After Xiao Yuan left, Gui Chen Zhai remained quiet.
That wooden box was still sitting on the counter.
The Eastern Pearl was lustrous and warm, the old ginseng precious, and the medical book carried a faint scent of medicinal ink.
Su Muchen sat behind the counter, looking at the sheet of paper Xiao Yuan had personally written. For a long while, he said nothing.
Xiao sat beside him, resting his chin on one hand, his smile very faint.
“Still angry?”
Su Muchen folded the paper and stuffed it into his notebook.
“What am I angry about?”
Xiao raised an eyebrow. “His Highness’s wound split open.”
Su Muchen said coldly, “He got it to split himself. What does that have to do with me?”
“Oh.”
Xiao drawled out the sound.
Su Muchen looked up. “Oh what?”
“Nothing.” Xiao smiled. “I just feel that the way Muchen puts on a tough front is a little like His Highness.”
Su Muchen: “……”
He suddenly felt that this was even more unpleasant than being insulted.
He got up and put away the wooden box.
The Eastern Pearl could be converted into cash.
The old ginseng could be studied, and it could also be kept for Xia Lanshi to recuperate with.
As for that Collected Notes on the Hundred Herbs, it actually aroused some interest in him.
The medical books of Dasheng might not be accurate from the perspective of modern medicine, but if he wanted to provide long-term support to Xiao Yuan, he had to understand the medicinal materials, names of illnesses, and treatment practices on the Dasheng side.
He could not always rely on stuffing modern medicine into him.
That would be dangerous and unsustainable.
Su Muchen flipped through several pages of the medical book and discovered that most of the names of the herbs recorded inside were similar to those in ancient medical texts of the modern era, but there were also quite a few unfamiliar medicinal materials.
He immediately took out his notebook and created a new category.
—Dasheng Medicinal Materials Comparison Table.
Xiao glanced at it and smiled. “You really intend to study it?”
“If not?” Su Muchen said without looking up. “Xiao Yuan is setting out in three days. There’s still an epidemic in the northern border, and Xia Lanshi’s health is poor. I can’t keep cramming at the last minute every time.”
Xiao fell silent for a moment.
“Muchen, you actually already care about them very much.”
Those words were like a basin of ice water, coldly waking Su Muchen up.
The hand with which Su Muchen was writing paused.
After a moment, he said calmly, “There are more patients, so doctors naturally have to be busy.”
Xiao gave a bitter smile and did not expose him.
But as he looked at the faint dark circles beneath Su Muchen’s eyes and then at the increasingly large pile of lists on the table, he surprisingly did not joke anymore.
This young man spoke coldly, yet he was more prone than anyone to take responsibility upon himself.
No wonder the door had chosen him.
And no wonder that Prince Su had returned here again and again.
◆◇◆◇◆
Over the next two days, Gui Chen Zhai practically became a small warehouse.
Xiao’s ability to purchase supplies once again exceeded Su Muchen’s understanding.
Oral rehydration salts, sterile gauze, povidone-iodine, alcohol wipes, medical tape, fever reducers, anti-inflammatory medicine, disposable gloves, masks, water-purification tablets, water filters, soap, salt, sugar, compressed biscuits, nutritional powder, thermal blankets, cotton socks, and heat patches.
Box after box filled the front hall.
Su Muchen unpacked the packages, sorted them, repacked them, and wrote instructions, until his wrists ached from the work.
He even reorganized the care guidelines into three copies.
One for Xiao Yuan.
One for Xia Lanshi.
One for Chi Banyue.
Xiao Yuan had once told him that Chi Banyue was one of his trusted aides, handling all sorts of miscellaneous affairs for him.
Su Muchen understood that the person handling miscellaneous affairs for royalty was certainly not as simple as the words literally suggested, but he did not want to think too much about it.
When writing the copy for Chi Banyue, he deliberately added another line.
—If Xiao Yuan says “It’s fine,” directly inspect the wound.
When Xiao saw it, he laughed for a full minute.
Su Muchen expressionlessly stuffed the paper into a waterproof bag.
“What’s so funny?”
Xiao laughed. “I just think Miss Chi will definitely like this sentence.”
Su Muchen said coldly, “Whether she likes it or not isn’t important. What matters is whether Xiao Yuan can reach the northern border alive.”
