"Sorry, sorry, I haven't really shopped for groceries before, so it took a bit longer."
Swire pressed her hands together, blinking furiously at Xia Yu.
"Um, Doctor Bailu, I've had someone buy all the groceries you asked for. I guarantee the quality is absolutely fine!"
"My chefs are already in position," Lin Yühsia said, glancing at her sideways. "Please just give the orders."
"There's not much to instruct," Xia Yu looked up upon hearing this, then continued picking out the ingredients she needed.
"Just tell them to be careful, don't make it too spicy or greasy. Keep it light."
"I need to cook a few pots of congee over here, so I can't step away."
At this, she suddenly paused, then turned to look at Swire and Lin Yühsia. "Oh, right, send all the bills to the Governor's Mansion and have Wei Yenwu pay for it."
"Uh, about that..." Swire hesitated for a couple of seconds. Even now, she wasn't sure about the relationship between Miss Bailu and the Governor.
"What, I've treated so many infected for him, bringing more than just a little stability to Lungmen," Xia Yu raised an eyebrow and said. "Coupled with all sorts of invisible benefits, Lungmen has already profited immensely, okay? If he doesn't even want to pay this little bit of money, then should I just leave tomorrow?"
"I'll go find another city for my free clinic!"
"Doctor Bailu, the Governor's Mansion will reimburse all your expenses during the free clinic!" Hearing this, Lin Yühsia hurriedly said, "Your willingness to hold a free clinic in Lungmen is a massive honor for us. It's just a small amount of money; compared to the various benefits you bring to Lungmen, the Governor's Mansion definitely knows how to calculate this."
After all, she had truly treated infected individuals who were covered in Originium crystals and waiting to die, reverting them to a newly infected state. Although she couldn't cure them directly, what more could they ask for? No one in any other place had this kind of ability!
Even though that flashing golden light was hard to attribute to medicine, since the doctor herself said so, no one would be tactless enough to correct her.
Otherwise, those infected eagerly waiting for a lifesaver would take the Originium shards that fell off their bodies and tell you with a 'friendly' face that this is medicine!
If you have the guts, go debate with the Originium shards in their hands!
"That'll do, at least he knows what's good for him." Hearing this, Xia Yu glanced at her ears, nodded, and turned to walk toward the several large pots prepared by Graytail Hall.
This was congee meant to feed thousands of people, and it was her first time attempting to cook on such a scale.
Behind her, the two exchanged a glance.
"Hey, you seem to be very familiar with Doctor Bailu," Swire lowered her voice, trying to fish for information.
She wasn't stupid; since Lin Yühsia could say something like that, it meant the Governor had definitely approved it.
"Your grandfather hasn't been in good health lately, has he?" Lin Yühsia raised an eyebrow and asked in return.
"Grandpa's health is indeed poor," Swire frowned upon hearing this. "Are you trying to remind me of something? Can Doctor Bailu cure him?"
"Cure? No, your grandfather doesn't have that much face," Lin Yühsia mocked without hesitation. "She couldn't care less about your family's money. Since we've known each other since childhood, I'll give you a tip."
"Serve Miss Bailu well, and then go ask her for some medicinal wine. It might just be useful."
After saying that, she turned around to direct her subordinates from Graytail Hall.
She wasn't lying to Swire; that wine was truly effective.
Her old man looked so radiant after drinking it. Especially since he drank it right in front of Uncle Wei; with just one small sip, his whole being perked up.
Afterward, he went for various check-ups, and the doctors all said that the old man was doing a great job maintaining his health.
You have to know, it wasn't nearly this optimistic during his last physical exam.
The moment he saw the report, the envy in Governor Wei's eyes practically overflowed, but her old man just hugged the wine bottle, shouting something about how this was his daughter's heartfelt gesture and he couldn't let it go to waste, stubbornly refusing to let the Governor have even a taste.
And the Governor looked at himself at that moment, and his face instantly darkened.
It was obvious he had thought about how Doctor Bailu egged Chen Huijie on to take the wine to her other uncle.
Sigh, she couldn't really say much. After all, having learned about those things, she finally understood why the Governor and Madam Fumizuki hadn't had children for so many years. His identity was sensitive enough; if there was a father-to-son succession... especially when the current True Lung didn't have any heirs of his own... it was inevitable that people would overthink it.
Therefore, the Governor's successor was unequivocally going to be that girl, Chen Huijie. However, in Lin Yühsia's view, Doctor Bailu's suggestion for Chen Huijie to interact more with her other uncle actually made a lot of sense.
