Chapter 12: Truth behind the fever
Now that Zi You expressed her concern over this matter, Old General Mu became unsettled.
'Can it be that Yi Ping was attempting to get revenge on Zi You? What about that son of mine? Did he know about this? If he and his wife really plotted against Zi You just to go on that trip together, then he really is the worst parent on earth.'
When Old General Mu thought about this, he felt like his entire body was submerged in ice cold water and he could feel the cold from inside out.
Without any delay, Old General Mu commanded his subordinate to investigate the matter. With the commencement of the investigation, some clues were found.
Firstly, Imperial Doctor Qin had some connections to Yi Ping's birth mother. He was a loyal fan of Yi Ping's entertainer mother. If it wasn't for the Prime Minister, Yi Ping's father may have been Imperial Doctor Qin instead!
Also, Ying Rui was not close to Imperial Doctor Qin, they were at most acquaintances. So what made him look specifically for Imperial Doctor Qin out of all the Imperial Doctors at the Tai Yi Yuan? (TL: imperial hospital, do let me know if you prefer to call it the imperial hospital or Tai Yi Yuan)
Secondly, two nights prior to Zi You falling sick, for some unknown reason, Yi Ping and Ying Rui had an altercation. The maid servants even heard Yi Ping's indistinguishable sobs.
Also, on that night, Madam's Liu's maidservant, Xiao Yu happened to go visit her sister in Yi Ping's courtyard. Her sister was a maidservant working under Yi Ping. When the two sisters came out, they went past Yi Ping's window and heard her saying "your daughter….hates me…can you…bear… … see me…bullied …for… three years…"
Following these two clues, Old General Mu dispatched his men over to the Tai Yi Yuan to secretly inquire. From there, he learned of a herb from the west called Wang You Lian. It's appearance was very similar to a regular lotus but it's flowers and seeds were golden in color. The flower would only be the size of a young child's fist and the seeds would be the size of a yellow bean. The Wang You Lian was very beautiful.
An average person that saw it for the first time would think that it was a golden bean. However, the Wang You Lian's seed was soft and bouncy and beneath the golden exterior was a black core. When you boil the seed with water, the water would turn sweet and people would often mistake it with drinking a sweet beverage.
The only catch is that it would cause high fever and unconsciousness. An overdose would cause the person's body temperature to skyrocket and die. Because it allow the consumer to forget all his worry in his 'sleep', it is named the Wang You Lian.
(TL: 忘=forget,忧=worry,莲=lotus)
While the seed is poisonous, the golden flower is the cure. Boiling two to three petals and drinking it will allow the fever to subside almost immediately.
After investigating till this point, if Old General Mu haven’t figured out what had happened, he would be an idiot.
Unsheathing his flying dragon sword angrily, he wanted to kill his son and daughter-in-law on the spot. However, he was stopped by Ying Yi and Zi You.
As tears were streaming down Zi You's face, she cried "grandfather, if you do this, the reputation of the general's estate will be ruined! Both you and second uncle will be affected. Other people will gossip saying, if you can't even handle your family affairs, how would you handle the army? Grandfather, please don't ruin the entire reputation of general's estate just for those two cold blooded monster. Besides, the two of them only did such a thing for me to accept stepmother. There will be no more problems if I try getting along with her. The only issue is that we should never allow such a woman to follow father on his trip. Otherwise, can you imagine what will happen if she abuses the influence she has over father? Please think thrice grandfather."
After contemplating for a moment, Old General Mu told his second son and granddaughter "when your father goes on his trip,I will let Butler Zhou follow and keep an eye on him. If your father turns over a new leaf, we shall forget about this incident. Otherwise, I will not let this go! As for that evil woman, Zi You's right, we must keep her here. I'm waiting to see if she has any other ideas up those sleeves of hers. Hence, Zi You, you should be on alert and wary of her. Ying Yi, tell your wife to find some reliable and loyal servants for Zi You.”