Martial Arts: The First Genius Doctor in Jianghu

Chapter 9 Gossip ([-])

At noon, the scorching sun was in the sky.

When Su Xiaochan rushed to Liu'an Inn, she saw Xie Chen sitting at a noodle stall by the side of the road, holding a bowl of Yangchun noodles while eating and chatting with diners at the same table.

Probably seeing Su Xiaochan arrived, Xie Chen put down his chopsticks and paid a few copper coins to get up.

Su Xiaochan stood beside the carriage: "Could it be that this is your theory that if you want to know something, you need to talk nonsense first?"

Xie Chen cupped his hands and said with a smile: "Miss Su also knows me."

Su Xiaochan laughed and said, "Sister Song's Fish Soup in Liu'an Inn is famous far and wide. With your temperament, you would be content to eat a bowl of ordinary Yangchun noodles by the side of the road?"

Xie Chen said: "The food in this world is not the more famous the better. If you look down on the roadside stalls, you don't know how much fun you will miss."

Su Xiaochan was taken aback when she heard the words, and looked at the noodle stall. After looking at it for a long time, she felt nothing special, so she asked, "Is this noodle unusual?"

Xie Chen smiled: "Of course it is far inferior to Mrs. Song's fish soup in the inn."

Su Xiaochan looked puzzled.

Xie Chen said again: "But now I dare not go into the store to sit down and eat no matter what."

Su Xiaochan was puzzled.

Xie Chen said: "If the fast guards in the store see that I didn't research the antidote and instead sat in the lobby to eat and drink in a dignified way, I'm afraid I will be gossiped."

Su Xiaochan couldn't laugh or cry: "Could it be that you are saving people now?"

Xie Chen said: "Didn't I already ask you to prepare the antidote?"

Su Xiaochan was puzzled again: "Since you already knew the antidote, why didn't you directly detoxify He Ming's arrest? You have to transfer from Su's house again? What's more, since it is antidote, why do you have to let me come? You must know the process What happened last night, I just fell asleep."

Xie Chen quickly apologized with a panicked expression: "It turns out that I disturbed the young lady's dream, what a sin."

Su Xiaochan couldn't laugh or cry.

Xie Chen said again: "However, I invited you here because I have something I must ask you to help."

Su Xiaochan wondered, "Why is it up to me?"

Xie Chen replied: "I need you to go from the roof of this inn to Zhu's house now, and be careful not to make any big noise along the way."

Su Xiaochan looked helpless: "Why is this? Could it be that you can't do it yourself?"

Xie Chen said: "Of course I can't do it, you know I'm not good at light work."

Su Xiaochan said: "Although your qinggong is not as good as mine, it's not bad, but what can't you do if you fly over the eaves and walls? What's more, what do you want me to do in Zhu's house?"

Xie Chen said: "You must be such an expert, but I don't need you to go to Zhu's house to do anything, I just need to remember the time on the way."

Su Xiaochan thought for a while and nodded in agreement, but then asked: "I understand, but why does the antidote have to be transferred from me?"

Xie Chen shook his head: "I have a reason."

Su Xiaochan had no choice but to say, "Forget it, I'll just listen to you."

After all, he jumped onto the roof in a flash, causing the passers-by around to exclaim.

Seeing that Su Xiaochan was walking away, Xie Chen turned his head and took out some broken silver coins and handed them to the driver: "Go to the store and order a bowl of Mrs. Song's fish soup, and some side dishes that your lady likes, and let them give it a try. Make sure the time is right, and then arrange a quiet and cool place."

The coachman was a little puzzled.

Xie Chen didn't explain, but just ordered: "Just go and let them get ready. I have something to ask you when I come back after I'm done."

Soon the coachman came back from the shop and said to Xie Chen, "Young Master, I have asked you to arrange it."

Xie Chen saw that the coachman was about to hand over the money he found and waved his hands, "You keep it for yourself, and it will be your reward for drinking."

The coachman quickly thanked him and happily accepted it, and then he heard Xie Chen ask again: "I often hear that there are often private messages between servants of rich families, is that true?"

The coachman was startled and said quickly: "My lord, the master and miss of the Su family are very kind to us, we never dare to gossip."

Xie Chen said with a smile: "Where did you go, I'm not accusing you of tempting you, I just want to ask you, have you ever known the servants of the Zhu family, or have you heard any rumors about the Zhu family?"

The coachman suddenly realized, and breathed a sigh of relief: "I must know each other, after all, you also know that in addition to working, we servants can only chat with people of similar status occasionally when we are free. As a groom like me, I often drive out for the master to visit, so I get to know each other well with the gatekeepers and coachmen of other wealthy officials. The masters talk about important matters, and we can also sit down and talk a little while we are busy. Parents are short-sighted."

