Chapter 44
The moment Teacher Lin left the classroom, the students inside all cheered in relief.
The gloomy atmosphere instantly disappeared.
Fang Liang quickly packed up his books and walked over to Gang Gye.
By now, Gang Gye was surrounded by people.
There were a little over twenty students in the class, and almost all of them had gathered around him with curious expressions.
"You're really tiny! Are you seriously only four?"
"Yes. I'm four and a half this year."
"Where do you live?"
Someone asked.
Gang Gye answered obediently,
"In nearby Nanhyang Village."
Judging by appearances, all of his classmates seemed to come from fairly decent families.
Their ages varied greatly, from eight or nine years old to fourteen or fifteen.
For example, Fang Liang looked nearly six chi tall and seemed to be around fourteen or fifteen.
When the students heard that Gang Gye came from Nanhyang Village, none of them reacted much.
Just from his clothes, anyone could tell that he wasn't from a wealthy family.
Most of the students in this class came from merchant households with comfortable circumstances.
If someone truly had powerful connections, they would probably have been placed in Class A or Class B.
Merchant families were still looked down upon when it came to the Imperial Examinations.
And since most of the students here weren't from truly powerful merchant households, they had no problem accepting Gang Gye.
"All right, all right. That's enough."
Fang Liang squeezed his way through the group.
"I'm taking the little guy to the physician."
"After that, we're going to eat."
"Hurry up, all of you. If too many people get there before us, all the good food will be gone."
The dining hall was divided into two kitchens.
There was a Small Kitchen, which cost more and had fewer users.
The treatment there was better, and students could order dishes individually.
Then there was the Main Kitchen.
The Main Kitchen was good too.
The food tasted decent, and there were meat dishes.
But no one wanted to arrive late and be left with only whatever remained.
Fang Liang seemed to have quite a bit of influence in the class.
The moment he spoke, everyone moved aside.
Several students said they wanted to come too, but Fang Liang refused.
"You guys go ahead and get food for us too."
"We'll be there soon."
"Okay!"
Everyone answered together.
Fang Liang turned to Gang Gye, who was organizing his desk.
"Put the books inside your book box."
"You can leave everything else on the desk."
"This classroom belongs only to our class, so no one else comes in here."
"After we eat, if you want to move your things to the dormitory, you can come back and take them then."
Gang Gye's book box contained quite a few books.
He hadn't known which ones he would need first, so he had brought all of them.
The box was fairly heavy.
The moment he heard that he didn't need to carry everything around, Gang Gye immediately set it down.
"Then let's go!"
This was probably Fang Liang's first time taking care of a much younger child.
Perhaps he found being an older brother amusing.
He forcibly took Gang Gye's hand and walked along while swinging it back and forth, looking extremely pleased with himself.
"..."
Well, he seems like a nice person.
Before long, Fang Liang and Gang Gye arrived at the place where the physician stayed.
When they opened the door and entered, the courtyard was covered with various medicinal herbs.
Two medicine apprentices were tending to them.
They looked up.
"Who's sick?"
Fang Liang pointed at Gang Gye.
"Our little guy isn't in great health."
"Teacher told me to bring him here for an examination and make sure nothing's wrong."
One of the medicine apprentices immediately ran inside.
"Master! There's a patient!"
Meanwhile, Fang Liang already seemed to know the way.
He took Gang Gye by the hand and led him farther inside.
They sat down in the examination room.
Soon, an elderly man who still looked strong and healthy appeared at the doorway.
He looked over both boys, then focused on Gang Gye.
"Who is sick?"
Fang Liang repeated exactly what he had told the medicine apprentice.
"I see."
The old man nodded and sat down.
He gestured for Gang Gye to hold out his hand.
Then he checked Gang Gye's pulse.
After a while, the old man said,
"Your body was weak from birth."
"You'll need to slowly nourish yourself and build up your strength."
"There isn't any serious problem right now."
"But ordinarily, you must avoid overworking yourself."
After explaining for quite a while, the old man didn't prescribe any medicine.
Instead, he told Gang Gye to eat well, sleep well, and keep himself in a good mood every day.
"Ah, right."
The old man suddenly said,
"The headmaster mentioned yesterday that a child wanted to learn medicine."
"That must be you."
Gang Gye was startled.
Liu Yunhe's efficiency was incredible.
They had only discussed it yesterday.
Yet today, Teacher Lin already knew about him.
His seat in the classroom had already been arranged.
And even the physician had already been informed.
Since the old man didn't seem displeased, Gang Gye gave a small nod.
"My health has always been weak, and Father has a bad leg."
"I want to learn medicine so I can heal Father's leg someday."
"But for now, I want to focus on studying first."
"Later, I'd like to slowly learn medicine too."
"Would that be all right?"
As he spoke, Gang Gye carefully watched the old man's expression.
In truth, Gang Gye's request was somewhat unreasonable.
He wanted to learn the man's medical skills without paying him.
And on top of that, he was acting as though he could simply learn whenever it suited him.
It wouldn't have been strange if the old man became angry.
That was why Gang Gye deliberately mentioned wanting to heal his father's leg.
Perhaps the justification of filial devotion would make the request easier to accept.
And it was also true.
Gang Gye wanted to learn medicine mainly because of his father.
No one in this era performed surgery with a blade.
Gang Gye thought that one day, with the help of the Health Preservation Heart Method, perhaps he could attempt surgery on his father's leg himself.
Of course, before that, he would have to prepare thoroughly and verify everything many times.
The old man didn't become angry.
Liu Yunhe had already told him about Gang Gye's situation.
And he wasn't a strange or temperamental person.
