Chapter 35 The Guide to the Pill
Chun Tao nodded, "Yes. The Third Prince and Consort Li have both been punished, and the court is at peace now. We can finally live a good life."
Ye Wanning looked at the distant sky, her eyes filled with unwavering determination.
The peaceful days are only temporary.
Ye Wanning knew all too well that this revenge, which had just begun, was not yet complete.
After the Third Prince and Consort Li were punished, the atmosphere in the capital gradually calmed down. Ye Wanning's life also returned to normal. She spent her days reading, managing her shop, and sometimes discussing matters with Pei Zhi and Ye Chengjing when she had free time.
But she had not forgotten her mother's death. She knew that although the Third Prince and Consort Li had been punished, the truth about her mother's death had not yet been fully revealed.
That day, Ye Wanning was reading in her study when Ye Chengjing suddenly rushed in.
"Ningning, I've found out some things about your mother." Ye Chengjing's face was full of excitement.
Ye Wanning quickly put down the book in her hand: "What?"
“I found out that when Mother was ill, in addition to the Third Prince’s mother sending medicine, Madam Zhou also sent medicine to Mother,” Ye Chengjing said.
Ye Wanning frowned: "Madam Zhou? Why would she send medicine to Mother?"
“I don’t know,” Ye Chengjing said. “But I feel there must be something wrong. I also found out that after my mother passed away, Mrs. Zhou received a lot of my mother’s belongings, including some very valuable jewelry and calligraphy.”
Madam Zhou was just a maidservant to my mother back then, so it's highly suspicious that she could receive so many benefits after my mother's death.
"Is there anything else?" Ye Wanning asked.
"I also found out that Madam Zhou's entry into the mansion was facilitated by Consort Li. She has a very close relationship with Consort Li," Ye Chengjing said.
Ye Wanning nodded: "So, Madam Zhou is very likely a pawn planted by Consort Li next to Mother? Mother's death is also related to her?"
“Very likely,” Ye Chengjing said. “I want to continue investigating and find evidence.”
Ye Wanning said, "Okay, I'll investigate with you."
A few days later, Ye Wanning and Ye Chengjing began to carefully investigate the events of Madam Zhou and her mother from back then.
They found some of the old maids and nannies who had served their mother back then and asked them about what happened back then.
“We found it strange at the time, but Mother trusted Madam Zhou and never doubted her,” the old nanny said. “Now that I think about it, every time Madam Zhou sent medicine, Mother’s condition worsened.”
"Yes." Ye Wanning and Ye Chengjing exchanged a glance, their eyes filled with anger. It really was Madam Zhou! She really did poison my mother!
"Do you know why Madam Zhou did this?" Ye Wanning asked.
"I don't know. But I heard that Madam Zhou was very close to a servant in the manor back then. That servant suddenly disappeared later, and some people say that Madam Zhou drove him away," the old nanny said.
Ye Wanning's heart skipped a beat: "Is that so?"
Ye Wanning's fingertips traced the yellowed ledger, the ink somewhat blurred from age. This was what Chuntao had found in a corner of the storeroom—her mother's expenses for the last six months of her life.
“Miss, look here.” Chun Tao pointed to one of the pages. “On the third day of each month, there is an expense listed as ‘medicinal herbs.’ The amount is not small, but the account doesn’t specify what was purchased,” Chun Tao said.
Ye Wanning turned slightly closer, the candlelight casting a soft shadow. Her mother's handwriting was delicate, but these few strokes of the pen were unusually hasty, as if written in a hurry.
"The third day of the month..." She tapped the table lightly with her fingertips, "Madam Zhou goes to Ciyun Temple outside the city to offer incense on the second day of every month. This timing is too coincidental."
Chun Tao's eyes lit up: "You mean, that money was for Madam Zhou? She used the guise of buying medicinal herbs to line her own pockets?"
“That’s not all.” Ye Wanning opened another prescription book. “My mother’s prescriptions back then didn’t need such expensive herbs at all.”
She suddenly stopped: "Go and fetch Zhang Ma, the one who used to prepare medicine for Mother."
Chun Tao was startled. Zhang Ma was an old servant in the household, currently working in the laundry room. When she was summoned to the Red Leaf Pavilion, she was scrubbing her apron, her eyes darting nervously.
"Zhang Ma," Ye Wanning asked bluntly, "did you brew all the medicine Mother drank back then?"
"Second Miss, spare me! This old servant...this old servant has a reason!" Zhang Ma's knees buckled and she knelt down.
"Just tell the truth, and I'll guarantee you'll be fine." Chun Tao helped her up.
Wiping away her tears, Zhang Ma recounted what had happened back then. Every month on the third day, Madam Zhou would take out a packet of "tonifying medicine" and ask her to secretly add it to her herbal soup. She refused, but Madam Zhou threatened her family's lives, forcing her to comply.
"The powder is white and smells a bit like bitter almonds," Zhang Ma said, her voice trembling. "Every time that stuff was added, Madam would cough terribly that night..."
Ye Wanning's heart sank. The bitter almond flavor most likely indicated a cyanide-containing poison. Zhou had indeed long harbored murderous intent.
"Where did Madam Zhou get the medicine powder?"
"It seems... I received it from a man in a blue cloth shirt," Zhang Ma tried to recall. "It was under the willow tree behind the mansion, on the evening of the second day of each month."
A man in a blue cloth shirt? Ye Wanning suddenly remembered the missing servant the old nanny had mentioned.
She immediately sent someone to check the roster of servants in the manor from that year. Sure enough, there was a person named Afu, whose roster said "died by accident three years ago when he fell into the water." However, there was a fingerprint in the notes, which was blurry and looked like it had been altered.
"Investigate Afu's whereabouts and that of his family. Be quick! Focus on the people near Ciyun Temple," Ye Wanning said to her trusted guards.
Three days later, the guard reported: Afu did not die at all. He had taken fifty taels of silver from the Zhou family back then, faked his death to escape, and is now working as a handyman at Ciyun Temple. His mother still lives in the suburbs and was just taken to a large mansion in the city last week.
"Pretty fast!" Ye Wanning sneered. "Are you afraid we'll find witnesses and strike first?"
She changed into men's clothing and headed towards Ciyun Temple with Chun Tao. It was during a temple fair, and the temple was bustling with people. Chun Tao went to keep the guest monk company, while Ye Wanning slipped away to the servants' quarters in the backyard.
A middle-aged man in a gray short-sleeved shirt was chopping wood; his profile bore a striking resemblance to Afu on the roster. Ye Wanning deliberately knocked the axe from his feet: "Sorry, it slipped."
The man looked up and cursed, but when he saw Ye Wanning's face, he froze, and panic instantly filled his eyes.
"Brother Fu, how have you been?" Ye Wanning lowered her voice, showing her fingertip the fingerprint she had taken from the ledger. "You should recognize this mark, right?"
Afu's axe fell to the ground with a "bang," and he turned to run. Ye Wanning was prepared; several guards emerged from behind a tree and pinned him to the ground.
"Second Miss, spare me!" Afu cried, his face contorted with despair. "It's all Madam Zhou's fault! She told me to buy the 'Medicinal Guide Pill,' promising me a hundred taels of silver after it was done!"
The "Traction Machine Inducing" is a deadly poison. After ingestion, it causes convulsions throughout the body, as if being pulled by a lever; this was the symptom her mother exhibited before her death. Ye Wanning looked at him: "What's the name of the pharmacy? Who's in charge?"
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