Chapter 94: Hand Over the Tribute

“…”

Linglong was instantly struck speechless. Her willow-slim brows shot together, and she glared at Li Yi with open fury, grinding out the word, “Shameless!”

How could she possibly miss the veiled meaning in his words?

Why are you looking for me?

What, to fool around with you?

Staring at Li Yi so close before her, with that harmless smile on his face, Linglong felt both angry and embarrassed. Every time he spoke, he meant no good, and now he was even openly teasing her in public.

“That Li Beian is such a detestable scoundrel. Couldn’t he speak a little more properly? If the princess had not ordered me here, I would never have wanted to come serve as this messenger!”

Rolling her eyes, Linglong glared fiercely at Li Yi and silently cursed him over and over.

Yet Li Yi gave her abuse no thought at all.

Seeing anger flush across Linglong’s cheeks, he still stared straight at her, his gaze lingering deliberately a few more times on the area of her arms.

Only when Linglong noticed the oddity in his eyes and tugged her clothes more tightly about her did Li Yi clear his throat and say solemnly, “Miss Linglong, what exactly do you want with me? Don’t tell me you came to bite me?”

“You... you lecher!” Hearing him repeat, “What do you want with me?” and then add the word “bite,” Linglong shouted furiously at once, her delicate fist clenching as it rose.

She was ready to give Li Yi a beating then and there to vent her anger.

But just then she remembered Princess Li Lizhi’s instructions, and so she could only swallow her rage for the moment and lower her raised fist.

“Hmph, you shameless and filthy wretch. I’ll let you off for now!” She shot him a vicious glare, too annoyed to bother replying to him any further.

She knew that if she kept trading words with him, the one who would lose face would only be her.

She must not let Li Yi keep taking her words for his own amusement.

So Linglong took a token from her sleeve, flung it to Li Yi, and said coldly, “Lecher, the princess wants you to report directly to the Imperial Medical Bureau. First familiarize yourself with the place. Someone will come to summon you shortly.”

Having said that, she sniffed, shot him another hard glare, and turned to leave at once.

What Li Yi did not know was that as Linglong turned away, a sly smile had crept onto the corners of her lips, bright with a child’s delight after having eaten candy.

Li Yi looked down at the token in his hand, then at Linglong’s retreating back, feeling somewhat baffled.

“Go to the Imperial Medical Bureau to get acquainted with the place? What exactly is going on here?”

He could make neither head nor tail of it.

After thinking for quite a while, Li Yi still could not figure out what Li Lizhi was up to, and so he gave up trying. Lowering his head, he studied the token carefully.

It was made entirely of pure gold. On the front, a striking character for “Imperial” stood out prominently, and on the reverse were engraved the words “Imperial Medical Bureau.”

Li Yi stared at it in some daze and weighed the pure-gold token in his palm, finding that it was worth about seven taels!

“A token from the Imperial Medical Bureau, and it’s this extravagant?”

He was secretly startled.

But then he thought that since Li Lizhi had given it to him, it must also have been the emperor’s intention. Li Yi could not be bothered to dwell on it and casually tucked the token into his waistband.

He had no desire to attend court anyway and waste more time. He headed straight for the Imperial Medical Bureau.

Before long, after passing through several long corridors in the Great Prosperity Palace, Li Yi arrived before the gate of the Imperial Medical Bureau.

There was no one guarding the entrance. Li Yi clasped his hands behind his back and walked right in.

Inside, many people hurried back and forth carrying books, herbs, and the like, all busy to the point of frenzy. A faint medicinal scent drifted through the air.

Li Yi felt that the Imperial Medical Bureau was indeed worthy of its name.

It was also his first time here, and unfamiliar with the place, so he stopped a person passing by with a book in hand and asked with a smile, “May I ask, where should a newly appointed physician report?”

The passerby, halted by him, sized him up from head to toe, then frowned slightly and impatiently waved him off. “Just walk straight ahead for a while, and you’ll find it.”

Having thrown out those words, the book-carrying passerby snorted and left, his contempt and sneer unmistakable.

Seeing this, Li Yi could not help but find it amusing, and he could not be bothered to deal with such a minor figure.

Still, this also confirmed one thing: the position of physician, though a seventh-rank post, was indeed rather low in the Imperial Medical Bureau and not especially welcome.

Li Yi walked on slowly and reached the entrance to the physicians’ hall.

People inside were busy without pause. When they saw his unfamiliar face approaching, one particularly handsome man, lounging around and drinking tea, frowned and asked, “Stop right there. Who are you? What business do you have in the physicians’ hall?”

Li Yi halted, lifted his brows, glanced at the beautiful man, and said slowly, “I’m the new physician.”

“You’re the new physician?” The handsome man, Wei Zichao, blinked at the answer, and then his smile spread until it almost bloomed into a chrysanthemum.

Li Yi said nothing, merely nodding once in acknowledgment.

After confirming the truth, Wei Zichao was all smiles.

It had been a long time since he had smelled the sweet scent of silver paid by a newly appointed physician.

He glanced at the physicians busy inside the hall, then tipped his chin with a cold smile and said to Li Yi, “You, hurry over there and help them with the work!”

Li Yi’s brows immediately drew tight. He had already seen the hypocrisy in Wei Zichao’s smile.

“Aren’t you still free?” Li Yi shifted his feet slightly and grinned. “Why don’t you go yourself? Why make me do it?”

Wei Zichao froze, and the smile on his face vanished at once.

He never would have imagined that a tiny new physician would dare talk back to him.

He, Wei Zichao, was the clerk of the physicians’ hall, a proper sixth-rank official and the direct superior of every physician in the hall.

Which physician who came here did not first try every possible means to flatter him?

Which one did not obey him to the letter?

And yet this little new physician dared disobey him?

If he did not teach him a proper lesson today, then the physicians’ hall would no longer know who truly held sway!

“Oh-ho, you’ve got some nerve, boy, daring not to heed this official’s orders?”

Wei Zichao immediately put on his official airs. Rising leisurely from his seat, he clasped his hands behind his back and strolled up to Li Yi with a sinister smile. “If you want to do less work, that is not impossible. First hand over your tribute.”

As he spoke, Wei Zichao spread his right palm and openly pinched his thumb and forefinger together in a familiar gesture.

In his heart, he had already decided that since this brat was so arrogant, he would take Li Yi’s money and also make him work harder.

Otherwise, he would never learn who the real boss in the physicians’ hall was!

Of course, Li Yi understood what he meant.

Though it was inevitable to spend money on social lubrication while doing business in the palace, Li Yi had truly not expected to run into this on his very first day in the Imperial Medical Bureau.

“Are you sure?” Li Yi said with a smile.

Let’s stop here for today. I’ll write the next part later and update the second chapter then.