The Splendid Brocade of the Painting Physician – Chapter 64

Chapter 64: Investigating the Perpetrator

“No need, let’s just get Grandmother out of here and go back to Early Spring Courtyard. We still have to buy some clothes, food, and daily necessities. We also need to build a residence. There are many things waiting for us to do, no need to waste time waiting for someone here.”

“Yes, Qing Gege.”

Seeing Fenghuang’s delighted expression, Xiao Jinyu felt a warmth in her heart and couldn’t help but smile again.

✿✿✿

Lady Xiao Yuan’s courtyard was located on the southeast side of the Xiao Residence. According to the Luoshu Nine Stars, it was the position of the Five Yellow Star of Earth. If it manifested evil, it would bring about death, serious illness, widowhood, and sudden death.

It was an extremely ominous sign!

When they arrived at the courtyard gate, they saw several maids lying lazily under a parasol tree, taking a nap. It wasn’t until Tenth Miss’s maid, You Tan, nudged one of the maids that she woke up impatiently and shouted, “What are you doing? Don’t disturb my sleep!”

“Get up! Is this how you serve the Lady?” You Tan couldn’t help but scold.

Only then did the maid and the other maids in the courtyard wake up. Seeing that it was Xiao Tenth Miss, they initially ignored her. But when their eyes turned to Xiao Xian, who was walking towards them with a slender figure, their disdainful attitude immediately turned into shock!

“It’s… it’s Seventh Young Master! Seventh Young Master can… can walk now?” One of the maids said in astonishment.

The maids all lowered their heads. Although this Seventh Young Master was not favored, he was still the legitimate son of Lady Xiao Yuan and the eldest legitimate son in the Xiao Residence now.

They still didn’t dare to neglect him.

“How is my mother now? Why aren’t you serving inside?”

Xiao Xian, who was always known for his gentle nature and calm demeanor, couldn’t help but show anger on his face.

“The Lady… the Lady has not been feeling well lately. She often hurts people with a knife, so the Right Consort asked the residence physician to prescribe a medicine. We followed the prescription and decocted several doses for the Lady. She is still… still sleeping!” The maid stammered.

Xiao Xian had a bad feeling and rushed into the inner bedroom. As soon as he entered, he smelled a foul odor. Lady Xiao Yuan was lying motionless on the couch, her life or death unknown.

“Mother? Mother! Mother!” Xiao Xian called out repeatedly. Fear filled his eyes, and he couldn’t help but reach out with trembling hands to Lady Xiao Yuan’s nose.

At this time, Xiao Jinyu also arrived quickly. Seeing Lady Xiao Yuan’s face was dark blue and her lips were pale, but her chest was still slightly rising and falling, she was slightly relieved.

“Uncle Xian, Grandmother is not dead yet. Let me handle it.”

Suddenly remembering Xiao Jinyu’s excellent medical skills, Xiao Xian immediately stepped back, allowing her to approach the couch.

After taking her pulse, Xiao Jinyu asked Fenghuang to bring a dagger and without hesitation, cut her own snow-white wrist, feeding the flowing blood into Lady Xiao Yuan’s mouth.

Fenghuang wanted to stop her, but it was too late.

Xiao Xian was even more shocked and asked, “A’yu, what are you doing? Why are you hurting yourself?”

“I have tasted hundreds of herbs, and my body is immune to all poisons. Moreover, I recently consumed an antidote pill. My blood contains medicine to counteract all poisons. Although it is not as effective as a whole antidote pill, it can suppress the toxicity for Grandmother.”

“But you don’t have to hurt yourself! Qing Gege, can’t you use silver needles to force out the poison?” Fenghuang said with distress.

“This time is different from last time, Fenghuang. Last time you had just ingested the poison, and I made you vomit out a lot of it, so it didn’t reach your heart. I could still suppress it with silver needles. But now Grandmother’s situation is different. This poison has accumulated little by little, and it has now entered her heart and veins. If it is not resolved, she will die!”

Accumulated little by little?

Hearing this, Xiao Xian was even more shocked and heartbroken, clenching his fists involuntarily.

“Who did this?” He asked.

The maids in the room immediately knelt down and pleaded, “It wasn’t me, it wasn’t me, we don’t know!”

At this time, Lady Xiao Yuan, who had drunk Xiao Jinyu’s blood, seemed to regain some consciousness and her body moved slightly.

Fenghuang was the first to notice and quickly urged, “Qing Gege, Lady Xiao Yuan is moving, she should be out of danger. Let go of your hand quickly, I’ll bandage your wound!”

As she spoke, she took a porcelain bottle containing medicine from the medicine chest, sprinkled the powdered medicine on Xiao Jinyu’s wound, and then bandaged it with clean silk.

Pulling Lady Xiao Yuan back from the brink of death, Xiao Jinyu couldn’t help but feel happy and relieved. After Fenghuang bandaged her wound, she turned her gaze to the maids in the room.

