During the morning of Qi Qingyao’s tenth day here, she went to treat Heir Pei with needles as usual. After that, Heir Pei raised a finger limply and pointed to a small package on the bedside table, gesturing for Qi Qingyao to open it.
Curious, she opened it to see a stack of paper money in the package.
Heir Pei said in a low tone, “This is my payment to you.”
“Paper money?” It was quite a hefty stack. On them were the words ‘Yongchang Bank’ and ‘Can be Exchanged’.
Heir Pei was also quite direct. “Silver ingots aren’t convenient to carry around. These are paper money issued by Yongchang Bank. You can exchange them for ingots in any branch of theirs around the continent. They’re reliable! You can do that any time.”
Qi Qingyao licked her thumb, leaving some saliva on the skin, and started counting the money. She counted them twice and confirmed that there were a hundred of these notes in the stack, all of 100 yuan.
Qi Qingyao said to Heir Pei with a grin, “After your show of generosity, I’ll throw in a bonus. The toxins in your body have almost all cleared. Starting tomorrow, you don’t have to take this medicine anymore as excessive doses will bring on side effects. I’ll give you some medicine good for your body. The number of days you need to take it for and the dates will be labeled on them. You only need to take them as ordered and stop after one month. By then, your condition should be good. You only need to rest well and let your body recover.”
Then Qi Qingyao asked Li Qing, who was standing at the door, to come in. She had Li Qing hand her a set of stationery, wrote down several recipes, and told Li Qing what to do.
Li Qing listened to her intently.
After that, Qi Qingyao bade goodbye to Heir Pei,
After an hour, Li Qing reported to his boss.
Heir Pei put his medicine aside and gestured for the servant by him to leave. It was only after that he asked Li Qing, “Has she left?”
“She, along with her children, Bull-head and Horse-face, have left our premises,” Li Qing said.
“How’s the investigation I ordered going?” Heir Pei asked.
Li Qing said, “Qi Qingyao is from Linquan Village. She’s always been notorious in the village as a fool. Four years ago, she, along with her family, visited relatives in Qingzhou City. She lost her way for a few days and later returned pregnant. She gave birth to triplets. A few days before this, quite recently, she recovered and became normal, but then she was disowned by the Qi family, who had her fend for herself. Later, we met her in the temple of the Koi Fish God.”
‘Qi Qingyao, Qi Qingyao…’ Heir Pei repeated her name in his mind. He stared at one corner of the room, looking spaced out. After a while, he asked, “Li Qing, what do you think of this woman?”
“Heir?” Li Qing did not know what the point of this question was.
Heir Pei narrowed his eyes. “Do you think she really was a fool?”
Li Qing looked downward. He organized his thoughts in his mind before replying, “I dare not make baseless speculations, but I have a question: if she really was a fool, where did her prowess in medicine come from? There are so many physicians in the country, and yet no one has succeeded in treating the ailment that’s been haunting you persistently. She, on the other hand, did so effortlessly! There’s Horse-face and Bull-head too. I heard the villagers say that they’re two very handsome young men. One of them seems to be a scholar!”
Heir Pei was still spacing out. It was like he was listening, but only to half of it.
Li Qing lowered his voice and whispered quickly, “If he were a normal scholar, would he need to wear the mask both for the temple festival and at the entrance of the temple? We haven’t seen the true faces of those two men during the past few days they’ve lived here. This is very strange.”
Heir Pei said determinedly, “She must be Su Hexiao. It’s just that she doesn’t want to admit it.”
“I think so too.” There was no way to explain her prowess in medicine, otherwise!
“You must keep her identity and the fact that I asked you to investigate it a secret, regardless if she’s Su Hexiao or not.”
“Yes, Heir.”
“Also, keep the recipes she wrote for me well. When we return to the Capital, I will enter the palace and compare them to the recipes held by the emperor.”
“Yes, Heir.”