"Let's test the poison first. I don't know what kind of poison he's been poisoned with yet," said Master Zhou.
Seeing his reaction, the woman said nothing more and let the Taoist priest begin testing the poison for the child. Zhou Tianhao told Xiuzhu to prepare some antidote soup for the child; no matter what kind of poison it was, the first priority was to suppress it.
Lanqin walked up behind the woman and whispered, "Sister, you're only bothering Master Zhou by standing here. Why don't you go outside and wait?"
Seeing that Lanqin was elegant in demeanor and dressed in clothes that ordinary villagers could not wear, the woman naturally nodded in submission.
After the woman followed Lanqin out of the house, Lanqin gestured to Sihua to pour her a glass of water. The woman quickly took it and gulped it down. She hadn't had any water since carrying the child, and her mouth was parched.
"Auntie, Master Zhou is like a living bodhisattva here. It seems like everyone comes to him for everything?" Shui Ling asked tentatively from the side.
"That's right, Master Zhou is such a kind person. He often treats us and never accepts money," the woman said gratefully. "He is truly a living bodhisattva for the surrounding area."
Fourth Master's face darkened even more. Why did he swindle 10,000 taels from his master but not charge anyone else a single coin?
"So you really never gave him any money?" Su Peisheng asked indignantly.
“We are all mountain people here, we don’t have much money. We mostly give the Taoist priest some rice and vegetables. That’s our way of thanking him. Actually, the Taoist priest is able to stay here and treat us because he gathers most of the medicinal herbs himself from the mountains, and then he takes the herbs he gathers to the pharmacy to exchange for other medicines,” the woman said.
"Is Master Zhou a Taoist priest of the Quanzhen School in Wudang Mountain?" Lanqin asked again.
“Of course. Master Zhou rarely goes up the mountain; he spends most of his time here,” the woman said. She began to scrutinize Lanqin, and asked suspiciously, “You must be from out of town. Why are you asking about Master Zhou?”
“We wanted to go up the mountain to pay a visit and asked Master Zhou to lead us, but he keeps putting it off,” Lanqin said, offering a reason.
"Let me tell you, it seems that Master Zhou doesn't get along with the Taoist priests in the mountains," the woman said in a low voice.
Lanqin exchanged a glance with Fourth Master and then asked, "Auntie, you haven't eaten yet, have you? Why don't you go over there and have a bite to eat? Master Zhou will probably be here for a while."
When the aunt saw that Lanqin was treating her to a meal, she immediately said embarrassedly, "Oh dear, I can't accept that."
"It's alright, Auntie, go and have something to eat. If Gouwa wakes up later, you'll have to walk home in the dark to take him." Shui Ling immediately took the woman's arm warmly and pulled her over to eat noodles. Su Peisheng, under the Fourth Master's instructions, had made a huge pot of noodles.
After the woman went to eat noodles with Si Hua and Shui Ling, Lan Qin walked up to Fourth Master and said, "Judging from what this woman said, this Taoist priest seems to be a good person. He treats the villagers without charging money, only charging them some rice and vegetables."
The Fourth Master's tightly pursed lips parted slightly as he asked, "Why did he specifically target the Grand Chancellor's silver?"
"It depends on the person. He should know very well whether these mountain people have money to give. The people here are relatively simple and honest. The mountain people within a few miles rely on the mountains for their livelihood and don't have any other source of income," Lanqin said.
"Damn it, I've become his scapegoat?" Fourth Master said angrily, his dark eyes flashing with rage.
"Master, why don't you wait until he's finished examining the child, then have Ling Feng and Gesang apprehend him. Torture him severely and make him hand over the silver? There aren't many people here anyway, so dealing with a hermit Taoist priest is more than enough for you," Lan Qin said with a smile.
Fourth Master said, "I still need to go to Wudang, but what did that woman just say mean that Zhou Tianhao is at odds with the Quanzhen Sect?"
Lanqin nodded and said, "My lord, I can tell that this person has been able to treat the people for free for many years without accepting money, which shows that he is a kind-hearted person."
"Hmph, you cheated me out of my money! You tricked me into giving you those herbs that you picked from those cliffs, but they weren't even for you. I just checked the ingredients for the herbal soup you were supposed to use, and none of them contained the herbs I picked. I bet he took some precious herbs to sell!" Fourth Master couldn't accept the fact that he had been so badly cheated by a village Taoist priest, and not just once, but again and again.
"..." Lanqin knew that this point had probably become a knot in Fourth Master's heart, and this Taoist priest was indeed a bit ruthless, actually deceiving our Fourth Master so badly!
"Master, don't forget the purpose of our trip to Wudang." Lanqin had no choice but to remind the Fourth Master.
"Come on, let's go eat noodles!" Fourth Master stopped Lanqin and led her back to his room.
Ling Feng and Gesang stayed by his side, watching how he tested the child for poison. Zhou Tianhao had Xiu Zhu give the child some common antidote, and then began to take blood from the child's fingertips to test for poison.
After pricking the child's finger with a silver needle, the blood was dripped into a small bowl. After the bowl was nearly half full, the bleeding was stopped with gauze.
After he finished doing all that, he immediately instructed Xiuzhu to begin testing for poison. The two of them were busy until Lanqin and the others had already finished their dinner. When they came to bring them noodles, Zhou Tianhao finally came out of the room.
"Daoist Master, please have some dinner with Master Xiuzhu first." Following Lanqin's instructions, Sihua and Shuiling brought over two bowls of noodles, one for each of them.
"Hmm, I'm hungry. Let's eat something first," Zhou Tianhao said.
"Master, what kind of poison has Gouwa been poisoned by?" The woman walked up to Master Zhou and asked him as he was eating noodles.
"We need to go there and check, otherwise we won't know. He's not in any danger yet," Zhou Tianhao said.
“That won’t do. That place is haunted; there are vengeful spirits there. Who would want to go there?” the woman said hastily when she heard Zhou Tianhao say that.
“He was poisoned there. How can we find out the truth if we don’t go there? I will go myself. You just stay here and take care of the child,” Zhou Tianhao said.
The woman listened to him and immediately went inside to look after her son.
When Fourth Master and Lanqin heard him say this, they exchanged another glance.
"Master, I've heard that this Dumenpo is very evil, with vengeful spirits lingering there and repeatedly harming people. Aren't you afraid, Master?" Lanqin asked.
Zhou Haotian glanced at Fourth Master and the others and said, "Now that Madam is awake, you can't just eat and drink here for free. Go do what you were supposed to do tomorrow."
Having said that, he ignored Lanqin's question.
Upon hearing this, Su Peisheng angrily said, "Master Zhou, our lady's poison can clearly heal on its own, why did you cheat our master out of his money!"
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