Dali also did not quite understand what this meant.
He did not know how he should respond, and instead continued to kowtow.
"Yes, yes, yes, I am better, recovered as good as before, thank you Divine Doctor," he iterated.
But his expression belied his incredulousness.
How could someone who had been ill for three, four years become good as new? Don’t forget, he was known as Dali, and could lift even the greatest stones for ten paces.
Right now, he was satisfied with walking as normal. He did not have extravagant hopes of such great vigor.
"Stand up. I will see how your recovery has progressed," Miss Jun said suddenly.
Dali Haiping stood up in response and walked over to Miss Jun’s table.
On the table was her acupuncture needles, inkstone, and paper.
Miss Jun reached out and took his pulse, then lifted her brush and wrote a prescription.
"Eat this medicine for a month," she said.
Dali Haiping hummed and emotionally gave his thanks again.
Lei Zhonglian reached out his hand as per usual, but Miss Jun indicated for him to come over. Lei Zhonglian stooped over and exchanged a few sentences with her, then he took the prescription.
"Come with me," he said, looking at Haiping.
Haiping respectfully bowed then turned around. Right at this moment, Lei Zhonglian suddenly gave a small yell. He lowered himself into a horse stance and lifted up a substantial piece of rock and tossed it.
Hu Gui shouted and jumped. He didn’t think that this wooden servant who looked useless would possess such strength.
This rock was not something a normal person could move. What’s more, it was thrown.
The situation was so sudden. As the rock flew straight for Haiping, everyone could not help but shout out in alarm.
Haiping also looked terrified, but the rock’s momentum was too ferocious; it could not be dodged. He involuntarily squatted down and reached up his arms to catch the rock.
Everyone suddenly went quiet, until the first round of cries.
"Haiping!"
"Dali Haiping!’
Their shouts were unending.
Hu Gui was biting his fingers, incredulously watching the man as he slowly got to his feet while lifting that rock.
Haiping was trembling, but he did not fall over.
His whole person was frozen; the rock did not move, and the man was as still as if he had become one as well.
Lei Zhonglian was smiling. He turned around and started fulfilling the prescription in his hands like nothing had happened.
Haiping was still not moving, while more people around him started to shout.
"Daili Haiping!"
"Dali! Take a step!"
"Take a step!"
‘Can I take a step?’ thought Dali Haiping in a daze. He slowly shifted his body and took a step.
His surroundings exploded into shrieks.
"Another!" More people shouted.
Dali Haiping took another step, then two, then three.
"Haiping! Haiping!"
"Dali! Dali!"
Cheers and thunderous applause erupted, the same splendor he had experienced at that competition over a decade ago. Although the rock he lifted now was not even half of the weight.
Tears flowed from his eyes.
Ten years later, that scene had long since become vague. He never thought that he could truly hear this again, that he truly could lift this rock.
"Dali! Dali! Haiping! Haiping!"
Accompanied by this cheer, Dali walked around with the rock. He raised it over his head.
Although it was not as heavy as the one back then, but this time it was much more meaningful.
"Dad!"
The three children that had accompanied Haiping cried out at the scene and immediately went to surround him, sobbing.
The blind old mother could not see anything, but when she heard the children crying, she did too.
"What happened? What happened?" She reached out and sobbed.
"Haiping is strong, Haiping is better." Some people grabbed the old lady’s hands and shouted joyfully.
The old woman could not see what was happening, but when she heard them, she sobbed harder.
Dali Haiping was walking while crying, a smile stretching the corners of his mouth.
For some reason, when the watching people saw this scene, they, especially the older ones, all started to cry too.
Hu Gui lifted his sleeve and wiped at his tears.
"I really must have seen a ghost. Why else would I be crying," he mumbled while crying.
Because the despair had suddenly been broken out of, hope had become true, even if it hadn’t happened to each and every person, their emotions could not help but be stirred.
Young Master Fang too felt this excitement, the moment he could flip over after lying in bed for so long.
Silently sitting behind Miss Jun in the straw shack, he was smiling as he looked at the upright back of the girl in front of him.
