My wife has a secret

Chapter 42 The Secret of the Four Hospitals

Yang Liu's body trembled, the hem of her skirt swayed slightly, and her delicate and pleasant voice was no longer calm.

"Master, you must have evidence to prove what you said. You can't slander our Fourth Academy out of thin air."

"The whole plant of Datura is highly toxic, with the seeds being the most toxic, followed by the young leaves... The petals of the Datura flower are the least toxic, but the crushed pollen can be mixed into food and sachets, entering the human body through a variety of ways and is least likely to be detected by others."

Xu Qing took a sip of the tea beside him and said calmly, "In the house of the fourth courtyard, on Qin's carriage, and even in the items you carry with you, there are a wide variety of incense balls, sachets, incense niches, and boxes. These things are the key to your deception, because as long as you develop the image of Qin's fragrant fragrance, no one in the mansion will be suspicious of such items."

"The same is true for all kinds of flowers in the yard. Although the datura can be made into dried leaves, its toxicity is still greater than that of petals, and it cannot be ground into powder... In order to ensure the freshness of this thing, you deliberately arranged the courtyard into a colorful image, and then mixed the datura into it. In this way, no one would think that the leader of the flower art world would privately grow datura and use it on her own husband."

Yang Liu's gauze skirt fluttered and her breathing became a little rapid.

She looked at Xu Qing with her beautiful eyes and eyebrows, with a somewhat dull expression.

"Master is really smart."

"It's too late to find out. Your little tricks actually started long ago."

Xu Qing sighed and said in a rather helpless tone: "I still remember the night I stayed in the Fourth Courtyard, you helped me change my clothes. At that time, you touched me a few more times, and I thought you were not being honest... Later I suddenly realized that you were applying fragrant pollen on my body so that you could know where I was that day."

"Of course, the most obvious thing was this morning, when I was riding here, you tried to dissuade me from changing my destination. It seems that you also knew that I would find out the truth about your four courtyards when I came to the Exiled Immortal Tower, leaving you no way to escape."

Yang Liu bit her lip and remained silent for a while, then she suddenly smiled, as if she agreed with Xu Qing's words.

"But the young master still wants to get to the bottom of it, doesn't he? It would have been better if he had stopped earlier..."

When Yang Liu mentioned the outing in the car, the carriage from the Fourth Courtyard was following them a hundred steps away.

As long as Xu Qing turned the car around and drove out of the city, the lady would naturally not take his life.

Xu Qing suddenly raised his head, stared straight at Yang Liu, and raised his voice, "You four courtyards have been poisoning me for so long, and you still want me to stop? Are you dreaming? Can't you tell who is the master in the Xu Mansion?"

The sudden momentum made Yang Liu's delicate body tremble and her face dim.

"Okay, I know you guys don't want me to leave alive today... Just when I entered the room, I saw you untying the tie on the sachet. I believe that it won't be long before we both fall into a coma."

Yang Liu reacted slightly when she heard this.

But after thinking for a moment, she still didn't know what to say to Xu Qing, and finally fell silent.

"At this point, I still want to clarify some things, that is, who does your young lady receive on a daily basis, and how is such a large-scale Exiled Immortal Building managed?"

Xu Qing was very curious about the Qin family's history of prosperity, because the building of the Suzhou headquarters had already demonstrated its extraordinary background.

How did a woman who came from a brothel manage to make such a fortune?
Xu Qing was not so worried about his own safety because he had asked Xiaohuan to arrange everything this morning.

"Master, I know you want to delay time, but the military guards assigned by Chief Jiao and the eldest young lady have been stopped outside the Exiled Immortal Tower... You have no chance of winning."

"It's okay, just think of it as the obsession of a dying person."

Seeing Xu Qing's calm expression, Yang Liu bit her lip and replied calmly: "Young Master, since you asked these questions, you must have found out something, right?"

"Yes, I found some clues from you."

"On me?"

Xu Qing said, "The day I went to your Fourth Hospital, do you remember that little Linzi who flirted with you?"

"Slave remember."

Yang Liu looked a little puzzled, because she couldn't imagine any clues in this matter.

