Time Travel: The Best Doctor in Ancient Times

Chapter 174: Chapter 99: The Plan to Drive Away and Guard Against Wolves

“Yes, it is said that Li Mufeng is handsome and has established quite a few military achievements in Liaodong. If he intervenes, it would really complicate matters,” Yue Xilou sighed and shook his head. It was odd enough that two rivals were sitting knee to knee and having a heart-to-heart, but to discuss how to deal with another rival, the whole scene was just bizarre no matter how you looked at it.

“He won’t get the chance,” Zhou Mu shook his head.

“Why not? I don’t believe that the Li Mansion is related to the matter of spending money to hire my Western Tower Assassin’s Hall to take her life. With her intelligence, wouldn’t she guess it? Even Prince Liang was thoroughly calculated by her, yet the Li Mansion escaped unscathed. It’s quite possible that she still harbors feelings from their years as husband and wife and still has lingering affection for Li Mufeng, hence she showed mercy,” Yue Xilou retorted.

If Zhou Mu didn’t know about Gu Changsheng’s origins, he might have thought the same. But now, she didn’t even know what Li Mufeng looked like. How could they talk about marital affection or lingering feelings? Of course, he couldn’t tell Yue Xilou this. After pondering for a moment, Zhou Mu slowly said, “Given her personality, it should be that the time is not right and she disdains to bother with the Li Mansion.”

Yue Xilou stared at Zhou Mu for a moment, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.

They were chatting merrily on one side, but Yuan Bao standing aside had a face that was quite the kaleidoscope.

Truly, the scene of their amiable conversation was extremely eerie!

“Xiao Leizi, where is that soy sauce pork head?” Gu Changsheng’s shout came from the kitchen.

Zhou Mu, hearing this, slightly raised the corners of his mouth and looked at Yue Xilou, “Clearly, it’s not just me who is out of favor; you’re hardly any better off than I am.”

Yue Xilou’s face darkened, and he nodded silently.

Both reduced to the same sorry state in this world!

As expected, at the lunch table, there were cold mixed pig’s ears, cold mixed pig’s face meat, steamed soy sauce pork head meat… In short, several dishes made from soy sauce pork head dominated the scene.

Zhou Mu and Yue Xilou exchanged bitter smiles, their sympathetic expressions left Gu Changsheng dumbfounded.

“My word, with just the time it takes to prepare a meal, you two have…” Yellow bubbles appeared in her eyes as Gu Changsheng looked at the two men in front of her with a lewd expression.

Two beautiful men, if they really sparked some bromance on her turf, she wouldn’t mind, but how many hearts of young girls and married women would be shattered…

“Madam, time to eat.” Xiao Cui quickly offered a chopstick full of food, interrupting her mistress’s gibberish.

Gu Changsheng quietly began to eat as told, but every now and then, her eyes still carried a probing look towards those two men…

The lunch featuring soy sauce pork head was finally finished amidst an odd atmosphere. Gu Changsheng checked on Han Qiu, confirming that she was fine, before returning to her own bedroom to have Xiao Cui help her apply medicine to her back wound.

No sooner had Xiao Cui tidied up and left, the room door was opened again.

Gu Changsheng looked at Zhou Mu, who came in, and was momentarily speechless.

“Didn’t I have Xiao Cui clean up a side room for you? If you don’t want to leave, then go rest in that room,” she said. A man and a woman alone together, and he’s still hovering around her room!

Such a headache!

Zhou Mu didn’t pay any attention to what she said and just walked straight to the bed, stopping in front of it.

Seeing this, Gu Changsheng quickly spread out her limbs in the shape of a big character across the bed, “Evildoer, let me tell you, people need their dignity like a tree needs its bark. We can’t be shameless, you know. I’m now a patient! A patient! Understand?”

“Looking at your shrewd calculations this morning, you didn’t seem like a patient,” Zhou Mu glanced at her and spoke unhurriedly.

“That was then, this is now. Suddenly, I feel an excruciating pain in my back and urgently need to rest properly by myself.” Gu Changsheng emphasized heavily on the word “alone.”

Zhou Mu glanced at her bed-hogging posture, his eyes narrowing slightly, “Gu Changsheng, can’t you for once act a bit more ladylike?”

Hearing this, Gu Changsheng twisted her head to look at herself. Alright, the posture wasn’t exactly elegant, but as long as it could deter the evildoer from climbing into bed, elegance wasn’t a concern!

Practicality was what mattered!

And, as it turned out, this method was indeed practical.

Zhou Mu shook his head in resignation and moved away from the bed, only to stop a short distance away and call out for Yuan Bao.

Not long after, Gu Changsheng watched, dumbstruck, as Yuan Bao carried in a rocking chair…

Yuan Bao, truly a product of the Imperial Family, served diligently; he carefully padded the rocking chair with a mattress and placed a soft pillow on it. Given Zhou Mu’s tall stature, the rocking chair wasn’t long enough, so Yuan Bao even bothered to carry over a footstool for him to rest his feet on…

Gu Changsheng stared unblinkingly as Yuan Bao bustled about, arranging everything neatly before retiring, and then saw Zhou Mu flipping himself onto the rocking chair beside the window.

The shadowy window, the sunlight of the autumn afternoon filtering through the cracks of the window lattices, showered Zhou Mu beneath the window in a cloak of golden light…

Gu Changsheng looked from her own bed to the rocking chair under Zhou Mu, and stammered out, “Evildoer, why do I feel like your rocking chair is more comfortable than my bed?”

Look at his contentment, this was her house, after all! It was so irksomely enviable!