After he said this, he himself fell silent for a moment.
Xiao looked at him.
Su Muchen lowered his head and continued organizing things.
“What are you looking at?”
Xiao smiled.
“Nothing.”
This time, Xiao Yuan arrived earlier than usual.
When the white light appeared, he was once again holding a wooden box in his arms.
The moment Su Muchen saw that box, his first reaction was not the gold, but to look at Xiao Yuan’s waist.
“How is the wound?”
Xiao Yuan seemed to have already become accustomed to this sort of opening from him.
“Did not split.”
Su Muchen stared at him. “Really didn’t split?”
Xiao Yuan said, “Really.”
Su Muchen reached out. “Sit down. Follow-up examination.”
Xiao Yuan was silent for a moment, then obediently sat down.
Xiao stood at the side watching, finding the scene extremely strange.
The dignified Prince Su of Dasheng, a man who killed without blinking.
Now, the first thing he did after entering Gui Chen Zhai was obediently sit down and let Su Muchen examine his wound.
If the people of the Dasheng court saw this, they would probably be even more horrified than if they had seen a ghost.
Su Muchen removed the bandages to check and discovered that the wound indeed had not split open again. Only then did his expression ease slightly.
“You’re fairly obedient.”
Xiao Yuan lowered his eyes and looked at him.
“I said before that I would remember your words.”
Su Muchen’s hands paused.
He lowered his head and rewrapped the wound, his tone deliberately indifferent.
“Good that you remember.”
After finishing the bandaging, Xiao Yuan pushed the wooden box in front of him.
“Today’s gold.”
Su Muchen froze. “You brought it again?”
Xiao Yuan said, “From now on, every time I come, I will bring one box as funds.”
Su Muchen looked at him.
Xiao Yuan’s tone was calm, as though he were stating something perfectly natural.
“You need to repay your debts, and you need to purchase supplies. If you alone advance the money, it would be unfair.”
For a moment, Su Muchen did not know what to say.
Ever since he was young, he had been far too accustomed to bearing everything himself.
He had figured out his own tuition, figured out his own living expenses, and when the rotten debts left behind by his father had crashed down upon him, he could only figure out a way himself.
But Xiao Yuan seemed to completely not regard his contributions as something that should simply be taken for granted.
He even brought gold every time.
It was not charity.
It was a transaction, and also a response.
Su Muchen was silent for a moment before saying, “I’ll keep accounts. I’ll record the total amount of gold you bring each time, along with every expenditure.”
Xiao Yuan nodded. “Good.”
“Aren’t you afraid I’ll cheat you?”
Su Muchen found it unbelievable. This man actually trusted him so much.
Xiao Yuan looked at him. “You won’t.”
Even when he had been in the greatest need of money, Su Muchen had not sold the sword Xiao Yuan had left behind, so he believed that Su Muchen was not a greedy person. Now that he needed this gold, it was only because his debts had forced him into it.
Su Muchen’s heart inexplicably jumped.
He immediately lowered his head and opened the account book.
“Don’t trust people so easily!”
Xiao Yuan said in a low voice, “Mm.”
But that “Mm” sounded nothing like he had taken the words to heart.
◆◇◆◇◆
They had originally intended to continue moving the goods that night.
But Su Muchen looked at Xiao Yuan’s freshly bandaged wound, then at the boxes covering the floor, and his brows furrowed tighter and tighter.
“No.”
Xiao Yuan asked, “What’s not?”
“You can’t move them anymore.”
Xiao Yuan said, “I can push them.”
“Yes, you can do everything.” Su Muchen said coldly. “You can even ride your horse at full speed until your wound splits open.”
Xiao Yuan: “……”
Su Muchen turned and went to the rear courtyard.
Not long afterward, he came back pushing a flatbed cart.
He had asked Xiao to buy the cart that afternoon. It had a metal frame, four wheels, could bear a heavy load, and had anti-slip edges.
Xiao Yuan looked at the thing, confusion appearing in his eyes.
“What is this?”
“A cart,” Su Muchen said. “Put all the boxes on it from now on. You only need to push them through the door. You are not allowed to carry them one box at a time.”
Xiao Yuan looked at the cart.
