The most dissolute couple in the capital

After seeing Cui Qingyi off, Li Chengjing began his operation.

He carried several boxes of newly made hand cream and strolled to the big locust tree in the village. Several village girls were gathered there, returning from washing clothes by the stream.

"Ladies, may I ask you something?" Li Chengjing said, feigning an eagerness to learn.

The girls accepted the gifts and nodded repeatedly, seeing his polite, refined, and handsome demeanor.

Li Chengjing naturally struck up a conversation, using the pretext of delivering hand cream to casually inquire, "I saw that Doctor Zhang's 'miracle cream' is quite effective, but why is it only sold at the west end of the village and not at the east end?"

A girl with braided pigtails pouted and lowered her voice, saying, "Young man, you're from out of town, you don't know. The village chief said that the 'miracle ointment' is precious and should be given priority to the villagers. But in reality, the village chief forces them to sell the ointment to those outsiders in the west end of the village, or those who fled famine and came to settle here. Those people have no relatives, so when they get sick, they can only buy his ointment at a high price. We, the villagers, are not allowed to use it by the village chief."

Li Chengjing felt a chill run down his spine.

That makes sense! They always pick on the weak. Outsiders don't have clan protection, so even if they die, it won't cause much of a stir. The village chief and Zhang the doctor must be up to something!

Just then, a heart-wrenching cry suddenly came from the west end of the village.

Li Chengjing's expression changed, and he immediately ran over.

An old man, dressed in tattered clothes, lay on the muddy ground, convulsing, his face pale, and white foam constantly oozing from the corners of his mouth. His granddaughter was crying her heart out beside him.

"Make way! Doctor Qi is here!" The crowd was pushed aside, and Old Qi rushed over with his medicine box. He squatted down, took the pulse, and looked terrified.

"This is severe lead poisoning; the poison is affecting his heart!" Old Qi turned to look at the weeping girl. "Has he been using that black ointment for a long time?"

The girl nodded repeatedly: "We've been using it for over half a month now. Grandpa said it would relieve the pain in my legs, but today, for some reason, I collapsed right after applying it..."

Before the words were finished, a sharp voice suddenly cut in from outside the crowd.

"Incompetent doctors are harming people! Everyone come quick to see, this quack doctor from Beijing has killed someone!"

Doctor Zhang swaggered in, fanning himself with a folding fan. Pointing at Old Qi's nose, he cursed, "Old man, what kind of potent medicine did you prescribe for this old man last night? My miraculous ointment is mild; he was fine for the past two weeks. But after taking your medicine, he's in trouble this morning! It's clear that your medicine clashed with my ointment, causing his death!"

"You're spouting nonsense!" Old Qi waved his sleeve. "I only prescribed a common, mild tonic. Your ointment is full of hemp seeds. You're deliberately trying to kill me for money!"

"Bullshit! Folks, has anyone had any problems after using my ointment?" Doctor Zhang began to incite the crowd.

The village chief, who had somehow blended into the crowd, shouted, "That's right! Doctor Zhang has been treating patients for miles around for years, and they've always been healthy. The moment these two outsiders arrive, someone in the village dies. They must be behind this! Arrest them and hand them over to the authorities!"

The villagers, already ignorant, were further enraged by the village chief's authority and Zhang the Physician's instigation. Several burly men, wielding hoes and carrying poles, approached menacingly.

"A life for a life! One life for another!"

The crowd erupted instantly, with General Qi and Li Chengjing tightly surrounding them.

The guards, disguised as lowly servants, protected the two behind them, while the hidden guards around them drew their bows, ready to rescue them at any moment.

"Don't move!"

Li Chengjing shoved aside Old Qi, who was blocking his way, and strode forward. He raised his leg and kicked away the carrying pole swung by the burly man at the front. He used all his strength in the kick, and the impact made his soles ache slightly, but he maintained an arrogant and domineering sneer on his face.

"All this noise, trying to kill someone to cover up the truth? Who said Doctor Qi harmed anyone?" Li Chengjing surveyed his surroundings, his gaze piercing. "I can prove who the real murderer is!"

Hiding behind the crowd, Zhang the Physician shouted at the top of his lungs, "You arrogant and ignorant apprentice, how dare you hurt people! Don't be afraid of him!"

Li Chengjing scoffed, "Who's a quack, and who's trying to kill for money? Today I'll show you all the truth!"

He paused, turned to look at the villagers watching, and raised his voice.

