On her wedding night, she went into exile with her pharmacy arsenal

Chapter 2244 Visiting Relatives

Yan Ruyu twirled the pages of the ledger between her fingers, turning them slowly.

Huo Changhe sat opposite her and, seeing that she had flipped through most of the book without saying a word, asked, "Did you find anything?"

Yan Ruyu raised her eyes, a hint of amusement in them, and pushed the ledger towards the center of the table: "This is really interesting. This ledger doesn't record the accounts of his teahouse, but rather the transactions between the fresh produce shop and the medicinal cuisine shop."

Huo Changhe leaned over, picked up the ledger, and quickly flipped through a few pages.

His gaze swept over the dense numbers and product names, and a cold smile curled at the corner of his mouth: "The fresh produce shop sells delicacies from land and sea, and the medicinal cuisine shop sells precious herbs. The amount of business involved is not small, but it is all done discreetly."

It seems he wants to find something to use against him, to give himself a way out.

Yan Ruyu nodded, took the ledger back, and traced a line of text with her fingertip before suddenly stopping.

Her brows furrowed slightly, and her gaze hardened.

"What's wrong?" Huo Changhe noticed her unusual behavior and asked softly.

Yan Ruyu did not answer immediately, but simply turned the ledger around and pushed it toward Huo Changhe.

Huo Changhe looked in the direction she indicated, his gaze falling on the handwriting, his pupils shrinking slightly.

A moment later, he looked up at Yan Ruyu. The two exchanged a glance, their eyes filled with understanding, a tacit agreement unspoken.

"I'm taking samples."

Yan Ruyu entered the space, and after a moment, she had several yellowed pages in her hand. These were the tea menus that the secret guards had previously searched from Baixing Teahouse.

Yan Ruyu handed a tea list to Huo Changhe: "According to the investigation by the secret guards, these tea lists were all written by Zhou Zhenghang himself."

Yan Ruyu spread the tea menu next to the ledger and casually pointed to a line in the ledger: "Look."

Huo Changhe bent down to examine it closely. The handwriting on the tea menu was vigorous and powerful, with a sharp edge between the horizontal strokes and vertical strokes, and the strokes were crisp and neat.

Although the handwriting on the ledger is neat, it appears rounded and soft, with a hint of hesitation at the turns of the strokes. Even without close inspection, one can see that the habits of starting and ending strokes are completely different.

“Comparing the two,” Yan Ruyu said confidently, tapping her fingertips on the two different handwritings, “the handwriting is completely different.”

At the same time, Zhou Zhenghang was walking briskly out of the medicinal food shop.

The street was bustling with people, and the sounds of vendors hawking their wares and vehicles filled the air, but he felt nothing at all, only a sense of unease.

He clenched his fists, and even though he wanted to deceive himself, he had to face the problem—someone wanted to kill him to silence him.

The stolen account books and the poisoned meal all pointed to the person he feared most—Miaoqin.

The matter in Youcheng hasn't been completely resolved yet, and she's already impatient to clean house?

Zhou Zhenghang was both angry and afraid, and he quickened his pace.

He couldn't just sit and wait to die; he had to find a way to survive.

As he was pondering this, a figure suddenly blocked his way.

"Qilang! I've finally found you..." The old voice was hoarse, yet filled with barely concealed excitement.

Zhou Zhenghang suddenly stopped and looked up to examine the person in front of him.

He was an elderly man in his sixties, dressed in tattered clothes covered in patches, with holes even worn through at the edges, revealing a dirty lining underneath.

His cloth shoes were tattered, with his toes sticking out of the holes at the toes, covered in mud.

His hair was a messy tangled mess, as if he hadn't washed it in a long time, and his face was dirty, with several black marks sliding down his cheeks, making him look no different from a beggar on the street.

A faint, sour smell wafted over, and Zhou Zhenghang subconsciously took a half step back, his brows furrowed tightly, his face full of disgust: "You've mistaken me for someone else."

The old man paused for a moment, his cloudy eyes scrutinizing Zhou Zhenghang, his tone tinged with surprise and confusion: "Seventh Brother, don't you recognize me? I'm your Third Uncle!"

The name "Qilang" was completely unfamiliar to Zhou Zhenghang.

His frustration intensified, so he took out a few copper coins from the money pouch at his waist and casually tossed them at the old man.

The copper coins jingled as they fell to the ground, rolled a few times, and some even disappeared into the cracks in the stone slabs.

"Here you go, get out of the way!"

His voice was filled with undisguised impatience. If it weren't for the crowds on the street, he would have kicked the old beggar blocking his way.

After saying that, he turned and left, his steps quick and hurried, as if he were avoiding some raging flood or ferocious beast.

As the old man watched his resolute back, the excitement on his face gradually faded, leaving only bewilderment and disappointment.

He bent down to pick up the copper coins on the ground, and just as he squatted down, a hand gently patted his shoulder.

"Grandpa, come with me." A deep voice sounded in my ear.

The old man looked up and saw a man in a light blue short jacket with an ordinary face standing in front of him. It was Sun Qing, the bodyguard who was secretly keeping an eye on Zhou Zhenghang.

Inside the room, Yan Ruyu and Huo Changhe were still comparing the handwriting.

"A person can write in many different fonts, but the way they write the same font will not change easily."

Huo Changhe pointed to the way the words "Silver Needle" were written on the tea menu, and then pointed to the same two words on the ledger. "Look at the vertical hook here. On the tea menu, it's written smoothly and neatly."

There was a deliberate pause in the ledger, the force of which was completely different.

These two documents could not have been made by the same person.

Yan Ruyu wholeheartedly agreed. She organized the tea list and the ledger and stacked them together: "The tea list is quite old, and we can't confirm that this ledger is Zhou Zhenghang's handwriting."

To be on the safe side, we should try to obtain his handwritten statement before making a conclusion.

Just as Huo Changhe was about to speak, a soft knock came from outside the door, followed by Linlang's announcement: "Master, Sun Qing requests an audience."

"Let him in."

The door was pushed open, and Sun Qing strode in, bowing respectfully: "Your Highness, Your Highness."

"What is it?" Yan Ruyu asked.

Sun Qingzhi stood up: "Just now, when I was with Zhou Zhenghang, we encountered an old man who blocked our way. The old man called Zhou Zhenghang 'Seventh Brother' and said that he was his third uncle."

Zhou Zhenghang not only denied it but also chased the man away. Finding the matter suspicious, and seeing that the old man seemed to genuinely know Zhou Zhenghang, the family brought the man back.

"Third Uncle? Seventh Brother?" Yan Ruyu raised an eyebrow; these two titles seemed rather strange.

Huo Changhe nodded: "Indeed, according to the secret guards' investigation, Zhou Zhenghang is the seventh son in the Zhou family."

A thoughtful look flashed in Yan Ruyu's eyes: "The sudden appearance of a third uncle claiming kinship must have a lot of stories behind it."

Where is that old man now?

"Your Highness, he is in the side courtyard. I led him into the mansion through the back gate without informing him of my identity."

Yan Ruyu nodded: "That's good, I'll go ask."

Huo Changhe stood up and said, "I will go with you."

"I can go alone, Your Highness. Think of a way to get Zhou Zhenghang's latest calligraphy."