Chapter 63

Although the case of the Zhang Xianling and his wife has been settled, such a conspiracy involving the entire county cannot be fully handled by just the two of them. Moreover, the merchant who provided the poison has not yet been apprehended, and Commissioner Xie Hengzhi is still unable to leave Songyuan County.

Therefore, early the next morning, Dao Yu went outside the city and brought Mallow in.

In the few days they had been apart, Mallow, alone and frightened, had lost a lot of weight, and the area around her upper lip was still red.

As soon as she saw Yiling, she looked her over and asked repeatedly, confirming that Yiling was safe before crying out loud, telling Dao Yu what had happened.

“Just now, on the road, Miss Dao Yu told me that, Madam, you were diagnosed with the plague by the doctor a few days ago, with a high fever and on the verge of death. I fainted when I heard it. I was so scared, sob sob.”

Dao Yu, with a serious expression: “…”

She had merely told Mallow what had happened in order, but she hadn’t expected her to be so easily frightened.

Fortunately, Yiling didn’t say anything and instead comforted Mallow: “It was all a misunderstanding; there was no plague at all.”

Mallow wiped her tears, sniffling as she said, “Yes, if Miss Dao Yu had told me earlier that there was no plague in Songyuan County, it would have been better!”

Mallow seemed quite aggrieved, so Yiling quickly changed the subject.

“By the way, Dao Yu,” she asked, “did you get any news about the person I asked you to find in Beitianfang last night?”

“Madam is asking about that… mysterious expert?” Dao Yu replied. “The officials are also looking for him, but it seems he took advantage of the chaos and left Beitian Fang. There’s no trace of him yet.”

Even Xie Hengzhi couldn’t find the person, so it seemed like he was deliberately hiding.

In that case, was it still necessary to find him?

Though Yiling believed he was a mysterious figure, he was still just a mortal man. When he had pretended to be mad and given advice earlier, he might have taken a great risk, and now that the truth was out, he probably didn’t want to get involved in any trouble…

“In that case, leave this matter for now. Go handle other things,” Yiling said.

Just as Dao Yu was about to leave, Yiling suddenly remembered something and asked, “What about Doctor Meng? What is he doing now?”

“Doctor Meng is still at Beitian Fang, taking care of the patients.”

Yiling nodded.

Half an hour later, she and Mallow left the inn and headed towards Beitian Fang.

Though the people of Songyuan County had been told there was never a plague, doubts still lingered in their hearts. As they walked along, the streets remained eerily quiet, much like the previous days.

As for the poisoned patients in Beitian Fang, after taking the antidote early this morning, most of them were already able to get out of bed and were being persuaded by doctors to return home to rest.

Only the elderly and frail were still being treated, as even after the poison was neutralized, the internal damage was irreversible and required further medical attention.

Thus, when Yiling arrived at Beitian Fang, she found it in disarray.

Some of the recovered patients still didn’t dare to leave but were too restless, walking about, whispering to each other.

The officials were busy tearing down tents and had no time to pay attention to them.

At that moment, the busiest people were the doctors, who had to monitor the reactions of the elderly after taking the antidote while also keeping an eye on the herbs being boiled on the stove.
They seemed to wish they had three heads and six arms.

In the large Beitian Fang, nearly no one noticed Yiling’s arrival.

Yiling hadn’t expected Beitian Fang to be in this state and was hesitating whether to continue looking for Meng Qingyun when she suddenly spotted her.

Meng Qingyun was holding a prepared ointment and was heading towards one of the tents, her eyes focused straight ahead.

“Yun… Doctor Meng!” Yiling called out.

Upon hearing Yiling’s voice, Meng Qingyun turned around.

Seeing Yiling in such a place, she was surprised, but since her hands were full, she couldn’t express it.

Fortunately, Yiling didn’t ask her to do anything. Instead, she walked over to her and asked, “Doctor Meng, do you plan to stay in Songyuan County for the time being?”

Before Meng Qingyun could nod, a patient beside her began to complain of itching, and she quickly squatted down to attend to them.

After applying a layer of ointment to the rash on her face, which had become ulcerated, she nodded roughly and told Yiling that she would not leave Songyuan County until the people poisoned there had recovered.

“Where do you plan to go after leaving Songyuan County?” Yiling asked.

“Maybe I will continue north; I haven’t decided yet,” Meng Qingyun replied.

Yiling nodded and was about to ask how she could contact Meng Qingyun in the future, but when she looked up, she saw that Meng Qingyun was already walking steadily toward the temple courtyard without stopping.

In the courtyard, several stoves were set up, and medicine was being boiled.

As soon as Meng Qingyun crouched down, Yiling’s voice rang out again in her ear.

