"Have you finished discussing? Although I have time, I don't like wasting time," the youth spoke up at this time, reminding them to get to the point, stop talking about irrelevant things.
The youth had been waiting on the side for results, given the current situation, it was very likely this house call would fail and he'd return, of course even so he wouldn't refund the entire house call fee, would charge a small portion proportionally.
"Sir, please don't be impatient, I'll immediately take you to see my mother," Xiao Ai immediately said, anyone who wasn't stupid could see this youth was getting somewhat impatient. For Xiao Ai who was asking for his help this naturally made her anxious.
"Wait, if you don't mind, may I ask you a few questions?" Xiao Ai's father said.
"You may," the youth nodded indifferently.
"First question, where did you study your medical skills?" Xiao Ai's father went straight to the point, not even asking what the youth's name was, because he felt if this question didn't satisfy him, asking about names and such would be meaningless.
Regarding this question, Xiao Ai and others also wanted to know very much, who exactly could teach such a youth, knowing his lineage might enlighten them.
Of course, Xiao Ai's father simply wanted to know whether the youth in front was qualified.
"Sorry, I have no formal training, everything I learned was from books or stealing techniques from others," the youth replied indifferently.
"What?"
Everyone present was stunned, Xiao Ai and others hadn't expected such a result, this expert in front was actually self-taught, what kind of talent would this require.
But Xiao Ai's father sneered and said, "Since that's the case, then please go back, I don't need such a genius youth."
"Oh, then in that case, I'll return nine taels of silver to you, this one tael counts as my transportation fee," the youth very straightforwardly took out silver and handed it to Xiao Ai, preparing to leave.
"Wait, sir, my father won't allow it but I will, it was I who invited you here, not my father," Xiao Ai blocked the youth and said somewhat firmly.
"Xiao Ai," Xiao Ai's father said in a stern voice, this was clearly opposing him.
"Father, please trust me this once, this won't cause any loss, it's just looking at an illness. We've already come this far, if he really can help then we'd regret it for life, and mother would continue suffering," Xiao Ai seemed to be pleading, but also implicitly stating her position, definitely wanting the youth in front to go in and take a look.
"..." Xiao Ai's father fell silent, sighed, and said, "Fine, as you wish, but I have one condition, he can only diagnose the illness, if he can't figure it out, there should be no treatment."
If he could figure it out, that would already prove this youth's medical skills, naturally he could let him treat, but if he couldn't figure it out that would show this youth was the same as all those people before, he didn't want to let him treat.
At this time, Xiao Ai originally wanted to nod in agreement, wanted to say she understood, but before she could speak, that youth already spoke first, saying something that left everyone present silent and speechless for a moment.
"Sorry, I was originally only responsible for diagnosis, if treatment is needed, please continue paying treatment fees."
"..."
"What do you mean?" Xiao Ai also didn't understand.
"Are my words hard to understand? I'm only responsible for diagnosis, you handle treatment yourselves," the youth said with a smile.
"Then what do I need you for?" Xiao Ai's father snorted coldly.
"I help you diagnose illness, then tell you treatment methods and medications. There are so many illnesses in the world, if I included treatment and encountered cases requiring precious medicinal materials, wouldn't I lose money," the youth answered.
"..."
So it was because of this, this youth seemed to still be a novice, generally doctors wouldn't be responsible for medicinal materials, these all had to be handled by patients themselves, so seeing patients was called seeing patients, not called treating illness.
Right, this youth originally also said he diagnosed illness, didn't say he treated illness.
"I understand this, as long as you can diagnose, whatever is needed we'll provide, and we'll continue giving you consultation fees," Xiao Ai immediately said.
"Regarding consultation fees, it depends on the situation, I need to clarify this beforehand, don't say I'm asking exorbitant prices later," the youth said, glancing at that talkative young master nearby.
"Understood, I understand. Please," Xiao Ai immediately said, leading the youth toward the main courtyard's master bedroom, her mother was lying in that room, with serving maids attending nearby.
When the youth first saw Xiao Ai's mother, he felt like he had entered a refugee camp rather than a wealthy family's master bedroom.
This wasn't because of the room's decoration and furnishings giving him this feeling, this room's decoration and furnishings were still quite luxurious, but all this didn't give as strong a feeling as the master did.
