Ling Zhiyan felt very anxious now.
Ma Biao and his second-generation ancestors suddenly fainted in the Qiuyue Tea House. The whole tea house fell on their backs. Lady Snow hurriedly called doctors she knew well to come over for treatment. Unexpectedly, the three doctors who came were helpless and said they had never seen anything like this before. It is speculated that the illness may be poisoning. As for what kind of toxin it is, experiments cannot reveal it.
Lady Xue was so frightened that she almost knelt down to Ling Zhiyan on the spot. If this matter could not be found out, Qiuyue Tea House would definitely not be able to continue its operation.
Ling Zhiyan captured a hawker who was cleaning the house to help send a message back to the Yidu government office, and asked Wu Da, the head catcher, to bring some delinquents to help. Unexpectedly, the hawker came back and said that Wu Da and his people had gone to the mass graves and would not be able to return for a while. Come, Young Master Jin went to Hongxiangfang to look for Mrs. Lin. Fortunately, Fang Wuzuo has returned to Huazhai.
Seeing that the situation of Ma Biao and others was getting worse and worse, and Qu Hui was still unconscious, Ling Zhiyan immediately commandeered the teahouse's carriage and quickly transported everyone back to Huazhai.
Fang Ke had just changed out of the dirty clothes he used to dig graves, and was taken to see a patient by Ling Zhiyan again. His face turned into a Changbai Mountain. He looked at Qu Hui first, but his blood and blood attacked his heart, and he fainted for a while. It was not serious. Hua Yi Meng arranged for the maid to take Qu Hui back to her room to rest. Fortunately, the house she had lived in before was still available, so she could use it.
After Fang Ke finished examining Ma Biao and others, he almost rolled his eyes to the sky, "I actually used fake flower tea as an antidote. I'm really lucky if I don't die."
Ling Zhiyan was stunned, and Mu Xia hurriedly reported the message from Jingmen to Hua Yimeng.
"Master Gan Tan discovered several tea shops selling fake Baihua Tea. He followed the clues and found out that these tea shops were just merged by Ma's family in the past two months. The source of the loose tea has not yet been found, and it is related to the seller of Qingzhou Baihua Tea. The appearance is 70% similar, but the texture and taste are slightly different, but the price is cheaper, so many people who are greedy for cheap and don’t know the goods bought Ma’s tea.”
Fang Ke sneered, "It doesn't matter if it tastes bad. The medicinal properties of this fake tea are vastly different. As a medicine, it not only cannot detoxify, but also aggravates the onset of toxins. Fortunately, they drank it at Qiuyue Teahouse." With some real flower tea, you won’t lose your life.”
Ita was puzzled, "Did Ma's company and his own people trick him?"
Mu Xia: "Could it be that - they themselves think they are selling real flower tea -"
Hua Yimeng's eyes flashed, "In other words, the Ma family in Dongcheng still has a superior?"
Ita raised his hand, "Brother Jin said, if the Jingmen can be checked, can we pay more?"
Hua Yimeng took out two bags of gold leaves and threw them to Ita, "Tell Jin Ruo that if Jingmen can really find out, the reward will be doubled."
"Sanniang is mighty!" Ita's flattery resounded throughout the world.
Hua Yimeng laughed, said hello to Fang Ke and Ling Zhiyan, and hurried to the back house to visit Qu Hui.
Fang Ke was forced to take the lead and ordered Mu Xia, Yita and Qinglong to move Ma Biao and others to the side hall, prescribe, prepare, prepare and boil medicines, especially increasing the amount of Baihua Tea. Dun's operation was as fierce as a tiger, and he finally stabilized the toxicity of several people.
Ling Zhiyan had to send people to Hongxiangfang, notify Ma Biao's family members, send people to Yidu Mansion Office to file a record, and appease Lady Xue. She was so busy that she couldn't even touch the floor and was sweating profusely. After Ma Biao and the others stabilized, they could sit down and take a breath. Mu Xia thoughtfully presented them with freshly brewed hundred-flower tea. As soon as the tea cup touched her lips, Hua Yimeng rushed over, quietly pulled Ling Zhiyan over, and took it out of her sleeves. A veil.
Ling Zhiyan's ears turned red, "W-what does this mean?"
Hua Yimeng rolled her eyes and said, "This is the handkerchief that the maid found just now when she was changing and cleaning Qu Hui. It was hidden under Qu Hui's underwear."
Ling Zhiyan quickly took half a step back. How could Hua Sanniang rashly show something close to a woman's body to a foreigner?
Hua Sanniang pulled Ling Zhiyan back again, holding the handkerchief with both hands and unfolding it, "This is embroidered with half a cluster of begonia flowers."
