A divine healer, a general, a young marquis! Who can rival them!

Yang Hu kept quiet about how he followed the hidden stake to the gate of the prefectural magistrate's residence.

But he knew that if you were staring at me, I could feel it too.

The deeper he investigated, the more dangerous it became. Within a few days, the west of the city responded.

This afternoon, a small sedan chair made of blue cloth was parked in front of the clinic.

A man who stepped out of the sedan chair was about forty years old, dressed in a dark blue silk robe. He looked like a steward, with a fair complexion and no beard, but his eyes were sharp. As soon as he entered the clinic, he looked it over from top to bottom, as if he were checking accounts.

"Which one of you is Dr. Yang?"

Yang Hu put down his pulse pillow and looked up. "It's me, sir. What's wrong?"

He smiled, but there was no warmth in his expression.

"Hehe, Dr. Yang, you flatter me. I'm in excellent health." He sat down on a consultation stool and said to himself, "My name is Tian, ​​and I work at the Prefectural Magistrate's Office. I've come to pay my respects to Dr. Yang today."

Juncheng Mansion!

Yang Hu paused slightly on the table with his fingers.

"She's here," the hand hiding in the prefectural governor's mansion sensed someone watching her.

"Your Excellency is so busy, why would you think of finding a resident physician?" Yang Hu picked up his teacup and said slowly.

"Hehe, Dr. Yang is too modest." Butler Tian fanned himself with a folding fan. "Old Yang from the east of the city is very famous. He cured Old Madam Zhou's terminal illness, the jaundice at the foot of the mountain in the south of the city, and the edema of that student who went to take the exam... Several doctors in the city said he was hopeless, but he survived after coming to Dr. Yang. The adults say he is a miracle doctor!"

I still remember the illness that Yang Hu treated.

The visitor is not good.

"Of course, healing the sick and saving lives is a doctor's duty." Yang Hu remained unmoved. "But there are some things that Doctor Yang cannot touch."

"Oh?"

"Things in the city run very deep," Steward Tian said in a low voice. "Some people and relationships may seem ordinary, but they're actually connected by murky entanglements. Once you get involved, you'll be stained with blood. The magistrate only called me over to say these things to Dr. Yang because he loves her, so that Dr. Yang can sit comfortably in your clinic. The magistrate should pretend he didn't see these things and his dealings with officials. This is for Dr. Yang's own good."

Soft!

It's the same method as before, where money and banknotes are used to deliver letters.

Yang Hu sneered inwardly. This hand was afraid of getting hurt, so it only took out some silver and the airs of the prefectural governor's office after it had hit the sore spot, and then gave him such a sentence.

But the more someone sends that message, the more it shows that the hidden stake has been hit where it hurts.

"I don't quite understand what you're saying, sir," Yang Hu said, putting down his teacup. "I examine patients' pulses and prescribe remedies. As for dealings with officials, I don't know which way the government offices face, let alone how to get involved in their corrupt practices!"

The smile on Manager Tian's face faded.

"Dr. Yang is a very sensible person!"

"I truly don't understand!" Yang Hu looked at him, but his tone became more forceful: "As for you, sir, you keep saying something about 'something I shouldn't get involved in.' What exactly is this 'thing,' you won't say. And who exactly is this 'person,' you won't tell! It's just a trivial matter concerning a doctor, yet a high-ranking official from the prefectural governor's office has come all the way to advise me not to get involved..."

"If you are truly kind, sir, you shouldn't ask such a question. Asking it makes it seem as if you have something shameful to hide and are afraid I will see it."

This question caused Steward Tian's face to darken.

He hadn't expected that a doctor sitting in the clinic could respond so accurately and even refute him with a single sentence.

As they froze, the curtain inside moved slightly.

Qin Ying brought out a bowl of freshly brewed medicine, smeared with ash, dressed in coarse cloth clothes, and with hunched shoulders, looking much like a typical medicine boy. She placed the medicine in Yang Hu's hands, lowered her head, and without saying a word, turned to go back.

But Steward Tian's eyes were fixed on her.

It wasn't just looking at a medicine boy.

Yang Hu's heart skipped a beat. This Steward Tian worked in the Prefectural Magistrate's Office and had seen many people. Qin Ying was covered in soot, but the way she stood and her eyes inadvertently revealed a hint of her aura. She could fool others, but she might not be able to fool such a discerning eye.

