Ya She

Chapter 49 Fragrant Herbs

Snowflakes were falling heavily outside the window, but the ancient alchemy room was warm and cozy.

The boss sat in front of a pill furnace about half a person's height, intently watching the fire beneath it. He was extremely close, the firelight reflecting off his face. Anyone else would have been unbearably hot, but not a single drop of sweat fell from his face.

A pale hand reached out from behind him, wrapping around his neck and pulling him back slightly. A slightly worried voice said, "Don't get too close. What if you get burned?"

The boss blinked and patted the hand that was clinging to his shoulder, comforting him, "It's alright, you won't feel any pain."

"The problem is that you can't feel pain." A face wearing a half-silver mask emerged from the shadows. Although only half of the face was visible, one could still make out the person's straight nose, two lips of moderate thickness, and a beautifully shaped jaw.

The other person's voice was pleasant to hear: "Why do people feel pain? It's because of feeling pain that we protect ourselves and won't do things that hurt us again. For example, if you've been hurt by a sword or knife, you'll avoid it the next time you encounter one. If you've been burned by fire before, you'll keep your distance when using fire. If you can't feel the pain, it will be too late when your fingers are burned."

The boss sighed and pressed his eyelids together. As Fusu shed the burden of restoring the Qin Dynasty and became more adapted to society, his personality became increasingly cheerful. This led to him becoming more and more adept at educating people, and also increasingly talkative.

When he left the Silent House a year ago, he did indeed want to give his body to Fusu, but how could the latter possibly agree? After some discussion, Fusu returned the body to the doctor, and his soul attached itself to Shui Cangyu, who would then guide him to find a suitable body. Of course, there was a 70% chance that this process would result in the soul being completely destroyed.

Perhaps it was truly fate, for not long after he found a young man who had died in a traffic accident. Unfortunately, part of his face was burned, so he wasn't completely unharmed. However, Fusu wasn't one to be concerned with appearances; he usually only wore a half-mask, afraid of frightening others.

However, after Fusu successfully possessed a body, because this body was not as suitable as the one he had possessed, and there were occasional rejection reactions between his soul and body, the boss had been refining pills for Fusu for the past six months, hoping to solve this problem smoothly.

"If... Master were still here." Forced to move back half a meter, the shopkeeper looked at the swirling smoke from the alchemy furnace and muttered to himself. He hadn't learned alchemy from his master since childhood; he studied the works of various philosophers. If his master were here, perhaps he could even concoct an elixir of immortality… The shopkeeper smiled self-deprecatingly at this thought. Even if his master were still alive, he probably wouldn't be able to. The spiritual energy in the world was scarce these days; those ancient spiritual herbs and medicines had long since disappeared. Where could he find the ingredients listed in the formula? He had traveled to famous mountains and rivers, only finding a few that were barely usable, and he had failed several times already.

"It's alright. If this batch fails again, you can come with me to travel around the country. My body can last at least another three to five years. I'm already very satisfied." Fusu sat cross-legged next to the boss, reached out and smoothed the wrinkles between his brows, and spoke gently.

This peaceful and serene life was something he could never have imagined before. He deliberately spoke in a light tone, "I worked so hard for a year to keep that brat from losing his job. It was exhausting. This body seems to come from a good family and doesn't require me to work. You can go abroad, right? Come with me and travel around the world."

"Besides, according to the history books, the Ming and Qing dynasties were really outrageous. That Zhu family actually allowed foreign tribes to rule the Central Plains, and the Manchus were even more outrageous. In the end, they were even invaded by barbarians from that tiny place. Many treasures were stolen. When we travel around the world, we must find a way to bring them back."

This time, the boss didn't mind Fusu's talkativeness. He looked at the leaping flames under the alchemy furnace and remained silent for a moment.

Fusu remained silent, clasping his hands together and quietly staying by his boss's side. He had only read those fragments in history books, but the person beside him had actually experienced those turbulent times. Fusu dared not even think about how this person had survived more than two thousand years.

The alchemy room remained silent until a loud bang came from the furnace. The owner jumped up, ignoring the scorching hot lid, and looked at the charred interior with disappointment.

Fusu was not surprised. He took the boss's hand and dipped it into the water vat next to him, letting the cool water soothe the latter's red fingers. He comforted him, saying, "Don't do this. Bi Zhi, this is fate. Don't force it."

