Li Ming sighed. “It’s all because I failed to remind Younger Sister that one must never intend harm toward others, but one must always guard against being harmed. When you’re away from home, the more you do, the more mistakes you make. Keeping your head down and protecting yourself is the proper course.”
The servants, upon hearing this, angrily retorted, “Our young master was perfectly fine before this. Something happened only after he ate the food prepared by your cook!”
“He didn’t eat anything else during that time. If your cook didn’t poison him, then what happened?”
Li Sushu sneered. “My cook has no grudge against your young master, and it was you who came to our home to ask for her help. How do you know it wasn’t one of your own people who caused the trouble and deliberately came to our family to find a scapegoat?”
“That’s right! Your family is being completely unreasonable. The matter hasn’t even been investigated yet, and you’ve already come to our home shouting about beating and killing people!” Li Yueyue was so angry that her face flushed red. Could she not know what kind of people her family were?
How could Nanny Zhang possibly poison someone?
Lin Tingyu was so furious that his face and neck turned red. The only foreign thing his young master had come into contact with today was the food prepared by this family’s cook.
If their cook hadn’t done something, then what else could it be?
Why didn’t this family hurry up and tie up the cook for interrogation? Could it be that she had been acting on her family’s orders?
But he had never heard that she had any grudge against Official Li’s family.
Even if she did have a grudge, she couldn’t possibly have personally poisoned the young master and harmed him, could she?
Perhaps their cook had been bribed, while the children of Official Li’s family remained in the dark?
Lin Tingyu had naturally investigated which household lived in the neighboring courtyard before coming to borrow their cook.
He simply hadn’t expected that something would still go wrong.
Moreover, he was not good with words. Back and forth, all he could say was that the cook had to be seized and held until the young master woke up and decided how she should be dealt with.
Li Sushu naturally could not allow her own servant to be falsely accused, so she had no choice but to come over and see what serious illness had afflicted the young master in the neighboring courtyard.
The post-station clerk was frantic. If the Heir of Marquis Jing'an met with trouble at the post station under his jurisdiction, his own days would be numbered.
On the other hand, the family of a fifth-rank official was involved. If he seized the cook and made her take the blame, he would inevitably offend the Li Family.
Besides, there were not many people at the post station, and they might not even be able to defeat the servants accompanying the Li Family’s carriages.
Back in the courtyard, Nanny Zhang trembled all over. She truly was innocent!
If only she had known, she would never have coveted those few silver nuggets. She was afraid that, for the sake of that little money, she would end up losing her life.
Nanny Zhang looked at the few silver nuggets in her palm. She wanted to throw them away, yet could not bear to do so, and let out a heavy sigh.
By the time they reached the door of Young Master Lin’s room, Lin Tingfeng was guarding the entrance. He allowed only Tingyu, the Li siblings, Steward Li, and the post-station clerk—six people in all—to enter the room.
Li Sushu felt that, with so many eyes watching, there should be no danger. She agreed to leave the loyal servants who had accompanied them outside to guard them.
The young man lying on the bed was about the same age as Li Ming. His long brows swept toward his temples, his features were open and handsome, and his lips were naturally red.
He was a handsome young man, yet still possessed a heroic air.
Perhaps he was in pain. Even in sleep, his brows were knitted together, and large patches of red rash could be seen on his exposed skin.
The young man kept trying to scratch the itchy places, yet he felt as though there was not a single spot on his body that did not itch. There was simply no way to scratch them all.
Seeing that his young master had finally fallen asleep, Lin Tingyu lowered his voice. “Looking at our young master like this, if he hasn’t been poisoned, then what is it?”
Li Sushu had thought about it all the way there. Upon seeing the rash, she suddenly understood.
So he had an allergic reaction.
Certain of herself, she stated firmly, “Your young master is suffering from an allergic reaction, not poisoning.”
This was the first time Lin Tingyu had heard the term “allergic reaction.” “Miss, do you know how to treat illnesses?”
“I don’t know how to treat illnesses, but I do know a thing or two about the symptoms of an allergic reaction.”
