Lanke Chess Edge
Chapter 188: Farewell, Qin Zizhou

Strictly speaking, among the individuals and beings that Ji Yuan had come into contact with over the years, Qin Zizhou, the genius doctor of Deyuan County, was one of the few people whom he truly admired.

His optimistic attitude, his passion for medical research, his superb medical skills, and noble medical ethics, as well as his longevity, which stood out among the mortals in this world, all left a deep impression on Ji Yuan.

If Ji Yuan hadn’t come out for breakfast half an hour late because he was reading the jade slips in his yard, he would not have encountered the man surnamed Liu, and thus we wouldn’t have known of Qin Zizhou’s current state.¹

But now that he knew, Ji Yuan intended to go visit such a respectable man as Doctor Qin.

Ji Yuan walked hurriedly, not towards Tian Niu Lane, but directly out of the city. In about a quarter of an hour, he had left Ning’an County.

On a small road outside the city, Ji Yuan took the paper crane out from his sleeves, tapped it twice, folded the wings, and the paper crane came to life.

“Go!”

With a casual toss, the paper crane rose and flapped its wings, flying back to Ning’an County. This was specifically to convey a message to Hu Yun, so that he and Ying Qing would not be anxious if they did not see Ji Yuan when they returned.

As he watched the paper crane fly away, Ji Yuan gradually vanished. At the same time, a light cloud of mist rose up, turning into a white fluffy cloud that drifted upwards into the air, then flew off into the distance.

About a quarter of an hour later, Ji Yuan arrived in the the sky above Deyuan County.

With a casual sweep of his gaze from the sky, he could make out a general vague aura of the entire Deyuan County. The divine aura only showed a small temple, which was obviously not that of the City God.

With old genius doctor Qin Zizhou’s character, he must have done countless good deeds over the course of his time, and lived a long and healthy life.

Deyuan County was just a small county. There was no City God Temple in this county, only a Land God Temple. If Qin Zizhou passed away, there were two possibilities.

The first was that the underworld of Desheng Prefecture would directly send ghost messengers to pick him up. The other possibility was that the younger generations of the family would perform rituals and carry spirit banners² to the Land God Temple to pray. At that time, Qin Zizhou’s soul would be guided by the Land God of Deyuan County to the underworld of Desheng Prefecture.

Ji Yuan calculated that Qin Zizhou’s lifespan had just been exhausted. However, if the underworld had not yet sent a ghost messenger to his door, his soul would still be inside his body.

If the underworld of Desheng Prefecture directly sent ghost emissaries to the door, there would be two possibilities: the first was that the ghosts would take the soul directly back to Desheng Prefecture’s underworld; the second, that they would take care of the soul and wait for the family to complete their rituals before taking the soul away. Which option was chosen depended on both the deceased and the ghost messengers, and there was no set formula.

If a person like Doctor Qin did not gain a good position in the underworld, Ji Yuan planned to deal with the underworld of Desheng Prefecture. Anything would go, even if that meant inviting other ghosts to come with him and arranging alternate paths for them in the afterlife.

Ji Yuan descended from the clouds and landed in Deyuan County. He shook his arms a few times from left to right, wrapping his wide sleeves around his arms, then clasped the corner of his clothes with his hands. He walked quickly in this stealthy form and found the original location of Anren Pharmacy.

Even with the current events, Anren Pharmacy was still open for business. However, the person at the counter was naturally not Mr. Qin, but a middle-aged man. Ji Yuan entered and moved closer to take a better look at his nondescript face. He wasn’t certain whether this person was a doctor.

There was only one assistant in the shop, and he was listlessly pounding herbs, making a repetitive drumming sound.

“Sir, are you here to get some medicine or to see a doctor? It’s a bit inconvenient at the moment if you need to see a doctor or take a house call. Of course, if the situation is urgent, we can call a doctor for you.”

The middle-aged man at the counter saw Ji Yuan hurrying inside and assumed that he had a patient at home. As soon as he spoke, Ji Yuan knew that this man was not a doctor.

Ji Yuan bowed with cupped hands to the man behind the counter.

“I didn’t come here for a diagnosis or to pick up medicine. I just wanted to ask the shopkeeper, where does Doctor Qin Zizhou live?”

Although Anren Pharmacy was equipped with beds and rooms, it was obviously not Old Man Qin Zizhou’s home. At the moment, Qin Zizhou was hovering just between Yin and Yang, life and death, and the moment, at the moment where the life of Yang was about to be cut off and the life of Yin was about to be born.³ Ji Yuan was not too skilled in divination, so he couldn’t calculate much more than that.

Moreover, it seemed that there was currently more than one funeral in Deyuan County, so it would be better to ask directly and avoid making a mistake.

When the shopkeeper heard that Ji Yuan was asking for Qin Zizhou, he immediately grew more concerned.

“Are you also an apprentice of Doctor Qin’s? Did you come from far away?”

Ji Yuan thought for a moment and answered.

“Shopkeeper, you must have misunderstood. I am not an apprentice of Doctor Qin’s, but I am an old acquaintance of his. I came here from afar after hearing the news. However, I met Doctor Qin in this very pharmacy, so I don’t know where the Qin family’s residence is located. Please tell me where it might be.”

“In any case, someone who received the news and rushed here must definitely not be some outsider. Liuzi, please quickly bring…”

“My surname is Ji, and my given name is Yuan. Ji as in “to consider,” yuan as in “fate”!”

“Okay. Take Mr. Ji to Doctor Qin’s house. Perhaps they will be able to see each other one last time!”

“Alright!”

The assistant in the pharmacy quickly stood up and ran outside to lead the way for Ji Yuan.

