Chapter 147: Chapter 133: News from the Pharmacy
"Boss, a few days ago, you wrote a note and sent it to my home with the so-called ’peanut’ money, peanuts. I accepted it, and paid the silver coins to them. Can you reimburse it?"
Early in the morning, Mr. Xie came over with a note.
"Go to my senior sister. In the future, for household expenses and reimbursements, find her." Lin Miao glanced at the note and casually returned it to him. He remembered, after Mr. Xue abducted his senior sister, he didn’t manage anything else and completely forgot about the peanut purchase.
"Isn’t it just eighty taels of silver, Boss, why bother, quickly reimburse me." Mr. Xie said with an awkward smile.
"Eighty taels of silver! How much did he send over?" He briefly glanced at it earlier, not noticing the exact amount of silver.
"Fifty pounds."
"So much?" Lin Miao was startled upon hearing it. It’s just for seeds, quite excessive. Of course, if planting in large areas, this amount isn’t much.
He thought it would be one or two pounds at most, just to taste it first, then pick some plump ones for seeds, find a plot next year, plant them at the right time to see if they grow.
Then the freedom of "eating peanuts" could be realized.
"I’ll sign, you go to Mrs. Yun to get the money." Lin Miao thought for a moment and signed his approval on the note Mr. Xie handed over.
"If Lin Mao and Ling Yu’Er, who just arrived, have nothing to do, have them shell the peanuts." Lin Miao remembered and gave a further instruction.
These kids just came, their temperaments wild, need to settle down and change the bad habits formed outside.
...
Shanyuan Square, inside the Ye Mansion.
"Patriarch, you called for me." Ye Mi Yuan was led by a servant to Ye Shengyuan’s study in his living quarters. Although he was the imperial officer responsible for apprehending bandits, he appeared quite reserved in front of Ye Shengyuan, even a bit afraid.
Though Ye Shengyuan held no official position, his influence far exceeded Ye Mi Yuan’s, and without his maneuvering, Ye Mi Yuan wouldn’t have landed the bandit-catching officer position in Lanzhou City.
Ye Shengyuan was his benefactor.
So, Ye Shengyuan summoned him back, not daring to disobey, knowing the consequences of defiance.
"Mi Yuan, sit." Ye Shengyuan greeted warmly, asking gently, "How is your injury?"
"Replying to Patriarch, it’s merely superficial, nothing serious." Ye Mi Yuan said awkwardly. Though he claimed they were superficial wounds, he had suffered greatly, particularly from the whipping received at Marquis Lingyang’s Mansion, skin flayed. His back injury made even resting difficult. If not for Ye Shengyuan bringing him back and applying medication promptly, his life might have ended at Marquis Lingyang’s Mansion.
"Mi Yuan, you’ve been recuperating these days, and I haven’t disturbed you. Now that your condition has stabilized, I want you to recount everything, especially the details you gathered while tailing Mr. Xue to the Xue Family Manor outside the city." Ye Shengyuan handed over a cup of tea.
"Yes, Patriarch." Ye Mi Yuan quickly received it, placing it on the nearby table, "You suspect Lin Miao to have killed Ye Xizhao, Little Master Xizhao. You’ve tasked me to investigate discreetly. That day, I spotted Lin Miao leaving through the back door with a woman. They took a passenger carriage to Shanglin Temple. I followed them, finding Mr. Xue’s men trailing too. The woman accompanying Lin Miao to the temple fair was his senior sister Sun Youwei, disguised as a man at the time. You informed me that Mr. Xue caused a ruckus at Lin Mansion’s last year’s end, where Lin Miao displayed formidable martial skills, injuring a skilled member of the Green Blade Sect. Hence, I suspected Mr. Xue’s men would stir trouble again, planning to observe Lin Miao..."
"Mi Yuan, did you witness Mr. Xue and Shanglin Temple’s guest monk Faming discussing how to separate Lin Miao and Miss Sun entirely?"
"They conversed inside a room, with temple martial monks and Green Blade Sect members guarding the door. Specific content was unclear, but I can relay subsequent events. Faming deliberately mentioned Lin Miao’s identity in the dining hall, escorting the pair to the inner chamber on behalf of the Abbot’s authority. Faming asserted only Lin Miao could enter the Abbot’s chamber, leading Miss Sun to the adjacent room, offering her tea. Faming secretly drugged the tea. Shortly after, Mr. Xue arrived, kidnapped the unconscious Miss Sun, leaving the temple heading out of the city. As the bandit-catching officer, witnessing such deeds, I couldn’t ignore them, thus following out of the city. Later developments have been reported at Marquis Lingyang’s Mansion." Ye Mi Yuan meticulously recounted.
"Did you notice anyone following you?"
"No, if someone did, their martial arts skills would surpass mine, eluding my detection entirely."
"Could it have been Lin Miao himself?"
"Impossible, Lin Miao entered the Abbot’s chamber and didn’t emerge. Faming stationed two martial monks at the door, both skilled, comparable to me. Lin Miao, wanting to leave, would first have to bypass them!"
"I hear Miss Sun has returned home, unharmed." Ye Shengyuan slowly remarked.
"Patriarch, is there a master behind Lin Miao protecting him?" Ye Mi Yuan pondered during his convalescence over his misfortune, fearing if Mrs. He approached Ye Shengyuan to heal Mr. Xue, he might suffer endlessly.
Ye Shengyuan furrowed his brow, for if Lin Miao indeed had a master guarding him, it’d be troublesome.
This figure, moving unseen, managed to incapacitate Ye Mi Yuan, saving Miss Sun under the eyes of Green Blade Sect skilled members and incapacitating Mr. Xue. Regardless of their martial capabilities, their lightweight skills would be renowned in the martial world.
