Daming: Internship also counts as work experience

Chapter 164 The Death of a Beauty

It was nearly noon, and Gao Yunduo wanted to suggest that Jia Chuan eat something before sleeping, but Jia Chuan seemed deaf. Shunzi and Old Zheng had talked the whole way and asked him several questions, but he didn't say a word and just kept walking with his head down. Gao Yunduo knew that this case was troubling Jia Chuan, and she wanted to help but didn't know where to start, so she could only watch over him and let him rest as much as possible.

The warm spring sun shone in the courtyard, not glaring but very comforting.

Dong Yuanyuan practiced with Han Guang in the courtyard, while Shunzi and Old Zheng watched from the side, and Mu Lian sat on the veranda in a daze.

Gao Yunduo sat down next to Mu Lian.

"He's asleep?" Mu Lian asked, turning her head.

Gao Yunduo nodded.

"Where did he learn all these skills?" Mu Lian asked curiously.

"Aren't you worried about yourself?" Gao Yunduo asked curiously.

Mu Lian lowered her head and said, "What's the use of worrying? I just hope he can investigate this case thoroughly and clearly, so that the Duke of Qian's mansion isn't implicated. What happens to me is unimportant. Fortunately, he just saw those remains. Those people weren't all poisoned by a poison only found in Yunnan. This will at least help the Duke of Qian's mansion..."

Who gave you the idea to marry him?

Mu Lian was stunned for a moment, then smiled bitterly and said, "If only someone could give me some advice. I've been here for so many years, and if it weren't for the monthly routine of someone coming to check on me, I'm afraid no one in the Duke of Qian's mansion would remember me. This is fine, it's better than marrying a chieftain. I'd rather live like this for the rest of my life."

"But how would you know about him? And how would you know he likes..."

“A few days ago, my family sent me a letter. It must be that someone in my family knows that the Emperor will order him to come to Kaifeng. My family feels that this trip is not a good one. In order to make it easier for me to keep an eye on the movements of the herb-gathering bureau, they wrote down his situation in detail in their minds so that it would be easier for me to act. But don’t think about seeing it with your own eyes. I can’t keep such a thing.”

"Zhou Cheng didn't know you were at the herb-gathering bureau? And the old prince didn't know either?"

"Do you think everyone is like him? If he hadn't deliberately let Zhao Dewen know, he wouldn't have found out either."

Gao Yunduo did not speak.

Do you think I'm lying?

"I don't know. Anyway, he can tell the difference between the real and the fake. But if you do this, if the Duke of Qian's mansion doesn't take care of you, then..."

Mu Lian shrugged, looked up at the blinding sunlight with narrowed eyes, and said, "I'm going to die sooner or later anyway, I won't wait until I get hit before I close my eyes and go to my mother."

"You mean you carry poison with you at all times?" Gao Yunduo asked in surprise.

“My mother was the daughter of a disgraced official. When she was young, she was exiled to Yunnan with her maternal grandparents. In that place, to survive, you didn’t first learn to find food, but to learn to identify poisons. My mother learned this and survived. Later, she taught me… In the Duke of Qian’s mansion, not to mention a daughter born out of wedlock like me, even daughters born out of wedlock could not escape the result of marrying into the chieftain’s family. We daughters born out of wedlock would also find a chieftain’s family to marry into, that is, a man in the chieftain’s family, regardless of age. If the Duke of Qian wanted to stabilize the situation in Yunnan, he needed the cooperation of the chieftains. My aunts in this generation all did this. Fortunately, my mother taught me some skills when she was alive, which gave me the opportunity to leave Yunnan.”

"Then, you still care whether they live or die?"

“I still have a younger brother. You don’t understand. If this kind of thing gets involved, it’s not just the Duke of Qian’s mansion that will be affected. Who knows how many people will lose their lives.”

Gao Yunduo snorted and said, "Don't always think that others don't understand. My father was an imperial censor, how could I not understand?"

Mu Lian looked at Gao Yunduo in surprise. Gao Yunduo then said, "If you hadn't been so clever as to poison that servant, perhaps Jia Chuan wouldn't be so worried now. By killing him, you've cut off that connection. And you don't know who else is in cahoots with them. How do you think you can prove that this matter has nothing to do with the Duke of Qian's mansion?"

Mu Lian opened her mouth, then said urgently, "Isn't he very capable? Isn't it true that nothing can be hidden from him?"

"Those people know they're doing something that could cost them their heads, so why would they make such a big fuss? It's like you hiding in the herb-gathering bureau. If you hadn't popped out yourself, how would he have known who you were? He's a human, not a god. How many people are in the herb-gathering bureau? How many of them would know? These people are usually very careful. You've been here and haven't noticed anything suspicious. How could he possibly find out who was involved? Even if he did find out, do you think they wouldn't pin the blame on the Duke of Qian's mansion?"

