Jiao Niang’s Medical Record Chapter 191

In Dou Qi’s residence, the manager rushed in, followed closely by a man—it was the same man who had just been chasing after Li Dashao’s wife at the Tai Ping Residence.

The Dou family’s estate was in Dou Village, but ever since the restaurant opened in the capital, Dou Qi had purchased a four-quadrant courtyard house near the city and moved in with two concubines.

When the manager and the man entered the reception hall, Dou Qi was already waiting impatiently.

“Well?” he asked.

The man shook his head and slid a land deed across the table.

Dou Qi spat in disgust.

“Doesn’t know what’s good for them,” he cursed, waving a hand.

The man quickly backed out of the room.

After the maid poured tea, she too took her leave, leaving the two men alone to talk.

“He’s just a block of dead wood,” the manager said. “Back then, he was devoted to the old master, followed him with all his heart. Now he treats the man like a second father—won’t leave no matter what.”

Dou Qi spat again.

“Ungrateful bastard,” he said darkly, his face clouded with anger.

Footsteps sounded outside. A servant came running in.

“Seventh Young Master!” he knelt under the eaves, a trace of panic in his voice. “Zhu Wu says Wang Da and the others were beaten and thrown out!”

Dou Qi and the manager both looked stunned.

“…Wang Da said that Tai Ping Residence’s hired fighters were too good. They couldn’t match them. And he also said…” the servant continued.

Before he could finish, Dou Qi lost his temper and overturned the table in front of him.

The servant froze in terror, trembling and falling silent.

“What else did they say?” Dou Qi demanded, eyes blazing with anger.

“They also said… it was because the person in charge didn’t tell them everything, that’s why they failed so badly. So… so they want some money for medicine, or else they’ll start making a scene…” the servant blurted out all at once, head lowered.

As expected. The moment he finished speaking, a small side table came flying out, crashing into the courtyard and toppling over.

“Get out!” Dou Qi shouted.

The servant turned and ran, only to be stopped by the manager.

“Master, if we don’t settle those ruffians properly, they’ll cause trouble,” he advised.

Dou Qi, fuming, got up and began pacing the room.

“Hired good fighters, did they? Just a few no-name outsiders, no family or backing—who’s supposed to be afraid of them?” he snapped, pointing as he spoke. “Take more money. Tell Zhu Wu, those thugs bragged so much before, and now they’ve embarrassed themselves. If they try to blame it on someone else’s good fighters, it’ll just make them look like cowards.”

The manager hesitated slightly.

“Should we really stir up trouble like this?” he asked. “No one’s been able to find out exactly who’s backing that Tai Ping Residence, but it’s said that the sign hanging at their entrance was written by someone quite formidable.”

Dou Qi let out a cold laugh.

“A scholar who writes a few fancy characters—so what?” he scoffed. “Even if they have backing, do you think others don’t? And besides, isn’t this just some petty street scuffle stirred up by a few ruffians? What does it amount to?”

The manager looked puzzled.

If it doesn’t amount to much, then what’s all this for?

“If trouble breaks out and it ends up in the magistrate’s office, then we can give them a proper lesson,” Dou Qi said with a sneer. “If they’ve got connections, well, they’ll suffer a bit, take some pain—that’s fine. It’ll also give us a chance to see exactly what kind of connections they have. And if they don’t have any…”

His smile turned colder, darker.

“Then send them to Mangy Cai,” he said.

Mangy Cai—one of the most notorious jailers in the capital. A trip through his hands was like brushing past the gates of hell. He had a hundred quiet ways to kill a man without a sound, without leaving a trace.

Find the right excuse to send those bold outsiders into his grasp, and whether they ever came back out… would be entirely up to Dou Qi.

He wouldn’t even need to trouble his godfather to intervene—this was something he, Dou Qi, could pull off alone, silent and unseen.

“Think you can get rich off the Dou family’s fortune? Not so easy,” he snorted, settling back into his seat.

