Chapter 57: Something Went Wrong

"What a great pity..."

"I heard that Miss Shen possesses supreme medical skills, akin to a divine physician reborn. I actually thought my illness had some hope of being cured..."

He smiled as he spoke.

What illness did he even have?

Watching him spout nonsense while casting such blatant, burning glances at her, Yan Xi felt even more restrained.

In such a setting, with so many people around, and with Scholar Zhao right nearby where he could easily overhear their conversation, Yan Xi had no idea what to say to him.

She still could not fathom his purpose in coming here.

"It is merely some superficial parlor tricks, overblown by the common folk. This humble maiden is undeserving of such praise."

"Ah."

His tone was flat. He then unexpectedly stood up, clearly intending to leave.

Yan Xi allowed her gaze to linger on him for just a fleeting second before looking away, yet she raised her voice to call out:

"Unearned rewards are not to be accepted. Please take this back, My Lord."

That scoundrel lowered his head, leisurely and slowly smoothing out his robes, and replied with a faint smile:

"It was a gift for Miss Shen."

With those words, right before Yan Xi's eyes, he actually just left like that.

Yan Xi remained busy until dusk that day.

When night fell and the doors were bolted, Qinglian and Taohong gathered around their young mistress. Having held their tongues all day, they finally found the opportunity to vent.

Taohong spoke first: "What does he mean? When he let you go, he said those harsh things precisely to make Miss Xi leave penniless, taste the hardships of the outside world, know when to retreat, and then obediently return to his side! Yet today, he actively sends a gold ingot to Miss Xi... What on earth is he plotting?"

Qinglian shook her head, having spent the entire day without figuring it out either.

"Knowing how clever he is, wouldn't he realize that once Miss Xi saves up enough silver, she will leave Yangzhou? When I suddenly saw him come today, I thought he was here to make trouble and was scared out of my wits, but who would have thought he came to deliver money!"

After Qinglian finished speaking, her gaze also shifted to Yan Xi.

Both maids were waiting for their mistress to unravel the mystery.

After a long silence, Yan Xi shook her head.

She truly could not understand what that scoundrel was up to today. All she knew was that he could not possibly be harboring such kindness. With that thought, her eyes drifted back to the gold ingot he had left behind, and she instructed Qinglian:

"Tomorrow, return it to him and deliver it into his own hands."

Understanding, Qinglian acknowledged the order.

The next day proceeded as usual. Qinglian went early to the Military Governor's Mansion to wait for Lu Zhi, but that scoundrel maintained a grandiose air, always surrounded by throngs of attendants whenever he ventured out.

She could not simply see him whenever she wished.

The first day passed in this manner.

Yan Xi remained busy, and when the three of them talked at night, the focus of their conversation was still that gold ingot.

Taohong suggested: "Why doesn't Miss just keep it! I feel like he probably has no malicious tricks up his sleeve; he probably just wanted to give it to Miss..."

Yan Xi shook her head: "Well water does not intrude on river water. I will not take his things."

With that, the young girl's gaze fell once more upon the gold ingot.

She suddenly felt that his true scheme might not lie in this piece of gold at all.

Another day passed.

Her little medical clinic remained bustling, with quite a few new faces appearing over the past two days.

Busy throughout the day, Yan Xi gradually pushed the matter of the gold ingot to the back of her mind, only recalling it when things quieted down at night to exchange a few words with her two maids.

This day was the third since that man's visit.

In the afternoon, the small medical clinic was peaceful. Eleven or twelve commoners were lined up outside, all very courteous and orderly, when a roar of anger shattered the tranquility.

"This is murder!"

Yan Xi, who was deep in concentration taking a patient's pulse inside the room, was startled by the roar. Her attention scattered, she quickly tuned in to the commotion outside and told Qinglian and Taohong, who were busy grinding herbs: "Hurry out and see what is happening!"

Acknowledging the command, Qinglian set down her tools, wiped her hands, and immediately went out.

However, before she could even cross the threshold, the people from outside had already burst into the room.

There were two intruders, both dressed as ordinary commoners.

The dozen or so people waiting for treatment instantly broke into whispered discussions.

