Chapter 523: Substituting
It was just after 3pm, which should have been the time for business, but Wang Ergou, a shop assistant at Wuya Pharmacy in Ruyifang, was leaning over the counter, looking like he was ready to sleep in the cool autumn weather.
But the shopkeeper Wu and his wife, who were notoriously mean, did not even intend to blame him for it.
This is because the people of the capital city love to have a good start, so the first day of every month is the busiest time for medical clinics and drugstores. Even old customers who cannot stop needing medicine will buy a few days' supply in advance, and would never want to have bad luck at the beginning of the month.
Only those suffering from an acute illness or those who do not care about their life would choose to buy medicine from the pharmacy on the first day of the New Year.
Over time, the first day of the lunar month became a good day for apprentices in drug stores to take a break from their busy schedules.
bump!
Wang Ergou was taking a nap when he suddenly heard a loud noise beside his ears. He was frightened and jumped more than three feet high. He held up the medicine jar and looked carefully, only to see that a middle-aged strong man with a stern look had appeared in the store without him noticing.
The noise just now was the middle-aged man slapping the counter.
Before Wang Ergou could take a closer look, the man started to curse: "What? You bastard, you still want to beat me up? Come on, come on, I want to see how you people from the capital can bully others!"
The foreign accent was spoken quickly and urgently, and Wang Ergou could only barely understand the general idea of it. However, seeing that he was staring at the medicine jar in his hand and was covered in dust and dirt, he roughly guessed what was going on.
Needless to say, he must be a newcomer from outside the city who was cheated by the ruffians in the capital, so he was full of resentment and it was easy to flare up.
Although he felt a little gloating in his heart, Wang Ergou didn't dare to provoke him. He quickly put down the medicine bottle in his hand and asked indifferently, "What medicine do you want, sir?"
Bang!
The foreign man slapped the counter again, knocking the medicine jar high up. When he raised his hand again, there was a flamboyantly written prescription on the table.
"That's it. Just think about it!"
Damn outsider!
Wang Ergou cursed inwardly, picked up the prescription and glanced at it, only to find that half of the words on the prescription were blurred by sweat, and no matter how hard he tried, he could hardly make out the whole thing.
He couldn't help but frown and said, "Sir, your prescription is all covered with sweat. I'm afraid you'll have to go back and ask for another one."
"What? Missed!"
When the man heard this, the veins on his neck bulged and he spitted, shouting, "I'm waiting for medicine to save my life. You've delayed my brother's life. Can you afford the compensation?!"
As he spoke, he grabbed Wang Ergou by the collar and shouted at him to quickly prepare the medicine.
No matter how Wang Ergou tried to persuade the man, he just wouldn't listen and kept tearing the things apart. The noise became louder and louder, and soon alarmed the shopkeeper Wu and his wife in the backyard.
The proprietress held Wang Ergou back, while Shopkeeper Wu stopped the foreign man. The two asked about the whole story. Shopkeeper Wu asked for the prescription, carefully read it for a moment, and then said with a smile, "Don't worry, sir. This prescription should be written by Doctor Liu of Huichuntang. He often asks people to get medicine from us. Even if the handwriting is blurred, I can roughly make it out."
As he said this, he took out the paper money and rewrote the prescription. He then asked Wang Ergou to prepare the medicine and handed it to the foreign man, admonishing him, "Although this medicine is good, you must not make a mistake in the dosage and timing."
Seeing how amiable he was, the foreign man softened his attitude.
He stammered "thank you" several times, and after asking for the price, he hurriedly took out two strings of copper coins from his belt, counted them out, handed them to the proprietress Xu, and carefully wrapped up the remaining money. Then he hurried out of the drugstore and left in a hurry.
"Bah, you blind man!"
Wang Ergou chased him to the door and spat, then turned around and said with a smile: "You are really good at doing business. You charged twice the money and made that idiot thank you profusely."
Shopkeeper Wu's face darkened and he cursed, "You little monkey, you're causing trouble when I can't see you! There aren't many customers today anyway, so you should recite the soup song backwards. If you can't recite it, don't even think about eating tonight!"
Having said that, regardless of how Wang Ergou begged, he and Xu went back to the backyard.
Two flowers bloom, each showing its own beauty.
The man from another place who came to buy the medicine ran out of two streets , went through the alleys and lanes, and came to a shabby courtyard. He knocked on the door several times, long and short.
The courtyard door opened in response, and a woman in cloth clothes and a straw hairpin appeared and welcomed the man straight into the main room.
