"Shen Yu, do you know when you were poisoned?" After the old doctor left the guest room where Wan Xueying and her friends were temporarily staying to write a prescription, Wan Xueying asked Shen Yu with a serious face.
"It should have been when I was the third prince's tutor." This sentence shows that Shen Yu had known about his poisoning for a long time.
"Is it convenient to tell me?" Wan Xueying only asked this question because it concerned the royal family.
Shen Yu smiled and said, "I can't tell others about it, but it's definitely different with you."
"Stop talking nonsense!" Wan Xueying rolled her eyes at him. "From what the old doctor said, the poison is hidden quite deep. It cannot be detected by ordinary pulse diagnosis. This time, your internal organs were shattered and seriously injured, so the poison was drawn out." Unfortunately, she was not good at this, so she didn't know the specific situation.
"When Ye Chengyun and I became the Third Prince's study companions, we were each required to take a poison. They were told that if we took the antidote regularly every year for twenty years, the toxins in our bodies would be completely eliminated." Neither he nor Ye Chengyun was the eldest son in their families, so they had to fight for their futures. Of course, it was more likely that the family pushed them out for the sake of glory.
It's like a gamble: success brings prosperity, and the family benefits. Failure is like being imprisoned, or even losing one's life. Families often abandon them at the first opportunity to avoid being implicated. But in reality, everyone wins and everyone suffers.
When Wan Xueying heard that the antidote had to be taken continuously for twenty years, her first thought was that the antidote could be paid for in installments? And he actually believed that? After complaining, she asked, "Does only the Third Prince's companion need to take the poison? Or do all the companions of the other princes need to take it?"
"I'm not sure about that. But according to what I heard privately, the prince's tutor also took it." After all, this matter was confidential, and he still took a lot of effort to get this information from one of the prince's tutors.
"Then do you know what happened to the companions of the emperor's generation?"
"The few people I know didn't live past forty." Because their causes of death were so different, they didn't attract much attention. He had been brooding over the matter, so he inquired about it and learned more about it. He deduced that the poison was flawed, and so was the antidote.
Wan Xueying narrowed her eyes after hearing this. It was truly unheard of for the royal family to rely on such methods to control their people. No wonder the Third Prince couldn't even manage the Third Prince's Mansion properly, and the people under him kept causing problems time and time again. It didn't seem unfair at all.
"Do you have any so-called antidote to this poison?" she asked.
"We always got the antidote at the end of the year, and we took it right away. However, I was careful when I took the poison. I scratched it with my fingernail, and a little bit of the powder was left in the crack of my fingernail. I later kept it."
"What about the poison powder?" Wan Xueying asked.
"It was originally in the secret compartment of my study in the Duke's Mansion. But when you warned me that something might happen in the Duke's Mansion, I asked Shunzi to bring it out along with the ones I gave you."
At least this man wasn't completely foolish in the face of imperial power! Wan Xueying nodded. "That's good. I'll study it carefully later to see if I can create an antidote." All poisons in the world are just the same, and each has its own antidote. Unless it's a highly toxic poison, the person will die before the antidote arrives, making it incurable. As long as it's a chronic poisoning, with the right medicine and proper treatment, it won't be a problem. The only concern is that if you don't know the poison's composition, detoxification becomes extremely difficult, and even a haphazard detoxification can lead to resistance to a previously easy-to-treat poison.
If Wan Xueying had saved Shen Yu's life in a critical moment, then subsequent treatment still depended on the old doctor. However, after the old doctor had prescribed the medicine, Wan Xueying added a few very common herbs to the prescription.
On the surface, there is nothing special about it, but when you think about it carefully, you will find that the purpose of these medicines is not to treat the disease, but to increase the efficacy of several main medicines, reduce the adverse effects, and even make the whole medicine taste a little better. The old doctor was shocked.
"Girl, you can treat diseases, why do you come to me?" He felt that he had been practicing medicine for decades but was being tested.
"To be honest with you, I really don't know how to treat a disease. I'm just interested in pharmaceutical manufacturing." Wan Xueying had to explain this to others again.
