Chapter 19: Her Ink and Brush

“How could this be!?”

Upon receiving the news, Ye Yunfeng’s eyes widened in disbelief.

“The evidence was ironclad, and so many people could testify! How could he possibly walk out of the yamen completely unscathed!?”

The more he thought about it, the angrier he became. He turned to storm out.

Ye Chutang called out to him, “Where are you going?”

Ye Yunfeng clenched his fists. “I’m going to the yamen to demand an explanation!”

Ye Chutang said calmly, “He walked right out the front door of the yamen in broad daylight today. If you go to ask now, what kind of answer do you expect to get?”

Wouldn’t that just be asking the yamen officials to slap their own faces?

“But—”

Ye Yunfeng felt a lump of frustration stuck in his chest, unable to go up or down, suffocating him.

As Ye Chutang organized the medicine cabinet, she said, “The Cao family is a local bully in Jiangling; they aren’t someone a small household like ours can contend with.”

After the initial surprise, Ye Chutang quickly grasped the key to the situation—Cao Deping’s cousin was the wife of the current Jiangling County Magistrate.

Though called his wife, she was actually just a concubine. Magistrate Yang’s original wife had passed away years ago, and this concubine had been managing the household ever since.

It was said she was highly favored, and Magistrate Yang had intentions of elevating her status, but due to her merchant background and various other concerns, he had kept dragging it out.

Despite lacking the official title, this concubine enjoyed everything a proper magistrate’s wife would.

If she whispered a few words in his ear, would she have any trouble helping her cousin?

Ye Jingyan frowned. “But that was three human lives! Are they just going to let it go like that?”

A curve appeared at the corners of Ye Chutang’s lips, but her dark, gentle eyes remained cold.

She said calmly, “Human lives? They are nothing but blades of grass. What are they worth in silver?”

In this world, that was the most insignificant thing of all.

The three masked men were all gamblers who owed Cao Chengwen gambling debts, which was why they were bought off to commit such a desperate act.

Now that the three were dead, Cao Chengwen could easily fabricate a story to clear his name; after all, no one would bother to investigate.

Even if someone wanted to get to the bottom of it, the truth would be easily buried by power and profit, erasing all traces.

Ye Jingyan listened to her words, stunned for a moment. He didn’t speak for a long time, lost in thought.

Ye Yunfeng, however, could not extinguish his inner fire. “But even so, what about Cao Chengwu? He was killed by Cao Chengwen! It’s a settled matter! How could the case be overturned?”

The scene of Madam Zhou causing a scene at the yamen gates and publicly accusing Cao Chengwen was still being talked about by many. How could the tide have turned so completely in just three short days?

Ye Chutang pulled open a drawer of the medicine cabinet; it was still empty.

Ever since the major pharmacies refused to sell her medicinal herbs, the clinic’s stock had been dwindling rapidly. Now, she could barely assemble a complete prescription.

She closed the drawer, turned to pick up a brush, and wrote down the necessary herbs one by one before gently blowing the ink dry.

“It is true that Madam Zhou had testimony, but without evidence, it is futile.” Ye Chutang folded the paper neatly and instructed Ye Jingyan, “A-Yan, go write a notice. State that from today on, the Ye Clinic will only provide consultations, not dispense medicine.”

Ye Jingyan felt pained, but he had to comply. “Alright, I’ll go do that.”

Ye Chutang called out to Ye Yunfeng again, “Since the medicine cabinet is basically empty, take some time later to organize and clean it up.”

Ye Yunfeng replied sullenly, “Oh.”

Ye Chutang intended to wait and see how things developed.

She was actually curious to see what other tricks this Boss Cao had up his sleeve.

Although Ye Yunfeng had a fiery temper, he was very obedient to her. Hearing this, he gritted his teeth and agreed.

Ye Chutang delivered the prescription to Lian Zhou.

“The clinic is running low on herbs. I’m afraid I’ll have to trouble you to go to a pharmacy yourselves. Once you bring them back, I can decoct them for you.”

Lian Zhou returned to his room with a complicated expression.

“I didn’t expect the Cao family to have such influence. Dr. Ye is in a difficult spot now.”

Running a clinic but being unable to buy medicine—wasn’t that cutting off one’s livelihood?

Even if she could still provide consultations, it was clear the Cao family wouldn’t let it go. If they applied any more pressure, her whole family would likely be…

Shen Yanchuan’s gaze fell on the prescription, and he raised a hand.

Lian Zhou immediately handed it over. Seeing his master staring at it for a long time, he asked curiously, “What is it, Master? Is there a problem with the prescription?”

Shen Yanchuan said, “The handwriting is good.”

Lian Zhou took a look as well.

It was a beautiful, delicate, and graceful style of small regular script.

He nodded. He wanted to say that the handwriting reflected the person, but then he remembered that night a few days ago and felt that might not be appropriate.

Dr. Ye seemed… quite different from ordinary women.

However, even if the handwriting was good, it wasn’t worth his master’s attention, was it?

After all, his master’s calligraphy was hard to come by even in the capital. While Dr. Ye’s writing was decent, compared to his master’s, it seemed a bit too rigid and restrained, lacking a certain spirit.

Shen Yanchuan added, “The paper and ink are even better.”

Hm?

Lian Zhou was even more confused.

“Isn’t… isn’t this just ordinary Sunan rice paper and lampblack ink?”

These things were everywhere; there didn’t seem to be anything special about them.

Shen Yanchuan’s brow twitched, and a playful smile seemed to touch his lips.

“These two items are indeed common, but seeing them together is not. This lampblack ink is produced in Yecheng and has a faint scent of pine wood. It is thousands of miles away, and the cost of transporting it here would be several times higher. In Jiangling, people mostly use ordinary pine soot ink, which is relatively cheap and easy to use. Yet, she chose not to.”

Lian Zhou hesitated for a moment. “Perhaps… she just likes this lampblack ink?”

That wasn’t rare; many people were indeed particular about their writing supplies.

Shen Yanchuan chuckled and set the paper aside, his slender, jade-like fingers tapping twice.

“The last time I saw paper and ink like this was at Xu Fengchi’s residence.”

Lian Zhou was shocked, almost thinking he had misheard.

“You mean… the Left Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate—Lord Xu!?”

…

There weren’t many patients that day, and Ye Chutang had a rare moment of leisure, so she spent it in her room transcribing the *Discourse on the Six States*.

Little Wu lay across the desk, her chubby face resting in her small hands, watching intently.

Although she was only four, she could recognize most of the characters.

She didn’t quite understand the content, but that didn’t matter; Ye Chutang would occasionally pick an interesting story to tell her.

By the time she finished writing, two hours had passed.

Ye Chutang stretched her slightly sore wrist.

This couldn’t go on forever. Although she could get many books for A-Yan to read, it still wasn’t enough.

Besides, that tutor of theirs…

*Thump, thump, thump!*

Hurried footsteps suddenly sounded from outside. Ye Chutang looked up to see Ye Yunfeng running in breathlessly.

“Big Sister! It’s bad! They’re coming to seal our clinic!”