“Doctor Meng, if you leave Songyuan County, how will I be able to find you?”

Meng Qingyun raised her eyebrows in confusion, not understanding Yiling’s meaning.

Yiling awkwardly explained, “There’s always fate between a doctor and a patient. I feel that the prescription you gave me is very suitable for my body, so I was wondering if I would need your help in the future; how can I contact you?”

“Oh, I see.”

Meng Qingyun, who had always been accommodating to the wealthy and powerful, partly to avoid trouble and partly for the convenience of earning consultation fees, understood. Yiling’s request was easy to fulfill. She went to a small table under the eaves of the courtyard, picked up a pulse pillow embroidered with the words “Nanshan Hall,” and told Yiling that she went to this clinic in Yangzhou every fall to consult. If Yiling ever needed her, she could write to the clinic.

Yiling silently repeated the three words “Nanshan Hall” and nodded.

“I understand.”

At that moment, someone from outside the tent started calling, “Doctor Meng!”

Meng Qingyun immediately stood up, but upon seeing the stoves still boiling medicine in the courtyard, she hesitated for a moment.

“Go ahead!” Yiling quickly crouched down, grabbed a tattered fan, and while fanning the fire, said, “Mallow and I will watch the stove for you.”

Meng Qingyun seemed to still have some concerns, but Yiling waved her fan, reassuring her, “Don’t worry, I know how to tend to the stove.”

Unknowingly, the sun set and dusk fell.

Meng Qingyun had been so busy in the tent that she was dizzy and finally found a moment to catch her breath.

She wiped the sweat from her forehead and hurried toward the courtyard.

Under the fading light, she was surprised to see Yiling still crouching by the stove, preparing medicine, with her maid busy around her.

People were coming and going, and the monks were continuously carrying the prepared herbal decoctions.

No one had time to pay attention to the woman by the stove, nor did anyone have the inclination to ask questions.

Only Meng Qingyun stared at her for a long time.

Feeling Meng Qingyun’s gaze, Yiling turned her head, smiled, and then pointed at the stove in front of her, indicating that she was watching the fire well.

In the chaotic and dilapidated temple courtyard, Meng Qingyun looked at the woman’s smile and suddenly felt a sense of familiarity.

But despite thinking about it, she could not pinpoint where the feeling of familiarity came from.

In the end, she only smiled and bowed slightly, then walked to the small table under the eaves to write the prescription.

The temple courtyard was busy but orderly.

Meng Qingyun felt at ease in her heart, thinking of a gentler prescription to alleviate the discomfort of the elderly after taking the antidote.

Just as she had written the first two characters, a shadow fell over her prescription.

Meng Qingyun suddenly turned around to see Xie Hengzhi standing behind her; she didn’t know when he had arrived.

He was dressed in casual clothes, holding a small package of pastries in his hand, likely coming to pick up Yiling.

But instead of speaking, he walked toward Meng Qingyun.

His gaze… Meng Qingyun felt a strange unease in her heart.

She opened her mouth but couldn’t say anything, forgetting to greet him.

Xie Hengzhi did not rush to speak. Instead, he turned his head and quietly observed Yiling, who was still focused on preparing medicine in the courtyard.

Then, with a faint smile, he softly asked, “Doctor Meng, how many years have you been practicing medicine?”

Meng Qingyun hadn’t even begun to raise her hands to indicate the number of years when she heard him ask again, “Who is your master? Where have you practiced medicine?”

His tone was casual, but Meng Qingyun understood that he was not asking just for the sake of it.

These three simple questions were designed to make her reveal all her details.

Clearly, the plague issue had already been resolved, and Meng Qingyun didn’t understand why Xie Hengzhi suddenly wanted to probe her background.

But she was always straightforward and honest.

When Xie Hengzhi asked, she picked up her pen and briefly wrote down her family background, medical experience, and her twenty years of work as a consulting doctor.

A full page of writing. After Xie Hengzhi took it and glanced over it, he folded it and placed it into his sleeve.

Meanwhile, Yiling in the courtyard had not noticed Xie Hengzhi’s arrival.

She was carefully watching the fire, observing the boiling of the medicinal decoction, worried that she might not control the heat properly.

A little girl came running over with a bowl of medicine, and seeing that it was not ready yet, she crouched beside Yiling to wait.

The little girl was the daughter of a clerk from the county office, and she had been helping out all day, having talked with Yiling several times.

Since she was idle, she cupped her face and looked at Yiling, suddenly saying, “Sister, let me tell your fortune.”

“You can tell fortunes?”

Yiling found it amusing and played along, “How do you tell it?”

The little girl said, “Sister, give me your hand.”

Yiling smiled and handed her a hand. The little girl looked at the pads of her fingers one by one, counting, “One, two, three…”

Then she wanted to see the other hand.

