Chapter 187

This is too fast. He Lingchuan turned his head and grabbed a handful of pear syrup candy for it: "With Ling Guang here, I can suffer much less."

Ling Guang originally wanted to say that a serious medicine ape doesn't eat candy, but the pear syrup candy was really too fragrant, so it changed its rejecting claw to holding, and still silently took it.

He Chunhua entered the palace at dawn and hasn't returned yet.

Next, He Lingchuan washed his face and changed his clothes, and randomly filled a dozen big meat buns, paired with two large bowls of peanut soup with eggs, which counted as six-tenths full, and only then did he go out.

Liu Bangban was standing outside the door, having changed his clothes, but with two large dark circles under his eyes, obviously not having slept all night.

As soon as he saw He Lingchuan, he bowed to the end and didn't straighten his waist for a long time.

He Lingchuan asked curiously: "Why are you suddenly so polite?"

"Eldest Young Master He saved my lowly life last night; this little one is deeply grateful!" With the crisis at hand, He Lingchuan let him take the horse first. Liu Bangban had lived to be over forty, and had never been treated like this by a noble. Even the servants of noble families called him "Assistant," but they were too lazy to hide their disdainful looks.

"Since it's a lowly life, it's not worth money, so why talk about thanks?"

"..."

He Lingchuan laughed: "Alright, don't be pretentious, just do your work well for me."

Before yesterday, Liu Bangban's respect for him was for the sake of money, but after yesterday, it was from the bottom of his heart. He looked left and right, determined that the medicine ape had not appeared, and then lowered his voice: "Eldest Young Master He, you just hired Ling Guang as an alchemist yesterday morning, and you almost suffered a fatal disaster last night! Look, is this ape very ominous?"

He Lingchuan was stunned. Liu Bangban didn't mention it, and he had forgotten about this matter.

"Harming the previous few masters, at least it took some time." Liu Bangban thought the more he feared, after all, he almost became a victim yesterday, "By your side, it caused harm in less than half a day!"

"Alright, don't guess randomly anymore; haven't you heard that after the extreme comes the turn?" He Lingchuan thought back to the look Ling Guang gave him last night and this morning, and it was indeed uneasy, "But adding a few wounds, I exchanged for a giant wolf partner from the North Star Moss Plains; why do I feel my luck is quite good?"

He climbed into the carriage and said to the worried Liu Bangban: "Those who ambushed us last night are now all stray dogs, almost chased to the point of having no place to hide; what else do you have to fear?"

He knew clearly in his heart that Dong Rui probably wouldn't be captured so easily, but one of his demon puppets was lost, the other two were injured, and he was being hunted all over the city; this demon puppet master temporarily had no time to come and settle accounts with the He family.

After going to Xiazhou, the He family would be even less afraid of him on their own territory.

At this moment, there was still a General Nian Zanli in the north, waiting to settle the blood feud of killing his son with him. These old matters happened before the medicine ape defected; if you want to talk about a jinx, I'm afraid he, He Lingchuan, is the biggest jinx.

Liu Bangban thought it was the same, and besides, he was just a small person, who would specifically find trouble with him? "Then where are we going now?"

"You take me to Jinghe Hall at the foot of Biji Mountain." He Lingchuan leaned back on the soft seat and yawned, "I'm going to visit the wounded."

The carriage rumbled out, and He Lingchuan opened the window curtain, once again sighing that the prosperity and vitality of Shi Huan were far from what Black Water City could compare to. The North Avenue was crowded, and Shi Huan City's most important business was at the northern wharf, where goods coming from the south and going to the north had to be loaded and unloaded there.

The Great Yuan Nation used the strength of the whole country to support the wealthy capital and the secondary capital.

But He Lingchuan was going south in the opposite direction. After making a few turns, the road became narrower and more uneven. Except for fewer people, the buildings didn't look so bright, and the layout and scale were much smaller, starting to lean closer together.

He Lingchuan thought of his small house in the Panlong dream.

It turns out that the bungalows in the world are all about the same.

Soon, the carriage passed a tavern; the storefront was no longer bright, and on the swaying sign were two large, bold ink characters: Xiang Chuan.

Mao Tao seemed to have said that yesterday he and his brothers in the support army drank here; it was cheap, in big bowls, and not watered down. The pig head meat for drinking was also plucked clean.

After another hundred-plus zhang, the road ahead suddenly became crowded, and the carriage could hardly move.

He Lingchuan poked his head out and found that the crowd had surrounded a bungalow three layers inside and out, all crowding at the door and talking at once.

People were being carried out of the house, covered with white cloth.

It was two dead people.

The cloth wasn't covered tightly, and a strong wind blew, lifting the corner of the cloth, revealing a woman's face.

About twenty-four or twenty-five, not fat or ugly, and the cut on her neck was very deep.

Throat cut and fatal; this knife was very neat. He Lingchuan judged that the murder weapon was a short knife or dagger, so the murderer likely stood behind her, covering her mouth with one hand and cutting with the other, which wouldn't attract the attention of the neighbors.

The house door was open, and he took the opportunity to look inside. Grass grew in the floor cracks, and many sundries were piled in the corner; the square table was also missing a leg, padded with half a broken book.

This family was very poor, so poor that after the dead were carried away, the living who watched could only steal a few chipped porcelain plates and pottery bowls.