Xiao also looked at it, then raised an eyebrow. “This is indeed a good idea.”
Su Muchen began placing the boxes onto the cart.
One layer of medical supplies.
One layer of oral rehydration salts and water-purification tablets.
One layer of soap and masks.
Compressed biscuits were placed on the very top.
He even secured everything with rope once more, ensuring that nothing would scatter while being pushed through.
Xiao Yuan grasped the copper ring, and white light appeared in the gap of the door.
Su Muchen pushed the cart to the door.
“You only need to hold here and push gently.”
Xiao Yuan did as instructed.
The wheels of the cart rolled lightly across the floor, and the entire cartload of goods disappeared into the white light.
Su Muchen held his breath.
Xiao also narrowed his eyes slightly as he observed.
After a moment, the cloud-and-water patterns on the door merely brightened once and did not rapidly dim as they had before.
Su Muchen froze.
“It passed through just like that?”
Xiao Yuan closed his eyes and sensed it for a moment.
“It passed through.”
Su Muchen immediately opened his notebook.
“The weight is greater than yesterday, and the volume is also larger, but the door’s reaction is actually more stable.”
Xiao pondered. “Perhaps the greatest influence isn’t weight, but the number of times.”
Su Muchen’s eyes lit up.
“In other words, opening and closing the door, or each passage through it, is the main consumption. As long as it remains within the amount it can bear at one time, concentrating the goods and pushing them through is more economical than sending them one box at a time?”
Xiao nodded. “It seems so.”
Xiao Yuan understood as well.
This meant that they could send more supplies within a limited number of passages.
For him, who was about to head to the northern border, this was practically timely aid.
Su Muchen immediately became energized.
“Try once more.”
Xiao reminded him, “Don’t be too greedy.”
“I know,” Su Muchen said. “The second time, we’ll use a little less and test the limit.”
He organized the next batch of goods onto the cart. Its weight was one-third less than the first cartload.
Xiao Yuan pushed it through the door again.
This time, it still went smoothly.
It was not until the third cart that the cloud-and-water patterns on the door began to fade.
Su Muchen immediately called a halt.
“That’s enough for tonight.”
Xiao Yuan looked at the remaining supplies.
“There’s still quite a lot.”
“We’ll talk about it tomorrow night.” Su Muchen closed his notebook. “Now we know the method. After this, we can maximize the amount transported each time.”
He lowered his head and wrote in the notebook:
—Door Transportation Experiment One.
—Entire cart passing through is feasible.
—Consumption is suspected to be related to the number of passages; weight and volume are secondary limitations.
—Recommend using high-load-bearing carts to concentrate cargo transportation.
After finishing, he suddenly felt that it was somewhat absurd.
Who could have imagined that a young doctor who had just graduated and had not even officially started working was now actually researching the efficiency of cross-temporal logistics?
When Xiao saw the words “Cross-Door Whole-Cart Transportation Plan,” he struggled terribly to hold back his laughter.
Su Muchen looked at him coldly.
“What are you laughing at?”
“Nothing,” Xiao said. “I just feel that Gui Chen Zhai can soon be renamed Cross-Realm Freight.”
Su Muchen: “……”
Xiao Yuan lowered his head and looked at that cart.
A trace of an extremely faint smile appeared in his eyes.
These otherworldly objects were often neither ornate nor unusual, yet they were practical.
A single cart could actually allow them to take away several times more supplies.
And the person who had thought of this was currently lowering his head and writing, his brows and eyes focused, as though once every troublesome matter reached his hands, he could dismantle it piece by piece.
Xiao Yuan suddenly felt that—
Su Muchen might be more suited to being the owner of Gui Chen Zhai than he himself had thought.
◆◇◆◇◆
On the night before departure, Gui Chen Zhai was almost brightly lit throughout the night.
Su Muchen prepared three bags.
The first was Patient No. 1 Xiao Yuan’s personal medicine bag.
Inside were anti-inflammatory medicine, fever reducers, painkillers, gauze, povidone-iodine, tape, wound-closure strips, disposable gloves, a thermometer, and small scissors.
Written on the outside was:
—For Xiao Yuan only. Do not distribute carelessly.
The second was Patient No. 2 Xia Lanshi’s recuperation bag.
