Chapter 5 The Amazing Lychee Garden (Part 5) He also happened to have a mole under his eyebrow...
After leaving the garden, we hired a four-person sedan chair and walked along the alley to the small street. After walking a short distance, we turned a corner and arrived at Sutang Avenue.
As willows reflected the smoke from the walls and the old capital was shrouded in mist, vendors opened their stalls on the streets, and the air gradually filled with the warmth of life amidst the chilly spring. Jiuli peeked through a crack in the curtain, a smile unconsciously creeping onto her face, unable to get enough of the bustling marketplace.
Not long after they had gone, they suddenly heard someone shouting for them to make way, accompanied by the sound of many horses' hooves. In the ensuing chaos, some pedestrians bumped into the sedan chair bearers, who slipped and fell, causing Jiu Li to fall out of the sedan chair without warning.
"Be careful!" Du Zhong hurriedly went to help Jiu Li.
Her turban fell to the ground, her long hair disheveled as she rubbed her elbow. Just as she was about to get up, she felt a twist in her ankle, and for a moment she couldn't stand up. Looking up, she saw four or five people riding horses towards her, dressed in various kinds of silks and brocades. They didn't look like government officials, but they were very arrogant and domineering, shouting at pedestrians to make way.
The leader was a young gentleman who glanced at Jiu Li briefly from his horse, rode a short distance away, turned his horse around, and returned to the sedan chair to carefully examine Jiu Li.
She looked up at him, completely bewildered, while Du Zhong continued to nag, asking her if she was alright.
The young man smiled, dismounted, and helped her up. "I'm so sorry to have startled you, Miss. Are you hurt anywhere?"
Before Jiu Li could speak, Du Zhong muttered under his breath, "Twisted your ankle. Honestly, this isn't your private road, yet you just drive around like that—"
The men immediately changed their expressions, and one of them raised his whip to strike, but the young master raised his hand to stop him, saying, "Don't be rude, it was our fault. Come on, pay for the young lady's medicine."
As soon as he spoke, someone dismounted and offered him silver. The young master took it and handed it to Du Zhong. Du Zhong glanced at the silver ingot and muttered, "Who cares about your money? My family runs a pharmacy."
The young master insisted on handing it over, then asked with a smile, "Are you siblings or husband and wife?"
This man, whose identity was unknown, possessed an imposing air that made it impossible for anyone to refuse his money or his words.
Jiuli shook her head in surprise, then nodded when she came to her senses. "His surname is Du, and mine is Yu. Although we are not from the same family, we grew up together since childhood and are as close as siblings."
Du Zhong muttered to himself, "He's only a few months younger than you."
The young master smiled and glanced at the two of them, then nodded twice, climbed back onto his horse, stared at Jiu Li's face for a moment, and then pulled on the reins to ride forward.
These people disappeared without a trace, and Du Zhong was still looking out onto the street. "I wonder who they are. They are truly extraordinary. I have seen many officials in Liyuan, but none of them have the bearing of this one."
Jiuli laughed and said, "What you saw in the Lychee Garden were nothing but insignificant clerks. How can you compare? This one is probably a high-ranking official, I'd guess he's above the fifth rank."
Du Zhong recalled his somewhat fearful attitude when he spoke earlier and felt slightly unconvinced. "What's so great about it? Most officials in Nanjing are of the fifth rank or above. Even the magistrates of Jiangning and Shangyuan counties are only sixth rank." As he spoke, he weighed the silver in his hand, put it into his pocket, and then smiled. "But you are really generous, giving away four or five taels of silver in one go."
"Isn't that the money for the medicine I was owed? Are you going to keep it for yourself?"
Du Zhong chuckled, "Our family has plenty of free medicine." With that, he simply pushed her into the sedan chair and headed back home.
As the sun began to rise, Yu Qi and several doctors were examining some female patients in a large open room on the west side of the Lychee Garden. Before they had finished, they heard a commotion outside. Yu Qi and the doctors rushed out and grabbed a wandering servant to ask what was wrong. They learned that someone had died that morning.
Yu Qi asked, "What are the symptoms?"
The waiter hurriedly swallowed hard. "No, he didn't die of illness, he died unjustly!"
Another doctor asked urgently, "Wrongfully died? How so?"
The waiter was deathly pale and terrified. "Yes, yes, he was murdered! His throat was slit! There was blood all over the bed! My God, it was terrifying!"
Upon hearing that the woman had not died from illness, Yu Qi's expression returned to normal. He turned back into the house and went to take the pulses of the women. However, the woman under his care also heard the conversation outside and her pulse became erratic. Unable to discern anything for the moment, he could only coldly withdraw his hand and sit quietly to the side.
