Chapter 37
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S T E L L A R C L O U D
[Celeste S.] [Azurixa] [Robert K.]
O R A N G E S T A R
[Talia R.] [K.Rom]
Y E L L O W S T A R
[Camille] [Linds] [Esther D.]
G O L D S T A R
[Nem]
The ancients loved listening to plays. After all, they couldn"t do much else except go to the opera houses, especially womenfolk.
It wasn’t so easy to hear plays in the countryside. The nearest opera house was also located in town and it required a lot of copper coins to get inside. Therefore, rural folks like them didn’t get to listen to any plays.
Even though the elderly woman could not sing, she could speak well, and even in great detail.
"Where have you listened to a play?" Gu Jiao walked over and asked.
"I don"t remember." The elderly woman shook her head and answered.
Seeing that she didn"t look like lying, Gu Jiao said again, "Do you remember anything else?"
The elderly woman thought about it seriously then replied, "No."
Gu Jiao: “...”
Gu Jiao added, "Can you stop fooling people like that again?"
The elderly woman once again thought seriously and said, "No."
Gu jiao: "..."
As the New Year was approaching, Gu Jiao became so busy that she couldn’t manage to keep an eye on the elderly woman all the time. The elderly woman acted like a demon occasionally, but she could at least handle herself without causing trouble to Gu Jiao and Xiao Liulang.
Later, Gu Jiao went to the temple again, but the grandmaster in charge of the property hadn"t returned yet, so Gu Jiao decided to come back again some other time.
The academy held another exam before the end of the year. Perhaps still affected by the theft incident, Gu Dashun"s performance this time was obviously much weaker compared to before, and he suddenly dropped to the tenth place in the list.
Meanwhile, Gu Xiaoshun"s grades were very stable, still at the very bottom.
Xiao Liulang rose by one place again, but still not because he did well in the exam this time. Rather, the originally fourth place to the last student took a sick leave and tied for the last place with Gu Xiaoshun.
Many teachers in the academy knew about Xiao Liulang’s eight-part essay during the entrance exam, but he hadn"t written any more articles since then, and even during the examinations, he would basically hand in a blank sheet of paper.
Some people thought that his imaginative power in writing might have declined, while some suspected that he was fraudulently admitted to the academy in the first place. However, Dean Li had always firmly believed that Xiao Liulang was a great talent.
No matter what others said, he didn’t want to give up on Xiao Liulang.
The imperial examination[1] was held once every three years, and there happened to be an autumn exam next year. If missed, one would have to wait for another three years again to take the next one.
Examinees eligible to partic.i.p.ate in this autumn must have pa.s.sed the entry-level exams, in other words, a Xiucai.
There would be a county exam after the opening of the New Year. After a moment’s hesitation, Dean Li took the liberty of submitting Xiao Liulang’s name to the list of examinees.
Gu Jiao didn’t know about all this yet. The academy was now on its New Year holidays and tomorrow was the day of Xiao Liulang’s surgery. She had to sleep well and adjust herself to the best condition.
Actually, in her previous life, she didn"t do any less of this kind of operation, so in principle, she shouldn’t have any psychological burden whatsoever. However, operating on strangers wasn’t the same as operating on Xiao Liulang.
Such a perfect cub, she couldn’t leave any cause of regret on him.
Gu Jiao checked her medicine chest before going to bed, and sure enough, the anesthetics and injections, all that was needed for the surgery, had appeared without exception.
These medicines were not something sold in any pharmacy in her previous life; they were all medicines from the research inst.i.tute. Gu Jiao seriously suspected that as long as the research inst.i.tute did not close down over there, her medicine chest could be continuously replenished.
En, that was a good thing!
Gu Jiao had a good sleep, and when she got up the next morning, she cooked breakfast and boiled medicine for the elderly woman.
When Gu Jiao took the medicine to the elderly woman"s room, the elderly woman looked at the pills on the tray hesitantly, then looked at the medicine soup in the bowl. She frowned and said, "Why do I think it’s not really necessary for me to drink this soup?"
"You’re overthinking. The medicine soup is as important as the pills." Gu Jiao said with a straight face.
The elderly woman took the pills and drank the medicine soup with suspicion. The soup was so bitter that she rolled her eyes and seriously suspected that Gu Jiao had come to retaliate against her for acting like a demon often these days.
Gu Jiao still entrusted the elderly woman to Xue Ningxiang, and then went to the medical hall with Xiao Liulang on the oxcart of Second Uncle Luo.
