Chapter 131
Chapter 131
Rongchun came in with a delighted smile, carrying an armful of medicine packets.
She looked at Ji Hanyi and held out the packets, each neatly tied with string. “Miss, look! A full thirty doses!”
Ji Hanyi sat up a little straighter and asked, “Who sent them?”
Rongchun smiled. “It was Imperial Physician Chen, the one who came the day before yesterday.”
“Imperial Physician Chen said that the Gu Residence had helped him, so he sent these thirty doses of medicine to express his gratitude.”
Rongchun then began tallying up the cost. “That prescription Imperial Physician Chen gave us last time calls for ginseng slices, rhinoceros horn, eucommia bark, and all sorts of expensive ingredients. Each dose costs more than three taels of silver.”
“At two doses a day, that comes to seven taels a day and more than two hundred taels a month. How could anyone bear such an enormous expense?”
“Now the Imperial Physician has sent thirty doses, enough to last half a month. This is wonderful news!”
Ji Hanyi looked at the medicine in Rongchun’s hands.
She knew that the ingredients in Imperial Physician Chen’s prescription were exceptionally precious. Ordinary people could never afford them, but that day, she had gritted her teeth and decided to use his prescription anyway.
A single dose was already so costly. Thirty packets of medicine had to be worth more than a hundred taels of silver.
Imperial Physician Chen had already done her a great favor by examining her mother. How could she accept all this medicine from him for nothing? She would have to repay him for it.
However, she did not know where Imperial Physician Chen lived. Even if she wanted to pay him back now, she had no idea where to send the money, so she told Rongchun to put the medicine away for the time being.
Rongchun happily acknowledged the order and left.
–
The next morning, Ji Hanyi received a letter from Shopkeeper Ming.
The letter said that he had been summoned by the Military Patrol Office the previous afternoon. The Commander of the Southern City Military Patrol Office had personally taken charge of the case, and the two scoundrels had been arrested as well.
Under interrogation, they soon confessed that the person who had ordered them to do it was a woman. They only knew that she belonged to the Xie Family, however, and had no idea who she actually was.
The woman who had approached them had worn a veil over her face and paid them a large sum of silver, so they had been unable to identify her.
Still, the two men knew that if they were caught doing something so wicked, the consequences would be severe. They had therefore taken precautions of their own.
Although they accepted the job, they secretly followed the woman afterward and watched her enter the Xie Residence. Only then did they feel that they had something to fall back on.
Every grievance had its source, and every debt its debtor. If they were ever caught, the authorities would know where to find the true culprit instead of holding only them responsible.
The moment Ji Hanyi saw the words “Xie Family,” she knew who had done it.
At the end of the letter, Shopkeeper Ming wrote that the Commander of the Military Patrol Office had said this was no longer a minor case now that the Xie Family was involved. It had to be submitted to the Censorate so they could decide how the investigation should proceed.
A formal complaint would have to be filed with the Censorate. Only after it was approved could they investigate the Xie Family.
Ji Hanyi naturally had no intention of letting the matter end there. She immediately told Rongchun to prepare brush and ink so that she could write another formal complaint.
Ji Hanyi wrote quickly this time. Having already done it twice, she was thoroughly familiar with the process and soon filled two entire pages.
Just as she reached the end, Ji Hanyi suddenly paused.
The Military Patrol Office’s decision to reopen the case had undoubtedly come about because Shen Changling had told Shen Si about it. Did that mean Shen Si already knew?
Would he see this formal complaint as well?
Her fingers tightened slightly around the brush.
Ji Hanyi told herself not to dwell on it and lowered the brush to continue writing.
The complaint was soon finished. Hoping to settle the matter as quickly as possible, she told Rongchun to have someone at the front gate deliver it to Shopkeeper Ming immediately so that he could submit it to the Censorate.
What Ji Hanyi had not expected was that, although she thought the investigation would take several days, news arrived the very next evening.
Li Mingrou had been arrested and taken to the Military Patrol Office.
Ji Hanyi was not surprised to learn that Li Mingrou had been behind it all.
What did astonish her was the Censorate’s efficiency.
When Ji Hanyi arrived at the entrance of the Military Patrol Office, she remained seated in her carriage and gently lifted the curtain. At a glance, she saw Li Mingrou being dragged out by the two maids at her side.
Li Mingrou’s clothes were covered in blood, and her face was deathly pale. Her legs could barely support her, and she could only move forward with her maids holding her up. She had clearly been put to torture.
Xie Yuheng accompanied her, but his gaze was vacant. Instead of helping Li Mingrou, he stumbled along beside her as if lost in thought.
Ji Hanyi had not come all this way merely to witness Li Mingrou’s fate. An officer from the Military Patrol Office had delivered a message asking her to come.
She had entrusted the entire matter to Shopkeeper Ming, so she did not actually know why she had been summoned. Then she supposed it was probably because the shop still belonged to her.
She spared neither Xie Yuheng nor Li Mingrou another glance. Li Mingrou had to pay for what she had done. She could not be allowed to escape unscathed every time simply because Xie Yuheng shielded her.
Her petty schemes might have gone unpunished within the manor under Xie Yuheng’s protection, but outside its walls, Xie Yuheng was not all that important. There were many families in the capital more powerful than the Xie Family.
Unfortunately, everything had always gone far too smoothly for Li Mingrou, leaving her convinced that nothing should ever stand in her way.
Ji Hanyi did not look again. Xie Yuheng was not worth another glance. But just as she was about to lower the curtain, Xie Yuheng somehow spotted her and suddenly charged toward the carriage.
Ji Hanyi frowned and told Rongchun to get down quickly and stop him.
Rongchun was not strong enough, however. Xie Yuheng shoved her aside, then violently tore open the curtain over the carriage’s side window, revealing his bloodshot eyes.
Rongchun cried out in alarm from outside. Ji Hanyi said quietly, “Rongchun, it’s all right. We’re in front of the Military Patrol Office. He wouldn’t dare do anything.”
As she spoke, Ji Hanyi looked directly into Xie Yuheng’s eyes. Her expression was perfectly serene, without the slightest trace of emotion toward him.
Only after hearing her words did Rongchun come back to her senses and breathe a sigh of relief.
That was true. No matter what, he would not dare cause trouble at the entrance of the Military Patrol Office.
Xie Yuheng stared fixedly at Ji Hanyi’s face, his entire body trembling.
Light filtered through the glazed panel in the carriage roof and fell over Ji Hanyi, illuminating her pale green high-collared dress. White orchid patterns flowed quietly across the fabric, much like her expression at that moment – calm, yet distant. The woman in his memories had always been gentle and warm. He had never imagined that one day, he would find her cold.
Lamplight shimmered in her almond-shaped eyes, making them gleam, while her face held the chill of late autumn.
His fingers clenched around the curtain. His lips parted, and he spoke in a hoarse voice. “Mingrou did something wrong, but you could have told me privately. I could have compensated you for all your losses. Why did you have to handle it this way?”
Ji Hanyi’s slender brows drew together slightly. Her gaze shifted past Xie Yuheng to the hate-filled eyes staring at her from a short distance behind him.
Then she looked back at Xie Yuheng and replied evenly, “And then let her do the same thing to me again while Lord Xie indulged her?”
Ji Hanyi regarded him with open mockery. “How did Li Mingrou know where my shops were? She even knew which one had the best business.”
“Xie Yuheng, you truly are shameless.”