There was an uproar outside, with several doctors pressing the worker for answers: "Who died?"
"That's right, it's that Mr. Lin Mo, the one who just recovered a couple of days ago!"
The doctor inside, Xu Qing, who frequently visited the Lin family for medical treatment, recognized Lin Mo and immediately became anxious, "Oh dear, this is terrible! What exactly happened? Does the Lin family know?!"
The shopkeeper frowned and slapped his hand repeatedly. "Who knows what happened? Feng Er just brought water to his room and found him dead on the bed. The bedding and pillow were all soaked in blood! Feng Er was so scared that he scrambled out to the door to report to the yamen runners. The yamen runners are on their way there now. I don't know if anyone has gone to inform the Lin family."
Xu Qing waved his sleeve and said, "Quickly tell my servant to go to the Lin family; he knows the way!"
The waiter immediately ran to the kitchen to deliver the message, while the remaining doctors stood at the door chattering for a while before inviting each other to go into Lin Mo's room.
Some people came into the house to invite Yu Qi to go with them, but Yu Qi remained unmoved and continued to take pulses inside the house. On the contrary, the women in the house couldn't sit still and kept looking over there.
The remaining few, who were too weak to walk, discussed the matter to any conclusion and then asked Yu Qi, "Doctor Yu, didn't you say that Master Lin was much better? It looked like he would be able to move home after taking medicine for a few more days, so how could he have died?"
Yu Qi ignored him and simply said, "Stick out your tongue and let me see."
The woman stuck out her tongue, and someone nearby asked, "Doctor Yu, why don't you go and take a look?"
Yu Qi ignored him and asked, "Are you coughing up blood again today?"
A young and beautiful woman swayed gracefully to Yu Qi's side. "What's so interesting about dead people? Doctor Yu is a doctor, how many dead people have you seen? Unlike them, who are so naive."
The woman dared not approach him directly, so she could only glance at him from a distance and ask, "Doctor Yu, you've been in this garden for so many days now, why haven't I heard that your wife has come to visit?"
Yu Qi only said to the woman taking his pulse, "Be careful not to catch a cold." After saying that, he got up and left without even looking at the woman.
Seeing this, the remaining women laughed and mocked the beautiful woman, "Do you think everyone will listen to you? Don't you even look in the mirror and see if you're worthy? Who is Doctor Yu? Haven't you heard? Although he lives in the countryside of Suzhou, there are plenty of people who bring money to him for treatment. He has a huge mansion, servants, and is incredibly wealthy. Why would he be fooled by your little tricks? You should save your energy and go back to the brothels to deal with those dirty, stinking men. Don't waste your time here!"
It turned out that this beautiful woman was a courtesan. Due to her illness, she had acquired an even more alluring and captivating appearance, which had aroused jealousy and resentment in others. She was too lazy to argue with these women, so she just spat, waved her handkerchief at them, rolled her eyes, and walked to the window.
Outside on the cold pond road, many people were running hurriedly, seemingly rushing to Lin Mo's place to see what was going on. She rubbed her forehead, muttering to herself, "He was clearly fine last night—"
As the clouds and smoke gradually dissipated, the warbling of orioles filled the air, and the entire lychee orchard, which had been listless before, suddenly became bustling with activity. Du Zhong returned after seeing Jiu Li off; it was already late afternoon. Two unfamiliar-looking yamen runners were now guarding the side gate, brandishing swords and exuding a menacing and imposing aura. Upon seeing him, they reached out to stop him. He quickly explained that he was a clerk from the pharmacy, who had been serving there for days, and only then was he allowed to enter.
All the way there, I was thinking, what's so surprising about someone dying of illness? Could it be that something serious has happened? I bumped into an acquaintance, grabbed him and asked, and was shocked to learn that Lin Mo had been murdered in his house!
He was stunned. Seeing his strange expression, the waiter remembered, "Right, wasn't it one of your Yu family's waiters who delivered the medicine to Master Lin last night before dinner?"
Du Zhong's eyes widened in an instant. "So what? We delivered the medicine and went back. He was still lively and energetic when we left!"
The man quickly laughed, "Don't be fierce with me. I didn't mean anything by it. It's just that the officials are asking who saw this Master Lin yesterday."
Du Zhong said fiercely, "Whoever it is, it's none of my business!"
After saying this, he hurriedly went to Yu Qi's room.
Yu Qi, having had many patients rushing off to see the spectacle, rarely had a moment of peace. He returned to his room early and was idly sipping tea when he saw Du Zhong hurrying in. He only glanced at him briefly over the rim of his teacup. "Did you deliver the fish home?"
