“Alright, Big Sister, you have to come back quickly, okay?” Although the two little ones were incredibly reluctant to part with their big sister, they obediently and sensibly followed Uncle Shitou, turning their heads back to look at her with every three steps they took.
Shen Danyun took the ox cart into town. Looking at the bustling crowds walking to and fro, she felt a bit lost. In her memory, her original self had come to this town with her father to sell game before. Back then, her father had taken the prey directly to a restaurant to sell.
After pondering for a moment, she opened her mouth to ask Old Uncle Wang, “Uncle Wang, which is the biggest restaurant around here?”
“If we’re talking about the biggest restaurant in these parts, it has to be Zuixian Restaurant. Just head this way, cross two streets, and you’ll be right there,” Old Uncle Wang replied.
“Then I’ll trouble you, Uncle Wang, to pull the wild boar over to Zuixian Restaurant,” Shen Danyun said.
“You got it! Giddy up, old pal.” Old Uncle Wang tugged at the reins, and the ox cart rumbled unhurriedly toward Zuixian Restaurant.
Upon arriving at Zuixian Restaurant, Shen Danyun jumped down from the ox cart, asked Old Uncle Wang to wait outside, and walked inside alone.
Seeing a customer enter, a waiter quickly stepped forward and asked, “Little girl, are you here to dine or looking for someone?”
“I’m looking for the shopkeeper,” Shen Danyun replied.
“What business do you have with our shopkeeper?” the waiter asked.
“I hunted some wild game and wanted to ask if the shopkeeper would take them,” Shen Danyun answered.
“Please wait a moment then, I’ll go call the shopkeeper over right away.” After speaking, the waiter turned and headed into the back.
Within moments, the shopkeeper walked out from the back and asked, “Little girl, is it your family who wants to sell wild game?”
Shen Danyun nodded at him and said, “The prey is right at the entrance. Shopkeeper, please follow me.”
The two walked outside. Seeing the fresh half-carcass of wild boar meat on the ox cart, the shopkeeper smiled and said, “We’ll take this wild boar meat. Do you have any other wild game?”
Shen Danyun pulled her wicker basket over and said, “There are also four wild pheasants and five wild rabbits in here, all alive.”
“Live ones are even better, I’ll take them all. The wild boar is twenty-five wen per pound, the pheasants are twenty wen per pound, and I’ll give you twenty-five wen per pound for the rabbits too. The prices I offer here are the highest around; if you don’t believe me, feel free to ask around and check,” the shopkeeper said.
Shen Danyun didn’t know the local market prices, so she turned to Old Uncle Wang and asked, “Uncle Wang, what do you think of this price?”
“It’s good,” Old Uncle Wang nodded and said. “The shopkeeper’s price is fair—it’s a few wen higher per pound than the standard market rate.”
Hearing this, the shopkeeper smiled and said, “Our restaurant has always treated young and old with equal honesty. In the future, if you have more wild game, just bring them straight here. The price will absolutely be fair.”
“Alright, it’s a deal then,” Shen Danyun said readily. Selling straight to a restaurant saved so much trouble, so why wouldn’t she do it?
“Shopkeeper, this is bad! A guest in a second-floor private booth was poisoned after eating our food and wine, and his life is hanging by a thread! The people in the booth are smashing up our restaurant, demanding compensation, and threatening to report us to the government to have the restaurant shut down!”
Shen Danyun had just accepted six taels of silver and a string of cash coins. She was just about to leave when she saw a waiter running over frantically to report to the shopkeeper.
“How could our food and wine be poisonous? Quick, go fetch a doctor!” The shopkeeper’s face turned white as a sheet. After a brief pause, he shouted to the waiter who was already running off into the distance, “Hurry and inform Young Master Liu that something has happened at the shop!”
The moment the shopkeeper finished shouting and turned to dash inside, Shen Danyun called out, “Shopkeeper, if you can trust me, let me give it a try. I can cure most poisons.”
From the shopkeeper to the waiters, this restaurant had left an excellent impression on Shen Danyun. She didn’t want to see it ruined by some malicious conspiracy; besides, she was counting on bringing her future catches here to sell.
The shopkeeper looked her up and down suspiciously and asked, “You know medicine?”
“I know a thing or two.” More than just a thing or two, she thought. If it was a poison even she couldn’t cure, it was highly likely no one else could either.
Looking at the little girl before him, the shopkeeper hesitated, “This… this is a matter of life and death, little girl. It’s best if you don’t get mixed up in this.”
It wasn’t surprising that the shopkeeper didn’t believe her. The little girl before him looked thin and small; it was hard to tell if she had even reached ten years of age. For someone so young to know medicine and be able to neutralize poisons, she would have had to start practicing from inside her mother’s womb.
Looking at the clothes she wore, she clearly came from a impoverished family. For a poor family, just being able to read a few characters was considered extraordinary.
