Chapter 29: The Secret of the Family Doctor Zhang Hong

The backyard of the Hundred Herbs Pavilion was very large. Tang Chuyao was surprised. It was a three-courtyard complex.

A plainly dressed woman was drying herbs in the courtyard.

The clerk led Tang Chuyao and the others into the courtyard and then went back to his work.

The woman looked up at Tang Chuyao. When her eyes met Tang Chuyao’s, she was momentarily stunned.

The basket of herbs in her hand fell to the ground. The woman slowly walked towards Tang Chuyao, her eyes slightly red, and she carefully examined Tang Chuyao.

After a long pause, she said, “Like, so like!”

Tang Chuyao didn’t expect the manager of the Hundred Herbs Pavilion to be a woman!

The woman seemed to know her mother, because Tang Chuyao’s eyes were very similar to Chi Ran’s!

Then, the woman bowed respectfully, “This servant, Fuling, greets the young lady!”

Tang Chuyao noticed that Fuling addressed her as “young lady.” She was actually very curious about what kind of person her mother was.

The manager of Jieyou Pavilion, Wang Youcai, actually knew martial arts. When Tang Chuyao saw Manager Wang yesterday, she had sensed it, but she hadn’t said anything!

Fuling, on the other hand, seemed to have a restrained aura. She was proficient in herbs, and perhaps her medical skills were not bad either.

The people surrounding her mother were all masters of disguise. Tang Chuyao suddenly became interested in Chi Ran’s identity!

Perhaps she should visit the palace and see her aunt, the Noble Concubine, to see if she could gain some insights?

Tang Chuyao reached out to help Fuling up, “No need to be so polite!”

Fuling led Tang Chuyao to her room. The Hundred Herbs Hall was in front, and the small courtyard was behind. Fuling had been taking care of it all along.

“Young lady, please have some tea.” Fuling brought in a few cups of tea.

She then handed the remaining two cups of tea to Huang Xiaoyu and Dujian.

Dujian was a little surprised. She was Miss’s maid, and no one had ever served her tea before.

Tang Chuyao looked around the room. It wasn’t big, but it was very clean and tidy, with a faint scent of herbs.

“Fuling, can you tell me about my mother?”

Fuling seemed to be lost in her memories. After a long pause, she slowly said, “Madam was a very kind person!”

“She had a great love for the people.”

“This servant was also saved by Madam by chance!”

“Madam saved this servant. This servant has no way to repay her. Being able to help Madam with her work, Fuling is already very satisfied…”

Tang Chuyao felt that Fuling had talked about her mother, but she hadn’t really talked about her.

After listening, she didn’t know much more about her mother.

She only knew that her mother was kind…

“Yesterday, Manager Wang told this servant about the young lady’s situation. Today, this servant guessed that the young lady would come!”

“Young lady, can you let this servant see your face?”

Tang Chuyao didn’t refuse. She untied her veil, revealing the dark spots.

Fuling looked closely for a while, a hint of surprise in her eyes, “It seems that the young lady has truly grown up!”

“The rumors about the young lady in the capital are truly unbelievable!”

Tang Chuyao understood that Fuling had seen that the spots on her face were fake!

“Fuling, I will send someone over later. Please keep an eye on this person.”

“Yes!”

Tang Chuyao and Fuling chatted for a while before getting up to leave…

Fuling looked at Tang Chuyao’s departing figure and murmured, “The young lady has truly grown up! Madam would be comforted to know this…”

After leaving the Hundred Herbs Pavilion, Tang Chuyao asked her senior sister, Xiaoyu, to go to the Stable and bring Mei Changsheng to the Hundred Herbs Pavilion and leave him in Fuling’s care!

Then, Tang Chuyao took Dujian to Huichun Hall. Huichun Hall was a few streets away from the Hundred Herbs Pavilion, not too far.

The manager of Huichun Hall was a middle-aged man. Hearing that Tang Chuyao had arrived, he quickly went out to greet her.

“This humble one, Zhang Wei, greets the young Miss!”

Zhang Wei invited Tang Chuyao to the second floor. The second floor of Huichun Hall was a series of independent small rooms.

“Young Miss, this Huichun Hall was originally a restaurant. Sixteen years ago, it was bought by Miss and turned into a pharmacy.”

“Since we only need one floor for the pharmacy, the second floor hasn’t been touched.”

“This humble one has kept a few rooms for the clerks to live in, and the rest are used to store some commonly used medicinal herbs. Young Miss, be careful where you step. This way, please!”

Zhang Wei respectfully offered tea. Tang Chuyao gestured for him to sit down as well.

Tang Chuyao picked up the teacup, used the lid to push the tea leaves to the side, and smelled it. “Good tea!”

Then, Tang Chuyao placed the teacup aside. Zhang Wei stared at the teacup Tang Chuyao had put down, his eyes flickering.

“What is Zhang Hong to you?”

Zhang Wei was startled and looked at Tang Chuyao in surprise.

How was that possible? How could Tang Chuyao know about his relationship with Zhang Hong?

Seeing that he didn’t answer, Tang Chuyao smiled and said, “Manager Zhang, don’t be nervous. I was just asking casually.”

“Bring me the accounts!”

Zhang Wei wiped the sweat from his forehead, got up, and went out…

A while later, Zhang Wei came back with a ledger. He handed it to Tang Chuyao and said, “Young Miss, this is the ledger for Huichun Hall this year.”

Tang Chuyao took the ledger and began to look through it. Zhang Wei didn’t know why he was so nervous.

He felt like Tang Chuyao could see through him, but then he thought, she’s just a little girl. She doesn’t even know anything about music, chess, calligraphy, or painting. How could she understand accounts?

Besides, he had heard that Tang Chuyao had come from the Hundred Herbs Pavilion. The Hundred Herbs Pavilion was losing money every year. It wasn’t strange for his Huichun Hall to lose some money!

After comforting himself, Zhang Wei felt much calmer.

Tang Chuyao finished reading the last page, closed the ledger, and looked at Zhang Wei, “The ledger is fine!”

Zhang Wei breathed a sigh of relief. He had said so. A little girl, how could she understand these accounts!

“The problem is that the shop’s income doesn’t match this ledger!”

“Manager Zhang, are you trying to deceive this Miss, a mere woman, by casually taking a ledger to fool me?”

Tang Chuyao’s voice suddenly turned cold, and her gaze towards Zhang Wei became even colder!

Zhang Wei suddenly felt a wave of fear wash over him. He was inexplicably afraid of this little girl!

He hurriedly knelt down, “Young Miss, please be understanding. This, this ledger is fine…”

“Oh? You still won’t tell the truth, will you?”

A gust of wind blew past, and Zhang Wei’s mouth was forcefully pried open. Then, a cup of hot tea was poured into his mouth.

Before he could react, the hot tea flowed down his throat into his body.

Zhang Wei immediately used his fingers to gag his throat. He only coughed a few times and nothing else.

Then, Zhang Wei was kicked to the ground.

He looked at the little girl in front of him in terror, unable to speak for a long time!

“The tea was laced with a large amount of ebony. You thought this Miss wouldn’t notice?”

“Zhang Hong is the family doctor of the Yongyong Duke’s Mansion on the surface, but in reality, he is your own brother!”

Tang Chuyao stepped on Zhang Wei’s chest, looked down at him, and continued, “You think this Miss doesn’t know about Zhang Hong poisoning me?”

“He got all his poisons from you, right?”

“Let me guess why you did this.”

Tang Chuyao looked at Zhang Wei thoughtfully, but she noticed that Zhang Wei’s appearance was six points similar to Tang Chunan!