Chapter 80 Jade Lion “It’s me, don’t be afraid, I’m here…

Lin Meizhu knew she couldn't go on like this, and she began to think about finding a good family for Zhaoye Yushi. She heard about a man named Chang Yuan in the back streets who had once served under Li Jieyi, so she rode her horse to find him.

I called out a few times at the door, but no one answered. I stood on tiptoe and looked around the yard. The tables, chairs, kitchen, etc. were all covered in dust. How could it be that anyone lived there?

Several women were sitting under an old locust tree nearby, picking vegetable leaves and chatting. Seeing Lin Meizhu peering out the door, she asked, "Old Chang's been out working lately. What do you want with him, Eleventh Lady?"

Before Lin Meizhu could answer, a woman exclaimed in surprise, "Really? Old Chang is actually out working?"

"Really? I didn't believe it when my husband told me."

"He hasn't had a job for more than ten or twenty years, right? Would anyone still want him?"

"He said he was helping out during the busy farming season, doing all sorts of work. Some even saw him working as a porter at the foot of the mountain, carrying heavy loads."

Someone sighed and said, "Has he turned over a new leaf? If he had been so diligent and sensible earlier, wouldn't his wife have run away with someone else, taking their son with her?"

Someone else asked, "Has his son been found?"

Someone else responded, "How could that be possible? Poor Gui Niang has been married twice, each one worse than the last. She could only watch helplessly as the drunkard sold her son to buy alcohol, and then hurriedly came to tell Lao Chang. They searched for him for years but couldn't find him..."

"What a sin! Later, Gui Niang couldn't bear it anymore and jumped into the well! Old Chang is no longer human, no longer a ghost, and is addicted to gambling..."

Lin Meizhu was forced to listen to a piece of gossip. It recounted how Chang Yuan once worked for Li Jieyi and had a promising future. However, while sailing, he was possessed by an evil spirit and lost his official position. After his return, he remained timid for a long time, raving madly and screaming at the sight of a chicken being slaughtered. Furthermore, after Gui Niang's miscarriage, Chang Yuan became estranged from his wife and son, An Ge, for unknown reasons. Seeing her husband's dejected and unproductive life, Gui Niang, disheartened, took An Ge back to her parents' home. Later, she was forced by her family to remarry, but she found a man who was no match for her. He drank heavily and sold An Ge while Gui Niang was away.

Lin Meiju didn't believe in the theory of being possessed by evil spirits. She felt that there must be some hidden reason behind Chang Yuan's loss of his official position and drastic change in his personality, but she had no intention of finding out the secrets.

But this lengthy conversation wasn't entirely without use. She'd gotten a crucial piece of information: Chang Yuan couldn't afford to keep the Jade Lion Zhaoye. Furthermore, he had a gambling history, having indirectly caused the loss of the Jade Lion. Lin Meizhu didn't trust him enough to care for the horse.

She had no choice but to ask someone to find a good family willing to adopt Zhaoye Jade Lion.

After searching for a few days, they finally found a family they knew well. The man was a hunter, frank and generous. When he saw the Zhaoye Jade Lion, his eyes lit up and he gave Lin Meiju a bag of silver.

Lin Meiju refused to accept the money. She felt that if she accepted the money, she would be selling the horse, which was not her intention.

As the hunter led the horse away, Lin Meizhu resisted the urge to look back. Only when the clatter of hoofbeats faded behind her did she slowly turn around, staring at the string of hoofprints on the ground, feeling a sense of emptiness in her heart.

Before leaving, the hunter asked Lin Meizhu if she wanted him to come visit the horses from time to time, or if he could bring them to the market. Lin Meizhu instinctively said no. She could never forget the look in the Jade Lion's eyes at that moment, the light completely gone from his already dim eyes.

The hunter said happily, "Then let's go!"

She had expected the Jade Lion to act like a spoiled child and refuse to leave, but no, it didn't fawn over Lin Meizhu like usual, not even glancing at her. With its ears drooping and its eyes wet, it silently set off on a completely unfamiliar road.