Mu Lian was stunned.

Gao Yunduo was engrossed in her analysis when Dong Yuanyuan saw the Imperial Guards delivering food at the courtyard gate and happily called out, "Time to eat!"

……

Jia Chuan slept until dusk. If Old Zheng hadn't woken him up out of fear that he would starve, he wouldn't have known how long he would have slept.

After having lunch, Gao Yuntian and Chen Mo went to the Grass and Tree Garden to continue digging. When they returned for dinner, they said they had dug up seven more corpses, three with rotting flesh and four skeletons.

While eating, Jia Chuan asked Gao Yuntian questions, but Gao Yuntian, in a fit of pique, threatened to take his bowl outside and eat in the cold wind, so Jia Chuan stopped asking.

After the meal, Chen Mo reminded Jia Chuan that it was time to write a letter to the Emperor explaining the case.

Given Chen Mo's personality, he wouldn't dare take over the case from the government office without orders from above. Although Jia Chuan hadn't asked about it, he had a good idea that Liu Mian had given Chen Mo some authority before the trip to Kaifeng. During the two days of the investigation, Chen Mo's reports were delivered several times a day, if not constantly. Although the reports were both written and oral, it didn't prevent the Emperor from roughly knowing what had happened. Especially after the discovery of the remains in the Grass and Tree Garden, Chen Mo would expedite the delivery of the news to the capital.

The bad news about Jia Chuan came too late.

Jia Chuan glanced around the room and saw that everyone except Mu Lian was one of his own. He hesitated for a moment, but Mu Lian, who was good at reading people, stood up and said, "I'm going to take a walk outside."

Jia Chuan waved his hand and said, "You don't need to avoid me. Avoiding me won't help. What's meant to happen will happen. If the remains in the garden hadn't been found, I could have investigated slowly and not rushed to report back to the Emperor. But that's not possible now. Once this letter reaches the Emperor, this case can no longer be investigated by the Embroidered Uniform Guard alone." Chen Mo pondered for a moment and said, "If it were four or five years ago, it might have been possible for the Embroidered Uniform Guard to investigate thoroughly on their own. Now..." Chen Mo shook his head.

Jia Chuan looked at Mu Lian and said, "You can still be so carefree now, but what will you be like when the other officials from the capital arrive..."

"I know, I admit what I did, but it has nothing to do with the Duke of Qian's mansion. Can you help me...?"

"It's my responsibility to investigate the case, not to help you. Right now, I need you to recall carefully what you said to each other before you poisoned that servant. You need to tell me every single word! Gao Yuntian, those three servants who were with Zhou Cheng should still be at the herb-gathering bureau, right? Take Shunzi and ask them. See if there's anything special about that fake 'Shunzi,' who he associates with, or who he's seen recently."

Gao Yuntian and Shunzi got up and left the room.

Jia Chuan looked at Mu Lian seriously.

Mu Lian said urgently, "You saw it today too, those skeletons weren't all..."

“This is all your side of the story. I don’t know anything about poisons. Doctors or pharmacists in the capital or other places might know, but if we wait for them to verify whether what you said is true, those corpses will probably only be bones. But right now, we know what kind of poison the two dead people were poisoned with…”

"But that's what I said, how can you believe me?" Mu Lian asked loudly.

Gao Yunduo hurriedly said, "It's only believable because it's what you said, but those unearthed bones... what you said might be suspected of protecting the Duke of Qian's mansion. Now he's asking you to think carefully about what you said to that fake Shunzi that day. My brother and the others went to interrogate those three servants to find their accomplices... Only by finding out the truth can we truly clear the Duke of Qian's mansion of suspicion."

Mu Lian let out a long breath, frowned, and said while recalling, "Li Ge and I took him to the side room. He asked me who I was. I asked him where this 'Red Beauty' came from?"

"When you brought him to the side room, you already found drugs on him? Is Brother Li your cousin?"

Mu Lian nodded and said:
"They found it in the hall, two pills in total. Li Ge was strong and subdued him in no time. We were afraid someone would see, so Li Ge carried him to the side room. When he heard me mention 'Red Beauty's Death,' he asked if I was from the Mu family. I got nervous and asked him why he killed Zhou Cheng. He said the matter was inseparable from the Mu family and asked me to help him, saying that helping him was helping the Mu family. I scolded him, saying what did these poisons have to do with the Duke of Qian's mansion. He said the poisons needed for 'Red Beauty's Death' all came from Yunnan. If the court investigated this matter thoroughly, the Mu family would not escape punishment. I still asked him where he got 'Red Beauty's Death.' He said he would only tell me where it came from if I agreed to help him. I asked him how to help. He said if he was taken away by the government officials, I wouldn't have to do anything. If he was left in the herb-gathering bureau, I should find a way to secretly send him out at night. As long as he got out of the herb-gathering bureau, that would be fine."

