Chapter 61 Many hands make light work
With heavy hearts, the two checked their clothes and shoes.
However, even though Xiao Qing wanted to tear the clothes to pieces, she couldn't find a single word or a single painting.
Even the most patient person would start to get anxious at this point.
Xiao Qing kicked away two smelly shoes. "What the hell? Hiding gold! What is the Grand Tutor up to?!"
No sooner had she finished speaking than Mingxiu came in carrying the medicine.
She looked curiously at the tattered clothes and the shoes that had been kicked aside and lay there looking aggrieved... well, an adult man's shoes.
His gaze involuntarily drifted towards Zhao Youchen.
Zhao Youchen was naturally wearing shoes.
Xiao Qing's eyebrows furrowed into a small mountain the moment she saw the medicine.
"Mingxiu, I'm really cured! Look, I can run and jump, I can even kick off a shoe! I couldn't be better. So this medicine..."
"Your Majesty, there are still two days left. We must finish drinking it no matter what."
I……
Xiao Qing lowered her head and accepted the medicine bowl, deciding not to waste her energy arguing.
Mingxiu is particularly persistent in the field of medicine; there's no room for negotiation.
Zhao Youchen's eyes were fixed on the shoes.
"Your Majesty, this is a new shoe."
Xiao Qing glared at the shoe with annoyance, "Nonsense."
Zhao Youchen walked over, picked up the shoe, and weighed it in his hand.
"We've even searched inside the shoes, but there's nothing there. Maybe we should just take the shoes apart."
Zhao Youchen picked up another shoe. "This one doesn't seem very new." At least, although the difference wasn't significant, a closer look at the sole revealed that the other shoe was indeed newer.
Xiao Qing drank the medicine in one gulp, handed the bowl to Mingxiu, and quickly went over to her.
Mingxiu suppressed her curiosity, thinking that she shouldn't pry into things His Majesty hadn't said. So she held back, took the medicine bowl, and slowly withdrew.
Dan Ying returned from outside and saw Ming Xiu. The two of them curtsied.
Mingxiu asked, "Is Attendant Mei feeling better?"
Dan Ying replied, "Much better. I should be able to get out of bed in a couple of days."
Mingxiu noticed the small bag in her hand, which seemed to smell fragrant, and asked, "What is this?"
Dan Ying handed it over, saying, "Consort Mei likes to burn incense in her room, and she's almost used it up recently. Since it's inconvenient for her to go get more, she asked me to help her get some back."
Mingxiu was far less interested in the fragrance than in the medicinal herbs; she simply found the aroma light and pleasant and didn't ask any further questions.
Speaking of which, Dan Ying was in charge of the incense in His Majesty's room.
Is there enough incense in Your Majesty's room?
"His Majesty does not like to use incense. Even if it smells faint, His Majesty says he has a headache. Apart from using some calming incense when he was seriously injured a few days ago, he has not burned incense for quite some time."
Mingxiu thought to herself, "The young emperor really doesn't like using perfume, which is quite different from other girls."
Wait, let's get rid of that idea as soon as possible. His Majesty doesn't need those little girl toys.
Xiao Qing was concentrating on thinking about why the two shoes were different, and when she couldn't figure it out, she felt frustrated.
Good heavens, she was initially quite composed. But this Li Qinghe was even more capable than her; all the information about him was ambiguous, and almost everything about him remained a mystery.
Hearing the conversation outside, even though he couldn't make out anything more clearly, he instinctively called out, "Who's out there?"
Mingxiu and Danying exchanged a glance, both of them realizing that the young emperor was not in a good mood.
Left with no other choice, the two went inside to report back.
Mingxiu was still holding the medicine bowl, while Danying twitched her nose and involuntarily looked around.
Xiao Qing noticed her expression.
"Dan Ying, what are you looking for?"
Dan Ying paused for a moment, about to say it was nothing, but her eyes spotted the tattered clothes that had clearly been torn apart.
The words I'd always wanted to say remained unspoken.
Xiao Qing narrowed her eyes. "Is there something wrong with these clothes?"
Dan Ying looked at Xiao Qing but did not answer immediately.
Zhao Youchen felt as if he had seen a glimmer of hope.
"Just say what you have to say, His Majesty won't blame you." The two of them were really going crazy looking for him.
Dan Ying then said, "Your Majesty may not know, but before I entered the palace, my family ran an incense business. If Your Majesty doesn't mind, may I take a look at this dress?"
Xiao Qing couldn't possibly abandon him, so Zhao Youchen quickly took the clothes and handed them over.
Dan Ying sniffed it, and her expression turned sour.
There seems to be a subtle sadness, or nostalgia, or some other delicate and sentimental emotion.
Xiao Qing and Zhao Youchen exchanged a glance; things were looking promising.
"Your Majesty, this incense comes from Haizhou. It is made by grinding a type of pearl with several other pollens and fruit powders from the coastal area to create an incense that repels insects and dispels dampness. Although it is not precious, only a few small towns along the coast of Haizhou know how to make incense in this way."
Dan Ying paused for a moment, "This incense is not sold in Nan Ding City. My father once brought this incense to Dingzhou to sell, but this place is not as humid as the seaside, pearls are rare, nobles do not like this incense, and commoners think it is too expensive and cannot use it, so in the end we had to throw it away."
"Where is your father?" Zhao Youchen asked.
“He has passed away.” Dan Ying paused. “Back then, a typhoon struck Haizhou, and half the town was devastated. Many people had to leave their homes. My father… brought me to Dingzhou, but his business failed, and he fell seriously ill but had no money for treatment. In the end, he sold me into the palace, which finally fulfilled his wish, and he passed away peacefully.”
Zhao Youchen couldn't ask any more questions.
Xiao Qing pointed to the shoes. "Take another look at these shoes?"
Dan Ying approached and examined the new shoe closely, then pointed to it and said, "The embroidery on this shoe seems to be from the palace."
Xiao Qing and Zhao Youchen were both shocked.
How do you know?
Dan Ying couldn't explain it, and after thinking for a long time, she said, "Your Majesty, please forgive my ignorance. However, since Attendant Liu was originally from the Imperial Wardrobe, perhaps he can explain it."
Xiao Qing said to Mingxiu, "Please ask Attendant Liu to come over."
Mingxiu accepted the order and soon brought Liu Yi back.
“That’s right, it’s from the Imperial Clothing Bureau.” Liu Yi looked at it carefully and touched it. “The fabric of this shoe is from Jinxiufang in the city. It looks like ordinary cotton cloth, but it’s actually three layers of cotton pressed together. It’s absorbent and breathable. And if you take it apart, you can see the three small characters ‘Jinxiufang’ in the middle layer.”
Xiao Qing quickly decided: "Take off the shoes."
Just as Liu Yi had said, the fabric on the shoe upper had a lot of small print in the middle layer. However, because it was pressed so tightly, even if it were taken apart now, the complete print wouldn't be visible.
Xiao Qing thought to herself, "That's good. Jinxiufang even has anti-counterfeiting and copyright protection features."
"What about this shoe?" Xiao Qing had a bad feeling.
"It didn't come from the palace. But judging from the wear on the soles, this person probably had a problem with their left leg, and their weight was all on their right leg, which is why the edges are worn out more."
Zhao Youchen remembered, "That person was injured in the right leg!"
Liu Yi frowned. "Impossible. He can't put any weight on his injured right leg."
Xiao Qing understood that Zhao Youchen was referring to the beggar.
Okay. Now let's assume that the real Li Qinghe was from Haizhou, liked incense, had a leg injury, and perhaps was even connected to Jinxiufang?
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