"That's strange. How could someone only study medicine and not medicine? Which master taught you this way?" In the old doctor's opinion, medicine and pharmacy are inseparable. It is very likely that this girl, such a good seedling, only studied medicine and was delayed by someone.
Uh... could she say that she was taught by several professors? She really only studied pharmacy.
Her current answer is: "Old man, I'm just interested in pharmaceuticals and I've been playing around with it when I'm free. I've never had a proper teacher."
"How could you figure this out just by guessing?" Using Wan Xueying's words from her previous life, the old doctor felt 10,000 points of damage. Finally, she advised, "Don't waste your talent. Find a master and learn from him. You'll definitely succeed."
The old doctor's words reminded Wan Xueying. In her previous life, she had mostly relied on various instruments and equipment to overcome various difficulties. Compared to traditional Chinese medicine, she spent more time researching Western medicine and her knowledge of Western pharmacology far exceeded that of traditional Chinese medicine.
If she wanted to improve her Chinese medicine prescription skills, she had to start with the most basic three methods: observation, auscultation, inquiry, and palpation. She couldn't rely on other doctors every time, as that would be too passive. She was even more worried that the doctor's description of the symptoms would be inaccurate or even incorrect, which would then lead to the opposite of the right medication.
So before leaving this time, in addition to buying food, medicine, and other necessary items, she also bought a lot of medical books. Shen Yu had been confined to bed for a while, so she asked Wan Xueying to buy him a few books he wanted to read.
To make Shen Yu more comfortable while traveling, Wan Xueying placed two thick mattresses under his bed. To provide herself with some rest and privacy, and more importantly to avoid suspicion, Wan Xueying bought another carriage, driven by the two Dark Forest Guards.
Because the two Dark Forest Guards were familiar with the route, they didn't take the mountain route this time. Instead, they went through the city and town, choosing the best routes and shortcuts. Apart from the fact that it cost a bit more to entertain the two Dark Forest Guards, there was nothing wrong with it.
Eight days later, they gradually caught up with the group ahead. Shen Yu couldn't show up at the moment, as the Third Prince, disguised as him, would be immediately exposed. This was a good thing, as Shen Yu could continue to recuperate in the carriage.
I had planned to use the exile group's lunch break to reunite with Aunt Chen and the others, but unexpectedly, as soon as the exile group ahead was told they could rest, a small group of exiles, regardless of the escort's attempts to stop them, madly rushed towards the group behind them. It didn't look like they had been walking all morning and exposed to the scorching sun all morning.
"Are you crazy? Are you going to rebel?" the escort said, raising his whip and lashing out at the slowest runner. But it still didn't stop them from running towards the group behind them.
"What happened?" Some people who didn't know the situation were frightened and hid away.
Qiu Shi originally wanted to take his men to protect Aunt Chen and Madam Wu and hide with the crowd, but he didn't expect that those people's target was them. Qiu Shi quickly called on all the guards to protect Aunt Chen and Madam Wu in the middle, and they stood outside to stop those crazy exiles.
"What do you want to do?" Qiu Shi asked angrily.
"What do we want?" one of them yelled at Qiu Shi, "Pay us money! Pay with your life!"
"Yes! Pay the money! Pay the life!" someone echoed.
"What does it have to do with us if those people died of heatstroke? We didn't sell you any summer heat-relieving soup!" Qiu Shi argued.
"But you were the ones who made the summer heat soup, and it has had little effect for two days in a row. People even died. If it's not your problem, whose problem is it?" the man asked again in a stern voice.
"We also drank the heat-relieving soup, so why didn't anyone get heatstroke, let alone die?" Qiu Shi continued to argue.
"Of course you will be fine. How could you possibly pit yourselves?"
"But we drink from the same pot."
“Who would believe that?”
"A lot of people saw us brewing it last night!"
"Who knows if you guys had any tricks later?"
“…”
As the two were arguing, Wan Huqing squeezed through the crowd, shouting, "Excuse me! Make way!" Then he yelled at Aunt Chen, "Aunt Chen, my father drank the summer heat soup you made, and not only did it not help, he got a heat stroke. Don't you have to pay for it?"