The boss looked down at his fingers, which had been soaking in the water tank for a moment before Fusu pulled them out, dried them thoroughly, and applied a thick layer of badger oil. He felt no pain in his fingertips, but he still felt as if a knife was sawing back and forth in his heart, the pain so intense that he could barely speak.

A year ago, he might not have felt this way, but after spending a year with Fusu again, those memories buried deep within him resurfaced. He was his lord, and he should always stand behind him, no matter the cost.

Moreover, all he wanted was to live, even if it meant having a normal human life, since his Prince Fusu had passed away during the best years of his life.

"I need to go back," the boss said calmly. It had been almost a year. He had left in a hurry, afraid that Fusu's soul would dissipate, and he didn't know when the doctor would wake up, so he just disappeared without saying a word. It was time to go back and say goodbye.

"Going back to the Silent House? Okay, I'll go with you."

Fusu secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He was afraid that Bi Zhi would get stuck on a rut again. This person seemed to be very gentle, but in reality, he was so stubborn that even ten oxen couldn't pull him back.

He touched the mask on his face, smiled and said, "Which country should we go to first? How about we go to South Korea first? I'll get a skin graft and plastic surgery, so that wearing a mask won't scare the kids."

The boss's lips twitched twice. Fusu had spent a year in the hospital, so it wasn't surprising that he knew about plastic surgery, but he really didn't expect that the Crown Prince of Qin would be so open-minded.

He glanced at Fusu's shoulder-length hair and teased, "Didn't you say that our bodies and hair are given to us by our parents and we dare not damage them? You're thinking about plastic surgery? Why don't you get your hair cut first?"

Fu Su's hand, which was touching the mask, froze for a moment, then fell on the boss's neat and short hair. He asked curiously, "Bi Zhi, when did you get your hair cut? During the Republic of China era?"

"I'll tell you another time. Let's pack up and head back." The boss casually changed the subject. "I need to go back to the Silent Shop to get something."

"Huh? What?"

"A small compass."

"...We don't need a compass for navigation when we go abroad, right? The GPRS navigation on mobile phones works very well now."

“That’s GPS navigation, Your Highness.”

The doctor walked out of the hospital building, the unusually bright winter sunlight overhead making him squint uncomfortably, as he was used to indoor lighting. He stopped, took off his glasses, and pressed the Jingming acupoint on the bridge of his nose. He had become a full-fledged doctor and had just assisted the chief surgeon in a major operation that lasted fifteen hours. He had eaten something hastily, rested briefly in the break room, and then struggled to get up.

Because today is the agreed time.

The doctor put his glasses back on, took out his phone to double-check that he was indeed off duty today, and then strode towards the Silent House.

Will the compass successfully return to a year ago this time? He really wants to know where his boss was taken by Fusu, and why there hasn't been a single piece of news about him...

Ah... it's almost been a year already...

Upon arriving at the commercial street, the doctor could see the sign outside the Silent Shop from a distance. It looked no different from any other day, but only he knew that no matter how many times he pushed open that heavy, carved door, he would never see that familiar figure again.

The doctor's pace slowed down unconsciously. Physical exhaustion made him pessimistic. Sometimes he didn't know if his persistence was right. Perhaps his boss had ended his years of waiting and gone into hiding with the person he had been looking forward to seeing, living a different life.

However... this is not in line with the boss's personality. Logically and emotionally, the boss should have said goodbye to him instead of leaving without saying a word.

Even if it's just to see him one last time, even if we can't talk and can only watch from the sidelines, he has to make sure that his boss is still alive and well in this world, even if we never see each other again.

The doctor reaffirmed his resolve and quickened his pace toward the Silent Shop. He took a deep breath and pushed open the carved door, where he saw a man dressed in an old-fashioned Zhongshan suit, sitting quietly behind the counter. The man looked up at him after hearing the door open.

This scene left the doctor somewhat stunned and bewildered, but upon seeing the other person's face clearly, he couldn't help but feel incredibly disappointed.

"Welcome...you've arrived." Lu Zigang dropped his fake welcoming smile and carefully placed the book in his hand flat on the counter. It was an ancient book, and although he possessed memories of his previous life, he still found it somewhat difficult to read the traditional Chinese characters.

