"Open the door, open the door."
"We are county officials handling cases! People inside, please open the door!" The rough voice seemed a little impatient.
"Damn you, you are so evil... You sold us fake medicine... You killed people... You have to pay with your life..." The cries of the women were mixed in.
The movement in the dark night attracted special attention. When people on the street came out to inquire, they saw Shopkeeper Zhou being taken away by several officials, the guys in the drug store running around, and Zhou Liniang crying so hard that it was raining.
"What's wrong? What happened?" People asked one after another.
"I heard they sold fake medicine and killed people..." said a well-informed person, pointing to a few men and women who followed the officials and wore sackcloth and mourning.
After the news spread, the discussion on the street became more lively, with some believing it and some not believing it.
"Isn't it just that there is a drug store that sells fake medicine? If other drug stores can sell it, Qianjintang can also sell it. What's so strange about it!"
"No, no, that pharmacy is not selling fake medicine. Well, the little lady of the Gu family is back safely..."
"Is that blackmail?"
"Hey, isn't that the little lady of the Gu family? Ask her..."
Gu Shiba Niang was standing in the darkness at the corner of the street wrapped in a thin cloak. Unexpectedly, she was seen by someone. When she heard the question, she smiled and said: "That drug shop is not selling fake medicine. It is intentional blackmail. It has been found out by the government." Punished."
"Oh, shopkeeper Zhou might also be blackmailed."
Gu Shiba Niang was hidden in the night, with a smile on her face.
"Eighteen Mother, Eighteen Mother..." Cao's voice came from the alley.
Gu Shiba Niang responded, then glanced at the brightly lit Qianjin Hall, turned around and walked away. The night wind swirled through the alley and rolled up the corners of her clothes.
Shopkeeper Zhou, I wish you good luck.
Shopkeeper Zhou was out of luck this time. At noon the next day, the county government seal was affixed to the door of Qianjintang, and the clerk in the pharmacy was also taken away for questioning.
I heard that Mr. Dong and two medical doctors personally verified that the medicine shopkeeper Zhou bought for the patient was fake, and there were still a lot of them in Qianjintang.
When Mr. Dong spoke in the medicine store, he spoke with sincerity. No one doubted that shopkeeper Zhou was being blackmailed.
At the same time, Peng Yizhen sent a boy to ask Gu Shiba Niang to come to the county prison cell and said that shopkeeper Zhou had something to say. If it was convenient, come and listen.
Naturally, Mrs. Cao did not agree with her daughter going to that kind of place.
Gu Shiba Niang thought for a while and realized that there were some things that she did not intend to hide from Cao, such as when she and Shopkeeper Zhou bought medicine at the same medicine stall, but there were some things that she had to hide, such as that she had long recognized the fake medicines.
"Maybe you want me to testify that those medicines are not fake." Gu Shiba Niang said with a smile.
Ms. Cao nodded, feeling a little relieved, "Then go ahead and say whatever you want."
This was not the first time for Gu Shiba Niang to come to a place like the county government prison cell. In that life, not long after her mother was buried, her brother was imprisoned in the cell. She seemed to be the only one left in the world, in a panic and helpless state. I squatted in front of the cell and cried for two days and two nights...
She stretched out her hand to hold the cell door and closed her eyes.
"Ms. Gu, are you not used to this place?" The boy who brought her here noticed her gaffe and asked in a low voice.
No one would be used to this kind of place. Gu Shiba Niang smiled and followed him.
"... Shopkeeper Peng was talking to Shopkeeper Zhou and suddenly said that he wanted to invite you..." The young man said in a low voice and apologetically again, "It's really..."
Across the cell door, shopkeeper Zhou and Peng Yizhen sat opposite each other. Their expressions could not be seen clearly in the dark room, and the sound of footsteps made them both turn their heads.
"Miss Gu is here." Peng Yizhen stood up and said.
Gu Shiba Niang nodded, but before she could speak, she heard Shopkeeper Zhou inside sneer.
Peng Yizhen waved his hand at the boy, who immediately withdrew. The people in Xianren County were good and peaceful, and there was only one suspect in the cell, Shopkeeper Zhou.