Feng Lin, of course, couldn’t miss such an important day.
He arrived at the medical hall early. Nowadays, the weather was getting colder and colder, but he refused to sit and wait inside and chose to freeze into a popsicle outside.
Feng Lin caught sight of the couple on the cart and his face sank.
He had the urge to scold this couple without morality, but he held himself back. Brother Xiao wasn’t at fault, it was this woman who was getting more and more shameless, always clinging to Brother Xiao!
Gu Jiao looked calm when he saw Feng Lin. She asked, "You didn"t go back for the New Year?"
Feng Lin gruntingly said, "My home is so far away, how can I get back?"
Gu Jiao then remembered the inconvenience of transportation in ancient times. The distance a high-speed train in her previous life could cover in one day might take a month here. Before Feng Lin could arrive home, the New Year holiday would have ended already.
Gu Jiao: "Oh."
Feng Lin whose punch landed on cotton: "..."
The surgery date was scheduled in advance. Shopkeeper w.a.n.g and the old physician from before had been waiting in the medical hall since dawn.
Feng Lin and Gu Jiao both followed in.
The old physician first asked Xiao Liulang about the moxibustion at home in the past days.
"I had it every night before going to sleep." Xiao Liulang said truthfully.
Every night after he got home from the academy, Gu Jiao had already cooked the meal and prepared his medicine.
The old physician nodded.
Feng Lin said, "Physician Zhang, will Brother Xiao"s leg be healed soon?"
The old physician replied, "Well, we won’t know until after the surgery."
"What did you say? Surgery?" Feng Lin froze.
Xiao Liulang"s eyes also flashed a trace of astonishment.
Gu Jiao was precisely worried about this kind of situation, that was why she prevented them from telling this previously. Surgery wasn’t popular in this period of time, and everyone"s acceptance of it wasn’t high. It was generally believed that such practice could only be used on the battlefield.
Feng Lin was immediately frightened and said, "Physician Zhang! You didn"t say this before!"
Of course, the old physician wouldn’t pour out the truth and said instead, "That"s because the conditions didn"t allow it at that time. Now that you’ve taken moxibustion for some time, your meridians have been opened up, you’re now prepared for an operation."
But even so, this was still a big deal. To have people move a knife on you, Feng Lin was very hesitant, "Is there no other way than surgery?"
"Yes." The old physician nodded.
"Are you sure it would be successful?" Feng Lin asked again.
"This cannot be guaranteed." Feeling his conscience, the old physician replied, "If it succeeds, he will be able to walk normally again. If it fails, he may end up worse than now."
These were also Gu Jiao"s original words. Even if she was the best doctor in the research inst.i.tute, she didn"t dare to boast that there was no risk in this surgery at all.
"Brother Xiao..." Feng Lin had decided to back out. He was conservative and unwilling to take such a big risk.
Xiao Liulang moved his lips lightly and said carelessly, "Let"s do the surgery, have to trouble Physician Zhang."
He agreed so quickly that even Gu Jiao suddenly looked at him.
In fact, even though the time they had been together could no longer be called short, Gu Jiao still never really understood him. But at this moment, she seemed to feel a trace of cold indifference from him.
It was as if... He really didn’t care about the possibility of the operation failing.
Was he just really bold, or he didn’t care about his own life at all?
1. ↑ — Just to clarify, the county, prefectural, and college level exams are just the entry-level exams, pa.s.sing it will give you the qualification to take the real imperial examination held once every three years, which starts with the provincial imperial examination (also known as autumn exam because it takes place in autumn), then metropolitan imperial examination and lastly, palace/court imperial examination.
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Also, please also have a look at our other translations!
Everyone But Me Is Reborn
Her father is a coward and senselessly filial. Her mother is weak and gullible. Her elder brother is a wastrel.
When she married into the w.a.n.gfu, she suffered and was coldly treated. And by the time she was in labour, she was fated to die with the unborn child in her belly.
This was supposed to be Ning Nuan"s life.
However this time, everyone but her is reborn.
Ning Nuan is at a loss. She felt that her dad has suddenly become the pillar of the family, her mother’s temper became fierce, and even her elder brother, who would only walk the dogs and play with birds all day, has begun picking up books and reading them carefully.
There is also that juvenile that shows up at the wall of her courtyard everyday, calling her “Ah Nuan, Ah Nuan” with an honest face.