Khan Bei's Journey - The Doctor

In Changsha…

Zhou Yu was, once again, grumbling to himself due to Sun Ce’s carelessness. 

He had been injured during one of their training sessions and was now being dragged to the family doctor in order to tend to his wounds. However, the good doctor had traveled with Lord Sun Jian's army during his trip up north to quell the Yellow Turban Rebellion earlier that month and was not going to be available for a very long time. 

Having no other option, he asked every person he trusted if they knew of any doctors of worth in the city. To his dismay, they all said most of them had moved with the army north except for one man who had arrived in Changsha a few days after Lord Sun Jian's army had left and opened his clinic. Forced to make a hard choice, Zhou Yu brought his friend to this new doctor in hopes of helping the injured Sun Ce.

Arriving at the clinic, the moment he opened the door, the duo caught the smell of a soothing incense being used and the sound of a man uttering some sort of mantra. Without caring for their rude intrusion, Zhou Yu and Sun Ce opened the doors to find a large room with a patient’s table in the middle, desks with hundreds of scrolls dedicated to human anatomy, the flow of energy in the body, the structure of bones and muscles, writings on philosophy and the study of war. On some cupboards and shelves, they could see jars and sealed pots of medicinal herbs and concoctions that defied their understanding.

Standing by a window where the sun shone directly into the room stood a man of noble baring. He was as tall as Lord Sun Jian, despite the scholarly clothes he wore it was clear he had a strong build, his face showed the hardened expression of a veteran of war but also the experience of a learned man of study. His eyes were closed as he kept his hand together in deep prayer, uttering silent mantras as if nothing else existed beyond himself.

“Excuse me, are you the doctor of this clinic?” Zhou Yu inquired hastily, which was met with the man in prayer to shush him and resumed his mantra.

“Hey! I’m hurt here! Can’t you stop with the prayers and help me out!?” Sun Ce, in his impertinence, spoke loudly which was met with another loud shush from the man whose face began to show exasperation.

“Master doctor, please! This isn’t-” When Zhou Yu began to talk again, the man stomped the ground with his foot which made the entire clinic rumble as if an earthquake had passed through. This caused the two young men to lose balance, stumble and fall. This aggravated Sun Ce’s injury which made him yell out in pain.

“You come into my clinic, disturb me while I’m in meditation and because of this, you’ve only managed to worsen your injuries. Your haste in acting has led you to this undignified position,” The man had finally spoken and his words felt like a brand on the two young men’s pride as if their own father had spoken to them in rebuke. “Your lack of respect is something I cannot correct, but if your friend needs aid, then I will help him.”

The two young men now were looking up at this man with a sense of being smaller than they really were. His eyes were the color of jade, his face showed he wasn’t a young lad like them but wasn’t an old man either, his expression showed his dissatisfaction with their intrusion and would more than likely toss them out had he not noticed Sun Ce’s injury.

“Let’s have a look, child, before you end up breaking your skull and ridding all of us of your recklessness.”