"Miss Gu, you are so clever!" Shopkeeper Zhou said coldly.
Gu Shiba Niang took a few steps closer and looked at Shopkeeper Zhou who was wearing a prison uniform and disheveled hair, sitting on the floor in the cell. He had not been seen all night. He looked very embarrassed.
"Shopkeeper Zhou, is there any point in arguing with each other at this time?" Gu Shiba Niang smiled and said calmly, but did not retort to his words.
"Sure enough, you knew earlier... You deliberately let me buy fake medicine, it's you, it's you..." Shopkeeper Zhou suddenly stood up from the ground and shouted in a low voice.
Peng Yizhen snorted and sat on the bench without moving.
"What Shopkeeper Zhou said is interesting. Just because you bought fake medicine at the same medicine stall, shouldn't I also buy fake medicine? If not, it was me who framed you? Shopkeeper Zhou, that day at the medicine meeting "There are thousands of people who have bought the medicine. Is it unfair for you to say that I framed you?" Gu Shiba Niang said calmly.
Peng Yizhen laughed loudly from the side, "That's right, Shopkeeper Zhou, what you said is really crazy."
Shopkeeper Zhou's face turned purple. He grabbed the cell railing and said bitterly: "Peng Yizhen, don't pretend to be crazy for me here. Everyone knows what's going on! You guys already knew this was fake medicine!"
"Shopkeeper Zhou, since you know it in your heart, why don't you go and tell the county boss that I, Gu Shiba Niang, was going to sell Qinpi that day, but you accidentally snatched it away, so it is my fault that the fake medicine killed people. Gu Shiba Niang said slowly, smiled and looked at Shopkeeper Zhou, "But I really don't understand. If I knew it was a fake medicine, why would I buy it?"
"Because you want me to buy it!" Shopkeeper Zhou shouted as he slapped the doorpost.
This was indeed the case, but these words sounded illogical and irrational to anyone, and Peng Yizhen burst into laughter.
"Look at Shopkeeper Zhou, you are really crazy! Why does Mrs. Gu want you to buy it?" he asked, patting his legs.
The cell suddenly became quiet. Shopkeeper Zhou's eyes swept across the two people in front of him, and finally landed on Gu Shiba Niang's face. In the dark and unknown cell, the girl's thin face was filled with some pity and some ridicule.
"Shopkeeper Zhou, why do I want you to buy counterfeit medicine? Do I have any grudge against you?" Gu Shiba Niang looked at him, smiling on her face, but there was no smile in her eyes. She slowly spoke word by word. He said, "You have no intention of harming me, so why should I have the intention of harming you? Shopkeeper Zhou, are you right?"
she knows! Did she know it from the beginning? How can this be
Shopkeeper Zhou grabbed the prison pillar, his face full of disbelief and confusion.
How did things come to this? This is obviously a down-and-out young lady who has never left the house and knows nothing about the world. How could things be like this? How could I hold her hand again and again
This can't be, this can't be, this can't be real, this must be a dream.
Shopkeeper Zhou suddenly hit his head on the doorpost, and blood flowed down his forehead.
By the way, it must have nothing to do with her, this is all Peng Yizhen’s idea!
"The surname is Peng!" Shopkeeper Zhou stretched out his hand to wipe the blood, and looked at Peng Yizhen fiercely, "I admit defeat, what do you want?"
The wild smile on Peng Yizhen's face disappeared. He stood up slowly and looked at Shopkeeper Zhou extending his hand. "Except for your life and that of your daughter, everything else belongs to me."
Shopkeeper Zhou was first stunned and then furious. He laughed in anger, "Peng, you are crazy..."
"Okay, then do you want me to tell the county boss that what I bought at that drug stall was Ophiopogon japonicus fibrous roots, or that what I actually bought was fake Polygala and we were all fooled by that drug dealer?" Peng Yizhen said. said.
"Go ahead and say whatever you want. Do you think you can kill me just by doing this?" Shopkeeper Zhou said angrily.
"What if I just want to kill you?" Peng Yizhen interrupted him and said coldly.