"You've arrived." The doctor didn't stand on ceremony, sitting down in the rosewood official's hat chair, grabbing the teapot on the counter, and pouring tea directly into his mouth. The hot tea in the teapot was at the perfect temperature, easing the doctor's somewhat stiff body. Strangely enough, although this mute's house didn't have air conditioning, it was warm in winter and cool in summer, extremely comfortable.

Lu Zigang curled his lip in disgust at the doctor's rude tea-drinking habit, thinking to himself that this guy had been kept by the boss's side for three or four years, how come he hadn't developed even a trace of gentle and refined temperament? At least he could put on a convincing act like this!
"Tsk, not as good as the boss's." The doctor was completely unaware of Lu Zigang's inner complaints. He finished the tea in the teapot in one gulp and smacked his lips in evaluation.

Lu Zigang scoffed for a moment, deciding not to bother arguing with this guy. He put the thread-bound book into the brocade box, then touched the longevity lock under his clothes and calmly announced, "By the way, I don't plan to use the Luoshu Nine Stars Compass anymore."

"Huh?" The doctor was taken aback and quickly asked, "You've found an even more reliable compass? That's great, it saves us from wandering around in different dynasties. You see, it's nice to see our former bosses, but it's also painful not being able to go up and say hello!"

“There are no other compasses.” Lu Zigang turned to look at the doctor and said frankly.

"...Is there any other way to find the boss's whereabouts?" The doctor pushed up his glasses, sensing that Lu Zigang's attitude was a bit strange today, which made his smile start to stiffen.

"No," Lu Zigang shrugged, indicating his helplessness. "Actually, the idea of ​​going to find the boss to come back was wrong from the beginning. The boss's message to me was to help him watch the shop. There was no need to go to him to come back."

"...That's not the truth." The doctor's smile vanished, and he scrutinized Lu Zigang with the sharp eyes that could see through a medical chart. "What did you do?"

Lu Zigang pursed his lips, thinking of the pair of jade pendants he had meticulously carved. They might now be on the desk of some antiquarian, their final resting place in a museum display case. The image of that pretty face and her last smile kept appearing before his eyes, as if engraved in his heart, forever indelible.

He didn't know what this feeling was like, but he felt he would rather forget it.

It's ridiculous. He wanted to get rid of the resentment from his past life that was lingering in his mind, but it seems that he has only trapped himself in his own mess.

“I didn’t do anything.” Lu Zigang took a deep breath and unusually offered some advice. “Didn’t you get a permanent position too? I can guess how heavy the burden and pressure are in cardiothoracic surgery even if I haven’t experienced it myself. You’ve barely come to Ya She in the past month. Look at your face; you probably looked more like a seriously ill patient in the hospital. Forget about the boss and live your life. He’s practically omnipotent; I don’t think we need to worry about him at all. Maybe one day he’ll come back as if nothing happened.”

The doctor looked down at his hands, hands that were steady and error-free even when cutting blood vessels in the most vital organs of the human body, but now they were trembling slightly.

Lu Zigang didn't quite understand the doctor's persistence. Whether in his past life or this one, the bosses he had encountered were all figures he looked up to, and they didn't need anyone's company or salvation.

"no."

The doctor's voice was somewhat muffled. Lu Zigang paused for a moment, then subconsciously asked, "Not what?"

The doctor clenched his still trembling hands, unsure how to express the emotions welling up inside him.

That person lived alone and resiliently for over two thousand years. Although he seemed omnipotent, he was actually incredibly fragile inside. While searching for the reincarnation of Fusu was the reason the boss was able to survive, that person deeply loved those objects that possessed all kinds of joys and sorrows but could not express them verbally.

If... if he can entrust even the Silent House to someone else, then it means he has truly given up everything and may very well never return...

That person... is actually like those silent antiques; no matter how much pain and sorrow they have, they will only bury it in their heart and never speak it out...

"It's not what you think." The doctor raised his head again, his voice much louder this time, filled with restless anxiety.

He always felt that his boss's sudden departure meant he was in great danger, or that something had happened to Fusu, and his boss might not want to live anymore. That person already had suicidal thoughts... The more the doctor thought about it, the more anxious he became, but when he met Lu Zigang's blank gaze, he couldn't help but feel dejected.

