The people from Duke Jing's residence had to ask three times before Yu Shu finally accepted the invitation. Carrying the small box, she followed the Second Master of the Yao family into the carriage.
As soon as Zhu Qingjue received the message from Yu Shu, he couldn't wait to wait outside the House of Duke.
At noon, at the gate of the House of Duke, Yu Shu was personally escorted out by the second master and second grandmother of the Yao family.
"Thank you, Mister Yu, for making this trip. The house is in troubled times and it is inconvenient to receive guests. We will take care of it another day. Thank you very much."
Although the second master of the Yao family couldn't inherit the title of nobility, he had a position in the Ministry of Revenue and was a fifth-rank official. Moreover, the second grandmother had given birth to a precious son like Young Master Yao. Compared to the first branch of the House of Duke, he had more face.
Yu Shu had banknotes worth three thousand taels of silver in her sleeves. She smiled amiably and politely.
"I'm just taking someone's money to eliminate disasters. Young Master has the help of a noble person in his life, so he will definitely be able to turn misfortune into fortune. According to my divination, we just need to be careful of vile people."
The husband and wife said yes and sent her to the door.
Yu Shu declined the offer of a carriage and strolled down the street alone.
When the gate of the House of Duke became a small dot behind her, an inconspicuous carriage caught up.
"Miss Lianfang." Zhu Qingjue poked half his head out of the window and waved for her to get on the carriage.
Seeing him, Yu Shu raised her eyebrows. Without hesitation, she got on the carriage and complained,
"Didn't I tell you to wait for me at Wang Ji Tower? If someone sees us, we'll be exposed."
"Don't worry, no one saw." Zhu Qingjue asked anxiously, "How was it? Did you succeed?"
Yu Shu saw a teapot on the square table and poured a cup to moisten her throat.
"Your maternal grandmother spent three thousand taels of silver to ask me to do a divination; how could I not do my best? I didn't mention even half a word about that Taoist Priest Cheng Yun. I only said that in a month's time, young master Yao would suddenly die because of a vile person. If he encountered a noble person like Xiao Ji, he would certainly be able to escape from death."
According to Zhu Er's original plan, he wanted Yu Shu to make up a lie and tell Old Lady Yao that Young Master Yao still had a long life, so he didn't need to take the pill.
Yu Shu, on the other hand, thought that since she was going to bluff people, she had to do it properly.
Why did Old Matriarch Yao firmly believe Daoist Priest Cheng Yun's words? Wasn't it because she was afraid that her precious grandson would really die a premature death?
Thus, rather than talking Young Master Yao back to life, she might as well say that he was dead. This way, the old lady would be worried and afraid.
"Did my grandmother believe it?" Zhu Qingjue was most concerned about the result.
"It doesn't matter if she believes me or not. The most important thing is for her to suspect that Taoist Priest Cheng Yun," Yu Shu fanned her ear with one hand and said sarcastically,
"The old lady thought that your nephew had taken the panacea these past few days and had already broken through the Death Tribulation. When she heard me say the word 'death', and that he didn't die of illness or violence, but because of a vile person, how could she not be suspicious?"
The old lady had several choices in front of her. One was to suspect Yu Shu and insist on giving the pill to her great-grandson. Then, after eating for forty-nine days, she would resign herself to fate. Either he would be lucky enough to live, or the vile person would be gone.
The second was to suspect Daoist Priest Cheng Yun. She would first stop taking the pill and find that noble person. According to Yu Shu, Young Master Yao's life would be saved.
Of course, she still had a third choice —
"I'm afraid that your grandmother would want to play both sides. On one hand, she would continue to give the pill to your nephew, and on the other hand, she would wait for the 'noble person' to come to her door. So, I'm telling you, no matter if someone from the House of Duke invites you or if you deliver yourself to the door, you must make it clear to the old lady that if you continue to take this pill, you will die. You can use your life as a guarantee and make a military order. Would that Taoist Priest Cheng Yun dare to do it? He wouldn't dare. So, comparing the two, who should you listen to and who should you believe? Do you still need me to tell you how to choose? "
Listening to her clear analysis, Zhu Qingjue had to admit that this girl in front of him, who was four or five years younger than him, was very good at reading people's minds.
However, he didn't know that Yu Shu would take such a big detour because she was thinking for herself. She avoided the situation where she had to confront that black-hearted Taoist Priest Cheng Yun. She only gave him a hand, and then kicked the ball to Zhu Qingjue's feet. In the end, he would still have to do the thing of offending people.
However, doing this wasn't without risk. If Zhu Qingjue couldn't cure that young master Yao —
"I can only help you this much. The rest will depend on you. I believe that with your medical skills as the Young Medicine King, you will definitely be able to save your nephew's life."
