Chapter 49: The Medical Sage Insists on Swearing Brotherhood with Ye Xun, Shocking Everyone Numb

In the main hall.

Ye Xun, Wei Feng, and Shangguan Yunqing stared in utter bewilderment at Wu Shouzhi, who was dead drunk and heavily intoxicated.

Getting drunk and casting off one's inhibitions was one thing.
Yet the man insisted on swearing a blood oath of brotherhood with Ye Xun and formally kowtowing to heaven and earth.
It left the three of them utterly speechless.

However, this outcome was well within Ye Xun's expectations.
He had long suspected that this Medical Saint possessed a rather repressed personality.
Sure enough, getting heavily drunk directly exposed his true nature.

Nearby, Wu Yue continued to devour his food ravenously.
His appetite was truly astonishing, having already consumed three roasted chickens, two racks of lamb, and an entire jar of wine.
Wangcai lay on the floor gnawing on raw venison, still glaring fiercely at Wu Yue with eyes brimming with hostility.

Ye Xun looked toward Wu Shouzhi and smiled, "Elder Wu, you jest. How could this junior ever dare to swear a brotherhood with you? You are bestowing too great an honor upon me."

Thump!

Wu Shouzhi slammed his hand onto the table, pointed straight at Ye Xun, and roared indignantly, "What do you mean by that? Are you looking down on old Wu here? Let me tell you, today you must become my sworn brother, or else I refuse to treat this illness, and I shall return to Mount Buhuo right this instant!"

As he spoke, Wu Shouzhi hugged his wine jar, lifted his feet, and prepared to storm out of the hall.

Wu Yue, holding a rack of lamb in his hand, looked up at him and mumbled vaguely, "Old Wu... I... I haven't eaten my fill yet..."

Wei Feng: ......
Shangguan Yunqing: ......

At this moment, both of them were completely speechless.
They never expected that the Medical Saint and his disciple would act like this when drunk; it completely shattered their worldview.
At the same time, they developed a certain wariness toward distilled liquor. Losing one's composure after drinking was simply not worth the trouble.

Seeing Wu Shouzhi get up to leave, Ye Xun hurriedly stepped forward to block his path.

"Elder Wu, what are you doing?"
"How could this junior ever look down upon you? You are the Medical Saint of our era, far beyond what this junior could ever hope to match."
"Whoever manages to become sworn brothers with you would be cultivating blessings for eight lifetimes."

As he spoke, he shot a glance over at Wei Feng, continuously blinking signals.

Wei Feng paused slightly, then caught on instantly. He stepped forward to intervene, saying, "Your Highness, why don't you simply agree to Elder Wu's request? As the saying goes, true words are spoken after wine; for Elder Wu to seek a brotherhood with Your Highness must surely come from the bottom of his heart."
"A friendship across generations like this will surely become a legendary tale passed down through the ages."

Wei Feng's words were logical, well-grounded, and full of sincere emotion.

Hearing this, Wu Shouzhi halted his steps, looked at Wei Feng, and gave him a thumbs-up. "You're the only youngster whose words sound pleasant to the ear."
Immediately afterward, he turned his gaze back to Ye Xun, lowering his eyes as he demanded, "I will ask you one more time: will you swear brotherhood with me or not?"

By this point, Ye Xun was blooming with joy inside, never expecting the tactic to yield even better results than he had imagined.
Thanks to Wei Feng's quick wit in delivering that timely assist.

"Well... alright then." Ye Xun nodded helplessly, putting on a reluctant expression. "Then this junior shall take advantage of you, and tonight I shall become your sworn brother."

Shangguan Yunqing: ？？？

At this moment, she stood watching the scene between Ye Xun and Wu Shouzhi in the hall with a completely blank expression.
The Medical Saint Wu Shouzhi wanted to become sworn brothers with the Prince of Qin, Ye Xun?
Was their relationship really progressing this rapidly?
What on earth was going on here?

Moreover, she had a lingering suspicion that while Ye Xun seemed to be putting up token resistance, everything was actually unfolding entirely according to his calculations.
She simply could not fathom when Ye Xun had become so unfathomably scheming; he was practically an old fox in human skin.

Meanwhile, Wu Shouzhi had already pulled Ye Xun down to kneel before the hall, gazing up at the bright moon with a bowl of wine in his hand.

Just as Wu Shouzhi was about to speak, he suddenly realized something was amiss. He turned his head toward Wei Feng and said, "Little brother Wei, go fetch a dagger."