He Lingchuan also noticed that a few aunties were quietly spitting at the wall.

Liu Bangban also leaned over to look, and asked curiously: "Isn't this Yao Erniang's house? This family only had two people, and both were carried out." He clicked his tongue, "I heard that the government started searching for fugitives at dawn, and many commoners were injured."

He Lingchuan pointed to the crowd: "Why did I hear someone pointing and saying, 'Sure enough, these two were going to have an accident sooner or later'?"

"That's because of the business they did. Yao Erniang's husband went to the front line to fight, and when he returned, he had lost a hand, and his temperament changed. He couldn't read or do manual labor, and after squandering the pension money, he let his wife do flesh business, and the place of business was in his own home."

He Lingchuan understood: "So it was doing secret door business."

"They did this, and were unwilling to pay money to the outside, so they would always offend people. Yao Erniang's husband also often argued with guests, which neighbors heard many times."

He Lingchuan listened, and didn't say anything else; it didn't concern him.

It didn't concern anyone.

Two insignificant city commoners, two lowly lives comparable to wild dogs, even if they died strangely, wouldn't cause much of a splash; after seven or eight days, others would forget this matter completely.

Ever since the King stopped coming to Lu Ming Garden to hunt, there were more and more houses and markets at the foot of Biji Mountain.

With more people, medical clinics and pharmacies followed.

Jinghe Hall is a chain medical hall opened by the Fu family. Although this branch at the foot of Biji Mountain is a branch, there is a famous doctor seeing patients in the front hall this month, so patients are endless.

The back hall is divided into a pharmacy and a ward. Seriously ill and seriously injured patients can rest here, which is convenient for doctors to treat nearby.

Liu Bangban asked two people before and after, and then took He Lingchuan to find the target—

The city boy who was sent here for emergency treatment by Ke Jihai's subordinates last night.

This person had already woken up, his forehead was no longer black, his face looked paler, and he looked like he was weak and tired.

He was sitting on the bed, wrapped in a quilt and eating breakfast.

A jar of thin millet porridge, a small dish of pickled melon skin, and half a steamed bun.

The bun should be very hard, and the boy gnawed twice but couldn't gnaw it.

The ward was large and there were many patients, but there was only a fire basin in the corner, and the heat was clearly insufficient.

He also recognized He Lingchuan, put down the bun, didn't try to get off the bed, just cupped his hands and said: "Young Master He!"

"Just keep eating. How are your injuries?" He Lingchuan thought this person was also interesting; everyone else respected him as the Eldest Young Master, only the boy called him "Young Master" in a scholarly way.

The boy picked up the jar and drank the porridge with a slurping sound: "The doctor said I won't die."

"My mother is grateful for your protection, so she specifically asked me to visit." He Lingchuan said, taking out a sandalwood box, handing it to him and opening it, "A small gift, not enough to express my gratitude."

In the box were two night-luminescent pearls the size of lychees, arranged neatly, especially round; and two pieces of top-quality mutton-fat white jade, looking like fat, translucent and moist.

The things Lady Ying used to reward the kindness of saving her life couldn't be shabby. These four treasures could be sold for at least two hundred taels of silver.

Even in Shi Huan City, this money was enough for a family of four to live comfortably for several years.

"A small effort, Sun dare not accept it." The boy didn't expect the He family's thank-you gift to be so precious, and for a moment couldn't hide his surprise, "Is Lady Ying well?"

"She... was a bit frightened, and is still recuperating today."

"I don't know how it ended last night?"

The boy was poisoned by an arrow last night and fainted early, so he didn't see the finale.

At this time, Liu Bangban stepped forward, put the whole basket of fruit on the table, and lifted the lid. Then he left the medical hall to handle other matters He Lingchuan had entrusted to him.

In the basket were two large bags of strawberries and a bag of large red dates.

In the cold winter, fruit is more expensive than meat.

"Last night, it's a bit complicated to say." He Lingchuan stroked his chin, "In short, the wolf-man and the ghost ape were subdued, but the ghost ape was subsequently rescued by its master, and we haven't found them yet."

"Were there any casualties?"

"The injuries were all on me and General Ke. A coachman was shot in the left eye, and he was incurable when sent here; you are luckier than him." He Lingchuan said, "My father has already sent a heavy pension to his family."

I really have a big life, the boy sighed long. He Lingchuan saw his expression was three-tenths melancholy.

Next, the boy reported his family name, Sun Hongye, and was once a reading companion for the third young master of the He family in Fangtai; he left the He family a few months ago and is now an accountant in a rice shop.

"Fangtai He family?" Why does it sound familiar? "It is the family of the current Censor-in-Chief He Liwen. You already met the third young master of the He family yesterday."

"Oh!" He Lingchuan remembered, "He Su?"

Sun Hongye nodded.

"Then why did you go to Lu Ming Garden to find General Ke?"

"I..." The boy pursed his lips into a line, his face a bit embarrassed, and hesitated for a long time, "I recommended myself to General Ke."

He Lingchuan was even more curious: "What position do you want to seek?"

"Staff, military advisor!" Since he had said it, Sun Hongye simply let go, "Rather than waiting to be slaughtered in Shi Huan, it is better to serve a hero and build a career!"

(End of chapter)