“Sir, please come with me!”

“Alright. Thank you for leading the way.”

Ji Yuan bowed to the shopkeeper with cupped hands, then quickly left with the assistant. It seemed that the shopkeeper was unaware that Doctor Qin had likely passed away by now.

Led by the pharmacy assistant, they arrived at the Qin family’s residence in the eastern corner of Deyuan County’s capital in less than a quarter of an hour

Although the Qin family was not a particularly wealthy family, they still had a large mansion. Many friends and relatives were gathered in the residence, as well as all the medical students whom Qin Zizhou had taught over the course of his life. Together with the Taoists who had been invited from the nearby mountain a few days ago, the originally spacious Qin family compound felt a little crowded.

Qin Zizhou had taught many students with excellent medical skills in his lifetime. With the exception of those who had already passed away, although not all of them could attend at this time, there were nonetheless quite a few people, over a dozen individuals. After this group of people gathered, they naturally diagnosed that the old man would die in just two days. Moreover, the old man himself had checked his condition just a few days ago, and his family had started preparing for the funeral.

When Ji Yuan arrived, white banners had already been hung in the Qin family courtyard. He could hear the sounds of crying from afar, and there were even a few people sobbing at the door.

When the pharmacy assistant arrived, his stride slowed down. An inexplicable look of helplessness crossed his face, with a hint of panic.

“Okay, young man, you can go back to the pharmacy. I will go on by myself!”

Seeing that he seemed afraid to move forward, Ji Yuan left him with a couple of sentences and walked towards the Qin family’s residence. He had already seen the divine light of incense and the rising ghost energy from the underworld in the Qin family’s courtyard from afar. Judging from the current situation, the Land God and the underworld’s ghost messengers from the prefecture had just arrived not too long ago. Old Man Qin was highly regarded.

At the courtyard gate, an elder man and a younger man were both sobbing. As Ji Yuan walked over, they had just taken the white cloth handed out by the people inside the compound and tied it around their heads.

Seeing Ji Yuan stop at the door, the elder man wiped the corner of his eyes with his sleeve and asked.

“Who might you be, sir?”

Ji Yuan looked through the courtyard gate to the inside of the residence. In addition to the group of people in the courtyard, there was also a group of “people” standing at the front of the house. Among them was an old man wearing a scribe’s hat, emanating divine light. He was most likely the Land God.

In addition, there were two daytime patrol officers, two soul-binding messengers, and two other ghost messengers holding up black umbrellas to shield themselves from the sun. For the time being, they did not enter the house filled with crying mortals.

Hearing the question from the man at the door, Ji Yuan came back to his senses and bowed.

“I received a favor from Mr. Qin in the past. After hearing about what was going on, I came to see if there was anything I could do to help.”

“Oh… it’s a pity that you came a step too late. My uncle just passed away. We don’t need any help in the home, we have plenty of people, but we appreciate your kindness. If you wish, you can pay your respects after the funeral hall is set up. We must send you away for now!”

The man returned Ji Yuan’s bow and politely declined his offer. His uncle had been practicing medicine for nearly eighty years, and had saved countless lives. There were countless people who had benefited from his kindness. He had seen too many similar people to this gentleman during this period of time.

‘After the funeral hall is set up, I wouldn’t even dare to pay my resepcts! ’⁴

Ji Yuan murmured to himself, but he bowed again and nodded in response.

“Okay, then I won’t be disturbing you any longer!”

After speaking, he turned and left. However, just after he turned down an alley, his figure faded away, and he re-entered the Qin family compound.

This time, Ji Yuan entered the courtyard and walked around for a while. The ghosts and gods glanced at him sideways, and the underworld messengers had already stepped forwards to block the entrance of the house.

“Who might you be, and why did you come here?”

Ji Yuan respectfully bowed with cupped hands to the ghosts and gods.

“My surname is Ji, and I have a connection to Doctor Qin Zizhou. I suddenly sensed that his lifespan was coming to an end, so I came here to pay him a visit. I hope that the messengers from the underworld and the Land God might aid me.”

As Ji Yuan spoke, the fluctuations of spiritual energy and aura that he had deliberately revealed suddenly disappeared. Even his intentional slip in his concealment technique that exposed his true identity was no longer traceable. However, it was obvious that none of the mortals around could see him.

When all the ghosts and gods saw this change, their hearts suddenly shuddered. They knew that this person had deliberately let them sense his presence. If he had really wanted to enter, he could have done it entirely undetected.

“Where might you hail from, Lord Immortal? Qin Zizhou has already passed away, why might you be looking for him? We are waiting for his family to perform their funerary rites, then sending him to the underworld of Desheng Prefecture!”

One of the daytime patrol officers spoke up.

“Please rest assured, daytime patrol officers, and to everyone else as well. I am not some evil individual, and my intentions are not anything private. I will accompany you. Even if there are things you must deal with, I will merely be coming with you to Desheng Prefecture. I won’t make things difficult for you!”

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T/n: Gatekeeper: sorry friend, can’t go in

JY: awwwww *vanishes*

JY, now invisible: … how ’bout I do, AnYwAy~

1. T/n: amazing, it’s almost like this story has so much to do with fate that the main character’s name is literally Fate! (forgive the sarcasm)
2. 灵幡 (líng fān): Spiritual banners are carried by the sons of the family during Ancient Chinese funeral rites, intended to summon and lead the way for the deceased.
3. i.e. when the yang life (life as a mortal) is about to end and the yin life (afterlife, life as a Yin ghost) is about to start.
4. T/n: in case you forgot, this is because the last time he tried praying something crazy happened with the mysterious yellow energy (which at this point we’re pretty sure is “karma”)