Something Was Wrong

The next day.

Ning'an Street, Lin Family Clinic.

Standing on a little stool, Lin Zisu carefully used tongs to lift a gold dish holding vermilion Dan pills from the pill furnace and inspect them. Finding they had not yet cooked enough, she put them back and continued tending the flame to nurture them, stealing a glance at the table in the corner along the way.

Her aunt, a beauty fit to topple a nation, sat upright on a round stool, the side profile of her waist and hips tracing curves that made Zisu green with envy.

But beneath her gold-rimmed glasses, those alluring eyes were distracted. She had been staring blankly at the autumn light outside the window without moving for an hour.

Ever since going out the day before yesterday, Lin Wanyi had been like this, as though she had encountered something unholy outside.

Lin Zisu guessed it had something to do with Young Master Xie.

While studying at the Academy, she had seen plenty of senior sisters in the first bloom of love act just like this, freezing in a daze halfway through refining pills.

Sigh... women...

Lin Zisu shook her head inwardly and sighed. Deep down, she understood her aunt. After all, her aunt had been single for so many years, and meeting someone she liked was no easy thing. If she still did not marry, wouldn't that big, pale bottom of hers go entirely to waste?

Besides, if Young Master Xie married into the Lin family, big Coal Ball would naturally come along as his dowry. As the eldest young lady, surely it would not be too much for her to carry Coal Ball off?

Turning these thoughts over, she found it rather boring that her aunt still had not come back to her senses, so Lin Zisu deliberately looked out the window.

"Young Master Xie?!"

Rustle!

Lin Wanyi, who had been sitting in a daze on the bench, instantly snapped out of it at the sound and craned her head to look outside...

Where was he?

Realizing she had been teased, Lin Wanyi immediately gave the mischievous girl a mildly fierce look.

"Zisu!"

"Pfft-hahaha..."

Lin Zisu clutched her stomach and giggled, teasing her.

"Aunt, if you really miss him, just go find him. A grown aunt won't stay at home forever. I won't laugh at you."

Xie Jinhuan had been rescuing Lin Wanyi repeatedly lately, and he was simply too flawless in every respect. With neither of them married, it was perfectly normal for her thoughts to drift back to him.

But in front of her niece, Lin Wanyi hardly dared join in discussing men's merits and faults. She rose with a show of seriousness.

"I'm concerned about a patient's health. Xie Jinhuan took the pills you refined the day before yesterday, and then there was no word from him at all. He lives alone. What if something happened to him at home? I'll go check."

Lin Zisu had absolute confidence in her own handiwork. As long as she did not court disaster, there was no way Xie Jinhuan would suddenly drop dead. Still, she was very understanding just then.

"Checking on him is a good idea. There's already enough medicine for seven days. Take it over while you're at it, Aunt. You don't even have to come home tonight. Then you can go to the Mid-Autumn lantern festival together tomorrow."

"Why wouldn't I come home? Keep talking nonsense and I'll spank you!"

"Hee..."

After giving her a brief scolding, Lin Wanyi neatly packed the seven little porcelain bottles on the worktable into a wooden box and went out alone.

Ning'an Street was not very far from the Academy, and Clear Spring Lane was only a few minutes' walk away.

Lin Wanyi took a shortcut through the Back Alley. Passing County Commandant Yang's residence along the way, she spotted a pretty young wife standing at the gate with both hands on her hips like a wife-watching stone, muttering to herself.

"Sister Yang?"

"Oh? Sister Lin?!"

Turning to discover Divine Doctor Lin, a friend to all women, the Sister-in-law of the Yang Household hurried over.

"Why did you come out alone? The city is terribly chaotic these days. You're as lovely as a flower or a piece of jade. What if the Demon Bandits set their sights on you?"

I'm a Witch Cult witch myself. Out here, who would be setting their sights on whom is still up for debate...

That was what Lin Wanyi thought, but outwardly she answered with a gentle smile.

"I'm just taking a stroll. Everyone nearby is a neighbor. Don't worry, Sister Yang."

The Sister-in-law of the Yang Household hooked her arm through hers and began pulling her inside, glancing at the box in Lin Wanyi's hands along the way.

"Are you delivering medicine to the ladies on Wencheng Street? What sort of stuff is it? Is it potent?"

"Just some ordinary prescriptions, not the kind you're thinking of, Sister Yang..."

"You prescribe ordinary medicine too?"

"Uh..."

"I heard you prescribed something for Sister Liu a few days ago? I visited her yesterday, and her face was glowing as if she'd taken some great restorative pill. What medicine could be that amazing?"

Seven-Times-a-Night Pills...

Lin Wanyi found that rather difficult to answer and offered a couple of casual explanations. But Sister Yang was simply too enthusiastic, holding her arm and chatting about everyday matters for a full half hour. Gradually, she began getting into it herself.

The subject soon shifted from prescribing medicine to gossip about various wives and young ladies, and whose husband was keeping a mistress outside...

After Li Zixian was arrested yesterday, the Yamen had interrogated him through the night. Even the Pill King had spent the whole night there.

Everyone was working overtime. As someone involved in the case, Xie Jinhuan felt it would be inappropriate to slip away halfway through, so after dinner, he returned to the Yamen with Momo and the others to continue serving as the jury.

