In the Ming Dynasty 1498, my restaurant connects two worlds.

It turns out that the historical record of Wenlin's "longing for his hometown and falling ill from overwork" was all a lie! He was actually poisoned by Japanese pirates, who disguised his death as "illness from overwork" by slow poisoning!

The thought was chilling. With that in mind, Song Xiaoyi gestured for Magistrate Wang Xun to extend his hand as well. He took his pulse, and sure enough, it was the same! The magistrate was also poisoned by aconitine! The intermediate-level medical skills provided by the system were truly impressive.

"Uncle, Magistrate, you have both been poisoned. The Japanese have used aconite, a slow-acting poison."

"Aconite, a slow-acting poison!?"

"Think about it, when did you bring in your maid, Xiao Cui? Also, Uncle Wen, were the maids in your Wenzhou prefectural government office also rather short? And did they like to take small, quick steps?"

"However, what Xiao Yi is more concerned about is why the Japanese pirates poisoned Ming Dynasty officials? Or did they only poison your uncle and the county magistrate? Is it because you refused to cooperate? Or are the policies you implemented affecting their shady business?"

Song Xiaoyi thought to himself, the historical truth behind this can't withstand close scrutiny.

Chronic aconitine poisoning is difficult to cure, but this is no problem for Song Xiaoyi. There are many modern antidotes, but the order in which they are prepared and used is crucial.

Magistrate Wang Xun, already suffering from chronic poisoning, frowned deeply, clearly doubting Song Xiaoyi's diagnosis. He summoned the guards from the county office, "Quickly go to the street and find those two old doctors!"

Unfortunately, the two doctors were not skilled enough to confirm that Wenlin and Wang Xun's symptoms were aconite poisoning.

"Uncle Wen, Your Honor, since neither of the two physicians can make a judgment, why don't we move to the prison and let your maid, Xiao Cui, speak?"

Chronic poisoning from a small amount of aconitine is not immediately fatal, so there's no rush. Interrogating a Japanese woman should be relatively easy.

After a brief discussion, Wang Xun and Wen Lin unanimously decided to go to the prison first to interrogate Xiao Cui.

As the three men and two guards approached the county jail, a middle-aged man in jailer's uniform, pale-faced, stumbled out of the cell. Upon seeing Wang Xun, he immediately knelt down, his voice trembling with sobs, "My lord, Xiao Cui, out of fear of punishment, has committed suicide by poison!"

"Quick, take us there!"

Arriving at the place where the maid Xiao Cui was imprisoned, Song Xiaoyi stepped forward to check Xiao Cui's pulse and the side of her neck. Her hands were still warm to the touch, indicating that she had just died.

"Go and fetch the coroner."

After the jailer left to call the coroner, Song Xiaoyi squatted down, pointed to the clear purplish-red ligature mark on Xiao Cui's neck and the messy drag marks on the ground, and said in a low voice to Wen Lin and Wang Xun, "Uncle, sir, please look! This is clearly a case of someone being strangled and then staging a suicide! The jailer looked flustered and acted most suspiciously!"

The coroner was not summoned, and the jailer was nowhere to be found.

"It's obvious we arrived too late. The jailer had just made his move and didn't have time to disguise it. Along the way, someone must have been keeping watch and tipping us off, so the jailer had to finish the job hastily, leaving behind a bunch of suspicious points."

"Uncle Wen, Your Excellency, please forgive my bluntness, but this county government office has probably been thoroughly infiltrated." Song Xiaoyi said solemnly, "Uncle, the situation in your own office is probably not optimistic either. Your poisoning has worsened day by day, and as soon as you arrived at Yongjia County Office, someone arranged for accomplices here to deliver more poison. This shows that this organization is large and its plan is very meticulous."

"According to my nephew, the maids in my household are also Japanese?"

"The facts are right in front of us, and they couldn't be clearer."

"..."

"Don't believe me? Those two Japanese pirates ran away, they must have gone back to report. By the time Uncle returns, the maid will either have run away or be dead."

