Hearing the words "can be cured," Miss Hua's voice choked up: "You're not lying to me?"
After seeing Lin Zhiqing shake her head, her tears fell immediately: "Quickly tell me how to cure it. If you dare to trick me, I'll make you pay!"
"Hey, why is your mouth so venomous?" Lu Nanyue gritted her teeth.
Miss Hua pouted: "I was just too excited!"
Lu Nanyue rolled her eyes, then looked at Lin Zhiqing: "Zhiqing, tell us how this illness should be treated."
"This is actually quite simple," Lin Zhiqing spread out the white paper on the table, but just as she was about to put pen to paper, she realized she couldn't write traditional Chinese characters.
"Nanyue, come here," Lin Zhiqing beckoned to Lu Nanyue and then whispered a few words in her ear.
"Ah, this... will this work?" Lu Nanyue lowered her voice.
"Don't worry," Lin Zhiqing tapped the white paper: "Just write what I told you."
A short while later, Miss Hua received the "prescription."
"One Linü, one Fusun, one Yuebao..." As she read, she frowned: "Miss Lin, you appear gentle and polite, how can your heart be so malicious?"
"If you wanted ginseng or snow lotus, I could try to find them. But this prescription is full of animals. It's too cruel to use them as medicine. I absolutely refuse."
Lu Nanyue's face was also full of disapproval, but she couldn't very well undermine her good sister at this moment.
Lin Zhiqing, however, pursed her lips and smiled: "Miss Hua is indeed pure and kind, but this prescription isn't for you to go get medicine."
"What do you mean by that?" Miss Hua frowned.
"Replenish what is lacking; that's what this prescription means." Lin Zhiqing tapped the thin piece of paper: "Miss Hua, you've never kept animals before, have you?"
"Those little things are troublesome and hard to care for. Whoever wants to keep them can keep them!" She waved her hand as she spoke, her refusal very clear:
"I say, Miss Lin, are you deliberately trying to annoy me? What kind of prescription is this?"
Miss Hua slammed the table, and the cups on it rattled.
With that, she got up and started to walk out.
"Eh?" Lu Nanyue grabbed her wrist: "You haven't paid your consultation fee yet. Don't even think about running."
Miss Hua stomped her foot: "I came here for nothing and was made a fool of. Not asking you for compensation is already an act of mercy beyond the law."
"You can't say that..." Just as Lu Nanyue was about to argue properly with this woman, Lin Zhiqing patted her shoulder.
"Miss Hua, whether my prescription is useful or not, you can go back and try it." Lin Zhiqing handed the forgotten prescription back to Miss Hua:
"Regardless, the consultation fee must be paid. But your symptoms are severe, and you may very well need a second stage of treatment."
"You can pay half as a deposit first, and then make up the other half when you come next time." Lin Zhiqing had a smiling face, but her words carried a sense of conviction.
Miss Hua took a deep breath. Thinking of her current situation, although she was somewhat skeptical, she still clutched the "prescription" tightly.
Seeing her accept the prescription, Lin Zhiqing smiled and gave Lu Nanyue a meaningful look.
Lu Nanyue understood and reluctantly let go of Miss Hua's hand.
"Zhiqing, you're just too easygoing," Lu Nanyue sighed.
Miss Hua, who was about to leave, heard the name and couldn't help but look back.
Lu Nanyue, realizing she had accidentally let Lin Zhiqing's name slip, annoyed slapped her own mouth.
Lin Zhiqing, however, said nothing: "Miss Hua, is there anything else?"
Miss Hua flicked her hair: "Your name is also Lin Zhiqing?"
Lin Zhiqing nodded.
Miss Hua narrowed her eyes, a trace of disgust appearing on her face: "Coincidentally, your name is exactly the same as an official's daughter my cousins talk about."
"But you're much more pleasing to the eye than that official's daughter. I heard them say that Miss Lin is a fool, talentless and unattractive, and even dared to harm her own cousin."
As soon as these words were spoken, Lu Nanyue's expression changed instantly: "Miss Hua, have you seen this Miss Lin with your own eyes?"
Her tone carried a hint of questioning.
"No. Why are you being so fierce?" Miss Hua was somewhat puzzled.
"It's nothing," Lin Zhiqing tugged Lu Nanyue's sleeve, the smile still on her face.
"How baffling," Miss Hua glanced disdainfully at Lu Nanyue and instructed the maid outside the door to bring in some silver.
Seeing those five shiny silver ingots, Lin Zhiqing's eyes immediately lit up.
"What kind of person is she! My little Qing'er is clearly smart and beautiful," Lu Nanyue put her hands on her hips and began to berate Miss Hua.
But when she turned around, she saw Lin Zhiqing leaning over the table as if nothing had happened, biting on a silver ingot.
"What are you doing?" She couldn't help but go over and slap Lin Zhiqing's hand: "This silver is so dirty."
Lin Zhiqing winced in pain, then rubbed her hand and chuckled sheepishly.
It's not like I've seen it before.
Just as she was about to explain, she saw Lu Nanyue snatch the silver ingots into her embrace and take a deep breath: "Fragrant, truly fragrant!"
Lin Zhiqing: !?
Sis, you're even more exaggerated than I am... Lin Zhiqing was speechless.
"But speaking of which, isn't it a bit wrong for you to talk such nonsense?" She sighed with emotion while stroking the silver: "But you made it up quite well; I didn't notice anything wrong at all."
"Nanyue, I have something I want to tell you." Lin Zhiqing sat up straight: "Since the matter with my cousin came to an end, have you noticed anything different about me?"
Speaking of this, Lu Nanyue looked up, tapping the silver ingots intermittently: "Little Qing'er, I knew before that you had it tough, but I didn't know you had it this tough."
"If you want to live well in that kind of place, how can you not change?" She sighed: "You've been clever since you were young. I know you've been hiding your talents to gain a foothold in the Lin family. There's nothing wrong with that."
Hiding talents... Lin Zhiqing never expected Lu Nanyue to say such a thing.
But her innate wariness prevented her from going along with it. She was afraid Lu Nanyue was testing her.
"Nanyue, people always have to learn things. Although my parents passed away early, they also left some things for me." She attributed her changes to her deceased parents, not responding to the topic of hiding talents.
Lu Nanyue smiled faintly: "That's it then. Uncle and Aunt were always far-sighted. If it weren't for them, this medical clinic might not have been opened."
As she spoke, she pushed out a silver ingot: "Here, your payment."
Then, with lightning speed, she pocketed the remaining four silver ingots.
Lin Zhiqing: !?
"Just one?" She picked up the solitary silver ingot.
Lu Nanyue hummed a little tune, not forgetting to pick her ear: "What did you say? I didn't hear clearly."
Ugh... A profiteer, definitely a profiteer!
But then Lin Zhiqing thought again. This was, after all, the Lu family's medical clinic. Earning ten taels of silver just by talking wasn't bad.
Moreover, this kind of "monetary relationship" made Lin Zhiqing feel much more at ease than pure affection.
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