Chapter 255 Who Sent Him?
Su Ning was about to run over to help him when Ye Wanning raised his hand to stop her and gave her a wink.
Su Ning released her grip and said to the man, "Please sit down first, my husband will check your pulse."
"Why are you in such a hurry?" Ye Wanning calmly withdrew her hand. "Your tongue coating is dark and your pulse is deep and tight, which should indicate cold stagnation and qi stagnation. But when I ask you where it hurts, you can't explain it clearly."
She said, "How about this, I'll give you acupuncture to relieve the pain first, and then I'll get you the medicine."
As she spoke, she turned around, took out silver needles from the medicine box, and then took out alcohol from the jar, lit it, and used the flame to disinfect the silver needles. Then she winked at Su Ning beside her.
Su Ning understood immediately and ran out quickly: "I'll go to the chief physician and get a bottle of pain relief oil."
Ye Wanning was slightly taken aback, then quickly realized what was happening and hurried toward the medicine box, while constantly turning back to keep an eye on the man's movements.
Seeing that Ye Wanning had her back to him, the man thought his chance had come. He suddenly reached into his pocket, pulled out a short knife, and stabbed it straight at her back: "You little bitch, prepare to die!"
Ye Wanning was prepared. Hearing the sound of wind behind her, she immediately dodged to the side. The silver dagger grazed her sleeve, snatching a few strands of hair, and plunged into the soil beside her with a "plop," splashing up a few mud droplets.
She grabbed the silver needles beside her and thrust them into the Zusanli acupoint below the man's knee. This acupoint is normally used for strengthening the body, but if inserted too deeply, it can instantly make a person's legs weak and powerless.
The man's leg went numb, he staggered back two steps, cursed, and swung his knife at him again.
Ye Wanning, clutching her medicine box, dodged left and right, her silver needles moving swiftly and accurately, striking his Jianjing, Quchi, and Yanglingquan acupoints in succession.
"Surrender now!"
The man's martial arts skills were not low, but after several key acupoints were struck, his movements gradually slowed down, and his strength was far less than before. The sweat on his forehead was all cold sweat from the pain.
"You're pretty tough!" Ye Wanning shouted, just as the man swung his knife again. She raised her foot and kicked the back of the man's knee hard.
The man fell to his knees with a thud, and the short knife flew out of his hand, only to be caught by a quick-reacting apprentice nearby.
Su Ning and several apprentices rushed over and tied the man up tightly with rope.
The villagers, who had been trembling with fear, rushed over after regaining their composure: "Dr. Ye, are you alright? This person is too eerie! How could he suddenly kill someone! You were in such a dangerous situation, it was terrifying! Thank goodness you're alright!"
Ye Wanning dusted herself off and shook her head: "It's nothing, thank you for your concern."
She walked up to the man, looking down at him with icy eyes: "Tell me, who sent you?"
The man stiffened his neck, gritted his teeth, and refused to speak, his eyes fierce like a wild beast cornered.
Just then, with two soft "whoosh!" sounds, two dark figures darted out from the nearby woods, moving as fast as the wind and landing silently.
Just as Ye Wanning was about to be on guard, the two men clasped their hands in a respectful gesture and said, "Doctor Ye, we are secret guards sent by the Prime Minister."
Ye Wanning was completely stunned—he had actually sent secret guards to follow her.
Her decision to come to the neighboring city for a free clinic was made on short notice; she didn't tell anyone, not even Su Ning, whom she only notified the day before.
The head guard took out a piece of beautiful jade from his pocket and handed it to Ye Wanning: "This is the Prime Minister's beautiful jade. He said that wearing it will ward off evil spirits."
It was a piece of mutton-fat white jade, warm and cool to the touch, with a Pixiu carved on it, the patterns clear and distinct.
Ye Wanning recognized it at a glance. Last time at the banquet in the palace, Pei Zhi wore this beautiful jade around his waist, which made the jade belt look even more lustrous.
As her fingertips gently traced the patterns on the jade, a lump formed in her throat, and her eyes instantly welled up with tears.
What's bittersweet is that he always went out of his way for her without her knowing, but she deliberately distanced herself from him because of their different social statuses; what's heartwarming is that he even remembered to remind her to be careful, and even remembered such a small thing as warding off evil spirits, and even gave her the beautiful jade he often used.
"Thank you." Ye Wanning clutched the jade tightly, tucked it into her clothes, and pressed it against her heart. The cool jade was quickly warmed by her body heat, as if it could feel his warmth as well.
“This man is here to kill me. Take him back to the dungeon for interrogation and find out who sent him.”
The guard responded and lifted the man from the ground to leave. The man struggled and roared in mid-air, "I was sent by Lord Zhao Kun to kill you! You've offended His Highness the Prince of Jiangnan; you'll suffer the consequences! If you know what's good for you, surrender now, or you'll be torn to pieces sooner or later!"
Ye Wanning's heart sank. It turned out that Zhou Hu was just a small fry, yet he was connected to such a powerful force behind the scenes.
She looked up at the rolling mountains. Now that she had gotten herself into trouble, she had never been afraid. She was determined to get to the bottom of things and restore peace to the people of the neighboring city.
After arranging the assassin's affairs, Ye Wanning went to comfort the frightened villagers, and then continued to treat and administer acupuncture to the villagers who were queuing up.
They were busy until sunset before they finally finished seeing all the villagers.
Grandpa Zhang insisted that they stay for a meal in the village, and even killed one of his own chickens to cook a pot of hot chicken soup. Ye Wanning couldn't refuse, so she had no choice but to stay with Su Ning and the apprentices.
At the dinner table, Grandpa Zhang said, "Dr. Ye, if it weren't for you, we ordinary people wouldn't know how long Zhou Hu would have bullied us. Now someone else is trying to harm you, so you must take good care of yourself."
"I understand, thank you, Uncle Zhang."
The next morning, Ye Wanning, carrying the evidence she had—the land seizure contract by Zhou Hu, the farmers' testimonies, the granary ledgers, and the bribery records found by Magistrate Wu—went to the government office with Magistrate Wu.
The prefect held a thick stack of documents, his brow furrowed. Zhao Kun stood to the side, his face pale, and hurriedly protested, "Your Excellency, these are all forgeries by Ye Wanning! She just wants to take this opportunity to frame me and Zhou Hu and seize our family property! I'm innocent!"
"Whether it's fake or not, we'll know soon enough by asking," Ye Wanning said calmly. "The farmers whose land was forcibly seized are waiting outside and can come in to confront us at any time."
"And there's Zhou Hu's granary. The grain inside was all grown on land that was forcibly seized. The ledger is right here, and every single entry matches up."
Zhao Kun was about to continue his sophistry when the gates of the prefectural government office were suddenly pushed open with a bang. A yamen runner rushed in, shouting in a panic, "Your Excellency, a secret letter has arrived from the capital! It was sent by Prime Minister Pei on horseback!"
The prefect was startled and quickly took the secret letter. After reading it, his face changed drastically. He threw the letter on the table and pointed at Zhao Kun, angrily shouting, "You, Zhao Kun! How dare you collude with Zhou Hu to embezzle government funds! You have a lot of nerve!"
"No...no! Your Excellency, I didn't!" Zhao Kun's expression changed drastically. "They're slandering me! Ye Wanning and Prime Minister Pei are slandering me together!"
Ye Wanning stepped forward and saw the contents of the secret letter. It was a correspondence between Zhou Hu and Zhao Kun, detailing their extortionate buying and selling, bribery of officials, and the orders from the Jiangnan prince—to stockpile grain and secretly recruit soldiers in the area.
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