Just thinking about it made the troupe master’s heart ache!

Muruo had also finished taking her pulse and found the noise extremely irritating.

He placed Zhanmo’s slender hand back under the blanket, covering it properly, then pressed his temples.

Seeing this, the troupe master quickly came forward to ask, “Young master, how is it?”

“…”

“How is it exactly?”

“…”

Muruo’s face was expressionless. He stood up, walked to the table, and drank a mouthful of water.

Then he said flatly, “Rest assured, this young lady won’t die.”

At this, the troupe master’s anxious heart relaxed.

“That’s good, that’s good.”

“However… she’ll probably have to stay bedridden for some time.”

“Bedridden? That won’t do. The day after tomorrow is Master Zhang’s birthday celebration. We’re supposed to go perform. If we delay, we’ll lose a lot. No, this absolutely won’t do.” The troupe master’s eyes bulged with anxiety. “Young master, aren’t you a physician? You must save Zhanmo. She can’t be sick.”

Muruo laughed coldly.

The young girl who had been sobbing all along stepped forward. “Young master, what’s wrong with my sister exactly?”

“Not good.” Muruo shook his head.

“Not good? Will my sister be alright?”

Muruo muttered, “Her heart meridian is weak—it’s an illness she was born with. It has no root, so it can’t be cured completely. On top of that, she’s been taking fushen long-term. This medicine is extremely cold. When cold medicine enters the body, a weak heart meridian cannot withstand wind. Add to that the yin nature of women—there should be a balance of yin and yang. Moreover, the human body has three meridians: the upper is the hot meridian, the middle is the cold meridian, and the lower is the death meridian. One cannot enter water, two cannot enter fire, three cannot enter wind—this is basic meridian knowledge. If any meridian breaks, the body is like broken bones or lost blood. Your young lady happens to have problems with two meridians—the cold meridian and the death meridian. Treating this would be extremely difficult. But if left untreated, she will die within half a year.”

What?

Die within half a year?

Everyone was terrified.

The troupe master’s legs went weak with fright. If not for the people beside him supporting him, he probably would have collapsed to the ground right then.

Muruo always spoke bluntly and never liked to beat around the bush.

When he was in a good mood, he would still examine patients who came to Yuhua Pavilion seeking treatment. But because his tongue was too sharp, he never softened the truth. If someone’s illness was incurable, he would say it directly.

Those patients couldn’t accept it and were scared half to death.

The troupe master’s voice trembled as he said, “Young master, you must cure her. Without her, my troupe is finished.”

He slapped his thigh hard!

San Niang, who had been silent, leaned against the cabinet and suddenly said, “Yes, she must be saved. If someone dies in my inn, when the authorities investigate, my inn will suffer the consequences too.”

She fanned herself a few times with her fan!

Muruo then asked the troupe master, “Who told her to take fushen?”

“A physician said it. Using fushen would help treat her illness.”

“Quack doctor!” Muruo rebuked. “She can’t take fushen anymore. I’ll write a prescription shortly. Go get the medicine. The inn should have the necessary medicinal herbs on hand. Later, brew a bowl and have her drink it. She must take it once every two days for half a year without interruption. Otherwise, even the gods won’t be able to save her life.”

The troupe master was overjoyed. “Yes, yes, yes. Thank you, young master. Thank you, young master.”

Soon, Muruo wrote out a prescription and handed it to him. San Niang took it and looked at it, saying, “What a coincidence—my inn has all these medicines.”

With that, she handed it to a waiter and told him to prepare the medicine and bring it up after brewing it.

The show was over, so Jingrong had no need to stay.

Just as he was about to leave—

A man from the troupe rushed up, shouting, “This is terrible, master! Terrible!”

The troupe master quickly came out from inside and asked, “What’s terrible?”

“Our boxes… someone stole them.”

“What did you say? The boxes were stolen? Those contain our livelihood!” The troupe master’s face turned ashen. He immediately broke out in a sweat and continued to press, “What happened exactly?”

The man gasped for breath and stammered, “I… I don’t know either. Just now my stomach hurt, so I went to use the latrine. When I came back, three of the boxes we left in the back courtyard were missing. I rushed up to tell you immediately.”

How could this be?

The troupe master’s first reaction was to question San Niang. “Innkeeper, my things were lost in your establishment. You must give me an explanation.”

San Niang was momentarily stunned.

She thought to herself—impossible. She had already given orders that no one below was to make a move. How could things still go missing?

So she said, “I say, old troupe master, you can’t blame this on our inn. When you came in, I already told you that the inn is crowded and you needed to watch your belongings carefully.”

“You…”

“Out here in the wilderness, those big boxes of yours are extremely heavy. If thieves took them, they probably haven’t gotten far yet. I think you should go out and chase after them. You might catch up.”

The old troupe master’s chest heaved with anger. He had no choice but to hurry downstairs and run to the back courtyard to see for himself.

San Niang followed him down.

At this time, Ji Yinshu came out of her room. She knew and had heard everything about the situation. She was about to go down but was stopped by Jingrong.

“It’s so late. Rest early. Don’t meddle in things that aren’t your concern. Meddling in other people’s business does you no good.”

Ji Yinshu thought about it and dismissed the idea!

She prepared to return to her room.

But just then—

Her shoulder was bumped by a waiter.

The waiter quickly said, “Sorry, young master.”

“It’s fine.”

The waiter hurried downstairs.

Ji Yinshu’s gaze lingered on the waiter’s clothing and the towel draped over his shoulder.

Her thoughts deepened.

So—

Ignoring Jingrong’s attempts to stop her, she went downstairs anyway.

Having no choice, since he had a woman who liked to meddle in other people’s business, Jingrong could only follow to prevent her from getting into trouble again.

In the back courtyard of the inn!

The troupe’s carts were all parked there, and those large and small boxes had been unloaded and piled together.

The old troupe master shouted, “It must have been someone from the inn who stole them. My boxes were filled with valuable things.” Then he turned to San Niang and demanded, “The boxes were lost in your inn. You must take responsibility.”

Take responsibility?

This was the first time San Niang had heard such a novel phrase.

She smiled, twisted her graceful body forward, touched those large boxes, and said, “When you came in, I already warned you. Now that the boxes are missing, how can you blame us? If you ask me, it was clearly one of your own people who committed theft.”

At this statement, the people from the troupe were not having it.

“How could we take our own things? Those boxes were definitely taken by you people.”

“You can eat food carelessly, but you can’t speak carelessly.” San Niang was also displeased now, fanning herself with her fan. “Our inn has been here for decades. Our staff are honest—we wouldn’t steal your things.”

“Either way, the things were lost in your establishment. You must compensate us.”

“Ridiculous. I am Du San Niang. Go ask around—no one in this world has dared to make me, Du San Niang, compensate for anything.”

The people from the troupe were all anxious.

Suddenly—

“There’s no need to compensate for these things. Just produce them.”

Hearing this, everyone looked and saw Ji Yinshu emerge from the crowd.

Speaking calmly, she said, “The things are lost, but they haven’t gone far. In fact, they’re still right here in this inn.”