A faint weariness lingered in Xiao Jin Yu's voice, "I happen to be tired, so I came up to ask for a cup of good tea."
Xu Ru Gui lifted his own teacup and took a careful, delicate sip. "Had I known earlier, I would have had Yue Niang, the most skilled tea brewer in my establishment, serve tea to Wang Ye."
Xiao Jin Yu didn't respond, merely bringing his teacup to his lips again.
Xu Ru Gui subtly furrowed his brow. "Wang Ye, according to Lord Jing... a male corpse was discovered beneath the cliff of As Returning Pavilion."
Xiao Jin Yu shook his head.
"Lord Jing wouldn't joke about such matters with me, would he?"
"Not at all. It's just that it wasn't one male corpse found—it was three." Watching Xu Ru Gui's expression shift slightly, Xiao Jin Yu continued with unruffled calm, "Proprietor Xu needn't be nervous. I asked Jing Yi to come merely as a courtesy, to avoid startling your guests at As Returning Pavilion with the comings and goings of officers below the cliff."
Xu Ru Gui froze for a moment, then slowly nodded as if deep in thought. He lifted his teacup and took several deep gulps. Just as he raised his head to speak, his vision suddenly blurred, and with a "thud," he collapsed face-first onto the table.
Chu Chu had been listening to their conversation in utter confusion, barely stifling a yawn, when the noise of Xu Ru Gui's head hitting the table startled her. She instinctively cried out and jumped back a step. Before she even steadied herself, she snapped back to awareness and rushed to Xu Ru Gui's side. With one hand checking his breath and the other feeling his pulse, she urgently declared without turning her head, "He's not dead yet!"
"He hasn't finished fabricating his story—how could he die?"
The voice was lazy, carrying undisguised amusement, but it didn't belong to Xiao Jin Yu.
Chu Chu swiftly turned her head. Jing Yi had appeared beside the table at some point and was enthusiastically picking up a piece of roast duck.
"Don't eat that!" Chu Chu cried anxiously. "It's poisoned!"
Jing Yi laughed, popped the selected duck meat into his mouth, contentedly sucked his fingers, and said while chewing, "Relax, the food and wine are perfectly safe. It's just the tea that's problematic... Wasting As Returning Pavilion's food and drink would truly be a sin against heaven."
Chu Chu stared pale-faced at Xu Ru Gui slumped over the table. He was poisoned because he drank the tea?
The tea?!
Chu Chu whipped her head around to look at Xiao Jin Yu—he had been drinking the tea too!
Not only had he been drinking it earlier, he was still drinking it now.
Chu Chu snatched the teacup from Xiao Jin Yu's hand. "Stop drinking that!"
"What's the hurry..." Jing Yi said, stretching his arm to pick up a plate of tenderly fried rabbit legs, a smile playing on his lips. "Didn't you already give him the antidote?"
She had given him the antidote?
Watching Chu Chu stand there bewildered, Xiao Jin Yu gave a light cough. "We'll discuss that later. The matter at hand is more important."
Jing Yi, thoroughly satisfied, hugged the entire plate of fried rabbit legs and moved far away from the table. "Take your time, no rush, no rush at all..."
☆、14 Jujube Ginger Soup (Fourteen)
Chu Chu thought the most pressing matter was to revive Xu Ru Gui, but Jing Yi showed no such intention. He curled up in a chair by the window, devoting himself wholeheartedly to gnawing on rabbit legs as if no one else was present. Instead, it was Xiao Jin Yu who said to Chu Chu unhurriedly, "Lay him on the floor. Be careful—avoid any bumps."
Finally, someone was concerned about whether the man lived or died. Chu Chu quickly helped Xu Ru Gui lie flat on the floor. Watching his faint breathing, she anxiously said, "I only know a little about medicine. We should call a doctor!"
"No need. Remove his clothes."
Could it be that this man actually understood medicine?They say prolonged illness makes the patient a doctor—judging by Xiao Jinyu's demeanor, it didn't seem impossible.
With saving lives as the priority, Chu Chu deftly untied Xu Rugui's outer garments. As she tugged the sleeves downward, her fingers brushed against a damp patch on the inner left sleeve, carrying the distinct scent of liquor. The dark blue fabric hid the stain well—Xu Rugui had discreetly emptied his entire cup into that sleeve during his earlier toast.
After removing two layers of outer clothing and one layer of underwear, Xu Rugui's upper body was exposed. Just as Xiao Jinyu was about to speak, Chu Chu swiftly stripped off Xu Rugui's trousers as well, leaving Xiao Jinyu with no choice but to sigh silently.
Chu Chu tossed the pile of clothes aside. "Done. What next?"
"Step back."
She stood up and retreated a step.
"Further."
Only when Chu Chu had backed against the wall did Xiao Jinyu wheel himself beside Xu Rugui. He drew a crutch from behind his wheelchair, used it to steady himself as he rose slowly, then knelt gracefully beside Xu Rugui. The entire movement, though deliberate, flowed with a poised elegance that left Chu Chu gaping—she even forgot to offer assistance.
Instead of checking Xu Rugui's pulse or breath, Xiao Jinyu began meticulously examining him inch by inch starting from the neck, resembling someone searching for clues more than diagnosing an illness. He paused particularly long at Xu Rugui's right arm before laboriously turning him over to continue the detailed inspection. After completing the examination, Xiao Jinyu began redressing Xu Rugui.
Seeing how Xiao Jinyu struggled to maintain his own balance while maneuvering a man visibly heavier than himself, Chu Chu moved to help. "Let me."
Without looking up, Xiao Jinyu asked, "Do you remember how each of his garment ties was knotted, their exact positions, and whether they were loose or tight?"
Stumped by the question—after all, he'd only instructed her to undress the man, not memorize such details—she stammered, "N... no."
"Step aside."
By the time Xiao Jinyu had restored every piece of Xu Rugui's clothing to its exact original state and returned to his wheelchair, Jing Yi had already polished off the plate of rabbit legs. Setting the empty dish down, he asked, "My turn now?"
Xiao Jinyu nodded and said to Chu Chu, "Let's go."
Chu Chu glanced at the still-unconscious Xu Rugui. "What about Manager Xu?"
"If Jing Yi could render him unconscious, he can certainly revive him."
Chu Chu followed Xiao Jinyu in complete silence. When he paused at her doorway, she brushed past him without stopping, barged into her room, and slammed the door shut with a loud thud.
OpenNovel