"Ah!? Oh..." Wei Feng was momentarily stunned, then hastily acknowledged the order.

The Medical Saint was planning to perform a blood-drinking oath of brotherhood with Ye Xun; this was turning out to be quite formal.
A surge of secret delight welled up in Wei Feng's heart.
If Ye Xun could truly forge a bond of brotherhood with the Medical Saint, Ye Xun's influence in the future would become immeasurable.
Who could possibly turn down a brother who was the Medical Saint?

A short while later, Wei Feng returned and handed the dagger to Wu Shouzhi.

Wu Shouzhi took the dagger, sliced open his own palm, and then grabbed Ye Xun's hand to cut his palm as well.
He let a few drops of blood from both their hands fall into a bowl of wine.

There was no turning back now that the mood had reached this point.

Wu Shouzhi raised the wine bowl, faced the bright moon, and spoke with utmost solemnity, "I, Wu Shouzhi, and Ye Xun, though of different surnames, have now sworn as brothers. We seek not to be born on the same day of the same month, but only to die on the same day of the same month! May the sovereign earth and high heavens bear witness to this heart; should either betray this righteousness or forget this grace, let man and heaven together destroy us!"

With those words, Wu Shouzhi drained the bowl in a single gulp.

Holy crap...
Ye Xun suddenly felt a pang of regret.
*Only to die on the same day of the same month?*
*You're already at such an advanced age, while I am barely in my twenties! Haven't I gotten the extremely short end of the stick here?*

He hesitated for just a split second.

Wu Shouzhi immediately whipped his head around, glared at Ye Xun, and demanded in a deep voice, "Third brother, what are you waiting for?"

Uh......

Left with no other choice, Ye Xun had to bite the bullet, pick up his wine bowl, and recite, "I, Ye Xun, and Wu Shouzhi, though of different surnames, have now sworn as brothers. We seek not to be born on the same day of the same month, but only to die on the same day of the same month! May the sovereign earth and high heavens bear witness to this heart; should either betray this righteousness or forget this grace, let man and heaven together destroy us!"

Following suit, Ye Xun drank down the contents of his cup in one go.

Seeing this scene play out, Wu Shouzhi nodded in great satisfaction and helped Ye Xun to his feet. "Third brother, from this day forward you and I shall address each other as brothers. Although as your elder brother I am somewhat older, I shall take good care of you."

Wait a minute...
Third brother?

Ye Xun stared at Wu Shouzhi in utter incomprehension. This Medical Saint of an older brother must have a screw loose somewhere.
Shortly after, he looked at Wu Shouzhi and asked faintly, "Wu... Elder..."

"Hmm?" Wu Shouzhi stared straight at him, pondering aloud, "Third brother, what did you just call me?"

Uh......

Ye Xun looked at him, offering a smile that was awkward yet managed to retain some politeness.

"Hehe..."
"Eldest brother, shouldn't I be the second brother?"
"Where did a third brother suddenly come from?"

Hearing this, Wu Shouzhi came to a sudden realization and said, "Ah, third brother, that's my fault for not making it clear to you earlier. Before swearing brotherhood with you, elder brother had already pledged sworn brotherhood with another person. He ranks as the second brother, and you rank as the third."
"No matter, though. One of these days when there's an opportunity, I'll introduce the two of you and we can make the ceremony official."

Ye Xun: ......
How on earth did a second brother end up in the picture too?
Can a ceremony of sworn brotherhood be supplemented at a later date?

However, matters had already reached this stage, so Ye Xun decided not to dwell on it further and simply had to accept it with a resigned attitude.
In truth, aside from Wu Shouzhi's rather advanced age, Ye Xun wasn't actually getting the short end of the stick at all.

Back in the hall, Wu Yue continued to stuff his face ravenously, completely unconcerned with the proceedings between Wu Shouzhi and Ye Xun.

Wei Feng looked at Ye Xun with a gaze full of awe.
To be honest, Ye Xun's outrageous maneuver of securing a sworn brotherhood with the Medical Saint genuinely left him astounded.
He was simply too smooth at this sort of thing.

In this world, people who could coax the Medical Saint out of seclusion were as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns.
Yet look at Ye Xun: he practically emptied out the Medical Saint's household and got the man to become his sworn brother on the spot.

Still, Wei Feng sincerely hoped this wasn't just Wu Shouzhi acting wild under the influence of alcohol.
If the old man refused to acknowledge it tomorrow morning, all this effort would have been for nothing.