"Folks! I won't explain those medicinal theories you won't understand. I'll just ask you one question: which of you has ever burned firewood? You all know what burning firewood smells like, right?"

The old men looked at each other, and one of them muttered, "Pine wood smells like pine wood, tung oil smells like tung oil, how could it be fake?"

"That's right!" Li Chengjing clapped his hands. "Everyone can tell the difference between the taste of good food and the taste of bad food!"

He turned to Old Master Qi and said, "Old Master Qi, could you please bring out the prescription I gave you last night, along with the remaining dregs of the medicine?"

Old Qi took out a paper packet from his medicine box, which contained the remaining dregs of medicine that had not yet been disposed of.

Li Chengjing then turned to Doctor Zhang, his smile so bright it was almost painful to look at: "Doctor Zhang, your ointment is said to cure all diseases, right? Well, you wouldn't mind letting everyone see for themselves, would you? Take out a jar of your miraculous ointment and let everyone inspect it. If you're too shy to do so, then don't blame me for being so sharp-tongued."

The smile on Doctor Zhang's face froze for a moment, then returned to normal: "What a joke! I, Zhang, have been practicing medicine for over ten years, and I've always been upright and honest. What is there to be afraid of?"

He touched the small box of ointment in his sleeve, but didn't take it out. Instead, he said sarcastically, "Just because a young apprentice says he can test it, doesn't mean he can. On what grounds?"

"Test it!"

From the back of the crowd, an elderly man with gray hair and beard, leaning on a cane, slowly walked out.

That's Old Man Liu from the east end of the village. He's seventy-three years old this year and the most senior. Even the village chief has to bow to him when he sees him.

"Grandpa Liu!" The surrounding villagers quickly made way for him.

Old Master Liu walked to the middle of the crowd, his cloudy old eyes swept around, and he tapped the ground heavily twice with his cane.

"Haven't you all made enough of a scene? This is a matter of life and death; what's the use of just talking? If the young man says he wants an examination, then let's have one! If you're innocent, Dr. Zhang, what are you afraid of?"

Zhang Langzhong's face turned pale at these words. If he refused at this critical juncture, it would be a sign that he had something to hide.

He had no choice but to grit his teeth and pull out a small white porcelain jar, about the size of a palm, from his sleeve, and slam it down on the stone mill by the roadside.

"Test! Test me all you want!"

This is exactly what Li Chengjing was waiting for.

He took out a small piece of firewood and a thin piece of iron from his pocket, picked out a piece of black ointment the size of a fingernail from the small porcelain jar, and spread it on the iron.

Then he crouched down and, in full view of everyone, lit the tinderbox and brought the iron sheet close to the flame.

The ointment melted slowly when heated, and then...

A wisp of pungent, metallic-smelling smoke rose up.

This is a typical characteristic of poisonous fungi: they emit an unpleasant odor when burned, which may not be noticeable when mixed with other medicinal herbs, but will be revealed once burned.

Several villagers who were nearby instinctively took a step back, and some covered their noses.

"Can you smell it?" Li Chengjing stood up, holding the metal sheet high so everyone around could see the layer of grayish-white powder that had precipitated out. "Does this smell like the herbs you usually see?"

"No!" a burly man shouted, frowning. "This smells...it's weird, it has a foul odor!"

"That's right!" Li Chengjing laughed. "Everyone, this Dr. Zhang's plaster contains poisonous mushrooms. Poisonous mushrooms can indeed relieve pain and reduce swelling in the short term, and it seems to work instantly, but it's a deadly poison! Over time, the poison seeps into the bone marrow, and when it flares up, you'll look like this old man!"

The crowd began to stir, and murmurs rose and fell.

Cold sweat beaded on Zhang the Physician's forehead, but he still forced a smile: "Nonsense! You're just a kid who hasn't even grown a full beard yet, and you can determine it's poisonous mushrooms just by burning it? Who gave you that ability?"

"No rush." ​​Li Chengjing took a small cloth bag from his waist and took out a small white porcelain jar containing hand cream made for the village girls.

He did the same thing, picking out a piece of hand cream, placing it on another piece of iron, and heating it up.

This time, a faint floral fragrance rose, and the metal sheet was clean and free of any discoloration.

"This is hand cream I made myself." Li Chengjing held up two pieces of iron side by side; one was grayish-white and pungent, the other clean and spotless. "Good things look like this after burning. Bad things look like that after burning. Folks, you may not be literate, but you can always tell the difference between good and bad, right?"