Red Chamber 8

This toxin can also be transmitted through the mother to the fetus in her womb.

A child born under such conditions is naturally weak and highly susceptible to early death.

The mother herself will also suffer damage, finding it difficult to recover after childbirth and remaining in a state of chronic weakness.

If she is not careful and contracts another illness, she may well pass away.

The faces of Lin Ruhai and Jia Min turned dark.

The person who poisoned the medicine was truly vicious.

Lin Ruhai hurriedly said, "Doctor, please examine my wife."

The physician took Jia Min's pulse. After a while, he withdrew his hand and said to Lin Ruhai and Jia Min, "Lady Lin has not been taking the medicine for long, so although there are toxins in her body, the amount is not significant. I will prescribe two doses of detoxifying medicine. Once Lady Lin takes them, the toxins will be completely expelled, and she will be fine."

Jia Min asked, "What about the child? Will the detoxifying decoction have any effect on the baby? Have the toxins already affected the child?"

The physician replied, "The detoxifying prescription I am writing is quite mild and will not have much impact on the fetus in your womb. The fetus has not absorbed too much toxin, and by absorbing the detoxifying decoction you take, it will also be able to expel the toxins from its body."

Hearing this, Jia Min let out a long sigh of relief.

She was full of anticipation for the child in her womb.

Having been married to Lin Ruhai for ten years and only giving birth to a daughter for the Lin family, Jia Min felt she had failed Lin Ruhai and the ancestors of the Lin family.

She was desperate to give birth to a son.

Now that she had finally conceived a son, how could she let anything happen to him?

The physician wrote down the prescription and left after receiving a generous reward.

Jia Min had her trusted nanny oversee the brewing of the medicine, ensuring that the decoction never left the nanny's sight.

The couple thanked Jia Hu and Liu Zhong for their warning.

The two men tactfully took their leave and returned to their own courtyard.

They would not disturb the couple as they investigated the mastermind behind the scenes.

The next day, after breakfast, Jia Min asked Jia Hu and Liu Zhong to take Lin Daiyu out to play.

Knowing that Lin Ruhai and Jia Min were sending them away to handle matters in the mansion, the two readily agreed.

However, Liu Zhong left Jiqiu behind in the Lin Mansion.

Under Liu Zhong's tutelage, Jiqiu's ability to gather gossip had improved significantly.

Lin Daiyu was a well-behaved and adorable little girl; she acted like a little adult, fulfilling her duties as a hostess by taking Jia Hu and Liu Zhong around Yangzhou City.

Her little demeanor was very endearing.

However, the little girl was not in the best of health, and before long, she grew tired. As she sat in the carriage, she drifted off to sleep.

Liu Zhong took the opportunity to touch the little girl's wrist and channeled spiritual energy into her to investigate.

Although the little girl's body was weak, there were no major issues.

The problem lay in the origin within the little girl's Purple Mansion.

The little girl was indeed the reincarnation of a fairy, which was why her Purple Mansion contained the origin cultivated in her previous life.

This origin was connected to the true form of Fairy Jiangzhu on one end and the soul of the reincarnated Fairy Jiangzhu on the other.

Liu Zhong realized that someone had tampered with the true form of Fairy Jiangzhu, affecting her origin through this connection.

Whenever the reincarnation of Fairy Jiangzhu wept, her origin would flow out along with her tears.

Once Lin Daiyu died from exhaustion of her tears, the origin of Fairy Jiangzhu would be completely drained; with her origin missing from her true form, she would naturally perish.

And where did the origin go?

Whoever did the tampering was the beneficiary.

It was a pity that he did not know where the Taixu Illusion Realm was, otherwise, he would certainly go there and eliminate the mastermind first.

Liu Zhong took action, helping Fairy Jiangzhu seal her origin.

Because he did not know where the true form of Fairy Jiangzhu was, Liu Zhong could not remove the tampering on her true form; he could only seal the origin of Fairy Jiangzhu for now so that when she shed tears, the origin would not flow away with them.

When Fairy Jiangzhu's current life ended and she returned to her true form, she could resolve it herself.

The carriage suddenly came to a halt. Jia Hu steadied himself and asked, "What happened?"

His servant, Shuangrui, reported from outside, "A little girl almost rushed out and hit the carriage, but she has now been pulled away by her family."

Liu Zhong lifted the carriage curtain and looked outside.

He saw a woman in her thirties dragging a seven or eight-year-old girl toward a small alley by the street.

Liu Zhong immediately spoke up: "Stop that mother and daughter and send them to the prefectural government office."

"Huh?" Shuangrui and the Lin family servants did not react in time.

Liu Zhong's own servant, Xiteng, was the most obedient to his master. As soon as Liu Zhong gave the order, he rushed over.

Shuangrui and the Lin family servants finally reacted, quickly following suit and grabbing the mother and daughter.

The middle-aged woman struggled and shouted, "What are you doing? Is there no law left? How dare you forcibly seize commoners in the middle of the street!"

Liu Zhong lifted the carriage curtain and stepped out, standing atop the carriage to look down at the woman, his voice cold: "You are a human trafficker; how can you claim to be an ordinary citizen? This little girl is absolutely not your daughter."

"You're spouting nonsense! She is my daughter," the middle-aged woman shrieked.

"I am not her daughter," the little girl spoke up timidly. "I am a girl from a good family who was abducted by them. They beat and scolded me, forcing me to admit that I am their daughter. But I am not; I have parents."

Jia Hu also climbed out of the carriage and comforted the little girl, saying: "Don't be afraid, we will take you to the yamen. The officials will help you find your parents."

Lin Daiyu had also been woken up by the commotion; she poked her small head out and said to the girl: "Big sister, come up into the carriage, we will take you to the yamen."

Seeing Lin Daiyu, who looked younger than herself, the little girl felt her fear diminish and began walking toward the carriage.

Liu Zhong reached out his hand and pulled the little girl onto the carriage.

His gaze lingered for a second on the bright red rouge mark on the little girl's forehead, and he thought to himself, It couldn't be that much of a coincidence, could it?!

But in the world of Red Chamber, wasn't there only one person who was this beautiful, had a cinnabar mole between her brows, and was of the right age?

If this truly were Zhen Yinglian, that would be wonderful; he could completely change this girl's tragic fate.

As a girl from a respectable family, the Zhen Family daughter would never become a concubine for Xue Pan.

The group changed their route and arrived at the prefectural yamen.

Upon hearing that the visitors were the nephew of Lin Ruhai and the heir to the Rongguo Mansion, the prefect personally came out to receive Jia Hu and the others.

Jia Hu recounted how they had encountered the human traffickers, and the prefect promised to severely punish the traffickers and follow the trail to capture their accomplices and rescue other children.

Jia Hu and Liu Zhong thanked the prefect and prepared to leave with Lin Daiyu.

The little girl looked at Lin Daiyu with longing eyes.

Lin Daiyu thought for a moment and said to Jia Hu: "Big cousin, let's take her home with us. Until her parents come to find her, let her stay at our house."

Jia Hu looked at his little cousin, whose face was full of anticipation, and then at the little girl, who was equally expectant yet nervous; his heart softened, and he nodded in agreement.

Lin Daiyu cheered, ran up to the little girl, and took her hand: "Big sister, come to my house. My parents are very kind, they will treat you well."

"Okay," the little girl whispered, "thank you."