The banging on the door startled Shopkeeper Liu from his sleep.
"What's going on? Is someone missing?" he asked in a hurry, trembling as he got dressed, his voice tinged with urgency.
It had been said that this child was the hardest to watch.
What bad luck he had, to have taken in such a child from Yangcheng.
"The neighbors all asked around, said they heard someone banging on the door, seems like they were looking for a doctor," the servant boy said.
It wasn't uncommon for a doctor to be sought out for a consultation in the middle of the night, only now the doctor was a young girl.
"I've said before to leave two people there, for things like these midnight consultations, they should at least be men," Shopkeeper Liu paced back and forth in his room, "At this hour of the night, following any call could lead to being…"
Abducted, sold, killed…
Shopkeeper Liu shivered and reached out to steady himself on a chair as he sat down.
It really could be the death of him.
"Search, go search," he said.
"But Shopkeeper, where do we even start searching? It's the middle of the night, pitch black, and there's not a sould on the streets, there's nowhere to even ask, it's not like we can knock on every door," several managers said reluctantly.
"It's not that we haven't searched door-to-door before," Shopkeeper Liu muttered to himself.
Back in Yangcheng, it was said that the girl, without notifying her family, acted impulsively going out in the middle of the night to dig for medicine. This led Old Lady Fang to believe she had been kidnapped. Desperate, she took out the imperial decree and turned Yangcheng upside down.
After that incident, Miss Jun moved from Yangcheng to the capital.
Shopkeeper Liu made a sound of realization.
Maybe Old Lady Fang simply didn't dare to disturb further, out of sight, out of mind, sending her to the capital.
Indeed...
Shopkeeper Liu pinched his forehead and breathed out a sigh of cold air.
Old Lady, Old Lady, you really think too highly of me. This is the capital, even if the Fang Family pulled out the imperial decree, they couldn't turn the capital upside down like Yangcheng.
"Go search, go search, search wherever you can," he said listlessly, standing up himself.
...
At that moment, in a mansion brightly lit, maidservants stood in the corridor, clearly unsettled; low cries could be heard coming from a room.
"Don't cry, it's alright."
A gentle voice, still carrying a touch of youthfulness, also traveled from inside, seemingly offering comfort.
The woman on the bed was tear-stained and frightened, a stark contrast to her normally spirited demeanor during the day. She clutched desperately at the hands of the girl seated by the bed, as if grasping for a lifeline.
"Since I arrived in the capital, he's been coming every day," she cried, "I dare not sleep. I didn't run away on purpose back then, I was scared. I thought, if something happened, I could at least leave him with roots."
Confusedly, she spoke about him, and the maidservants listening were struck with terror, two showing displeasure were about to speak but swallowed their words upon seeing the girl seated by the bed.
The girl showed no confusion or curious inquiries.
She just looked in one direction.
"No, Old Master Kuang doesn't blame you, he wants to talk," she said.
Her voice was soft, yet the room's occupants felt like a chilling breeze brushed over them, their skins crawled, especially as they watched her gaze in that direction.
What was there?
And, how did she know about Old Master Kuang?
Was it a ghost that told her?
Murmurs of fright filled the room as the maidservants huddled together, their expressions as frightened as the woman's on the bed.
The woman was too scared to speak, and Miss Jun tightened her grip on her hand.
"Madam, let me use the medicine first," she said.
Two sticks of Calming Incense were lit by Liu'er, faintly spreading the scent of medicine throughout the room, calming the occupants like a breath of fresh air, greedily inhaling the medicinal fragrance, gradually settling their minds.
Miss Jun took out two pills from her medicine box, helping the woman on the bed consume them with the careful assistance of a maidservant.
"Light the Calming Incense each night and take these pills, then you'll have no problems at night, you'll be able to sleep well," Miss Jun said closing her medical box.
Looking at her, it seemed she was ready to leave, the woman struggled to prop herself up.
"Miss Jun," she called anxiously, "is this enough?"
"You'll get good sleep," Miss Jun said with a smile, "Good sleep will cure your illness."