The one who had entered first was the most indignant. The ringleader, his eyes bloodshot, pointed a trembling finger at Yan Xi and flew into a rage:

"What kind of divine physician? She is clearly a quack, a murderous witch! My son took the medicine prescribed by her, and he has been unconscious for a full day and a night. We called another doctor to examine him at home, and good heavens, the prescription should have used five-awn grass, but what was mixed into the medicine was actually seven-awn grass! Such a tiny difference in characters is costing a human life!"

At this, he pivoted to face the waiting patients: "What kind of divine physician is this? Return my son's life to me! Ahhhhh—"

With that, he burst into a howling cry.

The murmurs outside instantly grew louder.

Yan Xi had turned pale long ago. Once the man finished speaking, she raised her voice.

"That is impossible. What I wrote was definitely five-awn grass."

The man turned around furiously and snapped back: "I don't know what you wrote, but I know the medicine contained five-awn grass! As if I would wrong you for no reason."

With that, he snatched what the man accompanying him was holding and slammed it onto the table.

"See for yourself! Is this not the medicine dispensed from your shop?"

Yan Xi, along with Scholar Zhao, Qinglian, and Taohong, all rushed over.

Outwardly, those were indeed the paper packages used by her small clinic.

The young girl quickly unwrapped the package, pinched a small amount of the medicinal powder, brought it to her nose, and her pupils dilated slightly—the scent was indeed incorrect.

She turned her head to look at Scholar Zhao and asked in a low voice: "Did you dispense the wrong one?"

Scholar Zhao's face had also gone deathly pale long ago, and he shook his head repeatedly: "That's impossible!"

Yet his voice lacked absolute conviction.

He hurried over to the medicine cabinet, found the drawer for five-awn grass, glanced at the drawer for seven-awn grass some distance away, regained a sliver of certainty, and returned to nod heavily, raising his voice significantly.

This scholar is certain: I took the five-awn grass. As for that drawer of seven-awn grass over there, this scholar hasn't opened it in three or four days. Absolutely certain."

Yan Xi shifted her gaze back to the weeping man.

She still retained considerable trust in her own people.

Firstly, after half a month of getting along, she trusted Scholar Zhao's character; secondly, before employing him, she had explicitly instructed him never to misplace the herbs; and thirdly, most crucially, although he was a failed imperial scholar, he was extremely intelligent, possessed a superlative memory, and was very sensitive to the scents of medicinal herbs. Yan Xi had tested him, and within three days he had memorized everything fluently, answering without hesitation and distinguishing them accurately. This five-awn grass and seven-awn grass was a test question she had given him; logically speaking, it was impossible for him to have made a mistake.

"Elder Zhang, please calm down. There is likely some trickery at play here..."

Before her voice even faded, the man began to howl even louder.

"Trickery? What bloody trickery? The medicine was bought from you, and it was after taking your family's medicine that my son fell unconscious and unresponsive! I don't care about your trickery, I want to report this to the authorities! Ahhhhh!"

With that, he turned once more to face the crowd of waiting patients.

"Such a quack doctor, why are any of you still seeing her? Wait another two days and you'll lose your lives! My poor son!"

The commotion outside grew even more chaotic. People shook their heads amidst murmurs, and quite a few turned and left.

Qinglian and Taohong hurriedly ran out to block them.

"Everyone, please don't leave! There must be some trickery behind this. My mistress would never write the wrong prescription, she would never..."

No one listened to their pleas, and sighs echoed all around.

"She's still too young. Even though she wears a veil, one can tell she's just a young girl..."

"Indeed, thank goodness it wasn't my turn yet... Terrifying, simply terrifying!"

Qinglian and Taohong were so anxious they felt like crying.

Yet no matter how they pleaded, coaxed, or explained, the people all dispersed.

The man inside the room continued to wail, and seeing that everyone had left, he shouted and cried his way out as well.

Yan Xi was, after all, young, lacking in experience, and had always been sheltered in a greenhouse. She had never anticipated such a sudden disaster.

Tears already welled in the young girl's eyes, her hands trembled slightly, and her heart pounded frantically in her chest, unable to settle for a long while.

Scholar Zhao was equally frantic, punching his palm as he looked at the young girl beside him.

"Miss Shen, what is to be done now? It's all my fault for reacting too slowly. I should have stood firm right away and insisted on the truth."

