Chapter 51 Death News: Doctor Yu is her!
"Sir, Pei Qian has arrived."
The night was as deep as ink, but the lights in Pei's house were on. No one knew that the Pei family had experienced a fire, and suddenly the government brought people to investigate the leak.
Zhou Linjin sat in front of the hall. His headaches of the past few days had not eased at all, and the pain became even more severe due to not sleeping late at night. However, he was unaware of it and just watched coldly as Ao Xing brought Pei Qian up.
Today, he took Bi Cha and searched Chenzhou for a whole day. He turned all the medical clinics and drug stores in Chenzhou upside down, but he still couldn't find any trace of Chen Lianxiu. Finally, his hope was dashed, and he could only come to the Pei family.
Unfortunately, before they arrived, a fire broke out in a courtyard of the Pei family. It was said that it was where Pei Qian's younger sister lived, and Pei Qian was still there. Zhou Linjin did not push him too hard, so he let Ao Xing go over and bring him back after Pei Qian had dealt with the matter.
As for the rest of the Pei family, except for those who were still putting out the fire, both masters and servants were brought here by Zhou Linjin's orders. They had been carefully examined by Bi Cha at this time, and Shen Lianxiu was not among them.
When Pei Qian arrived, Zhou Linjin had just let the women go back.
Pei Qian, utterly emaciated by the Feixiang Garden fire, stared intently at Zhou Linjin with red eyes, gritting his teeth and saying, "Master Zhou, you came here so late at night, brought all my family members here, and even disturbed the women. What is your intention? Is there no law in this world?"
Zhou Linjin said slowly, "You still know my last name is Zhou?"
Although it was no secret in the capital that the emperor had ordered him to investigate Hu Jun's sudden death, his trip to Chenzhou was done in secret. Even the people in the Duke Cheng's mansion didn't know where he had gone. Pei Qian was a businessman and had never seen him before, so it was impossible for him to recognize his identity immediately.
Pei Qian was stunned, and then he regretted that he had made a mistake in his haste.
He still has things on his mind, and considering what the Pei family has done, it is not unfair for him to be treated like this.
Zhou Linjin stood up and walked over to him. He looked Pei Qian over carefully and asked, "Was it your sister who got into trouble today?"
Pei Qian's emotions became unbearable when he mentioned his sister. He took a deep breath and said, "Yes, she's gone."
"My condolences," Zhou Linjin said, then asked, "I heard she's always been in poor health. Who treats her illnesses on a daily basis?"
Pei Qian was not out of his mind after all. He immediately sensed something was wrong in Zhou Linjin's words. No matter how he interrogated him, he should not ask about Pei Ruoyan's illness, and what did it have to do with who treated her?
Madam Yu had also treated Hu Jun before. Could it be because of this connection that Zhou Linjin became suspicious?
No, it's impossible. Hu Jun died after returning to the capital. It had nothing to do with Madam Yu. It was just a coincidence. Zhou Linjin was so smart that it was impossible for him not to be able to figure out these things.
Pei Qian didn't rush to answer. He seemed to be thinking about something, then shook his head: "I don't know."
Zhou Linjin sneered and clenched his hand tightly behind his back.
If he really didn't know, why would he think about it for so long? Zhou Linjin naturally saw that he was trying to trick him.
Did Shen Lianxiu...really become a member of the Pei family?
Ao Xing, who was standing by, was afraid that Zhou Linjin would become confused due to his concern, so he quickly reminded him in a low voice.
Who knew that just as he finished speaking, he heard Zhou Linjin ask again: "Do you know Chen Lianxiu?"
This time, Pei Qian raised an eyebrow and said without hesitation, "I've heard of your wife."
Zhou Linjin suppressed the chaotic suspicions in his mind and tried to appear less anxious.
He glanced at Pei Qian and ignored him, instead ordering, "Find a servant to serve Madam Pei."
Soon, Nanny Zhang was brought up. Because of Pei Ruoyan's matter, tears were still on her face. She looked at Pei Qian and then at Zhou Linjin in a daze.
Zhou Linjin asked, "Who usually treats your wife?"
Nanny Zhang lowered her head and, without looking at Pei Qian again, answered in detail, "A doctor named Yu, invited from outside."
Zhou Linjin had already made preparations, thinking that he could get the answer he wanted from her. Even if Chen Lianxiu really had become Pei Qian or someone in the Pei family's wife or concubine, he would accept it. As long as he knew that she was still alive, everything would be fine.
But what Aunt Zhang said was far from what he had in mind.
But Zhou Linjin was unwilling to give up. He couldn't possibly mistake the handwriting she had left behind from the Pei family: "Where's the prescription? Was it written by him too?"
Just as Aunt Zhang nodded, she heard Ao Xing say something inexplicably: "Wait a minute!"
Zhou Linjin frowned. At this moment, his heart was completely on Shen Lianxiu, and he couldn't bear to be interrupted for a moment.
Ao Xing, seeing Zhou Linjin's discontented gaze, bravely asked, "Is it the female Doctor Yu from Baixi Village?"
"Yes, that's her."
Hearing this, Zhou Linjin's eyes suddenly became blank for a moment. He seemed to have gotten the answer, but also seemed not to have. For some reason, he couldn't connect all these things together.
Doctor Yu?
But Shen Lianxiu's surname is clearly Shen, so how could he be Doctor Yu?
Could Doctor Yu from Baixi Village be the woman they had seen?
