The Sleuth of Ming Dynasty (ENGLISH TRANSLATION)

CH 6

In spite of Tang Fan having a brilliant tongue that could say words as beautiful as lotuses, he got choked into speechlessness by that phrase.

He had obviously proposed collaboration with full-on sincerity, yet, in the blink of an eye, he was turned into a homicide suspect. Could it be that he had forgotten to look at his Yellow Calendar today?

Everyone claimed that the Brocade Guard had terrorizing might and gave nobody any face — sure enough, its reputation was not in vain!

Tang Fan wasn’t sure how to react to this. Right when he thought to speak, he heard Gao Yazi cry out in surprise, “Shopkeep Liu, you’ve come back!”

Shopkeep Liu came in in a rush, then couldn’t help but be gobsmacked as soon as he caught sight of the three Brocade Guards in the room.

Gao Yazi stepped forward, introducing him to Sui Zhou, Tang Fan, and the rest. Shopkeep Liu bowed to them one after the other. “I have troubled all you gentlemen with waiting here!” he admitted anxiously. “This little old man is unsure of what crime he has committed; please state it clearly!”

Noticing that he was panicked, Tang Fan gave him warm words of comfort. “Shopkeep Liu, there’s no need to worry—“

“Is there somewhere quiet here?” Sui Zhou asked coldly, cutting him off.

“There is! There is!” Shopkeep Liu quickly replied, leading them into an inner room.

The room wasn’t big, but it was quieter, unlike the ruckus outside.

Shopkeep Liu invited Tang Fan and the others to take their respective seats, had Gao Yazi fetch tea again, then promptly asked, “You gentlemen have come here for what purpose…?”

He was, in the end, not as inexperienced as Gao Yazi, and could tell from one glance that out of these people, Tang Fan was the best to talk to. For that reason, though his words were directed at everyone, his eyes were looking at him.

“Shopkeep Liu, did someone from the Marquis Wu’an Estate come previously for a prescription here?” Tang Fan thus said.

The homicide case, after undergoing these days of fermentation, had long since been stirred into a buzz, and there was no one in the capital that didn’t know about it. Once Shopkeep Liu heard this, he suffered a fright, shaking his head over and over again. “No such thing, no such thing!”

Tang Fan stared at him. “There was truly no one?”

Although Sui Zhou and his group said nothing, they were also glaring like tigers from the side.

Shopkeep Liu smiled painfully. “Sirs, why would I dare to lie? Rejuvenation Hall does have some fame, but it’s ultimately not as much as Kindness Hall’s long-standing corporate reputation. With the sort of people in that Estate, how could they ever come running to this place, seeking out our medicine?”

“Think carefully about this, Shopkeep Liu. Don’t neglect anything major. If you’re covering something up, you will inevitably pay dearly for it! I may as well tell you that Zheng Cheng’s boyservant informed us that he used ‘yang-rich spring’, and it was made up here, by you all. The one that helped him make it up was a tall and thin fellow of a little more than twenty, with a mole under his lip.”

The other let out an ah. “Is it that punk Lin Chaodong that he’s talking about?!”

“Lin Chaodong?”

“Correct. The worker originally in charge of making up prescriptions here was him. He acted as Doctor Shang’s apprentice for a few years, who is the same doctor that’s now taking pulses outside. He had been skilled at his job, too, but last month, he said that a relative had passed away in his home region, and he wanted to hurry back for the funeral so he could lend a hand in taking care of its arrangements. I didn’t expect for him to still not be back yet, so now I’ve promoted Gao Yazi here after he left.”