This person doesn't understand the boss at all, there's no way to communicate with him! Recalling how Lu Zigang had actually been thinking about this and that and refused to go find the boss, the doctor suddenly felt a surge of anger and stood up angrily, slamming his hand on the counter and demanding without any politeness, "Why don't you go find the boss? Is it because the boss is gone that you can embezzle all the antiques in the Silent Shop?"

Lu Zigang's handsome face changed, and his gaze immediately sharpened.

This is an utter disgrace to him! If it weren't for the letter from his boss, Yu Ziliu, asking him to come and take care of the Silent House, why would he have resigned from his well-paid and promising job at the National Museum? What right does this person have to criticize him?
As soon as the doctor spoke, he realized he had said the wrong thing. But seeing Lu Zigang's tightly pursed lips, his face pale and his whole body filled with anger, he couldn't find any words to smooth things over.

Just when the atmosphere was incredibly awkward, the carved door creaked open.

A hoarse voice, tinged with laughter, rang out: "Hey, what's all this fuss about? Who wants to take over the Silent House? Please, please, transfer it to the museum! I beg you! I beg you!"

The doctor raised his hand to press his slightly aching temples, sighed, and said, "It was all my fault for speaking without thinking. Uncle Curator, please don't make things worse. By the way, didn't you go to Kunming for recuperation? Are you back now that you're better? Would you like to go to the hospital so I can arrange another check-up for you?"

The person who came in was the curator of the Silent House, who hadn't been there for a long time. This uncle looked a bit older than before the New Year. This time, he had changed to a chicken wing wood dragon bone cane, which gave him a refined and elegant air that others could not match.

“It’s just my old leg problem, no need to worry about it,” the curator said with a smile. His gold-rimmed glasses reflected an eerie light as he looked up. He then asked Lu Zigang behind the counter with a smile, “Little Lu, what happened? You’re minding the shop now? Where’s the boss? Come on, let me give you a piece of my mind.” Lu Zigang’s expression softened a bit because of the curator’s interruption, but he still looked at the doctor with a detached gaze.

Knowing that the curator was present today, the doctor knew there was no point in discussing the compass anymore, especially since the curator's mental state was indeed poor. Staying any longer would likely offend him, so the doctor sighed and said, "I'll come back another day. I won't change my mind about that matter." With that, he turned and left without lingering.

"Huh? What is it, Xiao Lu? Tell me quickly!" The curator, sensing the gossip, pressed for details.

Lu Zigang stared at the doctor's figure disappearing at the street corner outside the carved wooden window, and only then did the fist that had been tightly clenched under the counter slowly loosen.

He looked down at the crescent-shaped mark on his palm where his fingernail had pierced his skin, and laughed, "It's nothing serious, really, it'll be taken care of in no time."

"Bi Zhi, is there anything that can make someone forget their memories?" Fu Su took off his long robe and put on the shirt and jeans he was wearing when he went out, asking seemingly casually.

"There are many, but they usually make people forget their past completely, like a newborn baby. I rarely use those; they're more like harming people," the shopkeeper said calmly. He had already packed his things and wanted to help Su get dressed, but the latter refused. Thinking about it, it made sense. Although his prince had worn robes all year while staying indoors, he had lived in modern society for a while before, so how could he not know how to wear modern clothes?

"Is there anyone who can retain most of a person's memories, but specifically forget the life that has passed?" Fu Su slowly buttoned up his shirt, his movements gentle and neat, exuding an admirable elegance from his hair to his fingertips.

The shopkeeper squinted and thought for a moment before honestly saying, "It is true. If you mix a strand of someone's hair into the incense, light it, and let someone smell it, you can erase that person's trace from their memory."

"Hengwu fragrance?" Fusu raised an eyebrow. "What kind of fragrance is this? It actually has such effects?"

"In the north there is a beautiful woman, peerless and independent. One glance could topple a city, a second glance could topple a nation."

The boss's melodious voice echoed in the alchemy room, as if he were recalling something. After a while, he smiled faintly and said, "The peerless beauty described in this poem is Lady Li, the wife of Emperor Wu of Han."

Fusu, who was well-versed in history, smiled and said, "She was the woman who didn't let Liu Che see her sick face before she died, and later made Emperor Wu of Han, who had seen all the beauties in the world, unable to forget her. She was quite resourceful."