The handkerchief is an ordinary silk handkerchief, a style commonly used by Yidu women. Half of the clusters of crabapple flowers seem to have been cut open by a sharp knife. The left half is blank, and the right half is full of flowers, which is very strange.
Ling Zhiyan's head buzzed, and she quickly pulled out the embroidery pattern that Lian Xiaoshuang left before her death. She folded the handkerchief and put the pattern together. The two half embroidery patterns could just make a complete cluster of crabapple flowers.
Hua Yimeng was stunned.
Ling Zhiyan: "Where is Qu Hui?"
"Still unconscious, several maids have been sent to watch over him."
Ling Zhiyan picked up the file and handkerchief and rushed to the side hall, where she found Fang Ke, who was dozing off.
"Doctor Fang, look at this!"
Fang Ke glanced around with sleepy eyes, his eyelids suddenly popped open, and his two eyeballs flickered, "Where did you get the veil?"
Hua Yimeng: "Qu Hui kept it close to his body."
Fang Ke held up the handkerchief and looked at the candlelight for a long time, "Looking at the acupuncture technique, it looks a bit like Lian Xiaoshuang, but not quite like it."
Hua Yimeng: "Qu Hui said that she once learned embroidery from Xiaoshuang, maybe she imitated it."
Fang Ke's eyes moved and he motioned for the two of them to follow him back to his garden.
The garden where Fang Ke lives is called "Yingxue". It is the coolest place among the ninety-nine houses of the Hua family. It is also what Fang Ke himself requested. There are three wing rooms, the main wing is the bedroom, and the left wing is full of sundries, which are strictly prohibited. When outsiders enter, they don't know what strange things are inside. The right room is Fang Che's workshop.
Entering the door is a heavy table, four feet wide and eight feet long. There are all kinds of knives, pliers, tweezers, scissors, hooks, whetstones, bottles and cans of different colors and sizes, etc. On the right side hangs a picture of a human skeleton. It is a masterpiece of painting. When the wind blows, it sways as if the human bones come alive.
Ling Zhiyan took a closer look and saw that the human bone diagram was signed Yangdu Huasi, and it turned out to be Hua Yitang who had specially carved it for Fang.
Fang Qi lit the candle and sat at the table - the table was also equipped with a special Taishi chair made by Mu Xia - carefully picked out two silk threads from the embroidery sample, laid them flat on white paper, and dipped them into the porcelain vase with a small brush. Apply the potion carefully, and after the silk thread sticks to the white paper, use tweezers to hang the two pieces of white paper on the hemp rope to dry. I cut out two more silk handkerchiefs, applied the liquid on them, and placed them on the other two pieces of white paper.
Ling Zhiyan and Hua Yimeng were confused.
"What is Doctor Fang doing?" Hua Yimeng asked.
"Check if there is anything else in the embroidery thread." Fang Ke put his hands in his sleeves and stared at the two white papers with his dark eyes. When the liquid on the paper was almost dry, he picked up a blue He sprayed the potion on the first piece of white paper with a small colored watering can. The smell of the potion was fragrant and very choking. Ling Zhiyan immediately thought of Hua Yitang's incense, and Hua Yimeng immediately recognized it. , "Is it the Water Bath Silver Toad?"
Fang Ke stared at the paper and said "Hmm", "The medicinal properties of the water bath silver toad and the dragon fruit are mutually exclusive, which can help the color developer to develop color quickly."
Ling Zhiyan: "Doctor Fang suspects that this veil is also soaked in the juice of the Dragon God Fruit?"
Fang Ke nodded. Sure enough, after a while, a faint blue line appeared on the white paper, as if a brush was dipped in diluted blue dye and traced along the direction of the embroidery thread.
The silk handkerchief engraved on the third piece of paper was also sprayed with water bath silver toad. After waiting for a long time, it did not change color.
"This embroidery thread contains ingredients of Dragon God Fruit, but the dosage is very small and can almost be ignored." Fang Ke said, "There is no ingredient of Dragon God Fruit on the veil."
Ling Zhiyan frowned, "What do you mean?"
Fang said nothing, then picked up a blood-red watering can and sprayed new liquid on the second and fourth pieces of paper. This time, the smell of the liquid was sour, smelly, and fishy. It smelled like it hadn't been washed in ten years. stinky feet.
Hua Yimeng pinched her nose and took two steps back, "What is this?!"
"I used dozens of rare grass roots and vassal spices to distill and synthesize the color developer, and tested it hundreds of times before I got this vial." Fang Ke blew out the candle with a puff, "It will show color when it encounters human blood. color."