Du Zhong nodded like a woodpecker, then hurriedly closed the door and came in. "Master, I heard that Lin Mo was murdered?"
"I don't know." Yu Qi calmly blew on his teacup. "Who is Lin Mo?"
"That's the one who got better after you gave him a strong dose of medicine a few days ago. He had a face full of pimples and was about twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old."
Yu Qi felt annoyed just hearing him describe the appearance, and frowned, "So it was him."
"Didn't you see it?"
"What's so interesting about someone dying? As long as it wasn't from illness, what does it have to do with me?"
"Have you heard who killed him?"
Yu Qi raised his forehead and glared at him, "Mind your own business."
Du Zhong hesitated and stepped closer, "I, I, Master, there are some things I don't know whether I should say or not."
"What did you say?"
"Last night, the medicine for Lin Mo, it was Yu'er and I who delivered it." He lowered his head and recounted the events of the previous day in detail, then cautiously glanced at Yu Qi's expression. "Master, I heard that the yamen is asking those who saw Lin Mo yesterday if Yu'er and I will be implicated?"
Yu Qifang put down his teacup, his face stern and cold. "This is utter nonsense! Why didn't you stop her? What if Lin Mo had acted recklessly yesterday and she had suffered a loss?"
He rarely lost his temper, but when he did, he was ruthless and merciless. He once punished someone by making them kneel in the snow for two hours in the dead of winter. Du Zhong had suffered this hardship and was most afraid of his anger, so he shrank back and dared not look at him. "I didn't suffer any loss, though; Yu'er has always been quick-witted."
Since the matter was over, Yu Qi didn't pursue it further. After a moment of silence, he said, "The innocent are innocent. Since it has nothing to do with you, you are not afraid of being investigated. When the time comes, no matter what the authorities ask you, just answer them truthfully."
Du Zhong nodded. "Yes."
Sure enough, it wasn't long before the official questioned Lin Mo about yesterday's events in his room. Because Doctor Xu harbored resentment towards Yu Qi, and upon hearing from others that it was a servant from the Yu family who delivered the medicine to Lin Mo yesterday, he secretly gave a signal to his servant.
His servant, having received the order, squeezed through the crowd and shouted into the house, "Sir! The new servant who came to the Yu family yesterday is acting strangely. He's neither male nor female, and he's quite fierce. He even argued with us in the kitchen. I think Master Lin might have been killed by him! Master Lin has always been a bit unruly in his speech. Could it be that he offended him, and this is his revenge?"
The county magistrate was looking around inside when he heard this. He turned around and walked towards the door. He was a very young man, only in his early twenties. He was dressed in a blue robe, tall and slender with a refined and scholarly air. He also happened to have a small mole under his right eyebrow. Because of his fair skin, the mole looked like a speck of ink on white paper.
This man's surname was Qi, and his given name was Xubai. Qi Xubai walked to the door, glanced at everyone, and asked, "Where are the Yu family's servants?"
Someone said, "It's not here."
Someone else said, "Yeah, why aren't they here? Maybe they're feeling guilty!"
Just then, the coroner finished examining the body and was about to order someone to carry it back to the yamen when Xu Bai said, "Let's find an empty room here to put it in. I'm afraid his disease hasn't fully healed and he can't be put in a coffin right away. If he still has a fever, carrying it to the yamen will only cause trouble."
The coroner hurriedly ordered another empty room to be found, and whispered in Xu Bai's ear, "Sir, there are signs of diarrhea. He may have eaten something bad, or someone may have poisoned him."
Xu's servant overheard this and jumped out, "That's it! Yesterday, the new servant at the Yu family was very attentive, rushing to deliver medicine to Master Lin. Did he tamper with the medicine?"
The constable rushed off to arrest the man, but just as he stepped out of the cave, he heard someone calling from behind him. It was Xu Bai.
The constable stopped and bowed to him, asking, "What are your orders, sir?"
Xu Bai said, "You're in such a hurry to get the Yu family's employee, didn't you even ask who the Yu family is?"
"He's just a doctor, isn't he?"
Xu Bai chuckled as he paced back and forth. "This is no ordinary doctor. His name is Yu Qi, known as the 'Ghost Hand Divine Doctor.' He's quite famous in Jiangnan, and many wealthy and powerful people have sought his medical advice but to no avail. He originally lived in seclusion in the countryside of Suzhou. During this Nanjing epidemic, it was Minister Zhao of the Ministry of Personnel in Southern Zhili who personally visited him three times to invite him to come. You didn't even ask him a question before trying to arrest his family. Aren't you afraid he'll report you to Minister Zhao?"
A note from the author:
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Thank you for reading.
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