Tang Dynasty Puppet Doctor

Chapter 15: Death of Zhou Jiulang

Seeing Ah Shu's surprised, happy, and even uneasy expression, Murong Huan nodded: "It's me!"

"Ah Huan, does it hurt?" Ah Shu's eyes were watery, and she looked at Murong Huan with great heartache and helplessness.

Murong Huan tried to stand up by supporting himself with his right arm, but he fell back onto the couch due to the pain.

"Don't move, don't move. I gave Huan some medicine last night. He should be well soon!"

When she was in Taoyuan Village, she didn't learn anything, but she learned how to identify and distinguish medicines from the Taoist priest. Although she didn't have Ah Huan's ability to heal people's hearts, she was more than capable of treating some simple wounds.

"Where did I go last night? What did I do?"

When Murong Huan asked, he was actually asking the other soul in her body.

Ah Shu suppressed the urge to cry and whispered, "Actually, Ah Shu doesn't know either. She left in a hurry and came back in a hurry without even taking Ah Shu with her. Ah Shu doesn't know what she did, but when she came back, she was injured."

Murong Huan pondered for a moment and said, "This matter cannot be known to anyone."

"I know, I know, Ah Huan, don't worry. Ah Shu may be stupid, but she knows what to say and what not to say."

"Who said you're stupid?" Murong Huan wiped her tears of grievance. "Ashu is very smart and cute!"

"Really? Thank you, Huan, thank you for never disliking me."

Ah Shu burst into laughter.

"Did she say you were stupid?" Murong Huan asked again, "What else did she say?"

Ah Shu then remembered what Li Linghuan said last night, asking Murong Huan to go to the Imperial College to study.

"Ahuan, do you like reading?" she asked suddenly.

Murong Huan thought for a moment and replied, "I don't mind it. My father taught me to read when I was very young. He read the Thousand Character Classic, the Book of Songs, and the Book of Rites, and often told me stories about Confucius. When I was in Taoyuan Village, my master also taught me to read, but he taught me the Taoism of Laozi and Zhuangzi, as well as mathematics, astronomy, calendar calculation, etc. I only learned the basics."

"So, do you want to study at the Imperial College like Erlang Zhu? I heard that once you enter the Imperial College and pass the examination, you can become an official and receive a salary from the court. Then, Ah Huan will be rich, and your life will get better and better in the future."

Murong Huan looked at Ah Shu curiously: "Did she ask you to persuade me to study at the Imperial College?"

Ah Shu lowered her head.

"If I don't go, will she beat you?"

"Maybe I'll just get a couple of slaps..." Ah Shu whispered, then looked up and smiled, "But it doesn't matter. Ah Huan's hands are very gentle, so it won't hurt. I'll be fine if I just bear it. If Ah Huan doesn't want to go, then don't go!"

Murong Huan fell silent for a moment, then said, "It's not that I don't want to go, but how to go is the problem."

"And it seems someone died again last night!"

"Dead?" Ah Shu thought she was talking about Su Jia Erlang, and quickly waved her hands to explain, "No, no, he's not dead yet, he's just a little... his mouth is crooked, his eyes are squinting, he's having a seizure!"

After saying that, Ah Shu even made a weird expression of rolling her eyes and sticking out her tongue.

"Who are you talking about?"

"Su Sanlang, the third son of the Dalang master, last night, I heard that Su Sanlang got up to go to the bathroom and suddenly saw a ghost passing by, so he was frightened and had a seizure!"

Having said that, Ah Shu looked at Murong Huan somewhat embarrassedly.

"You mean, it was me, no, it was she who scared Su Sanlang into a trance?"

Ah Shu nodded: "I think...right!"

……

Qin stayed with Su Sanlang for a whole night and found that Su Sanlang's illness not only did not get better, but seemed to be even worse. He was no longer shaking like crazy, but like a walking corpse who had lost his soul, lying on the couch motionless and did not respond no matter how she called him.

Is this a sign of impending death?

Qin cried and wanted to go find a doctor again, but she saw Su Qing running back from the house in a panic. He drank several cups of tea in a row before he felt relieved of his nervousness and fear.

"What's wrong? Have you invited the imperial physician from the palace to treat Sanlang?" Qin asked.

Su Qing was still gasping for breath, and his mind kept appearing the images of several corpses lying in a deserted house. Before he died, there seemed to be an obscene and excited smile on the corner of his mouth. The way he died was really weird.

After he calmed down, Su Qingcai said in a very hoarse and low voice, "Zhou Jiulang is dead. This morning, when I was leaving home and passing Wenroufang, I saw Dali Temple Junior Official Lu Ling and a group of detectives examining several corpses. Those corpses were Zhou Jiulang and the two young masters of the Hou and Guo families."

With a "bang", the teacup in Qin's hand fell to the ground, and she looked at Su Qing in disbelief.

"What did you say? Zhou Jiulang died? How...how did he die?"

Su Qing's lips trembled, and he found it difficult to speak. After a long while, he finally said, "According to the coroner's examination, it was... sudden death due to excessive excitement!"

"Some say he encountered a demonic spirit and was drained of his vital energy... and died!"

Qin's face turned pale, and she suddenly looked sideways at her son who was lying half-dead on the couch.

……

The news of Zhou Jiulang's death spread like wildfire throughout Luoyang City, causing the Wang family, which had originally been somewhat happy and worried, to suddenly become gloomy. "Dead? How could he die?"

"I heard that he went to Chunxiangyuan in Wenroufang and spent most of the night in ecstasy with a prostitute. After coming out, he encountered a ghost. So he accidentally went too far and died of excitement. He became a playboy ghost..."

