Chapter 138: You Should Run Away

Wei Renshi felt that his attire made his attitude quite obvious: he had no wish to get involved in this matter.

However, Zhang Ji was single-mindedly intent on having Wei Renshi lend a hand, whether willfully or simply failing to catch the hint.

He continued, "Miss Huang comes from a medical family, with generations dedicated to the healing arts, and enjoys a certain reputation within Chang'an City. A few days ago, a man consulted Miss Huang's father for an illness, took the prescribed medicine, but instead of improving, his condition worsened day by day until he died within a few days. That family then came to cause a scene, claiming that Miss Huang's father had poisoned the patient with his medicine."

"Setting aside the fact that Physician Huang is a master of medicine, even if he were unable to cure the man's illness, it is impossible that the medicine he prescribed could kill someone," Zhang Ji went on. "Even if the medicine had genuinely caused the death, if it were an ordinary family, ample compensation could settle the matter. But as it happens, the deceased was... was the adopted son of Fifth Shouliang, the Lieutenant-General of the Right Shence Army! Alas!"

Zhang Ji stamped his foot and let out a heavy, deeply distressed sigh.

"So you wish to ask the imperial physicians from the Imperial Medical Service to examine those medicines, so as to prove that they are not lethal, and that the death of Fifth Shouliang's adopted son has nothing to do with Physician Huang?" Wei Renshi grasped Zhang Ji's intention and asked.

Zhang Ji nodded. "Exactly so!"

"Does this young lady intend to sell off all her family property to compensate Fifth Shouliang, and then flee Chang'an City to hide far away?" Wei Renshi asked.

The woman in plain clothes wore a bitter expression and nodded in reply, "Replying to your lordship, there is no other choice! My father fell gravely ill from shock and has been bedridden ever since. This humble woman simply cannot think of any other way."

"Why haven't you sought a coroner to examine the body and determine the cause of death?" Wei Renshi asked, turning to look at Zhang Ji.

Both Zhang Ji and the woman in plain clothes were momentarily startled, clearly having never considered this option.

However, Zhang Ji immediately shook his head again and said, "How could Fifth Shouliang ever permit a coroner to examine the body of his adopted son?"

Upon reflection, Wei Renshi realized this made sense. Even in later generations, many people were reluctant to let forensic pathologists perform autopsies on relatives who died in accidents, let alone in this era.

"Miss Huang, please fetch that prescription and let Master Wei take a look!" Zhang Ji turned and said to the woman in plain clothes.

The woman nodded, turned hastily, and ran to the back to retrieve it.

Wei Renshi looked helplessly at Zhang Ji and asked, "Master Zhang, what relation do you have to this family?"

"I also live in this ward, so we are neighbors," Zhang Ji shook his head and said. "Moreover, Physician Huang went to great lengths to treat my eye affliction, and through that, we became well acquainted."

"Master Zhang also lives in Yankang Ward?" Wei Renshi asked.

Zhang Ji nodded. "I am merely a transient guest living here."

"Master Zhang's relationship with this family seems far more than just being well acquainted," Wei Renshi said, staring at Zhang Ji with a playful smile.

"Miss Huang is a kind-hearted person. Coming from a humble background, when I first arrived in Chang'an, I was barely clothed and starving, and I received much care from Miss Huang," Zhang Ji replied. "This entire family consists of good people; I truly cannot bear to watch them meet such a fate..."

While the two men were speaking, the woman in plain clothes hurried back from the inner rooms, holding a slip of paper. She approached them, handed it to Wei Renshi, and said, "Please examine this, Lord Wei!"

Wei Renshi took the prescription and lowered his head to look at it.

He knew nothing of such matters. While he could recognize the names of a few medicinal herbs written on it, he certainly had no idea what the formula as a whole was meant to treat. There were even several items listed that Wei Renshi had never heard of before.

"Oh?" Wei Renshi caught sight of a familiar herb name and said, "Does this contain thunder god vine?"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Ji hurriedly asked, "What is wrong with this thunder god vine?"

