Once in town, Li Jiaojiao took Wang shi and Li Qiao straight to the town’s only pharmacy, the Huichun Hall!
Wang shi frowned. “Jiaojiao, we’re not going to the pawnshop? Why did we come to the pharmacy instead?”
Li Jiaojiao only said, “You’ll see in a moment!”
Once was a stranger, twice a familiar face, this time, the apprentice recognized Li Jiaojiao the moment he saw her, surprised. “You’ve already got the prepared rehmannia done, this fast?”
Li Jiaojiao shook her head. “Not that fast, still a ways to go! By the way, is the physician in? I’m here to see him.”
Suddenly, a voice sounded in Li Jiaojiao’s mind: “Truly an idiot to the bone, how did I end up saddled with such a dim-witted host!”
Li Jiaojiao’s steps faltered slightly. Wang shi asked her quietly, “What’s wrong?”
Li Jiaojiao shook her head and, holding the cosmetic case, found the physician who had asked her for prepared rehmannia before. “Doctor, please take my pulse.”
Physician Zhou assumed Li Jiaojiao was ill and took her pulse in earnest. The moment he did, his brow furrowed deeply. He examined her tongue coating, then looked at her eyes, and slowly said, “I’m seeing some signs of poisoning here, young miss. You look…”
Suddenly, he too caught a whiff of that pungent fragrance. Seeing him notice, Li Jiaojiao set the cosmetic case down in front of Physician Zhou. He let go of her wrist and immediately picked up the case to examine it. “That’s oleander! No wonder this smell is so sharp!”
Physician Zhou took the cosmetic case and examined it carefully, and in the end told Li Jiaojiao that the case, from the case itself down to the jewelry inside, had all been coated in oleander sap, and the rouge and powder were made entirely from oleander as well.
Li Jiaojiao had some knowledge of medicinal herbs, oleander was poisonous through and through, every part of the plant, and its toxicity was severe.
Wan Yuxiu was after her life. Li Jiaojiao thought back to the letter paper, thought of the maid who’d shown up near their house in the middle of the night, and realized this latest “gift” from Wan Yuxiu was all meant to take her life too!
Before, Li Jiaojiao hadn’t thought much of it, even though the original body was hopelessly infatuated, and knew perfectly well Chen Xuan was already married, she’d kept up the correspondence with him, still holding out hope of marrying him as a concubine one day. How could she have simply dropped dead out of nowhere?
Now it made sense. All of this was because of Wan Yuxiu.
That baby-faced, down-to-earth-looking young lady simply couldn’t tolerate Chen Xuan still holding a place in his heart for Li Jiaojiao, and so she wanted Li Jiaojiao dead!
“None of these things can be kept! The poison in your system is still mild, I’ll write you up a few doses of medicine in a moment. My advice is, it’s best you give away all this jewelry to someone else, keeping it around is nothing but trouble!”
Wang shi’s face went ashen, her lips trembling for a long while before she managed, in disbelief, “Poisoned… how could she just be poisoned out of nowhere?”
Young as he was, Li Qiao’s mind worked quickly. His eyes went wide, and he grabbed at Li Jiaojiao. “Sis, they want you dead, don’t they?”
Physician Zhou glanced at Li Jiaojiao. In his line of work, he’d seen and known far too much, even in a small town like Xingfeng, plenty of secrets lay hidden beneath the surface. He had no interest in knowing more, so he made an excuse about going to fetch medicine and got up to leave.
The moment Physician Zhou left, Wang shi couldn’t hold back her tears. “Why, Jiaojiao, why? They’re already married, so why won’t they leave you be? What do we have to do for them to finally let us be?”
Li Jiaojiao gripped Wang shi’s hand tightly. “Mother, don’t cry yet!”
The last time Wan Yuxiu had seen Li Jiaojiao standing before her completely unharmed, she’d already been plotting this next move, because Li Jiaojiao stood in the way of her and Chen Xuan’s future together.
