“Seeing as your son is able to walk on his own, and his fever is going down, it is safe to say that he has recovered,” Ning Qian said, with his apprentice by his side while talking to the lord and his wife along with their son who was bedridden earlier in the day.
“I prepared a few doses of medicine that need to be taken in the morning every day. When the medicine is finished then he is sure to be okay.”
The madam of the house smiled and hugged her son with pure joy. She was so happy that little tears trickled down her cheeks.
“Thank you,” she mumbled, then turned to her son’s doctor and in a much louder voice said, “Thank you for saving my son.”
The doctor and his apprentice just nodded their heads, but it was only the apprentice who said, “You are welcome, madam,” in her soft, kind voice. Then, the cured patient himself said, “Thank you.”
Ning Qian, with his small bit of humanity, didn’t want to ruin the little joy the patient had with his parents. After all, he was going to wring out everything he needed to make sure his apprentice got everything she needed to learn. The son didn’t need to know everything his parents were going to give up for him.
“Ning Yun, please lead the patient back to his room.”
Ning Yun nodded her head, “Of course.”
The relived mother let go of her son as Ning Yun stood, waiting for him to walk towards her. It was only when he was right next to her that she gave him her arm to hold just in case, and it was an arm that he took.
The first thing said when the two got away from the door where the adults were talking was an apology from Ning Yun.
“I want to apologize in advance for anything that may happen from this point forward.”
She knew that she wasn’t at fault for what was about to happen to his family. Well, she was, avertedly, but she wasn’t the one who decided to rip off the poor parents. Still, she felt bad, so she just had to apologize before he got older and started chasing her and Ning Qian down since there was a chance his family could go under. Even if it did happen, and one day she was at the end of his sword, she hoped this little apology would lessen the pain she would go through. Not like she was sure she could even feel pain, but still, at least she would feel what being killed was actually like.
“Are you alright?” the patient asked. It was like she was the one who was sick. Like there was something wrong with her. That was how he asked the question, and it confused Ning Yun. Still she answered calmly, “Yes. What made you think I wasn’t?”
And her curiosity was trumped with the patient’s answer.
“You’re cold. Colder than most people,” he said in his raspy, sick person recovering voice.
Ning Yun almost paused. She almost stopped in her tracks, but she didn’t. She wanted to stop, but the unconscious part of her kept going. After all, one wrong step and her secret about being dead would cause her to hide until someone ended her small life.
“My constitution has always been irregular since birth,” she said, covering the tracks picked up by the boy holding her cold arm.
“I’m not suited for any physical taxing jobs, but I’m not smart enough to become a scholar. And since my father is a doctor, this is the best option for me,” she said with a small sad smile like everything was true. Well, it was, in her past life anyway, but it’s not like she let that stop her from doing anything anyways.
In her last life, Ning Yun was healthy. She was at the peak of health when she was little. She used to run around with a smile on her face and never get tired until she was tucked under her soft bed sheets. But then, high school hit, and along with it came physical expectations with the growing anxiety in her head.
During those times, without her realizing it, her health plummeted. The stress of being in an extracurricular activity that took up all of her time throughout the year, the college level classes that she struggled to understand until the next summer, homework that continued to pile on top of each other because she never had the time to finish it, and the expectations of staying an honor student plagued her all while she was keeping up her performance at her job. But, it wasn’t something she should complain about. It wasn’t something she was allowed to complain about. After all, it was her choice to do these things. Her choice to sign up for clubs and organizations. Her choice to take harder classes to graduate with a good GPA. Her fault for setting those high expectations people had for her. But, it wasn’t just that. She didn’t have the right to complain because everyone else she knew was going through the same thing. Everyone was always stressed. Everyone was always around their breaking point. Everyone was always dangling off the edge just like her, so she had no reason to complain.
Besides, the compliments she got for her dedication and good grades relieve her stress even if it was just by a little drop. They were supposed to make her feel better, so she made it that those words did. All while eating started becoming a waste of time. It got in the way of her study. It got in the way of her practices. It got in the way of hanging out with her friends which was the only relief she had. It was a large waste of her time that caught up to her before she knew it.
One moment, she was going about her day as usual, and the next her body started breaking down on her. Sometimes, when she walked, her legs would give out causing her to fall. Sometimes, her eyes fluttered or twitched uncontrollably. Sometimes, she felt so exhausted that she could barely get out of bed. Her weight continued to fluctuate. She would lose three pounds in three days in which it took her a single day to gain. Adding that to the manual labor she had to do on a regular basis because of her extracurriculars, she was pushing herself past her limit.