That interrogation ended up lasting all night.

Li Zixian was extraordinarily tight-lipped. Knowing he would receive a heavy sentence if he admitted to burying someone alive, he refused to talk despite severe torture.

Seeing the case reach a stalemate, Xie Jinhuan knew it was rather inappropriate to gloat, but the pressure on him had indeed eased considerably.

Now, walking down the street with the sleeping Coal Ball slung over his shoulder, Xie Jinhuan held The Tale of Golden Orchids in his hands, earnestly searching for the Ghost Wife's origins.

"Mouths met, tongues entwined, moisture welling between lips and teeth... French kissing, no less. Are you sure you don't remember any of this?"

Ye Hongshang strolled beside him with the Red Umbrella over her shoulder and gave a slight shrug.

"I like men, especially tender, delicate ones like you. It's just some sour scholar's wild fabrications and fantasies, and you're taking it seriously?"

Having read half the book, Xie Jinhuan actually also felt that the second female lead did not resemble the Ghost Wife. Her behavior was far too reserved and conservative.

If it really were the Ghost Wife, she would probably have Qixia True Person pinned down within three chapters, and by chapter five she would be playing with fox tails and a Two-Headed Dragon...

Yet this book not only kept its romance veiled, it did not even have any sex scenes...

Ye Hongshang seemed able to read minds. Noticing Xie Jinhuan's faint frown, she helped him complain.

"These sour scholars make their living writing Spring Palace erotica, yet still cling to their literary dignity and keep everything under wraps. If they haven't the guts to bare some flesh, they shouldn't write this stuff and waste people's time. Look how forthright Springtime Allure is, right?"

"It's not quite that bad. A proper book needs a little foreplay. Maybe it gets more exciting later..."

Xie Jinhuan earnestly leafed through the lesbian novel, still hoping to find some clues within. But just as he reached the mouth of the lane, he suddenly spotted two women standing outside the Yang Household residence.

One was presumably the Sister-in-law of the Yang Household, who was vividly recounting something.

The other was a bespectacled beauty fit to topple a nation, her face wearing a gossipy expression that said, "Oh my... tsk, tsk, tsk... that actually happened..."

Seeing the medicine box in Lin Wanyi's arms, Xie Jinhuan knew she had come to deliver his pills and hurried forward.

"Sister-in-law of the Yang Household, Doctor Lin."

The Sister-in-law of the Yang Household had naturally heard her husband speak of Xie Jinhuan. Seeing him return, she hastily put away her gossiping manner and offered a dignified, refined greeting.

"You're back, Young Master Xie. Are my husband and father-in-law still at the Yamen?"

Xie Jinhuan thought the Sister-in-law of the Yang Household was quite dignified and quiet, much more restrained than Liu Qingzhi's wife. He approached and returned the greeting.

"The Yamen has a great deal of official business. Even the Prince was busy all night. I'm afraid Uncle Yang and Brother Yang won't have time to come home today."

"Oh."

The Sister-in-law of the Yang Household was already accustomed to her husband staying out all night. After exchanging a few pleasantries, she went into the courtyard with short, dainty steps.

Seeing this flirtatious older woman's prim and affected manner, Lin Wanyi could not help inwardly clicking her tongue. Still, she too stepped forward with a graceful greeting, her bearing intelligent, gentle, and refined.

"A batch of pills is ready. Since you didn't come to the clinic for your medicine yesterday, I came to check on you."

Xie Jinhuan accepted the medicine box and inspected it. "A case came up at the Yamen yesterday. I went along to help and ended up busy all night. Missing a day of pills won't hurt, will it?"

"No harm done, but you can't frequently miss doses during Body Tempering. Remember to keep the pills with you from now on."

As she spoke, Lin Wanyi lifted Xie Jinhuan's hand and pressed her fingers to his wrist, taking his pulse to check his condition.

After his medicinal bath, Xie Jinhuan really did feel a hundred times more invigorated, his whole body brimming with strength. His strength had already been at the peak of Fourth Grade, only one final thrust away from Third Grade.

But advancing from Fourth Grade to Third Grade meant crossing a major realm. Fourth Grade was the peak of Flexion, representing the perfected state of body refinement in which "the waist bends a hundred ways as though without bones, and the body should flow like water." Third Grade was the initial stage of Spirit Qi, when one began entering the domain of "commanding qi with the spirit."

To enter Third Grade, he first had to temper his physique to flawless perfection. Finishing the Dragon Blood Pills would definitely get him there, but whether he could break through ahead of time, Xie Jinhuan could not say for sure.

Seeing Lin Wanyi so earnestly acting as his doctor, Xie Jinhuan thought for a moment and asked a question.

"Tomorrow is the Mid-Autumn Festival. I hear Danyang puts on a beautiful Mid-Autumn lantern festival. Are you going?"

?

Was he asking me out? Lin Wanyi blinked and answered hesitantly.

"Are you planning to go?"

"I'd like to take a look, but there's been so much going on lately. I don't know whether I'll have time..."

"If you don't have time, what are you asking for..."

Xie Jinhuan was just about to answer when the Ghost Wife, who followed him like a shadow, sounded a warning in his ear.

"Careful. There's Blood Baleful Qi in the house."