allonlinenovel Chapter 507
Chapter 507
The late spring sunlight slanted through the carved window frames of the pharmacy, casting dappled shadows on Li Yanran's desk. She was slowly pouring finely ground salvia miltiorrhiza powder into a celadon bowl, the aroma of the medicine mingling with the sweet scent of locust blossoms filling the room. Suddenly, hurried footsteps echoed from the corridor, accompanied by the crashing sound of a medicine cabinet being overturned.
"Bang—" The sandalwood medicine cabinet door was kicked open with a thud. Dongfang Wan'er, dressed in a brocade robe embroidered with peonies in gold thread, was surrounded by five or six burly men. Her crimson skirt swept across the scattered medicine jars on the floor. Leaning against the doorframe, she twirled her gilded nail guards with her fingertips, her phoenix eyes narrowed slightly: "Li Yanran, how dare you slander me!"
Li Yanran gently pushed the celadon bowl to the corner of the table, and as she rose, the fragrance of angelica wafted from her moon-white dress. She gazed at the newly replaced coral hairpin at the other woman's temple, her voice like a clear, melodious spring: "What slander have I leveled? The facts are all there." Before she finished speaking, Dongfang Wan'er suddenly sneered, her nails scratching fiercely across the surface of the medicine cabinet: "Today I will expose your tricks!"
With a shout, the gray-clad man behind him slammed the oil-paper package heavily onto the table. Dry grass leaves scattered and rolled away, eerie purple spots clinging to the dark brown stems. "This was found in your pharmacy!" the man yelled in a hoarse voice, "It's mixed with arsenic, a deadly poison!"
Li Yanran lowered her gaze to the packet of herbs, her heart skipping a beat. She noticed a few serrated leaves and suddenly recalled the shadowy figure of Dongfang Wan'er's personal maidservant lurking outside the pharmacy three days prior. Her fingertips brushed against the moldy roots, and she chuckled softly, "Do you all know that this 'heartbreak vine' thrives in damp, shady places, only able to grow in the miasma-ridden southwest?" She held up a leaf, sunlight filtering through its veins to reveal its fine hairs. "And all the herbs in my pharmacy are purchased from the Northern Royal Family Pharmacy."
Dongfang Wan'er's face changed drastically, her nails, coated with balsam juice, digging deeply into her palms: "You...you're just making excuses!" Before she could finish speaking, the sound of orderly footsteps came from outside the corridor. The Marquis's black robe with python patterns swept across the threshold, and behind him, a guard knelt on one knee, holding a sandalwood box.
"This is the purchasing record from the pharmacy in the west of the city three days ago." The Marquis's fingertip traced the yellowed ledger. "There are also traces of an abandoned courtyard on the outskirts of the city—" He opened the box, inside which was a half-open bag of unopened Gelsemium elegans. "Miss Dongfang, what is your punishment for this deliberate framing?"
Dongfang Wan'er staggered backward, knocking over the medicine shelf behind her. Amidst the sound of shattering porcelain, she suddenly shrieked, "My lord, you can't just listen to her!" But upon catching sight of the waist badge displayed by the guard, her laughter abruptly ceased. As she turned and rushed out the door, the coral pendant at her temple fell to the ground, shattering into crimson fragments on the blue bricks.
Li Yanran bent down to pick up the broken pendant, its touch icy cold. The distant curses of Dongfang Wan'er faded into the depths of the alley. Gazing at the churning dark clouds on the horizon, she suddenly recalled her grandfather's dying words: the path of a healer is inherently a struggle against the undercurrents of human nature. She tucked the broken jade into her sleeve, sat back down at her desk, and continued preparing the unfinished medicine. Amidst the rising fragrance, her eyes grew even clearer.
As dusk, as dark as ink, seeped through the window paper, Li Yanran had just finished grinding the last snow lotus seed into powder. In the celadon medicine bowl, the amber liquid shimmered with fine golden light, its aroma mingling with the scents of sandalwood and borneol filling the room. Just as she was about to pour the medicine into a porcelain bottle to seal it, she suddenly heard hurried footsteps outside the courtyard, accompanied by a servant's frantic shouts: "Miss Li! Something terrible has happened! An epidemic has broken out in the south of the city!"