The whole room fell into darkness. Ling Zhiyan and Hua Yimeng's eyes widened. The embroidery thread on the second piece of paper was actually glowing faintly, with a light green light, like a firefly. The paper on the veil was completely black.
"The embroidery thread has been stained with a small amount of human blood. It may be the blood on the skin." Fang Ke's voice sounded in the darkness, as if a ghost was whispering in the ear, which made people shudder.
Hua Yimeng shuddered, "What do you mean?"
The candle was lit, Fang Ke grinned in the candlelight, and his red gums seemed to be stained with blood. "There is blood on the embroidery thread. There is Dragon God Fruit in the human blood, but it is not on the handkerchief. Isn't that very interesting?" ?"
Ling Zhiyan frowned and said, "In other words, the embroidery thread and the handkerchief were originally separate. The embroidery thread was embroidered onto the silk handkerchief after it came into contact with human blood."
Hua Yimeng: "...it sounds disgusting."
Fang Ke picked up the silk handkerchief and stared at the half piece of crabapple flowers in the candlelight, "How much embroidery thread is needed for this embroidery pattern?"
Hua Yimeng pinched her nose and came forward to take a look, "I can't tell, this embroidery is very complicated and it should take a lot of threads. It takes two or three strands of various colors to add up."
"A strand of embroidery thread is about half a finger thick and two feet long. Two or three strands of embroidery thread are equivalent to the thickness of a rope." Fang Ke gestured with his hand around his neck, "If it goes around like this -"
Hua Yimeng covered her mouth, and Ling Zhiyan turned pale with shock, "You mean the embroidery thread on this handkerchief was the murder weapon that killed Lian Xiaoshuang?!"
"Unfortunately, I can only test the blood on the embroidery thread, but I can't tell whose blood it is." Fang Ke felt a little regretful, "Maybe it's Wu Zhengli's blood, or someone else who has taken the Dragon God Fruit."
Ling Zhiyan turned around and walked out, "Where is Qu Hui?"
Hua Yimeng chased after her, "It's better to arrange it in Lianfang Pavilion."
The two of them walked like wind and hurried towards Lianfang Pavilion. The area of the flower house is really too big. After walking from Fangke Yingxue Garden, through Qiongshan Corridor, through Muyun Courtyard, and around Cangyannuang Pavilion, I finally saw the gate of Lianfang Pavilion. The gatekeeper The four maids were still in their original positions, and Hua Yimeng breathed a sigh of relief. "Is Madam Qu still sleeping?"
The four maids bowed and said, "I haven't woken up yet. There is Qinglian guarding me inside."
Ling Zhiyan walked to the door of Kuaibu's wing and took three shots in succession. There was no response from the door. She listened close to the door, her face changed slightly, and she kicked the door open.
A maid was lying on the ground, with a stone inkstone thrown next to her. The maid had been knocked unconscious, the back window was open, and the pale moonlight fell on the empty bed.
Qu Hui disappeared.
Hua Yimeng gasped and glanced at Ling Zhiyan quickly.
Ling Zhiyan frowned, raised the window sash and quickly looked at the ground outside the window, then turned around and walked out again, "She hasn't been away for long. There are many attendants in Huazhai. Someone should have seen her."
Hua Yimeng quickly followed Ling Zhiyan, "Qu Hui has lived in Huazhai for a period of time before, and is familiar with the layout of Huazhai and the arrangement of nursing staff. Ninety-Nine House covers an area of nearly half of the square. There are pavilions, pavilions, ponds, lakes, woods, and hills. If she wanted to hide her away from everyone, it would be difficult to find her for a while."
Ling Zhiyan paused, "No, if she wanted to escape, she would have escaped a few days ago when she was staying in Huazhai. She is not running away or hiding, but going somewhere else."
Hua Yimeng was startled for a moment, then quickly reacted, "Today Ma Biao and others specifically mentioned Wu Zhengli and the wind chimes on the bedside... Qu Hui's expression was not right at that time -
The two looked at each other and said in unison, "She went to Wu Zhengqing's house."
small theater
Jin Ruofeng rushed to Duan Jiu's house in a hurry, planning to take credit from Hua Yitang and Lin Sui'an, saying how hard he worked today to dig up Bai Sheng's body, how handsome he was to fight Yun Zhongyue away, and how hard he worked to drive Hong Xiangfang——
Duan Hongning: "Ms. Lin and Hua Silang went to Daci Temple."
Jin Ruo: "Eh?"
"Counting the time, I should have arrived at Yuelao Temple by now and asked for the marriage wind chime."
"..."
Jin Ruo immediately became furious, got on his horse and chased after him.
I spent a whole day digging up corpses and I was so scared that I lost half my life. You two still have time to spend time together. How can I bear it? :,,
