“Outrageous!” Xiao Yingtao glared at the man. “Are you really the patient’s son? Your father isn’t dead yet — so why do you keep speaking as though he already is?”

“Could it be that you actually want your father dead? What exactly are your motives here?”

Feng Jiu’er had no patience for these people. She reached out and gently took hold of the hand of the man who had been shielding her.

The fury radiating from Jian Yi’s entire being faded somewhat the moment her hand closed around his.

Seeing that Feng Jiu’er was about to leave, the crowd called out in pleading voices once more. “Doctor Long, please save them.”

“Doctor Long, please — I’m begging you. My elderly mother is barely holding on.”

“Doctor Long, we were reckless — please save our father. He is my father’s sworn son, and I didn’t know that he would…”

One man shot a glare back at the man still standing, then kowtowed to Feng Jiu’er again.

“Doctor Long, please — save him first. If my father truly doesn’t make it…”

“Doctor Long, please save them!” The people who had knelt all bowed their heads to the ground together, their sincerity unmistakable.

Some among them were finally beginning to realize they had likely been used.

But regardless of anything else, everyone there simply wanted their family members to recover. As long as their loved ones could be saved, everything else could be sorted out afterward.

“Jiu’er, please save them.” Xiao Yingtao looked at the two people who had gone completely ashen, and felt a wave of urgency herself.

“Have them carried inside themselves.” Feng Jiu’er said, and with that, took Jian Yi by the hand and turned to go back in. “Everything else — hand it over to the authorities.”

“Understood.” Xiao Yingtao gave a nod, then turned and gestured briskly. “Quickly now — bring them inside.”

“As for anyone here who intended to cause trouble — not a single one is to be let go.”

“Yes.”

“Understood.”

The family members of both patients — some carrying the stretchers, others following alongside — hurried after the two brothers and made their way toward the medicine hall.

Xiao Yingtao looked up at the approaching soldiers, then turned her gaze back and shot a glare at the man still standing defiantly.

“The authorities will give everyone a proper accounting of what happened here. Not even his own sworn father was off-limits to you. A person like you deserves no good end!”

With that, Xiao Yingtao turned and walked back inside.

The man’s brow furrowed. His gaze finally drifted briefly over Di Wu Ya —

And after just that single glance, he found he could barely keep his legs steady beneath him.

“I didn’t — it was… you people who killed a patient in your care. I didn’t — it was you who — who…”

The man swallowed hard and turned to run.

But with the Longying brothers, the people from the Yue household, and the soldiers who had just arrived all surrounding him — how could he possibly escape?

He barely managed to turn before he was seized by the authorities.

Di Wu Ya had vanished from sight at some point without anyone noticing.

Many onlookers still lingered in the area — some had come to watch the commotion, others had originally intended to seek a consultation or purchase medicine, and these had now all come back out from inside.

Tang Xiaohua exchanged a few words with the commanding officer at the head of the soldiers, then led her own people away.

The squad leader ordered his men to apprehend everyone who had not yet managed to flee.

He stepped forward and spoke in a loud, clear voice. “This incident is of a particularly vile nature — it is rarely seen in our city of Yue.”

“Regardless of how things stand, we will investigate this matter thoroughly and restore the names of those who are innocent.”

“Of course,” the squad leader said, turning his gaze to the ringleader who had been captured, and furrowing his thick brows slightly, “those who came here to cause trouble — not a single one will be spared.”

“Take them all away!”

Under the squad leader’s commanding authority, even those who had still been holding their heads high with expressions of self-proclaimed innocence finally let them hang low.

The squad leader took the troublemakers away. Qiaomu offered no explanation and simply waved her hand. “Fall back!”

“Yes.” Every brother turned to face her direction, clasped their fists in salute, and sheathed the swords in their hands.

Not one person from Longying stepped forward to offer any explanation — in the blink of an eye, they had all returned inside.

That composure alone was enough to earn the trust of many of the onlookers.

What was more, Doctor Long’s medical skill was by no means mere legend — a great many people in the area had benefited from it firsthand.

Many had begun to suspect that someone who couldn’t stand Longying’s growing success had hired people to come and cause trouble.

In particular, the way that man earlier had shown no concern whatsoever for whether his own father lived or died was something that any right-minded person who witnessed it could only look upon with contempt.

Even without a single word of explanation from anyone at Longying, the crowd quickly moved back toward the medicine hall.

However, with Qiaomu’s instructions in place, they were no longer able to enter freely as they once had.

At this moment, a number of brothers stood guard at the entrance to the medicine hall. Anyone who came — whether seeking a consultation or purchasing medicine — was first questioned before being allowed inside.

This also prevented those who had come to gawk or stir up trouble from getting in.

Inside the medicine hall’s main hall, consultations had been briefly suspended in the wake of the earlier incident, but soon resumed as normal.

The consultation room in the central chamber, however, remained closed to the public for the time being.

Several brothers stood guard outside the room, and a repositioned screen concealed everything within.

Knowing that Jian Yi disliked others seeing his body, Feng Jiu’er dressed and bandaged his wound as quickly as she could, then returned to the main hall.

In the main hall, the two unconscious patients had been moved to two small beds on either side of the room, and Xiao Yingtao was there with three physicians, already attending to them.

“How is their condition?” Feng Jiu’er asked quietly.

“We’ve already administered the antidote to them, but looking at their state now, they will need acupuncture as well.” Xiao Yingtao replied softly.

“Then proceed.” Feng Jiu’er gave a nod.

One of the women brought over a case of needles and set it on a small table beside them. Another woman unstopped a medicinal solution that had been prepared in advance, pouring half of it into a dish.

Feng Jiu’er put on her gloves and stepped to the small table.

She was confident she could bring both patients back. What she had said to the family outside had simply been to put a scare into them.

Even so, the two had been poisoned for no short amount of time. If they did not receive treatment within the next hour, there was a real risk that even after being saved, they would be left with lasting after-effects.

Someone had gone after two elderly people just to get at her.

If she ever found that person, Feng Jiu’er had absolutely no intention of letting them go.

Feng Jiu’er picked up a silver needle between her fingers, turned around, and went to the elderly woman’s bedside.

Those inside worked with careful precision to save the patients. Outside, the family members were so tense they didn’t dare breathe too loudly.

It was a full hour and more before the family saw someone emerge from behind the screen.

The patients’ family members immediately moved toward them — but they did not push past the brothers standing guard. Instead, they stopped in front of them and looked at Xiao Yingtao as she came out.

“Miss, how is our father doing?” the elderly woman’s son asked.

“Thanks to the timely intervention, they have both been brought through — not only the elderly woman, but the elderly man as well.” Xiao Yingtao replied gently.

“However, they were poisoned for quite some time, and Doctor Long says it will be a while before they regain consciousness.”

“Please wait a little longer. In roughly another hour or so, we will arrange a place and have the patients settled, and you will be able to go in and see them.”

Upon hearing Xiao Yingtao’s words, everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief. Some smiled, and some were so overcome that their eyes grew red.