As night deepened, several dark figures silently carried a sedan chair out through a side door. Just as they turned the corner, two agile figures leaped down from the eaves like ghosts.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!" Several muffled thuds rang out. Before the burly men carrying the sedan chair could react, they were struck on the back of the neck by Wei Ze and Wei Ming with a chop to the neck, and collapsed limply to the ground.

The sedan curtain was lifted, and Shen Qinghe stepped out calmly, his eyes shining brightly, showing no sign of drunkenness whatsoever.

“My lord,” the two men approached Shen Qinghe and whispered, “we have already switched the wine pots as planned. What Zhao De’an poured was just ordinary water.”

Shen Qinghe nodded slightly and instructed, "Take these servants back to the inn and see if we can get anything useful out of them."

He knew Zhao De'an would drug the wine, so he secretly ordered someone to switch it. Just as he was about to speak again, a wave of dizziness hit him, and he swayed slightly. He quickly grabbed the sedan chair shaft.

"My lord?!" the two exclaimed in surprise.

Shen Qinghe felt dizzy, and alarm bells rang in his mind: something was wrong, the medicine wasn't in the wine.

***

Night had fallen and the streets were becoming deserted. Meng Zhao and Afu soon arrived at the gate of the inn. The guard at the gate was yawning. When he saw that it was Afu who had just come, he lazily waved his hand and let them in.

After passing through several courtyards, Meng Zhao saw Wei Ze and Wei Ming pacing back and forth in front of the courtyard, their waist knives slung over their shoulders, looking somewhat anxious.

Both men were originally secret guards of the Eastern Palace, and later took on the duties of working for Shen Qinghe. They had also seen Meng Zhao at the Shen family's residence before. Upon seeing her, they were both startled and hurriedly stepped forward, clasping their hands in a gesture of respect, "Madam Meng? Why have you come at this hour?"

Her gaze passed over the two men and landed on the closed door. "I have a few businesses to manage in Huainan, so I just stopped by to take a look. Where are your parents? I have something to discuss with them."

Wei Ming exchanged a glance with Wei Ze, and stammered, "Reporting to Madam Meng, the master has already retired for the night. Why don't you come again tomorrow?"

Meng Zhao raised an eyebrow slightly. "Oh? So early? When Afu came to ask earlier, didn't he say that your master had gone to a banquet?"

Wei Ze's forehead was beaded with sweat, and he stammered, "Yes, yes, it's like this. The master returned from the banquet and drank a few too many cups. He's already asleep now."

Drinking? If that's the case, Meng Zhao is even less likely to believe it. Given Shen Qinghe's low alcohol tolerance, he's never been seen drinking at his own family's New Year's banquet. Why would he be drinking outside? She became even more suspicious. "Move aside, I want to go in."

"Oh dear, Madam Meng, the master is alright, don't worry, it's so late at night..." Before she could finish speaking, a sound of porcelain shattering suddenly came from the courtyard, followed by a woman's exclamation. Meng Zhao's expression hardened, and just as she was about to lash out, a beautiful woman ran out of the courtyard, still clutching her outermost garment to her chest.

The woman's eyebrows shot up at the sight of Wei Ze. Pointing into the courtyard, she shouted, "I'm not doing this job anymore! That guy inside is a complete madman! I didn't even touch the hem of his clothes before he threw a teacup at me and almost disfigured me!"

Upon hearing this, Meng Zhao's eyes widened, and his gaze swept back and forth between the group of people. The two men were sweating profusely and had no time to pay attention to Meng Zhao.

Wei Ze stamped his feet in frustration and said to the woman in a low voice, "That's not what you said when you took the money!"

"Pah!" The woman spat with her hands on her hips, her voice rising even louder. "You didn't say this gentleman would be so difficult to serve when you gave him the money! Let me tell you, you won't get back a single penny of the money you took earlier, and you'll have to pay for my medical expenses!" As she spoke, she deliberately stretched out her swollen wrist in front of Wei Ze's eyes.

Seeing that the three were about to start arguing, Meng Zhao gritted her teeth and shouted, "Shut up, all of you!" Her sharp gaze swept over the three of them, finally fixing on Wei Ze: "You better tell me honestly what happened."

Seeing Meng Zhao's look of catching someone in the act, the woman sensed something was wrong and turned to run away, but Wei Ming reacted quickly and grabbed her wrist.

Seeing that he couldn't hide it any longer, Wei Ze had no choice but to bite the bullet and tell Shen Qing about the Chinese medicine.

Meng Zhao frowned: "Did he invite this girl himself?"

"No," Wei Ze said awkwardly, rubbing his hands. "It was my subordinate who found it at a nearby brothel."

Meng Zhao was almost laughing in anger: "Didn't you think of any other way?"

Wei Ze was also very anxious: "Master, the doctor said that this aphrodisiac powder can only be neutralized by... by that certain thing."

"Bullshit!" Meng Zhao couldn't help but roll her eyes. This so-called aphrodisiac was an old acquaintance of hers. In the original story, Shen Qinghe was drugged and seduced by the original owner but failed. Why bother with such trouble now? She immediately said to Wei Ming, "Go and get some cool water."

Then, looking at the girl, Shen Qinghe knew that his current status was special and that there couldn't be any rumors, so he said, "Don't worry, miss, no one will hurt you here. It's just that I'll trouble you to stay at this inn for a while longer."

The woman was relieved to see that Meng Zhao hadn't come to catch them in adultery, and she didn't try to run away anymore.

Meng Zhao paced back and forth in the courtyard. From time to time, muffled sounds came from inside the house, mixed with Shen Qinghe's suppressed panting. She was also a little anxious. When Wei Ming finally rushed over with a bucket of water, she hurriedly instructed Afu: "Go in quickly and use cold water to wipe your master down to cool him down."

Not long after Afu went inside, a loud crash suddenly came from inside the house. Afu then came running out in a panic, his clothes soaked. "Ms. Meng, please come quickly! The magistrate saw me and probably guessed that you were here, so he kept calling your name and asking you to come in."

Meng Zhao's heart skipped a beat. Before she could think further, another muffled thud came from inside the room. She quickly took the cloth from Afu's hand and pushed the door open to enter.

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