Young Master Xie rushes to solve cases
"Chengnan! How is Aye? Has the case been solved? Is she alright?" Xie Chengnan was stopped by Qiu's mother as soon as he entered the door, and then a series of questions were thrown at him.
He chuckled and replied, "There's already some progress, and Qingye will be able to go home in a few days."
"Really?! You're not kidding me?"
"How could I lie to you? It's true."
"That's great!" Mother Qiu breathed a sigh of relief. "Then tell me, what progress have you made?"
"The specific details are too complicated; there are still some things I need to discuss with my father-in-law..."
Qiu Baiji interrupted their conversation at the right moment: "Alright, do you think you can understand just because I tell you?"
“That’s right, I won’t keep you from getting to the point.” She had been restless for several days, but when she heard that her precious daughter would be released soon, her heart finally settled down. A sense of exhaustion belatedly crept over her, and she yawned: “You guys get to the point, I’m going to rest for a while.”
Seeing that the lady had completely walked away, Qiu Baiji frowned and asked, "Is there really a way?"
Unlike his mother, who stayed at home in the courtyard, he served the emperor year-round and naturally had a more complex mindset. He knew that this was just a temporary excuse from Xie Chengnan to put his wife at ease.
To be honest, not yet.
"Hmph, I knew it." Qiu Baiji stood with his hands behind his back. "Is there anything I can do for you?"
Xie Chengnan bowed respectfully, "There is indeed something I need your help with."
...
"You mean, I need to find all the herbs in this prescription that might have conflicting medicinal properties?"
"It's not just medicinal herbs; food ingredients and even spices could be involved. We suspect that someone saw Madam Liu's prescription and deliberately gave her incompatible medicines and foods, leading to her miscarriage and death."
Qiu Baiji looked at the prescription and pondered for a moment, then suddenly asked, "Who wrote this prescription?"
The prescription uses several herbs very cleverly. The dosage of one of them, Chuanxiong, is extremely strict and precise, so it is rarely used in the treatment of pregnancy. However, the dosage in this prescription is just right.
Those who take the medicine must be bold and determined.
“It was written by Qingye,” Xie Chengnan replied.
Qiu Baiji examined the prescription from both sides. "This isn't Qingye's handwriting." He didn't believe such a prescription could have come from Qiu Qingye. Even if her personality had changed drastically, her medical skills couldn't have improved so much overnight.
Xie Chengnan was taken aback, then vaguely said, "Perhaps she had someone transcribe it; I'm not entirely sure."
The two had different focuses. Fortunately, Qiu Baiji didn't care about the handwriting and casually praised, "Her medical skills have indeed improved a lot recently."
Qiu Baiji was very fascinated by medicine and pharmacology. Since his youth, he had enjoyed studying pharmacology. What others found boring and tedious about prescriptions was very interesting to him. He would start studying them as soon as he got a prescription.
"Could you see the problem here?"
Qiu Baiji stuffed the prescription into the medical book he read most often. "Don't worry about it. I've studied medical books for decades. It's just that there are too many possible combinations. It's a very important matter. I need to carefully consider and investigate it. I'll send someone to deliver it to your residence first thing tomorrow morning."
"Thank you for your trouble, Father-in-law." After explaining the matter, Xie Chengnan hurriedly took his leave, as time was of the essence and he had to rush to his next destination.
Before leaving, Qiu Baekje called out to him, "How is she?"
"Qing is perfectly fine, so you and your wife need not worry."
Lacking food and clothing in prison, how could everything be alright? She just didn't want them to worry. Qiu Baiji sighed inwardly; his daughter had truly become so much more sensible since their marriage.
"Go ahead and investigate. If you fail, I and the Qiu family will cover for her."
Xie Chengnan smiled and said, "I will definitely not let her suffer this injustice. If the truth cannot be revealed, the Yong'an Marquis's Mansion will also protect her."
...
"I've made some progress on the old stories of the Southern Frontier that the Marquis asked me to investigate." A hand adorned with bright red nail polish gently parted the beaded curtain, and then the woman gracefully stepped in, her figure swaying alluringly.
Xie Chengnan paused his tapping on the table. "I've got it. We'll talk about it next time. Any results with what happened this morning about looking for you?"
The woman's smile deepened, and a natural charm inadvertently shone through her eyes, but more than anything, it was a gloating, mocking expression.
"Okay~ then let's talk about this one first."
"My men were sent to investigate the Liu residence and Renji Hall separately, and they found some suspicious activity. The wealthy Liu had visited Renji Hall in the suburbs three days ago."
"The suburbs?" Xie Chengnan confirmed.
"That's right, it's the outskirts of the city."
Renjitang has branches all over Anguo, so it's not surprising that there are branches in the suburbs. What is strange is that the Liu family, whose residence is only an incense stick's worth of walking distance from the main branch of Renjitang, still chose to go to a branch dozens of miles away in the suburbs.
It's important to understand that customers of clothing shops, pastry restaurants, and especially renowned establishments, tend to prioritize a sense of "old" or "established." The main branch or flagship store is always expected to be older than the branch stores. As more people patronize these establishments, the investment of manpower and resources also increases. The more popular the business, the more investment is made, resulting in better service and even more customers, thus creating a positive word-of-mouth effect. To forgo the flagship store, which has clear advantages in medical expertise, medicinal herbs, and even location, and instead settle for a less desirable option, is definitely suspicious.
Either it's inconvenient for him to appear at the main clinic, or there's something wrong with the illness or medication he's treating, and going to the main clinic would be too conspicuous.