She then gave everyone a detailed explanation of what an allergic reaction was and which ingredients were likely to cause one.
“An allergy to chili peppers? Your young master is the first person I’ve ever encountered with that.”
Li Sushu sighed. She had seen people allergic to peanuts, and people allergic to fish and shrimp, but she had never imagined that she would actually meet someone allergic to chili peppers.
What a pity. This young man truly had no luck. Chili peppers were such a delicious ingredient.
This incident also served as a warning to her. Fortunately, her family’s restaurant had used chili peppers as seasoning for several months without encountering anyone with an allergy. Otherwise, the restaurant would have been ruined by the compensation it had to pay.
She had to write a letter to her mother and warn her about this.
She also explained to everyone that there were currently no suitable medicinal ingredients with which to treat this kind of allergy. He only needed to eat bland food, and after two or three days, he would naturally recover.
Lin Tingyu listened in confusion. “I hope it is as you say. Our family has already sent household guards back to the city overnight to fetch a physician. Miss Li, Young Master Li, please stay at the post station for two more days. It won’t be too late for you to set out after our young master has recovered and your cook is cleared of suspicion.”
Li Ming threw his head back and sighed. “It looks like we’ll have to spend this year’s Mid-Autumn Festival in our old home.”
Li Sushu did not mind. It was only a festival; it made little difference where they spent it.
This was the first time Li Yueyue had seen such a handsome young man, and half of the anger in her heart vanished. She thought that, faced with such a situation, it was understandable for his servants to become anxious.
Beauty was justice, after all.
After they had fussed over everything for half the night, Li Sushu slept until nearly noon the next day.
Nanny Zhang had spent half the night in fear and anxiety. Although Miss had returned and said that nothing was wrong, she still felt vaguely uneasy, afraid that people from the Lin Family would come storming over to beat her to death.
Nanny Zhang had slept poorly all night. She went to the kitchen early in the morning and busied herself preparing the foods Miss liked.
At noon, after eating lunch, Li Sushu heard that the physician invited by the neighboring household had arrived and wandered over to watch the show.
She even brought along pastries Nanny Zhang had made herself. She wondered whether the young master next door would still dare to eat them.
When she reached the entrance to the neighboring courtyard, she was stopped. Tingyu said that his young master was bathing and could not receive guests.
The box of pastries, however, was accepted.
Li Sushu returned to her own courtyard. Nanny Zhang rubbed her hands together and nervously hurried forward to ask, “Miss, is Young Master Lin all right?”
If something happened to that young master, then even if it had nothing to do with her, she feared she would still be implicated.
“Don’t worry. Young Master Lin is not seriously ill.”
An allergic reaction was generally not dangerous as long as it did not cause shock and suffocation at the time.
Of course, if one was unlucky, an allergy could become a serious matter. It could indeed claim a person’s life.
In the end, they had survived the scare without incident. It had merely delayed them for a while.
That afternoon, after the members of the Li Family had recovered from the previous day’s ordeal, Li Yueyue made a fuss about going hunting in the nearby mountains and forests.
Steward Li had no choice but to arrange for several nimble household servants to accompany the three siblings. Their masters were far too good at making trouble, and the steward’s heart was exhausted.
Li Sushu’s horsemanship and archery skills were average. Whether she managed to hit any game did not matter; participation was what counted.
The birds and beasts in the mountain forest were different from stationary targets. They were extremely agile, and both sisters missed every shot.
Li Ming, however, had good luck and managed to shoot a foolish roebuck. At least they would not be returning empty-handed.
The two sisters were not satisfied. They directed the household servants to dig several traps, hoping that some game might fall into them the next day.
Yet as they dug, they unearthed a skeleton.
Li Sushu was startled. Surely they had not dug up someone else’s grave?
Li Ming said that was unlikely. When ordinary people buried their dead, even if they could not afford a coffin and had to wrap the body in a straw mat, they would still raise a burial mound for descendants to make offerings before it.
They had probably dug up the place where someone had buried a murder victim after dumping the body.
Li Ming sighed inwardly.
What kind of situation was this?
Why did it feel as though everything had been going wrong on this journey?