The following day, Qin Jiuye began categorizing and organizing the herbs she had collected from the Qingyang Market, carefully hiding away the three Wild Fuzi seeds she had obtained with such great effort from Bai Xun. After a full day of bustling about Guoran Ju, she predictably suffered from insomnia, tossing and turning until the small hours of the morning before finally drifting off. When she opened her eyes, her head felt heavy and groggy, but the moment she looked down and saw the medical chest packed and ready on the floor, the thought of those "one hundred gold taels" jolted her wide awake.
Today was the day of the consultation at the Su residence—the day this salted fish was destined to flip over and change her luck.
After a quick tidy-up, Qin Jiuye stood by the wicker gate.
On the day she had taken Li Qiao out, he had followed her almost immediately without making her wait. Today, she had been standing outside for a full half-hour, and yet there was still no sign of Jinbao.
Though the useless fellow had always been lazy, he had never been this slow. She had no idea what was taking him so long.
Anxious that the delay would make them miss their appointment, she was just about to head back into the courtyard to hurry him along when Jinbao finally emerged, looking sheepish and hesitant.
Even though the sun was high and the light was blinding, Qin Jiuye froze in place, then rubbed her eyes.
Jinbao had somehow found a gaudy blue vest to wear. His hair was slicked back until it glistened as if coated in lard, and the belt around his waist was pulled so tight it forced several rolls of fat to bulge over it. He walked with his breath held, looking as if the slightest relaxation would cause the belt to snap.
"Why are you staring at me? Aren't we going?"
When he spoke, his voice seemed to have changed pitch, carrying a forced, affected tone.
Qin Jiuye closed her half-open mouth, feeling a vein throb in her temple.
She quickly calculated the time it would take for him to go back inside, change his clothes, and redo his hair. In the end, she suppressed her irritation and said as calmly as possible, "Keep up. We’re going to be late."
Qin Jiuye hurried away, not daring to look back even once. Jinbao, suspecting nothing, followed behind with mincing little steps.
A gust of wind blew, and a tall, lean figure appeared atop the nearly broken wooden beam of the wicker gate.
Li Qiao watched the two of them walk out of the village before flipping down. He quietly closed the gate and turned to head in the opposite direction.
***
The Su residence was located on Yuzao Street, the most expensive real estate in the north of Longshu City. This area intercepted the upper-middle reaches of the Li River, where the water was clear and slow. Backed by Sui-liu Mountain, the terrain was shaped like a treasure bowl. The entire district was laid out in a perfect grid with no stray branches to let the auspicious energy escape—a truly blessed location.
Today, this blessed land was crowded with half the city's medical practitioners. From the eighty-year-old Golden Needle Medical Sage of Lüsong Hall to the wandering doctors who traveled the streets, anyone with even a modicum of fame had been invited to the guest entrance on the eastern side of the Su residence.
An experienced observer would notice that, besides the doctors, there were also many great medicinal merchants who had traveled from other regions. These family heads, who usually sat behind the scenes, did not come in person but sent the head physicians of their respective branches. Many of these were renowned masters in their own right who rarely stepped foot outside their own pharmacies.
If the Sus were merely a wealthy merchant family, they would never have attracted so many peers. This brought one back to the Su family's core business.
The Sus had made their fortune in the medicinal trade in their early years. Although they had not expanded into opening medical clinics, the medicinal farmers, herders, and herb-gatherers they employed were spread across every province and region. Relying solely on the procurement channels they had cultivated over the years, they could maintain their position as the leaders of the medicinal trade for another decade or more.
A family like the Sus was both an object of courtship for various medical halls and a thorn in the side of their competitors.
Now that someone in the Su residence was ill and the Sus themselves could not cure them—going so far as to make such a grand display of seeking outside help—anyone who heard the news would naturally be curious.
For most, this was not just a consultation with a generous fee. Beyond the diagnosis, the real goal was either to find a way to curry favor with the Sus and gain a piece of the pie, or to take advantage of their weakness and strike first.
Consequently, although the front of the Su residence was crowded with carriages and acquaintances were bowing and greeting one another, the atmosphere was quite subtle.
Qin Jiuye recognized many of the figures there, but those self-important masters clearly did not recognize her. She was happy to remain inconspicuous, observing from the shadows. She had expected to cross paths with the rumored White Ghost Umbrella again, but after watching for a while, she realized he had not appeared.
On second thought, it made sense. They said that the White Ghost Umbrella, Teng Hu, was a young prodigy who had never lacked for gold or the patronage of the powerful since the day he started. People in the martial world revered him as the "Ghostly Sage," desperate to befriend him and forge a connection.
Such a person had no need for a hundred gold taels.
Even if he had previously appeared at the Treasure Mirage Pavilion on behalf of the Fangwai Monastery, he was likely only using their name to "hunt for treasure." It was entirely possible that after things went awry, that relationship had fractured; the Fangwai Monastery simply couldn't control him.
With the White Ghost Umbrella absent, couldn't she, a mere "Dog-piss Moss," finally stand tall?
