Lamp Flower Smile

In Hongfang Garden, the sun gradually rises.

The golden sunlight spreads over from a distance, like fine golden gravel, spreading thinly over the medicine garden. A large cluster of crimson flowers was illuminated by the sun and glowed with mist, which was gorgeous and moving.

He Xiu sat on the bluestone beside the medicine garden and stared blankly at the people picking medicinal materials among the flowers.

Under a vast expanse of rich and colorful colors, the woman's dim dark brown linen clothes were like the soil buried underground in the medicine garden. They were dull, muddy, and unremarkable. However, her eyes were clear, and she bent down to pick off the colorful flowers. , with a focused look and skillful movements, as if he had done this thing thousands of times.

He Xiu only felt that he was dreaming.

Hongfangxu is poisonous.

This flower is as gorgeous and charming as a beauty, and the flower lives up to its name. Countless pink catkins grow on its branches and leaves. When the wind blows, the pink catkins cover the sky and cover the ground like a layer of silk mist, wrapping people tightly.

Then it flies in from the tip of the nose and enters the body along the throat. Over time, the toxins spread.

That's all. The fragrance of red flowers is also poisonous. The fragrant and fragrant aroma will make people feel weak. If you stay here for a long time, your movements will gradually become sluggish and your mouth and nose will bleed gradually. If you don't exit in time to rest. , maybe unconscious.

This was the case for He Xiu. About half an hour after entering Hongfangxu, he felt that the world was spinning, so he immediately retreated to the edge of the medicine garden. She thought that the same was true for Lu Zhu, who had just arrived in the medicine garden. However, an hour had passed, and Lu Xi looked as usual as he shuttled through the medicine garden, picking ripe red fragrant catkins and putting them on the wooden cart.

He Xiu was a little confused.

Lu Yan picked quickly, much faster than He Xiu, who had stayed in the medicine garden for three years. She also picked very cleanly, without wasting branches and leaves. Those rose-pink tidbits were lightly blown on her dress by the wind, like thick and light flowers embroidered on coarse cloth, tracing her eyebrows and eyes more clearly.

She wasn't even wearing a hijab.

A person without a hijab is not affected by the gossip and fragrance in Hongfang Garden at all, and can move freely. Could it be that... He Xiu thought to himself, does this doctor Lu have no sense of smell?

But the toxicity of Hongfangxu can be ineffective as long as the sense of smell is lost?

He Xiu also didn't understand that she had been away from the medical hospital for too long, picking and cleaning the same medicinal materials every day, and had long forgotten about medical classics and pharmacology.

Just as he was thinking about it, the sound of wheels of a wooden cart rolling over the muddy ground could be heard in his ears. He Xiu looked up and saw that Lu Zhu was pulling the wooden cart to the edge of the medicine garden.

Most of the wooden cart was filled with fresh red catkins, stacked up to the height of a hill. He Xiu was dumbfounded and stuttered for a moment: "You...you..."

"I've seen the brochure," Lu Yan said, "It's enough for today's harvest."

He Xiu was a little at a loss.

On weekdays, she would have to complete this amount of picking from morning till night. Even though there are two of them now, Lu Zhuo actually picked these by himself.

Lu Yan didn't even take a break.

Lu Yan unfolded a large piece of cloth originally placed on the wooden cart and spread it on the picked red fragrant catkins to prevent the catkins from flying and covering up the fragrance of the flowers.

He Xiu murmured and asked in a low voice: "Do you want to rest for a while?" Seeing Lu Zhuo looking over, she quickly explained: "I used to finish it in the evening. If I go back too early, the Medical Supervisor will order other tasks." I’ll give it to you…”

It's always like this in Nanpharmacy. People here are not humans, they are animals, just donkeys working on the mill. They just need to live.

Lu Chen thought for a moment, then turned around and walked to the medicine garden, found a stone to sit on, and said, "Have a rest."

He Xiu breathed a sigh of relief, then thought of something, took out a piece of dry biscuit from his baggage and handed it to Lu Zhuo.

Lu Zhuo took it.

"We had eaten before coming to the medicine garden. In the past, I would go back to eat after finishing my work in the evening. The day is long and I would be hungry after eating two meals, so I brought some dry biscuits." He Xiu explained.

Lu Chen nodded and took a bite. The cake was not big, only about the size of a palm. It was thick and astringent and difficult to swallow. There was a strange bitter taste in it.

