"No?"
Upon hearing Mei Zhixuan's answer, Yi Sanshao's charming peach blossom eyes, which had been gazing out the window in a daze, suddenly paused for a moment. Although he was somewhat surprised, it was within his expectations and not hard to understand.
How could someone like Mei Zhixuan, who appears gentle and refined on the surface but is actually extremely cunning and only has ambitions for the imperial power, be like him, who only wants to live a carefree and unrestrained life, indulging in romance and pleasure, and lingering on personal love affairs?
Although both were members of the royal family of extraordinary status on this continent, their interests were vastly different and completely different. The thought that these two could sit together so amicably and "talk about love" made Young Master Yi suddenly let out a self-deprecating chuckle, realizing how utterly ridiculous his actions and the questions he had just asked were.
Instead of getting carried away, he stretched out a large, well-defined hand, wrapped it around Mei Zhixuan's neck, and put his arm around Mei's other shoulder. Then he turned around, strode forward, and said loudly, "Let's go find a place to have some tea!"
It was just past lunchtime when we arrived at the Sihai Tea House.
A luxurious carriage from the Prince of Qin's residence slowly came to a stop. Granny Zhao lifted the curtain and softly called out, "Your Highness, we have arrived at Sihai Tea House!"
Mei Xiyuan, dressed in a magnificent brocade robe and adorned with jewels, gracefully and elegantly stepped out of the carriage, holding Zhao Mama's hand. Behind her followed Lu Tianjiao and several maids. They were personally greeted by the shopkeeper and led through the halls.
Halfway there, a maidservant suddenly rushed up behind her and whispered in Mei Xiyuan's ear, "Your Highness, when we entered just now, I think I saw His Highness the Third Prince."
Mei Xiyuan was immediately startled. After thinking for a moment, she turned her head slightly and lowered her voice to scold the maid: "Nonsense! Shouldn't the Third Prince be in Peach Blossom Village in the south of the city right now? Even if he is no longer in Peach Blossom Village, he would only be back in the East Garden. How could he be here at this time? Don't talk nonsense, step back!"
"Yes, perhaps I really misjudged." The maid scratched her head and said hesitantly. Mei Xiyuan breathed a sigh of relief, but also glanced back at the road she had come from.
Following closely behind the shopkeeper, they walked until they reached the door of Tuoba Ze's study in the backyard before stopping.
At this moment, the shopkeeper said with a beaming smile, "Please come in, Princess Qin. The owner of the manor has been waiting for Your Highness for quite some time."
"You can all wait outside, there's no need for you to come in." Except for Granny Zhao, Mei Xiyuan turned around before entering the door and refused to let everyone, including Lu Tianjiao, in.
"Sister, could it be that I also..." Lu Tianjiao was clearly quite dissatisfied with Mei Xiyuan's actions and asked anxiously.
However, Mei Xiyuan stopped her, saying, "Don't worry! My sister is inside. Do you think I'd fly away with all this stuff?"
As she spoke, she seemed to remember something and turned to the shopkeeper beside her, asking, "Shopkeeper, could you please take my sister to see that person first?"
"The owner of the estate has already given instructions, so there's no problem. Then please, miss, move along a bit!" the shopkeeper said politely.
Since Mei Xiyuan had already made these arrangements, Lu Tianjiao seemed to have nothing to say. She was indeed eager to meet the person she hated to the bone alone.
So she pursed her lips, swallowed the rest of her words, and gladly accepted the arrangement.
Seeing that Mei Xiyuan finally felt relieved and led Zhao Mama through the door, which was then gently closed from the outside by the shopkeeper, Lu Tianjiao slowly followed the shopkeeper's footsteps and moved towards the back courtyard.
Just then, a tea shop waiter rushed over from the front yard, panting and shouting, "Manager, manager, you'd better hurry and see! The young ladies from several noble families are arguing in the shop with their maids and servants. They're all fighting over the rose tea, and they've smashed quite a few things!"
Upon hearing this, the old shopkeeper slapped his thigh and exclaimed, "What? Oh dear, my little devils! Can't they just calm down for a moment? Don't they think I'm busy enough all day long?"
At this moment, Lu Tianjiao stepped forward with a smile and said, "Since you have something to do, please go and take care of it. Just tell me how to get there, and I can go by myself. You don't need to make any compensation."
The innkeeper immediately said gratefully, "In that case, thank you for your consideration, Miss. If only those unruly and willful people had a little bit of your kindness. Just walk along the corridor to the back, and in the very last corner, you'll see many guards watching over the place. That's the courtyard. Also, keep this waist token safe. Without it, even if you put a knife to their throats, they won't dare let you in."
Lu Tianjiao gripped the wooden waist tag handed to him by the shopkeeper and said with a smile, "Alright, I've got it all. Shopkeeper, you can go ahead and get busy! I can handle it myself, there won't be any problems."
The shop assistant then rushed forward to help the old shopkeeper up by the arm, and the two of them stumbled and ran together toward the shop in the front yard.