As soon as he stepped over the threshold, the man immediately knelt on one knee, clasped his fists and saluted, "I am Yang Licai, honored to meet His Excellency!"
The voice was clear and melodious, and it was the authentic Beijing Mandarin.
This dim and cramped room was crowded with six or seven Dragon Guards, and on a bench in the middle sat a sturdy man, who else could it be but Sun Shaozong?
Sun Shaozong leaned forward slightly and said, "How is it, have you seen everything you should see?"
"Yes."
Yang Licai said hurriedly: "I followed your instructions and pretended to be a foreigner with a lot of grievances. As expected, I lured the shopkeeper Wu and his wife out."
As he said this, he could not help but sneer: "That shopkeeper Wu is really a smiling but dagger hidden behind his smile. He saw that I was a newcomer from outside the area, but he actually charged me twice as much for the medicine!"
Sun Shaozong didn't care much about these trivial matters. He waved his hand and ordered, "There is no time to lose. Captain Yang, please select someone first."
As soon as he finished speaking, the voice of a woman was heard from the inner room, but the content of her voice was all over the place with no focus at all.
After this woman finished speaking, another woman spoke.
Just like that, five women made some loud and some soft sounds, and then the room became quiet again.
Yang Licai immediately said with certainty: "The fourth one, the fourth one's voice is most like that of Xu."
Before he finished speaking, a woman came out from the inner room, pulling aside the curtain. Her figure and appearance were somewhat similar to that of Wu.
Then Yang Licai followed suit and selected the man whose voice was most like that of Shopkeeper Wu.
After both of them arrived at the outer room, Yang Licai pointed out several obvious loopholes. The spy who was skilled in disguise came forward and made some modifications until Yang Licai felt that they were 50% to 60% similar. Only then did he stop for the time being.
"Let's give it a try."
At this time, Sun Shaozong raised his hand, and the spies in charge of disguise surrounded Yang Licai and went to the inner room. Then the captain of the Dragon Guard who was guarding the door led in a man with a frightened face from outside.
After the man entered the room, he saw Sun Shaozong sitting on a bench with his horse and sword in his hands. He immediately knelt down on his knees and was about to appeal to the magistrate for justice when someone suddenly shouted from the side, "Doctor Liu!"
The man was startled, and looked up in the direction of the voice. He saw a man and a woman standing in the dark corner. They looked like acquaintances of his. He blurted out, "Manager Wu, you... why are you here too?!"
The two imposters came a little closer when they heard him talking, and the one pretending to be Xu scolded them sharply, "It's all your fault! You prescribed a ridiculous prescription that cost three lives!"
"Three...three lives?!"
Doctor Liu was startled, and sat down on the ground in panic, saying anxiously, "I...how is this possible? I never seek to achieve anything good, but only to avoid mistakes. I have never prescribed any poisonous medicine, so how could I kill people, and three of them at once?!"
"How is it impossible!"
The Wu couple came closer and said angrily, "Could it be that the great judge of heaven would wrongly accuse you?!"
Doctor Liu was stunned for a moment, then quickly stood up and kowtowed like crazy, repeatedly protesting his innocence to Sun Shaozong.
Sun Shaozong spoke slowly and in an official tone, asking: "If you really have any grievances, then you should stand up and confront Manager Wu first - if there is no problem with your prescription, then there is a problem with the herbs in Wuya Pharmacy."
Upon hearing this, Doctor Liu jumped up immediately, stiffened his neck like a fighting cock, and pushed all the blame onto Shopkeeper Wu.
Shopkeeper Wu tried to argue at first, but was later stumped by Doctor Liu's specious medical theories.
Seeing that he was unable to resist and was repeatedly defeated by his spit, Doctor Liu was just feeling smug when he suddenly heard Sun Shaozong say, "That's enough. Take Doctor Liu away first."
Doctor Liu was stunned for a moment, and just as he was about to ask whether he had been acquitted, two Dragon Guards guarding the gate rushed over, grabbed his shoulders, held his arms, blocked his mouth, and dragged him out.
At the same time, a strong man with a beard appeared from the room, knelt on one knee in front of Sun Shaozong, and asked, "Sir, do you think these two men are still useful?"
Listening to the voice, it was Yang Licai himself.
"That should be enough."
Sun Shaozong nodded and said, "You guys go out through the back door and get everything ready. Once it gets a little dark, we can start the action immediately."
After a pause, he solemnly warned: "This matter is of great importance. You must be careful and cautious. Don't repeat the mistake of last time."