Besides fever reducers and basic medicines, it also contained nutritional powder, vitamins, oral rehydration salts, soft masks, a thermal blanket, as well as a care guide for weak constitutions written by Su Muchen.
Written on the outside was:
—Xia Lanshi: Sleep less late, drink more water, don’t force yourself.
The third was Chi Banyue’s personal care bag.
It contained the most things.
Besides commonly used medicines and first-aid supplies, there were also three sets of instructions.
One for taking care of Xiao Yuan.
One for taking care of Xia Lanshi.
One for handling emergencies on the journey to the northern border.
At the very top was a sheet of paper that read:
—If Xiao Yuan says “It’s fine,” please inspect his wound.
—If Xia Lanshi says “No need,” please make him shut up and rest.
—If neither of them listens, please hold them down directly.
After finishing writing, Su Muchen silently felt that Chi Banyue should be able to make use of it.
In addition, he had specially prepared an abdominal medical binder and several rolls of elastic bandages.
Xiao Yuan looked at the abdominal binder, his brows slightly furrowing.
“What is this?”
“To secure the wound,” Su Muchen said. “You’ll have to sit in a carriage the whole way. The jolting will pull on the abdominal wound. Using this can slightly reduce the strain.”
Xiao Yuan took it, his expression somewhat subtle.
“Wear it under the clothes?”
“Yes.”
“Like wrapping the abdomen?”
“More or less.” Su Muchen looked at his expression. “What? You still think it’s ugly?”
Xiao Yuan fell silent, as though silently admitting it.
Su Muchen sneered. “When your wound split open before, you weren’t exactly looking good either.”
Xiao Yuan: “……”
Su Muchen stuffed the abdominal binder into Xiao Yuan’s arms.
“Put it on before you leave tomorrow morning. No showing off by riding a horse on the road. If you can sit in the carriage, sit in the carriage.”
Xiao Yuan said, “If we are attacked…”
“If we’re attacked, that’s another matter.” Su Muchen interrupted him. “But when there’s no attack, you’d better behave yourself.”
Xiao Yuan said quietly, “Okay.”
Su Muchen looked at him.
“Don’t just humor me.”
“I’m not.”
This time, Xiao Yuan answered very quickly.
Su Muchen had originally wanted to say a few more things, but suddenly he fell silent.
Tomorrow, Xiao Yuan would leave the capital and head for the northern border.
There were warfare, epidemics, an assassination plot secretly laid by the Crown Prince, and countless uncontrollable dangers waiting there.
Yet he could only remain inside Gui Chen Zhai, separated by a single door, doing his best to send things over.
…He could not go.
He did not even know whether the door would remain open forever.
Thinking of this, that slightly suffocating feeling in his chest rose again.
Should he make some plans and prepare everything Xiao Yuan might possibly need before the door closed, so that if the door suddenly shut one day, he would not be caught unprepared…
Xiao Yuan seemed to notice his silence.
“I will come back.”
Su Muchen raised his eyes.
Xiao Yuan looked at him, his voice low and steady.
“If the door can be opened every day, I will come every day.”
Su Muchen had originally wanted to say, You don’t need to specifically report to me, but when the words reached his lips, they became something else.
“Report your injuries.”
A trace of a smile surfaced in Xiao Yuan’s eyes.
“Okay.”
Su Muchen added, “And the gold.”
Xiao Yuan said, “I’ll bring it.”
“I’m not being greedy.” Su Muchen lowered his head and organized the boxes. “It’s because your side needs supplies and my side needs money. This is a balanced transaction.”
Xiao Yuan looked at him.
“I know.”
He knew Su Muchen was not greedy.
Su Muchen simply feared owing others. He feared that his efforts would become nameless and without distinction, and that in the end, he would be left with nothing.
So Xiao Yuan was willing to use the form of a transaction to make him feel at ease.
Gold and silver, supplies, or medical books—it did not matter.
As long as Su Muchen was willing to accept them, he would give them.
◆◇◆◇◆
Dasheng, the day of departure.
Outside Prince Su’s residence, the carriages and horses stood in orderly formation.
Thirty thousand troops left the city in batches. As the Northern Border Inspector, Xiao Yuan’s procession was not exactly vast and imposing, but it was still eye-catching enough.
