The Splendid Brocade of the Painting Physician – Chapter 111

Chapter 111: Investigating Information

As if she heard the sound, Lady Wei finally came back to her senses. Without falling for Xiao Jinyu’s trap, she looked at Xiao Jinyu, who was dressed in black and exuded a noble and cold aura, with a very amazed look.

“Why is Young Lady dressed like this today? I thought it was some princess who came here. You are truly noble and glamorous!”

This sentence obviously had the suspicion of trying to cover up something. Xiao Jinyu didn’t expose it.

Lady Wei moved closer and asked in a low voice, “Young Lady didn’t lose her virginity last night, right? Even if she did, it’s better to give it to the Prince of Lanling than to let that beast, the Prince of Shixing, take advantage of her, don’t you think?”

After saying that, she giggled playfully.

Xiao Jinyu didn’t say anything, but Fenghuang, with his sharp ears, heard the whisper and couldn’t help but raise his eyebrows and angrily shout, “What nonsense are you talking about!”

Lady Wei was startled and turned to Fenghuang.

“Boy, you can even hear such a low voice. What kind of ears do you have?” After saying that, she smiled and praised, “However, you boy are not bad either. You did a very heroic thing. I heard that you crippled that Prince of Shixing. This is saving all the women and young ladies in Jiankang City.
By the way, how was your kick? Can that beast still be cured?”

“How would I know if he can be cured or not? I’m not a doctor. Besides, I was too busy running for my life at that time!”

“Oh!”

Lady Wei gave Xiao Jinyu a meaningful look and suddenly sighed, “Then it seems, Young Lady, your business as a divine physician is coming again!”

Xiao Jinyu understood what she meant and smiled slightly. She didn’t answer but instead changed the subject, “Lady Wei, I don’t have much time. Let’s get straight to the point. I came here today to get some information, some information about the princes of the Chen Imperial Family.”

“Sure, the handwritten notes you gave me are also endless wealth. I, Lady Wei, started my business with it. Maybe my descendants will be able to get the name of a scholar-official in the future. Besides, the methods you taught me are also very good. The recent revenue has increased a lot compared to the past. It’s just that the tea drink and the hot pot with beef, I still can’t make them taste like yours…” As she spoke, she moved closer and pleaded, “Why don’t you teach me again how to make that tea drink and the hot pot with beef?”

“It’s just a small skill, Lady Wei. You should focus on running your Apricot Blossom and Misty Rain Tower. I will let A’xiu come and teach you the tea drink another day. Don’t make the others. It’s not suitable here!”

“Okay, I’ll listen to Young Lady!”

Xiao Jinyu paused for a moment and asked again,

“So, shouldn’t you let me take a look at the account books of your Apricot Blossom and Misty Rain Tower?”

“Didn’t you want information? Why do you want to see the account books?”

“All the information will be in the numbers of the accounts. I want to see detailed information, for the past two years!”

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Lady Wei didn’t make any more excuses to refuse and decisively asked the accountant, Manager Fang, to fetch the account books of the past two years for Xiao Jinyu to see.

The account books of two years filled two large boxes, and Xiao Jinyu began to read them one by one with full attention.

Time passed bit by bit with the flow of her fingertips. Lady Wei felt sleepy, and when she looked back occasionally, she saw that Xiao Jinyu was still sitting there straight. Except for her jade-like fingers turning the pages of the account books, she could almost be described as motionless. Occasionally, Fenghuang would hand her a cup of tea, and she would only take a small sip, put it down, and continue to turn to the next page, and then the next book.

Lady Wei couldn’t help but sigh in her heart again: The upbringing and temperament of the young ladies from these aristocratic families are truly excellent. They can sit straight for so long without feeling tired.

However, this appearance…

She always felt something was wrong today, so she looked around, trying to see Xiao Jinyu’s face through the thin gauze, but she avoided Fenghuang’s fierce glare as he deliberately blocked her view.

About an hour later, Xiao Jinyu finished flipping through the account books of the past two years.

When she stood up, Lady Wei was very surprised, “You’ve finished reading them all?”

“Yes, I’ve finished.”

“Then have you found any information?”

“Of course!” Xiao Jinyu replied, slowly and unhurriedly, “A year ago, Crown Prince Chen Shubao and a group of civil officials from the Eastern Palace often held banquets and composed poems here, and Prince of Changsha Chen Shujian also accompanied them. But in the past year, they haven’t come here again. Do you know why?”

Lady Wei shook her head, “I don’t know. Does Young Lady know why?”

“Did anyone die the last time the Crown Prince held a banquet here?”

“Now that you mention it, I remember that a beggar did die. But it’s no big deal. In these times, I don’t know how many refugees and beggars starve to death every day. No one cares.
Besides, the beggar was quickly dragged away by the patrolling officers, and no one mentioned it after that. Everyone continued drinking and having fun.
There’s a poem that goes: A life is less than a hundred years, always cherish… always cherish…”

“A life is less than a hundred years, always cherish a thousand years of worry. The days are short and the nights are long, why not hold a candle and enjoy yourself.”

