“Your Highness, if you don’t think that the miracle-working doctor in Prince Chen’s Mansion is capable of fixing your leg, actually there’s another doctor who may be able to help you, but…” The eunuch hesitated as he mentioned another doctor.
“Say it!” Chu Liuzhou said with his face darkening.
“But the doctor may use a large dosage of medicine. I don’t think… it’s a safe way to fix your leg!” The eunuch stammered, lowered his body, and said respectfully.
“Can the doctor fix my leg in a shorter time?” Chu Liuzhou asked after a moment of silence.
“Yes, the doctor can do that by increasing the dosage. Your Highness, as a noble prince, you should stay away from danger, so it’s better not to try it. The imperial physicians can fix your leg in a safer way!” The eunuch advised.
“Bring the doctor to me later!” Chu Liuzhou said with a frown. It was certainly not good to use a large dosage, but it would be great if the doctor could fix his leg in a shorter time. At the moment, he could not decide whether he should have his leg fixed in a safer way or in a shorter time.
He knew that having his leg fixed in a shorter time could do harm to his health.
“How about bringing the doctor here in a few days, Your Highness?” the eunuch asked.
“Bring the doctor here quickly!” Chu Liuzhou said in a deep voice. He could inquire about the details before deciding whether to have his leg fixed by the doctor or not.
“Yes, I got it!” The eunuch bowed his head and answered.
“Have they found out why I fell off the carriage?” After that, Chu Liuzhou asked about the case he had instructed his trusted subordinates to look into before.
“Uh… they haven’t. His Majesty has also appointed someone to investigate this case. Could it be related to Prince Chen?” The eunuch reminded him.
It happened all of a sudden. At that time, no one expected that Chu Liuzhou would fall off the shaft of the carriage and get hurt.
“It shouldn’t have anything to do with that invalid!” Chu Liuzhou thought for a while, and then shook his head and said. Anyway, it didn’t seem to have anything to do with Chu Liuchen. What was more, it was not Chu Liuchen who intended to talk with him at that time. Nevertheless, as a prince growing up in the imperial palace, he was deep-minded. Although he was sure of that, he wouldn’t say that with certainty at this moment.
“Your Highness, should we check on the members of our mansion? The coachman is dead, so we can’t find out why the horse suddenly jumped up, but we can question the servants related to the coachman!” The eunuch suggested.
This proposal made Chu Liuzhou frown more tightly. He asked with a complicated look, “Do you think it has something to do with the accident caused by a bolting horse at the gate of the imperial palace?”
There were too many similarities between these two accidents.
They both happened at the gate of the imperial palace and were caused by a bolting horse. The most important thing was that they were both related to his mansion. Thinking of this, Chu Liuzhou felt his heart skipped a beat, stopped feeling hesitant and immediately became firm.
“Check on everyone in my mansion, including the coachman in this accident and the coachman in the last accident. You must find out who is behind all this!”
Last time, the one behind the scenes intended to frame him for attempting to kill the invalid so that he would be out of favor with his father and grandma. This time, the one intended to kill him. Thinking that the imperial physician implicitly said that the coachman got killed because he fell in a wrong way, Chu Liuzhou felt a burst of anger.
He could also have been killed at once if he fell in a wrong way!
“Should we also check on the coachman in the last accident? But it was said that there was no clue left!” the eunuch said in embarrassment. They had checked on the coachman in the last accident, but they did not find anything.
“You must check on not only him but also his family members, old friends and neighbors!” Chu Liuzhou gritted his teeth and said with hatred, “As long as there’s any doubt, you must track it down, no matter where the suspect is from!”
There were many concubines in his manor as well as many beauties sent from the imperial palace. They worked for various forces. The investigation had to be suspended before because it was inconvenient for him to check on some of them. But this time, he was in a different situation where he almost got killed. How could he swallow it?
“Yes, Your Highness. I’m going to check on them right away.” Seeing Chu Liuzhou’s expression, the eunuch knew that Chu Liuzhou was really determined to find out the truth this time, so he said hurriedly with a nod.
Seeing the eunuch leave, Chu Liuzhou leaned back with a cold and gloomy face, bearing profound rage and hatred. It was definitely not an accident this time. Every time before he went out in his carriage, he had his carriage checked thoroughly, so there wouldn’t be such an accident. What was more, how could the coachman get killed after falling?
He didn’t believe it!
“Miss, Childe Wang visited a doctor yesterday and visited another doctor today. After that, I sent someone to find a way to sneak into the doctor’s place and find out what he did. It was said that he offered some dregs of decoction for the doctor to identify and paid a premium price for that. He even left some dregs of decoction in the doctor’s place. He did the same thing when visiting the two doctors.”
Qing’er reported what she had found in the past two days to Shao Wanru.
Shao Wanru fell silent with a flicker in her watery eyes.
As she expected, Wang Shengxue and Wang Yishu became suspicious, and Wang Shengxue took out Wang Yishu’s dregs of decoction for the doctors to identity. It seemed that they were very cautious. They not only turned to several doctors, but also asked the doctors to identify the dregs of decoction, and even left some of the dregs of decoction.
Duke Xing’s Mansion was going to kill Wang Yishu, but Wang Yishu was not going to surrender.
In the past, the medicine Wang Yishu took included some medicinal materials counteracting each other, which was barely perceptible. Now that they were going to kill Wang Yishu, they would definitely use a larger dosage than usual, which was easier to be discovered. They might even add some medicinal materials capable of making Wang Yishu weak or killing her.
They could only kill Wang Yishu without being noticed by increasing the dosage of medicine, which could make her weak and included the medicinal materials counteracting each other, and treating her with acupuncture.