“Uncle Xian, let me ask them.” She said, walking up to the maids. “I am a physician, so I know the poison that Lady consumes every day and how it affects those who touch it. If you only consume a little or touch a little of this poison, it will not cause any harm. But if you use it to decoct and prepare medicine frequently, even the smell it emits will gradually seep into your bones and become incurable.

Moreover, those who have been with this medicine for a long time will gradually develop black fingers, and they will become increasingly tired and sleepy, until they become delirious and insane like a fool.

And you were sleeping here just now, you must be quite poisoned, right?”

The maids became more and more frightened as they listened, and they all stretched out their hands to look. Sure enough, they saw signs of blackening on their fingernails, and their recent tendency to sleep excessively had become more serious.

“Yes, we have indeed been sleeping a lot lately. Could it be that we will also be like Lady Xiao Yuan…?” A maid panicked, looking at Xiao Jinyu. Suddenly, she crawled over and begged, “Doctor, you are a doctor, right? Please save us, please save us!”

“So, who told you to do this?” Xiao Jinyu asked.

“But I really don’t know, I’m only responsible for decocting the medicine!”

“I’m only responsible for collecting the herbs according to the prescription!”

Xiao Jinyu’s gaze swept over the maids and quickly landed on a maid who was prostrating on the ground with her hand hidden in her sleeve.

✿✿✿

“You, raise your head!”

Xiao Jinyu said coldly, stepping in front of her.

The maid trembled and slowly raised her head.

“Stretch out your hand!” Xiao Jinyu said again.

The maid’s expression changed, and she suddenly gritted her teeth and sprang up, a dagger thrusting out in her hand. However, in this lightning-fast moment, before she could react, the dagger was knocked away by Fenghuang. At the same time, there was a “crack” from her wrist, and she was thrown out like a broken kite.

“A mere maid, how dare you try to assassinate my Qing Gege!” Fenghuang said angrily.

At this time, Xiao Xian also came over and asked, “It’s you, why did you harm my mother? Who instructed you to do this?”

The maid sneered and looked at Xiao Xian with a mixture of infatuation and resentment. “Hahaha… Why did I do this? It was for you! If your mother didn’t die, then you would be the one to die. I had no choice!

Seventh Young Master, you probably never looked at me directly, did you? I was originally your maid, A’chan!

You don’t even recognize me anymore? Then what’s the point of everything I’ve done?”

Xiao Xian was stunned and tried to recall. It seemed that he had a few maids around him, but because they were all spies planted by Princess Yunyin, he was always on guard and didn’t pay much attention to their appearances.

Later, the maids around him were replaced one after another, so he paid even less attention to their faces.

“Seventh Young Master, I was assigned to you by the mistress three years ago. Originally, I was supposed to use this poison on you, but I couldn’t bear to, or rather, I couldn’t control myself from falling in love with you. So I made up a lie and told the mistress that you were already severely poisoned and would die young, so that she wouldn’t have to harm you again. Then I was sent to your mother’s side…

I’m just a maid, what else could I do?

But it’s good that before I die, I got to see you and tell you my feelings…”

Having said that, the maid smiled at him, picked up the dagger, and decisively slit her own throat.

“Now, do you remember who I am?”

After saying that, the maid collapsed to the ground with a strange smile on her face.

Xiao Xian was momentarily stunned, a sense of guilt rising in his heart.

“Uncle Xian, you don’t have to blame yourself. This was her own choice, and everyone has to pay the price for their choices. You don’t owe her anything, and her feelings have nothing to do with you!

Sometimes, being too kind to your enemies is cruel to yourself or those around you.”

Hearing this, Xiao Xian was slightly shaken and nodded at her.

At this time, Xiao Jinyu walked up to the other maids again and said, “And you, although you were not the ones who poisoned her, you ignored your mistress and let her die. As maids of the Xiao family, who gave you the audacity?”

The leading maid immediately pleaded with tears, “We were wrong, we deserve to die. Please, Seventh Young Master, and this young lady, give us another chance to reform. Please spare our lives, oh no, please save our lives!”

“Yes, we know we were wrong, please save our lives!”

The other maids also cried out in unison.

“How long has it been since you bathed Lady?” Xiao Jinyu asked again.

The leading maid immediately said, “I’ll go get hot water to bathe Lady right away, I’ll go right away!”

“I’ll go too!”

Led by the middle-aged woman, the maids quickly dispersed and in an orderly manner, brought hot water from the side room, carried a bathtub, and began to bathe and clean Lady Xiao Yuan.

Watching all this, Xiao Xian felt an indescribable pain and sorrow, but he couldn’t help but feel a sense of relief and admiration for Xiao Jinyu’s decisive and efficient way of handling things.

At this time, Xiao Jinyu said, “In a moment, I will also need to apply acupuncture to Grandmother to force out some of the toxins in her body. You can see if there is anything in Grandmother’s room that needs to be taken away. In half an hour, we will take Grandmother away!”

Xiao Xian and Xiao Tenth Miss nodded, and the maids and servants around them immediately got busy.

“A’yu, thank you…”

Xiao Xian said suddenly, his eyes filled with unspoken words, finally turning into a firm smile.

Thank you very much for the reward, Yanzhihu1, thank you very much!