Chapter 15: The Three Hearts and Two Intentions

“When I finally awoke, I found myself on an unfamiliar coastline, by the shores of Luohai,” Lang Shuhuai recounted, the events of decades past still remarkably vivid in his memory.

“Later, I journeyed through many hardships, eventually arriving near Moxuan Town, where I was fortunate enough to meet my old woman.”

Upon hearing this, Hu Junan paused, momentarily stunned, then quickly lowered his voice to inquire, “Old sir, if I may ask a small question, are you familiar with the concept of reproductive isolation?”

The old man raised an eyebrow, then grinned, revealing two rows of yellowed teeth. “Don’t worry,” he reassured, “from my experience… there’s no problem at all.”

“Do you have children?”

“Yes, I do, but…” Lang Shuhuai’s words trailed off mid-sentence before he abruptly changed the subject, asking with concern, “By the way, what exactly happened to you to cause all these injuries?”

“It’s a long story,” Junan began, a hint of bitter helplessness crossing his face as he spoke.

“Just now, I saw a despicable scoundrel causing trouble on the street, and in a moment of hot-headedness, I wanted to teach him a lesson.

Unexpectedly, he had a large group of subordinates, and they ended up giving me a thorough beating. It was a rather typical case of a failed heroic act.”

“To dare beat someone in broad daylight on the street…” Lang Shuhuai pondered for a moment. “Could that scoundrel possibly be Young Master Lin?”

“Yes, yes, that’s him!”

“Ah, I advise you to avoid provoking such ruthless characters in the future,” Lang Shuhuai sighed.

“As the saying goes, ‘a mighty dragon cannot crush a local snake.’ Don’t throw away your life just to show off your strength!”

As he spoke, Lang Shuhuai sat by the sickbed, gently pushed back Junan’s sleeve, and examined the injuries on his arm. “These fellows truly struck hard…”

“It seems much better now,” Junan replied. “Before, I couldn’t even move, and a slight touch would send such a searing pain through me that my mind would go blank.”

“Has my old woman already treated you?”

“She just took my pulse…”

“How utterly irresponsible!” Lang Shuhuai exclaimed. “To abandon a patient and run off! I’ll certainly give her a piece of my mind later!”

Just then, with a creaking sound, the wooden door to the back hall swung open. “Oh no…” Lang Shuhuai knew something was amiss, and instantly, panic seized him, his face etched with terror.

“Speak up, why don’t you!” the Old Woman demanded, striding out calmly, leaning on her walking stick.

Behind her, a somewhat embarrassed Wǔ Xīyǔ followed. “You old fool, if you’re afraid to speak, then get out of the way! This old woman needs to prepare her medicine!”

“Alright…” Lang Shuhuai rose, then, realizing something was off, sat back down, defiantly retorting, “Wait, why do you need me to move for you to prepare medicine? I’m not even sitting in front of your cabinet.”

“Are you not annoying enough already?”

In his haste, Lang Shuhuai’s accent became pronounced. “I’m a perfectly respectable old man; how am I annoying anyone?”

“Go on, scram,” the Old Woman scoffed, flicking her wrinkled, scaly tail. “You old fool, go find somewhere cool to stay!”

Wishing to assert his authority in front of Hu Junan and Wǔ Xīyǔ, Lang Shuhuai spiritedly put his hands on his hips and retorted, “I refuse!”

The Old Woman, a truly formidable person, threatened him sharply,

“Just you wait! Later, I’ll prescribe a remedy to mix into your food, and you’ll sleep as soon as you eat it. When you wake up, you’ll eat again, and you’ll never have the chance to bother me again!”

Upon hearing this, Lang Shuhuai became so incensed that he puffed out his cheeks and glared, slapping the bed.

“Wrong, wrong, wrong, I was wrong,” he declared, his expression stern, yet his voice instantly softened, a truly poetic surrender.

Thump, thump, thump—

Just then, an urgent knocking echoed from the door. Hu Junan and Wǔ Xīyǔ, fearing it was Lin Shaodong returning with his men for revenge, felt their hearts leap into their throats.