Yu Shu didn't say any discouraging words in front of Zhu Qingjue. On the surface, she had a good impression of him, but in her heart, she had already calculated. If young master Yao really died here, then when the House of Duke Jing looked for her to settle accounts, she would push everything onto Zhu Qingjue's head.
"Don't worry. If I didn't have full confidence, I wouldn't ask for your help.
If Zhu Qingjue knew that Yu Shu was thinking of making him a scapegoat right now, he didn't know what he would think.
"When it's done, I'll thank you."
Yu Shu waved her hand and very generously said, "There's no rush. Let's talk about it after it's done."
The large amount of money in her sleeve was still warm. Even if Zhu Qingjue didn't buy it, this time, it wouldn't be a loss.
Although it was half coaxed and half extorted, compared to that black-hearted Taoist Priest who didn't care about people's lives and deaths, she had a lot more integrity — — the difference was, the Taoist Priest came for money, while she came to save people.
To put it bluntly, the profession of changing teachers was to take people's money and help them avoid disasters. It wasn't bad at all.
Yu Shu let Zhu Qingjue send her to the hot lot area in the north of the city, and the two of them said their goodbyes.
Yu Shu took the banknotes and found a bank. First, she checked the number of the banknotes with the red stamp. After confirming that there were no mistakes, she split the three thousand taels of silver banknotes into three portions and replaced them with brand new red stamps.
With enough money on her, Yu Shu strolled on the street. First, she went to the most magnificent restaurant to eat a good meal. Then, she went out and asked the waiter. She found a shop that specialized in making high-end furniture. She told the shopkeeper about the specific requirements and found a meticulous carpenter to make a cage for Kim Bao to eat, drink, and poop.
She left a deposit and asked someone to send it directly to the door, saving her from making another trip.
Now that there were people to worry about Yu Shu's clothing, food, housing, and transportation, she rarely had time to go out and shop. She bought a lot of things. There was a drawing for Zhao Hui, a drawing book for Yu Xiaoxiu, a brush washer for He Fangzhi, an appetizer sour plum wine for Old Madam He, and a doll for He Xiaochuan. She even bought a set of kidney beans and Bai Ran.
In the end, she casually picked a pair of earrings with gold inlaid with jade. It was for Aunt Cui.
At the Hibiscus Gentlemen's Banquet, Xi Wen, Cui Xin, and the others dug a big hole for her. They dug out all of her old things and talked about them. However, they didn't get to the point. Compared to being heartless and unjust, and repaying kindness with evil, her biggest flaw was actually "being unfilial."
Have you ever seen someone lock up their own mother and not let her see others?
Just based on this point, if it was leaked, her reputation would be ruined to the bottom of the ditch. Fortunately, Yu Shu kept a close eye on Aunt Cui. She only made one mistake and ran to the main family. It should be because Aunt Cui wanted to save face and didn't have the nerve to let others know that Yu Shu wasn't close to her. Just like that, she almost got a good-for-nothing playboy as her son-in-law.
Thanks to Imperial Concubine Xue, Yu Shu solved the problem of Aunt Cui's identity when she ran away from home. But what followed was a problem —
How to settle Aunt Cui in the future became another problem.
She couldn't keep Aunt Cui in the small courtyard in the south of the city anymore.
She could live together. Aunt Cui was such a troublemaker.
What should she do? Yu Shu felt that it was better to go back and discuss with Yu Xiaoxiu to see what this child thought.
After all, this mother was his.
At night, Yu Shu went to Yu Xiaoxiu's room to find something to do. She sent Bai Ran away so that the sister and brother could talk alone.
"I went out during the day and bought a few picture books. I heard you said that you saw them at Hu Tian 'er's place. Take a look and see if I bought them."
Yu Shu gave the set of picturesque stories about history to Yu Xiaoxiu. As long as she could afford it, she would never let Yu Xiaoxiu be jealous of others.
Yu Xiaoxiu happily took it and flipped a few pages. Then he was reluctant to look up, "It's like this, but the story inside is different. Sister, where did you buy it? Hu Tian 'er showed it off to me several times. He didn't tell me when I asked him. He kept giving me bad ideas and asked me to help him with his homework."
"Then did you help him with it?"
"I won't do it." Yu Xiaoxiu wrinkled his nose and said seriously, "He doesn't learn well. He doesn't finish his homework and wants to play. How can I help him deceive the teacher?"
Not only that, he also warned Hu Tian 'er that if he dared to let others help him with his homework, he would tell Teacher Chen that he threw insects into Teacher Chen's book bag.
Teacher Chen was a female teacher who loved to preach. What she was most afraid of were insects. Usually, when she saw a cicada, her legs would go soft. Once, she took out a dung beetle and a cricket from her book bag and fainted on the spot.