The dull pain in his forehead turned into a sharp, stabbing pain, as if an awl was chiseling it. Zhou Linjin instinctively wanted to stop, but he had to continue thinking about it.
Doctor Yu, Doctor Yu, the Doctor Yu who can't speak...
She can't speak!
Zhou Linjin's vision went dark, but he remained composed and asked Ao Xing beside him, "What does this mean?"
Ao Xing said, "Sir, the Doctor Yu that day is the Chen Lianxiu you are looking for. They are the same person."
In an instant, all the noisy sounds around seemed to disappear, and Zhou Linjin was the only one left in the vast dark void.
He was just like when he was blind, alone in a world of ignorance.
He was dull, numb, timid, and still doubted everything that was happening.
Zhou Linjin turned around, his steps unsteady, like a walking corpse, and sat back in his seat. Ao Xing and the others did not dare to speak anymore, but just waited for him quietly.
In just a few breaths, Zhou Linjin's palms were already covered in cold sweat.
Chen Lianxiu's handwriting appeared on the prescription that the Pei family took out. The prescription was for the wife of the Pei family, and the doctor who treated the wife of the Pei family was Doctor Yu.
So, Doctor Yu is Shen Lianxiu.
He remembered the face he had seen before. Every part of it was unfamiliar to him, but now that he had seen it before, he could no longer say it was unfamiliar.
That face and her voice were intertwined, and Zhou Linjin's hands couldn't stop shaking. He clenched his hands and then released them, released them and then clenched them again, over and over again.
It turned out that he had seen her a long time ago, but he didn't recognize her at all. She also saw him, but she would rather pretend to be dumb and not speak, so as not to let him recognize her.
His heart felt like it was being tightened by a bowstring, and Zhou Linjin could hardly breathe.
She was hiding from him and avoiding him like this. If she had been even a little bit worse, they would have missed each other again.
He knew she must be blaming him, blaming him for being so cruel and heartless back then, but after so many years, didn't she have any reluctance to let him go? To the point of being so determined to completely isolate him from her world.
As long as she said a word, even just one word, he would definitely recognize her. Wouldn't she even give him this little chance?
"Tell me! Where is she now!" Zhou Linjin suddenly asked loudly. Even Ao Xing and Bi Cha were frightened, because even when Zhou Linjin was angry, he never spoke so loudly. It could be said that he had no manners at all.
Nanny Zhang was naturally trembling with fear. Just as she was about to speak, Pei Qian spoke first, saying, "She couldn't cure my sister, so I killed her."
Zhou Linjin stood up and rushed to Pei Qian in one swift step. He raised his hand and grabbed his throat. "What did you say?"
Pei Qian didn't know what the relationship between Zhou Linjin and Doctor Yu was, but he had heard that he seemed to have been engaged to a family named Shen. Shen Lianxiu had said something to him inadvertently before, which had already made Pei Qian suspicious.
Looking at Zhou Linjin's appearance, he was so eager to find this person not for revenge, but because of love. So Pei Qian confirmed his guess that this Madam Yu was most likely Chen Lianxiu.
Since that's the case, he has fallen into Zhou Linjin's hands. If those things are found out, death would be the lightest punishment, so he definitely won't let Zhou Linjin have an easy time.
"I said, she's dead. I killed her," Pei Qian squeezed out a few words from between his teeth. "And you forgot to ask, she had a child with her, and I killed her too."
Zhou Linjin's hands suddenly dropped, and he hurriedly took two steps back before stopping.
By the way, Chen Lianxiu was accompanied by a child of three or four years old, so that should be... his daughter!
It turned out that they already had a daughter, but he never knew about it for all these years.
He had seen her before, but since he didn't recognize Chen Lianxiu, he naturally wouldn't recognize his own daughter.
Recalling the scenes of their previous meeting, Zhou Linjin couldn't tell whether he felt bitter or painful. He couldn't imagine how ridiculous his life would be if he really missed her.
Not being able to recognize his own wife or his own daughter, even a fool would not do this.
Everything that happened seemed so unreal. He thought he could get the answers he wanted tonight and find Chen Lianxiu. He even thought about what might happen and made all preparations.
But everything that happened now was still beyond his expectations.
He only knew one thing, he could not accept what Pei Qian said and killed Shen Lianxiu and their daughter.
This scene had appeared once before, and it gradually overlapped in his mind in an absurd and distorted way.
At that time, Chen's people told him that Chen Lianxiu died of illness on the road, and the body was buried on the spot and could not be found. After a few days of confusion, he finally reacted slowly, so he took people to Chen's farm, but did not find any trace of Chen Lianxiu several times. Then he took the old woman and the coachman to look for her on the road, but still could not find her.
Come again?
The next moment he knew she was alive, he learned she had been killed. This time he would never believe it again.
A faint taste of blood wafted from his mouth. Zhou Linjin tried to calm himself, but there was still a subtle tremor in his voice. "Take Pei Qian back and re-interrogate him later."
Ao Xing and the others were waiting for him to say this, and upon hearing it, they quickly took Pei Qian and several people from the Pei family who might be involved back.
Zhou Linjin watched the Pei family members being taken away and stood there for a long time without moving.
Bi Cha was still in shock and hadn't figured out what to do if Pei Qian's words were true. Seeing this, he could only step forward and say, "Sir, don't believe him for now. Let's look for it again. Maybe we can find something else."
Zhou Linjin was silent for a long while, his clenched palms wet with sweat. Finally, he said, "Bi Cha, come with me to Baixi Village."
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