"Xiao Huan once told me that among the servants of the Xu Mansion, the maids in the Fourth Courtyard have the highest status. It's because I often go to the Fourth Courtyard. The servants in the mansion all think that you and Cui'er are the maids of Qin and I, so they dare not provoke you."

"But that little Linzi is of low status, just a messenger, yet he dares to tease you without caring about others... This shows that he has leverage over your four colleges, and he is sure that you dare not do anything to him, right?"

Yang Liu was amazed by Xu Qing's logical analysis.

Xiao Linzi does have information that the four academies don't want others to know, so Yang Liu and Cui'er would tolerate some of the other party's actions that are not too excessive.

Even though Xiao Linzi is just a servant, he is a member of the Xu family after all. Getting rid of him will only alert the Xu family and put the young lady's identity at risk of being exposed.

When Xu Qing stood up for her that day, Yang Liu was happy that the trouble had been solved, but who could have thought that this insignificant matter would arouse the other party's suspicion?
No wonder the young lady was so determined to get rid of the young master. It seemed that it was only a matter of time before he discovered Mandragora.

"Later, I went to find that little Linzi and asked him about the thing in his hand. Guess what?"

When Xu Qing said this, he deliberately kept the question in suspense in order to observe Yang Liu's reaction.

After seeing Yang Liu's breathing become heavy, he revealed all his private investigations, "Although there are many invitations sent every day, there is a strange thing here, that is, your lady will accept all the invitations."

"At first glance, it seems nothing is wrong... But when I think about it carefully, there are so many banquets listed in those invitations. Even if I run around day and night, it is impossible to visit all those places, so there is another possibility. That is, your young lady did not show up for the appointment at all, but used the characteristics of the mandrake to make them addicted to hallucinations. Because those nobles were born into famous families, they dared not tell the whole story, which created another image and reputation of Qin Shuying clinging to the powerful."

Yang Liu's eyes lit up slightly, and she said slowly: "Young Master has already guessed almost everything about our four courtyards... That's right, in fact, we are using Mandragora to control the powerful and wealthy. Young Master, you are not the first, nor the last."

"When we were learning at Wangyue Tower, we saw this thing on a Hu merchant who stayed in the building. He was using it to arouse sexual desire. But the young lady, who was nearly ten years old, thought of the wonderful use of this thing. She stole all the mandrakes from the Hu merchant that day and carefully cultivated them in the flowerbed in the backyard."

"Later, the young lady tested the toxicity of this substance on the animals raised in the Moon Watching Tower, and then researched how to grind it into pollen. Then we used the pollen of the Datura flower to create a scene of a fairy descending to earth, which caused a sensation throughout the capital and made the young lady famous."

"But this is still not enough... No matter whether they are prostitutes or not, they cannot escape the fate of aging and becoming playthings and abandoned children in those glamorous red-light districts. So we continued to buy mandrakes from the black market, and deceived those noble princes in Wangyue Tower to pay for us, and used it to create the illusion that you, the young master, had become our lover." "After the young master left Wangyue Tower and came to Suzhou, the four courtyards started to do business, and the initial capital was basically the family savings we saved at that time. But what we didn't expect was that the young masters in the capital who were previously hallucinated by mandrakes became dependent on it, so the young lady had to provide them with a place to smoke mandrakes, and by the way, collect their high fees for the expenses of the Exiled Immortal Tower."

Only after Xu Qing listened to Yang Liu's detailed explanation did he understand the whole story.

No wonder the Exiled Immortal House had so much money to poach people when it first opened. It turns out they were secretly doing this.

It is not easy to work hard for many years and achieve what she has today from an orphan in the red-light district.

Xu Qing said coldly: "But you have taken the wrong path. The addiction of Datura will become more and more serious. They will eventually go crazy because of this drug, or even die suddenly at home."

Yang Liu mentioned this in a calm voice, "Yes, when the young lady found out that the effect of the mandragora could not be replaced, it was too late... Two disciples from aristocratic families had already died suddenly at home, but the government office in the capital did not suspect us for the time being. So our young lady wanted to distance herself from the identity of the fourth young lady of the Xu family, and from then on, take us away from these troubled places and become the boss behind the Exiled Immortal Building."

"sharp."

