Children of Loulan

But when he looked at Dora's face full of expectation and innocence, he couldn't help but feel a trace of pity in his heart. He really couldn't bear to let such a young and energetic girl fall into despair, so after hesitating for a moment, he could only say softly:

"I can indeed make scar removal cream, but there are all kinds of strange diseases in this world. If the girl can get to know some doctors with superb medical skills, she can try the scar removal cream they make. It may have unexpected effects."

He knew that his ability was limited and he could not guarantee to completely heal the scars on Dora's face, but he was unwilling to tell her the cruel truth directly, so as not to break her heart. Therefore, he chose to answer in this euphemistic and ambiguous way, which gave Dora a glimmer of hope without making her overly dependent.

Hearing the words of the court doctor, Dora let out a long sigh of relief, with gratitude flashing in her eyes:

"Thank you, doctor. I am sorry to bother you!"

Then, she turned to look at Aunt Taji and asked carefully, "Aunt, can I write a letter home and ask them to help me find a better scar cream?"

At this time, Aunt Taji seemed to sense that the court doctor had not finished speaking, as if there were still some things that had not been said. However, when she saw Dora's expression full of expectation and desire, she couldn't help but feel a surge of pain and reluctance in her heart. After all, Dora was in her prime, who would have the heart to deprive her of the right to pursue beauty? So, Aunt Taji secretly decided to temporarily conceal the court doctor's true thoughts and satisfy Dora's wish first.

"Okay, sure. If you have any good ointment, you can send it directly to the City Lord's Mansion. I will let the City Lord know in advance!"

Gu Lixian saw that the problem on Dora's face was almost solved:

"Mammy, now that Dora's injury has been treated, shouldn't we investigate who poisoned her?"

Aunt Taji looked at everyone with sharp eyes and said, "Well, Dora, you stay in the room and clean your wound now. All other ladies and maids go to the yard and be examined." Her voice was not loud, but it was filled with unquestionable majesty.

Everyone answered in unison: "Yes, Mama." Then they walked out of the house and stood in a neat line in the yard.

Taji looked at one of his maids again and said in a serious tone: "Go and call the guard who is guarding the food box." The maid took the order and left in a hurry.

Inside the house, Dora's maid was carefully cleaning her wound for the second time and applying medicine carefully. Every movement was extremely gentle, for fear of hurting Dora.

In the yard, except Dora and her maid, all the other concubines and maids stood there quietly, and no one dared to make a sound.

After a while, the maid who went to ask the guard came back quickly and reported respectfully: "Mammy, the person is here."

Madam Taji nodded slightly, indicating that she understood. Then she glanced at the two maids in front of her and ordered: "Well, you two go to all the rooms and search them one by one. Don't miss any clues." The two maids left in response, leaving Madam Taji alone to face the guard.

When the two men disappeared from sight, Aunt Taji turned around, stared at the guard, and asked:

"Has anything happened to you while guarding the food boxes these days?"

The guard bowed quickly and replied expressionlessly:

"In reply to Madam, I have been guarding the food box with all my heart and have not noticed anything unusual."

As soon as he finished speaking, he seemed to remember something and spoke again:

"Oh, there was an argument between two maids yesterday!"

Mammy frowned slightly: "When did it happen?"

Guard: "When we were distributing dinner yesterday!"

The nanny turned around and looked at all the maids. Her eyes were cold and her tone was so cold that it seemed like ice chips could fall off:

"Whoever had an argument with whom yesterday, please stand up!" Everyone was shocked to hear the nanny's harsh words. They lowered their heads and did not dare to look at her.

Gu Lixian was also a little nervous. She immediately looked up at the maids and saw two people coming out. One of them was Baier, who was beside Han Guli, and the other was the maid of the daughter of Liaocheng County. Seeing that it was the two of them, Gu Lixian couldn't help but mutter to herself:

"What a coincidence! These are two of the four people I met at the beginning."

Mammy looked at the two people in front of her with a sharp gaze. She said to Bayer in a deep voice:

"Tell me, what happened yesterday that caused a fight between you two?"

Bayer bowed respectfully before answering:

"To answer Madam, I went to get the food box as usual yesterday. On the way, I met several sisters who were also going to get food boxes, and this sister was among them. So, we went together.

Who would have thought that when I just walked to the ground, before I even had time to pick up the lunch box, I stepped on a small stone. In an instant, my body lost balance, stumbled forward, and rushed straight towards the sister.

Perhaps the sister was also frightened by the sudden situation, and out of instinct, she pushed me hard and scolded me, saying that I hit her on purpose!"

But in fact, she did all this on purpose. She first stepped on the stone on purpose, and then rushed towards the maid. After all, she knew that the maid was just like her master, impatient and irritable. As long as she took the initiative to rush towards her, she would definitely push her away. In this way, she could naturally take advantage of the direction of her push and pretend to fall and rush towards the direction of the food box.

