Beauty and the Bodyguard

Chapter 139 - Guan Xuemin, Stunned and Surprised

Xuemin couldn't help but look at Lin Yi in admiration, and also in shame at his attitude towards him earlier. The kid was right, he should have more self-respect as an elder. Although, practitioners of medicine were known to be quite daring- Xuemin's unorthodox behavior was actually quite understandable.

"Yep, in the past." Lin Yi nodded. "It's only natural that I thank you for taking care of a teammate of mine."

"I understand, I'll stop with the courtesies since Mister Lin's said so yourself. Please, come to the study with me- I have a couple of medical inquiries I must ask you, Mister Lin… I hope you don't mind teaching me a thing or two." Xuemin said.

"Call me Lin Yi, or Yi. Mister Lin's too much." Lin Yi replied. "Let's not treat it as teaching, too- we both have things to learn from each other."

"Alright, I'll call you Yi then. It goes the same for me, as well- call me Grandpa Guan, or Elder Guan. I must admit my shame when a man such as yourself calls me professor." Xuemin said, not backing down from accepting Lin Yi's courtesies. He was his elder, after all, and Huaijun, who was of the same generation as Lin Yi, called him Grandpa Guan as well.

"I'll call you Grandpa Guan, then." Lin Yi said casually. He was a humble man- he'd repay any sort of respect with even stronger respect.

The two made their way to the study as Huaijun stayed behind. There was no point in him joining the two doctors, after all, and he was just supposed to be acting as a middleman in the first place.

"Grandpa Guan, Lin Yi, you two take your time. I'll watch some TV outside for a bit." Huaijun said from outside the study.

"Alright, make yourself at home! There's food in the kitchen; get yourself something to eat if you get hungry." Xuemin said with a nod, understanding that Huaijun wouldn't have any interest in medical topics.

Xuemin's study was filled with a thick, scholarly scent- both sides of the room were lined with long bookshelves all equipped with medical book selections, inclusive of both Eastern and Western medicine. The variety of knowledge packed in the room was quite comprehensive indeed.

"A humble collection, I'm afraid." Xuemin said with a chuckle, noticing that Lin Yi was sizing his library up. "I've a variety of selections in here, but nothing too substantial; good reads, but quite ineffective when seeking new knowledge."

"'Emperor's Inner Studies' is a good one, it's the one I read when I first started my medical studies." Lin Yi said with a nod as he pointed at a couple of books on the bookshelf.

"'Emperor's Inner Studies'...... Indeed, one of the few remaining gems of Eastern medicine legacy." Xuemin nodded in response. "What a pity……."

"A pity?" Lin Yi asked curiously. "What do you mean by that, Grandpa Guan?"

"A pity that of the eleven medical classics of 'Chinese Archives- Arts and Culture', 'Private Studies of the Emperor' is the only one that remains!"

"Ah……" Lin Yi smiled faintly, unsure of what to say as he looked at the pained expression on Xuemin's face.

"From the 'Seven' recorded by the Chinese Archives, the ones that once existed with 'Emperor's Inner Studies' were namely 'Bian Que's Inner Studies', 'Bai She's Outer Studies', 'Bai She's Inner Studies', and 'Miscellaneous Articles'..." Xuemin continued on, failing to notice the look on Lin Yi's face as he grieved melancholily. "Just imagine the glories of Eastern Medicine should all these masterpieces still exist… A pity indeed!"

(okay my translations for the titles are pretty arbitrary, there's just too many interpretations for me to go for)

"Ah, I've read 'Bian Que's Inner Studies' before." Lin Yi said after some hesitation. After all, his impression of Guan Xuemin was pretty good so far. The prescription he'd written for Huaijun had its origins in 'Bian Que's Inner Studies', and he'd decided to just give the book credit for the recipe, since Xuemin was probably going to inquire about that in the conversation.

"You've…… read 'Bian Que's Inner Studies' before?" Xuemin asked. It was no surprise that he'd be taken aback by the statement- he was just grieving for its extinction a while ago. After all, he was a medical man who'd reached a certain apex of medicine, and improving from there was nothing short of extreme difficulty. There wasn't any material for him to read from, and the only way to go up was through practical testing and study, something known for its inefficiency. "A genuine copy?"

