Upon hearing this, Cheng Qizhu’s expression changed dramatically. Unable to contain himself, he grabbed the doctor and demanded: “Doctor, what’s wrong with my wife? She was fine when I left this morning. How did she suddenly… Explain clearly! What do you mean someone’s going to die? No one can die – you must save both the mother and child for me!”

Dr. Han, who had some reputation in the city, was startled by his violence and quickly said: “Young Master Cheng, your wife doesn’t have an acute illness – it’s chronic poisoning taking effect. If this continues, neither mother nor child can withstand it. The child is probably beyond saving, but your wife still has a chance of survival—”

Before he could finish, Cheng Qizhu sternly silenced him. A trace of suspicion flashed in his eyes, but he finally regained composure and slowly released his grip: “You’re saying she’s been poisoned? How could she be poisoned for no reason? I eat and drink almost every meal with her. If she were poisoned, why am I perfectly fine?”

Dr. Han smiled bitterly and sighed: “Indeed, I asked the old mistress about the young mistress’s diet, so I determined it wasn’t food poisoning. I was puzzled at first, but then I thought of something – there’s one thing in the young mistress’s diet that you and Young Master don’t consume.”

Being so clever, Cheng Qizhu immediately understood and said gravely: “You mean the pregnancy-preserving medicine and tonics?”

“Yes.” Dr. Han walked to the table and pointed at a bowl, his expression extremely strange: “This is the tonic the young mistress had this morning. I just examined it carefully. It contains small amounts of ginseng slices, and other medicinal ingredients need further testing. But based on my assessment, these ginseng slices are very likely… pokeweed. The mistress has probably been taking this for a long time. Though the dosage each time wasn’t much, accumulated over time it finally… In any case, these symptoms are almost certainly from this substance!”

Cheng Qizhu was shocked and harshly said “Impossible,” then moved to lift the bed curtains to check on his wife. But his wife’s weak voice came from the bed, choking: “Husband, please don’t open the curtains. I don’t want you to see me like this… I won’t make it. Please have the doctor save our child…”

Dr. Han also advised: “Young Master Cheng, listen to your wife. Looking won’t help. The urgent matter is to detoxify your wife first. Please quickly test this medicine thoroughly to see if pokeweed or other inappropriate ingredients were mixed in by mistake, so we can detoxify quickly.”

Cheng Qizhu’s eyes turned red as he stared intensely at Dr. Han, his gaze fierce as a wild beast: “My Cheng family pharmacy has been making medicine for decades – how could we use fake drugs? Moreover, even if I really sold inferior goods, would I let my own wife use such things?”

“Yes, yes, perhaps I’m mistaken. Honestly, I dare not completely determine whether this is pokeweed or not. But your pharmacy’s several managers have been buying and selling medicine for decades with keen eyes – they can distinguish real from fake at a glance. Young Master, time is of the essence. Please quickly have experts examine it. Only by determining what it really is can I prescribe medicine – the so-called right medicine for the right illness!”

Dr. Han said with a bitter smile. Old Mrs. Cheng walked to Cheng Qizhu’s side. Beyond grief, her expression showed some fierceness: “This medicine must be fine as your mother sees it. We should change doctors instead.”

She gave Dr. Han a cold look.

Dr. Han understood Old Mrs. Cheng’s implication – she still doubted his medication assessment. If this got out, it would undoubtedly damage the pharmacy’s reputation. He thought Cheng Qizhu would certainly refuse and was about to say more when unexpectedly, Cheng Qizhu went to the bedside, gripped his wife’s hand tightly, and said: “Zijun, don’t worry. Your husband won’t let anything happen to you.” Having said this, he picked up the medicine bowl from the table, quickly summoned the steward, and rushed out the door.

Behind him came only the old lady’s stern scolding.

Cheng Qizhu shoved the medicine bowl into the steward’s hands and strode quickly to a side room door. He pushed it open with the steward following closely.

Looking around, this was an ordinary study. Though the room had fine ink stones and famous calligraphy decorations, there was nothing particularly special about it – just a wealthy family’s study.

Without a word, Cheng Qizhu’s face was grim as he suddenly knocked three times on an inkstone on the desk. With a rumbling sound, a large crack opened beneath the desk. Looking down, there were clearly defined stairs leading to another world below.

Though Cheng Qizhu was suppressing his emotions, the cold light in his eyes still made the steward tremble all over. The steward tentatively spoke: “Young Master, this is…”

Cheng Qizhu looked at him coldly: “This storage room is unusual – only you, I, and the two old managers at the main store know about it. But those two handle external affairs while you handle internal ones. I’m busy with business and can’t personally oversee the young mistress’s care. I repeatedly instructed you that the young mistress’s pregnancy medicine should use the most expensive and best ingredients. For the ginseng, I told you to use thousand-year-old ginseng worth ten thousand taels. Did you mix in inferior goods from that previous batch, or did you substitute fake for real, replacing the ginseng with pokeweed to keep the old ginseng for yourself?”