And come to think of it, maybe this was the perfect chance to take back that piece of property…

Dou Qi’s eyes lit up at the thought, his breath quickening with excitement.

Zhou Liu-lang and Young Master Qin returned home after eating a vegetarian meal, and had barely stepped through the door when they were summoned by Madam Zhou.

Inside the room, two maids were seated and chatting. They looked travel-worn and dusty from the road.

“…We ran into Master on the way,” one of them said with a smile. “He asked us to bring word back to Madam that he’s safe and well.”

Father’s attendants from his trip to Jiang-zhou? Why are they back so soon?

Zhou Liu-lang sat down to listen.

Madam Zhou didn’t pay him much attention for the moment, still focused on asking after Master Zhou. Only after hearing that he was eating and drinking well and in good spirits did she finally relax.

“We’ve also looked thoroughly into that matter with Lady Cheng these past few days,” one of the maids added.

Zhou Liu-lang, who had just been about to speak, suddenly stopped short at her words.

Her?

“How did it go?” Madam Zhou asked casually. Ever since that girl had been driven out, life in the household had returned to normal, and she no longer felt as tense as before.

“Just as Madam predicted,” the maid said with a smile. “It was complete chaos over there too—she caused such a mess they ended up throwing her out…”

Madam Zhou gave a small laugh.

“I knew it,” she said, lifting her hand to stop the maid from continuing. “Enough about her. I’ve no interest in meddling anymore. Peace and quiet is a rare thing. You’ve had a long journey too—go on, get some rest.”

The maids quickly quieted down, bowed, and withdrew.

Zhou Liu-lang withdrew his gaze from the departing maids.

“Mother, you were looking for me?” he asked.

“I heard from Qi-niang that you said that… that Tai Ping Residence belongs to Jiao Jiao?” Madam Zhou questioned.

“When did I ever say that?” Zhou Liu-lang replied, forcing a grin. “Qi-niang must’ve misheard. What I said was…”

He hesitated for a moment, lowering his head slightly.

“…I was thinking of taking her there to try something new…” he mumbled.

Seeing her son acting so sheepish and guilty, Madam Zhou felt both furious and exasperated.

“You dare! I’ll break your legs!” she shouted.

Zhou Liu-lang kept his head down and muttered a quiet acknowledgment, saying no more.

“Go on, get out of my sight,” Madam Zhou snapped, now thoroughly annoyed and no longer interested in asking anything more about who owned Tai Ping Residence.

Zhou Liu-lang stepped outside and walked slowly, deep in thought, until he finally came to a stop.

Inside his hall, Young Master Qin had set out a chessboard and was playing a game with two maids. When Zhou Liu-lang entered, he didn’t even look up—at least not until the two maids came in and knelt on the floor.

“Go ahead,” Zhou Liu-lang said.

The maids responded with a soft “Yes.”

“Shall we start from the day… when Lady Cheng first entered the household?” one of them asked.

Young Master Qin raised his head, glancing at the two maids with a hint of confusion.

“It was that evening,” the maid began. “Lady Cheng crossed the bridge over the North Cheng River. Many people were down in the river below, washing clothes. They remember her clearly—her appearance, her slow steps, as if she was too weak to walk…”

As the servant spoke, Zhou Liu-lang seemed to see the scene playing out before him: under the dim light of dusk, a lady standing quietly before the Cheng family’s gate, slowly lifting her head to look up at the name plaque above the door.

She was home.

“…At the time, Second Master Cheng and Second Madam Cheng got into a fight right in First Master Cheng’s room. They tried to keep it quiet, but plenty of people still overheard. I spent five coins to get the story from one of the old nursemaids who serves under the First Madam Cheng…”

At this point, one of the maids playing chess with Young Master Qin couldn’t help but laugh.

“So poor! The masters are poor, and even the servants are poor—selling gossip for just five coins,” she said with a chuckle.

The maid laughed too.

“It wasn’t really about the money,” she said. “To be honest, that nursemaid seemed eager to let the story out. The Cheng family sisters-in-law… don’t get along.”