The housekeeper who came back to report the news couldn't help but smile after he finished speaking, not to mention Liu who heard the news.

"Zhou Jiulang is dead, Ah Ying, did you hear that? Zhou Jiulang is actually dead!"

Liu almost couldn't help laughing out loud.

If her daughter married a man like that, what would her future be like?
She was just worrying about how to kill that evil man who was worse than an animal so as to protect her daughter from being ravaged by such a lowly and despicable person, but she didn't expect that he would die so soon.

Wang Xueying blinked, still unable to recover from the shock.

Just as her grandmother was about to take her out to meet Zhou Jiulang, news came early in the morning that Zhou Jiulang had died.

is this real?
Who could have killed him?
For some reason, when she heard the news of this man's death, the girl who came to Wang's house to treat her illness that day appeared in her mind.

Is she okay now? Is she involved in this incident?

……

Zhou Jiulang's death caused a sensation throughout the entire Luoyang city. Rumors were ever-changing and many versions were derived. For example, he died of exhaustion after a night of ecstasy with a prostitute, or he encountered a ghost at night and was drained of his energy. There was also a more bizarre and more convincing version, which was that Zhou Jiulang and his father Zhou Xing killed too many people, so they attracted many wronged spirits to seek revenge when they walked at night.

The only two people who had doubts about this matter were Wu Lingyue and Xiao Muchen, who had seen Li Linghuan last night.

Wu Lingyue, suspicious, came to a large pavilion hidden in Shangshanfang. Seeing a man with silver hair and a half-white jade mask sitting at the head of the table sipping tea, he bowed and said, "I wonder if the Grand Pavilion Master has heard any new rumors about the Divine Capital?"

Xiao Muchen put down the teacup in his hand and raised his head.

"There are so many rumors in the Divine Capital. There are new things happening almost every day. Which one are you referring to?"

"It's the death of Zhou Jiulang, the son of Zhou Xing, the Minister of Autumn. I think there's something strange about this matter. Perhaps... it's related to the masked young man in black we saw last night.

I wonder if the Grand Lord has captured him?"

"none!"

Xiao Muchen replied decisively, sitting up straight again and looking at Wuling Yue: "We, the Inner Guard, are the eyes and ears of the Saint, monitoring all officials and secretly apprehending those who are disloyal, unjust, corrupt, and pervert the law. That is our duty. When did the death of a petty cruel official become our concern? Isn't the Dali Temple responsible for investigating this case?"

Wu Lingyue had nothing to say, so he could only say respectfully, "Yes! Then I will take my leave!"

After making sure Wuling Yue had gone a long way, Xuan Yu walked up to Xiao Muchen and said, "My dear, this Wuling Yue, I'm afraid the King of Wei has sent him to monitor you, right?"

Wuling Yue was the daughter of Wu Chengsi, King of Wei. Since the empress ascended the throne, the power of the Wu family's relatives had gradually encroached on the court. As the nephew of the empress, Wu Chengsi was not only granted the title of King of Wei, but also entered the Wenchang Terrace as the Left Prime Minister of Wenchang.

Wenchangtai is the Secretariat, which was the name changed after the empress ascended the throne. The Tang Dynasty has always implemented a group prime minister system, and high-ranking officials of the three ministries of Shangshu, Menxia, ​​and Zhongshu are all prime ministers. But now Wu Chengsi obviously wants to dominate alone and have the final say among the three ministries. Because of his contribution in helping the empress eliminate dissidents, Wu Chengsi's ambition has gradually expanded as his official position has risen. He has summoned his party members to make suggestions more than once and tearfully requested the empress to make him the crown prince instead.

The reason was: God does not want to honor people of the same kind, and clans do not want to worship people who are not of the same clan. Since Wu was the emperor, the descendants of Li should not be the heirs to the throne.

That look of wanting to jump into the dragon gate is really ridiculous.

When Xiao Muchen thought of this, a hint of sarcasm appeared at the corner of his lips.

"That's fine. If she wants to monitor me, then let her do it. I'm afraid this isn't just the King of Wei's intention."

Xuan Yu's eyes narrowed: "Could it be the Saint's intention?"

Xiao Muchen didn't answer, but changed the subject and asked, "Did anything unusual happen at the Su family last night?"

"According to information gathered by a spy from a doctor in Xiushanfang, a young man from the Su family's eldest branch is ill and suffering from hysteria and shock. He even mentioned Zhou Jiulang's name while delirious... He claimed it wasn't his fault, but rather Zhou Jiulang's idea..."

After hearing the last sentence, Xiao Muchen's eyes showed some interest.

"It seems that the Su family is hiding something!"

Although the Internal Guards had set up spies to monitor all the ministers in the court, the Su family's influence in the court was so small that it could be ignored, so they had not placed spies in the Su family in the past. Now it seems that they have to make careful arrangements and conduct an investigation.

"Keep watching!"

"Here!"

After pondering for a moment, Xiao Muchen asked again: "How did that little girl become after returning to the Su family?"

"Does Langjun refer to Su Minghe's daughter?"

Xiao Muchen nodded.

Although the masked young man in black clothes who broke into his house last night covered himself tightly with only his eyes exposed, he could still tell at a glance that it was the daughter of Su Minghe whom he had met in Baihua Tower two days ago.

"I don't know! She doesn't seem to be valued by the Su family. After returning to the Su family, she was like a fish entering the water, causing a circle of ripples, and then never making a single wave again!"

Xiao Muchen looked up at Xuan Yu in surprise, until Xuan Yu felt embarrassed, then he said, "Your writing is good, but is this the answer I want?"

"Here, I'll send someone to keep an eye on it right away!"

But why is he staring at a little girl? Is this the order of the Inner Guards?
(End of this chapter)