Lu Ying, concerned about her father’s health, quickly asked, “How do you feel now? Any discomfort?”
Lu Bing said, “I’m fine, just feeling somewhat hot and restless. Don’t worry—those Taoists wouldn’t dare put strong drugs in the pills. His Majesty has been taking them for over thirty years and isn’t he doing well? If I occasionally take a few pills, it’s not a big deal.”
The pills were basically the same formula as the Five Minerals Powder from the Wei and Jin periods. After taking them, one became mentally excited and physically heated, necessarily wearing loose clothing and letting down one’s hair, going bareheaded and barefoot even in winter, sweating from the head without feeling cold.
Upon hearing about the heat, Lu Ying ordered more ice blocks to be brought for relief. “Father should still be careful. In future, when granted medicine, don’t take it on the spot. Just say you’ll take it home to offer to the ancestors, then quietly throw it away once you’re home.”
Lu Bing opened his eyes. “That would be the crime of deceiving the sovereign!”
Lu Ying said, “Then don’t throw it away—I’ll take it. I also want to feel the vastness of imperial grace.” She had recently been “corrupted” by Wang Daxia and had learned to cleverly contradict her elders too.
Lu Bing irritably removed the imperial-granted bamboo crown from his head and let down his hair. Only then did his tightly bound hair relax. “Don’t talk nonsense—what proper young lady takes pills?”
Lu Ying earnestly tried to persuade her father, “Your current physical condition can’t withstand this. Although His Majesty has taken pills for over thirty years without incident, most of the princes and princesses in the palace died young. Eight sons and five daughters, but only two sons and two daughters survived to adulthood. Prince Yu finally had two sons and two daughters, but they all died young too—now there isn’t a single imperial grandson. Isn’t this because His Majesty takes pills?”
The terrifying mortality rate of the imperial family during the Jiajing reign was the highest among all dynasties. The women who married into the imperial family clearly bore many children, but very few survived. Actually, everyone knew the reason in their hearts, but no one dared expose it.
“Audacious!” Having taken pills, Lu Bing was irritable and easily angered, prone to impulse. Hearing Lu Ying repeatedly contradict him and express dissatisfaction with the emperor, Lu Bing became agitated. “You’re too bold—daring to criticize His Majesty? This could lead to house confiscation and family extermination. With this attitude of yours, how can I feel at ease using you? You’ll probably bring disaster to our family in the future. If you speak such wild words again, you might as well return home to embroider in your chambers.”
Pills not only harmed the body but also the mind. After taking medicine, Emperor Jiajing became violent and cold-blooded, often beating palace servants to death. There was a palace maid named Yang Jinying who couldn’t endure it and actually attempted to strangle the sleeping Emperor Jiajing at night.
Lu Ying’s face turned white with anger. She had recently been busy with paperwork, helping her father handle official business—something she didn’t enjoy doing but had to do to care for her father’s health. Now that her father was angry, her temper wasn’t good either. She wasn’t someone who meekly submitted to everything, so she stopped being patient and pushed the door open to leave.
Lu Ying rode her horse through the streets just as the offices were closing. Ding Wu and Wang Daxia were traveling together back to the northern district. Since Ding Wu had gotten a new position as warehouse keeper at the Embroidered Uniform Guard, lived far away, and was recommended by Lu Ying’s guarantee, the office had assigned him a horse for convenient travel.
Ding Wu saw Lu Ying and quickly rode up to greet her. “Commander Lu.”
Wang Daxia hid himself and his horse behind a shop banner on the roadside: Does this person have a problem? We finally got off work—it’s time to go home. When encountering such a diligent superior, you should quickly hide!
She hasn’t seen you, yet you rush up to greet her. Isn’t this creating trouble and forcing your superior to drag you into overtime?
Wang Daxia was essentially still a lazy dandy. As long as he completed the tasks assigned by his superiors and delivered them, that was enough. He didn’t want to exert even a bit of extra effort.
Lu Ying turned around and saw Ding Wu, and naturally also saw Wang Daxia trying to hide himself behind the street shop.
He hid quite well, except Wang Daxia’s horse’s rear end was sticking out. The weather was muggy with many flies and mosquitoes, and the horse’s tail swished back and forth, driving away the mosquitoes and flies.
Really taking care of the head but not the buttocks.
Lu Ying nodded to Ding Wu, then called out, “Wang Daxia, come out. I’m going to the northern district today—I’m going the same way as you.”