She knew what the problem was. She went to a doctor and they told her that it was dehydration, malnutrition, and iron deficiency. However, she had no intention of getting in the way of her body destroying herself. Her body always stayed in the necessary weight range of a person of her height. Meaning, because of her starving herself, she wasn’t going to be fat. She wasn’t going to go against the physical expectations of common high schoolers. In her eyes, it was fine as long as she could push herself to get everything done and smile while doing it. Nothing needed to change. That was her painful past life, but then again, her life, even with all of its problems, was completely normal.
“How about you become a personal doctor for my family? It pays well,” the young lord asked, pulling Ning Yun out of her problematic past life.
She smiled. It was a stable job. A good flow of income, and she was probably going to get free lodging and food. However, it’s not something she wanted. She didn’t want to be tied down in this life. She wanted to be as free as she could. After all, she deserved it.
“I appreciate the offer, Young Lord, but I’m afraid I can’t. I’m still an apprentice and am unqualified to be a doctor of a person as esteemed as yourself.”
The young boy nodded, understanding her situation. At least, not wanting to trouble her by urging her to work under him.
“If you ever need a job, you can work here,” he said. Ning Yun nodded with a smile, “Thank you, Young Master.”
Back in the room, Ning Qian gracefully took every cent he needed from the family to give Ning Yun a successful education and then some. He was sure that, after this, his little apprentice wouldn’t have to mumble about them being broke and not being able to afford anything. If he heard that from his apprentice's mouth one more time, he’ll drop kick his dead kid. Which reminded him. He was going to come up with a story as to why she wasn’t going to grow anymore. He could name her a martial art genius but that would catch too much attention, and he couldn’t afford that. He could also come up with some tear jerking story to explain it that involved some sort of qi illness. Well, that would work. It would get people away from the holes in his story if he got them to cry. That was less of a pain than dealing with martial artists. Besides, it was good to be somewhat sincere when taking everything a family had to offer.
When Ning Qian came to pick Ning Yun up from the patient’s room, it was clear that it was their time to go. They’ve left their mark on the family that had a dying son, and now it was time for them to exit stage left.
Ning Yun had to admit, even in historical times, the best doctors were still held in the highest regards, and being the best changes depending on the patient you’re treating. If she had to be honest, being a doctor was a whole lot of work, however, seeing that she was able to be there for someone emotionally and insure their safety–the feeling of being needed–she had to be honest, it was a nice feeling. Not only that, the spoils were good too. Ning Yun managed to get stacks of paper, ink, and thin brushes. It was enough to last her an entire year. Really, her master really was the best to apprentice under.
This was a new experience for her. It was her first time actually feeling needed. She wasn’t just following people around or waiting for them to come back. It was the first time she felt of use, and though it was a lot of work, she enjoyed it. It made her think, ‘Maybe all of that studying is worth it if I can be a doctor’
After the departure from the lord house, the two doctors were on their way to their next destination. Ning Yun didn’t know where that place was, but she trusted her master that he would bring her to a nice, quiet place where she could do all the studying she wanted. Though, it was going to be a little difficult.
The next human civilization they reached was a small village. One with only a single main road that ran throughout the village, one small inn, and one market that was more like a trading place. It was the classic small border village in the middle of nowhere that no one really cared to think about. Usually, such small towns were happy places, in manhwas at least, but this one wasn’t. It was like a ghost town, and after hearing the warning from the innkeeper, it literally was. Apparently, evil spirits had a tendency to wander around at night attacking and possessing people. Some people have gotten possessed and killed family members before getting killed themselves. It was quite the opposite of the happy villages. Actually, it seemed to be in the middle of one of those destruction arcs that always ends in some sort of plot development.
The innkeeper gave them a very special warning.
“And you need to be careful especially,” she informed them, “the spirit likes possessing the children.”
Of course, if they were in normal circumstances, that would be a problem. However, Ning Yun was a spirit possessing another body, so unless there was some sort of spirit battle for bodies, there was nothing to worry about. Besides, there was no way a ghost was going to take interest in something that was just like them, a spirit possessing the dead.
However, what was most surprising is that Ning Qian was not concerned about anything happening to him. From his look, aura, everything. He seemed to be nothing but a doctor. You couldn’t even sense his scammer side. He was that elegant and put together. So, since that was the case, why was it that he wasn’t scared for his survival? Surely, he wasn’t relying on Ning Yun to protect him?
No, that was too stupid. Ning Yun doubted the thought even crossed his mind. So, what was he so confident in? His luck? It was a complete mystery to his dead companion. But, she wasn’t going to question it. After all, she had to focus on her studies.