Qin Jiuye thought happily to herself, feeling that her chances of success had increased.
As the appointed time approached, the main guests who had been hiding in their carriages began to trickle out. Several old veterans of the medical world stood with their eyes downcast, not daring to say a word for fear of being scrutinized by the Su family staff. However, there were also some half-baked practitioners who had clearly come just for the spectacle. Perhaps knowing their chances of winning the prize were slim, they gathered in small groups to gossip.
"With so many people here today, even if each person only takes the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, the queue will last until well after noon."
A man with a small mustache nearby was already feeling his legs go numb, so he simply sat down on a stone plinth by the gate.
"Isn't this all for the sake of Lord Fan? Look at those few over there—they haven't shown their faces in years, yet they've all come in person today."
Another man, clearly better informed, couldn't help but chime in. "Not quite, not quite. Lord Fan has held the lucrative post of Longshu Prefect for so long; why would he care so much about a mere medicinal merchant like the Sus? He's doing this to flatter the new Protector. He's putting in every ounce of effort he has."
Two brothers standing opposite them overheard and leaned in. "Is it the eldest son of the Qiu family? No wonder, no wonder. I heard he has a marriage contract with the second Miss Su, the one who is ill."
The group continued their low-voiced chatter, none of them noticing a small velvet hat in the corner slowly turning toward them, inching closer without a trace.
Thanks to Tang Shenyan, Qin Jiuye always treated hearsay with seventy percent skepticism and thirty percent amusement. After all, catching shadows and chasing wind was the cheapest thing in the world. With just a mouth, you could claim anything was whatever you wanted it to be.
But regarding news of Qiu Ling, even if it was just baseless rumors, she wanted to hear a bit more.
She had known previously that Su Muhe and Qiu Ling had some history, but she hadn't expected people to be discussing it so soon. It was clear that when the young Protector made this decision, he hadn't thought of avoiding suspicion at all.
Thinking of this, Qin Jiuye felt even more sour.
Jinbao, who had risen early, was already dozing against the wall. Just as she was feeling like she was seeking out her own suffering and wanted to pull back, another person joined the group by the stone plinth.
"Eh, I'm afraid it's not that simple."
Hmm? Wasn't Su Muhe's marriage into the Qiu family a settled matter? Had something else happened?
Qin Jiuye stopped in her tracks, her ears instantly perking up.
"That eldest Miss Su is no pushover. Originally, she called off the engagement because she looked down on him. Who knew that after all these years, he would become a jade-wearing Protector? I heard that back when he was at the Qingzhong Mountain Academy, many people were secretly sending over their horoscopes, yet in the end, a quiet concubine-born daughter got the prize for nothing."
The man with the mustache looked suspicious. "According to you, could the second Miss Su's illness be the result of inner-court schemes? If that's the case, even if a diagnosis is made, the Su family might not be willing to admit it."
"That’s hard to say. But in any case, despite the grand show the Sus are putting on, that second Miss Su is actually in a miserable position. I wonder if her future husband can see her through this. You have to remember, the Qiu family is a house of high standing with great military merit. Even if they aren't what they used to be, his old man probably won't let him marry a sickly girl. They really are a pair of ill-fated lovers."
The crowd sighed in unison, feeling quite satisfied after sharing a bit of gossip before huddling together to talk about other matters.
Qin Jiuye stood there with a complex expression for a moment before walking over to the wall and giving Jinbao a sharp kick.
Situ Jinbao cried out, waking groggily from his nap, entirely unaware that he had become the target of her vented frustration.
Qin Jiuye glanced at him and said with a serious face, "It's time. Pull yourself together."
Jinbao shook his head and shouldered the medical chest to follow her.
At that moment, the gates of the Su residence finally swung open. A beautiful maid in purple silk walked out gracefully, a polite but distant smile on her face. After scanning the crowd, she stepped aside to reveal the path behind her.
"Thank you all for waiting. In addition to providing your calling cards, everyone must undergo a simple inspection before entering the residence. Gentlemen, if you please."
What inspection? Everyone was bewildered.
When doctors went out for a consultation, they carried nothing more than medical chests, bottles, and jars. At most, carrying some live specimens was considered unusual. The sharpest things on their person were likely a few golden needles.
Yet, the Su family steward, Guo Rengui, methodically turned everyone's belongings upside down. One would have thought that behind that threshold lay not the Su residence, but the glittering imperial palace of the capital.
The first few in line were prominent figures, so the steward was relatively polite. But when it came to the nobodies, he not only rummaged through their medical chests but also performed body searches.
One impoverished-looking wandering doctor even had the gossip-style copper bell he used to hawk his services confiscated. It was unclear what the criteria for this inspection actually were.
Qin Jiuye watched from the back of the line, feeling an inexplicable sense of unease.
This consultation at the Su residence was not quite what she had imagined.
Everyone thought the money of the wealthy was the easiest to earn, but thinking about it now, that was the world's biggest joke.
The wealthier