Since he worked at the academy, following the headmaster's arrangements was only natural.
The old man looked at the child in front of him, who seemed far too worldly for his age.
He noticed the unease on Gang Gye's little face and spoke kindly.
"That's no problem."
"I've heard that you have talent for study, so focus on your books first."
"After you pass the Imperial Examinations and have enough leisure to waste time on other things, it won't be too late to learn medicine."
"But..."
The old man continued carefully.
"My medical skill is decent, but I'm not some peerless divine physician."
"So even if you learn from me, I can't promise you'll be able to heal your father's leg."
He had never examined Gang Jo-hang's leg.
But he had certainly seen limping patients before.
And if even he couldn't treat such an injury, then there probably weren't many people who could.
Gang Gye's eyes immediately brightened at the old man's generous response.
Being a child really did come with many advantages.
People naturally wanted to be gentle with him.
Gang Gye blinked and answered lightly,
"That's okay."
"After I learn medicine, I'll specifically research how to heal injured legs."
"Someday, I'll definitely cure Father's leg!"
The old man paused.
Looking into Gang Gye's sparkling eyes, some indescribable emotion suddenly rose in his heart.
For some reason, he actually felt that this child might truly succeed in healing his father someday.
The old man smiled.
"Very well."
"Then whenever you want to learn, come find me."
"Yes!"
Gang Gye nodded eagerly.
Truthfully, he hadn't expected the old man to accept so easily.
Gang Gye finally relaxed and let out a quiet breath.
Originally, he had planned to study medicine and the classics at the same time.
But after seeing the book list White Crane Academy gave him and watching how seriously the students studied, Gang Gye suddenly felt a heavy responsibility on his shoulders.
Zhao Yongchang would become a xiucai and then a juren within the next few years.
Gang Gye needed to devote himself to studying too.
So he decided to delay medicine for now.
At the very least, he should first adapt to academy life and gain some confidence in his academic progress.
Only then should he begin.
After finishing their conversation with the physician, Fang Liang grabbed Gang Gye's hand again and hurried away.
"Come on. If we get to the dining hall too late, the food will be cold."
Fang Liang matched Gang Gye's pace as they ran.
At the same time, he casually teased him.
"I didn't know you wanted to study medicine too."
"Don't you think that's way too much to learn?"
There were already so many things to memorize from the school texts.
If Gang Gye studied medicine too, wouldn't he also have to memorize all kinds of herbs?
Just thinking about it made Fang Liang's head hurt.
Seeing his tiny junior brother willingly wanting to learn so much was honestly impressive.
Gang Gye frowned and let out a small sigh.
If not for his father's leg, Gang Gye probably wouldn't have thought about learning medicine either.
His own body no longer had any fundamental problem now that he possessed the Health Preservation Heart Method.
But he had already become obsessed with fixing his father's leg.
Someone as good as his father was only in his twenties.
Was he really supposed to spend the rest of his life limping?
That was far too unfortunate.
Gang Gye also knew that his father cared deeply about his injured leg.
Besides, Gang Gye didn't need to learn absolutely everything.
He only needed a solid grasp of the basics.
After that, he could adjust things according to the Health Preservation Heart Method and whatever effects the system provided in the future.
The moment they entered the dining hall, Gang Gye once again felt everyone's eyes gather on him.
Just like when he first entered the classroom, almost everyone inside turned to look.
But unlike his classmates, whose gazes had mostly contained curiosity or admiration, the eyes here were much more complicated.
Disdain.
Contempt.
And even something close to hatred.
Gang Gye looked toward the most obvious stare.
Unexpectedly, the other person didn't avoid his gaze.
Instead, he openly displayed his dislike.
Gang Gye felt confused.
He had only just arrived at the academy.
He hadn't done anything to offend anyone.
Aside from Fang Liang and the students in his own class, he hadn't even spoken a single word to anyone else.
The person glaring at him looked around eighteen years old.
He wasn't young.
He wore luxurious silk clothes and was surrounded by several people.
One glance was enough to tell he wasn't someone easy to provoke.
Gang Gye had a pretty good guess who he was.
He was almost certainly the spoiled young master from the marquis household who had effectively been exiled here.
Gang Gye instantly sorted through his thoughts.
Then he calmly shifted his gaze away as though nothing had happened.
He looked around the dining hall once and then withdrew his eyes.
It was as if he were merely a curious child glancing around, completely unaware of anything unusual.
That's right.
If you couldn't win, the best choice was to behave quietly for now.
Fang Liang also seemed to notice some of the uncomfortable gazes.
He held Gang Gye's hand and smiled as he started talking, clearly trying to redirect the child's attention.
"What kind of food do you like?"
"The food in our dining hall is really good."
"All the cooks are skilled."
"Even ordinary dishes taste great."
Fang Liang came from a wealthy family.
He wasn't exactly desperate for a few bites of academy food.
But that didn't matter.
It gave him something harmless to talk about with Gang Gye.
Fang Liang had studied here for several years.
He knew perfectly well what kinds of people attended the academy.
Outside of Class C, he could barely be bothered to look at the other classes.
There were difficult personalities everywhere.
That was also one reason Fang Liang shamelessly remained in Class C and never tried to move up.
Of course, another very important reason was that he genuinely wasn't very good at studying.
This new little student in Class C was physically weak and quiet.
Fang Liang didn't want Gang Gye drawing the attention of troublesome people right from the beginning.
Gang Gye naturally understood Fang Liang's kindness.
So he played along.
"Then is there meat?"
Fang Liang laughed.
"Of course."
"There are meat dishes every day."
"You can eat as much as you want."
"If you finish and you're still hungry, you can just go get more."
