The Martial Doctor

The carriage moved along the official road returning to Dongshan City.

This time, although they would be late again, with the experience from last time, Xia Zhu would put up a notice to reassure the patients. It wouldn’t matter if he returned a bit later.

"Senior sister, didn’t sleep well?" Lin Miao noticed that Sun Youwei looked somewhat tired and reached over to hold a delicate hand, asking with concern.

"I don’t know why, but I’m feeling uneasy and couldn’t sleep..."

"It’s nothing, we’ll be back tonight, and you can naturally rest well then." Lin Miao pulled Sun Youwei into his arms.

At this moment, a small black head peeked out from Sun Youwei’s embrace, opened its drowsy eyes to take a look, crawled out with effort, and lay down in the corner of the carriage to continue sleeping.

This little black cat stuck to Sun Youwei closely when it had nothing to do, but whenever Lin Miao and Sun Youwei were closely hugging each other, it would sensibly find a place to nap on its own, showing a kind of human-like behavior.

"Giddy-up!"

Holding Sun Youwei like this, Lin Miao suddenly felt a bit of unease in his heart, like a jolt of electricity had passed through his body.

He had never experienced this situation before, and then, he saw the little black panther lying in the corner also lift its little head, its small eyes shining with a fierce yet cute light?

Beasts’ senses are much sharper than humans’, so it seemed this wasn’t a natural bodily response; he must have been spied on by someone.

The person spying on him must be highly skilled, otherwise, it wouldn’t have alerted him.

Could it be that Tianyuan person?

The fire kylin and ice beast he left in Miao Manor didn’t follow him back; relatively, the safety of Miao Manor was more important.

Returning were just the three of them, he and Lianxin were both in the Meridian Passage Realm, and although the senior sister had no combat power, her cultivation was also at the Blood Fusion Realm...

In broad daylight, unless a Tianyuan expert disregarded everything to attack, it would be impossible to harm them, especially since he could call for backup immediately.

He even hoped that the Tianyuan would act, so he could find out who this guy was. Helian Wanwan had already completed her breakthrough and was just consolidating her cultivation. As long as he sent a message, she could arrive within the time it takes for burning an incense stick.

In a sense, he, Sun Youwei, and Lianxin were something of a bait.

But Lin Miao guessed that this sneaky guy was unlikely to act; even under last night’s circumstances, he hadn’t helped Scorpio. Whether catching him or killing him now would make no difference, plus, he might not even have the ability to act.

They returned safely and without incident to Dongshan City.

"Why don’t you, senior sister, take today to rest instead of going to the medical hall? I can handle it on my own."

"It’s alright, I’m not tired." Sun Youwei laughed lightly; she was no longer the sickly person she had been a year ago; her body had long since recovered.

"Alright then."

...

Pei Jian ordered the Arresting Department to directly seal off the Ye Family and all their business premises, including the Ye Family Medical Hall, Shengyuan Hall.

The charge was simple, smuggling with Beihu, collaborating with the enemy, and treason.

Although the Beihu wolf horsemen hadn’t appeared in Dongshan for a long time, the older generation remembered that when the Beihu wolf horsemen breached the borders, the towns and villages along the way would be nearly emptied, not only plundering and killing but also capturing young men and women as slaves.

The Beihu called the people of Da Li "two-legged sheep."

Although Da Li and Beihu were at peace now, the state of hostility had never changed. Every year, Beihu would come south to plunder grain, but the places they invaded were limited, mainly due to the deployment of Marquis Wuan Qingye on the frontier, providing Lanzhou people with twenty years of good days.

Hence, the people’s hatred for Beihu remained in their memory and was not forgotten.

The Ye Family actually secretly dealing with Beihu was simply awakening the long-buried pain of the people. Additionally, although the Ye Family ran a medical hall, their treatment fees were expensive and unaffordable for ordinary people. Moreover, cases of treatment failures causing death or disablement occasionally happened.

The reputation of the Ye Family plummeted instantly.

The entire Ye Family, over three hundred people, were all imprisoned. Their fate depended on whether they were involved in the crime of smuggling with Beihu and if there were other criminal acts. In any case, Ye Shengyuan’s branch was certainly not escaping.

According to the current charges, at least three generations would face execution.

Moreover, Marquis Lingyang’s Mansion was also sealed; it wasn’t confiscated, just restricted — entry was allowed but not exit. Marquis Lingyang was a royal kin with a title; even if Pei Jian wanted to deal with and confiscate the mansion, he needed an imperial decree.

If he arbitrarily sealed Marquis Lingyang’s Mansion, even if it was the right thing to do, it would be treasonous.

This was one of the reasons Pei Jian didn’t order the arrest of Mrs. He; without a decree, at most he could restrict her freedom, but couldn’t send people into the mansion to arrest her.

However, now it’s a different situation; He Yun left Marquis Lingyang’s Mansion on her own, so to prevent her escape, temporarily detaining her posed no issue.

Just waiting for the imperial decree to strip her of her title, then she could be shackled and imprisoned.

This is the normal procedure, and with the Imperial Envoy soon arriving, Pei Jian wouldn’t allow any procedural flaws in handling this case to be discovered.

Because the Ye Family’s medicinal material trade was extensive, especially holding half the market share in medicinal wholesale in Dongshan Prefecture.

Once the Ye Family is closed down, the entire Dongshan Prefecture will face a medicine shortage.