The two elders, however, merely exchanged a glance and whispered, “Has he returned?”

“No, he usually sends someone to inform us before he comes back…”

“That brat, living in the same town, yet insisting on staying at the yamen instead of coming home.”

“You old fool, you’re still talking? It’s all because of you…”

Seeing no movement within the medical hall, the person knocking pounded harder on the wooden door, as if intending to tear it down. “Is anyone inside the medical hall?”

Wǔ Xīyǔ immediately recognized his voice. “Father…”

No sooner had she spoken than a sharp glint flashed through Wǔ Língfēng’s eyes. He took a deep breath, rapidly clenched his fists, his knuckles cracking like popping popcorn.

Then, with lightning speed, he raised his hand and struck the sturdy wooden door with a single palm. An invisible, formless force swept through like a tempest.

In the blink of an eye, the wooden door, like a fragile piece of candy, shattered into splinters before everyone’s astonished gaze, even the bolt breaking into two.

“Xiyu!!!”

“Father—!!!”

“Uncle…”

Gazing at the splinters scattered across the floor, Lang Shuhuai swallowed hard, his face trembling slightly with agitation. “You, you, you! You just smash it like that? Are you from a demolition crew or something?”

Compared to his lingering shock, the Old Woman appeared remarkably calm, scrutinizing Wǔ Língfēng’s lower body with a strange, grave expression, as if deep in thought.

“My apologies for startling you both,” Wǔ Língfēng said.

“I heard from passersby that my daughter had come to the medical hall, but after calling out for a long time with no response, I grew worried that something might have happened to her.

In my haste, I acted rashly. Please rest assured, I will compensate for the damaged door at its full value; I would never allow the elders to suffer a loss.”

“Grandma, Grandpa, let me introduce you,” Wǔ Xīyǔ quickly stepped forward to say. “This is my father… Father, Junan was injured protecting me, and Grandma is preparing medicine to treat him.”

“He was injured?”

Fearing Wǔ Língfēng’s concern, Hu Junan forced a faint smile, enduring the pain, and calmly stated, “Don’t worry, it’s just a minor injury…”

“It’s good that it’s just a minor injury,” Wǔ Língfēng said dismissively, offering a perfunctory remark of concern. “A true man takes a few injuries as part of his training.”

Inadvertently, he noticed blood on Wǔ Xīyǔ’s hand, and his eyes instantly widened like eggs. “My dear daughter, what happened to your hand? When did you get hurt?”

“It’s nothing, just a scrape,” she replied. “Compared to Junan’s injuries…”

“What do you mean ‘just a scrape’?” Wǔ Língfēng interrupted. “A scrape is a monumental disaster! For your father, it’s like the sky is falling!”

“Ah, well…”

Hu Junan now fully understood how hurtful such undisguised preferential treatment could be; his experience of this family was truly terrible.

“Listen to your father,” Wǔ Língfēng insisted. “You go home and rest, don’t move around too much; I’ll take good care of you!”

“Father, I think Junan needs it more…”

Wǔ Língfēng cast a glance at Hu Junan, his tone abruptly shifting, and once again, he offered a casual remark of concern. “Junan, you should rest well here in the medical hall; don’t wander around…”

“Stay and recuperate in the medical hall?” Wǔ Xīyǔ couldn’t help but interrupt him.

“Junan… he’s so badly injured, and staying here would surely trouble Grandma and Grandpa. It would be better for him to recover at home, where I can easily look after him.”

“A true man, it’s just a minor flesh wound; it’ll heal in the blink of an eye.”

Hearing his words, Hu Junan secretly grumbled to himself, ‘Heal in the blink of an eye? Does he think I’m the reincarnation of Wolverine?’

The Old Woman, unable to listen any longer, put down her herbs and aggressively chided, “Do you have eyes or not?”

“Uh…” Wǔ Língfēng was momentarily stunned by her bluntness.