"Don't worry, sir. You have planned so carefully. If I make any mistakes again, I will not be able to come back to see you again."
After Yang Licai finished speaking, seeing that Sun Shaozong had no further instructions, he called out seven or eight maids and servants in green clothes and small hats from the inner room, and together with the highly imitated Mr. Wu and his wife, they quietly sneaked out through the back door.
Sun Shaozong watched them file out, and soon he heard the sound of horse hooves and carriages. He couldn't help but sigh in his heart - it seemed that growing too big was not a good thing.
Originally, the operation to capture Manager Wu and his wife would have been safest if he had been in direct command, but there were only a few people of Sun Shaozong's stature in the capital, and he would have been too conspicuous if mixed in with them.
There was no choice but to entrust the task to Yang Licai.
Not to mention how nervous Sun Shaozong was.
But Yang Licai led those people out of the back door and led out two horses and three carriages from a courtyard.
The one dressed as a male servant took a sword and a hunting bow from the leading cart; the one dressed as a maid took out a set of gorgeous clothes padded with cotton from the covered wagon at the back and put them on the fake Xu.
When everyone was in their positions, there was the rumbling of carts, the neighing of horses, and the pedestrians with bows and arrows at their waists. At a glance, it was the team of a wealthy family returning from the autumn hunting outside the city!
The convoy circled the city for half an hour, and when it was almost 2:15 pm (5:30 p.m.), it headed straight for Wuya Pharmacy.
“Stop! Stop!”
Seeing that the team ahead had already passed Wuya Medicine Shop, a little maid suddenly poked her head out of the carriage behind and said in a shrill voice: "The Third Master's chronic illness has recurred. Let Madam take some medicine back with her so that she doesn't have to make another trip out."
After hearing this, two maids got out of the carriage in front and ordered in a domineering manner: "Go to the medicine shop and take a look. Don't let that blind man offend our grandmother!"
At the command, several slaves immediately got off the cart and rushed into the drugstore like wolves and tigers. After a while, they came out to report that there were no outsiders inside.
The two maids then helped a stout noblewoman down from the carriage, and accompanied by three or five strong servants, they entered the Wuya Pharmacy.
About a quarter of an hour later, the lady came out of the drugstore. After just a few steps, her plump body seemed a little tired, and she had to rely on the two maids to pull her back to the carriage in front.
Then the convoy was back on the road, bathed in the afterglow of the setting sun, and drove a long way without any trouble, before returning to the back door of the small courtyard.
Crunch~
Before the carriage came to a complete stop, the back door opened slightly and Sun Shaozong strode out from inside. Without saying a word, he stared at the carriage .
"grown ups."
Yang Licai quickly dismounted and said in a low voice, "I have fulfilled my mission!"
As he said this, he raised his hand, and two strong slaves on the cart immediately carried a limp man down, and the fat woman in the caravan was also pulled out by two maids.
Yang Lici rolled up his sleeves and wiped off the thick powder on the two people's faces. But it wasn't the shopkeeper Wu and his wife, who else could it be?
Sun Shaozong heaved a sigh of relief, raised his hands loosely, and said with a smile: "Manager Wu, I have been waiting for you for a long time!"
The shopkeeper Wu and his wife glared in anger, but could not utter a word.
Yang Licai said, "Kong Xiao and Jiang Tao, who pretended to be the shopkeeper Wu and his wife, have successfully controlled the shop assistant Wang Ergou. If there are irrelevant people coming, Wang Ergou will come out to fend them off first; if the thieves from the White Lotus Sect come, they will hold them back and wait for an opportunity to send out the secret signal."
After a pause, he bowed again and said, "Do you think we should interrogate him now, or..."
"Take it to the back first."
Sun Shaozong pointed to the courtyard opposite and said, "Let's wait for the news from Ruyifang before we deal with it."
Yang Licai responded respectfully and personally escorted Manager Wu and his wife into the courtyard opposite.
Sun Shaozong turned around and went back to the simple courtyard, sat down on the bench, and with the help of the dim oil lamp, he picked up a thick file from the table and began to study it carefully.
About two quarters of an hour later, someone pushed the door open and came in, reporting respectfully, "Reporting to the captain, the door of the medicine shop has been closed, and there is nothing unusual around Ruyifang."
Tsk~
It seems that the White Lotus Sect did not send anyone to monitor Manager Wu and his wife in Ruyifang.
Sun Shaozong put the file in his hand on the table, stretched his arms and muttered, "Come on, follow me to the backyard to torture and extract a confession, otherwise how can we be worthy of the black material specially sent by the governor?"