Jia Chuan frowned.

“I told him to tell me where he got the Red Beauty Elixir. Not many people know about this medicine, but many know about the heat poison. He was very anxious and threatened me that if I didn’t help him, he would confess that the Mu Prince’s Mansion gave him the medicine. I got angry immediately, took out a Red Beauty Elixir pill and stuffed it into his mouth. He struggled, but with Brother Li there, his struggle was useless. It’s easy to put the pill in his mouth, but it’s difficult to make him swallow it. Fortunately, the Red Beauty Elixir dissolves in water, and it was gone after he held it in his mouth for a while. I said that as long as he told me where he got the medicine, I would give him the antidote.”

"Do you have the antidote?" Jia Chuan asked.

"Yes, but it needs to be prepared and decocted, but he has it! It's in pill form. He hid the antidote in his sleeve. The yellow stain on his fingers that you saw was left when he took the antidote."

"You managed to snatch the antidote in time."

"Well, I hesitated whether to give it to him. I told him that as long as he told me where he got it, I would give him the antidote immediately. He said that he would die anyway, and that no matter how powerful the Mu family was, they were too far away to help. I was hesitant at the time. I didn't want him to die, but both of these poisons were indeed related to Yunnan. I didn't think that much at the time. But when he saw my hesitation, he threatened that if he died, he would drag the entire Mu family down with him. I was furious and cursed him a few times. By then, it was too late to use the antidote."

"He didn't struggle or vomit after taking the medicine, and he was still able to chat with you?" Jia Chuan asked, puzzled.

"I... I got so angry that I shoved another pill in. The first incense stick's time didn't do anything, but I saw he wasn't reacting, so I shoved another one in. We found two in total, right? If I had given him the antidote immediately when he started writhing and struggling, he could have saved his life. But he kept threatening me, I..."

How long does it normally take for one pill to kill someone?

"Hmm... I don't know. I've only saved people, never harmed them. The reason I know Zhou Cheng was poisoned by the 'Red Beauty' poison is because of the red mark on his lips..."

Where have you seen this before?

"I've never seen the medicine before. When I say I've seen it, I mean I've seen people poisoned by it. My mother knows the antidote, and I've seen her save people. My mother's antidote is a decoction, while theirs is pills. My mother said that Dai medicine or Baiyao in Yunnan mainly focuses on antidotes because there are many poisons. Later, some people with malicious intentions... The existence of antidotes is also because there are people making poisons. These poisons weren't made by the Duke of Qian's mansion. These medicines existed for countless years before the Duke of Qian's mansion existed. It's just that these are harmful things, so few people learned them, and because some people knew the antidote, they didn't harm more people. Besides, Yunnan is far from the Central Plains, so who would carry such medicine all the way back and forth? Who knew that the herb-gathering bureau would actually make it into pills..."

"You found two kinds of poison on him. How can you tell which one is the one that kills a beautiful woman?"

"I know that heat toxin isn't a pill, it's a powder."

Jia Chuan asked, "Why do you think he would give Zhou Cheng two kinds of poison?"

Mu Lian thought for a moment and said, "Maybe they're not too confident about the effects of the medicine, or like me, they're a little angry and fed Zhou Cheng two kinds of poison out of spite?"

"You managed to force-feed the servant after you subdued him, but Zhou Cheng didn't resist at all. I'm very curious, are both of these poisons colorless and odorless?"

"The heat toxin turns tea-colored when it comes into contact with water and has a spicy taste. The 'Red Beauty' turns red when it comes into contact with heat and tastes bitter. Zhou Cheng should know all this. I don't know why he ate it, but... after ingesting the heat toxin, one's internal organs feel like they are burning, which is extremely torturous..."

"You mean heatstroke won't kill you immediately?"

"It depends on the dosage. If someone willingly eats a whole bowl, they'll definitely die quickly. But for someone with cold-dampness syndrome, a small amount is just right. I heard a Dai doctor say that this 'heat toxin' is made from several poisonous substances from damp and hot places. Because it has the effect of treating other diseases, there are quite a few Dai doctors who know how to make medicine, so the formula isn't exactly a secret..."

"Is it possible that Zhou Cheng first ingested the heat poison and was struggling in pain when the fake 'Shunzi' brought him something that contained the 'Red Beauty' poison,' claiming it was an antidote, or that the order of the two medicines was reversed..."

"Judging from the burn marks on Zhou Cheng's fingertips, the dosage he took at the time was not small."

Chen Mo couldn't help but ask, "Since it was poisoning, and you didn't intend to treat it as suicide, wouldn't it have been more swift and painless to just kill him with a knife?"

(End of this chapter)