Chapter Ninety-Five: Ling Xiao, why are you coughing up blood?

It was my grandmother who taught me to recognize plantain and fish mint. The first is brewed as a cooling herbal tea, and the second is mixed into cold dishes and eaten with meals.

I learned that from my grandmother out in the countryside. Back then, I often ate fish mint salads, and even now many people eat fish mint as a side dish with their meals.

“So the young ladies really are well off. These are rare medicinal herbs here, and you actually eat them as a salad.”

Lin Li immediately shook his head in admiration. The poor and the rich really are different: something so good for curing illness and saving lives could, in the eyes of the wealthy, become merely something to go with rice. It felt a little wasteful, though it was certainly beneficial to eat.

“The plantain is rather strong in nature, so it is not suitable for long-term drinking.”

Though Fu certainly felt the same, he still reminded Zhang Xiaolan that food and medicine may spring from the same source, but they should not be taken carelessly.

“Yes. I only recently read Doctor Tao Hongjing’s Compendium of the Materia Medica and Annotated Herbal Classic, and only then did I understand these things. But I still have not finished the seven volumes, and there are many of Doctor Tao Hongjing’s works I have not yet had time to study. Only then did I realize that even good things cannot be eaten in excess or without caution.”

Zhang Xiaolan had not paid much attention to it before. Besides, the things modern people eat are all rather heating in nature, so drinking a little of this would not matter. But in the present age, it seemed somewhat inappropriate.

Yet when Fu heard that Zhang Xiaolan had actually read Tao Hongjing’s Compendium of the Materia Medica and Annotated Herbal Classic, he felt a surge of delight. He had not expected a young woman to read such medical texts, and Fu had some connection with Tao Hongjing as well, which made him even happier.

“Haha! A girl as studious as you is truly one in ten thousand.”

Fu praised Zhang Xiaolan with a smile, though Lin Li then explained the connection.

“My master studied under Doctor Tao Hongjing when he was young,” Lin Li said proudly. To have had the fortune to become his disciple was no small honor.

Tao Hongjing was a Daoist thinker, physician, alchemist, and writer of the Southern Qi and Liang dynasties, posthumously honored as Lord Zhenbai. He was one of the representative figures of the Mao Mountain school of Daoism in the Southern Dynasties.

“So Mr. Fu also comes from a distinguished lineage. Zhang Xiaolan is truly honored to know you.”

Zhang Xiaolan had not expected that the old gentleman she had met by chance would come from such a renowned tradition. The ancient books she had borrowed not long ago had been from Li Rui’s study.

In history, Tao Hongjing was also a famous figure, learned in many fields, and his writings were highly esteemed by the world. Regrettably, by modern times most of his works had been lost, leaving only a portion behind. When Zhang Xiaolan had accidentally discovered that Li Rui’s study contained a complete edition, she had eagerly borrowed it to read.

“I am not worthy of praise. In my youth, I did study under him, but by the time I became his disciple, the master had already retired to seclusion on Mount Mao. I only learned a little superficial medical skill. My teacher understood yin and yang, the five phases, wind and angle, astrology, mountains and rivers, geography, materia medica, and medicine without exception. He also practiced the refinement of elixirs, and all of that is far beyond anything I could ever hope to match.”

As Fu spoke, he recalled the scenes of his childhood studying at his teacher’s side. Yet by then his master was already advanced in years, and he himself had only learned the surface, never the essence. He could not help feeling that he did not compare to his teacher even in the slightest, and he was ashamed of himself.

“Please do not be modest, Mr. Fu. Since you have such a great predecessor, even studying his writings is bound to be immensely rewarding.”

Zhang Xiaolan listened with great interest, marveling that Mr. Fu had become a disciple of the celebrated Tao Hongjing. She held him in the highest esteem as well.

But just as they were speaking intently, several dull coughing sounds suddenly came from nearby.

Cough, cough...

Xiao Lian turned toward the sound and cried out in alarm when she saw blood seeping from the corner of Ling Xiao’s mouth.

“Ling Xiao, why are you coughing up blood?”