But this was their family's business, making it even harder for her to comment.
Holding a bellyful of words she couldn't say, Lin Yühsia saw the completely clueless Swire, and an inexplicable sense of superiority bubbled up within her, leaving the latter utterly baffled.
"What kind of wine is it?" Swire's eyes were full of suspicion. Could wine really nourish a person?
She didn't believe it for a second.
But turning her head, she saw Miss Bailu, who was cooking the congee, take out a wine flask and pour wine into the large pots one by one.
Swire subconsciously sniffed. Smells so good!
But the latter quickly put the gourd away.
"I wonder if this will be enough to feed over a thousand people," Xia Yu was still a bit uncertain. After all, even though she had culinary skills, she had never actually cooked a banquet of this scale before. She had no experience.
Meanwhile, the chefs brought in by Graytail Hall stared fixedly at the large pots where she was cooking the congee.
Emmm... They cooked conventionally enough, but seeing a little girl not even up to their waists taking up the most and best ingredients, they couldn't help but mutter in their hearts.
Of course, it was just muttering. Mainly because, seeing how immensely grateful the surrounding infected were to her, they wouldn't dare say it out loud.
Just coming here to cook was already out of respect for Graytail Hall's years of prestige. Now, being surrounded by so many infected... it really made them sweat profusely.
In Terra, the taboo against the infected was a universal practice.
At most, some countries were just a bit more inhumane about it.
These chefs watched as the little girl threw handfuls of ingredients into a pot bigger than her entire body, only able to silently criticize her in their minds.
Adding various kinds of wine to congee wasn't exactly a new concept, but how could she just add it so casually?
But when the lids of the large congee pots were lifted, the mouthwatering aroma completely stunned them. Her techniques were all over the place, and they hadn't even seen her control the heat, yet it actually turned out perfectly?
Even when the continuous banquet began, they still couldn't figure out how Xia Yu had done it.
As for Xia Yu, she looked toward Swire and packed up four portions of food.
"Let's go, back to the Lungmen Guard Department," she handed the packages to Swire. "Xiao Chen is clearly the type to work day and night. If we don't bring her food, who knows when she'll finally remember to eat."
"Xiao Chen..." Hearing this, Swire looked like she couldn't hold back a laugh. "Yes, yes, that's exactly what Xiao Chen is like!"
"Don't laugh, do you think your own routine is any more regular?" Seeing this, Xia Yu gave her a sidelong glance.
Swire's laughter came to an abrupt halt, and then various excuses blurted out, like how the Lungmen Guard Department is just like that, and they have to protect the citizens of Lungmen.
Xia Yu then turned to look at Lin Yühsia.
"Wait for me at the entrance of the LGD Headquarters tomorrow. The free clinic will need your Graytail Hall to maintain order, any problems?"
"None!" Hearing this, Lin Yühsia nodded briskly without the slightest hesitation.
"And you," Xia Yu looked at the eager Rope. "You're coming too to help me out. Meals included!"
"Got it, Boss Bailu!" Rope blurted out without a second thought.
"Boss?" Xia Yu froze for a moment upon hearing this.
"Uh, sorry, Doctor," Rope finally realized and quickly lowered her head, saying meekly, "I've been hanging around here for so long, it just slipped out..."
"Suit yourself," Xia Yu didn't correct her. She just turned around, grabbed the food, and got into the car with Swire.
"I'll pick you up tomorrow," seeing this, Lin Yühsia turned and smiled at Rope. To be personally called out by her, Lin Yühsia felt she needed to take a good look at this infected girl in front of her.
"Okay, Young Lady," Rope looked exceptionally well-behaved. This was the Young Lady of Graytail Hall, after all; getting on her good side was never a bad idea.
After delegating tasks to her underlings, Lin Yühsia also took her portion of food and left the settlement with several veterans of Graytail Hall.
"Miss," seeing that there was no one else around, a middle-aged man finally couldn't hold back. "Why did you... say those things today? We've fought for years to build this..."
"Uncle Zhong," Lin Yühsia said helplessly, "this was my father and the Governor's decision, there's nothing I can do."
She was also in despair, but what could she do?
"Boss Lin and the Governor..." Hearing this, Uncle Zhong fell silent. After a moment of thought, he sighed.
"True. A great doctor capable of treating Oripathy... it's only normal for Lungmen to pay any price to win her over."
He had seen his fair share of storms and knew just how insane those afflicted with the disease could get at the end of their lives. No one would dare provoke them.
If you provoked them, what if they disregarded their own lives to blow themselves up along with you? They didn't have much time left anyway. Even if you won the fight, their corpse would leave you with a deathrattle...