When her name was called, Concubine Chen was lost in the crowd because of her short stature. She raised her feet and shouted to the crowd, "Again, we didn't sell the summer heat soup to anyone. Go find whoever sold it to you!"
"I'm not just talking about other people's business. You can't just sit there and do nothing about it, my dad? Otherwise," his face turned cold, "don't blame me for exposing you and Wan Xueying's past!" Wan Huqing's words were full of threats, and he really did find a weak spot in Aunt Chen's.
Although the journey had been arduous, Aunt Chen felt at ease and at ease. Many people along the way showed respect to her group for their help, which made her feel very satisfied.
She was afraid that Wan Huqing would tell others that she was once a famous prostitute in a brothel, that those people would look at her strangely, and even more afraid that some people would say foul words to her, or even compare her with those women who had given themselves to officials on the road to exile.
Just as she was thinking of a countermeasure, Wan Xueying's carriage arrived.
"I don't know what secrets you want to expose about me?" Wan Xueying stood on the shaft of the carriage and glared at Wan Huqing. "Are you trying to tell me that I was switched at birth and that I've been living in the countryside since I was a child, bringing shame to you? Or are you trying to tell me that after returning to the Wan family, I've never been taken seriously by my family, and have even been treated coldly? Or are you trying to tell me that in order for the Wan family's adopted daughter to become the Crown Princess, you let me take advantage of her previous engagement? Or is it that I offended Princess Mingxia because of the marriage, and that I didn't sever the ties thoroughly enough, and that almost implicated you? What else is there..."
Wan Xueying curled the corners of her lips and sneered, "Oh, and I'm also unfilial to my biological father and mother, right?"
At this point, she looked at Wan Huqing, her eyes filled with mockery. "But why should I be unfilial to my adoptive parents who treated me like their own daughter, and instead be filial to my so-called biological father and mother who never cared about me and even hurt me time and time again? Don't forget," she changed the subject, "we're no longer related. I have no relationship with you anymore. It's you who should be filial to them! It's that adopted daughter of the Wan family!" She casually asked, "Anything else I haven't said? Feel free to add to it."
"You've already said it, what else can I say?" Wan Huqing's face was very unnatural. He really didn't expect Wan Xueying to dare to expose him in public, or more precisely, to expose the Wan family's secrets. Chen Yi Niang's matter was no big deal at all.
"Let's put this matter aside for now and get back to the topic." Wan Xueying looked at everyone, "You came to us because there was something wrong with the summer-heat soup you drank, right?" She had better deal with the problem of being besieged by so many people first.
"That's right." It was the person who took the lead before who spoke again.
"I really want to know, what's the problem?" She was really confused and couldn't figure things out just by listening to a few words from them.
"The summer heat-relieving soup these past two days has been bland and useless, and several people have died." The other party's words were concise and to the point.
"Is it because it was mixed with water?" Wan Xueying raised her eyebrows.
"Yes." The contrast between before and after is very obvious.
"Are you stupid?" Wan Xueying's eyes darkened slightly. "Why would you buy it when it's already diluted with water?"
The man felt uncomfortable under Wan Xueying's gaze. He looked away and whispered in defense, "Don't you think that even if it's diluted with water, it's better than nothing?"
It hadn't rained in the past few days, and the weather had intensified. But since Wan Xueying left, the escorts had stopped selling summer-heat soup. People began to suffer from heatstroke, the elderly and frail, and even a few young and strong people died. Everyone rediscovered the importance of a simple bowl of summer-heat soup.
The escort finally persuaded these people to make a summer-heat soup. In order to save their lives, even though they found that the soup was heavily diluted with water, everyone had no choice but to buy it.
"Do you have anything else to say?" Wan Xueying asked the man.
"No. But I want to know when you will return the money? And how will you compensate those whose relatives have died?"
"Let me find out first." She couldn't just accept one side of the story. Then she turned to Qiu Shi and asked, "Didn't I warn you not to sell the summer heat soup before I left? What's going on here?"