There had been instances of non-genuine copies appearing before, copies that were proven to be fakes. Xuemin read one once, finding the contents quite interesting… Yet it'd be quite a stretch for a book of that quality to stand side by side with a masterpiece like 'Emperor's Inner Studies'.

"Yeah, in my elder's house when I was little." Lin Yi said with a nod. "Jun Bro's condition was quite similar to an example written in 'Bian Que's Inner Studies', and my recipe was but an extension of some of the concepts inside that book."

Lin Yi's explanation was a disguised one, and Xuemin naturally noticed that, having read the non-genuine copies. There was no such example at all!

"Really?" Xuemin was getting a little excited. "Could I see it……"

Xuemin didn't wait for Lin Yi's response before speaking up again, a shameful and bitter smile on his lips. "I apologize for my excitement. It belongs to your elder, of course it isn't something you could just show around. Yi, I hope you don't mind my outburst."

"Ah, it's really nothing." Lin Yi smiled in response. He was, naturally, referring to Old Lin when he talked about his elder, who'd brought back a whole collection of ancient rarities. Apparently, they belonged to a traitor of Miao Village, called 'Elder You'. He'd been collecting the rarities for some dark arts, only to be ended by Lin Yi's sifu, who'd then split the loot with his old man.

"Well, I'd like to invite Grandpa Guan for a look at it, should the opportunity arise." Lin Yi wasn't a petty man. The doctor hadn't cured Huaijun, but it was a concrete fact that Huaijun would've been dead without Xuemin, let alone hold out for that long. As such, Lin Yi had only gratitude towards the savior.

"...Really? That's just splendid!" Xuemin exclaimed, getting excited again before a thought came to his mind. There was a possibility that Lin Yi was only being courteous and polite- he shouldn't be taking that invitation for granted. He'd heard that hidden masters of Eastern medicine had a couple of lost masterpieces of medical writing in their hands, but those were just rumors- he'd never actually seen any before. Xuemin had to assume, then, that Lin Yi's elder was one of these hidden masters… He couldn't just walk up to the guy's home and look at his treasured collection, after all. "Although, it's fine if it's too much trouble, I wouldn't want to intrude."

"It's fine." Lin Yi had authority over stuff like this- Old Lin wouldn't make too much of a fuss with his sifu backing him up. "I'll bring some with me the next time I visit my old place."

"Ah… Is that truly fine?" Xuemin wasn't quite sure what he'd just heard- treasure of that caliber shouldn't be moved around like souvenirs, should they? What if they got lost? It'd be a disaster even if those were copies! "If it's alright with you, I could come along with you during your visit?"

"Yeah, that's okay too." Lin Yi nodded…...

Chapter 140 - Treated As A Mentor

Having concluded the initial conversation, Guan Xuemin then started bringing up a couple of inquiries he had regarding Eastern medicine. The professor approached the discussion in a testing manner, but Lin Yi's answers opened his eyes- he was but a frog in a well! Lin Yi avoided direct, definitive answers for most of his problems, but it was precisely that mindset that enlightened the professor……

Above even Xuemin's gratitude towards Lin Yi, was admiration- Lin Yi approached the problems being brought up with discussions, avoiding direct answers to the inquiries and instead pulling in other related topics.

Yet Xuemin understood perfectly- Lin Yi was giving him hints and tips, the way a good teacher would as he or she provided optimal education for the pupil, encouraging a self-reliant mentality in addition to nurturing the student's confidence.

Xuemin's confusions and problems were all cleared up in no time at all- the solutions he'd discovered through his own thought processes were fundamentally different from solutions one received from direct answers, it seemed!

No one mentioned anything, but Xuemin's attitude and posture gradually transformed into that of a student's as he listened respectfully to Lin Yi's eloquent fluency.

Xuemin's had adopted total behavior and posture one would expect from an attentive pupil, his back straight and eyes intent as time went on. How many years had it been? The professor had long forgotten what it was like to be listening to lectures, rather than giving them…

A knock sounded at the door, abruptly pulling Guan Xuemin from his student life and into reality. His relationship with Lin Yi now, however, had been completely transformed into one between pupil and mentor.

"I'll go see who that is, Mister Lin." Xuemin said, notifying Lin Yi of answering the door the way a student would to his teacher.

Lin Yi only smiled bitterly, but he supposed that even Xuemin couldn't bring himself to call Lin Yi 'Yi' anymore.

