Eastern Han Dynasty, not the Three Kingdoms

Zhang Fubao stood by the bed, his face a shifting expression, sometimes frowning, sometimes biting his lower lip. The tormenting inner conflict she felt made Zhen Mi shudder. Seeing her like this, Zhen Mi felt a chill run up her spine, fearing she was about to harm the person on the couch. Her knees buckled, and she fell to her knees with a thump.

"Sister!" Zhen Mi's voice trembled, and she clutched the corner of Zhang Fubao's clothes tightly with both hands. "I deceived you by disguising myself as a man before. I will accept your death! But please let him go... He is seriously injured now. If his identity is exposed, he will really die!" As she spoke, tears welled up in her eyes and slid down her pale cheeks.

Zhang Fubao felt a pang of pain when she saw this. She quickly squatted down and helped Zhen Mi up, holding her cold hands tightly with both hands: "Sister, what are you talking about! How could I harm my brother-in-law?" She gently wiped the tears from Zhen Mi's face, her eyes firm and gentle, "Don't worry, I will do everything I can to save him."

After comforting Zhen Mi, Zhang Fubao turned to look at Hua Tuo with a burning gaze: "Mr. Hua Tuo, you said before that thousand-year-old ginseng and ten-thousand-year-old Ganoderma lucidum are the key to saving lives, but are you serious?"

Hua Tuo nodded solemnly, his old face filled with worry: "If it weren't for those precious herbs keeping him alive, this young man would have collapsed long ago. Although the prescription is correct, his vitality is severely damaged. Ordinary herbs can only barely maintain his health. If he wants to truly recover, he needs miracle drugs."

Hearing this, Zhang Fubao took a deep breath, straightened his back, and a look of determination flashed in his eyes: "In that case, I might be able to get these thousand-year-old ginseng and ten-thousand-year-old Ganoderma lucidum!"

Upon hearing this, Zhen Mi suddenly looked up, her eyes filled with shock and disbelief. She was about to kneel down, but Zhang Fubao quickly stopped her: "Sister, what are you doing? Why should we be so polite to each other?"

"Sister..." Zhen Mi choked with sobs, her lips trembling, "If you can really find these magical medicines, I, Zhen Mi, will work like a slave for the rest of my life to repay your kindness!"

Zhang Fubao looked at Zhen Mi's red eyes and disheveled hair, his fingertips brushing against the back of her cold hand. A dull ache welled up in her heart. She patted her chest, the jade crown holding her hair swaying slightly with her movements. "Don't worry, sister! I'll be back soon and bring the medicine within a day or two!" As she turned, her sleeves brushed against the medicine cabinet, causing a rustling sound, but it couldn't hide the burning determination in her eyes.

The next morning, Zhang Fubao clutched the corner of his clothes and stood in front of his father's study. He took a deep breath before pushing the door open. Zhang Lu was reviewing documents at his desk, and the scent of ink mixed with sandalwood filled his face.

"Is Father copying the Taiping Jing again?" She smiled and shook the scroll in her hand, her eyes sweeping over the newly ground cinnabar ink on the desk. "Yesterday at the clinic, I heard Mr. Hua Tuo talk about pharmacology. He said that ordinary ginseng replenishes qi, and if you find a thousand-year-old ginseng, it can save the dying..." Before she finished speaking, Zhang Lu paused holding the wolf-hair brush, and the ink spread out in a small blob on the rice paper.

Zhang Fubao pretended not to notice and walked over to the antique display case, her fingertips stroking the cloud pattern on the bronze incense burner. "I've been wondering, among the elixirs treasured by our Zhang family for generations, could there be such a magical item?" She secretly glanced at her father and saw that he continued to copy the scriptures with a normal expression, but her heart was in her throat.

"Nonsense." Zhang Lu slapped the table, and the teacup made a clear sound. "How can we talk about these secret treasures casually?"