After getting the medicine and paying for it, Wang shi didn’t even have time to ask Li Jiaojiao where she’d gotten the money from. Supporting Li Jiaojiao by the arm, the three of them, mother and children, walked out.
On the empty street, the more Wang shi thought about it, the more upset she grew, crying the whole way.
Spotting the pawnshop, Li Jiaojiao supported Wang shi and walked straight toward it.
Standing in front of the pawnshop, Wang shi kept crying. After the shop assistant inspected the contents, he handed them to the shopkeeper, who opened the case and examined it carefully.
“There’s oleander all over these things. We’re not afraid of the jewelry, but this rouge and powder, we won’t take.”
The shopkeeper pointed out the problem with the contents of the case right away. Li Jiaojiao couldn’t help glancing at him a second time, his face gave nothing away. She took the rouge and powder back and asked directly, “How much for the rest?”
“Sold outright, or held as collateral?”
Before Li Jiaojiao could answer the shopkeeper, Wang shi rushed forward from the doorway and shouted, “Sold outright!”
Walking away from the pawnshop with twelve taels of silver, Wang shi sniffed it over and over several times to make sure there was no smell left before handing it to Li Jiaojiao.
Li Jiaojiao snatched the rouge and powder from Li Qiao’s hand, walked to the riverbank, and threw it straight into the river. “Something this vicious is better off swept away by the water sooner rather than later!”
Wang shi nodded repeatedly. “Right!”
By the time they got home, the sky was already dark. Li Jiaojiao repeatedly warned Wang shi and Li Qiao, “Remember, once we’re back, don’t say anything about the poison, just say we took it to exchange for money. Mother, you must remember that!”
Wang shi wasn’t satisfied. “Jiaojiao, Chen Xuan’s wife tried to harm you like this, why shouldn’t we say anything? I even want to go to the county seat and find the magistrate to see justice done!”
That a woman like Wang shi would dare go to the county seat to seek justice for her daughter made Li Jiaojiao feel the original body had truly been loved. It was just a shame the original body had been so hopelessly lovestruck, it seemed a lovestruck mind was the same across any time or place, always worrying the family sick.
“Mother, have you forgotten who she is? She’s the county registrar’s daughter. If you were the magistrate, who would you side with? Mother, the other side has power and connections, and we’re just ordinary common folk. Let’s just leave this matter as it is.”
Neither Wang shi nor Li Qiao were willing to accept it, but just as Li Jiaojiao said, even with solid proof, even if Physician Zhou were willing to confirm it was oleander, so what? Wan Yuxiu was the county registrar’s daughter, and her father was on such close terms with the magistrate, would he really side with Li Jiaojiao?
By the time they got home, the family had already eaten dinner. Just as Li Jiaojiao thought she’d have no food, she heard Deng shi say sternly, “Where’s the silver? Hand it over, then go eat in the kitchen and clean up after.”
Li Chengfu, Li Chengcai, and the other brother all turned to look at Li Jiaojiao. Hu shi and Zhao shi craned their necks even further, eyes practically glued to her.
Li Jiaojiao pulled ten taels of silver from inside her clothes and set it on the table. “I sold it outright. The shopkeeper said his pawnshop only wanted the jewelry, not the rouge and powder, so he threw the rouge and powder away. The jewelry sold for ten taels of silver!”
Deng shi couldn’t read, and no one in the whole Li family could read either, so Li Jiaojiao wasn’t the least bit worried about being caught in the lie.
Ten taels of silver was a considerable sum for the Li family. A rare smile appeared on Deng shi’s stern face. She smiled as she tucked the silver into her clothes and urged Li Jiaojiao, “There’s still a bit of lard in the cabinet, you love lard mixed with rice, so eat plenty!”
In the kitchen, Li Qiao ate his lard-mixed rice in big mouthfuls, his little mouth shining with grease. “Sis, lard is so good!”