Lu Tong was stunned: "Did you put in the herbal medicine?"

He Xiu's eyes lit up: "Did you eat it?"

She was a little happy: "I put detoxifying herbs in it. Sometimes in the southern pharmacy, there are some leftover branches and leaves when sorting out the herbs. I picked out the ones that could be used and borrowed the kitchen to make the cakes myself. Hongfangxu is poisonous, and the medicine Although eating the cake cannot detoxify it, it can alleviate some of the toxicity." She took another one out of the bag and took a careful bite, as if she was tasting a delicacy. She then looked at Lu Zhu and smiled sheepishly: "It's not very delicious. , but it’s good for the body, Doctor Lu, eat more.”

Lu Chen lowered his head and looked at the medicine cake in his hand.

The bitter taste of herbs lingered on her lips, perhaps because He Xiu was reluctant to part with those broken grass leaves, some of which were not even completely mashed, but they were probably just some not very precious or even inferior herbs, and their medicinal properties were already minimal. To use it to detoxify is just a dream.

In fact, it may not be possible to alleviate the toxicity, but it is just self-deceiving comfort.

Lu Zhuo tilted his head, and He Xiu ate very carefully. A bit of cake crumbs fell on her clothes, and she carefully picked it up and put it into her mouth, as if it was a rare delicacy in the world.

Because she was eating, she took off the rough facecloth. She must be quite young. She looked thirty-five or six. Her facial features were withered and sallow, like an old piece of yellow paper, and the dense spots under her eyes were on that piece of yellow paper. A lot of hard work has been added to it.

Seeing Lu Yan staring at her, He Xiu felt a little uncomfortable: "What's wrong?"

Lu Yan asked: "Are the spots on your face caused by Hongfang Xu?"

He Xiu was stunned and subconsciously turned her back, not wanting Lu Zhen to see her face clearly. However, she soon realized that this seemed to be a cover-up. After a while, she slowly turned her face around and said "hmm" in a low voice.

"Hongfangxu is poisonous. Smelling the poisonous fragrance for a long time will not only put your life in danger, but also disfigure your face." She whispered: "None of the doctors in Nan Pharmacy want to come here. I am because..."

Because she had no money, was mediocre in appearance, and had no one with a familiar background to help talk to her, she had to pick the red fragrant catkins for several years.

Lu Yan is the second one.

Thinking of this, He Xiu was also a little curious. Lu Chen didn't seem to be affected by the fragrance of the flowers when picking in the medicine garden. She asked: "If you pick red fragrant catkins on weekdays, you will be poisoned even if you wear a face towel. Why are you, Doctor Lu, safe and sound?" There was something He Xiu didn't say. Lu Yan looked very skillful in picking those red fragrant catkins.

Lu Tong said: "I saw this kind of flower when I was a child and took the antidote. Perhaps because of this, the fragrance of this flower is harmless to me."

He Xiu was surprised: "That's it!" He said enviously, "That's great."

No one wants to be disfigured and poisoned for no reason. His life is not long. Lu Xu was born beautiful. It would be a terrible thing if his flawless face also had dense markings.

Lu Yan lowered his eyes and silently took a bite of the rough dry biscuit in his hand.

Of course she had seen Hongfangxu, but at that time Hongfangxu wasn't called Hongfangxu, it was called Bad Fragrance Fruit.

Yun Niang went to great lengths to get the seeds of the bad-scented fruit and asked her to plant them in the garden behind the house, just to make a spice. She took care of it carefully every day. At that time, the red floss on Luomei Peak was ten times more lush than it is now, and it was as gorgeous as the sunset.

There she planted and nurtured them and picked them one by one.

Ordinary poisons cannot affect her body, and the foul smell in the garden is just the fragrance of ordinary flowers to her. Those ugly markings will not appear on her face, and she will not become dizzy like He Xiu after staying there for too long.

Lu Yan asked: "When did you come to Nanpharmacy? Can't you leave here?"

As if he didn't expect Lu Chen to ask such a question, He Xiu was stunned for a while, and then replied calmly: "I came here three years ago, and left...the doctor who entered Nan Pharmacy has never left. "

Lu Zhuo was slightly startled.

He Xiu looked bitter.

"Nan Pharmacy does not accept people on weekdays," He Xiu lowered his head and said, "When people die, and there are not enough doctors, people will fill in. Usually they are medical officers who made mistakes and were left out in the Medical Officer's Court. I am in the Medical Officer's Court It was very common. At that time, Nan Pharmacy was short of manpower, so I was asked to fill in."