Facing Qin Shuying's plan, Xu Qing could feel that the other party was making careful and cautious arrangements step by step.

If it weren't for the fact that I became alert to the poisoning after traveling through time, I'm afraid Qin Shuying would have completed her plan and escaped.

"Master, you are innocent in this matter... Miss and we both know that your feelings for her are genuine, so we..."

"So you won't let me die too painfully, right?"

Xu Qing sighed, looked at Yang Liu with a half-smile, and said jokingly: "I have discovered that the villains' rhetoric is basically the same. Forget it... Your young lady is upstairs, right? I'll go find her."

"Master, now that you have discovered this, there is no turning back. Even if you go to beg Miss... it will be useless."

"Who said I asked for it? You are the ones who should ask for it."

Yang Liu thought Xu Qing in front of her had gone crazy due to too much pressure, but then she realized something was wrong.

Why did the mandragora in his sachet evaporate for so long but failed to knock them out while they were trapped in the room?
Yang Liu was startled and quickly took out the sachet beside her and opened it.

Only at this moment did she suddenly realize that the spices inside were just some dried peach fruits, and there was no trace of Datura pollen at all.

"The items are different. I've already replaced your sachet and thrown it on the ground... You don't think I'll allow you to carry the sachet with you after I've noticed something's wrong with you, do you?"

Yang Liu was speechless for a moment, but Xu Qing's next words made her sweat and fear break out.

"You only stopped Captain Jiao and Captain Shan. Why didn't you stop all my friends and leave Zhu Yuande and Zhang Ruihai alone?"

"what?"

Xu Qing passed by Yang Liu and pushed open the door.

Once the closed environment is lifted, the sound of hurried horse hooves can be heard coming from outside the building.

"Zhennan Zhongwu Army is on the march, ordered to clear the streets, anyone who violates military rules will be killed without mercy!"

The fierce roar instantly spread throughout the entire street, bringing people an endless sense of oppression.

"Kill without mercy!"

Even though Xu Qing and Yang Liu were on the third floor of the Exiled Immortal Tower, they could still hear the roars coming from downstairs.

Yang Liu ran to the window in disbelief, and happened to see two or three cavalrymen wearing heavy silver armor passing by on the street, raising dust.

After the surrounding crowd of vendors were dispersed, they tightened the reins and slowly stopped their horses in front of the door of the Exiled Immortal Tower.

At the same time, the stone slabs on the street suddenly began to tremble slightly.

Teams of silver-armored soldiers began to emerge at the end of the street. Their bright silver armor reflected bursts of light as they walked towards here as if they were travelling under the stars.

Those people who were unable to dodge were driven into the alley by the government officers with swords on their waists. They squatted with their heads in their hands and dared not make a sound.

Yang Liu looked at all this sudden happening and felt her breathing stop. She was in a state of semi-delirium.

Her brain had lost the ability to think, and she stared blankly at the scene downstairs.

Everything was clearly going according to the young lady's plan, so why did it turn out like this?
"I know you are observing my every move and my investigation of Mandala... so you must have noticed the presence of Captain Jiao and Captain Shan, but don't forget that when Shan was a refugee, my aunt was willing to mobilize the Zhennan Zhongwu Army for me. Now that I have secretly entered the Exiled Immortal Tower and put myself in danger, will the Zhennan Zhongwu Army and Suzhou Prefecture, who have received the news, remain indifferent?"

Yang Liu looked down at her toes. She didn't know what to say at this moment.

Even though the young lady had planned for so long, she still failed before her wish was fulfilled. The truth was discovered by Xu Qing and she ended up in her current situation.

What will be their future?
Thinking of this question, Yang Liu's hands and feet turned cold and she felt an unprecedented fear.

Xu Qing saw that Yang Liu was no longer interested in talking to him, so he turned and walked towards the stairs at the end.

Standing there was the shopkeeper Sun, whose face was pale and no longer as pretty as the one downstairs.

Although her dress was still as bright as ever, when she heard the noise downstairs and took a look from afar... Shopkeeper Sun knew that his boss was in unimaginable trouble.

But even at this point, she still wanted to do her best for her employer, so she stood guard on the only way up the stairs.

　Sorry for the wait, brothers.
　　
　
(End of this chapter)