When Pei Zhiyan arrived at Du Lingxuan's residence, she was watering the flowers in the courtyard. Seeing him coming, she seemed rather surprised. She quickly put down the watering can and stepped forward to greet him. "My lord, why do you find the time to visit your concubine today?"
Pei Zhiyan calmly walked to the stone table in the courtyard and sat down. His expression remained cold. Du Lingxuan still happily ordered the servant, "Serve tea."
"No need," Pei Zhiyan coldly refused. Hearing his frosty tone, Du Lingxuan carefully looked at him. "My lord, what's wrong with you?"
"Is your illness better?" Pei Zhiyan asked calmly. Du Lingxuan's tense expression immediately relaxed, and a look of joy gradually emerged on her face. "As soon as my lord comes, no matter how serious the illness is, your concubine feels better."
"That's really strange," Pei Zhiyan's lips curved slightly, but a hint of mockery flashed in his eyes. "I've looked at the prescriptions you used when you were ill a few days ago. Those prescriptions were in a complete mess, and they even added rhizome of Chinese goldthread. Could you really drink them?"
Pei Zhiyan's tone was teasing. "I remember you hate bitterness the most, don't you?"
"My lord, you still remember," Du Lingxuan was somewhat surprised and touched. The first time she saw Pei Zhiyan was at her own home. At that time, her elder brother had just taken office as the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, and his position was unstable. Because he had made a wrong appointment for the prefect of Qingzhou, Pei Zhiyan came to question him.
At that time, because of her playfulness, she wanted to wear new clothes before winter had ended. She caught a cold from the cold and was being forced to drink the bitter medicine. Angrily, she pushed the medicine bowl aside and complained that she hated bitter things the most.
Unexpectedly, at this moment, she saw Pei Zhiyan passing by the door. With just a fleeting glance, her heart fluttered, and she secretly fell in love with him. She begged her father and elder brother for a long time. She didn't hesitate to lower her status to be a concubine just to marry into the Pei Mansion.
Pei Zhiyan always had a good memory. Seeing her so surprised, he just nodded slightly. "I remember."
Du Lingxuan was overjoyed at this moment. Thinking of Pei Zhiyan's concern about the bitterness of the medicine just now, she pouted and complained in a coquettish voice, "Naturally, it's bitter. But when my mother heard that I was ill, she came to see me. Seeing that those medicines were ineffective, she specially brought some tonics."
She still remembered the lie she had told before about her lingering illness.
Pei Zhiyan seemed to be interested. He slightly raised his eyebrows. "Why didn't Madam Zhou inform me when she came?"
"You're busy with official business, so I thought I shouldn't bother you," Du Lingxuan took the opportunity to sit next to Pei Zhiyan, very close to him. Pei Zhiyan nodded. "To be honest, I haven't been feeling well these days. I heard from the servants that you had recovered from a serious illness a few days ago, so I wanted to ask what prescription you took."
He seemed to sigh helplessly. "I asked the doctor to prescribe several prescriptions, but none of them were very effective. I also looked at the prescriptions the doctor prescribed for you and took a few doses according to them, but I felt even more uncomfortable."
Hearing that Pei Zhiyan was not feeling well, Du Lingxuan immediately became worried. In fact, she wasn't ill at all. Those prescriptions were just what she asked the doctors to write, and they were not rigorous. She didn't expect that it would harm Pei Zhiyan.
She put her hand on his arm and frowned slightly. "Those prescriptions are useless, my lord. Your concubine has the medicine brought by my mother. You can try it."
As soon as she finished speaking, Du Lingxuan had already pulled Pei Zhiyan into the room. She ordered Furong to fetch the medicine. Furong carried a large carved wooden box over, and Du Lingxuan rummaged through it.
Pei Zhiyan looked at the bottles and jars inside. He curled his hand into a fist and coughed lightly on his lips. "The weather has been getting warmer these days, and I feel as if I've caught a cold. I've always had a headache and a fever..."
After hearing this, Du Lingxuan smiled slightly. "What's so difficult about that?" She picked up a white porcelain bottle. "There are Yunfu seeds in this bottle. They are specially used to treat colds and headaches and are very effective."
Pei Zhiyan's gaze fixed on the porcelain bottle. He slightly squinted his eyes, reached out and took the porcelain bottle. "Then you've really helped me a lot."
But Du Lingxuan dodged his hand and said shyly with a blushing face, "My lord, anyway, the medicine is kept here with your concubine. This medicine is rare. My mother spent a lot of effort to get this bottle. It would be a pity if it were lost. So, my lord, please come to your concubine's place to take the medicine every day."
She blushed and looked like a young girl. With her head down, she didn't notice the coldness in Pei Zhiyan's eyes. Her intention was so obvious that Pei Zhiyan even wanted to sneer when he heard it.
But he managed to hold back and just frowned. "What? Are you afraid I'll lose your medicine?"
Only then did Du Lingxuan realize that she shouldn't have spoken like that. Just as she was about to explain, she heard Pei Zhiyan sigh and say disappointedly, "It doesn't matter. It is indeed a precious medicine. It's normal that you're not willing to give it to me. You can keep it. I'll find another way."
After saying that, Pei Zhiyan got up to leave. Du Lingxuan quickly grabbed his sleeve. "My lord, don't go. The medicine is for you."
She looked at Pei Zhiyan with a pleading look in her eyes. The latter's eyes flashed, and he slightly curled his lips. "Thank you."
Du Lingxuan was dazzled by his smile. She was too shy to think about anything else.
But as soon as Pei Zhiyan got the medicine, he sighed. "I still have something to do. I can't stay any longer. I'll come again when I'm free another day."
Du Lingxuan's smile froze on her face. She gritted her teeth. "My lord, you're going to leave right after taking your concubine's medicine. Won't you stay a little longer to accompany your concubine? You don't come to see your concubine very often..."
Hearing this, Pei Zhiyan frowned. "The matter of Liu'er hasn't been settled yet. These are all official matters. Everyone in the mansion is waiting for me to give them an explanation. If you keep me like this without considering the overall situation, aren't you being a bit unreasonable?"
These words successfully made Du Lingxuan reluctantly let go of his sleeve. She pursed her lips, and there was a faint uneasiness in her heart. "My lord, isn't the matter of Liu'er her own problem? What else needs to be done?"
Pei Zhiyan smiled meaningfully. "It's okay. It will be settled soon."
Hearing his assurance, Du Lingxuan thought that Liu'er was already dead anyway. Moreover, she hadn't seen Pei Zhiyan conduct any investigations. Most likely, the case was really going to be closed, and he wouldn't find out about her. So she smiled. "That's good."
Pei Zhiyan took the medicine containing the Yunfu seeds and rushed straight to the study. He took out the laxative he had found from Liu'er again, found a bowl of clear water, and poured the laxative into it.
After the water gradually turned light pink, he poured the Yunfu seeds from the white porcelain bottle into it. After a while, the light pink that had been scattered in the water slowly gathered together. The water became clear again, but there were several pink water mists like flowers inside, just like the syphilis on Liu'er's body.
This was the characteristic of the Yunfu seeds. Even if the Yunfu seeds from the same tree were ground into powder and poured into water, they would gather together. And when they were made into Tianxing, if the dosage of the Yunfu seeds was too much, when poured into water, there would be water mists like syphilis.
Pei Zhiyan was not surprised to see this phenomenon. He put away the things, walked out of the room, and said to Mo Qing at the door, "Take some people to Du Lingxuan's residence."