"There's no reason for a doctor to leave after entering Nan Pharmacy. I've been here for three years, and not a single doctor has left here unless he died." He Xiu looked at Lu Yan: "They said you are a new medical officer. "Yes, but there have been no deaths in Nanyang Pharmacy recently. There are enough doctors. The new medical officer is here... Doctor Lu, have you made any mistakes or offended anyone?"

He Xiu asked carefully, but Lu Zhu didn't answer.

In the eyes of others, it seemed obvious that the new medical officer had offended someone when she was assigned to the South Pharmacy. Even if she didn't say it, other doctors would have guessed it.

He Xiu sighed and did not continue to ask.

Lu Yan asked: "Who was the doctor who asked me to change beds when I first came to Nan Pharmacy?" She still remembered the woman who was quite hostile to her.

"Are you talking about Mei Erniang?"

"Mei Erniang," Lu Zhu pondered, "What is the relationship between Mei Erniang and Zhu Mao?"

He Xiu was startled: "How did you know?" He looked around again: "Doctor Lu, please don't tell anyone!"

Lu Zhuo nodded.

"Er Niang is also a poor person," He Xiu sighed: "I heard that she accidentally damaged a ginseng root and was driven to Nan Pharmacy. I heard that she used to have good medical skills in the medical hospital and was young and beautiful. . When I first entered Nan Pharmacy, I was extremely reluctant and always wanted to go back one day."

"Medical Superintendent Zhu coaxed her, saying that he would allow her to return to the Medical Officer's Hospital, so she committed herself to Doctor Zhu. As a result..."

As a result, to this day, she still has not been able to leave Nan Pharmacy.

Lu Yan was silent, and after a while he said: "Since it has been like this for so many years, she should have seen that Zhu Mao can't let her leave at all, so why is she still with Zhu Mao?"

Lu Chen saw clearly that the hostility in Mei Erniang's eyes when Zhu Mao talked to her the night he first arrived at Nanpharmacy and the next day were not illusions.

"Doctor Lu," He Xiu held the Chinese medicine cake tightly in his hand and said sadly: "Sometimes, it is better to have hope than no hope. Doctor Zhu is coaxing Mei Erniang, Mei Erniang still has hope to live, if he can't even coax her... If you don't want to coax Mei Erniang, Mei Erniang is really hopeless and will die. Erniang... chose to deceive herself."

In hard days, some people choose to be sober, while others choose to be ignorant, and perhaps they all end up with the same outcome in the end.

"Doctor Lu, I'm not telling you this to excuse Er Niang." He Xiu took a bite of the pancake, "You are good-looking, and Dr. Zhu may have an idea for you. Don't be deceived by him, he won't take you with you." You left Nan Pharmacy."

He Xiu looked at Lu Yan, a trace of worry flashed in his eyes.

Lu Chen had taken the antidote when she was young, so Hongfangxu was useless to her. This is a good thing for Lu Zhen, because she does not have to endure the toxins that corrode her body, nor does she have to be disfigured. But again, it was a disaster for her.

There was a beautiful woman lurking in front of his eyes every day. How could Zhu Mao hold it back? He was afraid that he would eventually attack Lu Zhu.

Lu Yan looks so weak and weak, and has offended the people in the medical hospital. How can he protect himself here?

He Xiu shook his head gently in his heart.

Perhaps, she will become the second Mei Erniang.

…

Lu Yan and He Xiu didn't return to Nanpharmacy until evening.

Thanks to Lu Zhuo, He Xiu completed the picking with ease today. In the past, she had to pick so many red fragrant catkins, and when she finally returned to the dormitory, she would always feel cold and pale, and the poisonous fragrance of the red fragrant catkins would always make her uncomfortable all night long. For the first time, she even felt light as she pushed the wooden cart back.

Of course, she felt deeply sorry for Lu Zhen. Because most of today's picking was done by Lu Zhu, He Xiu still felt guilty even though Lu Xi had repeatedly told her that Hongfang Xu would not have any impact on her body.

Feeling sorry for this, He Xiu volunteered to help Lu Zhu go to the medicine warehouse to sort out and collect medicinal materials. He Xiudao: "It will take a while to register and organize. You go to the kitchen to eat something first. The leftovers from the day will be placed in the kitchen of the pharmacy. I have steamed buns in my bag. You can go find some leftovers to heat up."