Wang Daxia immediately appeared with a smile on his face. “I was just looking at what delicious food was listed on the menu board hanging in that restaurant, so I didn’t see Commander Lu. Please forgive me. Commander Lu, our northern district is a rural place—how can it compare to the prosperity of the southern and central districts? There’s nothing worth seeing.”
Lu Ying said, “I’m not going to sightsee—I’m going on business.”
That’s even worse! I don’t want to be dragged into overtime! I still need to talk with Dr. Wei tonight!
Just as Wang Daxia was about to speak, Ding Wu enthusiastically invited, “We’re going the same way anyway—let’s travel together. Commander Lu must eat dinner while conducting business. I didn’t have time to buy groceries and cook today, so let me treat Commander Lu to a restaurant meal to thank you for arranging work for me.”
Lu Ying was going to the northern district on business and planned to just eat something simple for dinner—she didn’t want to socialize with Ding Wu.
She was about to decline when Wang Daxia, seeing that Ding Wu wanted to host a banquet for Lu Ying to thank her for the warehouse management position, quickly excluded himself, saying, “Since you’re treating, it would be inappropriate for me to go. Tonight I’ll go to a restaurant to buy some food and take it back to Dr. Wei.”
With Ding Wu having work now, no one was cooking. Wei Caiwei had excellent medical skills but completely inadequate cooking skills. When Ding Wu wasn’t around before, she ate almost every meal at roadside stalls.
You eat yours, we’ll eat ours. Ever since Ding Wu came, I haven’t had dinner alone with Wei Caiwei.
Just as Lu Ying was about to say she wouldn’t go, Ding Wu added, “There’s a restaurant near Jishuitan that makes excellent lake delicacies using fresh ingredients from Jishuitan Lake. I went there with Banxia before, and Banxia said their sweet and sour fish is even more delicious than mine—she really liked it. I’ll call her to join us.”
Actually, Ding Wu felt that Lu Ying was a woman and probably wouldn’t want to dine alone with an unrelated man, but calling Banxia along would be different. With two women, Lu Ying shouldn’t refuse his invitation.
Lu Ying was about to decline, but hearing that the restaurant was near Jishuitan, which was exactly related to what she needed to do, she went with the flow and accepted Ding Wu’s invitation. “Fine, I’ll go.”
Seeing that Wei Caiwei was about to dine with two men, and having spent time together, Wang Daxia felt that Ding Wu and Caiwei had completely brotherly-sisterly affection with no romantic feelings. He had just felt reassured about Ding Wu, but now there was Lu Ying. Wang Daxia felt a long-absent jealousy rising in his heart and said:
“You mean Lakeside Restaurant, right? I’ve been there many times. Lake Eight Delicacies is their signature dish. I want to go eat too. Big Brother Ding wouldn’t mind one more pair of chopsticks, would you?”
Ding Wu thought: I mind.
But being a refined gentleman, he couldn’t say it out loud.
Wang Daxia said, “It’s settled then. We’ll split into two groups. You two go to Lakeside Restaurant first and order the food. I’ll go to Tianshui Lane to pick up Dr. Wei. By the time we arrive, the dishes should be ready to serve.”
The three parted ways.
Lakeside Restaurant was at the northwest corner of Jishuitan, right at the end of First Alley, close to the lake.
Ding Wu and Lu Ying passed through First Alley. Lu Ying saw that the first house in First Alley was a shop selling various sundries from north and south, as well as foreign goods. Customers came and went—business looked good.
The shop’s plaque read “Ten Thousand Goods Trading Company.” The shop was large, occupying three storefronts with warehouses behind. Merchants from various places came to deliver goods: Koreans bringing ginseng, Japanese bringing gold fans from their country, and people dressed like Mongols from the north bringing furs and other items.
It truly had everything—goods numbering in the tens of thousands.
Ding Wu saw Lu Ying’s mount slowing down and also pulled on his reins.
“I’m going to buy something.” Lu Ying dismounted, and a shop assistant enthusiastically approached. “What would you like to see, sir?”
Lu Ying said, “Something for children—not rattles or the like, something novel.”
Finally, Lu Ying chose a set of Russian nesting dolls—a complete set of nine wooden puppet dolls.
Her two older sisters were both pregnant now. This was for her future little nephews. The second sister who married Yan Shifan’s son would give birth in autumn.
Lu Ying took the wrapped dolls out of Ten Thousand Goods Trading Company and saw that the shop next to it had closed down, with a red paper posted at the entrance reading “Prosperous Shop for Rent.”
