Jiang Shenglin drove the carriage and sent the frightened Second Master Zhu back to his mansion.
Li Sui went to Tianzhu Hall alone.
Pan Shihou was rolling up his sleeves, concentrating on pruning a potted pagoda pine in the yard, looking very relaxed and leisurely. A bunch of thin branches grew vigorously and straight, but half of them stuck out sideways. He held his breath and just aimed the scissors at it, but someone suddenly appeared behind him, so his hand was startled and tilted, and with a "crack", the whole plant was broken off at the root.
"… "
Pan Shihou turned his head in anger, ready to reprimand the servant, but he did not expect that the person who came was Li Sui. His expression suddenly changed from gloomy to bright, and he smiled attentively, "Why are you here now, nephew? Didn't you go to Hydrangea Valley to enjoy the scenery and relax?"
"There were forty assassins hiding in Hydrangea Valley." Li Sui said, "All of them are dead now."
Pan Shihou was shocked when he heard this: "How could there be assassins hiding there? Could they be the same group of people as those who went to Tiger Roar Gorge that day? Is it Shangru Villa or Fenhuo Palace behind them? Did you leave any survivors?"
Li Sui's voice was filled with chilliness: "No need to stay."
Pan Shihou asked confusedly, "Why don't we stay? Did the other party reveal their origins, or have you found out something?"
Li Sui looked at him and said, "There are no more than five people who know that I am going to Hydrangea Valley today."
Pan Shihou frowned at first, then reacted and was immediately shocked. He said hastily, "My dear nephew, you are not doubting me, are you? My Tianzhu Hall has always been upright and honest, and we take every step very carefully, for fear of making mistakes. Besides, I am not unaware of my dear nephew's martial arts skills, so why would you send only forty people to carry out an assassination?"
Li Sui interrupted him and asked, "Where's your son?"
"This..." Pan Shihou's face turned pale: "Jinhua left early in the morning... No, I taught him to follow my nephew's example since he was young. How could he do such a stupid thing? It's impossible."
After a cup of tea, Pan Jinhua was called back from the teahouse by the servants. He entered the front hall and saw Li Sui there, so he looked away unconsciously.
Pan Shihou asked hurriedly: "Where did you run to?"
Pan Jinhua replied: "I have an appointment with a few friends at the Eight Immortals Teahouse today. We are watching opera and listening to stories there. The new troupe sings quite well. If grandma feels bored at home next time, she can—"
Before he could finish the second half, a cold sword was already placed on his shoulder.
"My dear nephew!" Pan Shihou's voice changed in shock, and he quickly grasped Li Sui's arm, "My dear nephew, please don't be angry. Jinhua might really be listening to the opera. Let me ask about the matter first."
Pan Jinhua also had a stiff neck and dared not move. He gritted his teeth and said, "What are you going to do?"
Li Sui said coldly: "Collaborating with the Demon Cult will only lead to death."
Hearing the word "demon sect", Pan Jinhua's eyes became even more panicked, but he still maintained a tough attitude: "Don't slander me, how could I be related to the demon sect?"
Pan Shihou hugged Li Sui's arm and said repeatedly: "Yes, yes, although Jinhua is not a good person, he is not so ignorant of right and wrong. Please don't act impulsively, nephew!"
"Whether it's true or not, you know it in your heart." Li Sui's tone was as cold as Jian Feng's. "I don't want to hear nonsense, so you either admit it or die."
"My dear nephew!" Pan Shihou was unsteady on his feet, his whole body trembling so much that the chaff was almost sifted out.
Pan Jinhua said fiercely: "I didn't!"
Li Sui's sword slightly deflected, and a blood mark immediately appeared on the opponent's neck. Before the blood flowed, it was frozen by the cold air of Xiangjun Sword. Pan Jinhua's teeth chattered, his neck was as stiff as if it was covered with an ice jacket, and half of his brain was paralyzed.
Pan Shihou sat down on the ground trembling. Judging from his expression, he probably thought his son was dead.
