Wine-scented Beauty

Chapter Twelve: The Dispute

"What's going on?" she asked the people next to her. The door of Defu Medical Clinic was tightly closed, and it seemed that there was no intention to open it.

The people around her, with their gossipy nature, explained the situation to her in detail. After understanding what had happened, Ji Meiqing suddenly realized what was going on, and her gaze couldn't help but fall back on the corpse on the ground.

Amid his wailing and screaming, Ji Meiqing squeezed in and gently patted his shoulder. The man turned around, his dark face and red, swollen eyes looking somewhat bewildered as he saw Ji Meiqing squatting beside him.

"Your loved one's body is barely cold, yet you leave it exposed to the sun in broad daylight without burying it. Are you truly filial or simply trying to extort money from me?"

Ji Meiqing's question left the man speechless for a long time. He stammered, his face flushed with anger.

"You can't be someone from this Defu Medical Clinic, can you, talking like that?"

One sentence drew all the hatred to her side. Ji Meiqing looked up at the crowd. Sure enough, this was not a place she could wade into. She sighed and stood up.

"I have said all I have to say. As for whether you are truly filial or not, only the person lying on the ground knows. I believe that all of you with families understand what it means for a body to be barely cold." Ji Meiqing smiled and then calmly squeezed out of the crowd.

I jogged all the way to a small alley, panting slightly. It had been too dangerous; my back was soaked with cold sweat.

"Miss, my master requests your presence." A voice suddenly appeared from behind, startling Ji Meiqing, who had not yet calmed down.

She slowly turned around, her big eyes wide, and asked, "Did you have something to say to me before me?"

"I am from the Liu family. The Sixth Young Master would like to invite you to the Liu family residence."

Hearing that it was someone from the Liu family, she gradually calmed down and went over with him.

The main gate of the Liu residence was also tightly closed, so the two entered through a side gate. She was led to a courtyard.

Ji Meiqing went inside and saw Liu Yuzheng anxiously discussing solutions with Doctor Li. When the two saw her, they quickly went over to her.

"Miss Ji is here. I wonder if you have any ideas about this matter?"

The two looked at Ji Meiqing with eager eyes, as if she had come with a solution.

"Has the matter been investigated thoroughly? Although the medicinal wine is strong, it won't kill anyone in the short term." Ji Meiqing thought for a moment and replied, "Now it seems that someone framed him."

"We can't get close to the body, so we can't call a coroner to examine it."

“The person who came here has ill intentions. Since that’s the case, let’s play along,” Ji Meiqing said with a smile, which made the man in front of her tremble.

She spent the whole day wandering the streets before heading home. Ji Meiqing couldn't resist buying some fabric to make clothes; the season was changing soon, and it was time to replace her old clothes.

As he was picking out fabrics, an arrogant voice from the side immediately caught his attention.

"Shopkeeper, what kind of fabrics do you have here? The batch that was delivered to the Ji residence last time looked like it had been sitting unsold for a long time."

Ji Meiqing paused, immediately removed her hand from the fabric, and then moved away. She didn't want to see any member of the Ji family right now.

I paid and took my things back home.

Since Xiao Cui left, the two of them have been busy. She returned quite late, after dark.

Ji Meiqing put down her things and hurriedly went to cook. Lu Yu returned even later, carrying a gourd in his hand, and entered the study.

After a while, she carried the food inside and saw that he was still brewing medicinal wine, so she said, "Brother Lu, thank you for your help these days. But we can take a break for now."

"Hmm, is something wrong?" Lu Yu asked without looking up, casually placing the prepared medicinal herbs into the wine.

Ji Meiqing didn't hide anything and recounted what had happened during the day. Lu Yu frowned as he listened; she had kept her encounter with the Ji family a secret.

"If that's the case, what does the government say?"

She shook her head. "If we report this to the authorities now, we'll only be the ones who suffer."

“You have a solution.” Lu Yu smiled. “In that case, let’s take a good rest these next few days.”

Ji Meiqing smiled and said, "Let's eat quickly, the food is getting cold."

After resting for a few days, Lu Yu took Ji Meiqing into the city. Things seemed to have calmed down, and the people on the street looked the same as before.

Ji Meiqing took him directly to Defu Medical Clinic, which had been closed for several days. No one was cleaning the area in front of the clinic, and the garbage was piled up halfway up the entrance.

"I'll show you a good show. The room is already booked." Ji Meiqing's eyes crinkled with a triumphant smile. Lu Yu was a little curious, so he followed her to the teahouse across the street.

As originally planned, the people from the Li family came over, cleaned up the trash, and then posted the notice.

The notice immediately attracted a lot of attention, but after a whole morning, there was still no substantial news.

At noon, the door to the tea room was opened, and Liu Yu walked over happily. Upon seeing Ji Meiqing, she immediately said, "Miss Ji's method is truly excellent. In less than half a day, that person came to our door."

Upon hearing the news, she became excited, "Really?"

"Not long after the notice was posted, someone came to buy the medicinal wine recipe. Now, because everyone is in a panic, who would dare to take that stuff? So I sent someone to follow them, and then I found out that it was one of Doctor Zhou's people from across the street, the same people as that other day."

"so what?"

"We reported it to the authorities and handed over the evidence. Now we just have to wait for the outcome. After this matter is resolved, we can reopen our business."

Ji Meiqing glanced at Lu Yu, who was drinking with a smile on his face, and then looked at Liu Yu before introducing them.

To celebrate the resolution of the matter, Liu Yu treated them to lunch, which Ji Meiqing accepted without hesitation. The two enjoyed a hearty meal together, after which Liu Yu hired a carriage to take them back.

After returning home, Ji Meiqing put down what she was doing and focused on studying the recipe for medicinal wine. She was dissatisfied with the limited variety of medicinal wines, so Lu Yu placed a medical book in front of her.

Ji Meiqing glanced at it casually, then was stunned. "You... how did you get this?"

Holding the medical book, she was so astonished she couldn't speak. Lu Yu, his gaze fixed on the book, smiled at her.

"Liu Yu gave it to me before she left."

"He actually has such a wonderful thing." Her hand kept stroking the yellowed book; the words were blurred with age, but the title, *Huangdi Neijing* (The Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic), was still legible. Ji Meiqing had heard of this book before, but had never seen it. Seeing it now was like discovering a delightful surprise.