"It's still quite a distance to Jin Family Fortress, isn't it? Perhaps Miss Bai would care to explain what this is all about from the beginning?"
"A few days ago, as I was passing through Baixia Town, I heard that the white carp in Donglu Lake were particularly delicious, so I thought I'd drop into town to have a look. Who would have thought that the moment I stepped inside the city gates, my purse would go missing?"
At this, Bai Buyu frowned slightly. "The thief who stole my purse was a child of eight or nine. I only wanted to get my purse back and had no intention of pursuing the matter further, but then he started crying and howling that if he had no money, Jin Fulu was going to sell his mother. Seeing how pitifully he was crying, I had no choice but to promise to go and see what was going on—and that's how I ran into this wretched young master of the Jin Family Fortress."
"That Jin Fulu had a face full of fleshy jowls and spat everywhere when he talked, utterly obnoxious. I casually slipped him a bit of knockout powder, the kind that lets you sleep for three days."
Li Lianhua chuckled softly. "I imagine Miss Bai's sleeping powder is beyond anyone in the city to cure, which is why the Jin Family Fortress posted a reward seeking a renowned physician?"
"A bounty of fifty taels of silver." Bai Buyu smiled, and although her hands were bound in front of her chest, she still triumphantly stretched out five fingers to gesture.
"And then you went to Jin Family Fortress, cured Jin Fulu of the knockout fragrance, and then casually slipped him another three days' worth of croton pills?"
"I just saw that he had the look of a bloated, fat-brain, and helped him purge the turbid humors from his body, that's all."
"Miss Bai, according to your own account, when you left, Jin Fulu should have been quite unharmed."
"Not only unharmed, he was jumping all over the place looking for the outhouse."
Li Lianhua mused for a moment. "The guards of Jin Family Fortress claim you poisoned Jin Fulu to death. They also say that when Jin Fulu died, his expression was terrifying and blood was streaming from his seven orifices."
"Which means someone killed Jin Fulu after I left, and the people of Jin Family Fortress couldn't find the real murderer, so they splashed this dirty water onto me." Bai Buyu rested her chin in her hands, her fingers forming the shape of a flower petal. "I wonder who held such deep hatred for Jin Fulu to make him die in such an ugly way."
Leaning against the carriage, Li Lianhua half-closed his eyes. "I don't know, but we'll find out very soon."
The guards of Jin Family Fortress traveled day and night, finally arriving at Jin Family Fortress just before dawn the next day.
Oddly enough, today was clearly the day of Jin Fulu's funeral—the items needed for the mourning rituals were all set out at the front gates, yet the servants stood around exchanging blank glances in the main hall for a full hour without Master Jin and Madam Jin ever making an appearance.
As Li Lianhua and Bai Buyu were escorted inside, they happened to hear a heart-rending scream echo from the back courtyard. Immediately following it, an old servant stumbled out from the back, repeating frantically over and over: "Help! Help! Master and Madam are dead! Master and Madam are dead!"
Jin Family Fortress instantly descended into utter chaos, and no one had the leisure to spare a thought for Li Lianhua and Bai Buyu anymore. The two of them were simply left abandoned by the front gates, the ropes still tied around their hands.
"Jin Fulu hasn't even been buried yet, and now Master Jin and Madam Jin are gone too?"
Li Lianhua flicked his wrists casually a couple of times, and the hemp rope binding his hands instantly loosened. He stretched his wrists, looking thoroughly amused. "Come on, let's go take a look in the back courtyard."
Outside the main chambers of the back courtyard, a dense crowd had swarmed around, craning their necks and chattering back and forth, yet not a single person dared to step inside.
With a polite and modest expression, Li Lianhua murmured, "Pardon me, please make way," as he parted the crowd and calmly walked into the room.
Bai Buyu, struggling a bit longer to wriggle her hands free from the troublesome ropes, was slightly slower. By the time she squeezed leisurely into the room, Li Lianhua had already been inside observing for a moment.
Jin Dagen of the Baixia Town Jin Family Fortress had originally started out trading in grain. Later, after acquiring some wealth, he got in good with local officials and began mining operations beside Donglu Lake in Baixia Town, which was how his family truly made its fortune.
In Baixia Town, one could say that apart from the magistrate, the most powerful entity was the Jin Family Fortress behind Jin Dagen.
Right now, Jin Dagen, the most powerful man in Jin Family Fortress, was lying upon his meticulously carved rosewood bed, his mouth agape, his pupils dilated, and blood leaking from his seven orifices.
The sight of him was for all the world like someone who had laid eyes upon a malevolent ghost before drawing his last breath.
"He died so ugly." Bai Buyu glanced at Jin Dagen, then glanced at Madam Jin sleeping beside Jin Dagen, and exchanged a look with Li Lianhua.
"She's not dead." The two spoke in unison.
The maidservants and old hags crowding around finally seemed to snap out of their panic. Granny Fang, who had just stumbled out screaming to report the news to the front hall, pointed at Bai Buyu and Li Lianhua with a bewildered expression and demanded, "Who are you two? Where did you come from?"
"Esteemed housekeeper, we are guests just invited from outside by Master Jin. We simply hadn't expected that the moment we arrived at your esteemed estate, we would hear that Master Jin has met with misfortune. Such a tragedy."
Li Lianhua spouted utter nonsense with a completely straight face, yet his delivery was so utterly sincere that for a moment it was truly impossible to pick a flaw in his story.
"If that's the case..." Seeing that Li Lianhua carried himself with upright dignity, Granny Fang clearly believed him. She was just about to exchange a few polite pleasantries with the esteemed guests invited by the master when a shriek pierced the air right beside her ear:
"Ah... You... aren't you that female swindler and fake doctor who poisoned the young master the other day? Why are you here? The master and madam must have been poisoned by you too!" A young maid pointed a trembling finger at Bai Buyu. "Call the authorities! Quick, call the authorities!"
Bai Buyu was extremely displeased with the maid's constant refrain of "female swindler" and "fake doctor." Ignoring the bustling, clamoring crowd, she bent down, struck three major acupuncture points on Madam Jin, and then grabbed her hand, using a silver needle to prick her middle fingertip.
Liu Ruyu, Jin Dagen's wife, who had been lying there looking as dead as a corpse, fluttered her eyelashes and slowly drifted back to consciousness.
"Ma... Madam..." Watching this resurrection play out before her eyes, Granny Fang nearly lost her breath entirely.
Meeting the astonished gazes of the crowd, Li Lianhua calmly and unhurriedly offered an explanation in a slow, even tone: "To be frank with everyone, my younger sister here indeed possesses a modest understanding of medicine. The incident with the young master last time was merely a misunderstanding. A physician holds a benevolent heart; they are meant only to save lives, so how could they ever poison anyone?"
"Granny Fang... why is everyone here?" Liu Ruyu rubbed her temples and pushed herself upright. At that very moment, her hand casually brushed against a cold object.
As she lowered her head in bewilderment to look, she saw her once overweening, arrogant husband, Jin Dagen, lying right beside her with a purplish-black face and a terrifying, ghastly expression of death.
With a delicate cry, Liu Ruyu instantly rolled her eyes back and fainted dead away once more of pure fright.