Pan Jinhua's Adam's apple rolled, and he tried to swallow his saliva, but he found that the root of his tongue was no longer under his control. It felt like thousands of ice needles were running through his blood, bringing him piercing pain and overwhelming fear. He looked at Li Sui in panic, without a doubt that if he didn't admit it, he would be cut off by the other party.
"Yes..." He tried his best to squeeze out an unclear word from his mouth, "It's me."
Li Sui sheathed his sword, and Pan Jinhua fell back into the chair, holding his cold neck with both hands, breathing in panic.
Pan Shihou's expression was no better than his son's. Although he had been helped up by Li's followers and his son was not dead, his lips were still trembling as he asked in disbelief, "What do you mean, it's you? Are you really in contact with the Demon Cult?"
"Yes... No, no, I didn't." Pan Jinhua spoke incoherently, his voice hoarse and cracked, "They approached me many times, but I didn't agree. It's just this time, this time—"
Li Sui finished for him: "This time you hate me so much that you collude with the Burning Fire Palace and want to kill me?"
Pan Jinhua's eyes were bloodshot, and his face was as white as a ghost, full of hatred. His chest rose and fell violently, and he looked like he had a lot of words to say, but he was enveloped by the thick murderous intent in the room, and finally swallowed them all back.
Pan Shihou raised his hand and slapped his son hard on the face, angrily saying, "Are you crazy?"
Pan Jinhua's cheeks quickly turned red, blood oozed from the corners of his mouth, and his voice was filled with hatred: "If you hadn't kept comparing him to me, how could I have been bribed by the Burning Fire Hall?"
"You bastard, you still dare to make excuses!" Pan Shihou was furious. He seemed to be out of control. He couldn't find anything suitable in the house, so he went outside and got a broom, then started beating him, calling him a rebellious son. The servants outside the yard didn't know what was going on, and when they heard this, they were so scared that they dared not speak.
Li Sui stood up and walked out.
"My dear nephew!" Pan Shihou dropped his broom and hurried forward to plead, "I will definitely teach Jinhua a lesson and ask him in detail about the whole cause and effect of the incident. I hope my dear nephew will show mercy and let him live."
Li Sui knew that the beating and scolding by the other party just now was just for him to see, but he didn't want to pursue it any further. As for Pan Jinhua, whether he had been dealing with the Demon Cult for a long time or it was just a one-time transaction on impulse as he said, his identity had been exposed. A person who became an abandoned child was of no great value to himself and Chi Tian.
…
The sun was setting.
Zhu Yanyin was sitting at the table with a cup of cold tea at hand.
Unlike what Jiang Shenglin expected, although he was scared, he was not so scared that his legs and feet became weak and he needed to be carried back to his bedroom by a servant. On the contrary, the second son of Zhu walked back by himself. Although his steps were still unsteady, his face had regained color. When asked by Zhu Zhang and Zhu Xiaosui, he could answer calmly, "Well, I went out of the city to relax."
Jiang Shenglin didn't understand where his sudden calmness came from, so he tried to ask, "Second Young Master, are you not afraid anymore?"
Zhu Yanyin gulped down three cups of herbal tea in a row before he said in shock, "I'm afraid, but if Uncle Zhang finds out, he'll keep nagging me for a long time, and he'll even hire dozens of guards to follow me. It's better to keep it a secret."
Jiang Shenglin gave a thumbs up: Brave and resourceful, brave and resourceful!
Although Zhu Yanyin did not see the blood spurting out this time, Palace Master Li's words "he also smashed those people's heads with the hilt of the sword" were still very scary. What's more, the sky outside turned cloudy and pitch black, as if it was going to rain, or there was a ghost.
In order to sleep well at night and not dream about the wild head-exploding Palace Master Li, he took the initiative to ask Jiang Shenglin for a box of sleeping pills and a few drops of flower oil to sprinkle on the pillow to calm the nerves. He also asked, "Should I eat more millet porridge, honeysuckle tea, milk soup and mung beans recently to calm my nerves?"
