Yi Qing looked at the clay basin they brought over. There was a chip on it, and the water inside was constantly spilling out. She didn't have time to care about that.
"Ruohong, stand up," Yi Qing said as she turned around.
Ruohong didn't know what his mistress was going to do, but he stood up first.
Yi Qing tore off a piece of cloth from the bottom of Ruohong's clothes. Ruohong's clothes were made of plain cotton without embroidery, which was convenient to use.
Ruohong was startled for a moment, and then he knew what his mistress was going to do. It turned out that she was going to clean the little mouse's body.
"Found it," Yi Qing said. She wiped the little mouse's neck and arms clean before she found the wound bitten by the bat. The wound was healing very fast. If she didn't look carefully, she wouldn't be able to find it.
After inserting the needles and squeezing out the pus and blood, the little mouse's condition gradually improved.
"She's really a miracle doctor," someone behind them sighed.
"Ruohong, send someone to get some medicine," Yi Qing said. She had already prepared the medicine for treatment before, but no one had been bitten, so the medicine hadn't been used.
"Yes," Ruohong said and turned to give the order.
"Thank you, mistress, for saving our lives," Weng Lian said and knelt down directly.
A group of beggars also knelt down. They were born of lowly status, and no one had ever cared about them. Suddenly, they met someone who cared about their lives, so they were naturally extremely grateful.
"It's just a small thing," Yi Qing said as she sat on a stone beside them. "Get up. When was he bitten by the bat?"
Weng Lian didn't understand what Yi Qing meant. "Bitten by a bat?"
"You don't know?" Yi Qing looked at Weng Lian's confused expression.
Weng Lian shook his head.
"Then what's the matter with the corpses outside?" Yi Qing thought these people really died without knowing why.
"The corpses outside died in the past two days. Beggars' lives are cheap. It's normal to die in their sleep," Weng Lian sighed.
"Others say your lives are cheap, and you also think so?" Yi Qing said as she stood up to check the corpses.
These were all adult corpses. There was no sign of pallor all over their bodies. Moreover, these beggars were really too dirty. There was a thick layer of dirt on their bodies, so it was impossible to tell.
However, Yi Qing still found something different. The corpses bitten by the bats rotted more slowly than ordinary corpses.
"Were they all bitten to death by bats?" Weng Lian followed behind. "I heard that bats only bite children under two years old."
"No," Yi Qing said as she stood up. "How many people died in total?"
"Eight," Weng Lian said, looking a little stunned. "By the way, the little mouse was also bitten, but he didn't die."
Yi Qing thought the person was really shrewd. Before, he targeted children. People thought it was normal for children to die young. Now, he targeted beggars. No one would care if beggars died.
"I'll bring some medicine later to fumigate this place. You said you have no money, but can't you find a puddle outside the city to take a bath?" Yi Qing said helplessly.
"Your Excellency, we are beggars," Weng Lian explained helplessly.
"Should beggars think they'll be beggars all their lives, be dirty all over, and be covered in fleas?"
Weng Lian was an old man. He didn't know how to respond to this question, so he changed the topic. "What information does Your Excellency want to ask?"
"I'm looking for an old man in a cloak," Yi Qing said, finally remembering what she came for.
"An old man in a cloak?" Weng Lian thought for a while. "There are many old men in cloaks in the capital."
"He came from outside. He just arrived in the capital two months ago," Yi Qing described. "He's very mysterious and often disappears."
Weng Lian understood. It seemed that the other party didn't know who the person was either.
"Your Excellency, please tell me where the person has appeared. I'll definitely find him for you," Weng Lian said firmly.
"He appeared on Dongchao Street," Yi Qing said the place where Wu Min was taken away.
"Okay, will Your Excellency come again to ask, or should we leave an address so that we can send a message to you when we find him?" Weng Lian agreed immediately.
"After you find him, send someone to keep an eye on him and send a message to the Marquis of Zhenbei's Mansion," Yi Qing said directly.
When Weng Lian heard the Marquis of Zhenbei's Mansion, he immediately knelt down. "I'm blind, Your Excellency. So you're Lady Xiao. They all say Lady Xiao is a miracle doctor. It's really well-deserved."
"Send the corpses to the Ministry of Justice and say I told you to. They were bitten to death by bats," Yi Qing thought these corpses could be used to study those bats. "You should also be more careful. The bats don't hurt when they bite."
"Yes," Weng Lian nodded.
Yi Qing encountered the trace of the bats again when she went out. When she got back, she took a bath and changed her clothes. Then she sat on a reclining chair in the yard and analyzed this matter.
Xiao Jinghan came back very late today, which finally caught Yi Qing's attention. She thought Xiao Jinghan couldn't be busy because of Wu Min's matter. Even if he was guarding the palace, it was too late to come back.
"Tell me honestly. Where did you go?" Yi Qing joked as she hung on Xiao Jinghan's back.
Xiao Jinghan reached out and pulled Yi Qing into his arms. "I had something to do."
What's the difference between this answer and no answer?
"Fine. You're always busy every day, leaving me alone in the empty room," Yi Qing pretended to be aggrieved.
Xiao Jinghan was amused by her. "Yuan He didn't come back because someone was privately mining the mountain. You asked Lu Tianzuo to take some people there, which just saved his life. They're now investigating this matter in Henan. It involves an important official in the court. The emperor secretly transferred an elite force to me so that we can control the situation at that time."
Yi Qing gasped. "Who is so bold?"
"Not sure yet. The court is not as simple as you think," Xiao Jinghan said as he tapped Yi Qing's nose.
The court doesn't allow people to raise private troops, so these people recruit bodyguards, or even open martial arts schools and escort agencies to cultivate their own forces. They will resist desperately at that time, and the capital will be in turmoil.
"That damned emperor. He really asks you to do everything," Yi Qing said reluctantly.
Xiao Jinghan gently rested his chin on the top of Yi Qing's head. "Qing'er, you've worked hard."
"Then you have to reward me well," Yi Qing supported Xiao Jinghan to do what he wanted to do.
The two of them tossed around for a while and just fell asleep when there was a sudden and urgent knock on the door. Xiao Jinghan and Yi Qing sat up at the same time.
They knew something big must have happened, or else the knock on the door wouldn't be so urgent.
"General, Lady. There are a lot of bats in Yunyang Academy. Some students have been bitten," Ruohong said anxiously.
Yi Qing was about to put on her clothes. When she heard what Ruohong said, she directly ran to open the door in her underclothes. "How's Baozi?"
"I don't know. It was the eldest young master who sent someone to pass the message back," Ruohong was also nervous. Otherwise, how dare he knock on the door at this time?
Xiao Jinghan came over and put a coat on Yi Qing. "Prepare the horses! Go to the academy!"
"Go and take all the medicine in the pharmacy," Yi Qing said as she put on her clothes. "Some people follow us, and the others stay at home to protect Xiaoran and Xier."
"Yes."
The people from the general's mansion rode their horses to the academy. The dense sound of horse hooves in the middle of the night woke up the people on both sides of the road. They thought something had happened in the capital again.
"Search within three miles for the secret guards," Xiao Jinghan said as he looked at the bats above the academy. Since the bats could gather in this place, it was estimated that someone was controlling them again.