Thankfully, in perfect conditions, Ning Yun wasn’t much of a procrastinator when it came to her work. If there was something to be done–and she didn’t forget about it–it would be done. However, in her past life, there were times when she procrastinated a bit and pushed things off for 30 minutes since she was in the middle of texting someone or there was something else she wanted to do. But, it was different here. There were no electronics to distract her. No people wanting to talk to her. It was a perfect self learning environment. Not only that, she was good at knowing when to stop to take a short break.
With paper in front of her, freshly grounded ink, a thin ink brush, and an open book about medicine. It was time for her to study. Ning Yun was so serious that she asked Ning Qian to put her hair up so she could focus better. It was going to be the first time in three years that she was this focused on learning.
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Page by page of the book, Ning Yun scanned the pages, pulling out all of the important information, and summarized it in a way she could understand. She wrote on each of the blank pages until it was full with headings, subheading, bullet points, sub-bullet points, numbers, letters, and arrows. This was the way she’d always taken notes since she was in middle school. Because she was writing comfortably–when she looked back at her notes later–she found that her brain automatically translated at some times causing her notes to be in English and Chinese. It was somewhat funny. Not only that, the western way of writing was left to right meaning that if Ning Qian tried reading her notes, it would look like complete gibberish to him. Still, she was learning, and if she needed to find anything, rather than looking through multiple books, she could just page through her notes which, on that note, made her realize something. Without a bag to hold every piece of paper in a way it wouldn’t wrinkle, was impossible. So, she was going to need her notes binded into a book for something. Anything to protect them better. After all, she loved preserving her hard work.
“I am going out,” Ning Qian said, from the door.
“Okay,” Ning Yun responded, her eyes never leaving the continuous cycle of reading and writing.
Once Ning Yun reached the halfway point in the first book, she stopped to take a little break. Once she stopped, Ning Yun realized that it’d been a while since her last bath. Since she’d been focused on sightseeing and studying, and she never let herself completely check out, after all, she was around another person all the time–now that she wasn’t focused on anything, Ning Yun realized just how dirty she was. Not only that, she only had one outfit. Obviously, she wasn’t in the situation where she should be picky about the number of clothes she had, but she wanted at least two sets of them. It would make sure that she would always have a clean set and wouldn’t have to worry about how to wash her clothes. But, that wasn’t her place. She wasn’t in charge of the money, nor did they have the space for her to carry another set of clothes. Besides, she really didn’t want to be a hassle. Ning Yun sighed, “Guess, it’s just another thing I have to deal with.”
Plus, rather than complaining about it in her head, it’s best to go and solve her problem. It was never good to procrastinate. Especially when it comes to hygiene. But… “I don’t want to socialize.”
To get what she wanted, Ning Yun was going to have to talk with the innkeeper, and she was the introverted type. At least, on the inside. If she has to socialize, she will, but she didn’t enjoy it unless it was with a person she really enjoyed, which wasn’t the creepy innkeeper who talked about murderous ghosts.
She hated talking to random people so much that she skipped out on the once a year free candy in fall and replaced it with playing games in her room.
“It’s a lot of energy,” energy that she has to use for studying.
“But, I really need that bath,” she wouldn’t be able to study without it.
“Hmmmm….”
So, she laid on the floor going through one of her inner battles.
The battle lasted for five minutes until the winning side was chosen. The deciding factor was what would end up troubling Ning Qian the most. Which would be her not keeping up with her hygiene. After all, that was the first thing he taught her, and it would bother her until she got washed. She would feel her grimy, oily, and disgusting body which would distract her from studying which was what Ning Qian wanted her to do. So, she had to put her introverted aside and went down to talk to the innkeeper. She had no other choice, after all. She was always going to have to sacrifice something to be happy.
“That’s just how the world works.”
Ning Yun picked herself up and walked down to the first floor.
“Excuse me,” she asked at the front counter, “Is there a way I can take a bath?”
The female innkeeper looked at Ning Yun, for a little while before answering, “There’s a well in the back you can draw water from.”
Was she implying that Ning Yun was going to have to take a bath outdoors? More importantly, did she look strong enough to draw water on her own? But, nothing came out of asking the innkeeper these questions but negative thoughts about her. It was best to just smile and nod like in any situation, “Thank you.”
That solved the water problem, but the rest was up to Ning Yun to figure out herself. So, she went searching.
In her room, she found two barrels just big enough so that she could submerge her body. And, if she remembered correctly, Ning Qian always kept soap in his bag which, to Ning Yun’s surprise, was still in the room.
“He usually takes the thing everywhere.”