Zhang Fubao's eyes instantly turned red, her lower lip shrank into a crescent shape in grievance, tears swirling on her eyelashes: "Father, why are you shouting so loud?" She sniffed and rubbed against Zhang Lu, wiping the corners of her eyes with her wide sleeves, "Did you scare me? I'm just curious, it's still unclear whether we have it or not. Look at how excited you are..."

Zhang Lu looked at his daughter's reddened eyes, his harshness instantly turning into helplessness. He coughed lightly, raised his hand to smooth out the wrinkles in his Taoist robe, and said, "Yes, there are." His palm brushed against the gilded frame of Zhang Liang's portrait on the wall, and his tone softened unconsciously. "Our Zhang family has been passed down from our ancestor, Liu Hou, to the present day. We have weathered many storms, so how could we not have some treasures that will be treasured by the clan?"

Seeing his daughter's eyes suddenly light up, he became serious and slammed his whisk on the table: "But these miracle drugs are not a joke!"

Zhang Lu raised his eyes, his brows thick with frost. "Of course. This kind of miraculous medicine is more valuable than a human life, and it has always been given only to the direct descendants of the Zhang family, or those who have done great favors for the family or the court."

"But a doctor's job is to save lives..." Zhang Fubao stamped his feet anxiously, but was interrupted by his father's sharp eyes.

"My daughter," Zhang Lu said, his sleeves waving in the wind as he turned, "if an ordinary person swallows a magical elixir, it will only prolong their lifespan. What good will it do to the family? Only when it is linked to the country and the people can its full potential be realized." He reached out and tapped his daughter's eyebrows. "Don't dwell on these foolish things anymore."

Zhang Fubao blinked her big watery eyes, tugged at Zhang Lu's sleeve and shook it, and said anxiously: "Father, what if he is really an important person and this magic medicine is indispensable? Your daughter is begging you, can you really bear to watch that person suffer?" Her voice was choked with sobs, and her eyes were full of pleading.

Zhang Lu sighed softly, raised his hand and gently stroked Zhang Fubao's head, saying with helplessness and tenderness, "Silly girl, your father naturally cannot bear to see you sad. But this magical medicine is of great significance and cannot be used casually. If your fate fulfills the prophecy in the future and you become an imperial concubine, and you ask for it, your father will naturally comply. But now, if it is an ordinary person, it is absolutely not allowed. This is not only related to the rules of the Zhang family, but also to the inheritance of our Tianshi Dao."

Zhang Fubao bit her lower lip, feeling unwilling. However, looking at her father's serious yet loving eyes, she knew that it was useless to say more at this moment. She could only think of a solution silently in her heart. She secretly vowed that she must find an opportunity to get the thousand-year-old ginseng and ten-thousand-year-old Ganoderma lucidum to save the person on the sickbed.

Zhang Fubao left the study with her head bowed, her embroidered shoes casting long shadows on the bluestone. The cold wind twirled her hair, but it couldn't dispel the gloom in her heart. The glimmer of hope that had shone in Zhen Mi's eyes when she'd looked at her the day before at Hua Tuo's clinic now burned her heart like a scorching iron. Whenever she thought of those eyes, tearful and filled with hope, her chest tightened, and even her breathing became heavy.

When they returned to Hua Tuo's clinic, Zhang Fubao didn't dare look Zhen Mi in the eye. Her hand, holding the medicine bowl, trembled slightly, and her voice was filled with unconcealed anticipation: "Sister, is there any news?" She opened her mouth, but her throat felt like it was clogged with cotton wool. Finally, she turned away, staring at the peeling wall in the corner, and said with difficulty: "Just wait a little longer... just wait a little longer."

This wait lasted three days. During these days, she dared not meet Zhen Mi's gaze. Late at night, Zhang Fubao lay in bed tossing and turning, her visions alternating between the locked secret door of her father's study and the pale, paper-white face of the young general lying on his sickbed. Zhang Fubao secretly resolved that if all else failed, she would resort to stealing.

The next morning, she woke up early and waited outside the study with the newly copied "Taiping Jing". Seeing her father leave, she immediately pretended to bump into him and, in her haste to support him, her fingertips quietly hooked onto the key tassel - a flaw she had discovered after observing for many days: the key was always tied with a faded red string that could be pulled off with a little force.

