A Jiu's heart sank. Hua Lan Medical Hall was her sister-in-law's lifeline.
"You speak so righteously, but I suspect you just want to hog all the glory. In that case, I'd rather not open this medical hall than give you the secret recipe."
Liu Er took a deep look at A Jiu. Seeing the distress on the girl's face, she knew she couldn't force her to reveal her unique skill.
"Since the affairs of the Yi Zhuang are now in your hands, it has nothing to do with my Hua Lan Medical Hall anymore." Liu Cai'er was clearly not someone to be trifled with. The more they tried to force her, the more she would refuse.
"You... Hall Master, look at this Liu family girl. How can she behave like this? So young, yet she disrespects her elders and dares to openly defy you. Even old Master Liu wouldn't dare speak to you like this."
Liu Cai'er didn't back down one bit. She hated it when people used power and threatened her with her father.
"Hua Mingshan, you consider yourself an elder? As a physician, one should care for the well-being of all people. Yet you are always fixated on my Liu family. What is your intention?" Liu Cai'er pointed fiercely at the short old man.
A Jiu, on the side, was in such a turmoil it was like being scratched by a cat.
How could she help her sister-in-law out of this predicament? She couldn't just reveal she had a spiritual spring system; the water was just from the spiritual spring.
"Liu Cai'er, if you dare to be rebellious again, I will punish you according to the hall's rules." The Hall Master snorted indifferently, his hands behind his back.
Liu Cai'er's lips turned pale with fright.
A Jiu didn't understand. What kind of hall rules could scare her unyielding sister-in-law so much?
Tong Zi, pale with fear, quickly kowtowed and begged for mercy:
"Esteemed Hall Master, you are magnanimous. For my master's sake, please do not punish my young lady. I beg you. To be frank, the prescription does not belong to our young lady at all. It belongs to this girl, Meng Jiu'er, and she is not even from our Hua Lan Medical Hall."
Scared by this, Tong Zi blurted everything out. However, he was unsure if Jiu'er would produce the prescription, and fearing he would implicate Hua Lan Medical Hall, he decided to distance himself directly.
"Oh?"
The Hall Master looked at A Jiu leisurely. Several pairs of eyes darted towards her.
Their gazes were like those of hungry wolves, as if they wanted to devour Jiu'er. A Jiu's heart skipped several beats.
Liu Cai'er glared at Tong Zi, realizing it was too late to help A Jiu distance herself.
"It's you? Are you the Meng girl who cured the first patient?" The Hall Master squinted, his eyes, like those of a treasure hunter, scanning A Jiu.
He hadn't expected someone so young to already possess such a unique skill.
"Little girl, hand it over. It can be considered an act of merit for you, for the sake of all humanity."
A Jiu shook her head. "The prescription is fine. It just takes a long time to treat."
A Jiu was telling the truth.
"You know this disease is a race against time. Delay by one minute, and one more person will die. No one can bear that consequence."
As he spoke, the Hall Master took a step forward, exuding an aggressive aura.
A Jiu looked up at the Hall Master. Her heels instinctively retreated two steps.
"Hmph! A bunch of old geezers with dirt up to their waists bullying a child? You don't have the ability to cure diseases yourselves, yet you have the nerve to open a medical hall?"
An emaciated old woman walked into the courtyard, hands behind her back, striding with an arrogant gait:
"Instead of hiding your old faces in your pants, you come to my doorstep asking my child for something? If you have the ability, research it yourselves. If you can't, you come to bully my child? Have you no shame?"
A Jiu quickly hid behind her grandmother.
Liu Cai'er's eyes widened. Her grandmother? She looked her up and down, finding she hadn't changed at all, yet somehow she seemed vastly different.
"What do you think you are?" The Hall Master and the others were instantly mortified.
"It doesn't matter what I am. I can cure diseases with a single fart. What? You, who have been doctors for most of your lives, can't figure it out, so you come to my territory to demand it from a child? With your attitude, you're not here to beg for a prescription, you're here to snatch it."
Old man? Liu Cai'er nearly dropped her jaw.
She finally noticed something. The difference was that although her grandmother was an old woman, her words and actions were like those of an old man.
At these words, the seven or eight people's footing wavered, and they became restless.