“You know very well that small amounts of pokeweed aren’t harmful each time – that’s why my father and I dared sell it in the shop, and why the manager warned Guan He-shi never to use too much. But all medicines vary by individual constitution. Zijun’s constitution is poor – even small amounts would cause problems. Dr. Han’s medical skills are renowned, and he’s used medicine for decades. Could he easily make a mistake? This medicine all passed through your hands. How do you explain this?”

The steward’s face turned deathly pale, sweat beading on his forehead as he fell to his knees: “Young Master, I’m wronged! That batch of goods is stored in the innermost section. How could I take the wrong one? As for substitution, I wouldn’t dare even with the greatest courage! Young Master, if you don’t believe me, please go in and investigate. The pokeweed is untouched, and I absolutely didn’t use inferior goods for the other ingredients…”

Cheng Qizhu’s eyes darkened. Just as he was about to enter and investigate, his expression suddenly changed. He rushed to the door and yanked it open.

This opening revealed over ten people standing outside with various expressions, all looking directly at him.

Four of them were the marquis and two prime ministers from the court, plus Min Province Prefect Huang Tianba.

Further away stood three young men. The one in the center wore blue robes with an especially noble bearing. The white-robed man beside him smiled slightly: “Young Master Cheng’s hearing is quite acute. Unfortunately, concern leads to confusion, but you’re still a good husband and devoted lover. This saves us from breaking down the door. Minister Wei, begin the interrogation.”

Another white-robed youth emerged from the corridor, appearing before Cheng Qizhu.

Cheng Qizhu recognized this person – “he” was actually “she,” one of the women who had visited his shop for investigation.

His face was deathly pale, but unlike Gu De, he didn’t lose control. He calmly asked: “Your Honor has excellent methods! My case was actually scheduled for the second trial. I’m caught red-handed with nowhere to argue – I’m thoroughly convinced! I only want to ask Your Honor one question: How were you certain that my Cheng family shop had used fake medicine before, and that the original fake medicine wasn’t destroyed but hidden in my home?”

This official was undoubtedly Wu Yan. Unlike Lian Yue, she showed no satisfaction on her face, saying softly: “Young Master Cheng, the first flaw appeared in your family’s account books. You must be well-versed in calligraphy and painting. From the paper and ink, we could never prove those weren’t original account books. But your family happens to be in the medicine business. When assistants fetch medicine and record accounts for customers, I’ve compared many pharmacy account books – they all carry the scents of various medicines: angelica, bai zhi, yu xiang… But your family’s account books were clean and white, carrying no medicinal scent at all.”

“That day, when several pharmacists took medicine from your cabinet, I inadvertently discovered your hundred-compartment cabinet was different from others. Each drawer was divided into two sections – the same medicinal ingredients stored in separate compartments. Isn’t this strange? Unless the drawers held the same type of medicine but separated by grade – fine goods and inferior ones. When preparing medicine, you could choose to use good or inferior goods at any time. For regular customers, naturally a mix of good and bad. For valued customers, you naturally couldn’t neglect them – mostly good with little bad. But poor customers suffered.”

“Of course, you had reasons for lasting so long. Though goods were divided into superior and inferior grades, they wouldn’t be life-threatening. But nature has its laws. Some medicinal ingredients look extremely similar but have vastly different effects. Pokeweed is one such example. As you said, originally Guan He-shi’s daughter-in-law wouldn’t have been harmed. But this Guan He-shi was always poor and couldn’t distinguish good from bad medicine. With good intentions, she did bad – trying to nourish her daughter-in-law, she used almost the entire dosage at once. Though Guan He-shi’s accidental killing was wrong and must be punished by law, the crime doesn’t warrant death. Your father’s death ultimately lies with you father and son.”

Cheng Qizhu only smiled without speaking, but his face grew paler.

Wu Yan also shook her head with a smile: “Later, when you received word that we would definitely send people to test the medicine, you replaced all medicinal ingredients. This time, the cabinet finally had no distinction between good and bad. But this batch of inferior goods wasn’t cheap either. Would you really bear to destroy it all? You dared sell life-threatening medicine – you wouldn’t just destroy these medicines. This is merchants’ base nature. The best method was to hide them and bring them out again after the case concluded.”

“But where this batch was hidden would be like finding a needle in a haystack for us.”

“So you fabricated my wife’s illness? Or perhaps I should say, the person on that sickbed isn’t my wife at all but one of your people. You found Dr. Han beforehand, hid my wife away, and with curtains drawn, deceived everyone in my household, staging this performance?” Cheng Qizhu asked coldly, though his eyes showed unexpected tenderness: “My wife – she’s actually fine?”