Just as she was about to fall towards the food box, her hands happened to be supported in the gap between the food boxes. Taking this opportunity, she quickly reached out and tore off the sign on her young lady's food box, and then cleverly hung it on Gu Lixian's food box. After she stood up again, she calmly hung Gu Lixian's sign firmly on the food box that originally contained her young lady's drugged food.

Fortunately, Gu Lixian's lunch box was at the bottom yesterday, and her daughter's lunch box was at the top, otherwise it would be a bit troublesome to change.

"You're talking nonsense. You obviously did it on purpose. Oh, you definitely did it on purpose. You pretended to sprain your ankle and then rushed towards me. Then you took the opportunity to poison me while I was pushing you."

The maid retorted angrily

Bayer immediately knelt down and shouted:

"It's unfair, Mammy. I was talking to the sisters yesterday and didn't notice the stone under my feet. The sisters can testify to this. Moreover, when I fell on the food boxes, all of them were covered and had not been opened. How could I have poisoned them? Moreover, my hand was only in the gap between the food boxes, but I got up quickly and didn't touch any of the food boxes. The guard brother can also testify to this. Please judge for yourself, Mammy!"

She finished saying all this in one breath, with an expression of great injustice on her face. The nanny glanced at her, then looked at the group of maids.

"Is what she said true? Who went with them yesterday?!"

Hearing the maid's question, two more maids came out from the group and answered at the same time:

"It's true, Madam."

Madam Taji looked at the two maids in front of her with sharp eyes:

"How can you be sure that all this is true?" His tone was full of doubt and distrust.

Maid A knelt down quickly and said, "Madam, when the two of them had an argument yesterday, I and another sister went to check where Baier's ankle was sprained, and indeed found a stone as big as a fist. If Baier had not been tripped by this stone, how could he have fallen?"

Maid B also immediately echoed, "Yes, Mammy! When Bayer fell on the food boxes, we were all scared, fearing that she would knock all the food boxes to the ground. But fortunately, she steadied herself in time and did not knock them over, but she got up very quickly. Moreover, I reached out and pulled her back at that time, so I can be sure that she did not touch any of the food boxes."

At this moment, the two maids in charge of the search came out and reported to Madam Taji: "Madam, after a careful search, we found several small porcelain bottles containing medicine in each of the girls' rooms."

Upon hearing this, Madam Taji turned her gaze to the court doctor beside her and motioned him to go and check. The court doctor did not dare to delay for a moment and immediately went forward to check all the medicine bottles one by one.

After a while, the court doctor returned to Madam Taji and replied respectfully:

"Madam, the medicines in these porcelain bottles are all common things. They are nothing more than pills for treating typhoid fever, stopping bleeding, and regulating qi and blood."

However, although no clues were found from the medicine, the matter remained unclear. Everyone had no choice but to turn their attention back to the maids.

Gu Lixian found that she could not find any information and could only ask the nanny.

"Mammy, could it be that someone bribed the charity house?"

"will not."

Aunt Taji denied it without even thinking about it.

"why?"

Aunt Taji looked at her coldly, as if she were an idiot.

"Because not every concubine can enjoy a unique dish. After all, the kitchen has limited staff and cannot be so meticulous. Therefore, each courtyard is usually equipped with only two cooks. Unless some concubines have special dietary preferences or taboos, in most cases, everyone shares the food cooked in the same pot!"

In other words, although there are indeed a few concubines in this courtyard who are averse to certain foods and need to prepare special meals for them occasionally, most of the time, the two cooks are still responsible for cooking two pots of food to meet the needs of more than a dozen concubines. When the two pots of food are cooked, they will be directly put into large basins and neatly placed on the shelves. Then, there will be special personnel to come and put these meals into their respective food boxes one by one. After all the food boxes are filled, they will be hung with signs with the names of the concubines for distribution.

Moreover, all the plates and food boxes here are almost identical. If a cook tried to poison food secretly, how could she ensure that the poisoned dish would be placed in a specific food box? Moreover, the fate of these cooks and their children was closely linked to the City Lord's Mansion, so who would dare to take the risk and cause trouble?

After explaining this, the nanny looked at the guard again.

"Is what they say true?"

The guard said respectfully: "Yes, although there was a dispute, no one touched the food box!"

Mammy: "Who was the first to go?"

Guard: "They were the maids who had the dispute. They went there at the same time and were the first to arrive yesterday!"

Mammy: "Is there anything suspicious?"

The guard lowered his eyes and thought for a moment, then suddenly raised his eyes and said firmly:

"wildcat!"

After hearing what he said, Mammy frowned and asked in confusion: "Wild cat? What wild cat?"

Guard: "A few days ago, I heard two wild cats meowing. I was afraid that they might break the food box, so I went to chase them away. I heard them yesterday too!"

Mammy understood: "Did you chase away the wild cat yesterday?"

Guard: "Go away."

Mammy seemed to understand something: "So, you left?"

Guard: "Yes!"