In the Da Li Dynasty’s northwest, could such a person exist?
Ye Shengyuan, partially a martial artist of the region, didn’t claim full acquaintance but knew most figures.
He hadn’t heard of such a prominent individual. Investigating Lin Miao’s background, if someone so skilled defended him, they wouldn’t be driven by the Huang Family, seeking survival opportunities in Dongshan Prefecture.
Mr. Xue narrowly escaping with his life, yet rendered useless. With a temperament already unruly, the future held uncertainty.
For the Ye Family’s advancement, Ye Shengyuan reluctantly sacrificed himself to please Mrs. He.
Additionally, Marquis Lingyang, Mr. Xue Chunlai, proved no generous spirit. Should he learn Ye Shengyuan attended to his primary wife in bed, consequences would be severe.
He couldn’t control himself and now could only be tied to Mrs. He.
Mr. Xue was not Mrs. He’s biological son, but he was raised by her and was doted on. Mr. Xue’s biological mother was a maid beside Mrs. He, who became the concubine of Marquis Lingyang and gave birth to Mr. Xue.
Later, the maid died, and Mr. Xue was raised under Mrs. He’s care, essentially making him her son.
Now that Mr. Xue was incapacitated, Mrs. He’s position as the wife of Marquis Lingyang became precarious. Although she had a court-sanctioned title, and even if the Marquis wanted to divorce her, he would need the court’s approval, being childless was a major taboo for the main wife...
Mrs. He wanted revenge on Lin Miao; he could only comply. In fact, he didn’t have a good impression of Lin Miao either and had long suspected Lin Miao’s involvement in Ye Xizhao’s death.
Given the martial arts skills Lin Miao had displayed and the possible "master" backing him, his suspicion of Lin Miao only deepened.
How could a wild kid from a mountain village compare to the Ye Family?
Even if Ye Xizhao’s death had nothing to do with Lin Miao, he couldn’t tolerate this kid climbing over the "young master’s" corpse to rise up.
He must pull this kid down into the mire!
"Miyuan, tomorrow you go and test this Lin Miao," Ye Shengyuan instructed.
"Test him, Patriarch, how should I test him?"
"If it really was the person behind Lin Miao who knocked you unconscious and left you at the scene to take the blame, they would certainly be very surprised to suddenly see you."
"What if he’s completely unaware?" Ye Mi Yuan paused for a moment before asking.
"Then we’ll think of other ways to see if there’s anyone behind him. If there’s truly someone protecting him in the shadows, we’ll plan accordingly," Ye Shengyuan said.
"Yes, Patriarch, I understand what to do," Ye Mi Yuan understood Ye Shengyuan’s plan.
"You need to get there early to queue up for a number. I heard he only sees sixty people a day, thirty in the morning and thirty in the afternoon, excluding emergencies!"
"Patriarch, Mr. Sang from the Medical Bureau has arrived."
"Please escort him to the main hall and serve tea. I’ll be there shortly." This Mr. Sang was likely here again about the matter of opening another pharmacy at Xiuyue Square, a matter that involved Lin Miao and that Xia Yuan. Initially, Ye Shengyuan opposed it, but on second thought, the additional pharmacy might not necessarily be Lin Miao’s; it could also be the Ye Family’s.
...
"Xia Zhu, Xia Zhu..."
"Dad, why are you here?" Xia Zhu looked up to see her father’s face pushing through the crowd, but the people in line didn’t recognize Xia Yuan, the renowned physician of the Benefit People Pharmacy, and wouldn’t let him in.
"Excuse me, I’m not here to see a doctor, I’m here to find my daughter," Xia Yuan explained as he cupped his hands together.
Only after hearing his conversation with Xia Zhu did the crowd believe he wasn’t trying to cut in line.
"Xia Yuan, what brings you here?" Guan Biyun came out from the backyard, surprised to see Xia Yuan squeezing his way in.
"Director Guan, it’s you today," Xia Yuan greeted with cupped hands. "I came to tell Xia Zhu some good news."
"Dad, after I finish distributing the numbers, we’ll talk." Xia Zhu had to finish assigning the numbers as the clinic had just opened, determining the thirty patients for the morning. As for the afternoon, unless you queued up here, you’d have to wait until the afternoon to get a number.
Lin Miao’s consultation numbers were hard to come by, and there were even people starting businesses to get these numbers.
However, if discovered that the person receiving the number and the person seeing the doctor were not the same, the next time, a number wouldn’t be issued. In severe cases, there would be a permanent refusal of treatment.
So, don’t be greedy for petty gains only to lose out in the long run.
"One person, one number, keep your number safe; it won’t be reissued if lost. Enter the consultation room in order!" Xia Zhu reminded patients while distributing the numbers.
The rest, either come back in the afternoon or try again the next day.
Only sixty numbers a day, unless it’s a life-and-death emergency, Lin Miao won’t add more numbers; it’s a rule he set for himself and must follow.
"Dad, what’s the matter? Aren’t you supposed to be consulting at Benefit People Pharmacy today? How do you have time to come here? If you delay the patients, Uncle Tian will punish you!" Xia Zhu said.
"Then so be it; Benefit People Pharmacy doesn’t only have me as a physician. It doesn’t matter if I’m a bit late," Xia Yuan said nonchalantly. "I’m here to tell Physician Lin some good news."
"Is it that our pharmacy license has been approved?" Xia Zhu’s eyes lit up, immediately considering the possibility.
"Smart, truly a daughter of Xia Yuan!"
"I’ll go tell Mr. Lin this good news right away..." Xia Zhu excitedly pushed open the consultation room door and went inside.
"Don’t rush, Xia Zhu, I haven’t finished speaking yet!"
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