Chapter 561 A Poisonous Scheme
Lin Changning slapped the soup bowl out of Qi Rong's hand, and the brown medicine inside spilled onto the felt.
Lin Changning's face instantly darkened, and he instinctively shielded Yue'er with his hands, shouting coldly at the people outside, "Bring her in!!"
Upon hearing Lin Changning's words, the guards outside quickly dragged the traveling doctor onto the carriage.
After the two entered the carriage, You Baicao wiped the cold sweat from her brow and looked at Lin Changning, who was sitting upright beside the small couch, exuding an imposing aura. Lin Changning knelt tremblingly in the soft carriage: "M-Sir, just this evening, that gentleman took me to eat, and there happened to be someone brewing medicine nearby. The smell of the medicine hit my nostrils. Although aconite is a medicinal herb, the properties of those other herbs clashed with aconite. I'm afraid, I'm afraid..."
Qi Rong frowned, looking at the kneeling itinerant doctor: "What are you afraid of?"
Yu Baicao steeled his heart and kowtowed directly onto the soft felt: "I'm afraid someone is trying to harm you, sir! I dare not lie. Although I only have a rudimentary understanding of medicine, I know that aconite is extremely poisonous. If you don't believe me, you can ask the imperial physician!"
The Imperial Physician had just heard the doctor's voice while he was eating in the back. At this moment, the imperial physicians who had prescribed medicine for Qi Rong and the others were waiting outside the carriage with the prescriptions, quietly waiting for Lin Changning and the others to summon them.
Lin Changning frowned and pondered for a moment, his fingers unconsciously tapping on the table. He looked up at the itinerant doctor and said, "There are three bowls of medicine here. Come and smell them to see which one has aconite in it."
The entire process of preparing Li Mingshu's medicine was overseen by two palace maids, a guard sent by Lin Changning, and Li Mingshu's personal maid. Naturally, there were no problems with the people sent by the Empress.
It's also difficult for someone to prescribe medicine that isn't part of Li Mingshu's prescription. Currently, there are four main prescriptions in total. Lin Changning's prescription was written by Shilang, and Shilang and the Lin family's apprentices supervised the entire process, so it's unlikely that anyone would tamper with it.
Lin Changning turned his gaze to Qi Rong, who seemed to be deep in thought, and pointed to Fang Langzhong, saying, "Smell that bowl first."
His slender fingers pointed directly at the medicine bowl that Qi Rong had knocked to the ground.
The traveling doctor nodded and half-knelt, taking a few steps forward. The doctor didn't know any etiquette, and he felt that the atmosphere in the carriage was so oppressive that he couldn't breathe. For a moment, he didn't even dare to straighten up. He just crawled on his knees to Qi Rong, picked up the bowl, and used his hand to scoop up a little bit of the remaining medicine from the bottom of the bowl.
After smelling it, he nodded to Lin Changning: "Yes, sir, this bowl has aconite in it!"
Lin Changning then pushed his own and Li Mingshu's items in front of the traveling doctor, saying, "Smell them."
The traveling doctor smelled the pills in both bowls again, then respectfully put them back and kowtowed to Lin Changning: "Sir, there is no aconite in these two bowls of medicine."
Qi Rong sneered and picked up the medicine bowl in his hand: "So you're after me!"
Lin Changning felt it wasn't appropriate for a young girl like Yue'er to witness such a scene, so he straightened up, picked up Yue'er, opened the carriage a crack, and handed it to the maid: "Take the young lady down to rest."
Looking at the group of imperial physicians trembling outside the carriage, Lin Changning frowned and asked, "Who wrote the prescription for the Duke's medicine?"
A royal physician tremblingly raised his hand: "Your Excellency, it was I who prescribed the medicine."
Lin Changning nodded: "Come in, and the Dean should come in too."
If he remembered correctly, the Empress and her entourage took most of the people in the Prince's mansion with them when they left. Qi Rong didn't really like being served, so he left even fewer personal attendants.
After the imperial physician arrived, he took over the duties of the family physician. Li Mingshu managed the Lin family's affairs in an orderly manner. His medicine and Li Mingshu's medicine were both supervised and prepared by special people, making it almost impossible for any mistakes to occur.
Qi Erge was different. There were few people left in the Prince's mansion, and most of his confidants were military officers and guards. Later, when the imperial physician came, he found it troublesome and handed over the task of decocting medicine to the people of the Imperial Hospital.
That must have been when the mishap happened.
Li Mingshu's head maid knew what to do after Lin Changning glanced at her. Taking advantage of the moment when the imperial physician climbed onto the carriage, she quickly went to the carriage at the back where the medicine was being decocted. She wrapped the dregs of the medicine that evening for the three of them in paper and then ran back to the carriage.
After Lin Changning went inside, he glanced at the itinerant doctor and asked, "Tell me, was aconite added to that bowl of medicine just now?"
You Baicao glanced at the two imperial physicians who had entered, and pointed to the bowl in Qi Rong's hand, saying, "Your Excellency, that, that bowl."
The imperial physician who prescribed medicine for Qi Rong turned pale: "Your Excellency, Duke! Your Excellency, my prescription does not contain aconite!"
As the imperial physician spoke, he knelt down in the carriage with a thud, and the head physician followed suit: "Your Excellency, Your Highness, I only dared to administer the medicine to Your Excellency after reviewing Physician Zhou's prescription. There is indeed no aconite! This, this..."
Lin Changning lazily raised his eyelids: "Keep your voice down, my wife is still resting."
The abbot lowered his voice and bowed to Lin Changning and Qi Rong: "The prescription is here. The Duke and the Marquis may take a look."
Lin Changning took the prescription from the maid, examined it carefully, and then handed it to Qi Rong. She then glanced at the head maid and asked, "Did you bring the dregs?"
The head maid nodded and placed the paper package in front of the imperial physician.
Qi Rong smiled as he looked at the efficient Lin Changning. The sixth child had grown up to be more and more mature, and even when dealing with shady matters, he was quite capable.
The imperial physicians picked up the three medicine packets. After examining Qi Rong's dregs, Physician Zhou's expression changed drastically. Holding one of the dregs, he kowtowed to Lin Changning: "Your Excellency, Your Excellency, I truly did not open the aconite. The herbs in this medicine furnace were added later!"
Lin Changning squinted at Physician Zhou, then looked at the somewhat panicked head of the Imperial Hospital: "Head of the Imperial Hospital, the medicine for me and the princess is taken care of by maids from the Lin family. But the Duke's medicine, from the prescription to the decoction and finally to the delivery to the carriage, is all handled by people from your Imperial Hospital. I need an explanation for this!"
The Imperial Physician and Physician Zhou kowtowed respectfully to Lin Changning and Qi Rong: "Your Majesty, we will go back and investigate immediately!"
Lin Changning snorted coldly: "Know it!"
Zhiqi, who was standing nearby outside the carriage, quickly replied, "Yes, Your Excellency!"
Lin Changning looked at the two imperial physicians and said, "Go and investigate with them who tampered with our Duke's medicine last night!"
He quickly replied, "Yes, Your Excellency!"
The two imperial physicians quickly withdrew and led Zhiqi to the carriage at the back to investigate who had added a highly poisonous ingredient to Qi Rong's medicine.
Qi Rong had his own guesses, but he was happy to see Lin Changning stand up for him: "Little Six is becoming more and more capable in his work. He truly deserves to be the youngest Marquis of our Great Xuan."
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