"It was Lady Li. After her death, Emperor Wu of Han dreamed that she appeared in his dream and gave him fragrant herbs. When Emperor Wu woke up, he searched everywhere but could not find her. However, he smelled a fragrance that lasted for a long time."

"Actually, it wasn't Emperor Wu of Han's dream, but rather the fragrant herb that Empress Wei lit to make him forget Lady Li. However, Lady Li was so cunning that she couldn't possibly let Empress Wei get her real hair. After having this dream, Emperor Wu of Han became even more obsessed with her."

"This really makes one imagine a dramatic palace intrigue. So, you also have that fragrant herb?"

The shopkeeper went over and straightened Fusu's collar, then handed him the cashmere sweater beside him: "I only have a small piece of Hengwu incense, and it has turned into powder over time. In the past, if I wanted someone to forget me, I would burn a censer of Hengwu incense for them, and at the same time, I would smell the prepared Hengwu incense pills so that I wouldn't be affected."

Fusu touched his shoulder-length hair and teased him, half-jokingly, "This is really troublesome. Even if you mix my hair with the fragrance of angelica and let it smell, it's not my real body, so you still won't forget me."

The shopkeeper's smile became even more fake. Did he not know what Fusu was thinking? Since he had asked so plainly, it was obviously a warning that he was not allowed to use it on him. The shopkeeper reached out and removed the mask from Fusu's face, then combed down his overly long bangs to cover the burned half of his face.

The burning gaze remained. The shopkeeper sighed softly, met Fusu's earnest eyes, and had no choice but to promise, "I know your concerns. Don't worry, I won't burn the Hengwu incense again."

Fusu smiled with satisfaction. He really was the boss who would do something life-for-life, and in the end, he would light a censer of fragrant herbs for him so that he would forget about him completely.

For some, forgetting may be a good option, but it's unfair to do so without their knowledge.

Making decisions for others under the guise of doing what you think is good for them is simply doing more harm than good.

The doctor, feeling sullen, went home and fell into a deep sleep, not waking up until the afternoon. As soon as he woke up, he began to reflect on his actions.

This was a habit he had only recently developed. After returning to his own body, although the memories of the year occupied by Fusu's soul remained, because they weren't his own experiences, he had to constantly replay them to deepen his understanding. Moreover, he hadn't expected Fusu's surgical skills to be far superior to his own; Fusu had performed several major surgeries in the past year, even participating in a heart transplant. It was precisely because of Fusu's outstanding performance that he had been able to be promoted so smoothly.

After returning to his body, he found a note left by Fusu in a drawer at home. The note sincerely apologized for taking his voice and said that these surgical techniques were compensation for taking over his body; of course, it also included a noticeable increase in his bank account balance…

In order to master these skills, he has had to put in a lot more effort over the past six months. Not only did he need to learn some profound professional knowledge, but he also needed to constantly practice his surgical skills.

So he often sat on the edge of the bed, facing the stark white walls of his home, repeatedly replaying his memories in his mind. But now, he needed to reflect on the emotions he had lost control of that day.

After staring blankly at the wall for half an hour, the doctor concluded that he was under too much stress lately and needed to go out for a big meal to relieve the pressure. So he immediately changed his clothes and went to a shopping street for a buffet. However, he never had a good appetite when eating alone. In the past, he would always go to the "Silent Cafe" and drag the owner out to eat with him. Even though the owner didn't eat much, having a friend to accompany him and listen to his complaints was a different feeling.

He scrolled through his phone's contacts and found that most of his colleagues were on duty at the hospital, and those who weren't on duty were busy catching up on sleep; no one had time.

Having eaten his fill without tasting anything, the doctor subconsciously wandered to the door of the Silent House again. When he pushed open the carved door and saw Lu Zigang's surprised gaze, he muttered to himself, "The power of habit is truly terrifying."

They had just had a fight that morning, perhaps not even a real argument, but the doctor felt they couldn't let things stay like this, so he went over and sat down first. He casually grabbed a teacup from the shelf, wiped it off with his hand, picked up the teapot on the counter, and poured himself a cup of tea.

Lu Zigang's lips twitched. The doctor was holding a Northern Song Dynasty Jian kiln rabbit fur teacup. The glaze of a rabbit fur teacup is as black as lacquer, with a lustrous sheen like jade. The glaze is covered with even and fine veins, which are as delicate and long as the fur on a rabbit, hence the name. Among them, the silver rabbit fur teacup in the doctor's hand is the most precious.