The copper ring clattered loudly as Li Yanran opened the door. The servant was drenched in sweat, his official robes still stained with mud. "Half an hour ago, over a dozen people suddenly collapsed at Zuixianlou. Now the entire Zhuque Street is..." Before he could finish, a series of wails echoed from afar, mixed with the shrill cries of children. Her heart tightened. She grabbed the ebony medicine chest from the corner, the silver lock clanging crisply.
The streets of the southern part of the city were shrouded in an eerie twilight. The usually bustling shops were tightly shut, and occasionally a woman carrying a feverish child would rush past. Li Yanran lifted the mottled bamboo curtain of the Drunken Immortal Pavilion, and a stench of decay mixed with a sour, rancruciating smell assaulted her senses. The hall was filled with people lying haphazardly, their faces ashen and bluish-purple, their clothes soaked with cold sweat and clung to their bony joints.
"Doctor...save me..." The dye shop apprentice grabbed her skirt, his fingertips still stained with indigo dye. Li Yanran knelt down, pressing her fingertips against his violently heaving stomach, the touch burning hot. The sour, putrid smell from the patient's breath assaulted her nostrils. She opened the patient's eyelids; his pupils were slightly dilated, and his tongue was covered with a greasy, grayish coating. After questioning those around, she learned that everyone had eaten sea bass sashimi at the restaurant at lunchtime.
“It’s food poisoning.” As Li Yanran stood up, the hem of her skirt swept across the filth scattered on the floor. She opened the medicine box and found that the edges of the oil paper packages containing Coptis chinensis and Agastache rugosa were covered with strange mold, and black mycelium was growing on the roots of Angelica sinensis. Her fingertips rubbed the surface of the herbs, and the sticky feeling sent chills down her spine—these herbs were clearly freshly purchased three days ago; how could they have all rotted overnight?
The sound of the water clock suddenly became exceptionally clear. Li Yanran gripped the edge of the medicine box tightly, suddenly recalling the meaningful smile Dongfang Wan'er had given when she passed the pharmacy that morning. Just as she was lost in thought, the sound of horses' hooves grew louder as the Marquis, his black cloak billowing in the night, burst in, the jade pendant at his waist gleaming coldly in the candlelight: "I have sealed the city gates, and the secret guards are thoroughly investigating the pharmacy..."
“My lord, please take a look.” Li Yanran pushed the spoiled medicinal herbs onto the table, the candlelight casting spiderweb-like shadows on the mycelium. “The way these herbs have become moldy is reminiscent of the ‘Bone-Corroding Powder’ from the Western Regions.” She quickly unfolded the medical record, the ink-dipped pen hovering in mid-air: “The immediate priority is to use perilla leaves to counteract the fish poison, followed by plantain seeds to promote urination… but the dosage…”
When the night watchman struck the third watch, Li Yanran's forehead was already soaked with sweat. She stood by the bedside of the child who was having a high fever and convulsions, watching as the freshly brewed medicine was slowly poured into the patient's mouth. The Marquis stood under the eaves, directing his guards to burn the last batch of poisonous herbs found in the private residence, the firelight casting flickering shadows on his face.
As the first light of dawn appeared on the horizon, the intermittent groans finally subsided. Li Yanran leaned against a weathered pillar, watching the rising sun bathe the medicine bowl in gold. Last night, when changing the herbs, she had deliberately added an extra ingredient, Ganoderma lucidum, to the prescription—both to strengthen the body's foundation and to serve as a warning to those lurking in the shadows. The wind swept through her thin clothes, but it couldn't dispel the determination in her eyes. So what if the path of medicine was fraught with thorns? She gripped the silver lock on her medicine box, her fingertips touching the two characters "济世" (meaning "to save the world") carved by her grandfather, and a faint smile appeared on her lips.
On a drizzly morning, Li Yanran stood in front of the pharmacy, gazing at the empty street. Raindrops dripped from the eaves, splashing tiny water droplets on the bluestone slabs. The traces of the epidemic from three days ago had not yet completely faded, but the people who should have been bustling about to get medicine were now avoiding the area as if it were a plague.
"Have you heard? Those who drank Dr. Li's medicine only temporarily suppressed their symptoms!" The whispers from the street corner tea stall carried on the wind. "Their internal organs will slowly rot away!"