After sending Zhaoye Jade Lion away, Lin Meizhu fell into another state of unease. She knew that what she had done was right; she should let go of everything related to Shen Changfeng to prevent future troubles. But she couldn't help but wonder, what if Shen Changfeng really didn't want Zhaoye Jade Lion anymore? If that were the case, it seemed like keeping the horse with her wouldn't be a big deal, right? Besides, Shen Changfeng wasn't in Jingzhou anymore. Zhaoye Jade Lion was such a wonderful horse! It could even bark like a dog.

Thinking of how Zhaoye Jade Lion had been carefully observing her expressions in order to please her in the past few days, Lin Meiju became upset and slowly frowned.

"Doctor, is my illness very serious?" A middle-aged man looked at Lin Meiju's face behind the examination table and spoke with a trembling voice.

Lin Meizhu handed the written prescription to the waiter and smiled: "No, it's okay, just take two doses of medicine."

After the patient left, Lin Meiju rubbed her eyebrows. She didn't know why, but she kept thinking about the Zhaoye Jade Lion today.

As the shop was about to close, they heard a sudden commotion outside the pharmacy. Lin Meizhu hurried forward, only to see the hunter sweating profusely from running. Panic suddenly gripped her heart.

She heard the hunter's voice, full of apology and pity: "I'm afraid your horse is no longer viable."

"He refused to eat since he came back with me. At first I thought he just had a poor appetite, but later he even refused to drink water. The vet came to see him, but couldn't find what was wrong. I knew it wasn't going to work, so I gave him bran and salt water a few times. He seemed to be feeling better after that, but the next day his abdomen started to swell up. It's been two days now..."

Lin Meizhu entered the stable, only to find the light suddenly dimming. A lingering, fishy stench hung in the air. The ground was splattered with mushy, wet, and soft food, making it strangely uncomfortable to step on. A constant buzzing sound filled her ears. A dense swarm of black mosquitoes clung to a thin horse, crawling over its wide-open eyelids. But the horse didn't react. Its chest heaved violently with every breath, and it didn't even have the strength to flick its tail to shoo away the flies.

Lin Meizhu felt that the swarm of mosquitoes and flies was an eyesore and an eyesore. She wanted to light a fire and burn them all. She rushed over and vigorously drove the flies away. She squatted down and stroked its neck and mane, calling softly, "Jade Lion, Jade Lion?"

When Zhaoye Jade Lion saw someone approaching, it struggled to retreat, its nostrils flared, and a resisting hoarse sound came from its throat. Its eyes were no longer as docile as before, but were filled with deep pain and fear.

Lin Meizhu's eyes suddenly turned red, and she choked out, "It's me, don't be afraid, Jade Lion, it's me..."

The Night Jade Lion's breathing became rapid and heavy, with a wheezing sound, and a tear fell from the corner of its eye. Lin Meizhu felt distressed and guilty. She wiped the suds from its mouth with a handkerchief, felt for its pulse under its neck, calmed its mind, and said softly, "It's okay, you will be fine."

Although Lin Meizhu had been practicing medicine for several years and could diagnose hundreds of patients' illnesses, she was still a specialist in her field and did not dare to prescribe medicine on her own at this time. Fortunately, the horse doctor arrived soon and determined that the medicine was given too quickly and damaged the spleen and stomach, causing food stagnation, qi stagnation and blood stasis.

Lin Meizhu followed the veterinarian's instructions, grinding the divine song into powder and mixing it with warm rice water. Using a bamboo tube, she poured the mixture into the horse's mouth, using only half a teacup's worth each time. As she fed, she gently stroked the horse's neck to soothe it. She imitated the man she remembered, gently smoothing its throat after it swallowed to help it eat. At night, she applied a warm, damp towel to the horse's abdomen, sitting in the stable all night until she felt the Jade Lion's breathing become smooth and steady, only then did she breathe a sigh of relief.

When she woke up the next day, Lin Meizhu felt a warm dampness on her palm. When she opened her eyes, the Jade Lion Zhaoye was looking at her eagerly, its eyes full of grievance and reluctance. Lin Meizhu suddenly remembered her childhood self, and her eyes became sore again.

What’s the difference between the Night Jade Lion and a child abandoned by his parents? She placed her hand on the horse’s face and sighed deeply.

