She said, "It’s easy to change from farming registration to rchant registration, but hard to switch back. So, I need to resign from my official position and prepare for that."
Not only do so family businesses need to be abandoned or handed over to others, but the family also needs to purchase more land...
Manbao said, "Later, I’ll keep an eye out. If there’s any land for sale, even if it’s scattered pieces, I’ll buy so."
Mingda, hearing that she planned even for this, asked, "When do you plan to resign?"
Manbao: "... Who can say for sure? Maybe around the New Year, maybe after the New Year? This is called planning ahead, so when everything is ready, you can wait for the rain."
Mingda: ...
She suddenly relaxed and casually propped her head up to ask, "If you were to go traveling for study, where would you want to go first?"
Manbao replied without thinking, "Gaochang!"
"Gaochang? That’s already in the Western Regions, you’d have to cross grasslands and deserts, it’s very far. Why do you want to go there?"
Manbao said, "Firstly, I want to deal with the poisonous stones left behind in Gaochang to prevent harm; secondly, physicians everywhere have their specialties, and the Western Regions have deep Buddhist knowledge. They know many difficult dical conditions, and I want to exchange knowledge with them."
"Haven’t the grassland tribes and the Western Regions already sent several students to the Imperial Hospital?"
"That’s precisely why I want to go even more," Manbao said, "It’s a pity they don’t know much about Western dical practices. I heard there’s a master nad Faju in the Western Regions who can regenerate bone and flesh."
Mingda has always been skeptical of rumors, so she asked, "Do you believe it?"
Manbao said, "Half and half. Who knows? There might actually be such dical practices in the world."
"Aren’t you a physician? I thought you would know?"
It’s precisely because I’m a physician that I can’t easily make conclusions. dical scriptures are rare, who knows what precious texts have been lost or not yet discovered in the world?
Moreover, our Central Plain dical practices emphasize inspection, listening, inquiry, and pulse-taking, whereas other regions’ practices may not be like this. Teacher Mo’s ti even had people who could lie directly in treatnt capsules for healing.
The two lay there discussing all sorts of trivialities, chatting about everything under the sun. Mingda felt deeply envious and softly said, "Leaving the palace has its own benefits..."
While speaking, Manbao grew sleepy. Upon hearing Mingda’s low whisper, she responded softly and then propped herself up to sleep.
Mingda glanced at her and closed her eyes to sleep too.
When the palace maids outside had waited for too long, they knocked on the door, didn’t hear any response, and quietly entered the room.
They saw Zhou Man and the princess lying on the sa bed, both asleep, with her dicine box placed on the footstool.
The maids exchanged glances and silently retreated.
Manbao had stayed awake half the night on duty last night, and early in the morning went to fix Prince Gong’s leg. As soon as she slept, she was deeply asleep, until Mingda woke her.
She opened her eyes, and Mingda smiled, saying, "Get up quickly. Imperial Doctor Liu left long ago, it’s almost ti for supper. Are you going to eat at the Imperial Hospital or here with ?"
Manbao thought for a mont and said, "I should go back to the Chongwen Pavilion. I didn’t return all day, they must be worried."
She ant Bai Shan and Bai Erlang.
Mingda thought about it and nodded, "Then go back."
But fearing she might be hungry, she asked them to bring up two plates of snacks, making sure she ate a couple of pieces before heading out.
Bai Shan sat in the observation tower reading a book, occasionally glancing into the distance. As soon as Manbao entered through the Chongwen Pavilion gates, he saw her.
He imdiately tossed his book aside and ran down.
He ran to greet Manbao, took her dicine box from her, and asked, "What happened? We went to the palace early today and got no information. Not even Zhao Liulang could find anything out."
Manbao said, "Prince Gong’s bone grew crooked, His Majesty probably doesn’t want outsiders to know, so just pretend you don’t know."
"Crooked? How did it beco crooked? Didn’t you set it properly? Did His Majesty bla you?"
Manbao said, "He twisted it himself. I set the bone straight, but after returning to the palace, his injury was mostly managed by Director Xiao and Imperial Doctor Zheng, especially Director Xiao, who personally attended every single ti. This ti, he might be in trouble."
Manbao said, "I even had a quarrel with Mingda over this matter."
Bai Shan: "... Did you two make up?"
Manbao nodded and asked, "Are my parents worried?"
"Not really. The palace said you stayed to treat a noble, so they didn’t think much of it, but the teacher was sowhat concerned. Before leaving the palace after work, he instructed to pay extra attention. If you get implicated, quickly send a ssage out. Then we could ask Lord Wei to co and rescue you."
Bai Shan didn’t head toward the dining hall, as it was almost ti for dinner and it would be crowded. Instead, he took her hand and led her to her room, setting down the dicine box before asking, "Can Prince Gong’s leg be corrected?"
"Do you want the truth?"
Bai Shan nodded.
Manbao said, "No! Although we told His Majesty there might be a chance to fix it, achieving perfect alignnt like before is impossible."
She said, "It’s just because His Majesty is currently very angry, we didn’t want to make things too clear and upset him even more. The bone’s fracture was uneven; even if we could stretch the section we fixed and reapply dicine for healing, the alignnt would still be slightly off. When he walks slowly, it might not be that noticeable."
Manbao said, "And this is already the best outco we anticipated."
Bai Shan had quickly considered the consequences at the court level, "Regardless of Prince Gong’s reasons for doing this, since the matter has been clarified, he’s responsible, and spreading such news won’t do him any good."
Manbao nodded.
Bai Shan said, "Being crippled isn’t necessarily bad; it severs his ties to the throne more cleanly."
Manbao: "... You thought about that."
Bai Shan didn’t show much regret, neither for Prince Gong nor Director Xiao. He reassured Manbao, "Ups and downs in officialdom are common. People in the palace are used to Director Xiao, so even if he’s demoted or dismissed temporarily, he’ll likely return soon."
He smiled and said, "You’re the sa. You have your own patients in the palace, the Empress, Crown Princess, and Princess Mingda rely heavily on your dical skills. Even if you think about resigning, you should be able to get promoted back quickly."
Manbao said, "I don’t want a promotion; I want to resign."
Bai Shan asked, "To Gaochang?"
Manbao nodded.
Bai Shan said, "Hold on for another couple of years. At least we should learn the official language of the Western Regions, and also learn so of the grassland tribe languages, and find two guides familiar with both the grassland and the Western Regions..."
"Aren’t you learning Western Region languages? I’m also learning from those students at the Imperial Hospital. I can speak quite a bit of Western Region languages now."
"Quite a bit? How much is that?"
"It’s like, ’Have you eaten?’, ’Make way’, ’Where is that place?’, ’How to get to this area’, ’Where are the inn and restaurant’... Manbao counted on her fingers, saying, "Anyway, I’ve learned quite a few important ones."
Bai Shan couldn’t help but smile broadly.
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