“Shopkeeper, precisely because a life is on the line, do you even have another choice right now? If a person dies in your establishment, even if it’s eventually proven that your restaurant didn’t plant the poison, a death will still ruin your restaurant’s reputation,” Shen Danyun said, looking directly at him.
The little girl before him was completely unfazed, her gaze calm and resolute. For some inexplicable reason, the shopkeeper felt that the person standing in front of him right now was not a child at all.
As if possessed, the shopkeeper blurted out, “Then I shall trouble you, young lady. As long as you can neutralize the poison and save him, our eldest young master will surely reward you handsomely!”
Hearing this, Shen Danyun turned and asked Old Uncle Wang, “Uncle Wang, will you wait for me here, or head back first?”
“I’ll wait for you under that massive banyan tree at the entrance to the town. Once your business is done, just head over there to catch the cart,” Old Uncle Wang said.
“Alright, then I’ll be right back.” Shen Danyun watched Old Uncle Wang drive the ox cart away, then followed the shopkeeper into the restaurant.
From the second floor came the loud, crashing sounds of destruction. The timid patrons had long since settled their bills and fled, while a few bolder ones, who loved nothing more than chaos, stayed behind to watch the spectacle and gossip among themselves.
When the shopkeeper led Shen Danyun into the second-floor private booth, they saw a man collapsing on the ground, completely unresponsive, his life or death unknown. The dining table had already been overturned, leaving the floor a chaotic mess.
Several ferocious-looking men were right in the middle of smashing things up when they saw the shopkeeper enter with a little girl. One immediately jeered, “Is your brain malfunctioning, shopkeeper? Instead of bringing in a beauty for us brothers to amuse ourselves with, you bring in a wet-behind-the-ears, yellow-haired brat? You dared to poison and kill our brother—beat them!”
The shopkeeper spread his arms wide, shielding Shen Danyun as he pleaded, “Hold on, gentlemen! Let’s talk things over. This young lady is a doctor. Please let her pass so she can treat your brother.”
“The man is already poisoned to death, and you’re talking about treating him? Bringing in a wet-behind-the-ears, yellow-haired brat to masquerade as a doctor—are you having a laugh?” The man aggressively raised a broken wine jar and smashed it down directly toward the shopkeeper’s head.
Unable to dodge in time, the shopkeeper closed his eyes in despair. However, the anticipated pain never came. Instead, he heard the heavy thud of a body crashing into the ground, followed immediately by a sharp, agonized shriek: “Ah!…”
The shopkeeper opened his eyes and could hardly believe what he saw. The man who had just tried to smash him with the wine jar was now slumped against the base of the wall, howling in agony.
“You miserable little bitch, you’re asking for death!” The remaining six men bared their teeth in raw fury and lunged at Shen Danyun, jostling to get to her first.
Thud, thud, thud…
The shopkeeper’s eyes widened to the size of saucers as he watched in utter shock. Shen Danyun’s figure moved like a phantom; a single punch brought one down, and the last man was sent flying with a violent kick.
In the blink of an eye, the only ones left standing in the private booth were himself and Shen Danyun. If he had opened his eyes a fraction of a second slower, he would have completely missed such a magnificent display.
Just then, a waiter rushed in from outside. Looking at the men groaning in pain all over the floor, he was so terrified he stuttered incoherently, “Ah… this… this…”
“Stop stuttering. Go fetch a bowl of water immediately so I can neutralize the poison,” Shen Danyun said expressionlessly.
The waiter turned his gaze to the shopkeeper, who waved his hand forcefully and commanded, “Do exactly as the lady says! Hurry and bring the water!” Upon hearing this, the waiter scrambled out to fetch the water.
Shen Danyun walked over to the poisoned man who lay sprawled on the ground. She drew several silver needles and drove them into his chest to protect his heart meridians. When she saw the waiter bring the water back, she pinched the man’s jaw to force his mouth open, retrieved a detoxifying pill from her person, and tossed it into his throat. Taking the bowl of water, she poured it down his throat, slapped his chin shut, and forced him to swallow.
The sight made the shopkeeper’s heart leap into his throat. Is this saving a person or torturing them? He figured if she used even a fraction more force, the man’s jaw would be completely dislocated! Though the thought crossed his mind, he didn’t dare ask, choosing instead to watch silently.
After swallowing the pill, the man began to cough violently. Shen Danyun yanked him into a sitting position, swiftly moved behind him, and delivered a sharp palm strike to his back.
The man spewed out a mouthful of black blood. Following this, his eyes gradually fluttered open, though he remained weak and slumped limply on the ground. The black hue of his skin slowly began fading into a dull, earthy brown.
Shen Danyun deftly and rapidly extracted the silver needles. Turning her head toward the shopkeeper, she said, “It’s done, shopkeeper. His poison has been neutralized.”