When Jiang Yuwei saw Madam Chai's son, he was already lying in bed, sweating profusely from the pain.
The old woman serving nearby said anxiously:
"Young Master Chai has already had diarrhea more than ten times. He's completely exhausted and keeps complaining of stomach pain!"
Upon hearing the old woman's words, Madam Chai's eyes widened in shock. Heartbroken, she rushed to the bedside, took her son's hand, and cried out with red eyes:
“My son, it’s all my fault. I shouldn’t have spoiled you and let you eat so many fried cakes.”
"Mother, I... I'm in pain..."
Seeing the child suffering so much, Jiang Yuwei couldn't bear it, so she quickly stepped forward and pulled Madam Chai away, saying:
“Madam Chai, crying won’t save your son now. Let me take his pulse.”
Upon hearing this, Madam Chai nodded with tears streaming down her face and said:
"Alright, alright, then I'll have to trouble you, Madam Jiang. Please take a look at my son quickly; I really didn't expect him to be in such a serious condition."
Jiang Yuwei sat down by the bed and took Chai Shao's hand to check his pulse. After a short while, Jiang Yuwei discovered the problem. Chai Shao's symptoms were not indigestion, but diarrhea. Judging from his pulse, it seemed to be caused by taking an excessive amount of croton seeds.
So Jiang Yuwei looked at Madam Chai and asked in a deep voice:
"Madam Chai, are you sure your son only ate the fried cakes from our shop and nothing else?"
Madam Chai nodded affirmatively.
“Madam Jiang, I really don’t mean to extort you with my son’s matter. My son really only ate fried cakes from your shop all day today. Think about it, he ate twenty fried cakes in one go. Where would he have room to eat anything else?”
Jiang Yuwei nodded, then took out silver needles from her medicine box and inserted one needle into each of the three acupoints on Young Master Chai's body: Tianshu, Yinlingquan, and Shangjuxu. She then took out paper and pen to write down a prescription for stopping diarrhea and handed it to Madam Chai, saying:
“Madam Chai, I have just given your son acupuncture. His stomach pain will disappear soon. Please get two more doses of medicine according to this prescription, one tonight and one tomorrow morning. Prepare them for your son and feed them to him, and he will be fine.”
Madam Chai glanced at her son lying on the bed, her expression noticeably softening. She then took the prescription and thanked Jiang Yuwei.
"Thank you, Madam Jiang. I am so grateful that you came along today. You are truly a miracle worker. No wonder the Princess Consort used you to treat her illness."
As she spoke, Madam Chai handed the prescription to the old woman standing to the side and instructed her to go out and get the medicine.
Seeing this, Jiang Yuwei took out another tael of silver from her purse and handed it to Madam Chai.
"This money isn't much, please keep it. After all, Young Master Chai got into trouble because he ate our fried cakes, so our Delicious City should take responsibility."
Upon seeing this, Madam Chai was about to reach out to take it, but then, as if remembering something, she abruptly withdrew her hand.
"I can't accept this money. You've already gone to so much trouble to make this trip, and now you want me to accept your money? How can I possibly accept that?"
As she spoke, Madam Chai went to the table and poured Jiang Yuwei a cup of tea.
“Now that my son has been cured by you, I haven’t even paid you for your treatment yet, so how can I possibly accept your money?”
Jiang Yuwei smiled, took the teacup from Madam Chai, placed it on the table, and then put the silver in her hand on top of it.
"Please don't think this amount of silver is too little. Now that Young Master Chai is well, I can rest assured. I still need to go and take care of the shop, so I won't bother you any longer."
As she spoke, Jiang Yuwei went to the bedside and removed the silver needles from Young Master Chai's body. She then took his pulse and, seeing that he was alright, smiled and asked:
"Do you still feel stomach pain now?"
Young Master Chai looked at Jiang Yuwei and shook his head.
"It doesn't hurt anymore. It was in a lot of pain just now, but it doesn't hurt at all now."
Upon hearing this, Madam Chai rushed forward and hugged her son tightly, saying happily:
"It's good that it doesn't hurt anymore. Quickly thank Madam Jiang. You scared your mother to death just now."
Upon hearing this, Young Master Chai hurriedly got out of bed and bowed to Jiang Yuwei.
"Thank you, Madam Jiang."
Jiang Yuwei smiled and waved goodbye to Madam Chai before leaving with Xia Yue and Yun Qing.
As soon as she stepped out of the Chai residence, Jiang Yuwei frowned and said:
"I suspect there is indeed a problem with the fried cakes in our shop."
Xia Yue was surprised to hear this:
"How could that be? The dough for the fried cakes was prepared by you and me yesterday afternoon. It was left to rest overnight, and Liu only fried them this morning. How could it be a problem with the fried cakes?"
Yun Qing frowned and pondered for a moment, then looked at Jiang Yuwei.
"So, Madam, is the one tael of silver you just gave to Madam Chai considered compensation from our Delicious City?"
Jiang Yuwei nodded.
"So, according to Madam, someone has tampered with our fried cakes?"
Yun Qing continued to ask,
Jiang Yuwei still frowned and nodded.
Hearing this, Xia Yue covered her mouth in surprise and exclaimed:
"How could that be? Everyone in our shop is a trusted confidante of yours, Madam. How could they possibly tamper with the food..."
Jiang Yuwei frowned and looked at Xia Yue before slowly speaking:
"When you went upstairs to collect the fried cakes just now, were there any left?"
"There are three left. I gave them to Gou Dan and specifically instructed him to bring these fried cakes back to the General's Mansion intact."
Jiang Yuwei nodded.
"Alright, let's go back to the General's Mansion first."
After saying that, Jiang Yuwei hurriedly led the two of them toward the General's Mansion.
When the three of them arrived at the entrance of the General's Mansion, they ran into Aunt Zhou and the others who were returning home. Jiang Yuwei looked at them and asked:
Why didn't Liu Sheng come back with you?
Aunt Zhou smiled:
"Liu Sheng is indeed a capable man. After we finished cleaning today, he volunteered to stay in the shop to keep watch overnight, in case any thieves break in."
Upon hearing Aunt Zhou's words, Wang Fugui frowned and muttered under his breath:
“What can he do? I think he’s just being lazy and doesn’t want to walk home.”
Jiang Yuwei looked at Gou Dan.
"Did you bring back the fried cakes Xia Yue gave you?"
Dog Egg nodded and handed the cloth bag he was carrying to Jiang Yuwei.
Jiang Yuwei took it and said to everyone:
"Let's go back to the inner courtyard first. You all have your business to attend to. I'll look at the ledgers later. I need to check if there's anything wrong with these fried cakes first."
Seeing Jiang Yuwei's serious expression, no one dared to ask any more questions and hurriedly followed her into the courtyard.
Jiang Yuwei returned to her room, closed the door, took out the fried cakes and carefully broke them open to check them. Finding no problems, she then checked the other two as well.
Just as she saw the third fried cake, she noticed some specks of white powder on the edge of it.
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