The carriage entered this small town, and because it was a commercial town, there were still quite a few pedestrians on the streets.
After the carriage entered the town, Luo Wei lay down in the carriage.
Wei Lan didn’t plan to stay overnight in this small town. When they entered the town, he asked passersby about the location of the clinic. He then hurried the carriage towards the clinic. After finding the place, Wei Lan turned to Luo Wei in the carriage and said, “Master, we’ve arrived at the clinic.”
“Do I really have to see a doctor?” Luo Wei asked. He didn’t want to see a doctor. When they reached the clinic’s door, he still wanted to argue with Wei Lan.
“Yes, you should,” Wei Lan lifted the curtain and said to Luo Wei, “Just to reassure me, okay?”
Hearing Wei Lan’s words, Luo Wei had no choice. He couldn’t get off the carriage by himself, so he reached out for Wei Lan to carry him.
There were medicine apprentices in the clinic. When they saw Wei Lan carrying Luo Wei out of the carriage, they hurried over to help and asked, “Where is this young master injured?”
Luo Wei rolled his eyes secretly. Looking at the way he was carried, they should know it’s a leg injury.
Wei Lan politely said to the apprentice, “His leg is badly injured. We need the doctor to take a look.”
“Then go in quickly,” the apprentice said. “I’ll go and tie the horse for you, young master.”
Wei Lan thanked the medicine boy and carried Luo Wei into the clinic.
In the clinic, the attending doctor took a look at Luo Wei and then asked Wei Lan to bring Luo Wei to the inner chamber.
“Oh, this is a broken leg,” in the clinic, there were other patients waiting to be treated. When they saw Luo Wei lying in Wei Lan’s arms, they began to discuss.
Luo Wei dared not let anyone see his face in Northern Yan now, so he buried his face in Wei Lan’s embrace.
Wei Lan whispered to Luo Wei, “It’s alright.”
In the inner chamber of the clinic, there was a bed for patients to lie on. The doctor stood by the bed and asked Wei Lan to lay Luo Wei down.
After Wei Lan laid Luo Wei on the bed, he said to the doctor, “His leg has been broken for a long time, and the bone has never healed properly. Could you take a look?”
“The young master’s body is weak,” the doctor looked at Luo Wei and said to Wei Lan, “People with poor health have slower bone growth than others, which is normal. The young master shouldn’t be too anxious.”
Wei Lan asked, “So, can his leg still heal?”
The doctor said, “Take off his pants and let me take a look.”
Wei Lan then carefully removed Luo Wei’s pants.
The doctor asked Luo Wei on the side, “Do you feel cold, young master?”
Luo Wei said, “A little.”
The doctor then ordered his apprentice who was following him, “Go and fetch a charcoal stove.”
Luo Wei’s injured leg was exposed in front of the doctor. The doctor began to unwrap the bandage around the wound, and upon seeing Luo Wei’s injury, he gasped.
“Is it serious?” Wei Lan asked hurriedly.
The doctor replied, “It’s no longer infected. The bone will heal eventually.”
“Don’t be so alarmed,” Luo Wei said to Wei Lan. “If I’m left limping, then so be it. You said that even I can’t walk, you won’t mind.”
The doctor looked at Luo Wei, then at Wei Lan, and asked, “Are you two living together?”
“Yes,” Luo Wei replied.
Only after Luo Wei admitted it did Wei Lan nod to the doctor.
The doctor looked at the couple and thought they were well-matched in appearance.
“Doctor, how is his leg?” Wei Lan asked anxiously.
The doctor focused on examining Luo Wei’s injury. After a long while, he spoke to Luo Wei, “The person who set your bones did a skilled job. But, young master, has your leg only been broken once?”
Luo Wei glanced quickly at Wei Lan. They had seen many doctors along the way, but this was the first one to ask him that question.
“Not just once?” Wei Lan’s expression changed again, following the doctor’s lead in questioning Luo Wei.
“After the first break, it was cracked again,” Luo Wei said. “But it’s not serious.”
The doctor said, “So your leg is difficult to heal.”