After all, once the warehouses of the medicine trade are sealed, the medicines inside are considered illicit goods and, according to the court’s regulations, are not permitted to be moved.

Moreover, once the Ye Family is sealed, operations will halt, and subsequent medical supplies won’t be able to come in, leaving a vast gap to fill.

This is also the reason why Pei Jian is unwilling to take immediate action against the Ye Family. It concerns the people’s livelihood, and any negligence could ignite conflicts.

Right now, his confidence stems from Lin Miao and the Su Family’s medicine trade urgently shipping in some medical supplies from other locations.

Moreover, the Su Family has credibility and assuredly took out all the medicines from the Ye Family’s warehouse as collateral.

That is to say, the Su Family used its assets as collateral to take out the medicines from the Ye Family’s medicine trade warehouse first.

To ensure the supply of medicines in the Dongshan Prefecture market, all these are within Pei Jian’s discretion and do not require waiting for the Imperial Envoy to come.

Of course, after sealing, an inventory is needed before collateralization and exchange, and this process definitely takes three to five days.

Thus, the medicine market is bound to fluctuate for some days, so once something happens to the Ye Family, major clinics in the city start buying medicines in bulk.

Who knows how much the medicine prices will skyrocket in Dongshan Prefecture after the Ye Family’s downfall?

"Mr. Lin, should we also purchase a batch?" Xia Zhu came to ask Lin Miao. The Lin Clan cooperates with the Su Family and is also involved in the medicine wholesale business, but its market share is low. Moreover, with hundreds of kinds of medicines, many medicine traders are required, each with their specialty.

With the Ye Family’s downfall, their medicine procurement channels will undoubtedly be divided among others, and this is a perfect opportunity for the Su Family and the Lin Clan to enter the market and take a share.

Of course, others will see the opportunity too. The Xu Family and other clinics and medicine wholesalers aren’t fools; ultimately, who can grab more depends on personal methods and skills.

"No need, we have enough for now. Also, our pharmacy will not raise prices. It’s about the people’s livelihood, and we must not earn such conscience-less money." Lin Miao advised.

Xia Zhu nodded: "Understood, Mr. Lin."

"What about Mr. Wen? Why haven’t I seen him today?"

"He went to the Medical Bureau to handle official business. He probably won’t come today. With the incident with the Ye Family, the whole medical field in Dongshan is shaken, and many people might get implicated." Xia Zhu said.

"Hmm, I understand. You go ahead and get busy." Lin Miao nodded. Once this storm kicks up, it’s feared that no one in Dongshan Prefecture’s official circles can escape it.

...

Su Mobai accepted the imperial decree, intending to meet the emperor early the next morning, yet he had no idea how to handle this case.

Especially since he didn’t know the emperor’s stance on this case, handling it really made him uneasy.

Why would Zhao Rui see him? Moreover, Zhao Rui wasn’t even up at this hour.

However, even though Zhao Rui didn’t see him, he anticipated that Su Mobai would seek an early audience, so he had Mr. Yao give him a written phrase: "Impartial and unbiased".

Su Mobai received this imperial phrase, his brows furrowed tightly.

If it were "fair and just," it would be understandable and not hard to achieve, but this "impartial and unbiased" was difficult to interpret.

There’s no standard for "impartial and unbiased."

What does "impartial and unbiased" mean? Or is it the emperor thinking he might favor someone, hence giving him a deliberate warning?

"Mr. Su, you’d better set off quickly. The Yulin Guard General has probably already reached your residence, and if he doesn’t see you, he will get anxious," Mr. Yao reminded, seeing Su Mobai’s deep-furrowed brows.

"Yes, thank you for the reminder, Mr. Yao." Su Mobai sighed, could only put away the word bestowed by the emperor, placed it in his chest, and turned to leave.

The imperial mandate is hard to defy, he still has to do his duty.

But this trip, who knows whether he will return to the capital in glory to receive a reward, or sit in a prison carriage, becoming a prisoner...

No time to deal with the melancholy in his heart, Su Mobai hurried home, and as expected, Deputy General Tie Lin of the Yulin Guard had been waiting for a long time.

If not for already knowing from the Su Family servants where Su Mobai went, he would probably have barged into the Su mansion to search and arrest.

"Mr. Su, we should be on our way now. Mr. Cui is already waiting for us outside the city." Tie Lin nodded slightly. He is a military officer, though his rank is not as high as Su Mobai, this trip; he still has to follow Su Mobai’s orders. However, with the identity of a military officer, especially being a Deputy General of the Yulin Guard, in his heart, he looked down on civil officials like Su Mobai who have no power to bind a chicken.

"I, as the Imperial Envoy, understand, let’s depart now." As a Deputy General of the Yulin Guard, he is a confidant of the emperor, even if he is subordinate now, Su Mobai dare not put on airs as an Imperial Envoy.

As for Cui Xiang from the Ministry of Justice, who is several ranks lower than him, he has King Qi backing him, so he didn’t really take Su Mobai seriously.

But at this moment, Cui Xiang probably doesn’t know what case they are going to handle with him following.

Neither the Crown Prince nor Marquis Lingyang and behind them Consort Xue and King Qi’s mother and son are people he can afford to offend. Ah, why did I get involved in such a troublesome matter!

The political circles are getting more dangerous, and if he can return to the capital safely this time, he’s going to resign from this position. Even Lien steers clear of the court, what’s the point in doing well, when the emperor doesn’t favor him.

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