It was Yang Huaijun, who'd been waiting and waiting until it was too far past lunchtime. He decided to knock on the study's door just in case something was wrong.

"Grandpa Guan…… It's past lunchtime already… Are you and Lin Yi..?" Huaijun asked, letting out a breath of relief upon seeing that nothing had happened.

"Oh, past lunchtime already?" Xuemin looked at his watch- it was almost one in the afternoon. He sighed internally at how time flew by; he'd wanted to learn more from Lin Yi, but while he could very well be willing to skip a meal or two in exchange for knowledge, the same couldn't be said for Lin Yi. He'd taken up the guy's entire morning, too… "Shall we go have lunch, then?"

"Don't you have any patients in the afternoon, Grandpa Guan?" Huaijun asked, curious. Xuemin had patients every day, after all- he'd only pushed away his appointments in the morning for Lin Yi, not those in the afternoon.

"We can't just not have lunch……" Xuemin had taken up Lin Yi's morning, and felt that he had to at least treat the guy to a meal to make up a little for it, but he did have patients coming in the afternoon- Elder Liu, for example.

"Ah, I'll go get something with Jun Bro- you still have patients, Grandpa Guan, so don't mind us." Lin Yi said, noticing the position Xuemin was in. "I'll drop by for that lunch some other time, I hope you'll welcome me then."

"Of course, of course!!" Xuemin said, overjoyed that Lin Yi was planning to drop by again, aware at the same time that Lin Yi said that on purpose. "I'll have my granddaughter make you some of her trademark dishes next time- Yang's had them before. It won't be worse than the meals you find at hotels."

"Ah, of course! I look forward to that." Lin Yi said with a nod before heading downstairs with Huaijun.

Xuemin was about to escort Lin Yi down when Lin Yi stopped him. "Grandpa Guan… If you continue being so courteous to me I don't think I'll dare drop by again……"

"Alright, alright……" Xuemin knew it was a joke, but there was nothing funny about the shock that came from the statement. He let the two walk down on their own after that.

A black Audi A81 parked in front of the villa just as Lin Yi got in the car.

Oh..? Lin Yi recognized the passengers in the Audi he was seeing from the rear-view mirror- they were the people he'd met in the business district that day. Were they patients of Guan Xuemin, as well?

But Lin Yi didn't intend on greeting them. The old man was a nice person, but his daughter-in-law was simply too much while the son just let his wife push him around…… He'd really have labelled the man as hopeless if it weren't for his explosiveness at the end……

"You know them?" Huaijun asked, seeing that Lin Yi was observing the trio behind them.

"Nope, just met them once. Do you?" Lin Yi said, not mentioning the incident back at the business district. It wasn't much of a story anyway.

"Met them once too. Yanjing's House Liu, a really big family. That old man's Liu Zhenhu, the middle-aged man's Liu Tianyi, an important figure in Yanjing, and that woman's his wife. They're a really powerful family, too." Huaijun said without holding back. "Deep ties both politically and business-wise."

"Is that so?" Lin Yi smiled faintly at the introduction- so that explained the woman's cockiness that day, talking smack about the mayor and minister and everything. "What about your Yang House?"

"Not as strong as the Liu family, they're from Yanjing, after all." Huaijun continued. "My old man's retired for a couple years, and his heirs aren't as strong as him. We only have influence in the military now…… They wanted me to train myself for a couple of years in a special ops squad, get some merits and a high rank, but who would've thought……"

Lin Yi nodded in response. Huaijun was downplaying his family's strength, but the Yangs were still many times more powerful than an average household, albeit a bit lower than the top-tier houses at the peak.

"Get me back to school. Find a place to eat yourself." Lin Yi said after one look at his watch. He could still make it in time for the first afternoon class.

"You're not eating?" Huaijun asked.

"Not really hungry in the first place. I'll just get something along the way." Lin Yi said.

"Alright then." Lin Yi had acted as Huaijun's leader all this time, and there was no reason for him to be resisting against his wishes. With that, he turned the car around, and made his way to Songshan's First School.

chapter 140... remember the first time I talked to you guys on chapter 40? let's change the cover to celebrate, why don't we? i like both the covers so I'm actually quite conflicted about the change, so here's a - vote for the cover you want over there