“Can’t it be cured?” Wei Lan asked hastily.
“It needs slow recovery,” the doctor said. “It’s not suitable for people like you to be on the road anymore. You should stay in bed and rest.”
“We just want to go home,” Luo Wei said. “We were planning to go home to recuperate.”
“I’ll prescribe some external medicine,” the doctor said after a moment of contemplation. “When the leg pain is severe, you can apply it on the injured area, and it will alleviate the pain.”
“But I don’t feel any pain here now,” Luo Wei said.
“There will be times when it hurts,” the doctor said. “You should still take the medicine with you. When you’re away from home, it’s best to be more cautious.”
“Please prescribe the medicine,” Wei Lan said to the doctor. “I know that even if his leg heals, it will still ache on cloudy, rainy days.”
The doctor nodded and went to prepare the prescription.
Because the wound needed to be re-dressed, Luo Wei couldn’t put on his pants. Wei Lan pulled down the blanket from the bed and covered Luo Wei with it.
At this moment, the young apprentice finally brought in the charcoal stove.
“Why did you take so long to come?” scolded the doctor. “Your movements are getting slower and slower.”
The young apprentice stuck out his tongue, placed the charcoal stove in front of the bed, and reached out to warm himself by the fire. Seeing both Luo Wei and Wei Lan looking at him, he asked them, “Where are you two from?”
“We came to Northern Yan for business,” Wei Lan said. “We’re going back to Great Zhou.”
“So, you’re people from Great Zhou?” the young apprentice asked.
“We can’t exactly say we’re people of Great Zhou,” Wei Lan said. “Our ancestors were all from Southern Zhao.”
“I see,” the young apprentice said. “Do you know that something big happened with the Long family of the Great Zhou Dynasty?”
“What happened?” Luo Wei asked.
“The Crown Prince Long Yu of Great Zhou recently died,” the young apprentice said. “They say the Long family of Great Zhou is having a stroke of bad luck this year. First, one prince died, and now even the Crown Prince is dead.”
Luo Wei wanted to sit up but was quickly stopped by Wei Lan’s hand. So he could only lie down and ask the young apprentice, “Long Yu is dead? When did this happen? How did he die?”
“Young Master!” Wei Lan bent down and softly called out to Luo Wei, urging him to calm down. Before coming to Northern Yan, Luo Zhiqiu had told him that the Crown Prince had lost favour and Long Xuan would become the next Emperor of Great Zhou. At that time, Wei Lan had thought that Long Yu would die in all likelihood, but he didn’t expect his guess to be so accurate.
“I heard that Emperor Xingwu ordered him to commit suicide,” the young apprentice said, clicking his tongue. “They say that there is no family affection in the Imperial family, and they are really killing their children! It’s really scary to think about.”
“You’re getting more and more talkative,” the doctor said as he finished preparing the prescription and walked over, giving the overly talkative apprentice a glance.
“Master, why do you think Emperor Xingwu wanted to kill his own son?” the young apprentice, unafraid of his master, asked the doctor. “What did the Crown Prince do to make his father want to kill him? Did he commit treason?”
“That’s enough!” The doctor, seeing the young apprentice’s increasingly inappropriate comments, scolded him harshly. “Don’t discuss state affairs! If you want to talk, go study and take the imperial examinations, don’t come to learn medicine!”
“We have to go on our way,” Wei Lan said, noticing Luo Wei’s anxious expression. He said to the doctor, “Could you please bandage his wound first?”
“You go with him to get the medicine,” the doctor handed the prescription to the apprentice, who had been scolded into silence, and said to Wei Lan, “I’ll bandage this young master’s wound.”
Wei Lan looked at Luo Wei with concern.
Luo Wei smiled at Wei Lan and said, “I’ll wait for you here. Go ahead.”
Only then did Wei Lan leave.
As the doctor’s hand touched the wound, Luo Wei groaned in pain, but he was thinking in his heart that if Long Yu had died, then Long Xuan would definitely become the emperor. Could his father and brothers survive Long Xuan’s hands? Could they escape?
Boundless Dao 
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