“Four, five, six, seven!” The little girl exclaimed, “Wow! Sister, you will have seven children in the future!”

Yiling: “…”

She hadn’t expected her fortune to be like this.

With a wry smile, Yiling said, “What a pity, I’m a widow.”

The little girl widened her eyes. “Ah? Did your husband pass away, sister?”

Yiling was about to laugh, but she felt a shadow looming over her head.

Before she could turn around, Xie Hengzhi’s voice landed.

“Not yet.”

Yiling: “…”

She slowly stood up, forcing a smile as she said, “What are you doing here?”

“Really thinking of yourself as a widow, no one is stopping you from going home.”

After speaking, Xie Hengzhi turned around and walked away.

“How petty.”

Yiling muttered quietly as she stared at his back, then hurriedly caught up.

The slanted sunlight stretched their shadows long, intertwining and swaying on the stone slabs.

Yiling glanced at him several times, making sure he was fine before looking at the things he was holding.

“Did you buy pastries for me?”

“For myself.”

“Then should I try some for you?”

“Are you going to steal the food from someone who’s about to die?”

“…You’re really petty!”

As soon as she finished speaking, a whole bag of pastries was shoved into Yiling’s hands.

Under the eaves nearby, Meng Qingyun stood still for a long time.

Looking at their backs, he furrowed his brows.

It was clearly a warm scene.

But when he thought of Xie Hengzhi’s earlier gaze, Meng Qingyun felt there was something brewing beneath the surface between this couple.

Seven days later, the merchant who provided the poison from the Southern Border was dragged out of a cave in the back mountains of Songyuan County by Li Chun.

At the same time, officials sent from Mengyang Prefecture fully took over Songyuan County, and the doctors from neighboring counties had all arrived, taking their places in various medical halls to treat the remaining poisoned citizens.

The Zhang couple and the three main culprits were personally escorted to the Shangjing by Xie Hengzhi while the remaining accomplices were dealt with by the governor of Mengyang Prefecture.

On the morning they left Songyuan County, a fine drizzle began to fall.

Even though Xie Hengzhi had arranged for them to leave before dawn, the citizens of Songyuan County were still crowded by the roadside, throwing wooden sticks, stones, dirt, and livestock dung at the prison carts through the cold, drizzling rain.

Yiling and Xie Hengzhi’s carriage led the way, the window tightly closed, but she could still hear the citizens’ curses and sobs.

For the suffering they had endured and the loved ones they would never see again.

It wasn’t until they passed through Songyuan County’s city gates and the soldiers blocked the citizens from following that the clamor began to subside.

At that moment, Yiling finally couldn’t resist and glanced back at Songyuan County through the window.

At the broken city gate, the citizens were still blocking the way, throwing things toward the prison carts with all their might.

Although the final outcome was very different from Yiling’s expectations, the “plague” had not spread further, and the real “plague demon” could no longer harm the people.

Yiling, finally leaving this place of chaos, felt a sense of relief in her heart.

She thought, once they return to the capital, she would take a good rest for ten days or half a month to recover from the shock she had suffered in this place.

Yiling looked at the people traveling with them and noticed someone was missing.

“Where is Dao Yu?” Yiling asked.

After a while, there was no response. She turned around and saw Xie Hengzhi also gazing out the window.

Yiling leaned forward and asked, “What are you looking at?”

Xie Hengzhi didn’t speak, until the four-sided tower on the mountaintop gradually blurred in the rain.

He turned his head, his emotions now calm.

“Nothing. You were asking about Dao Yu?”

“Mm.” Yiling nodded. “I haven’t seen her for a few days.”

“I sent her to handle something elsewhere.”

Yiling nodded and didn’t ask further.

On this day, Jiangzhou was also drizzling lightly.

The merchant’s house was built against the mountain, with natural cliffs, stone chambers, and winding paths intricately connecting the buildings, making it a scenic spot of Jiangzhou.

However, every time it rained, the slippery ground required careful steps to avoid slipping.

The merchant’s wife received the news and hurried out of the house, not paying attention to the path underfoot. She quickly walked toward the front hall while asking the maid beside her, “Why did someone suddenly come from the capital? Do they say what it’s for?”

The maid shook her head. “I don’t know; I only know that the person is someone close to Lord Xie.”

The merchant’s wife furrowed her brow, feeling uneasy.

When she reached the front hall, she indeed saw the back of a tall and slender woman.

After observing her figure, the merchant’s wife steadied her nerves before speaking, “I wonder why Miss Dao has come to Jiangzhou?”

Dao Yu turned around, cupping her hands in salute, and said in a deep voice, “I was sent by Lord Xie to invite the merchant’s wife to the capital as a guest.”