"Jiuling," he couldn’t help but call out.
Miss Jun had called herself Jun Jiuling on that day when she moved the signboard, claiming her grandfather had wanted her to inherit the Jiuling Hall, so he had given her that nickname.
Before she hadn’t thought about it, so she called herself by the name her parents gave her. Now that she decided to take over the Jiuling Hall, she was now using the name her grandfather gave her.
She had taken the name of the medical establishment, so she was Jun Jiuling.
The girl turned around to look at him, her eyes sparkling with a question.
But Fang Chengyu did not say anything. He just smiled at her, clapping and sticking up his thumb.
Miss Jun smiled, but also didn’t say anything and turned around again.
Fang Chengyu rested his chin on his hand and watched her back with sparkling eyes.
Jiuling.
News of Dali Haiping, a waste for four years, carrying a stone on the first day of May spread through all of Runan, causing a stir.
And so, this miracle caused another stir for the Jiuling Hall.
This commotion was not because a building had been torn down in the middle of the night, nor because the Jiuling Hall was benevolently giving free medical treatment.
"They said she promised to vanish ills with medicine and wonderful skills that can bring back spring."
"How could it be that amazing."
"But Dali Haiping really was cured."
"That probably was just a coincidental prescription."
This kind of talk pervaded the whole town; there were many people who went to the straw shack on the streets to see Dali Haiping for themselves.
At the crack of dawn, like the stores on either side of it, the Jiuling Hall was not open.
Of course, the Jiuling Hall did not have a door. It was just a straw shack erected on some rubble. Unlike the other stores which unloaded the planks in front of the door to indicate it being open, the Jiuling Hall’s sign board was placed in front.
This sign board followed Miss Jun wherever she went.
Lei Zhonglian was wiping the sign board clean under the eaves while watching the two young people in the house. Miss Jun was passing a bowl of medicine to Fang Chengyu.
Fang Chengyu lifted his head and took a sip.
"Bitter." He clicked his mouth.
Miss Jun gingerly passed over the sugar preserves to him. Fang Chengyu took them with a smile.
The young master had not been five when he fell ill. He had eaten medicine for close to ten years. Lei Zhonglian thought that people accustomed to it wouldn’t feel its bitter.
He lowered his head and smiled before hoisting the signboard over his shoulder and putting it onto the carriage on the courtyard.
"Is coming with me every day boring?" Miss Jun asked. She stood up and reached out a hand to him.
Miss Jun did not let Fang Chengyu be alone, so she had to bring him with her every day. She was treating illnesses every day at the straw shack, and so Fang Chengyu was also there.
Fang Chengyu used the table to get to his feet, but did not pick up his crutches and used the table to walk several steps forward.
"It’s not boring. Being able to see all kinds of people every day is very interesting," he answered.
While supported by the table, Fang Chengyu managed to take a few more awkward steps.
One step, two steps, until the third step, when he left the scope of the table and found it too difficult.
Without anything for his hands to grab onto, his legs seemed to weigh a thousand jin. He could not take a step.
"What's more," he continued lightly, speaking through gritted teeth, his forehead covered in a thin layer of perspiration, clearly outlining how much effort he was exerting, "I am not being idle there. They gave me some work to do for the exchange firm. It’s very interesting."
Through secret letters, they knew that the Fang Family had caught the crafty Concubine Su, so Fang Chengyu’s position in Runan did not have to be kept secret.
The firm in Cai prefecture knew of this, so of course they would put high importance on the young master’s arrival. On top of transferring funds, they had brought reports of the accounting books.
Miss Jun gestured for him to take a step.
"Do you understand it?" she asked.
If Fang Chengyu had heard this before, he would have felt it was mocking him.
Since he was a sick patient shut at home, waiting to die, no one would have wanted him to inherit the business, or even let him learn anything related to business.
But now, Fang Chengyu only smiled. He knew that she did not have any meaning behind it. It was just a question.
If he did then great, but it didn’t matter if he didn’t. She was just asking a question, not evaluating anything.