In times of chaos and famine, I traded one pound of rice for two royal flushes.

Only when he stepped out of the palace gate did he realize that his back was completely soaked.

Instead of returning directly to the villa, he took a detour and paused as he passed a secluded palace wall.

Just as he left the Hall of Mental Cultivation, he glanced over and saw something seemingly carved in the corner of a pillar outside the hall.

He squinted and thought carefully.

That was a single word.

A tiny character, carved with the tip of a knife.

The font is simple and elegant, with sharp strokes.

It is the character "卫".

The characters on it are exactly the same as those on Wei Qing's family heirloom jade pendant!

Late at night, the courtyard was completely silent.

The monkey was sleeping soundly when it was suddenly awakened by a very faint "click" sound.

He suddenly opened his eyes; the sound was coming from the room where Su Jin and Su Tang were staying!

"Thief!"

The monkey jumped up, grabbed the rolling pin next to its pillow, and stealthily slipped out.

Under the moonlight, a dark figure had already climbed into Su Jin's room.

"Who goes there!"

The monkey shouted and charged forward.

The dark figure was clearly not expecting anyone to be awake, and was startled. It immediately climbed out of the window.

"Stay here, you bastard!" Although the monkey was not good at martial arts, he was quite bold. He swung the rolling pin and smashed it down.

The shadowy figure moved nimbly, dodging to the side and striking the monkey's chest with a backhand.

The monkey hurriedly raised its arm to block, but felt a great force coming from it, and was sent flying backward, crashing heavily onto the stone table in the courtyard.

"monkey!"

"Monkey King!"

Qin Shaolang, Zhang the butcher, and the others were all awakened and rushed out.

Seeing that things were going badly, the dark figure stopped fighting and turned to escape by climbing over the wall.

His target was clear: the clothes Su Jin had changed out of during the day, and in the pocket of those clothes was the scrap paper of medicine residue that she had casually put away!

Just as the shadowy figure's hand touched the top of the wall, a whooshing sound suddenly rang out!

"call out--"

An arrow shot from the darkness outside the courtyard, striking the shadowy figure precisely in the calf.

"Well!"

The dark figure groaned and fell off the wall.

Ignoring his leg injury, he limped away and disappeared into the night.

Everything happened too fast; from the appearance of the shadowy figure to its escape, it only took a dozen or so breaths.

"Chase him!" Butcher Zhang shouted, grabbing his knife and about to give chase.

"Don't pursue a desperate enemy!" Qin Shaolang stopped him and quickly walked to Su Jin's room door.

Su Jin turned pale with fright and held Su Tang tightly in her arms.

"Are you alright?"

"N-nothing...it's nothing. He seemed to be looking for something, he went through my clothes..."

Qin Shaolang's heart sank, and he immediately thought of that piece of scrap paper containing dregs from the medicine.

Just then, a series of hurried footsteps came from the courtyard gate.

Xue Yi arrived "just in time" with several Blood-Clad Guards.

"What happened?" He surveyed the courtyard with a cold expression.

"An assassin!" the monkey shouted angrily, clutching his chest.

Xue glanced at the bloodstains on the ground, then at the direction the assassin had fled. Without a word, he grabbed his knife and chased after him.

"Protect the scene!"

He left swiftly and decisively, almost like someone chasing a murderer.

But as Qin Shaolang looked at his back, he felt that something was wrong.

What a coincidence!

He appeared as soon as the assassin left.

Who shot that arrow from the shadows?

Fifteen minutes later, Xue Yi returned, holding a black token in his hand.

"The assassin was highly skilled, and he escaped." He tossed the token onto the stone table, his tone icy. "However, he dropped this."

The crowd crowded around to take a look. The token was made entirely of black iron, with a ferocious beast head engraved on the front and a clear private seal on the back.

Wei Zhongxian's private seal!

"It's Wei Zhongxian's man!" Monkey jumped up suddenly. "He wants to kill us to silence us and destroy the evidence!"

This inference is reasonable.

That scrap of paper with dregs of medicine was very likely evidence that Wei Zhongxian had poisoned the Emperor. It was perfectly normal for him to send someone to destroy it.

Xue Yi looked at the token, a "just as I thought" expression on his face.

"As expected, there is a traitor among my godfather's men. I will inform my godfather of this matter and will give everyone an explanation."

After he finished speaking, he was about to put away the token.

"Wait a moment."

Qin Shaolang suddenly spoke.

He picked up the token and weighed it between his fingertips.

"Guard Xue," he said, looking at Xue Yi, "may I borrow this token to take a look?"

Xue paused for a moment, then nodded: "Please go ahead, Doctor Qin."

Qin Shaolang brought the token up to the light and examined it carefully.

The markings are clear, the material is of high quality, and it looks flawless.

But he extended his fingernail and lightly scraped at what appeared to be a worn mark on the edge of the token.

A layer of extremely fine rust powder was scraped off.

But what was revealed beneath the powder was a brand-new, metallic-looking cut surface.

He then dipped his finger into the red ink of the private seal and smelled it.

It was newly covered; the ink scent hasn't even dissipated yet.

Qin Shaolang put down the token, his mind clear.

This token is fake.

Someone deliberately aged it to create a fake and frame Wei Zhongxian!

And the person who directed this play...

Qin Shaolang raised his head and looked at Xue Yi, who had an "righteous and awe-inspiring" expression.

This kid is playing a double-edged sword trick!

Using the excuse of "searching for a rare medicinal ingredient," Qin Shaolang left the villa alone.

The Blood-Clad Guards symbolically followed for a while before he shook them off with a few detours.

Following his master's coded message, he arrived at Zhuque Street in the south of the city.

This place was once the most prosperous distribution center for medicinal herbs in the capital, but now it no longer enjoys its former glory.

Baicaotang is easy to find; it's just on the street corner, a two-story wooden building with a crooked signboard covered in dust and cobwebs.

Qin Shaolang pushed open the half-closed wooden door, and a smell mixed with rotten wood and old herbs wafted out.

The pharmacy was empty; all the drawers of the medicine cabinets were pulled open, and some dregs of medicine that had long since expired were scattered on the floor.

Clearly, this place has been searched by more than one group of people.

Qin Shaolang did not linger in the lobby and went straight up to the second floor.

The second floor is where valuable medicinal herbs are stored and where doctors rest.

He walked around a collapsed table and went to the innermost corner.

The master's secret code ultimately pointed to this place.

A row of blue bricks was laid in the corner of the wall, and it looked no different from the rest of the place.

Qin Shaolang reached out and tapped on several blue bricks in a specific order and with a specific amount of force.

"Click."

With a soft sound, one of the blue bricks dented inward.

A hidden compartment, just wide enough for one person to pass through, appeared before them.

There was only a dusty mahogany box in the hidden compartment.

Qin Shaolang opened the box. Inside, there was no gold or silver jewelry, only a medical record book tightly wrapped in oil paper.

The cover of the medical record book was yellowed and no name was written on it.

He turned to the first page.

A familiar scent of ink wafted over.

It's my master's handwriting!

The medical record contains a case from ten years ago. The patient was an "anonymous nobleman" whose symptoms were almost identical to those of the current emperor—listlessness, deficiency of both qi and blood, and a weak pulse, yet he was being forcibly kept alive by an external force.

The master meticulously recorded the pulse diagnosis results and prescriptions he wrote in the medical record book.

But all the remedies were of little effect.