This master, which was Xiao Ai's mother, with her already sunken cheeks completely lacking any flesh, needless to say her body was the same, skin and bones.
This was like someone about to starve to death, giving the youth the illusion of being in a refugee camp.
If he wasn't certain he was in Ke Mansion, and certain the skeletal woman in front was Xiao Ai's mother, he would really suspect whether this person was being abused and starved like this.
"Xiao Ai, you're here," Xiao Ai's mother said weakly, as if this sentence used up all her strength, but even so she would continue speaking.
"Mom..." Xiao Ai immediately ran to her mother's side, helping her mother sit up and arranging pillows, trying to give her mother the most comfortable position.
At this time Xiao Ai had another kind of attractive charm, which was filial piety.
Filial piety was a kind of beauty often overlooked by people.
The youth looked at Xiao Ai, discovering this young lady was very interesting, having different charms at any time, no wonder she fascinated these young masters, their infatuated gazes made their meaning clear even to an idiot.
"Madam, could you stick out your tongue for me to see," the youth said directly, not giving the mother and daughter the opportunity to display affection. After all you have plenty of time, do you care about this little bit?
"You are?"
The youth's words reminded Xiao Ai's mother, originally she thought this youth was also Xiao Ai's friend, but now it seemed that wasn't the case, from this youth's clothing he looked very ordinary, at least too ordinary compared to the people present.
If she didn't look carefully, this lady might not even notice the youth's clothes had superior hand tailoring, this was a kind of craftsmanship that seemed ordinary but wasn't ordinary, if you didn't look carefully, if you didn't have this eye for quality, it would be very hard to notice.
But even so, this youth's clothing material was still somewhat ordinary, although better than average, for members of great families like them this was still too ordinary, some of their servants dressed much better than this.
Therefore she could be certain this youth shouldn't belong to Xiao Ai's friend circle, might not even be Xiao Ai's friend.
Regardless of which it was, today this youth was an anomaly, appearing here must have certain reasons.
"Mom, he's a... expert sir, he might be able to help treat you," Xiao Ai said softly, at this time she suddenly discovered she didn't seem to know the youth's title, so she used expert plus sir to address him.
"So it's another doctor, but this is a little doctor," Lady Ke smiled slightly, this smile was somewhat doting, directed at Xiao Ai, she didn't believe the youth in front could accomplish anything, but could feel Xiao Ai's filial heart toward her, so she wouldn't refuse anything.
Because of this, Lady Ke opened her mouth, sticking out her already somewhat pale tongue.
"Please give me your hand, madam," the youth said, and Lady Ke also cooperated by giving her hand to the youth.
"Madam's illness..."
"How is it, how is it? Sir, can you cure it?"
When the youth withdrew his hand and frowned to speak, he was interrupted by anxious Xiao Ai, who pressed for the situation, although originally the youth would have said the same thing anyway, it was just that Xiao Ai was anxious.
The youth smiled, didn't mind Xiao Ai's interruption, nodded, "Yes, although madam's illness is somewhat strange, it's not very difficult, probably previous people just didn't figure it out."
"Really? Can you really cure my mother?" Xiao Ai immediately jumped up, wanting to grab the youth's hands, but the youth intentionally or unintentionally avoided her.
Of course at this time no one paid attention to this situation, everyone was concerned about what the youth said.
"Yes, madam is only due to special circumstances, causing her body to be unable to absorb energy from food, which created her current condition," the youth nodded.
At this time Lady Ke didn't have that kind of joy of finding hope in desperation, she still didn't believe the youth in front could cure her, even though the youth gave a reason, it couldn't change her view of the youth, even increased her unfavorable impression.
Because regarding the youth's explanation, someone had already said this long ago.
"Sir... this isn't something no one figured out, someone said this before, said my mother had parasites inside that ate all the food, not just one person, and they all tried, but discovered it wasn't the case, and my mother was tortured many times," Xiao Ai reminded.
At this time Xiao Ai inevitably felt some disappointment, because she felt the youth in front might not be able to solve her mother's problem, might be the same as those previous people.
Could it be this youth's surprises for us could only go this far? Was what he could do limited to this?
At this time everyone present looked at that youth, including Xiao Ai's mother, and under their gaze the youth smiled faintly, while slightly shaking his head.
(End of Chapter)