, and the warm smile of the man before him seed sowhat irritating to the eyes.
Duan Xiaoyan clenched his fist in silent support, while Du Changqing’s face grew very long.
Outside, the wind had risen at so point, causing a rustle in the tents set up in the courtyard. Yin Zheng laughed and called out, "Don’t just sit there, co on and eat before the al gets cold. Shopkeeper Du and I prepared the nu half a month ago. It can’t compare to the fanciness of the Imperial City, but I hope the young masters and ladies won’t mind."
"We don’t mind, we don’t mind," Duan Xiaoyan eagerly lifted his chopsticks, "It’s much richer than the monotonous als in the Imperial City!"
The atmosphere gradually beca lively again.
Yin Zheng and Lin Danqing, both shrewd people adept at lifting spirits, together with Duan Xiaoyan’s chatty nature and Du Changqing’s intermittent sarcastic side comnts, the initial discomfort among the crowd dissipated a lot.
As the conversation flowed, it naturally turned towards the matter of Lu Tong being suspended from the dical Officer Institute.
Du Changqing discontentedly said, "I say, our West Street finally produced a dical Officer, only to be sent ho in less than half a year. What’s that about? Is it such a big deal to have an extra look at a prescription? People in the Imperial City make a mountain out of a molehill; as if glancing at a prescription could reach the heavens?"
Upon hearing this, Ji Xun looked at Lu Tong in surprise.
It seed that Lu Tong had not told Shopkeeper Du the real reason for her suspension.
"People in the Imperial City are just like that, they lack discernnt," Lin Danqing shook her head. Not great with alcohol, she turned rosy after a bit of peach wine, becoming bolder in her speech than before.
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