The woman looked at her, and then at the maidservants by her side, the two maidservants expressing complex emotions.
"Miss Jun," one of the maidservants stepped forward, "Can the disease be completely cured?"
Miss Jun looked at her and smiled.
"With good sleep, it naturally will be," she said.
The maidservant hesitated as if wanting to say something but stopped herself.
"Can you sleep well?" another maidservant asked, looking around the room fearfully, always feeling a chill in the air.
Miss Jun smiled.
"In that case, you all move to a different home," she suggested, "and pair it with some medicine to eat, then it won't be a problem."
Move to a different home.
The woman and two maidservants exchanged glances.
"As for the consultation fee…" Miss Jun continued.
But before she could finish, the woman staggered up from the bed and knelt on the ground with a thump.
"Miss Jun," she pleaded tearfully, "that still wouldn't root out the problem."
She crawled a few steps forward and grabbed Miss Jun's sleeve.
"Miss Jun, please, I beg you to ask my husband one thing," she said.
The two maidservants, looking panicked, tried to pull the woman back.
"Madame... you..." they tried to persuade.
But they were immediately brushed off by the woman.
"At this point, what is there to hide?" she exclaimed, "Miss Jun has already seen that we are in trouble and came to help us voluntarily. Why hide anything from her? Do we have any other options now? Miss Jun can see my husband, and now the only way is to ask my husband; otherwise, we will either leave or just die here."
The two maidservants were too frightened to speak, and the woman once again grabbed Miss Jun's sleeve.
"Miss Jun, since you can see my husband, please help me ask him about one thing," the woman said tremulously.
Miss Jun responded with an "oh" and, without waiting for the woman to specify her question, looked toward the corner of the room and pointed.
"The thing you are looking for is inside that wall," she said.
Upon hearing this, the woman and two maidservants were as shocked as if struck by thunder, staring motionless at Miss Jun.
They hadn't said anything.
Yet she knew what they wanted to ask.
A deity? A monster?
With a thump, the two maidservants also knelt before Miss Jun.
In the quiet night, the sound of tap-tap-tap echoed in the room as several women and girls held lamps and meticulously tapped on a wall, their shadows dancing chaotically around the room, flickering and elusive.
Miss Jun stood on the porch watching inside.
Kuang Haizhen, the Commander's Inspector at the Great Commander Mansion, was imprisoned and executed due to a corruption scandal in the Taizhou military depot, depriving his descendants of their privileges; for three generations, they were forbidden from entering the capital or taking imperial examinations.
"Although his home was searched initially, seasoned officials like Kuang Haizhen always had hidden assets."
"His fortune was hidden in the right wall crevice of the east wing room at his Baoyuan Alley residence."
"Kuang Haizhen died suddenly, without having the chance to tell his descendants the exact location."
"After two years, the Kuang family became restless and cleverly arranged for one of Kuang Haizhen's privately kept concubines to enter the capital."
"This concubine, eager for her son to receive the Kuang family's protection, also willingly risked coming to the capital to search for the hidden assets."
"She really thought no one knew her identity."
Hearing this, she turned to look at the man behind her.
"Why don't you arrest her then?" she asked.
The man holding her smiled warmly under the moonlight.
"There's no need now. Small fish and shrimp, and besides, this matter has already passed. Bringing it up again won't please His Majesty," he said, "so, there's no need for unnecessary actions."
What was useless to him should have been even more useless to her, but now it had become very useful.
A sudden rustle broke Miss Jun's reverie; she looked inside, hearing several excited low exclamations.
"We've found it, we've found it."
She smiled slightly, shouldered her medicine box, waved at Liu'er behind her, and headed out the door.
Under the night sky of the capital, how many grand households hid countless secrets unknown to others? For many, these secrets were spiritual burdens, unrest, life-or-death afflictions.
And she was here to cure these heart diseases.
Cleverly picking the right cases, carefully choosing the cures, daringly facing the risks.
Skilled in treating difficult and complicated diseases, delivering miraculous recoveries.
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Thank you to the patrons from the south, Ice and Nagi for rewarding Ling Jiu (*^__^*)
See you tomorrow.