Looking at Lin Meiju coaxing the horse to eat tender grass, the hunter behind her put his hands on his hips and slowly smiled.

Lin Meiju finally took the Jade Lion Zhaoye back, even though the hunter apologized again and again and said he would take better care of the Jade Lion Zhaoye, and even though there were reasons for it and he did something bad with good intentions out of impatience, after this incident, she could no longer feel at ease about her horse being looked after by others.

Fortunately, after bringing the Zhaoye Jade Lion home, everything was calm and no one mentioned Shen Changfeng's name anymore, at least there was no such person in Jingzhou.

However, Lin Meizhu had no time to dwell on events that hadn't yet occurred. She became increasingly busy. Over the past two months, banditry had become increasingly rampant, plundering the goods of numerous merchants in the surrounding counties. These bandits not only robbed people of their money and goods, but also abducted women and children to sell. Their atrocities were appalling. Although Lin Meizhu had orchestrated an agreement between the pharmacy and the garrison, whereby the pharmacy would provide medical treatment and the garrison would provide security in exchange for debts, the garrison's soldiers were merely a facade, deterring smaller gangs that dared not directly confront the authorities. In a real battle against the most vicious gangs, these soldiers would undoubtedly stand no chance.

Lin Meizhu had to take time out from her medical practice to discuss countermeasures with the other herbalists. County escorts were in high demand, and the more prestigious and experienced they were, the more expensive they were. Hiring all of these escorts to transport all the medicinal herbs would be a significant expense.

Some people suggested that they could hire some mountain leaders who would not harm good people as cover. It was said that there were a few emerging green forest gangs that gathered in the mountains but did not harm the people. They lived in the underworld and did things in the underworld, only doing what their customers asked and receiving payment.

But Lin Meizhu quickly rejected this idea. She'd learned from the wounded at Huishengtang that the bandits were divided into many factions. Recently, several different groups had been fighting for territory, and many civilians had been caught in the crossfire. They'd all become bandits, their hands stained with blood, so how could they tell the good guys from the bad? If those people took the money and suddenly turned against us, wouldn't that be a huge loss for both the woman and the army?

Finally, everyone decided to separate the medicinal materials from each caravan. Precious materials like ginseng and deer antlers would be transported by elite escorts, using hidden mountain routes to ensure a quick victory. Common herbs would be transported in a large caravan, using a well-maintained plank road, and carried by guards and guards from each household. This way, they could avoid being caught all at once and suffering heavy losses.

Merchants are working tirelessly to prepare the medicinal materials needed for the coming spring before autumn. Thieves need to store food and fodder for the winter, so autumn is definitely the time when they are most active.

Lin Meizhu had lost cargo several times before, but she could only console herself with the fact that the sums involved weren't too large, and that the people she had sent out hadn't been killed or injured. She still had one last shipment of goods left to bring into the city, and the caravan should have arrived in the next two days. For some reason, she hadn't received any news, and instead, the number of patients injured by the bandits had been increasing, from five or six per month at first to five or six per day now.

After waiting for two more days, Lin Meizhu finally received word of the caravan's arrival, a sense of relief building within her. The escort agency was only responsible for delivering the goods to the transit post in Jingzhou, but they had to rush off to other destinations to pick up the goods. She still had to handle the inventory and distribution herself. Since the manager who usually handled receiving the goods had gone to the canal ferry and hadn't returned yet, Lin Meizhu, fearing delays, decided to gather a few of her servants, hire several strong porters, and gather several merchants from the two neighboring counties to go to the post to count and distribute the goods.

The handover went more smoothly than expected. After the goods were inspected and received, they signed and recorded the goods in the account book. Everyone was efficient and had counted all the goods by noon. Seeing that the sky was gloomy, they laid oilcloth on the top of the medicine cart for fear of a sudden rain. When Lin Meiju was helping to hammer the copper nails, they suddenly heard a faint noise coming from the northwest corner. Everyone stopped what they were doing and listened carefully. It seemed to be the sound of galloping horses, occasionally with a few human-like long howls and whistles.

Lin Meizhu's expression changed, and she said to her attendants, "Ship the goods back to the warehouse, and send someone to the front to find out what happened."