Whoosh!
A gust of cold wind suddenly blew into the mourning hall.
It crept into Lin Miao's collar, his thin clothes making him shiver uncontrollably. The days were getting colder and colder.
He turned his head to glance at the altar, where the flame of the eternal lamp flickered a few times, almost going out. If the flame went out, the deceased would have no way to find their way home.
In this dark night, it was eerily cold and quite unsettling.
"Dad, is it you coming back?"
The shout from his senior sister, Sun Youwei, as she rushed outside, startled Lin Miao into a shiver. Could there really be ghosts or such things in this world?
He hadn't been here long enough and didn't quite understand what kind of world this was. If there were indeed gods and ghosts, he'd need to get used to it first.
The original Lin Miao was just a small apprentice physician, and the farthest he'd been was the county town. His experience was quite limited.
When a person dies, holding on to a breath of life in the mortal world, they think of their family. Before heading to the afterlife to reincarnate, they come back for a look.
It is commonly known as: the return of the soul.
That gust of wind just now did indeed have the feeling of a soul's return.
He used to believe these were all superstitions, fabricated and imagined by the ancients, merely forcefully connecting some natural phenomena.
But the shout from his senior sister, with the cold wind brushing against him, made him a bit unsure. After all, this wasn't his original world.
After waiting a short while, there was no movement outside.
The wind seemed to have stopped.
His senior sister was still crying and calling for their master. At such a young age, without a father, who wouldn't be heartbroken?
Could their master's soul truly have returned?
"Senior sister, why don't we head inside? It's too cold outside; take care of your health." Lin Miao plucked up his courage to step out. After all, he had a pure Yang body, able to repel evil. Quickly, he grabbed a piece of clothing for Sun Youwei, draping it over her as he brought her inside from the door.
If she caught a chill in this body, it would be troublesome.
"Huh!"
As he walked into the mourning hall, one arm holding his senior sister's arm and the other around her soft waist, he suddenly heard a faint, almost unnoticeable sound in his ear. When he tried to listen carefully again, the sound was gone, making him think he was hallucinating.
He constantly felt as though a pair of eyes were staring at them from somewhere in the house.
Could it really be the one lying in the coffin?
Amitabha, Infinite Heaven, don't scare me. Although I've taken over your apprentice's body, he must have been wronged for me to have the chance to return in this borrowed body.
If I get the chance in the future, I'll help your apprentice seek revenge. I'll take care of your daughter for a lifetime.
I'll ensure she has a good life, without worry about food and clothing, and perhaps even give you a chubby grandson...
Lin Miao guiltily muttered silently in his heart.
Seeing Sun Youwei not reacting, he lowered his head slightly, deciding not to make a fuss, lest he scare himself.
Feeling somewhat better.
"Senior sister, I've slept the whole day. I'll keep watch for the rest of the night. You go rest," Lin Miao said, supporting Sun Youwei into the room.
At this time, it should be him, a man, taking up this responsibility; it was also his time to prove his worth.
Sun Youwei nodded. The household now consisted of just her and Lin Miao, not counting the old dog chained outside, which was barely alive and kept howling pitifully.
Lin Miao wore mourning clothes and knelt by the coffin, burning paper while pondering his future.
This beginning was indeed challenging; he couldn't rely on any system, with or without, life had to go on.
At least he had been given a pretty little wife. In his original world, a beauty like his senior sister was something ordinary people could only dream of.
The only drawback was her health condition.
But that didn't matter. If his medical skills couldn't help her, then probably no one in the world could.
Ah!
After tomorrow, he and his senior sister would be homeless. The Herbal Hall was unjustly ruled by the county magistrate to be given to the Huang Family. Besides their clothing and the master's coffin, they couldn't take anything else.
Unless he could come up with three hundred taels of silver to compensate the Huang Family.
Yet the entire Herbal Hall couldn't even produce one tael of silver...
How could he gather so much money in one day?
His senior sister didn't even have a decent piece of jewelry; trying to sell something for money wasn't an option.