Therefore, even though the infected settlements were managed by various gangs, these gangs rarely collected protection fees on their turf, opting only for a symbolic token amount.
After all, if you really pushed them into a corner, they only had their miserable lives to lose, but what about you?
Those Tiger Hall members today were probably just used to acting arrogant, but facing so many infected, they only dared to bark. Shouting 'Tiger Hall' left and right, they wouldn't actually dare to make a move.
A doctor who cures Oripathy...
Even someone like Uncle Zhong could figure out what kind of benefits it would bring to the city if such a doctor settled in Lungmen, even right in the slums.
Setting aside everything else, the sheer number of infected coming out of admiration would be enough to break the doors down.
You had to understand, the infected weren't just made up of paupers. Many wealthy people could also get infected. When Originium cut the skin, it didn't care how much wealth you had. Bear in mind, even the former True Lung of Yan—for whatever reason—was an infected.
At most, the rich and powerful didn't normally come into contact with the production lines, so their probability of infection was merely a bit lower.
Furthermore, as a veteran of Graytail Hall, Uncle Zhong knew that Graytail Hall was more than just a simple gang, so he could understand this matter.
It was just that the brothers below didn't know the details so thoroughly, so they might have some complaints.
Facing his concerns, Lin Yühsia let out a helpless sigh. "It would be great if it were really like that. A top-tier doctor settling in Lungmen; everyone is happy."
"Miss, are you saying there's a variable?" Hearing this, Uncle Zhong's expression froze.
"Sigh, who knows," Lin Yühsia shook her head, unable to figure out exactly why Bailu was doing all of this.
Similarly, Wei Yenwu could rack his brains all he wanted and still not figure out the reason behind it all.
"Fumizuki, do you think Kaschey has gone senile?" He held his smoking pipe, his face full of worry.
"I think you're overthinking it," Madam Fumizuki shook her head at this.
"But why?" Wei Yenwu closed his eyes, recalling that report. "A doctor who can pull infected right back from the brink of detonation—let's just consider her a doctor for now—a top-tier talent that no country would ever let go of. Who would be willing to send someone like that out to do this kind of work?"
Are they brain-dead?
Wei Yenwu still had those events vividly etched in his mind. When his Imperial Father was approaching the end of his lifespan, he had already been driven mad by Oripathy and years of accumulated exhaustion. Otherwise, as the Crown Prince, he wouldn't have been forced to the point of a military mutiny to coerce the emperor.
If there had been a doctor like this back then, none of the subsequent tragedies would have occurred.
As someone who had experienced it firsthand, he knew all too well the value of such a doctor.
Wei Yenwu felt that he could basically rule out the possibility of Bailu being sent by Baizao. He knew that the esteemed officials in the imperial court weren't brain-dead. If they truly had such a great treasure, they wouldn't even have enough time to wine and dine her in Baizao; how could they possibly send her out to mess with him?
If they really wanted to carry out some kind of purge, would they need to go through all this trouble? Wouldn't directly shoving Yumen over be better than any petty tricks?
By the same logic, he could also rule out Kaschey causing trouble.
After all, Kaschey wasn't stupid either. In Ursus, if he controlled a doctor like this, it meant controlling the lifeblood of all the Ursus infected. The infected in Ursus were far crazier than those in Lungmen.
As long as he used Bailu as his banner, who knew how many infected would become dead set on following him? It would be enough for him to stir up a massive storm in Ursus. He'd have to be out of his mind to send such a treasure out to mess with Lungmen.
If that were really the case, Wei Yenwu's face would split from smiling so hard.
So, first, it wasn't Baizao, and second, it wasn't Ursus. Was she really just here to deliver a letter?
So everything was a coincidence?
Then why was she treating infected on such a massive scale in Lungmen? A healer's benevolent heart? Or did she have ulterior motives?
But if you really wanted to do something, what use was there in rallying those infected? The number of infected in Lungmen fluctuated around one hundred thousand; for a city, this was already considered on the high side.
But that was only a ratio. If someone really wanted to gather these disorganized infected to overthrow the Governor's Mansion... Wei Yenwu could only call it a pipe dream.
What did the infected have besides their miserable lives? And they wanted to overthrow Lungmen?
However, if she truly just had a healer's benevolent heart, then the words she said to Huijie were filled with dissatisfaction toward him between the lines. This made Wei Yenwu unable to put his mind at ease.
And so, he remained endlessly conflicted.
Excellent. This was exactly the effect Xia Yu wanted.