“Yes, that’s the one… The so-called ‘enjoy the moment, life is short, why waste the present?’ Isn’t that what those scholar-officials admire the most these days?”

Xiao Jinyu was not in the mood to joke with Lady Wei and continued seriously, “But this beggar didn’t starve to death. He drank a kind of alcohol in your Apricot Blossom and Misty Rain Tower, called Lovesick Wine. When mixed with a kind of sugar pill called Lovesick Tears, it will produce a deadly poison…”

Lady Wei’s face suddenly changed.

“You’ve heard of Lovesick Wine? And Lovesick Tears?” she asked in surprise.

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“Isn’t it recorded in your account book? Taijian Year 1, Yang Month, 15th, You Hour, Quarter Past, Prince of Xin’an Chen Bogu took one Lovesick Tears sugar pill, and after another quarter of an hour, Prince of Changsha Chen Shujian took a pot of Lovesick Wine.”

“Then how do you know that these two things will produce a deadly poison when put together?”

“Because you never sell these two things together, and it is clearly stated that they cannot be taken at the same time. And you also buy a large amount of stalactites. I guess this so-called Lovesick Tears is also made by mixing stalactites, right?”

Lady Wei’s expression could no longer be described as horrified.

“You just read the account books of these two years and were able to deduce all this?”

Xiao Jinyu nodded and sternly warned, “Don’t make this kind of thing anymore. It’s harmful to people’s health!”

“But the noble children love it. They say it can help them achieve immortality…”

Xiao Jinyu glanced at her coldly, and the latter didn’t dare to say anything more.

After a moment, she returned to the main topic, “But speaking of which, what do you want to say by mentioning this? Even if the beggar accidentally ate the Lovesick Tears pill and drank the alcohol, which led to his death due to excessive blood flow, what does that prove?”

“Who took the alcohol? And who took the Lovesick Tears pill?”

Prince of Changsha took the alcohol, and Prince of Xin’an took the pill…

Lady Wei seemed to have thought of something and was horrified.

“What is the relationship between Prince of Changsha Chen Shujian and Chen Shuling?”

“These two, I heard they are like needlepoint to wheat awn. Even when they go to court, their entourages don’t give way to each other. Every time they come to my Apricot Blossom and Misty Rain Tower, they will fight openly and secretly.”

At this point, Lady Wei’s expression was shocked again.

“You mean, this Chen Shujian belongs to the Crown Prince’s faction, and Prince of Xin’an belongs to the Prince of Shixing’s faction, so one of them took the alcohol, and the other took the pill. It’s very likely…”

“The Prince of Shixing wanted to poison the Crown Prince, but unfortunately, Prince of Changsha saw through it, and the alcohol was given to the beggar…” Xiao Jinyu decisively continued.

Lady Wei’s face instantly turned pale.

She remembered that day, Prince of Changsha and Prince of Shixing did have a fight over a pot of alcohol. The two of them made a scene, and in the end, she made the decision to give them each another pot of Lovesick Wine.

It was Prince of Changsha who sent the alcohol to the Crown Prince’s table, but just as the Crown Prince was about to drink, Prince of Changsha suddenly knocked over the pot of alcohol like he was crazy, spilling it all over the floor. Later, the Crown Prince was very disappointed and gave the rest of the alcohol to the servants.

But after that, she saw Prince of Changsha take the pot of alcohol outside…

So Prince of Changsha actually used the beggar as a test, just to test if the alcohol was poisoned?

“Young Lady, you can’t make wild guesses about this. If the Crown Prince really died here, then I…”

“You will be arrested as a murderer and very likely executed by slow slicing!” Xiao Jinyu continued.

Lady Wei seemed to see the scene of being slowly sliced and trembled with horror.

“But it doesn’t make sense! Even if this Prince of Shixing wants to kill the Crown Prince, why would he use this method and choose this place? What good would it do him? If the Crown Prince dies, wouldn’t he still be the most suspicious?

“There was more than one person present. Why do you say he is the most suspicious? You also said that His Majesty is very biased towards him. If the Crown Prince dies, even if he is suspicious, he is still the eldest prince. The crime will naturally be borne by others. He is gambling on His Majesty’s favor for him.”

“Young Lady, this is too unbelievable. This is just your guess, right?”

Facing Lady Wei’s disbelief, Xiao Jinyu could only smile.

“Then consider it my guess!”

“The Prince of Shixing has extorted 19 million in silver from you in the past two years. Do you know what he used it for?”

“How would I know what he’s doing? Money is never enough.”

“Okay, I have one last question…”

Xiao Jinyu said, but seeing Lady Wei’s vigilant and frightened look, she eventually chose to remain silent and smiled slightly.

“Forget it, thank you for letting me read the account books today, Lady Wei!”

Wei Qi was full of regret at this moment: What kind of brain does this young lady have? She flipped through two years’ worth of account books within an hour, not only remembering the content but also finding clues from it.

How can she hide anything in the future if she wants to do business with her?

And what did she want to ask just now?

Could it be that she really discovered something?