Doctor Jiang felt very pleased. He was indeed a young master from the Zhu family in Jiangnan. He was smart and intelligent, which made the doctor worry less.
In comparison, the other patient was simply bald.
Jiang Shenglin ordered the boy to fetch the medicine box and took out some flower oil from it. Zhu Yanyin saw a few blue porcelain bottles inside and asked casually, "What is this?"
Jiang Shenglin replied: "Highly poisonous."
Zhu Yanyin's hand stopped in mid-air, then slowly retracted. Why do you put the poison together with the flower oil? Wouldn't you make a mistake? The bottles look similar.
Jiang Shenglin smiled and said, "It's not a deadly poison, it's acacia honey. If anyone finds the medicine too bitter, I'll give him a few pills."
"Is that so?" Zhu Yanyin breathed a sigh of relief, thought for a moment, and took out a small wooden box from the low cabinet, "Here are pine nut snow flake candies. If the Divine Doctor doesn't mind, you can take them too."
Jiang Shenglin wanted to decline, but then he thought that the sugar from the Zhu Mansion in Jiangnan might be made from some precious honey that takes eighty years to produce one pound. It would be fine to take a little, after all, everyone wants to see the world.
So I filled two large bottles.
The flower oil has a very good calming effect. That night, Zhu Yanyin slept soundly in the pouring rain all over the city, without even a single dream.
When Jiang Shenglin returned to the inn, Li Sui was still damp, with his wet black hair casually tied behind his head. He was sitting at the table polishing his sword.
Jiang Shenglin's first reaction: "Are you poisoned again?"
Li Sui replied: “No.”
"That's good." Jiang Shenglin breathed a sigh of relief. "How is the Sky Spider Hall?"
"It was Pan Jinhua." Li Sui said, "I went to the Sky Spider Hall ten times, and eight times I saw the father scolding his son. I guess he got sick from being scolded, which is why he was bewitched by the Burning Fire Hall."
"Then... let it go like this?" According to the rules of the martial arts world, if you have private dealings with the Demon Cult, you will be skinned alive if you don't die.
Li Sui put down the Xiangjun Sword and said, "Pan Shihou only has that one son. Even if he is a good-for-nothing, it is better to dress him up nicely and have him at home than to have no son at all."
Jiang Shenglin: You clearly wanted to give the other party a chance to live, but you could still speak so harshly and unpleasantly. You are worthy of being like this.
The next round of medicine was ready. Li Sui closed his eyes and swallowed it, frowning: "Why is it getting more and more sour and bitter? What's your cooking skill?"
Doctor Jiang: "Why, I have to make the medicine delicious for you?"
Li Sui: “…”
Jiang Shenglin took out a small bottle from the box: "Try it."
The sugar grains were crispy and small, not too sweet, but more of a pine nut aroma. Li Sui didn't have the patience to hold it in his mouth, biting it with his teeth, making a crunching sound, and soon half the bottle was empty.
Jiang Shenglin asked: "Is it delicious?"
Li Sui lazily leaned back in his chair: "Not bad."
Jiang Shenglin introduced: "This is the candy given by Second Young Master Zhu. In addition to pine nut honey, there may also be 800-year-old snow lotus and 8000-year-old mountain ginseng. If you eat a few more bottles, it may be able to cure the poison and injury at the same time."
Li Sui: "Is this how you, the miracle doctors, diagnose patients?"
Jiang Shenglin: "It wasn't like that before, but it is now. The Zhu family even applies perfumed ointment on the wheels of the carriage. What else can't they do? You can't even imagine the happiness of the Jiangnan prominent families."
Li Sui threw the empty bottle back and said, "If you go from street to street selling fake medicine, I don't think you'll be able to eat the same old mountain ginseng in less than three years."
Jiang Shenglin: That makes sense. Could you please give me some face and hurry up so as not to delay my second spring of wealth from selling the Vajra Pills