But, the reason for the bag to be left behind didn’t strike as being something important, so Ning Yun just confirmed the soap’s existence. Finally, the last step was filling up the barrel with water. This was going to be the longest step yet, and the most difficult thing she was going to do. But for a good bath, it was going to be worth it.
Well, that was the plan. As though the world was against her taking a bath, and being a complete antagonist in her life, a person just had to pass out right in front of her. Since her kind personality couldn’t ignore a person looking dead on the ground–she also had to consider what a doctor would do–she just had to stop her important task.
“Excuse me,” Ning Yun gave the person a few shakes, “Is everything okay?”
When the person didn’t respond, Ning Yun shook them a couple more times, but there was still no response. Was it good to even shake a person who’d passed out?
Honestly, Ning Yun had the thought of just leaving the person there, but it wasn’t right. Instead, she turned the body over and went to check on the person's pulse. Thankfully, that was steady, and the person’s breathing meant the person wasn’t dead nor was there something seriously wrong, but it was wrong–as a doctor–to just leave a person lying on the ground. So, she abandoned her main quest to take a bath to deal with another side quest. She bet it was going to be a long one too.
Using all of her strength, she lifted the body and hauled him all the way to her room. Thankfully the innkeeper was somewhere else, so Ning Yun didn't get any weird looks while dragging some passed out child up the stairs.
When she got to the room, Ning Yun threw the sleeping body on her bed, and sighed.
She really wanted that bath. Well, it’s not like she couldn’t. She filled one of the barrels halfway and already set up her rising bucket. Plus, if she wanted to be honest, she could make that work for a bath. It would be a cold one, but it’d be a bath nonetheless. Ning Yun sighed, “If this is the best I’m going to get,” then she was going to take it.
Ning Yun started taking her clothes off. First, she actually started washing her clothes using a bucket of water. This was the part about bathing she hated. She had to wash her only set of clothes with nothing on, not even undergarments. Now, if she had another set of clothes, this wouldn’t be a problem, and she would enjoy her bathing experience to the fullest.
“I might just catch a cold if I keep doing this.”
Once she was done, she was finally able to take a bath. Was it a nice one? No, but it was a bath, and she really just needed a bath. It didn’t have to be satisfying or anything that she wished it to be. She just needed to wash the dirt off her body.
Actually, now that she’s thinking about it, in her past life, she had a whole hygiene ritual, and since she was a hygiene fanatic, the ritual took place a minimum of once a day. If she did anything that caused her to sweat it was two, maybe three if she felt dirty before going to bed. But, either way, she never went more than 24 hours without going through the ritual, however, it was different now.
Before, she would start by going to the bathroom, then she would brush her teeth with whitening toothpaste for her teeth, and regular toothpaste for her tongue and to re-brush her teeth.
After, she would take a 20 minute shower where she would wash her body, wash her face with face wash, and condition, part, and comb out her hair–she would make sure to wash her hair once a week, any more than that and her hair would get brittle.
Then, she would do her hair while watching videos online. Usually, she would braid the front part of her hair down to the underside to get it out of her way, but that was after she put in hair moisturizer and curl definer.
After, she would move from her bathroom, to her room where she applied lotion, deodorant, and put on her clothes. Of course, on a weekday, she usually wore job acceptable clothes, so her outfits weren’t that diverse. It was usually work clothes or pajamas, and the occasional common clothes when she needed to go out on weekends.
Finally, she would go back to the bathroom to put her contacts in or not depending on if she was going to leave the house.
Then at night, before she went to bed, she would wash and moisturize her face after brushing her teeth.
It was a full, and very satisfying hygiene routine that was completely different than the one she had now. It was actually sad how accepting she was of the downgrade she was going through, but, “When I get rich, I’m totally going to take a bath everyday.”
Not only that, she was going to invent lotion, hair products, and deodorant too. She was going to recreate her hygiene ritual in the historical world. Actually, she should make that her goal. Seeing as all of the main characters of the isekai books she reads always had something they wanted to achieve, there was a clear reason why she should too. Who knows, maybe she’ll run into this hot guy that ends up falling for her. Ning Yun scoffed, “I doubt that’ll happen.”
“W-What do you think you’re doing!?”
Oh right, Ning Yun forgot that she dragged a person back to her room earlier…and it was improper to bathe in front of another person, especially if it was a male when not married. Which reminded her, she never did check the gender of the person she dragged up the stairs, and by the sound of the voice, it was probably a guy.