First Alley had only about ten households. Except for the first Ten Thousand Goods Trading Company, which prospered because it was close to the main street Xin Kai Dao, the rest were mediocre. Since Ten Thousand Goods Trading Company sold everything, customers wouldn’t continue browsing further. The remaining storefronts either closed, transferred leases, or became inns, tea houses, and restaurants conducting completely different business from Ten Thousand Goods Trading Company.
Lu Ying silently memorized the situation in First Alley. The end of First Alley was Jishuitan, and Lakeside Restaurant was by the lake.
Lu Ying requested a special private room—the restaurant had several small painted boats in Jishuitan where they could punt out to the lake to dine, though it cost extra for boat rental.
Since Ding Wu was treating, he naturally accommodated the guest’s requests. After Lake Eight Delicacies were served on the painted boat’s dining table, Wang Daxia arrived with Wei Caiwei. The two boarded the painted boat, and Lu Ying asked, “Which of you can punt?”
Wang Daxia was originally just freeloading food and drink. Since Ding Wu hadn’t verbally invited him, he felt somewhat guilty and raised his hand. “I can.”
Except for studying, Wang Daxia could basically do a bit of everything. He had won first place in dragon boat racing during the Dragon Boat Festival.
Lu Ying said, “You punt the boat—have the boatman get off.”
Lu Ying came from a prestigious family and was particular—she didn’t like outsiders present while dining. Wang Daxia punted the boat to the center of the lake, where cool breezes were refreshing.
Seeing that everyone had eaten about enough, with only Wang Daxia still enthusiastically gnawing on the sweet and sour fish’s tail, Lu Ying said, “Dr. Wei should open a medicine shop in First Alley. Tomorrow you can rent the shop next to Ten Thousand Goods Trading Company. Our Embroidered Uniform Guard will secretly provide the money—you just need to appear in person.”
This—both Ding Wu and Wang Daxia were puzzled, but only Wei Caiwei guessed what Lu Ying wanted to do. Those anonymous letters specifying that Ten Thousand Goods Trading Company was a White Lotus Sect nest with an underground powder magazine in the warehouse were written by her.
Only five months remained until the First Alley tragedy from the previous life. She had to prevent the disaster from happening.
In this life, Chen Qianhu had been killed by her poison needle, and Wang Qianhu of the Northern District Military Commission was about to be dismissed through the Beijing evaluation. She didn’t know who the new commander would be and couldn’t trust them.
So Wei Caiwei could only trust Lu Ying. Through Lu Ying’s investigation of Chen Qianhu and his son’s deaths and the search and rescue of Ding Wu, Lu Ying was careful and thorough in her work, valued life, and had a compassionate heart. She also had Lu Bing as backing and could freely deploy the Embroidered Uniform Guard’s money, materials, and manpower.
Wei Caiwei believed Lu Ying had the ability to resolve the great hidden danger of First Alley while avoiding casualties among innocent people. She had written several consecutive anonymous letters, finally attracting Lu Ying’s attention.
Wei Caiwei’s heart was clear as a mirror, but she feigned surprise on her face. “Opening a medicine shop requires capital, and it’s too tiring. I can’t manage it. I’d rather be a consulting physician—just seeing patients, not preparing medicines. That’s easier.”
“I’m not asking you to really operate one—just as a front.” Surrounded by lake water on all sides without worry of leaked information, Lu Ying spoke directly. “I’ve recently received several anonymous letters saying that Ten Thousand Goods Trading Company in First Alley is a White Lotus Sect nest, with an underground powder magazine beneath the warehouse. The White Lotus Sect has committed many evils—treasonous and shameless, leading Mongol armies south. Ten years ago during the Gengwu Rebellion, millions of people in the capital’s outskirts suffered disasters with heavy casualties. So I’d rather believe it exists than not—what if it’s true?”
“I’m afraid of alerting them. If there really is a powder magazine, I fear it would implicate innocent bystanders. So I want Dr. Wei to open a medicine shop next door. First, it’s convenient for surveillance. Second, using shop renovation as an excuse, we can dig a tunnel from the medicine shop to the trading company’s underground warehouse to see if it’s true.”
Author’s Note: The female supporting characters in all my novels are generally career-focused like Lu Ying, achieving mutual success with the female protagonist. So the Parrot CP is destined for many troubles—Romeo Lu hasn’t noticed Juliet Ding’s little schemes yet.