Receiving the young master's affirmation made Huo Anding much happier than being the center of attention.
He said: "Their Cuju skills are too inferior. My father, second uncle, and my uncles—their Cuju techniques are truly spectacular. Every time I play with them, I have to exhaust my mind."
"I can teach you how to play Cuju. I can teach you all those moves, like 'Extracting Firewood from under the Cauldron' and 'Fishing the Moon from the Sea.'"
Shen Qingyue shook his head.
Huo Anding disapproved: "How can studying alone be enough? Physical training must also be practiced, otherwise the body becomes too weak."
Shen Qingyue said: "I know how to play polo and chuwan."
[Chuwan (捶丸): an ancient Chinese stick-and-ball game from the Song to Ming dynasties, considered a predecessor of modern golf.]
Huo Anding raised his eyebrows: "Young master truly is a young master, skilled in the pleasures of wealthy and noble families. Since you are unwilling to learn cuju, I would very much like to learn polo. How about you teach me, young master?"
Shen Qingyue suddenly stopped walking.
He turned his head to look at Huo Anding beside him and said slowly: "The Piaoqi General's equestrian and archery skills even drew admiration from His Majesty. A mighty father does not have a feeble son. Would his only son not know how to play something as simple as polo?"
Huo Anding froze upon hearing this.
He coughed dryly. Having his background exposed so abruptly, he couldn't help but hiss: "You already know?"
Shen Qingyue didn't speak, just started walking forward again.
Huo Anding watched the figure walking ahead, momentarily unsure what to say.
Shen Qingyue had always been a man of few words and largely indifferent to many matters. Huo Anding never expected him to investigate his family background.
Although he knew from the start that Shen Qingyue was either wealthy or noble, and had been curious about his family background, he himself was unwilling to reveal his own family affairs, so he had never asked Shen Qingyue.
But now that his family matters had been exposed in one sentence, he became curious about Shen Qingyue's family background again.
The Huo family couldn't be considered a famous noble clan in the court, their wealth and status came from assisting the emperor in ascending the throne.
Lacking deep roots, they were actually never looked upon favorably by the established noble families in the court, and could be considered comrades in misfortune with the Duan family.
However, in recent years, his father had proven consistently competent, and his elder brother (Zhao Pan) had been steadily rising through the ranks, allowing the family to gradually establish a firm footing.
To the outside world, their family could be considered court officials with some name recognition. But he had kept a low profile coming from Tongzhou to Baojing, and hadn't even disclosed his enrollment information at the academy. That Shen Qingyue could investigate so clearly showed his family background was extraordinary.
"Aren't you coming?"
Hearing the voice, Huo Anding snapped back to attention and hurriedly took two steps to catch up.
"Are you angry?"
Huo Anding asked carefully.
Shen Qingyue said: "Why should I be angry? Nine out of ten sentences from your mouth are false. If I bothered with them, wouldn't I just be troubling myself unnecessarily?"
"Regarding my family matters, I did conceal them. They don't want me to show off outside."
Huo Anding sounded slightly wronged: "As for other matters, I haven't spoken falsely, I just haven't revealed the whole picture."
Seeing they were almost at the dining hall, Shen Qingyue glanced at the sweat still on Huo Anding's forehead from playing cuju earlier. Such an appearance while eating was truly inelegant.
Without looking at him, he pulled a pale, white colored square handkerchief from his sleeve and handed it over.
Huo Anding couldn't help but blink, feeling somewhat flattered and surprised.
"I won't dwell on these past matters with you. From now on, you also don't need to deceive me with falsehoods."
Huo Anding quickly seized the opportunity to make peace, accepting the handkerchief from Shen Qingyue's hand with both hands.
As if receiving a token, he stepped back two steps, bowed, and clasped his hands: "This humble one obeys the command."
Shen Qingyue ignored him.
Huo Anding hesitated for a moment, then still asked: "Might I ask which family's young master Qingyue is?"
