Chapter 130: She must be crazy

(Happy New Year, everyone. I was truly too busy today, so I only managed to scrape together one chapter.)

There were far fewer people for the second exam. Originally, there were six or seven hundred candidates, but seven or eight out of ten were weeded out in the first round.

Coupled with the fact that the top two were exempt from the exam, only about a hundred people sat in the examination hall in the end.

With fewer people, there was naturally no need to draw lots for seat numbers; instead, they were arranged according to their rankings from the previous round.

Jiang Zhan was in first place, sitting right in the middle of the front row, facing the chief examiner, Lin Xianling.

Xiao Liangchen sat to his left.

Unexpectedly, Master Jiang was actually sitting behind Jiang Zhan, which showed he had also done quite well, at least within the top ten.

That piece of "Taste-Loss Pill" had ultimately not come in handy.

But it wasn't a waste; there were still a bunch of exams like the Prefectural Exam and the Academy Exam ahead. Who knew when he might be covered in bad luck again and draw a stinky seat number?

The atmosphere inside the examination hall was tense, but Du Ruo and Jiang Li outside were quite relaxed.

They weren't worried about Jiang Zhan's ability at all. As for the Jiang Shi who loved to stir up trouble, she was probably already overwhelmed and unable to look after herself by now, right?

"Husband, guess what Du Mingzhu is like now?" Du Ruo leaned against a tree, biting into an apple with satisfaction.

Jiang Li smiled. "She must be crazy."

Du Mingzhu wasn't crazy, but she was close to it.

Ever since being attacked by the cockroaches that day, Du Mingzhu had fallen into a coma and then developed a high fever.

Gui Sao, worried about being blamed by her superiors, hurriedly invited a doctor over.

Several doses of medicine were prescribed, but unfortunately, the patient hadn't woken up, so it was impossible to feed them to her.

Seeing that a life was about to be lost, Gui Sao panicked. Li Xianling had gone to another county to preside over the imperial examinations, so she had no choice but to report the matter to the County Assistant.

That was Du Mingzhu's biological father—Du Ren Mei.

Because the County Magistrate was away and Chief Constable Jiang Li had also taken several days off, Du Ren Mei was busy beyond measure.

However, upon hearing that his precious daughter had met with an accident, Du Ren Mei still set aside his official duties and rushed to the prison in a panic.

"Zhu'er? Zhu'er, wake up!" Seeing his daughter in such a half-dead state, Du Ren Mei felt unbearable heartache.

He turned to Gui Sao, his face sinking. "What exactly happened? Explain it clearly."

"My Lord, this matter really has nothing to do with me."

Gui Sao felt she was being wronged to death. "I know Miss Mingzhu is afraid of cockroaches, so I followed your instructions and cleaned her cell twice a day, not daring to be the least bit negligent. Who knew that two cockroaches would suddenly appear in the prison and scare Miss Mingzhu like this? I don't even know where those cockroaches came from!"

So it was being scared by cockroaches. Du Ren Mei suddenly realized.

That was no surprise.

It was all the fault of those little rascals from the Beian Marquis Mansion. Back then, they had locked three-year-old Zhu'er in the woodshed to scare her, saying that cockroaches would crawl into people's nostrils and eat their internal organs.

They had also maliciously caught several and thrown them inside. That time, Zhu'er had been scared into a faint just like now.

Ever since then, she couldn't stand the sight of cockroaches and would go mad upon seeing them.

Not daring to take it lightly, Du Ren Mei immediately ordered someone to go home and invite Jiang Shi over.

Jiang Shi arrived quickly, bringing Doctor Jian from the Baohe Hall with her.

After taking her pulse, Doctor Jian smiled and comforted them: "It's nothing serious. It's just a sudden flare-up of heart-fire caused by excessive fright. She'll be fine after taking a few doses of medicine."

Only then did Du Ren Mei and Jiang Shi set their minds at ease.

"However..." Doctor Jian changed the subject and warned, "Cockroaches harbor many filthy things in their bodies, which are harmful to the human body and may cause illness. Observe her for these two days. If symptoms like skin rashes or red spots appear on Miss Mingzhu's body, they must be treated promptly, otherwise, scars will be left behind."

The couple nodded and took note of this.

After saying this, Doctor Jian took out the silver needles he carried with him and pricked Du Mingzhu a few times.

Du Mingzhu finally woke up slowly.

Once she saw where she was, the previous terrifying memories flooded into her mind like a tidal wave. Du Mingzhu's eyes widened suddenly, and then she let out a scream from the depths of her soul.

"Ah!!!"

"It's okay, it's okay." Jiang Shi hurriedly hugged her daughter. "Don't be afraid, Zhu'er. The cockroaches have already been beaten to death and will never appear again."

These words didn't have any effect; Du Mingzhu continued to scream at the top of her lungs.

Until her throat was hoarse and she could no longer make a sound.

Doctor Jian stuffed a pill into Du Mingzhu's mouth, and Du Mingzhu finally calmed down slowly.

Jiang Shi had a servant bring a bowl of Job's tears porridge and carefully fed it to her daughter.

After just one mouthful, Du Mingzhu retched and vomited it all out.

"Mother, I feel so uncomfortable... I don't want to eat, I don't want to..." Looking at the red and white porridge, Du Mingzhu felt as if she saw that cockroach that had died in her mouth again, also bursting with red and white juices like this, flowing all the way from her throat into her stomach.

So... so disgusting!

Du Mingzhu couldn't help but lean over the side of the bed and retch again.

Seeing her daughter in such pain, Jiang Shi's eyes turned red, and she hurriedly asked Doctor Jian: "Mingzhu can't eat anything; what should we do?"

"It seems she was indeed scared quite badly." Doctor Jian's expression also became grave. "This can only be adjusted slowly; usually, she can return to a normal diet. You as parents should try to persuade her more and reverse her fear of cockroaches, otherwise, the situation will be very bad."

Jiang Shi gripped the handkerchief in her hand tightly.

Du Ren Mei interjected: "What will happen?"

Doctor Jian sighed: "If she keeps being unable to eat, she will lose weight rapidly until she starves to death."

It was actually this serious. Du Ren Mei was shocked and paced back and forth in the prison cell with his hands behind his back.

"My Lord, I want to take Zhu'er back to the mansion!" Jiang Shi stood up and said decisively.

Back to the mansion? This...

Du Ren Mei was in a difficult position. "But Madam, Zhu'er is still in prison, and I don't have the authority to release a prisoner."

If he dared to openly engage in favoritism, he was afraid his career as an official would be over.

"I'm not asking you, I'm notifying you. I'm taking my daughter back to be treated."

Jiang Shi smiled, but the smile had no warmth. "As for how you solve this problem, that's your business. If you don't have this ability, then Zhu'er won't recognize you as her father, and the Beian Marquis Mansion won't have you as a son-in-law either. You decide."

After saying this, she called for a middle-aged woman to come over, carry Du Mingzhu on her back, and leave.

"Hey, Madam..." Du Ren Mei hurriedly tried to stop her.

"Lord Du!" Jiang Shi raised her voice. "Do you want to watch your own daughter die of illness in prison?"

Du Ren Mei's outstretched hand froze in mid-air.

The woman took the opportunity to carry the person out.

Just as they stepped out of the prison door, they saw several constables with stern faces standing there. The bearded man in the lead waved his hand and shouted sternly: "Brothers, someone is breaking out of prison! Arrest them all!"

Du Ren Mei: "..." ===== CHAPTER 131 =====