“Oh?” The maid forgot all about the chess game, leaning forward curiously. “But aren’t the Chengs supposed to be a single, united household? How could the main wives not get along?”

“Well, it has to do with Lady Cheng,” the maid said, smiling.

“That’s nonsense. She’s a fool. How could a fool stir up trouble between elders?” Zhou Liu-lang scoffed. “The Chengs are pathetic, saying something like that!”

“Sixth Young Master,” the maid quickly continued, “when Lady Cheng first returned home, she was sickly and needed better food and care. The children in the household started grumbling about it from the start…”

The two maids sat upright in the hall, exchanging words with one another, embellishing and adding details as they spoke.

Young Master Qin gradually shifted from a casual demeanor to one of focused attention, deep in thought.

In truth, there wasn’t much to the story. One of the events had even been personally experienced by Zhou Liu-lang, and soon the maid finished recounting everything.

A silence fell over the room. Both Zhou Liu-lang and Young Master Qin seemed lost in thought.

The two maids exchanged a glance, unsure why the seemingly trivial details they had shared about the daily lives of maids and the household’s small matters were so important to the young masters.

It seemed that the gossip Zhou Liu-lang had overheard upon entering about him and Cheng Jiao-niang was not just idle chatter—it was the kind of thing only someone with a deeper interest would take to heart.

“You may go now,” Zhou Liu-lang said.

The maid hurriedly bowed and, as if remembering something, pulled out a small box from behind her.

Zhou Liu-lang looked over.

“This is a famous pastry from Jiang-zhou,” the maid said with a smile. “We specially bought some to bring back, please try it, Young Master.”

Zhou Liu-lang reached out and took the box, noticing the words “Xuan-miao Temple” inscribed on it.

“Xuan-miao Temple?” he murmured.

“Yes, yes, it’s the most popular Daoist temple in Jiang-zhou now, very effective, and their vegetarian pastries are quite good…” the maid said eagerly.

Before she could finish her sentence, Young Master Qin spoke up.

“And how does this relate to the Xuan-miao Temple that Lady Cheng went to…?” he asked.

“Oh, Lady Cheng went to the small Xuan-miao Temple, which is owned by the Cheng family. Later, it was burned down by lightning and fire, so it was handed over to the larger Xuan-miao Temple at the foot of the mountain to manage. That’s why the small Xuan-miao Temple no longer exists, and now everyone just calls it Xuan-miao Temple,” the maid explained.

Zhou Liu-lang fell silent for a moment.

“You’re dismissed,” he said.

The maid left, and the other maids in the room also withdrew.

Zhou Liu-lang looked at the small box in front of him, and Young Master Qin also glanced over.

“Xuan-miao…” he said, “Tai Ping…”

“Are you saying this is also related to her?” Zhou Liu-lang suddenly asked.

“Maybe,” Young Master Qin smiled, “I don’t know.”

At this point, his expression became serious.

“But I do know that your cousin, she really cannot be provoked,” he said.

Zhou Liu-lang looked at him.

Young Master Qin extended his hand.

“At least two lives,” he said. “If the two maids who were sold off had any casualties, then it would be more.”

Zhou Liu-lang’s face tensed, his brows furrowing deeply.

“What nonsense are you talking?” he said. “What does she have to do with lives being lost? That was lightning! A natural disaster! Why would she want to take anyone’s life?”

Young Master Qin looked at him and remained silent for a moment.

“Yes, yes, I’m really letting my imagination run wild, thinking up all sorts of nonsense,” he said with a laugh, reaching out to take the small box. “I’ll try this ‘Xuan-miao’.”

As nightfall descended, Xu Maoxiu, Fan Jianglin, and Xu Bangchui sat in the house by Yudai Bridge.

“These street thugs are so bold!” the maid exclaimed anxiously and angrily. “Miss, I’ll go tell the old master right away.”

Cheng Jiao-niang glanced at her and smiled slightly.

“These street thugs don’t need to trouble the old master,” she said.