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Qin Yue, who was sitting to the side lost in thought, saw Qin Sang walking away in a hurry and shouted, "Sang Sang! Where are you going?"
Qin Sang stopped and turned back: "Second Sister, have Uncle Liu take you down the mountain later. I'll send a carriage to pick you up when I get back!"
Qin Sang passed by Xie Sui'an, but he grabbed her arm and said, "Slow down, what's the rush?"
Qin Sang glanced at Xie Suian, then at Jinyun, and asked, "Can you fight?"
Xie Sui'an and Jinyun said in unison—
"nature."
"Won't."
Jinyun winked at his master, and Xie Sui'an turned his head to the side.
Qin Sang grabbed Xie Suian's wrist and said, "Then please lend a hand." She dragged him out of the tea garden.
Jinyun is a skilled driver; the road, which is usually quite bumpy, was not only fast but also very smooth to travel today.
The group entered the city gate in half an hour. Following Qin Sang's directions, they first drove the carriage to Renxin Hall, only to find that the usually open Renxin Hall was closed.
Qin Sang had no choice but to get out of the car and go to the sesame seed cake stall opposite Renxintang to inquire about the situation: "What happened? Why is Renxintang closed today?"
Upon seeing Qin Sang, the pancake stall owner immediately exclaimed, "Oh dear, why are you only arriving now? Old Master Tang came back yesterday, and he ran into trouble as soon as he got back..."
It turned out that yesterday afternoon, just after Old Master Tang returned to Lixian from Quzhou Prefecture, it started to rain heavily. No matter where he went, the first thing the old man did upon returning was to go to the clinic.
Everything was normal at first. He even saw two patients when he returned. Suddenly, several men wearing straw raincoats and hats walked out into the rain outside the hall. Two of them carried a stretcher covered with a white cloth, which clearly contained a dead body.
Moreover, the dead person was extraordinary; a small hill had bulged in their abdomen. When the white cloth was lifted, everyone was horrified to discover that it was a pregnant woman about to give birth.
As soon as one of the men entered, he smashed the tea trays, cups, and ceramic medicine jars in the clinic, causing chaos in the room.
Old Master Tang, unaware of the situation, looked at the pregnant woman lying on the ground, who was already dead, and said, "Forgive me for my incompetence; I have no power to bring the dead back to life. Perhaps you can try going to the Guanyin Temple outside the city; maybe a miracle will happen."
"Old man, stop pretending! The person died suddenly after taking your medicine, what are you going to do about it!" The dark-faced man who had been smashing things as soon as he entered slammed his fist on the table and roared, "Two lives lost! Look at the mess you've made! If you don't have medical skills, don't open a clinic, you've killed people!"
Having experienced what happened the previous two days, Tang Zian was quite calm today. He took two steps forward, glanced down, and felt that he remembered the pregnant woman. Then he looked up at the dark-faced man and calmly asked, "May I ask your relationship with the deceased?"
The dark-faced man raised his chin: "I'm her cousin! The medicine you prescribed killed my sister!" As he spoke, he reached out and pulled a slightly shorter man next to him and shoved him toward Tang Zian. "I'm the only poor brother-in-law left, crying my eyes out! You have to give us an explanation today!"
The short man staggered, then collapsed onto the pregnant woman's corpse and began to wail.
The sound of crying mixed with the heavy rain outside was incredibly desolate.
Tang Zi'an frowned: "What evidence do you have that our medicine killed someone? Why can't it be that she accidentally fell down?"
As he was about to step forward to examine the object more closely, he was pushed aside by the dark-faced man and nearly fell to the ground.
Old Master Tang, a man of great experience, calmly clicked his teeth thoughtfully: "When a murder occurs, there must be an explanation, but we need to have the coroner examine the body before we can have a definitive answer." He nodded slightly to the servant at the door, "I'll trouble you to go to the county office to report to the authorities and ask the officials and the coroner to come and examine the body together."
The servant was about to leave, but the dark-faced man sneered and blocked his way with a sidestep.
Then suddenly his face turned fierce, and he kicked the servant in the chest. The servant groaned and fell to the ground, vomiting blood.