Yao Niang was clearly aware of this as well: "Renjitang places the utmost importance on protecting the privacy of its patients. The medical contracts they issue cannot be given to our people for fear of exposure, so we did not insist. You will need to find a way to obtain them yourself, young master."
"That's easy to arrange. Are there any other clues?"
"The people who went to keep an eye on Renjitang also brought back some news." Yao Niang lowered her head and fiddled with her nails. "Although they are some boring love and hate stories, they are absurd enough."
The son of the new head of Renjitang, and the deceased Madam Liu San—"
At this point, Yao Niang smiled playfully, raising the corners of her eyes slightly, "He's a lover."
If that's the case, then everything makes sense.
"So, is this news significant enough?"
"That's enough, thank you."
"Do we need any other information?" Yao Niang asked.
"You've already helped me a lot; I'll figure out the rest myself."
"And what about the reward..."
"I'll settle the bill next time I come."
"Tch." Although she spoke with disdain, the expression in her deep, beautiful eyes gradually softened as she watched the young man's departing figure.
“It really is different now that I’m married. You should be able to rest easy now…” The last sentence was almost a whisper, the words disappearing behind her crimson lips.
Meanwhile, in a teahouse just across the street from Renjitang, Cang Xie, disguised as an ordinary customer, sipped his tea. A variety of pastries and snacks were laid out on the table, but his gaze was fixed intently on Renjitang across the street. From this angle, he could see both the front and back entrances of Renjitang, keeping track of everyone coming and going.
"Guard Cang, look at that person, the one in the green clothes, isn't he suspicious?"
Cang Xie looked in the direction of her voice.
“He’s clearly not that old, but he walks with such a limp. He must be faking it. Maybe he’s feeling guilty! Should we follow him and see?” Xueya said.
"He just sprained his ankle; his face was contorted with pain, and he wasn't faking it."
Xueya gave a somewhat disappointed "Oh," but soon regained her spirits: "Where is that person? He walks healthily and doesn't seem sick at all. Did he come to find someone to discuss some details?"
Cang Xie said helplessly, "Not all people who come to the clinic are patients. They may be there to get medicine for their family members, or they may be doctors coming and going."
"..." After a moment, Xueya said, "Am I too useless? Miss is imprisoned in Mingdu Prefecture, but I can't help her at all."
"……Feel sorry."
"What kind of apology are you offering?" Xueya sniffed.
"I...I'm not very good at comforting people."
"Alright, I don't need your comforting words. You just keep keeping an eye on things, don't miss anyone suspicious." Xueya knew she couldn't figure anything out, so she turned to a table full of food and began to eat heartily.
With the young lady's safety uncertain, she had little appetite and had intended to force herself to eat more so she wouldn't be too weak to cope when needed. However, once she started eating, she found the food to be quite delicious.
She wanted to write down these pastries so she could bring her mistress to try them later. But as she looked at the menu downstairs, she spotted a familiar figure.
“Guard Cang… I think I just saw that Duan something-jin.” These days, Xie Chengnan has arranged for Cang Xie to keep a close eye on Renji Hall, especially those who are tall and thin and have some status in Renji Hall.
After observing for a day, they narrowed it down to Duan Wenjin. Xueya had nothing to do at the Xie residence, so she always went out with Cang Xie, which is why she recognized him.
Where?
...
The next morning, Xie Chengnan took Qiu Baiji's annotations to Mingdu Prison.
When he arrived, Lin Yi was looking at the pharmacopoeias that Yue Mingzhang had sent over, in the sunlight streaming through the stone window.
The beam of light shone directly on the book, its afterglow spreading across Lin Yi's face, coating it with a soft, porcelain-like sheen. Suddenly, one felt a pang of reluctance to disturb it.
So Xie Chengnan remained silent and stood three steps away from the cell.
He assumed she was engrossed in her book and hadn't noticed his presence. But Lin Yi put down his book and fixed his gaze precisely on him: "Why aren't you saying anything?"
"I was afraid of bothering you."
She twisted her stiff neck. "I can't wait for you to bring me news so we can get out of this godforsaken place as soon as possible."
"Have you had enough?" Xie Chengnan asked, unlocking the door as he carried a basket of pastries.
"I've had enough. Compared to this, even your desolate courtyard is much more pleasing to the eye."
Xie Chengnan glanced around and saw that there was no table in the room, so he had no choice but to place the food box on the straw mat.
Although the place wasn't dirty and it was a single room, it was rarely used by prisoners, so the items were incomplete, and Lin Yi didn't bother to tell anyone.
"Knowing I was coming to see you today, Xueya specially got up early to buy this from Laiyue Tea House. Would you like to try some?"
The plum blossom-shaped pastry has a soft and chewy outer layer, and the red bean filling is smooth and not too sweet. It is indeed delicious.
For Lin Yi, who had been eating prison food every day for days and whose mouth was so bland it tasted like bird droppings, the taste was just right.
Since I came here, I haven't been separated from that little girl. I wonder how she's been lately, and whether she's been frightened.
She's very worried about you. So are your parents.
Lin Yi was surprised that he knew what she was thinking at that moment. She didn't know if it was just her imagination, but she felt that Xie Chengnan was being more gentle than ever before when he said those words.
Her heart suddenly started racing, and she felt a little lost. What should she say if the person next said, "I'm worried about you too"?
Fortunately, Xie Chengnan didn't say that. He just looked away and said, "You don't need to be anxious. I have found a clue. It won't be long before your clinic can reopen."
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