Because of this, Hu Tian 'er trembled with fear for several days.
"Good boy." Yu Shu hugged his shoulder and praised him with a smile. She sighed in her heart: If Aunt Cui was half as worry-free as Yu Xiaoxiu, I wouldn't have to worry.
"Xiaoxiu, sister wants to ask you something. Read this book later."
Yu Xiaoxiu obediently put down the children's book.
"Didn't I take you to see the big house in the north of the city? It's going to be repaired soon. I have discussed with godfather and godmother. We will move there at the end of this month at the latest. Do you want to bring mother over to live with us?"
Yu Xiaoxiu really thought for a while before answering, "Mother lives alone and is quite lonely.
"Mother is quite lonely living alone. If the courtyard is bigger and there are more houses, it would be great if we could live together. Mother has also suffered a lot. Now that sister has the ability, the books say that filial piety is the most important of all virtues. The teacher also taught us so. If we go to live in a big house and let mother stay in a small yard, others will definitely gossip about sister. "
Yu Shu saw that he spoke clearly and logically. She felt gratified and thought about it.
Yu Xiaoxiu stopped and looked at Yu Shu's face. He could see that she hadn't made up her mind. He thought for a while and said,
"Sister, if you are worried that mother will be noisy, you can arrange for her to live far away from you. Anyway, the yard in the north of the city is very big, and there are godfather and godmother. You can't see them every day."
Yu Xiaoxiu knew very well that Yu Shu didn't like Aunt Cui. He was also afraid that his mother would make his sister unhappy. However, he was not shrewd enough to say something against his conscience at such a young age. In order to make his sister happy, he would ignore his mother.
Yu Shu was a straightforward person. After asking Yu Xiaoxiu's opinion, she patted her thigh and made up her mind,
"Then bring mother over and live together."
Yu Xiaoxiu was right. She chose a "good place" for Concubine Cui to eat and drink well. Concubine Cui could live in such a big house. Concubine Cui would be treated as a god in the house.
When Yu Shu came out of Yu Xiaoxiu's room, she saw He Fangzhi standing at the door of the main room and waving to her.
Yu Shu walked over quickly.
"Godfather, did the fragrant balls see good or bad?"
He Fangzhi nodded. He didn't see any patients today. He concentrated on thinking about the two fragrant balls that Yu Shu gave him.
"Let's talk in the room."
They entered the central room. Zhao Hui was coaxing the child to sleep in the room. Knowing that they were talking business outside, she asked the maid to quietly close the bedroom door.
Under the lamp, He Fangzhi took out the fragrant balls wrapped in oiled paper and put them on the tea table. He said to Yu Shu,
"Some of them are spices, some are animal fat, and some are medicinal materials. I boiled a small pot of medicine and tested it with silver needles and pine yellow. I didn't find any toxicity. This is the list I made. You can take a look and see if there is any problem."
Yu Shu received the list and inspected it once. Besides the few types of spices that Xue Rui had smelled, there was also sheep fat, fish oil, rhinoceros horn powder, and so on and so forth. There were a variety of them, and there were an entire 30 plus types. It was truly unknown how complicated the process was to refine a single pill.
Previously, she had thought that after He Fangzhi analyzed these medicinal herbs, she could find someone to imitate this Tixiu Incense. Now, it seemed that it was not possible.
Unless the Xin Family volunteered to provide the prescription.
Yu Shu shook her head and put the list away. She thought that she would show it to Xue Rui when he came back.
"Thank you, godfather."
"We're a family. There's no need for formalities."
He Fangzhi couldn't help but remind Yu Shu, "I think the mixture in the fragrant balls has the effect of refreshing the mind. You need to be careful when using it. The incense can relieve fatigue, but you should rest when you need it. Don't force yourself."
"I know." It was not easy to get the Tihu Incense. She had to be careful.
Yu Shu wrapped the remaining powder and returned to her room.
At that time, in Pei County, fifty miles south of the capital, Xue Rui was investigating a serious case of the murder of a court official.
Half a month ago, the Emperor had appointed the Imperial Censor, Zhou Qing, as an imperial envoy to investigate the illicit salt trade in Guangdong and Guangxi. Who would have thought that after leaving the city, he would be murdered the next day in the restaurant he was staying at. His death was gruesome, and his entire head was chopped off.
It rained that night. It was not until the next morning that the accompanying guards found out that Zhou Qing was dead.
This was undoubtedly a premeditated murder. It was a challenge to the dignity of the Emperor.
News of Zhou Qing's death reached the capital secretly. In less than half a day, the Emperor suppressed the news and summoned several high-ranking officials from the Supreme Court and the Ministry of Justice. In the end, this difficult task fell to Xue Rui, who was recently in the limelight.
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