“Miss, I met Doctor Qiu on my way back here today. He went to the kitchen to fetch some food and said that Miss Wang’s condition has worsened. He was supposed to go back to his courtyard, but he couldn’t go back at this time, so he went to the kitchen to fetch some pastries to grab a bite.”
Qu Le told Shao Wanru that she had met Doctor Qiu again today.
Shao Wanru curled her lips. It was another accident that seemed to be extremely reasonable. Since Wang Yishu was in poor condition, as her doctor, Doctor Qiu naturally could not go back and should stay by her side to check on her.
“Again he said that Miss Wang wanted to see you and it was her last wish!” Qu Le said discontentedly, “With so many people around in the kitchen, I couldn’t say that you’re not going to see her, so I just vaguely agreed. After that, Doctor Qiu urged us to visit Miss Wang quickly, otherwise she may not be able to survive to meet you.”
Everyone in Duke Xing’s Mansion knew the cause of Wang Yishu’s illness, so they knew that Wang Yishu and the Fifth Miss bore grudges against each other. Nevertheless, no matter how much they hated each other, since Wang Yishu was about to die, they thought that the Fifth Miss should go to see her. When the servants heard what Doctor Qiu said, they all turned to Qu Le and waited for her response.
At this moment, Qu Le represented Shao Wanru’s attitude, so she had to agree despite her great reluctance.
Thinking that urged by Doctor Qiu, she had to say that her master would go to see Wang Yishu soon, Qu Le almost fumed with rage. At first glance, she knew that Doctor Qiu was a villain. When she met him on the road where few people could hear them, she didn’t say that her master would go to see Wang Yishu. Now in front of a group of servants in the kitchen, if she didn’t say that her master would go, she would make her master sound cruel and cold-blooded.
So Qu Le had to promise that her master would go to see Wang Yishu as soon as possible.
“Miss, you didn’t see Doctor Qiu’s look. Hearing that you are going to see Miss Wang in the afternoon, he was overjoyed but still forced a worried look, which is really annoying!” As Qu Le said, she got increasingly furious. Doctor Qiu thought that he hid his emotions well, but she kept watching him, so how could she miss the complacent smile on his face?
Yujie came in with a cup of tea, put it in front of Shao Wanru with a smile and comforted Qu Le, who almost stamped with rage, “Well, don’t be angry. This is part of Miss’s plan. It seemed that you had to promise that Miss would go to see her, but you just made use of the situation to push things through. You don’t have to get mad!”
“Miss is smart enough to come up with such a plan, but they really think that they can set up Miss so easily. I just feel aggrieved!” Qu Le said grumpily.
“So what do you want? Do you want to tell them that Miss has been waiting for them to make this move?” Yujie teased.
Her words made Qu Le laugh. After thinking for a while, Qu Le complacently raised her head and said, “They underestimate Miss and really think that they could set up Miss. After failing to make Miss agree to go to see Miss Wang, Doctor Qiu deliberately went to talk with me, for fear that Miss would not go. But they didn’t know that Miss has predicted it!”
Qu Le was so complacent, as if it were she who had predicted it, which made Shao Wanru involuntarily laugh.
“Miss, who are you going to take with you this time?” Qu Le, who had calmed down at this time, asked with a smile.
Shao Wanru glanced at the three maids present, Qing’er, Yujie and Qu Le. She carefully pondered for a moment and said, “I’ll take Yujie with me. I usually took Yujie with me, and this time is no exception!”
After all, Qing’er was just a second-class maid. If she took a second-class maid instead of the other first-class maids with her, it was easy to arouse suspicion. Yujie was the most inconspicuous maid who was more capable than ordinary maids.
Wang Shengxue had prepared for it, but she didn’t know how his preparation was going. But in any case, it was good since he had prepared for it…
“Qu Le, did you do as I told you?”
“Yes, I did exactly as you told me. Rest assured!” Qu Le said with a nod.
Shao Wanru fell silent for a while, looked at the sky outside the window and said, “Qing’er, go to the Chuihua Gate to stop Doctor Qiu.”
“Why should I do that?” Qing’er asked in confusion, “Will he leave at this time?”
“Probably. He can’t stay there and become a suspect, right?” Shao Wanru said with deep eyes. As someone that could not only shift the blame onto her but also get out of trouble or make himself the least possible suspect even if he failed to get out of trouble, Doctor Qiu would definitely find a way to get out of what was going to happen.
“Should I stop him from leaving? Well, I’m going to do it right away!” Qing’er said, turned around and was about to leave.
“Wait a minute. He won’t get out of the mansion at this moment. Go to the First Miss’s courtyard to see if he has gone there. If he goes to Wang Yishu’s courtyard after that, follow him!” Shao Wanru waved her hand as a hint for Qing’er to take her time so that they could have some time to prepare for their plan.
Since Madam of Duke Xing was locked up, it was not very convenient for her to give Doctor Qiu instructions, so Shao Yanru was naturally the most suitable commander of the plan.
Standing up and walking to the window, Shao Wanru picked up a writing brush with her left hand and wrote a few words. After drying the paper off, she balled it up, handed it to Qing’er and said, “Send it to Wang Shengxue!”
Although Qing’er had her mission, she could ask the guards sent secretly by Chu Liuchen to pass the note.
“Miss, you don’t have to trouble Qing’er. I can do it. I just saw Childe Wang’s manservant. He is still in the mansion at this time. I heard that Childe Wang has stayed in the mansion for some business these days!” Qu Le stepped forward and asked to perform the mission.