This teacup was used for whisking tea during the Song Dynasty, not for brewing tea. But he also knew that talking about antiques with a doctor was like casting pearls before swine; as long as it wasn't broken, there wouldn't be any problem. Lu Zigang glanced at him and then continued to focus on his work.

"What are you doing?" The doctor took a few sips of warm tea, which relieved the greasiness in his stomach and calmed his agitation. He was already thick-skinned enough, and seeing that Lu Zigang ignored him and instead approached him, he acted as if nothing had happened that morning.

Lu Zigang, however, was not as thick-skinned as him and said, "Make the incense seal."

The doctor discovered that the incense burner that Lu Zigang had placed in front of him was not the gilded dragon-shaped Boshan incense burner that the boss often liked to use, but a small celadon incense burner with a large opening shaped like a lotus flower.

The doctor glanced at the shop's displays and noticed that not only was the gilded dragon-shaped incense burner missing, but several other familiar ornaments and antiques were also gone. He couldn't help but ask, "Where's that incense burner? Why aren't you using it?"

Lu Zigang didn't even lift his eyelids, and said coldly, "Don't worry, I don't have the guts to sell them all."

After he finished speaking, even he realized his tone was off, but he didn't know how to salvage it. He had always dealt with antiques and didn't need to concern himself with interpersonal relationships, so the doctor's questioning that morning had bothered him deeply. It was like a thorn, impossible to remove, yet it pricked him painfully.

The doctor, however, was used to dealing with all sorts of unreasonable patients and their families in his work, so Lu Zigang's quirky temper was no problem for him at all. But Lu Zigang didn't answer, and the doctor slowly recalled that once when he came to the Silent Shop, he saw Lu Zigang put away several antiques and put them in the inner room, probably because he was afraid that he was not as capable as the boss and could not control these strange fellows.

That old master of the Boshan furnace is probably fuming with rage in that dark, cramped brocade box right now!

The doctor inwardly chuckled to himself as he watched Lu Zigang carefully take out a packet of ivory-white incense ash and place it in the celadon incense burner, while simultaneously pulling out his phone to search for incense seals.

Tsk, this is the information age, who still insists on others explaining technical terms? Soon, the doctor browsed the webpage and watched as Lu Zigang flattened the incense ash and took out a row of twelve small celadon incense jars shaped like lotus seeds from the brocade box.

These small incense jars were only about the height of a thumb joint, round and particularly cute. Lu Zigang took a lotus-shaped celadon incense dish of the same type and began to use a copper bamboo-joint incense spoon to scoop out incense powder from each jar. The amount of each type of incense was different, with some as large as the size of a little fingernail and others only a small pinch.

The doctor recalled seeing the shopkeeper fetch incense powder before, but he had never seen him make incense seals. The shopkeeper had mentioned that in the Han Dynasty, there were no stick incense sticks, only incense powder made from ground spices. Judging from the celadon incense utensils, these should be at least from the Northern Song Dynasty, but considering how precious Lu Zigang was with these incense powders, they were probably quite old.

Because the incense powder was in powder form, Lu Zigang held his breath and focused intently, his face serious, afraid of blowing it away.

The doctor was also affected by his expression, and dared not breathe, but he could still smell the fragrances flowing from the tip of his nose as each incense jar was opened. He couldn't help but take a deep breath and close his eyes in rapture.

At this moment, Lu Zigang's incense spoon stopped at the last incense jar. From his angle, he could see a small seal on the lid. He hesitated for a long time, glanced at the doctor in front of him, and after a long while, he finally made up his mind and reached out to unscrew the incense jar.

He scraped the bottom of the jar with a spatula for a while before scooping out a pitifully small amount and placing it in the incense dish. Then, while the doctor was looking down at the webpage, he took a small strand of hair from the brocade box, cut it into pieces with incense scissors, and mixed it into the incense powder as well.

Twelve kinds of incense powder were mixed in the incense dish. Lu Zigang took out a purple copper incense seal with a hollowed-out seal script character for "good fortune" engraved on it and gently placed it on the flattened incense ash. Then, he used an incense spoon to place the prepared incense powder on the seal and carefully used a small incense shovel to scoop the powder into the hollowed-out "good fortune" character. Finally, he carefully removed the incense seal, and a neat "good fortune" character appeared on the incense ash.

