A divine healer, a general, a young marquis! Who can rival them!

After this series of ups and downs, Jichuntang in the east of the city has finally gained a firm foothold in this border town.

From acute illnesses like severed throats to strange diseases caused by demonic possession; from being targeted with sabotage, having medicine cut off, and being bribed, to turning each crisis into an opportunity, Yang Hu's reputation has only grown brighter amidst the open and covert attacks. Now, whenever there's a difficult or complicated illness in the city, the first person that comes to mind is that young, miraculous doctor in the east of the city.

People seeking medical help lined up at the alley entrance before dawn. There were women carrying babies, elderly men leaning on canes, and farmers who had traveled all night from neighboring counties and villages. Those who used to gossip behind his back, calling him a "wet-blooded quack," now all changed their tune, vying to come and befriend him. The city's social structure had quietly shifted, centered around Jichuntang in the east of the city.

Those who had once bullied him and mocked him now either avoided him with their tails between their legs or came seeking his medical help with forced smiles. In this border town, no one dared to underestimate the young miracle doctor in the east of the town anymore.

Yang Hu couldn't handle everything alone, so he shared half of the routine minor illnesses and follow-up visits with Su Qing. This newly recruited female apprentice was quite adept at treating dysentery and regulating the spleen and stomach, and was gradually becoming capable of handling things independently. Inside and outside Jichun Hall, Lu Yan managed the flow of medicinal materials and dispensing, Lu Rou managed the accounts and purchasing, Liu Ye managed the guards and errands inside and outside the city, and Su Qing managed the medical assistants and clinic services. Everyone performed their duties in an orderly manner.

As the clinic's reputation grew, so did its income. But Yang Hu didn't hoard the money. He used some to purchase high-quality medicinal herbs, secretly used some to help the city's homeless and orphaned residents who couldn't afford medical care, and invested the rest in his medicinal herb garden outside the city. He planned to expand the garden, growing and processing his own herbs, so he wouldn't be dependent on others anymore, and the threat of running out of medicine would no longer be a threat to his livelihood.

"Does the young master intend to make this clinic one of the top clinics in the city?" Lu Rou asked, her eyes shining as she held the account book.

"Yes." Yang Hu nodded. "A clinic, a medicinal herb garden, and our own pharmaceutical workshop. With medicine, prescriptions, and people in hand, the deeper our roots run, the harder it will be for those who want to harm us."

Lu Rou nodded solemnly, noting the matter down. In recent days, she had grown from a mere maidservant who only knew how to read people's faces into a capable head of Yang Hu's household. Lu Yan managed the medicine, Su Qing the clinic, and Liu Ye the nursing staff and other duties; each woman had her own skills, managing Ji Chun Tang flawlessly. Yang Hu watched with a sense of peace and security. This home, built from scratch in a foreign land, brick by brick, finally had a solid foundation.

This was the thing he had thought about most clearly after surviving the ordeal of losing his medicine.

The hidden hand, ever since its manager's attempt to "recruit" them was rebuffed, had fallen completely silent. Those who collected wound medicine, those who cut off supplies, and those who caused trouble in the city seemed to vanish overnight. The black hand lay dormant, no longer daring to openly lay a finger on Jichuntang. With Yang Hu's medical reputation, the Zhou family's influence, and that unassuming "nobleman" weighing all these factors, the hand, after much deliberation, could only temporarily withdraw its claws.

But Yang Hu knew in his heart that this was not a retreat, but a sign of fear and a period of dormancy.

The calmer things were, the less he dared to relax.

He had seen too many such "calm" situations. The series of open and covert attacks in the city, from thugs causing trouble to cutting off the city's supply of heat-clearing and detoxifying medicine, were all launched with overwhelming force. Now that the other side had fallen silent, it wasn't an admission of defeat, but rather a covert recalculation, waiting for an even more ruthless opportunity. A venomous snake that has flicked its tongue but missed its prey is often most dangerous when coiled up in lurking. Taking advantage of the clinic's daily routine, he quietly assigned the task of investigating that line: Su Qing had plenty of informants in the pharmacy; she knew who was buying what medicine and where it was being transported. Liu Ye was fast and knew the way; she was responsible for uncovering the trade routes and checkpoints inside and outside the city. The root of that line was in the military; Qin Ying was responsible for the intricacies of checkpoint deployment and military supply exchanges.

"I'll keep an eye on the warehouses in the city that sell medicine for injuries, and the freight routes heading north," Su Qing whispered.

"Leave the checkpoints leading out of the city and the wagons carrying the goods to me," Liu Ye said.

Yang Hu nodded. The hand he wanted to turn over had spread a very wide net, which would be difficult for one person to unravel alone. But now he had a reputation as a doctor, manpower, and a pretext to help people, so he could break down the investigation into smaller parts and hide them in the daily routine of the clinic, without anyone noticing.

An invisible net is being silently woven and drawn thread by thread by the people in this courtyard. The hand in the shadows is weaving a net of devouring, and what they are weaving is a net to reel in the net.

Qin Ying's persistent arrow wound is now almost completely healed after years of treatment.

At night, Yang Hu changed her dressing. The arrow wound that had almost killed her and led her to meet him was now just a faint scar.

The arrow wound that led her to know him was cleaned of pus by Yang Hu, who changed her dressings time and time again. From being chased by barbarians, suffering from high fever and coma, and hanging by a thread, to now being the person who can support him and stand shoulder to shoulder with him, this scar is a testament to the journey they took together through life and death.

"You're not happy now that your injury is healed." Yang Hu put away the medicine and noticed the inexplicable hesitation in her expression.

Qin Ying was silent for a moment before whispering, "Once the wounds heal, I should go back. But I, this 'dead man,' can't go back. My soldiers are still on that pass, suffering from lack of medicine and medical care, slowly being hollowed out by that hand." She clenched her fists. "I'm hiding in this courtyard, peaceful... but when I think of them, it feels like needles are stabbing my heart."

Yang Hu took her hand.

"You can't go back to the army camp," he whispered, "but you can come with me and tear that hand out. The one that's hollowing out your pass isn't the barbarians from beyond the pass, it's this hand hiding among our own people. Cutting it off is a hundred times more effective than you charging back with your sword."

Qin Ying looked up at him, and her usually sharp eyes softened under the lamplight.

"I know," she said softly, "so I've been waiting. Waiting for you to settle things in this city, waiting for the day when your door to the military camp will be completely open."

She paused, then continued, "You healed the leg of that one-armed old soldier in the east of the city. This news has probably already reached the camp. No one knows better than me how desperately the army is lacking in doctors and medicine. Sooner or later, they will come begging you, the miracle doctor, to come to that camp."

Yang Hu's heart skipped a beat. What Qin Ying was talking about was the path he had been secretly hoping for these past few days. One end was the reputation of a doctor who could save lives, and the other end was the deadlock of investigating traitors and clearing wrongful convictions. The two lines would eventually be intertwined in that camp.

Outside the window, the night was deep.

In this border town, the lights of Jichun Hall have become a lamp that no one dares to easily extinguish. And to the north, where the lights cannot reach, at the end of that line, at that large camp, a dormant hand is quietly waiting for this courtyard of people to walk over step by step.

And everyone in the courtyard was gathering their strength, waiting to pull that hand out from the deepest shadows.