The story is not complicated and can be explained in a few minutes.
Simply put, a nanny serving Mrs. An became addicted to gambling, stole her master's jewelry, and sold it for profit.
After being discovered, Madam An ordered people to beat her with a few boards, but considering that she was an elder in the An family, she was not driven out.
She held a grudge and found an opportunity to poison Madam An.
This matter was discovered by the second master of the An family, Minister An. After the incident, the nanny was dealt with by Minister An.
Minister An reported the matter to his brother, Master An. After discussing it, the two decided not to make the family scandal public. They simply told the public that the old lady was old and frail, and therefore felt unwell and had a headache.
Doctor Qu had been serving the old lady all along. He was the first to discover that the old lady showed signs of poisoning. He had also seen the antidote prescribed by the imperial physician, so he knew the details of the matter.
"Do you know what kind of poison the old lady was poisoned with?" Su Wanti asked.
The doctor of the Qu Mansion frowned, "No remaining poison was found in the nanny's residence. The imperial physician can only guess the composition of the poison based on the old lady's symptoms."
"The poison composition and antidote analyzed by the imperial physician..." Su Wanti stretched out her hand.
"This, I didn't keep it..." Doctor Qu avoided looking.
He held the pharmacopoeia tightly in his arms. Su Wanti flicked the book with her fingers and said, "This pharmacopoeia has twelve volumes in total, enough for you to study for half a lifetime."
Doctor Qu pondered for a moment, then gritted his teeth and said, "Okay, I'll give you the poison ingredients and the antidote, but don't tell anyone that I gave them to you, and don't tell anyone that the old lady was poisoned."
Su Wanti nodded, "Okay."
Doctor Qu walked into the room and quickly brought out two pieces of paper. The papers had creases, were yellow and dark in color, and looked quite old.
"Doctor Su, the poison ingredients and antidote are written on these two pieces of paper. Keep them."
Su Wanti took the two pages of paper, read them carefully, and then carefully put them in her arms.
She then asked, "Doctor Qu, do you know the name of that nanny and where she is from?"
Doctor Qu shook his head. "I don't know about that. The old lady was poisoned in the capital, and the nanny followed the old lady to the capital from Luzhou. If we want to investigate, we should be able to find out."
Su Wanti had an idea in mind.
A few years ago, Madam An went to the capital to live in the home of Minister An. The journey was long, and she brought few servants with her. As long as we knew which servants she brought with her to the capital, and checked them one by one, the identity of the nanny could be found out.
"Thank you, Doctor Qu, for your guidance. The complete pharmacopoeia will be delivered later."
Su Wanti said goodbye to him and returned to her residence.
————
It is noon now, time for lunch.
When the little maid saw Su Wanti coming back, she hurried to serve the meal.
Seeing that Shang Xingjian and An Jing were not at home, Su Wanti did not ask anything. After having lunch alone, she went back to her room to study the two prescriptions she had just obtained.
Through what the original owner had learned and systematic analysis, Su Wanti came to a conclusion.
The poison ingredients speculated by the imperial physician were mostly correct, except for the most important ingredient, the double-crane umbrella.
The Double Crane Parasol is a rare mushroom, named for its upward-flying cap, which resembles two cranes flapping their wings. It only grows in dark, damp, but warm caves, making it extremely rare.
Most of these mushrooms are non-toxic, but if there is a dead animal where it grows, it will feed on blood, flesh, and bone marrow, growing extremely fast and beautifully, but also extremely poisonous.
Apart from the pair of crane umbrellas, the other ingredients were common poisons, so the An family did not suspect the motives of the nanny.
It was precisely because of the lack of discovery of the Shuanghe Umbrella that the antidote prescribed by the imperial physician for Madam An failed to completely eliminate the toxins in her body, causing Madam An to suffer from the toxins frequently in recent years, becoming weak and suffering from unbearable headaches.
Su Wanti frowned. This item was hard to find. How could a nanny buy it?
Su Wanti thought that she could only wait for Shang Xingjian to come back and ask him to help find the cause.
However, she waited for half a day, until the golden crow set in the west, but Shang Xingjian still did not come back.
The large clouds in the western sky were dyed by the afterglow, showing a bright purple-red color, which was extremely magnificent.
The mountains in the distance were swallowed up by shadows, and it was deep and dark.
Su Wanti looked out the window, feeling uneasy.
The head master of the An family also hasn't returned.
Old Madam An had already sent servants from her own courtyard to guard the gate of the mansion, waiting for Master An to come home and then invite him to see her.
The servant waited and waited until the sun went down and the two big lanterns in front of the mansion gate were lit, but the master still didn't come back.
Just when the servant was getting anxious, he suddenly heard a noisy sound of footsteps and horse hooves.
I wonder if the master has returned...
The servant stood on the steps in front of the mansion gate and looked towards the street. He saw a group of people coming, and the governor of Luzhou, Lord Xu, was riding a tall horse and walking in the front.
He had a sullen face and exuded a cold and murderous aura.
Behind him were the patrol soldiers from the Luzhou government office, about a hundred of them. They were fully armed, holding spears and had serious expressions.
When the servant saw this, his heart started beating like a drum and his hands and feet went limp immediately.
He staggered towards the door, closed it in a hurry, and then ran and crawled into the inner courtyard to report the news to the lady.
The one who is in charge of the household affairs of the mansion now is the eldest lady of the An family.
The eldest lady of the An family came from a family of officials and was steady in her work.
She sent people to settle the women in the family, and asked the ladies, daughters and children in the mansion to return to their own courtyards. She also asked the maids and servants in each courtyard to guard the gates and not open the doors or let anyone out without her order.
At the same time, he called several servants over and asked them to go and find the master and the young masters.
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