“Now,” Lang Shuhuai interjected, shrugging, “to be fair, Hu Junan was injured protecting your daughter. By all accounts, you should show some concern for his injuries; being so indifferent is truly a bit much.”

“It’s fine, really,” Hu Junan said, offering a casual smile. “Uncle has always been like this; if he were to suddenly show concern for me, I’d actually feel uncomfortable.”

No sooner had he finished speaking than Wǔ Língfēng bowed his head slightly, admitting with profound shame,

“Indeed, it is my fault. Both elders are absolutely correct in their admonishment; I will certainly pay attention to my words and actions from now on.”

“It’s good that you can admit your mistakes,” the Old Woman said, resuming her work. She continued weighing the herbs in her hand, skillfully pounding them into a medicinal paste with a mortar.

“May I be so bold as to ask for your esteemed names, elders?”

“My humble surname is Lang, my given name Shuhuai; I am merely a humble scholar…”

Before he could finish, the Old Woman opened her mouth and cut him off decisively. “My humble surname is Qiu, my given name Ruoqu.”

“You are surnamed Qiu?” Wǔ Língfēng’s brows furrowed slightly. “Could you possibly be a descendant of the Qiu family, renowned for their Three Needle Art?”

The Old Woman nodded impatiently. “That’s right.”

Lang Shuhuai asked, his face a picture of disbelief, “Old woman, is your family really that famous?”

“Back then, the previous Emperor suffered from a severe chill, experiencing vomiting and diarrhea for days without end, which naturally caused great distress,” Wǔ Língfēng recounted with enthusiasm.

“The imperial physicians in the palace were all mediocre talents, and their successive treatments showed no improvement.

In desperation, His Majesty the Emperor issued a widespread summons for doctors, hoping that renowned physicians from across the land would gather for a consultation.

It was at this time that a famous physician from the Qiu family entered the palace.

Within three days, all the cold energy in the Emperor’s body was expelled; five days later, he could walk; seven days later, his complexion was radiant as a rainbow; and by the tenth day, his illness was completely cured, as if he had never been sick!”

“That famous physician you speak of was my father,” Qiu Ruoqu interjected nonchalantly, even with a hint of annoyance.

“Honestly, you all praise him too much. In truth, he was just an ordinary doctor, not as miraculous as you make him out to be.

It’s simply that the imperial physicians in the palace were overly eager for glory, mistakenly diagnosing causes and prescribing incorrect remedies to claim credit, even before finding the root of the illness.”

“Physician Qiu is truly too modest!”

“It’s not modesty,” Qiu Ruoqu corrected.

“Our Qiu family has been ordinary practitioners of medicine for generations, with nothing particularly outstanding. If there is anything different about us, it is that Qiu family physicians must adhere to our ancestral traditions and family precepts.”

“I know about that!” Lang Shuhuai interjected.

“Besides having extensive medical knowledge, Qiu family doctors must also possess ‘three hearts and two intentions.’

The three hearts are: a sense of responsibility to see things through, a sense of medical ethics that treats everyone equally, and a perseverance for continuous study.

And the two intentions are: a determination to cure illnesses with medicine, and a joy in charitable acts. Am I right?”

Qiu Ruoqu nodded, pausing her work, and gazed thoughtfully at the old medicine cabinet.

“My father often admonished this old woman: ‘Without the support of these three hearts and two intentions, even if one studies under the most brilliant master, gains the most resounding reputation, and selects the finest and most precious medicinal ingredients, everything will be fleeting and illusory. One might heal others, but fail to heal one’s own heart.’”

Wǔ Língfēng nodded in agreement. “Truly a family precept worth pondering…”

At this moment, Lang Shuhuai suddenly looked bewildered, then asked with a surprised expression, “Old woman, if your father was so remarkable, then when I was sickly all those years ago, why didn’t I see him cure my illness with his medicine?”

“Firstly, my father found you annoying,” Qiu Ruoqu began.

“Secondly, you came from the Donghua Kingdom, and your pulse and other symptoms differed from ours, requiring careful diagnosis.

Thirdly, back then, you were afflicted by multiple diseases, as if a malevolent star had entered your body; you were practically halfway into the grave.