"Outrageous! What are you trying to do!" Tang Zian's usually calm face showed anger. He immediately went over to help Old Zhang, but he did not expect that the people there would be so ruthless as to kick him again!
Tang Zian fell to the ground, his shoulder pinned down by a foot. The dark-faced man patted his face and said, "Pretty boy, going to report us to the authorities? Everyone knows you have connections with the government. When the officials come, we'll be the ones thrown in jail. You're really good at scheming!"
The usually composed Grandpa Tang finally lost his composure. With a grim face, he watched as his beloved grandson was trampled underfoot. He finally realized the intruder's purpose: not to seek justice, but simply to cause trouble.
He leaned on his cane, his aged voice uttering a heavy anger: "Stop!"
The dark-faced man looked up and smiled wickedly: "What can you do to me if you don't stop?"
The old man tried his best to remain calm and said, "Everything has a purpose. You brought people to my clinic and made a scene. Did you just want to smash things and beat someone up to vent your anger? Tell me, who sent you here, and what exactly do you want?"
The dark-faced man's smile grew even more meaningful. He didn't answer the old man's question, but simply raised his hand and said, "Smash it!"
The rest of the men rushed forward and began pulling out and throwing away all the medicine drawers in the clinic. The dark-faced man shouted, "Renxin Clinic is taking lives!" while punching and kicking Tang Zi'an. Tang Zi'an was already thin and weak, and could not withstand the hard punches and kicks. Blood soon appeared on his nose and the corner of his mouth.
In a moment of desperation, Old Master Tang raised his cane and swung it at the dark-faced man, yelling, "Stop right there!"
The dark-faced man grabbed the cane, threw it to the ground, and stomped on it until it broke. He said fiercely, "Old man, let me show you a way. Go ask your little apprentice if he has offended anyone recently."
He finished speaking, smiled, waved his hand, and shouted, "Get out of here!" Then, turning to the short man huddled on the ground clutching the pregnant woman's body, he said, "Leave the body here and make them pay!"
After saying that, he left with his men.
The heavy rain drowned out the suppressed sobs inside the hall. Looking at the mess of cups and plates and his grandson who was almost unconscious, Old Master Tang finally couldn't hold back and spat out a mouthful of blood.
Tang Zi'an mumbled from the ground, "Grandpa!"
Old Master Tang opened his mouth, but couldn't utter a single word.
Upon hearing this, Qin Sang was already contemplating murder, wishing she could immediately roll that fat man surnamed Li into a ball and kick him around.
When they realized they couldn't get any support from themselves, they turned to Renxintang, which had no powerful backing! They're bullies who prey on the weak and fear the strong!
They had no choice but to get back into the carriage and immediately head to the Tang residence.
Thankfully, there were no white lanterns hanging at the entrance of the Tang residence, and Qin Sang breathed a sigh of relief. She told Xie Sui'an and the other person to wait in the car while she knocked on the door and went inside.
As soon as the man left, Jinyun began to complain: "Why did you have to get involved in this mess, young master? We came here to enjoy the scenery, not to fight crime. If you have to get involved in everything, how will we ever make it back to the capital?"
Xie Sui'an leaned back in the carriage, pretending to doze off. After a moment of silence, he said, "Judging by the days, the people Grandpa sent should be arriving soon, right?"
Jinyun huddled into the carriage, trembling with fear: "Are we going to be taken back?"
Xie Sui'an: "I actually have a suspicion that Qin Sang might be the person Grandpa is looking for."
"Huh?!" Jinyun's eyes widened.
"Anyway, she looks familiar, and the age matches up, but her personality has changed quite a bit...tsk, but it's good that she's become more shrewish; those noble ladies in Kyoto are not to be trifled with..."
Jinyun interrupted him helplessly: "But these are all your guesses. What evidence do you have to prove that she is the person the Prime Minister wants to take back?"
Xie Sui'an pondered for a moment: "A feeling."
Jinyun pursed her lips, then heard Xie Suian say, "If she really is the person Grandpa is looking for, then we must protect her and not let anyone bully her. Do you understand this principle?"
"What if she isn't?"
"What if she really is?" Xie Sui'an opened his eyes and smiled, patting Jinyun's shoulder meaningfully, "Jinyun, your chance to redeem yourself is right in front of you."
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