Lu Tianjiao shook his head with a smile at the departing figure, then turned around and gritted his teeth, saying fiercely, "Yi Shangyun, your death day has finally come. Who wins and who loses? We'll find out soon!"
Then, she slowly unfolded the waist token she was clutching and examined it for a while. It was a shiny, round, dark wooden token, about half the size of her palm, with a cluster of green sheepgrass patterns carved on it, a pattern only found among the nomadic tribes of the north. Lu Tianjiao couldn't help but mutter curses at it, "You're no better, daring to take advantage of me. One day, I'll make you pay for it all."
After saying that, he put the waist token in his sleeve pocket and continued walking forward.
Meanwhile, in a corner of the backyard, in a heavily guarded room, the lock on the outer door was suddenly opened.
Then, the woman responsible for taking care of Yi Shangyun's daily life stepped in, and said with a joyful expression as soon as she entered:
"Girl, dinner's ready!"
"Girl, get up and have some food! I made you some fresh fish soup for lunch today, it's milky white, and there's also..."
Even though her words were incredibly enticing, there wasn't a single sound from the person inside the room.
"girl……"
Unexpectedly, when she reached out and lifted the curtain to enter the inner room, she saw Yi Shangyun still lying motionless with her face facing the inside of the bed.
Seeing this, the woman immediately lost her smile, helplessly stopped talking, walked over and sat on the edge of the bed, gently shook her body, and said:
"Girl, it's almost noon, you should get up. You only had two sips of plain porridge this morning, you can't keep going like this!"
Unexpectedly, Yi Shangyun suddenly turned around and sat up, grabbing the woman's arm tightly with both hands, pleading with her in a pitiful manner, "Auntie, please help me, please help me find His Highness Prince Qin, I beg you!"
As she spoke, she stumbled off the bed and knelt down in front of the woman with a thud, as if she were about to cry, her eyes glistening with tears.
The woman was startled by his actions. After thinking for a moment, she gritted her teeth and lowered her voice to tell him frankly, "Young lady, it's not that I don't want to help you, but if I help you, my son will lose his life."
Yi Shangyun then realized that something seemed amiss, so she asked, "Your son? I thought your son was quite adorable, with a chubby face. What happened to him?"
The woman frowned immediately and recalled with heartache, "To tell you the truth, a month ago, this place was a restaurant. I was the owner of this restaurant. My husband and I had a son late in life. But one day a month ago, my son suddenly suffered from chronic diarrhea, I don't know what he ate. We sought medical help everywhere, but to no avail."
Recalling those painful, unbearable, and helpless days, the woman choked up several times: "Just when my son was about to collapse and die, this manor owner suddenly came to our door. He said he could cure my son's illness, but... but his medicine is extremely expensive, one pill costs fifty taels."
"Fifty taels! What kind of medicine is so expensive?" Yi Shangyun was stunned.
"He said it was called Hibiscus Pill, made with his own secret recipe, plus one part each of costus root, coptis root, and atractylodes root, ground into powder, then pounded with rice to make pills the size of small beans, to be taken half a portion with rice water on an empty stomach," the woman replied.
"Persistent dysentery... Hibiscus Pills... Hibiscus? Has it cured it?" Yi Shangyun seemed to have already guessed something.
The woman sighed, "How could we have known that the cure he claimed for my son's illness was actually something he had to keep taking his medicine for, otherwise he would be constantly drowsy and listless. Later, my strong-willed husband, seeing the family business passed down for three generations being slowly handed over to others because of this medicine, and my son becoming like this, in a fit of anger, abandoned us and took poison."
Upon hearing what the woman said, Yi Shangyun was furious and said, "How despicable! They actually dared to lay their evil claws on an ignorant child! It's unforgivable! Auntie, you've been deceived! You can't give him that medicine anymore; your son has been poisoned!"
The woman suddenly came to her senses and asked in confusion, "Poisoned?"
Yi Shangyun explained indignantly, “Auntie, you don’t know this. That person is a wicked man. He must have done this on purpose. His medicine is supposed to treat chronic dysentery, but overconsumption will cause poisoning and addiction, which will inevitably lead to death in the long run. Judging from the onset time and dosage you just mentioned, it’s not too serious yet. Now, we need to decoct Corydalis Rhizome, Salvia Miltiorrhizae Radix et Rhizoma, Angelicae Sinensis Radix, Ligustici Rhizoma, Semen Persicae, Carthami Flos, and… to detoxify.”
"Can your method truly cure my son's illness? Will he no longer need the manor lord's exorbitantly priced medicine? If so, I'd give my life for it!" the woman exclaimed, wiping away her tears.
Yi Shangyun nodded to her and said, "Sister-in-law, you flatter me. If you follow my method and your son is cured, please find a way to give this short sword to His Highness Prince Qin. Once he sees it, he will find a way to save me. With him there, you will be safe."
As Yi Shangyun was about to take out the dragon and phoenix short sword that Xuan Yuanhan had given her for self-defense, a woman's voice suddenly came from outside the house: "Want to leave? You probably won't have the chance!"
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