“Why don’t you try it as well?” Resting his head on his hands, Zhou Mu turned his head to look at the person on the bed.

Gu Changsheng quickly shook her head, “No, thanks!”

She’d be foolish to go over there!

Seeing this, Zhou Mu turned back to continue resting with his eyes closed.

“Evildoer, what happened between you and Flower Peacock while cooking?” How did their atmosphere change so quickly? One moment they were red-eyed rivals fighting a battle, and the next, they seemed to share a somewhat mutual understanding. It was all too bizarre! Of course, Gu Changsheng knew that the bromance was just her own playful imagination, so she was quite curious about the truth.

“We had a chat,” Zhou Mu simply replied.

“Chat? You and Flower Peacock chat? You know how to chat?” Gu Changsheng looked like he’d seen a ghost, staring at Zhou Mu in accusation, “Liar!”

“Really,” Zhou Mu’s reply was also direct.

“So tell me, what could two big men like you possibly chat about? Women?” The topics of men mostly revolve around women and those things related to women, tsk tsk…

“Yes.”

“No way? Are you pulling my leg?” Gu Changsheng was shocked and looked incredulously at Zhou Mu, “Spill it, which beauty of Licheng has become a common topic between you two?”

Okay, that’s a common male problem; she couldn’t expect the aloof male god Zhou Mu to be an exception!

“You,” Zhou Mu replied just as succinctly as before.

Then Gu Changsheng was flustered and touched her nose awkwardly, “Alright, inadvertently, I’ve become a topic of conversation, become a beauty, hehe…”

Let’s just drop this topic, shall we? There’s no use in asking anymore…

Lying on the soft pillow, Gu Changsheng slowly closed her eyes and drifted off to a meeting with the Duke of Zhou.

Meanwhile, Zhou Mu slowly turned his head at this moment, looking towards the woman on the bed.

“She really is heartless and carefree…”

…

A very comfortable nap indeed, and, of course, it would have been perfect if it didn’t end with waking up to face an awkward man.

As Gu Changsheng fiddled with the herbs in her hands, she looked towards Zhou Mu, who was sitting not too far away, “How did it work out, the prescription I gave you?”

“The military doctor was greatly astounded, thinking it a miracle medicine. The injured soldiers recovered significantly within three to five days, avoiding death by sickness.”

Hearing this, Gu Changsheng arrogantly raised her head, “Hehe… Gu products are always of fine quality!”

“Gu Changsheng, on behalf of the millions of soldiers who battle in the fields, I thank you,” Zhou Mu said seriously as he looked at her.

No one understood better than him that on the battlefield, casualties of soldiers constituted only thirty percent of the losses, while the rest, the seventy percent, were often due to illnesses and injuries. Countless soldiers died for the want of treatment for a wound or were left disabled for life, eventually being unable to return to battle…

“Ehh…” Gu Changsheng’s hand, clutching the herbs, paused and then continued working, choosing not to respond.

Zhou Mu saw her busily and cheerfully sitting alone under the porch and couldn’t help but curve his mouth into a slight smile.

She always managed to make his mundane days full and pleasant…

“Yuan Bao, you’ve eaten and drunk your fill; why are you still here, hanging around my Xiao Leizi?” Gu Changsheng shouted at Yuan Bao, who was following Dong Lei.

“I’m just asking her how to make that steamed pork face with rice flour, to see if the kitchen maids back at the mansion can make something similar… ” Yuan Bao turned around, a sycophantic smile on his face. It’s not close to the city here, he can’t come scrounging for meals every day, he had to figure out another way.

“Talking about stealing trades so blatantly, did you ask if I agreed?” Gu Changsheng retorted as she sorted the herbs, glancing sidelong at him.

“Hehe, isn’t Lady Changsheng short on provisions? Don’t worry, I’ll have someone deliver them tomorrow!” Yuan Bao slapped his chest, promising naked bribery.

Seeing this, Gu Changsheng predictably dropped the subject, but turned to Zhou Mu instead, “Evildoer, you’ve come and you’ve seen, you’ve eaten your fill and rested enough, isn’t it time for you to leave? With so many important things waiting for you to attend to, hanging around here doesn’t look good, does it?”

The key issue was what to do at night?

Was she to invite the wolf into her house?

Zhou Mu glanced at her, then instructed Yuan Bao, “You head back to the city first. I think you know what you should do.”

Yuan Bao looked at the two of them, bowed in assent, and then left reluctantly, looking back every three steps.

“Evildoer!” Gu Changsheng couldn’t help but yell.

“Hm?” Zhou Mu looked back at her, an innocent face.

Their eyes met, and as expected, Gu Changsheng was the first to admit defeat, her face twitching in irritation.

Alright then, the hints were outright ignored, and the direct signals were blatantly overlooked!

There really was no one like him!

Seething, Gu Changsheng grabbed a handful of Panax Pseudoginseng and rubbed it fiercely. She really wanted to go up and pull on Zhou Mu’s face to see if it was really made of two layers of skin – was it thicker than a city wall that had turned three corners and added a layer of bricks?

Could it be penetrated by a rabbit gun?

“Xiao Cui! Clean up Zhou Mu’s room, open the windows to air it out so it’s ready for him tonight!” She deliberately raised her voice while instructing Xiao Cui, just to try and provoke even a shred of self-awareness from Zhou Mu!

To be safe rather than sorry, she had also placed a Dog Beating Stick in her room— if it really came to it, she would knock him out with a stealthy blow and throw him out!

The last thing she wanted was to invite a male-ravishing incident, causing irreparable damage!

If all else failed, she might as well drug his food – it was foolproof!