The capital’s citizens stood along the streets watching, with some whispering among themselves.
“His Highness Prince Su’s injury hasn’t healed yet, right?”
“I heard he was only assassinated a few days ago.”
“This trip to the northern border probably won’t be easy.”
Xiao Yuan sat inside the carriage.
This had been forcibly demanded by Chi Banyue.
More precisely, Chi Banyue had taken the piece of paper Su Muchen had written and, smiling sweetly, read it aloud in front of him three times:
—If Xiao Yuan says “It’s fine,” please inspect his wound.
In the end, Xiao Yuan silently got into the carriage.
A thick cushion had been laid inside, with a soft pillow supporting his lower back.
The abdominal binder had been properly wrapped beneath his clothes, and it indeed reduced the pain caused by the wound being pulled during the jolting.
Although Xiao Yuan did not particularly want to admit it, the things Su Muchen had prepared were very useful.
Xia Lanshi was also in the same carriage.
His high fever had only just subsided. His face was still frighteningly pale, and he was wrapped in a thermal blanket, with the recuperation bag Su Muchen had prepared for him beside his hand.
Chi Banyue sat opposite the two of them, holding a sheet of care instructions in her hand.
She looked at Xiao Yuan for a while, then at Xia Lanshi.
Finally, she took a deep breath and sighed helplessly.
“Did I come to the northern border to handle affairs, or did I come to take care of two patients?”
Xia Lanshi coughed lightly and said gently, “Thank you for your trouble, Miss Banyue.”
Chi Banyue sneered. “You know it’s troublesome? Then how did you dare secretly read documents last night?”
Xia Lanshi: “……”
Xiao Yuan closed his eyes to rest, seemingly as though he had not heard.
Chi Banyue immediately looked at him.
“His Highness, don’t pretend to be asleep either.”
Xiao Yuan opened his eyes.
Chi Banyue waved the paper in her hand.
“Doctor Su said that you need to check once every two hours whether the wound is bleeding. If the pain worsens because of the jolting, you must stop the carriage immediately.”
Xiao Yuan said expressionlessly, “We’re marching on the road. We cannot delay the journey because of me alone.”
Chi Banyue smiled gently.
“Doctor Su also wrote that if you say this, I should reply with one sentence—if you collapse, what you delay won’t be a moment. It will be the entire northern border.”
Xiao Yuan: “……”
Xia Lanshi lowered his head and coughed lightly, as though suppressing a laugh.
Chi Banyue turned toward him again.
“And you too, Lord Xia, the Chief Historian. Doctor Su said that you may handle documents for at most two hours a day. Any more than that, and you must rest.”
Xia Lanshi was silent for a moment.
“The affairs of the northern border are urgent…”
Chi Banyue smiled even more gently.
“He guessed you would say that too, so he wrote another sentence afterward.”
She lowered her head and read, “If Xia Lanshi refuses to rest on the grounds of military affairs, tell him that a person who collapses from illness cannot devise strategies and can only increase the burden of care.”
Xia Lanshi: “……”
The carriage fell into an eerie silence.
After a moment, Chi Banyue let out a truly heartfelt sigh.
“I’m starting to like this Doctor Su a little.”
Xiao Yuan glanced at her.
Chi Banyue immediately added, “I mean like in the sense of admiration.”
Xia Lanshi lowered his eyes, a faint smile appearing at the corners of his lips.
“Doctor Su is indeed meticulous.”
Xiao Yuan said nothing.
He reached out and pressed the medicine bag inside his sleeve.
Inside was the medication instruction sheet Su Muchen had rewritten for him last night.
The handwriting was still not particularly attractive.
But every stroke seemed like a certain kind of concern.
The carriage slowly left the capital, the city gates gradually receding behind them.
The snow and wind and crisis of the northern border awaited them ahead.
Xiao Yuan closed his eyes.
This time, he was no longer going to his death alone.
Behind him were Xia Lanshi, Chi Banyue, and the soldiers willing to follow him.
There was also a door.
Behind that door was a shop called Gui Chen Zhai.
And an otherworldly doctor who was stubbornly soft-hearted, always scolding him for refusing to follow medical instructions.
Just thinking of this made the long road to the northern border seem as though it was not quite as cold as before.