In this situation, it was normal to be embarrassed, but Ning Yun was a bit different from other people. Usually, if one was caught in the middle of a bath, they would scream and cover their body, but Ning Yun thought about it like this. Currently, she was in a barrel, and the person complaining about her taking a bath was on a bed a few steps away from her in a position where they couldn’t see over the barrel. With that being said, the person could only see her head, so there wasn’t any problem. There was nothing to be embarrassed about. Still, it was impolite to bathe in front of a person, even if they were asleep, so the blame was on her, and she was willing to take it.
“Could you please turn around,” she said, “I’d like to get dressed.”
The person immediately turned around while Ning Yun got out and got dressed. Unfortunately, her bath was cut short, so her clothes were still a bit damp. It was just something she was going to have to deal with.
“You passed out in front of the inn well, so I carried you here,” Ning Yun said, “You’re awake now, and since there’s nothing wrong with your pulse or breathing, you’re free to go back home.”
Ning Yun really hated how many strings she had to tie. She had to tie them tight to make sure they didn’t come apart, but it was also a pain to untie because of the chances of knotting.
“I don’t have a home…”
“Is that so?” Ning Yun asked, emotionlessly. She was too focused on getting her clothes on to really care about the boy’s situation.
She started hearing the sniffles from behind her, assuming that the person she picked up was crying. However, she didn’t care. Past the person passing out in front of her, Ning Yun didn’t care much else about his situation. Should she? Probably, it was human nature to pity a person who was in worse states than them, however Ning Yun never understood that part of humans. She didn’t get why telling the truth would hurt someone’s feelings, and she didn’t get why she had to care for someone when she got nothing out of it, which, thinking about it now, was a bad trait for a doctor to have. Still, she wasn’t going to change herself for one crying kid, and who knows, he could be the one possessed kid that was killing everyone. All the more reason why she should avoid him.
“You should leave it to destiny then. Choose a path, walk it, make more choices, and see where it gets you. In the end, no matter where you end up, you can only blame yourself for ending up there.”
Finally, she tied the last bow on her outfit and competeled her outfit, “Now, if you wouldn’t mind walking that path now, I’d really appreciate it. I have a bit more important things to do. If you’re not feeling well, make sure to find an actual doctor and not just pass out somewhere.”
Although she basically told the person to leave, she didn’t hear or see a single change in the room besides her own body moving around. It was really annoying. The question after even more so.
“...Do you not care?” All of the sniffles left the person’s voice. It was cold and straight, exactly how Ning Yun’s was.
“Currently, no. Even if I did, there’s nothing I can do to change your situation. Besides, taking action takes up the time I need to study, and so does this conversation. So please, see yourself out.”
Still the person didn’t move, and Ning Yun sighed. She knew this was going to be a long side quest.
“Are you not even scared by the possibility that I could be possessed?”
Ning Yun rolled her eyes. The stupid spirit actually gave itself away. Was it just born or something?
“Well you see, Mr. Spirit,” Ning Yun was facing directly in front of the possessed boy, “I happen to be a similar kind to you. Though, I don’t know if this is enough proof.”
Usually, Ning Yun had a bandage applied by Ning Qian covering her neck to cover the stitches holding her head to her body. Not only that, the bandages were a good support for her neck. However, Ning Yun had just finished taking a bath, and Ning Qian wasn’t there to wrap her neck. All she did was put her clothes on, her stitches were on full display. The only thing that stopped her from looking like the monster she was out in the open. Her one true weakness.
The person looked over his shoulder and peaked at Ning Yun before seeing what she was showing him.
“See?” she smiled, “There is nothing you can take from me that I haven’t already lost.”
Wow, that sounded really cool. Though, it really just came from her mouth. For example, she never lost her virginity, nor did she lose a lover. Honestly, her life was normal, and not as dramatic as that sentence made it out to be. But it was too late to take it back now. Besides, it would look lame if she did.
The person stared at Ning Yun for a little while. He thought that the girl in front of him was strong. She’d lost everything yet she was smiling about it. She accepted everything, and now, she was finding new things to do. It was better than what he was doing–going around and tormenting people to the point of death. She seemed interesting. She was amazing.
The person stepped off of the bed with a sheet in hand and used it to cover Ning Yun’s neck.
“You shouldn’t show people something like this. It’s unbecoming of an undead.”
Ning Yun continued smiling, “Is that so?”
“It is.”
“Then,” Ning Yun disregarded the sheet placed around her neck as it fell to the floor and reached into Ning Qian’s bag to take out a bundle of bandages. “Can you wrap it up for me? I’m not so good at actual treatment yet.”
She’s quite defenseless.
“Of course.”
The person took the bandage and carefully wrapped it around Ning Yun’s neck nicely. It was as though a doctor did it.
“Thank you.”