"The medicine boy," Steward Tian said slowly, "is quite good-looking. Where is he from?"

"From the countryside." Yang Hu took it, moving incredibly fast, and pressed down on Qin Ying's shoulder, as if giving a casual order, but the spot he pressed was actually an acupoint. "His family suffered a disaster, so he came here to work odd jobs. He's quick on his feet, but unfortunately, he's very bad with words."

Qin Ying understood what he meant, shrugged her shoulders, lowered her head and left, never looking up the whole time.

Manager Tian stared at the curtain for two seconds, but still didn't ask any further questions.

"Sir, you've come to bother me," Yang Hu said slowly, seemingly oblivious to the difference in their demeanor. He picked up his tea and said, "I should return the favor. Please tell the magistrate: My clinic has benefited from the support of Old Master Zhou and Old Manager Sun from the south of the city. During the last upheaval in the northern region, it was also protected by Commander Wang of the city defense battalion. I am just a doctor, and the reason I can run my clinic here with peace of mind is all thanks to these people's connections."

He raised his head and spoke lightly, but with great weight.

"I don't get involved in official matters, nor do I want to. But if someone storms into my clinic and frightens the people who take care of me, then it won't just be a matter for me, the doctor, alone."

Manager Tian tightened his grip on the folding fan.

Zhou Ji, Sun Ji, City Defense Battalion. Several names came flying at him; he was a messenger and messenger for the Prefectural Magistrate's Office, and he knew their weight. This attending physician, on the other hand, seemed like a lonely doctor, with connections behind him that no one dared touch.

He was silent for a while.

Then he stood up and snapped the folding fan shut.

"Dr. Yang, you've said your piece." His voice turned cold. "A wise person knows the bigger picture. I'll consider your good intentions."

"Take care, sir." Yang Hu remained seated, ignoring his words.

Steward Tian's face turned ashen. He flicked his sleeves, went out, and got into the sedan chair.

The talking in the clinic suddenly stopped.

Lu Rou peeked out from behind the tent, her face pale. "Young Master, this person..."

"From the Prefectural Magistrate's Office," Yang Hu said. "To probe the truth for that hand."

Lu Yan brought over the tea and placed it in front of him, her brows furrowed. Having come from the Duke's mansion herself, she was well-versed in the power and influence of officialdom. "Young Master," she said, "they're offering sweet treats first, trying to smooth things over with a little money. If you say no, you won't just keep offering them sweet treats in the future!"

"I know!" Yang Hu took the tea. "But this time, I never intended to stop."

After closing the clinic at night, Qin Ying sat by the window, holding her short knife, sharpening it for a long time before whispering.

"Manager Tian's eyesight can see through a little bit of what I have to offer." Her voice was icy. "My identity can fool the bandits in the city and the lowly soldiers in the yamen, but it can't fool the worldly people in the prefectural governor's office."

"Today was a bit too dangerous," Yang Hu said.

"The danger is today." Qin Ying raised her eyes, her eyes filled with murderous intent. "It's that hand. It can mobilize people from the Prefectural Magistrate's Office to deliver messages, which means it has deep roots in the Prefectural Magistrate's Office. And if I am recognized immediately, and a granddaughter of the Duke of Zhenguo, who should have died on the border, appears alive in the clinic in the east of the city, that would be more serious than exposing any of its crimes."

She said a few words:

"It will stop at nothing to shut my mouth forever!"

The people in the room fell silent.

Yang Hu looked at the pitch-black night sky outside.

He followed a servant, a pawnshop, and a load of secondhand goods, eventually finding the hand that had been on the wrist of the prefectural magistrate's mansion. But once this trail was discovered, it also alerted the creature.

Now it's bringing soft dates! If the soft dates don't work, then the hard dates will probably be next.

"The more eager it is to cover up its flaws," Yang Hu said slowly, "the more it shows that it is afraid. It is because it is afraid that loopholes appear."

"But it can also become more ruthless," Qin Ying added.

The old locust tree in the courtyard groaned and howled in the night wind.

The anger of Zhao Yanei in the west of the city, and the hand of the prefectural magistrate's office that had just delivered a bribe but would turn on them in the next turn, were both overt and covert, and were quietly converging on the courtyard in the east of the city tonight.

Yang Hu picked up the now-cold morning tea and took a sip.

What he wanted was never just to hide.

You have to follow the small part of the hand that just appeared, and slowly move upwards until you reach the face that was hidden deepest inside, right under the light.