"Thinking about it this way, your uncle and the county magistrate are honest and upright, and they do not associate with others. To put it mildly, they are blocking the way of the Wenzhou gentry. To put it more seriously, you may have affected someone's plans in the palace."

"Young friend, your analysis is insightful and to the point. Brother Zongru, I have learned a great deal."

The three returned to the banquet hall in the back courtyard, where the antidote prepared by Song Xiaoyi had already gone cold.

Wenlin picked up the medicine bowl without suspicion and reached out to drink it, but Song Xiaoyi reacted quickly and grabbed his wrist to stop him. "Wait! Uncle, the antidote has been out of our sight for a long time. We must be careful that a villain adds new poison."

This county government office looks absolutely rotten. Song Xiaoyi would rather waste some medicine than allow any unexpected situation to occur, otherwise he wouldn't be able to explain himself even if he had a mouth.

"My dear nephew's concerns are quite valid; we should indeed be extremely cautious at this time."

Song Xiaoyi prepared a new antidote, and Wenlin and Wang Xun no longer hesitated. They took the bowl of medicine, tilted their heads back, and drank it all in one gulp.

Watching the two drink the antidote, Song Xiaoyi thought to himself, "The poisoner is so patient, using a slow-acting poison until April of the following year. It's only thanks to Wenlin's strong constitution that he lasted for more than half a year before collapsing."

"Nephew, you still haven't answered me, how is Bi'er now?"

"Uncle, rest assured, Brother Wenbi, along with Zhu Zhishan and Tang Bohu, are staying at my home in Taoye Ferry. They have no worries about food or clothing and are safe. However..."

"Just what?"

"But in this year's autumn examination, Brother Wenbi will most likely fail again."

Wenlin leaned forward, his eyes filled with shock and confusion, and urgently asked, "What do you mean?!"

Wen Lin, caught in the middle of the situation, couldn't immediately grasp the crux of the matter. However, Magistrate Wang Xun, who was standing nearby, reacted very quickly and immediately understood, "Is it because he was implicated by Brother Zongru?"

"Uncle Wang, you are wise."

……

"Why did you come to Yongjia alone, my dear nephew?"

"Xiao Yi was heading to Jingdezhen in Raozhou Prefecture. He stopped at Yongjia Ferry and planned to find an inn to stay overnight. After disembarking, he happened to encounter a maid and two Japanese pirates talking furtively in Japanese... He followed them all the way to the back gate of the county government office."

Wenlin's question hit the nail on the head, but Song Xiaoyi couldn't tell them the truth. He couldn't very well say, "I came here to save you," could he?

Why did they go to Yongjia first to rescue Wenlin instead of heading straight to Wenzhou? If they had gone directly to Wenzhou, wouldn't they have missed their chance? This is such a coincidence.

Even Song Xiaoyi himself could only think that it was the protagonist's halo, and the system saved him the trouble of running around.

They communicated with Wenlin and Wang Xun until late at night, and the three of them went to bed briefly in the bedroom behind the county government office.

The aftermath of the Yongjia County government affair is no longer something Song Xiaoyi can worry about. Whether it's Japanese pirates or eunuchs from the capital, the Yongjia County Magistrate and the Wenzhou Prefect will handle it cautiously given their abilities and status.

Now that they know someone poisoned them, they will naturally be more careful going forward.

The next morning, Song Xiaoyi and Wen Lin took an official boat to Wenzhou and entered the prefectural government office.

The first thing Wenlin did upon entering was to ask where the maid Xiaodie was. Everyone in the yamen searched for a long time but couldn't find her.

"Uncle, you see, I can't stay here any longer. Is there anything you need to give to Brother Wenbi? I'll take it back for you."

Wenlin pondered for a moment, then picked up his pen and wrote a letter, which he solemnly handed to Song Xiaoyi: "Nephew, please pass this letter on to Bi'er."

Song Xiaoyi took the letter from home, carefully put it away, left some medicine for Wenlin and explained the order of administration, then took the afternoon boat back to Yongjia Ferry and returned to the modern world.