"Huh? It seems pretty simple!" Although he had already seen the process of making incense seals on his phone, seeing it in person was a completely different experience. Seeing Lu Zigang's skillful work, the doctor couldn't help but feel a little itchy to try it himself.

"It's not that simple. Your hand can't shake when you hold the incense seal, otherwise the incense seal will break and it won't burn to the bottom this time." Looking at the perfect "Fu" character, Lu Zigang's mood improved a lot, so he explained.

In fact, incense seal carving is also a good way to train hand stability. The more intricate the lines of the incense seal, the higher the requirements for the person carving it. Otherwise, if even a tiny break in the delicate incense seal characters occurs, all the previous work will be wasted. Lu Zigang had carved incense seals many times in his youth to train his hands to not tremble when restoring calligraphy and paintings. But then he glanced at the doctor, whose face was full of smugness, and remembered the other's profession, so he said no more.

The doctor grinned and scratched his chin, as if to challenge the cardiothoracic surgeon to a contest of hand steadiness. Was he kidding?
Lu Zigang took the incense sticks from the side, borrowed a fire from the Changxin Palace Lantern, and lit the incense seal characters in the incense burner.

A wisp of smoke rose up, slowly swirling, shifting, leaping, and circling in the air... as if something in the dark was manipulating the smoke, drawing people's gaze involuntarily to it, making them completely mesmerized.

Lu Zigang took the lid of the incense burner from the side and put it on. The lid of this incense burner was shaped like a lotus seedpod, with a hole in the center of each seedpod, and it was exquisitely crafted. Moreover, because the incense burner had been used for quite some time, there were traces of yellowing from the incense smoke around the holes, making them look even more like the tips of lotus seedpods, lifelike.

After the lid of the incense burner was put on, the smoke became less dense, and instead, it rose in wisps and curled out, quickly dissipating into the air.

Soon, an indescribable fragrance gradually spread with the smoke. The doctor was used to the fragrance of agarwood, but at this moment he felt that the fragrance was stirring the depths of his heart, and he was momentarily captivated.

Lu Zigang picked up a fragrant pill, brought it to his nose, and sniffed it, asking casually, "Is there anything you want to forget?"

"Forget?" The doctor felt his usually tense nerves relax because of the fragrance, and he was momentarily dazed, not finding Lu Zigang's question abrupt. He thought about it seriously for a moment before saying, "There are things I do want to forget, such as the tragic deaths of my parents, the bullying from relatives. You know, when I was a child, I had to change families almost every year or two..."

As the doctor spoke, it was as if deep-seated negative emotions were being stirred up. He pressed one hand to his forehead, trying to bury those memories back: "Hmm... that's strange... why do I smell a protein scent..."

Lu Zigang watched as the doctor fell silent and then fell into a deep sleep on the counter, and couldn't help but sigh.

"You have a really good nose. I added the boss's hair to the fragrant herb. Forget about him... it's better for you to forget him. Being overly attached is never a good thing. Besides, the boss used to do this all the time. If he were to come back, he would probably do the same to you. I was just doing what he was supposed to do. And as compensation, I'm also clearing away some of the memories you don't want..."

Lu Zigang smelled the fragrant pill in his hand and muttered to himself, which was more like him trying to convince himself.

He also has people he wants to forget, but unfortunately, he doesn't have their hair.

He knew what would become of the doctor if things continued like this; he would lose his normal life more and more, and he wouldn't even be able to do his job well.

This won't do. A doctor's job is to save lives; a single tremor of the hand could cost someone their life. Today's argument has already shown signs of spiraling out of control; if this continues, problems will inevitably arise sooner or later.

In that case, it would be better to let him make the decision for him.

He and his boss were like two parallel lines; even if fate played a trick on them and they accidentally intersected, it was time for them to go their separate ways.

Lu Zigang, smelling the incense pill in his hand, was naturally unaffected by the fragrant herbs burning in the room, but at this moment, he already felt a little regretful.

Did he...do something wrong?
That's it, even if it was a mistake, there's no going back...

Inside the Silent Shop, the winding incense sticks silently diffused, creating a chilling, lonely atmosphere…

(End of this chapter)