Yan Xi slowly sat down, gradually steadying her emotions, and asked him:

"Tell me the truth, did you really not take the wrong one?"

Scholar Zhao nodded: "This scholar is certain I took what was in drawer number fourteen. Absolutely certain."

Qinglian and Taohong had long since returned.

The courtyard, which had just been packed with people, turned desolate in the blink of an eye.

Everyone's spirit was crushed.

Taohong wept: "Miss, what is to be done now? Will they... will they ever come back?"

Yan Xi did not answer, but in her heart, she already knew.

As the saying goes, good deeds stay at home while bad news travels a thousand miles.

Building up a business was difficult, but ruining it was effortless.

How could those who had left ever return?

Leaving aside whether the people would return, whether she would face a lawsuit remained completely unknown.

Hearing that her mistress did not reply, Taohong cried even harder and cursed aloud:

"Miss didn't write the wrong prescription, and Scholar Zhao didn't dispense the wrong herbs, yet the medicine itself turned out wrong. Could this be the mischief of that scoundrel Lu Zhi? He... he is truly inhumane!"

Hearing the young maid's vehement curses and the direct use of a name, Scholar Zhao trembled violently in his heart.

"Who is the person Lady Taohong speaks of? Could it be our Military Governor of Huainan? That... that must never, ever be spoken of..."

"What do you know?! That scoundrel official is a jade exterior with a rotten core. Just because he looks refined, do you think he's a good person?!"

Taohong immediately snapped back, and looked as though she was about to start cursing him as well, when Yan Xi cut her off.

The young girl didn't say much and presently told Scholar Zhao to leave.

After the man stepped out, Qinglian locked the front door, helped her mistress into the bedchamber, and let down the separating bead curtain.

Yan Xi sat down on the edge of the bed and removed her veil.

She still hadn't uttered a word, her pure eyes rippling with a slow current.

Qinglian spoke up: "Could it be him? But he gave a gold ingot, and he must have known that even without this business, we could leave Yangzhou immediately. Was there any need for him to ruin Miss's livelihood?"

Taohong was still burning with anger: "If not him, who else could it be?"

The two maids chimed back and forth, yet Yan Xi remained silent.

At that moment, a rustling sound came from outside the window.

All three in the room were slightly startled.

Qinglian immediately went out the door, standing at the threshold to look left and right. The surroundings were peaceful and normal, except that the bead curtain at the doorway of the east room was still swaying.

Qinglian glanced a few more times toward Scholar Zhao's room, then returned.

As soon as she stepped inside, Taohong anxiously asked:

"What is it? Who was it?"

Qinglian replied: "It seemed to be Scholar Zhao."

Taohong raged: "What is he doing? Eavesdropping on the three of us!"

Qinglian looked toward her mistress: "I'm afraid he overheard, and now he knows who gave that gold ingot the other day."

Yan Xi nodded slightly.

Qinglian continued: "Then Miss, do you think it's possible that he really did mess it up..."

Yan Xi merely glanced at the maid and gave no answer.

As for the reason, she did not know.

Her mind was in complete disarray right now.

After a little while longer, a hurried figure flashed past the outside window, whose build and height bore an uncanny resemblance to Scholar Zhao.

Qinglian and Taohong rushed outside immediately, and once out, they saw it clearly—it was indeed Scholar Zhao. Furthermore, he was carrying a bundle on his back, running faster than a rabbit.

"Hey!"

Taohong and Qinglian chased him outside the main gate, but the man had already vanished in a puff of smoke.

Returning to the room, Taohong naturally broke into curses.

"What a coward! He gets scared out of his wits just hearing Lu Zhi's name. Is he even a man? A few days ago, he was fawning all over Miss as if he'd gladly climb a mountain of swords or plunge into a sea of fire for her, but now that trouble strikes, he runs away! Could he really have been the one who messed up the medicine?"

Scarcely had her voice fallen when a voice echoed from outside the door—it was that same troublemaking man.

"Officials, this is the young maiden's shop right here, committing murder for wealth! My son is still lying unconscious on his bed!"

With that, he began to wail again.

Inside the room, hearing the words "officials," Yan Xi and the other two felt their hearts plummet as if dropping into an endless abyss, and immediately following that, a knock sounded at the door.

"Open the door, open the door..."