"We really don't sell summer heat soup. Someone on the escort's side also got heatstroke, so they gave us some herbs and asked us to make it for them according to the previous recipe. They said it was only for them to drink and would not be sold outside." Qiu Shi explained anxiously.
"The bailiff told you to endure it, and you just endured it? Aren't you afraid of making mistakes? You're really brave!" Then why did she give them so many instructions before leaving? It was also her fault for not taking the recipe seriously enough. She had let them do it too much before, so she taught them to save trouble and let them endure it.
"But if we don't endure..." Qiu Shi hesitated about what to say next.
"What?" Wan Xueying raised her eyebrows slightly.
"Oh! Isn't Mr. Shen still over there?" In front of so many people, Qiu Shi couldn't say that the escort was threatening "Shen Yu" and said that if they didn't agree, they would whip him every day.
Qiu Shi was afraid that something bad would happen to the Third Prince, and Aunt Chen, who was unaware of the situation, was afraid that Shen Yu would be hurt, so they finally compromised.
I never expected that the escorts were so greedy for money that they added water to the soup because it wasn't enough. The day before yesterday was the first day they didn't add much, but yesterday they became a little more unscrupulous.
Qiu Shi continued to explain, "Also, every time the soup is ready, our people drink it first to see if it's okay before we dare to give it to the escort." The escort was also worried! He would even watch them drink it first.
Wan Xueying felt a little speechless and said, "Someone will take care of the Second Young Master Shen's affairs. You just need to take care of our people." She really didn't believe that those people would make things difficult for the Third Prince, and that the Third Prince's people would just watch him get bullied. Thinking that Qiu Shi was frightened by the Third Prince's identity, she didn't blame him too much.
Qiu Shi added, "When we heard yesterday about the watered-down soup, we initially refused to continue making it, but the escort said they would be responsible if anything went wrong."
Wan Xueying glanced at Ma Xiaoqi, who was standing not far away, and sneered, "Is this what they call taking responsibility?"
"I didn't expect this to happen." He hadn't expected that those people would still buy the summer-cooling soup even though they clearly saw that it was mixed with water.
"Have you collected the missing money?" Wan Xueying asked a key question.
"No."
Wan Xueying nodded, then there was no business relationship, and she didn't have to pay any compensation to these people.
So she shouted to the crowd: "You have just heard the whole story. We didn't make a penny from beginning to end. We just helped the escorts make some summer soup." She was not present at the scene, so she couldn't be sure how many times.
He then said, "Then the question is, why don't you go and settle the score with the person who sold you out? Why are you looking for us?" It's still the same as before, bullying the weak and fearing the strong!
She looked at Ma Xiaoqi again, "Sir! Since we agreed that you would be responsible if anything goes wrong, then it's up to you to solve it."
The reason she was so tough this time was because Shen Yu wasn't even among the exiles. Haha, whip whoever you want. Besides, she wasn't an exile, so how could the guards whip her?
Ma Xiaoqi glanced at the Dark Forest Guards driving Wan Xueying's carriage and nodded slightly. He then turned to his men and said, "Why are you all standing there like idiots? Hurry up and send these people back!" He added coldly, "Anyone who doesn't go back will be treated as someone attempting to escape!" He meant that he wouldn't care if they died.
It should be said that the members of the Dark Forest Guard do not stay in the dark all day long. Some of them are in the open and only wear night clothes and cover their faces when they are doing something shameful or are afraid of being recognized.
Many of them are actually Yulin Guards. The two people who helped Wan Xueying, whether they were Dark Forest Guards or Yulin Guards, were Pei Xuanqing's confidants.
Wan Huqing originally wanted to wait for everyone to leave and then use Wan Chengji and Wan Xueying to extort some money, but the bailiff whipped him. He screamed and then ran back in a very embarrassed manner while dodging the bailiff's whip.
He wanted to extort money because Lin Yingnan had spent most of his money and his own family had very little left. However, he had not expected the most difficult Wan Xueying to suddenly return, nor the group that had come to cause trouble before.
After everyone dispersed, Wan Xueying said to Ma Xiaoqi, "I want to talk to you again about selling the summer heat soup."
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