Unless he resorted to theft or robbery.
But where could he find a suitable target in such a short time?
Even if he managed to get money, how would he explain its origin, akin to a pauper suddenly getting rich, who wouldn't suspect the source of wealth?
An innocent man becomes guilty by holding a treasure.
Without the power to protect wealth, it is bound to slip away.
The Huang Family was clearly eyeing the land where the master's herbal hall stood; the circumstances surrounding his original body's death seemed suspicious. After waking up, he secretly checked his own pulse and found traces of past poisoning.
Who was the poisoner?
Senior sister!
Impossible, with their master gone, his senior sister had only him left in this world, and she was so frail. If she wanted to get rid of him as a hindrance for someone outside, there was indeed no need to act right after their father's death, before the seven-day mourning period was over.
Moreover, the original Lin Miao had a very wooden personality and basically followed Sun Youwei's every word. Now that their master was dead, she wouldn't mention the marriage contract, and Lin Miao probably wouldn't bring it up actively.
Because Lin Miao always felt somewhat inferior in his heart, thinking he wasn't worthy of his senior sister.
He could suspect anyone, but not his senior sister.
There were many people lusting after Sun Youwei's beauty. If not for her chronic illness, the Sun Family's threshold for marriage proposals would have long been trampled down.
This, in turn, benefited Lin Miao.
Although there was a betrothal, it was uncertain if Sun Youwei would live to the day of their wedding ceremony.
Cai Jin, the renowned physician in the Prefecture City Medical Hall, had diagnosed Sun Youwei. If she could take precious spirit pills, she might fully recover.
However, not to mention the Prefecture City, even the capital occasionally only had one appear at auctions, valued at tens of thousands of gold.
So, without spirit pills, Sun Youwei wouldn't live past twenty.
Now Sun Youwei was already 19, about three years older than Lin Miao. Of course, how old Lin Miao actually was, even his master Sun Simiao, who picked him up, didn't know. He only estimated based on the height of children his age, making his birthday the day he was found.
The "surname" in Lin Miao's name came from being found in the "forest" (Lin), and "Miao" was the last character of his master Sun Simiao's name.
Forget about spirit pills worth tens of thousands in gold; they couldn't even come up with a few taels of silver now.
With the government and the Huang Family colluding, what could powerless, ordinary people do?
Sun Simiao was still a registered "physician" with the government, the lowest level of doctor allowed to set up a practice (common folks usually called them physician), above which there were physician, senior physician, and national physician.
The titles of physician, senior physician, and even senior physician could be granted upon fulfilling certain conditions and passing government evaluations, akin to qualification certificates and professional titles.
But a National Physician was different; they had to have exceptional ability and authority in a specific field and achieve certain accomplishments, being honored by the Emperor's decree.
As for the Grand National Physician, only one had emerged in hundreds of years, and currently, the Da Li Dynasty had merely five National Physicians.
The status of a National Physician was so revered that even the Emperor had to treat them with respect; such lifesavers were not to be offended easily.
This digression is a bit extensive.
For now, what Lin Miao had to resolve.
First, survival. Once driven out of the Herbal Hall by the Huang Family, he and his senior sister would be homeless, with nowhere for their master's coffin. It would have to be buried the next day.
Second, what to do afterward, whether to stay in town to earn a living or take his senior sister and leave this place.
No matter what, how would they live without money?
Making money is not the goal; the goal is to make money.
Third, to not seek vengeance is not the way of a gentleman. Besides avenging their wronged master, they also had to unearth the black hand that poisoned him.
If not, this lurking viper might spring out at any moment and bite him, making life unbearable.
Of course, there's his senior sister's illness, which wouldn't be cured in a day. Even prescribing the right medicine would require at least half a year of nurturing.
Precious medicine isn't a necessity, but they do need necessary medicine.
He also needed to earn money to support the family.
Men must shoulder the burden of their families.
First, they needed to get through tomorrow's ordeal.
This Herbal Hall was the only thing left by their late master. Giving it away just like that left him feeling unresolved.