On the street, black smoke still billowed from the ruins of Baohe Hall, and large puddles of water covered with ice crystals lay on the ground. A large group of locals gathered there, discussing the scene.
"Alas, Baohetang had finally returned to its former glory, only to be burned down like this overnight," an old man said, leaning on his cane. "I wonder who did it."
This person said, "Exactly, that's outrageous. This is a clinic where people are supposed to get treatment. Where are we supposed to go now to see a doctor and get a prescription?"
The man said, "Although Baohetang was burned down, the doctors are all fine. They have temporarily rented a clinic on the second floor of the inn. Anyone who needs help can go there."
The one who spoke earlier said, "Even if the doctor can diagnose the illness, all the medicinal herbs have been burned. How can he prescribe medicine?"
Su Wan, dressed in men's clothing and wearing a bamboo hat, stood at the back of the crowd and whispered to Lin Qingfeng beside her, "This must have been deliberately burned, right?"
She dressed like this at Wei Jingzhuo's request.
Since someone deliberately set fire to Baohetang, it means that the person had a grudge against Su Wan. If she appeared on the streets of Suiyang County in her true form, she might be in danger.
Lin Qingfeng surveyed the condition of Baohetang. Baohetang was not much different from other shops along the street; it was all constructed of wood, and most of it had already been burned to charcoal.
He said to Su Wan, "It seems so. Does Madam have any enemies?"
“Yes, of course,” Su Wan replied. “Have the guards check here. Let’s go to the inn to see Uncle Zhao and ask him what happened last night.”
If we're talking about enemies, then it's naturally Su Heng and his wife. She had Lu Zhao lead the guards to take over Baohe Hall and ransack Su Heng's house. Anyone would hate her in that situation.
She and Lin Qingfeng arrived in front of the inn.
There was a long queue of more than thirty people outside the inn. They weren't there to stay at the inn, but to see a doctor.
Su Wan entered the inn and went up to the second floor, where she found Zhao Fu in the room next to the clinic.
Upon seeing her, Zhao Fu burst into tears and immediately knelt down, saying, "Miss, it is my incompetence. I failed to protect Master's last remaining assets."
Su Wan reached out to help him up, saying, "Uncle Zhao, you don't need to blame yourself. How could you have known that someone set the fire secretly? It's alright, we can just rebuild the shop if it burns down."
Seeing that Su Wan didn't blame him, Zhao Fu felt even more guilty. He would have felt better if Su Wan had been angry and scolded him.
Su Wan said, "Uncle Zhao, there are some things we can't keep an eye on forever. It's not the theft itself that's scary, it's the thief's ambition. Even if you stay up all night watching, you'll eventually get tired, and you can't prevent this from happening."
She comforted and explained, and finally managed to calm Zhao Fu down.
"Miss, the pharmacy has burned down. What should we do next?" Zhao Fu asked.
Su Wan asked, "Do you know who did it?"
Zhao Fu shook his head: "I heard people shouting outside, so I rushed out of the yard. I saw flames soaring into the sky. The first people to see the fire said that when they saw it, the fire was already very big, and there was no time to put it out."
Lin Qingfeng said from the side, "Madam, if a fire is started accidentally, it will definitely start with smoke first, and the fire will spread little by little. Judging from what Butler Zhao said, it was definitely arson."
Zhao Fu said, "The magistrate of An County has already sent his constables to investigate. The constables also said that someone set the fire."
The new magistrate of An County is the one who replaced Ge Fanghai. He was an official selected by Wei Jingzhuo from the Northwest Army to govern Suiyang. The Suiyang County government is now functioning normally.
Su Wan thought to herself, "Xiao Zhao told me that Su Heng and his wife left by carriage that very day. They've been gone for so long, why would they come back to set a fire?"
But on second thought, Su Heng and his wife are still the most suspicious. Perhaps they really did hold a grudge and turned back halfway to set the fire.
She comforted Zhao Fu, saying, "Uncle Zhao, since Magistrate An has taken over the case, we don't need to worry about it anymore. But do you have any medicine available for everyone at your clinic in the inn?"
Zhao Fu said, "The medicinal herbs were all stored in Baohetang, and they've all been burned. Even if new herbs arrive, it's not something that can be gathered in a day or two."
Su Wan took out several pills from the pharmacy, including common medications such as fever relievers, antibiotics for treating bacterial infections, and antiviral oral solutions. She said to Zhao Fu, "Uncle Zhao, these are the medicines I brought. Please distribute them to the doctors first."
Zhao Fu quickly called the two doctors into the room. Su Wan carefully explained to the doctors the symptoms corresponding to each medicine, and then asked them to take the medicine to everyone.
Her medicines were all modern drugs, more than enough to treat common diseases in ancient times.
The doctors couldn't understand the pills she gave them, but they all knew that Su Wan was the miracle doctor who cured the Western Rong King's heart disease, so the medicine she gave him couldn't be wrong.
After everyone received their medicine, they left. A guard ran in and whispered, "Madam, we found a character on a pillar at the back door of Baohe Hall."
Su Wan glanced at Lin Qingfeng, who nodded to her. She then said to Zhao Fu, "Uncle Zhao, you're still treating patients here. I'll go take a look."
She led Lin Qingfeng down the stairs to the outside of the inn and around to the back door of Baohe Hall.
The back door had also been burned to the point of collapse, but on one of the half-pillars billowing black smoke, Su Wan saw the character "偿" (cháng, meaning to repay). This was the only character that hadn't been burned; the rest of it was charred black and illegible.
“To repay, to compensate,” Su Wan muttered to herself. “This is probably what the arsonist wrote.”
She looked at it more closely and found that the character was written very elegantly.
She had seen Wei Jingzhuo write, Zhao Fu write, and Chu Mingyao write. Generally, men's handwriting is more unrestrained, with force penetrating the paper. To put it bluntly, it's more bold. Women's handwriting, on the other hand, is usually more graceful and gentle.
This character was clearly written by a woman. Moreover, she had practiced calligraphy for many years; it was definitely not something an uneducated village woman could have written.
As for that idiot Yang, it's not that Su Wan looks down on her, but she doesn't have the ability to write such beautiful characters.
But who exactly is the other party? It seems they want to get some compensation from Baohetang.
She couldn't help but recall the medical disputes she witnessed in her past life. When hospitals failed to cure patients, their families would come and cause trouble. They would often unfurl banners and block the entrance with objects. In ancient times, would they simply set the building on fire? Was that how medical disputes were conducted back then?
She had never practiced medicine at Baohetang and didn't know what was going on. She instructed the guards to have someone make a rubbing of the character on paper as evidence.
Back at the inn, she found Zhao Fu and said, "Uncle Zhao, we found some writing on paper at the back door of Baohe Hall. It should have been written by a woman. Have you treated any women recently?"
An elderly doctor, overhearing this, raised his hand and said, "Master, I did indeed examine a woman. She said her surname was Qiu, and that her house had been destroyed by fire..."
After listening to the doctor's explanation, Su Wan roughly understood.
It must be Qiu Jie. She believed the doctor hadn't done his best to treat her brother, so she set fire to Baohetang.
Although the doctor didn't have Qiu Jie's handwriting to compare, Qiu Jie was definitely a prime suspect.
Su Wan instructed her guards to present the evidence to the county magistrate, who then arranged for people to search for and arrest Qiu Jie.
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