Wei Renshi looked up at the woman in plain clothes and asked, "Thunder god vine is highly toxic. Is that the reason?"

In later generations, a colleague of Wei Renshi's at school suffered from rheumatoid arthritis and had used a folk remedy containing thunder god vine, resulting in severe poisoning that almost cost him his life. Thus, Wei Renshi knew that this herb was intensely poisonous.

"This..." The woman in plain clothes frowned slightly and said, "Although thunder god vine is highly toxic, as long as the inner and outer bark are stripped away, it is properly processed, and the dosage is strictly observed, it should not cause fatal poisoning. The man suffered from consumption, and thunder god vine has a somewhat miraculous effect on consumption, which is why my father added this herb to the formula. He even instructed the patient that if he felt uncomfortable after drinking it, he should immediately swallow sheep's blood to counteract the poison. If he felt fine, he was to continue taking it, but every half-month he had to stop the medicine for seven days before resuming."

Wei Renshi thought for a moment and asked further, "When the man died, was he yellow? That is, did his skin turn yellow, and did the whites of his eyes turn yellow as well?"

The woman in plain clothes thought for a moment and said, "This... this humble woman cannot clearly remember. The day their family carried the man over, he had already passed away. He was covered with a cloth, and I only caught a single glance; it seemed... it seemed... it seemed somewhat yellow."

"In that case, the man either died from an aggravation of his consumption or from thunder god vine poisoning," Wei Renshi said. "Thunder god vine poisoning frequently causes liver damage, and liver damage leads to jaundice. When jaundice is severe, a person's urine resembles strong tea, their stool resembles pottery clay, their entire body turns yellow, and even their sweat and tears turn yellow. This should be quite obvious and not difficult to distinguish. Did your father carefully examine the man's body? Was there jaundice?"

"I... this humble woman does not know... My father is bedridden now..." The woman was momentarily flustered.

"Young miss..." An old servant behind her suddenly spoke up and said, "That... that man's complexion was indeed very yellow! It was only after the master saw the yellowing on his body that he fainted and fell gravely ill!"

Hearing this, Wei Renshi looked over and asked, "And you are..."

"Reporting to your lordship, this is the steward of my family, who has always stayed by my father's side." With that, she hastily turned back to the steward and asked, "Uncle Fu, did you see it with your own eyes?"

The steward nodded and said, "Old servant went along with the master. Those people kept cursing relentlessly, and after the master finally managed to calm them down, old servant went over with him and lifted the cover. The corpse's whole body was yellow. When the master saw it, he uttered the words 'That is impossible,' and immediately collapsed in a faint."

Wei Renshi lowered his gaze back to the prescription. Physician Huang appeared to be a meticulous person; not only were the herbs and quantities listed, but on the back, he had also noted the exact amount to be drunk each time, emergency measures to take if one felt unwell afterward, and instructions to cease taking the medicine for seven days after finishing one dose before starting the next.

"The first thing you need to do right now is to find a physician whose reputation commands respect, to examine the herbs, dosages, and usage on this prescription to prove that such usage could not cause death," Wei Renshi handed the prescription back to the woman in plain clothes and said to both her and Zhang Ji. "At the same time, you must find a way to inquire whether that man strictly followed the instructions on the prescription. I suspect that, seeing it was effective, he most likely arbitrarily increased the dosage or failed to wait out the required rest period, leading to thunder god vine poisoning."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Ji clapped his hands together and exclaimed, "That's right! We were simply blinded by our own anxiety! It never crossed our minds that the problem might not lie in the prescription itself, but in the patient failing to follow it!"

After a brief pause, he added, "It's just that neither of these two tasks will be easy to accomplish! We might manage to pull some strings at the Imperial Medical Service and ask the Chief Physician to take a look. But finding out how Fifth Shouliang's adopted son took the medicine will be extremely difficult."

Wei Renshi shrugged and said, "If neither of those two things can be accomplished, then you can only resign yourselves to bad luck, sell off your family property to hand over to Fifth Shouliang, beg him not to kill you in revenge, and then quickly flee far away to escape."