Illnesses strike like a collapsing mountain, but recede like drawing silk. Had my father and I not diligently treated you, your life would likely have been lost long ago!”

Lang Shuhuai blinked. “I was that unlucky back then…”

At this point, Wǔ Língfēng turned to him, respectfully cupped his fists, and said, “I haven’t yet had the honor of asking for this esteemed elder’s name…”

“What terrible memory you have,” Lang Shuhuai retorted. “I was just introduced a moment ago; my humble surname is Lang, my given name Shuhuai, merely an ordinary scholar.”

“I’ve heard much about you, indeed.”

“You’ve heard of me?”

Wǔ Língfēng froze for a moment. After a brief silence, he offered a polite yet composed smile. “No, that was merely a common courtesy…”

“Pfft…” Hu Junan couldn’t hold it in, and burst out laughing. “Hehehehe, hahahahahahaha—”

“Hmph, laugh, laugh, laugh yourself to death then!”

No sooner had the words left his lips than Hu Junan’s smile vanished, replaced by a grimace of pain. “Ow, ow, ow…”

Hearing his cries, Wǔ Xīyǔ instinctively rushed over, bending down to examine his injuries. “Junan, your wound… Phew—thank goodness, it hasn’t split open.”

“Young lady, this is Lingyun Blood-Dissipating Powder,” the Old Woman explained, leaning on her walking stick as she handed over the wrapped medicine.

“If his wound is weeping excessively, mix it with tree sap and apply it to prevent ulceration.

The packet below contains Heaven-Wild Tendon and Bone Paste; after crushing it, boil the juice, then mix it with damp mud and apply it to bruises. Once the mud dries, the bruises will disappear.”

Wǔ Xīyǔ took the medicine packets and nodded her head. “Thank you, Grandma, Xiyu will certainly remember!”

“Elders, it’s getting late, and we must return to Tianmen soon,” Wǔ Língfēng stated, respectfully cupping his fists towards Lang Shuhuai and Qiu Ruoqu. “We must take our leave now.” With that, he turned to depart, but Wǔ Xīyǔ tugged at his sleeve, her gaze continuously darting towards Hu Junan.

“Father, Junan, he…”

“There’s no helping you,” Wǔ Língfēng sighed, understanding her unspoken request. Reluctantly, he walked to the bedside, bent down, and effortlessly lifted Hu Junan into his arms.

“Ow, ow, ow—Uncle, you pulled my wound!”

“You brat, a man should endure a little pain! It’ll be fine once we get home!” As he spoke, Wǔ Língfēng carried him out of the medical hall, quickly settling him onto the donkey cart.

Wǔ Xīyǔ swiftly climbed onto the donkey cart, as if Hu Junan had a magnet installed on him and she were the iron. “Does it still hurt?”

“No, no pain; as long as I don’t move, it’s nothing serious…”

Before he could finish his sentence, Wǔ Língfēng, his face utterly grim, plopped down at the front of the cart, snatched up the whip, and cracked it. “Go!”

***

After they had left, Qiu Ruoqu paced back and forth, leaning on her walking stick, muttering mysteriously, “Strange, so very strange…”

Lang Shuhuai asked, a puzzled expression on his face, “What’s wrong?”

“Her father is a genuine master; he not only shattered the thick wooden door with a single palm, but his stance was as steady as a rock, and his breathing was almost imperceptible. His internal energy must be extraordinary.”

“Hah, there are plenty of martial artists around these days; what’s so strange about that?”

“He worries so much about his daughter’s safety, yet he hasn’t taught her even a single move. Do you think that’s reasonable?”

“This…”

“And there’s one more major issue… can a father who looks like him truly produce a daughter as beautiful as a celestial being?”

“Tsk,” Lang Shuhuai clicked his tongue. “Well, well, well, we have a problem!”

“You old fool, have you noticed something peculiar? Tell me!”

“It’s not about peculiarity; it’s that he forgot to leave money for the broken door. What an unexpected calamity…”