Nan Pharmacy is different from the Medical Officer's Hospital. The doctors' meals are all in the kitchen. According to He Xiu, sometimes they come back late and only have a little cold porridge left.

He Xiu's kindness was hard to refuse, so Lu Zhu had no choice but to agree.

The kitchen is still some distance away from the medicine store, so it was deliberately built far away to avoid mixing up the medicinal materials. Lu Zhen walked through a long corridor and walked around the open space before finding the kitchen.

It was already night, and there was no one outside. Only the lantern hung swaying outside the courtyard, casting a sporadic soft light. Lu Yan pushed the door open and walked in. There was a lantern at the door of the kitchen. Lu Yan carried the lantern and walked in. The pot was cold and the stove was cold. There were some empty bowls on the chopping board, but there was no trace of leftover food.

He Xiu once said that the medical staff in Nanyang Pharmacy lived a poor life, and the food was mediocre. Due to their large daily intake, the leftover food at night was not very good, but no matter how bad it was, there was still a bowl of cold porridge.

Lu Chen's eyes fell on a large iron pot in the middle of the kitchen.

There was a lid on the iron pot, and Lu Zhu opened the lid.

The bottom of the pot is clean and clear, and has been carefully cleaned.

There was no cold porridge, no steamed buns, not even a bowl of hot water.

Lu Chen put down the pot lid with a bang and frowned.

They didn't leave a grain of rice for her.

…

Under the long corridor outside the medicine warehouse of Nan Pharmacy, two healers were walking towards the medicine warehouse holding empty bowls after delivering medicinal meals.

"I heard that the person from Hongfangyuan is back. She is conscious and seems not to have been affected by the incense poison. Axiu took good care of her and took the initiative to help her organize the warehouse." The one who spoke was one of the doctors.

Another person kicked away the pebbles in front of him and echoed: "It's only the first day, where are you? It's the same for Axiu, why bother asking for trouble? I don't know who I offended, Master Zhu ordered me to come down, I saw today that they asked people to take away all the food in the kitchen, so I guess I will be hungry tonight."

As he was talking, the kicked pebbles slid forward along the road, rolled to a sudden stop in front of a pair of boots.

Someone was coming not far away.

The two doctors who spoke raised their eyes, and after seeing the appearance of the person clearly, they quickly lowered their heads and saluted: "Pei Dianshuai."

In front of him is Pei Yunying, the commander of the front department.

Near the veranda, guards often move around at night, and it is common to encounter them by chance. This Commander-in-Chief Pei often walked in front of the imperial court, and the envoys of the imperial court had to show courtesy when they saw him.

The young man nodded slightly and walked past the two of them without stopping.

After the man passed by, the doctor patted his chest and said, "I was scared to death. I guess you and I were not heard when we were talking just now, right?"

"It's nothing to hear. He's just a new medical officer. I don't know Commander Pei, so he doesn't have the time to take care of such trivial matters."

"makes sense……"

The voices gradually faded away, and Pei Yunying stopped.

Not far away is the main gate of Nan Pharmacy. Two dim lanterns at the entrance are swaying in the night wind, reminding people of the old plaque hidden by plum branches on a snowy night.

The same silence.

Pei Yunying stared at the blurry light quietly.

After finishing his errands, he passed by the East Corridor and passed the medicine garden. The chatter of the doctors was so loud that it was difficult not to hear them.

Then I suddenly remembered that today should be the second day that the young medical woman came to Nanjing Pharmacy.

She is filled with hatred, calm and decisive, seemingly sane but crazy. However, the Imperial City is not West Street after all. The hierarchy here is strict, and the distance between people is separated by official positions, identities, and various rules and etiquette. As soon as she entered the medical hospital, she was assigned to Nan Pharmacy, which was no one cared about. If nothing happened, she would never be able to get close to her enemies in her life.

I'm afraid that before I can take my revenge, I will die of old age in the palace.

I wonder if she regrets it now? Or have you thought of another way?

Just as I was thinking about it, someone suddenly said from behind: "What are you doing?"

Pei Yunying paused and turned around.

It was a cold spring night, and the woman was dressed in brown linen clothes, with a lot of mud and dust on her clothes. Only her face was still clean and white, and her eyebrows were colder than the night.

Seeing it was him, a flash of surprise flashed in Lu Yan's eyes, and he said, "Master Pei?"