Xie Chen nodded: "That should be the case. If this is the case, then are you familiar with Zhu's driver and concierge?"

The coachman thought for a while, and replied: "Master and Zhu's old king are not many, but because they have business on the Silk Road, it is inevitable that there will be some walking around, so I can say that the servants of Zhu's family know each other."

Xie Chen asked again: "Then have you ever heard anything about the Zhu family from the servants of the Zhu family?"

The coachman carefully recalled: "It's nothing serious, but I only heard from the servants of Zhu's family that Master Zhu is very harsh on them on weekdays. It's a completely different person."

Xie Chen said: "Did someone ever say something dissatisfied?"

The coachman said: "You should ask who is satisfied. Most of the servants of the Zhu family have some complaints about Mr. Zhu, but they still dare not speak out because of the power."

Xie Chen asked again: "The last time I went to Zhu's house, I saw that Master Zhu's small courtyard is quite simple, but everyone said that he acts extravagantly, why is that?"

The coachman said: "No one knows, even the servants of the Zhu family are quite strange, and they often use it as a source of strange things in the conversation, and some good things even make up some unreliable stories."

Xie Chen asked, "What unreliable story?"

The coachman said: "It's nothing more than a golden house hiding a beauty, or there is a dark room in that house where the treasures that Master Zhu brought back from the Western Regions are hidden, but in fact, according to the maid who cleaned the house, there is no beautiful dark room at all."

Xie Chen said: "That's true. That room is just an ordinary room. It's a pity that the boss Zhu He is dead. I'm afraid no one will know the reason why this room is so simple."

The coachman just chimed in.

Xie Chen asked again: "As far as you know, has there been any changes in the Zhu family's servants in the past two years?"

The coachman said: "I can't explain it clearly. For a big family like Mr. Zhu, there are too many things like changing a few cooks and buying a few young maids. Except for the people of the Zhu family, how can outsiders count them in detail? "

"It is."

"But..." the coachman hesitated, "I remember that about two years ago, the coachman of the Zhu family changed."

Xie Chen hurriedly asked: "The groom who drives the carriage has changed?"

The coachman said affirmatively, "That's right. I changed the groom. I remember this clearly. After all, I am a groom, and it is other grooms who I deal with most on a daily basis, so I remember this clearly."

Xie Chen asked again: "Then why did you change? But what did the previous groom do wrong?"

The coachman shook his head: "I don't know the inside story, but the people in the Zhu family said that Boss Zhu thought the previous groom was old, so he gave him a sum of money to let him go home for the elderly. However, it is quite strange to think about it. "

Xie Chen said: "How strange? It's not surprising that you will be sent home with money when you are old."

The coachman said: "But Boss Zhu is usually stingy. He rarely gives money to dismiss servants, and even if he does, he gives a lot, but this groom gives a lot."

Xie Chen said: "Maybe it's because the groom works diligently to please Boss Zhu He."

But the coachman said: "Others also guessed this way, but I just thought about it and found it strange. I remember that the coachman was dismissed when he was just over [-] years old. If it is to please the master, it is too early to dismiss at this age." gone?"

Xie Chen also seemed a little puzzled: "It's a bit weird. What about the groom who came later?"

The coachman said: "Speaking of the new coachman, he is also a bit weird."

Xie Chen said: "How weird?"

The coachman said: "The man is quite withdrawn, usually taciturn, but his skill in riding horses is first-class. Now that I think about it, maybe Boss Zhu has taken a fancy to this newcomer's outstanding ability, but the old man is also quite fond of it, so he is very rare. I changed the groom generously once."

Xie Chen said: "Perhaps it is true. Then let me ask you again. I recently inquired carefully in this Hangzhou city, and only then did I know that in the past few years in the surrounding villages and towns, women have often been abducted?"

The coachman nodded: "This happens from time to time, but it's not near Hangzhou City. In fact, it's not wrong for a woman to go missing in a country house, whether it's ganged up by bandits on the mountain, or kidnapped and sold to a foreign country as a wife. What a strange thing, it’s just that there may be more around Hangzhou.”

Xie Chen asked: "Could it be that the government doesn't care?"

The coachman said: "How can it be ignored? I heard that no matter whether it is the head catcher of the six gates or the master of the government, they are all anxious about this matter, but what can be done? Although sometimes it is embarrassing, but sometimes one, sometimes several, Sometimes they didn't get together for a few months, and sometimes there were several cases in a month. They searched the rivers and lakes, and even the green forest heroes in the nearby cottages helped to find out, but they couldn't find any information, and even whether they were done by the same group of people. How can we investigate such a case without beginning and end? Not to mention, some lost women may have eloped with others on their own, and it would be even more confusing."

(End of this chapter)