Late at night, Zhang Fubao clutched the stolen key, her heartbeat distinctly audible in the silent corridor. The copper lock of the secret door gleamed coldly in the moonlight. She took a deep breath and gently inserted the key into the keyhole. With a soft click, the dusty sandalwood box, long sealed in dust, slowly swung open. Millennium-old ginseng, wrapped in golden brocade, shone softly in amber. Ganoderma lucidum mushroom caps clung to the surface, and even her breath lingered with the otherworldly fragrance of medicine.

Just as she reached out, trembling, to take it, she heard the sound of a sleeve tearing through the air behind her. Zhang Fubao spun around, only to find her father standing by the door. The moonlight stretched his shadow so long it threatened to engulf her. "You've finally come," Zhang Lu's voice tinged with deep disappointment, his gaze sweeping over the medicine box in her hands.

Zhang Fubao's fingertips sank deeply into the brocade. He looked at his father who suddenly appeared and said in a trembling voice, "Father... why are you here?"

Zhang Lu's face was cold, and he slammed his whisk on the table. "I found out the key was missing this morning. How can such a secret be made public? Only your brothers know where the secret compartment is. And thinking about your abnormal behavior these days..." His eyes swept over the medicine box slightly exposed in his daughter's arms, "As expected, I caught you here!"

"Now that you've discovered it, I don't have to hide it anymore!" Zhang Fubao suddenly straightened his back and held the medicine box tightly to his chest. "I must take this medicine today!"

"You!" Zhang Lu's eyes widened with anger, veins popping out of his sleeves. "Who are you going to save with this?"

"Father, do you still remember Sister Zhen Mi?" Zhang Fubao looked directly into his father's eyes. "That's the one from Jizhou..."

"That girl who disguised herself as a man and deceived you?!" Zhang Lu was so angry that veins on his forehead throbbed and his sleeves shook violently. "How could I forget! What does she have to do with this?"

"It's to save her husband!" Zhang Fubao knelt on the ground, her hair hanging down on both sides of her cheeks. "The young general was shot by several arrows, and his heart meridians were damaged. Only thousand-year-old ginseng and ten-thousand-year-old Ganoderma lucidum can save his life. The daughter begs her father..."

"Shut up!" Zhang Lu suddenly kicked over the stool beside him, filling the room with the aroma of medicine. "For an unrelated outsider, you are going to use the Zhang family's treasures that have been collected for generations? Do you know how much effort our ancestors put into these magical medicines?"

Zhang Fubao clutched the brocade tightly, her nails piercing the fabric. "Father, if he dies, Sister Zhen won't live either! Could it be that the mercy of the Heavenly Master Dao can't even tolerate a human life?" Before she finished speaking, tears welled up in her eyes. She fell to her knees with a plop. "I am willing to accept the punishment, but I beg you to save them!"

The coldness of the bricks beneath Zhang Fubao's knees was far gentler than the frost in her father's eyes. She suddenly untied the jade hairpin from her hair, pressing the sharp tip to her neck. "If father insists on stopping me, I will die in this study today!" Her trembling fingertips scratched her skin, and drops of blood trickled down the hairpin, spreading a red plum blossom across her plain white clothes.

"You!" Zhang Lu's outstretched hand froze in mid-air, his dark Taoist robe trembling. He looked at his daughter's red eyes, remembering her childhood, clutching a peach wood sword and declaring her desire to save the world. A bitter taste welled up in his throat.

"I've been cautious my whole life, and never thought..." Zhang Lu closed his eyes, his old voice filled with fatigue. "Never mind! If you insist, I'll go with you to see this man. If he's truly worth saving, then use the magic medicine..."

Zhang Fubao felt a wave of relief, and the jade hairpin dropped to the ground with a clang. She rushed over and hugged her father's trembling arms, tears soaking through the cuffs embroidered with the Bagua pattern. "Thank you, father! Thank you, father!"