Shen Qingyue was silent for a moment. He slightly opened his mouth, as if about to speak, when suddenly a rough, grunting sound was heard.
Then a panicked, strained shout rang out: "Everyone, move aside!"
The two couldn't help but look in the direction of the sound. They saw the academy's chef, holding a long, sharp knife, rushing out from the direction of the back kitchen. Both the knife and his apron were stained with blood. His frantic dash startled those who didn't know the reason.
However, ahead of him, a stout white pig was also scrambling madly. The pig seemed to have already been stabbed, as gushing blood continuously spurted from its neck area while it fled.
The blood had already splattered all over its body. Being a white pig originally, now covered in blood, it resembled a wrathful deity charging out of a slaughterhouse.
In its panic, it was crashing around indiscriminately, not knowing which way to go.
"Qingyue, be careful. I'll go lend a hand."
Huo Anding, seeing this, hurriedly prepared to subdue the pig, to prevent the large fat pig from fiercely charging into an unsuspecting scholar.
But as soon as the words left his mouth, before he could rush out after instructing Shen Qingyue, he saw the person beside him, who had been perfectly fine moments before, suddenly go limp and collapse.
Huo Anding wasn't frightened by the pig charging out, but he was greatly startled by Shen Qingyue's action.
Without a second thought, he quickly reached out to catch Shen Qingyue. The somewhat slender youth was like a falling leaf, suddenly losing all weight and force.
Huo Anding looked at the person in his arms, face pale, having suddenly lost consciousness and fainted.
He was both shocked and terrified, his heart in his throat.
"Qingyue, Qingyue! What's wrong with you!"
But no matter how he called, the person in his arms showed no response.
Huo Anding frowned tightly. Seeing he couldn't wake him, he slightly crouched, wrapped his arms around Shen Qingyue's waist, and lifted him.
The young man was far lighter than he had imagined. The lack of weight made him feel even more unsettled inside. He almost sprinted towards the dormitory building.
Scholars who didn't know what was happening thought someone had been hurt by the pig's sudden charge.
Huo Anding carried Shen Qingyue straight to the sleeping quarters. Returning to the room, he quickly laid him flat on the bed.
He first checked Shen Qingyue's pupils, and felt slightly relieved seeing they weren't dilated.
Then, bending one knee beside the bed, he picked up Shen Qingyue's hand, pushed the sleeve up a bit, and held his slender arm.
Huo Anding placed his fingers on his pulse. For a moment, he felt as if struck by lightning.
He quickly let go of the arm as if it had burned him, looked up at the beautiful, serene face on the bed, and dumbly swallowed.
Although his own medical skills were not masterful, and his father often called him a quack... When he was younger, he thought it was because his father disliked him studying medicine. But his maternal great-grandfather and his little father both practiced medicine, so logically his father shouldn't feel that way.
In the past, troubled by not understanding the reason for this, he later heard from his little father that when he was young, he randomly imitated elders prescribing medicine and diagnosing pulses. Once, returning home, he took his father's pulse and diagnosed him with a... pregnancy pulse!
This was probably his father's lifelong disgrace. Of course, it was also the biggest stain on his own medical learning journey.
But that could still be attributed to young age, ignorance in childhood. But now, he was seventeen, a proper, upright age—how could he still make such an earth-shattering mistake?
Although his medical skills were not equal to his great-grandfather's, if he hadn't pursued studies and the family career, he would have had the confidence to open a medical hall and stand on his own.
But at this moment, his confidence in his own medical skills collapsed momentarily, and he doubted himself for a brief period.
It make no sense, it simply shouldn't be!
Huo Anding took a deep breath and reached for Shen Qingyue's pulse again.
Then he inhaled sharply once more.
His medical skills were not the problem. They couldn't be wrong. So if there was a problem, if there was a mistake, then it was...
Huo Anding looked at the person lying on the bed, and suddenly the tips of his ears turned red.
Thank you for the update💗💗
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