Chapter 38: Investigating

  As expected, the Cao family and Bai Zhi were not clear about Shen Nianxue's condition, only knowing that the doctor was treating him. He Huan only noticed the scratches on Cao's face at this time, and she was just about to ask what had happened when Xiangcao returned with a bowl of medicine.

  He Huan knew that Shen's family had always been brewing more than one bowl of medicine, so she didn't think it was strange. She held the bowl of medicine and swallowed the bitter liquid mouthful by mouthful, even though her body strongly rejected the sour taste that seemed to penetrate her five organs and six viscera, but she didn't frown at all.

  Xiangcao carefully observed He Huan, then took a step forward and handed over the empty bowl, skillfully presenting honeyed fruit and honey syrup.

  He Huan shook his head and said, "No need, just give me a cup of warm water to rinse my mouth."

  Cao took the honey water from Xiangcao's hand and drank it all in one gulp. Seeing that Xiangcao had already handed her a tea cup, she gave Baihe an unhappy glance. Baihe, seeing that she was always half a beat slower than Xiangcao, became even more flustered.

  He Huan puckered her mouth, still full of herbal medicine flavor, and she was also running a fever, extremely uncomfortable physically, involuntarily furrowing her brow.

  Xiang Cao asked tentatively: "Miss Biao, if you don't like sweet things, I'll get some sour plums for you to suck on, would that be alright?"

  What a delightful surprise! The fragrant grass is testing her on purpose. She knew it clearly and asked, "What's your name?"

  Xiang Cao replied respectfully: "Reporting to Miss Bao, I am Xiang Cao."

  He Xuan nodded and said: "Speaking of which, when I was a child, I used to make sour plums with my cousin. Every time we finished drinking the medicine, we both liked to suck on one."

  As soon as she spoke, Bai Rong and Cao Shi both felt strange. Normally, He Huan was most afraid of sour things, how could he like sour plums?

  Xiangcao smiled and nodded at He Huan, then turned around to get some sour plums. He Huan called out to her, asking: "Why didn't you see Zilan?"

  Xiang thought for a moment, then lowered her head and replied: "I haven't seen her since last night." With that, she withdrew from the room.

  As soon as the door closed, Cao said impatiently: "You really scared us to death last night. Even if you wanted to put on a show in front of Shen Jinglu, you should have given everyone a heads up first. You don't know, Jing'er was anxious like an ant on a hot pot. By the way, when did you start liking sour plums? Was that also part of the act?"

  "I just sent her away." Hehuan looked at the scar on Cao's cheek and asked, "How did you get hurt? I seemed to hear Miss Lin's voice earlier..."

  "Speaking of which, you should thank me properly." Cao smiled so hard that her eyebrows were curved, "Earlier, if you had seen the second daughter of the Lin family's embarrassing appearance, you might have laughed out loud even in your dreams." She described the whole process one by one, but hid the fact that Shen Jinglun gave her 50 taels of silver. After finishing speaking, she smiled and asked for credit: "You see, my method is much more effective than yours. From now on, when she sees Mr. Shen from afar, she will definitely be so ashamed that she will take a detour..."

  "You're thinking too simply." He Huan shook her head. With her understanding of Lin Mengyan, she would never give up like this.

  He Huan rubbed her brow, and even though she was burning with fever and felt dizzy and weak all over, she immediately spotted the suspicious part of the whole thing. She asked Cao Shi: "Did Lin Er say how she knew I was in this room? And even if Xiangcao went to decoct medicine, wasn't there a little maid guarding outside the house?"

  Cao was completely nonchalant and replied casually: "Who knows? Maybe this is fate!"

  He Huan closed her eyes wearily and soon let out a soft sigh.

  She suspected that Lin Mengyan's appearance might be arranged by Shen Jinglu. Perhaps she didn't have to worry about Lin Mengyan becoming her son's stepmother at all. If this had happened before last night, she would have been very happy, but now, what she wanted was no longer for Shen Jinglu to marry her again, but to return to her son as soon as possible, not wanting to delay for a moment.

  Before long, Xiangcao brought back a small dish of sour plums. He Huan sucked on a plum and politely said that she had been too excited the night before, speaking nonsense and making things difficult for Shen Zhihua. She wanted to apologize in person and asked Xiangcao to pass on the message.

  Xiang Cao had intended to refuse, her task was only to monitor them until they left the Shen family. However, He Huan's attitude was sincere and his words were earnest, plus he looked pitiful and weak due to his illness, Xiang Cao hesitated for a moment before reluctantly agreeing to report back to Shen Zhihua.

  Cao's wife had fifty taels of silver in her bosom, and all she could think about was hiding the private money to avoid trouble. So she advised: "Your purpose has been achieved, we should go home now. At this moment, your aunt and third brother are worried."

  He Huan didn't move, he just slowly replied: "Aunt Cao, please trouble you to go back and report the news first, later I'll head home with Bai Zhan..."

  "Later?" Cao was taken aback. When Shen Zhihua handed her the silver, he made it clear that he hoped they would return to the He family as soon as possible. "Young lady, what are you trying to do again? At this time, Master Shen won't see you. Besides, you're not a doctor..." Under He Huan's suspicious gaze, Cao's voice gradually weakened.

  "Aunt Cao, was it the Shen family who paid for my medical expenses and medicine?" He Huan asked. Seeing Aunt Cao's eyes flicker, she pursed her lips lightly and continued: "Originally, Mr. Shen wanted to send me to a doctor's house, do you want the Shen family to pay this silver, forcing them to keep me?"

  Cao's family scolded with a stern face: "You fainted at the Shen's house, and the cost of medicine is naturally theirs to bear. Besides, the Shen's are not short of that amount of silver."

  "It's Shen's family business that they have money!" He Huan started coughing violently, feeling dizzy and disoriented. Shen Jinglun didn't advocate for extravagance, but he wasn't stingy with his silver either. She should have thought of it earlier, given his way of doing things, even if she went to the medical hall, he would still pay for the consultation fee and medicine.

  Bai Mian saw the mistress coughing violently and hurriedly stepped forward to help her catch her breath, softly advising: "Miss, don't be angry, actually today was all because of Aunt Cao. And the diagnostic fee and thank-you gift were..."

  "Shen Jinglun is willing to give silver, why should I push it away?" Cao's sudden rebuke suppressed White Peony's words of "thank you".

  He Wan coughed until her whole body was soft and she couldn't say a word. Cao Shi knew what kind of person she was, she didn't want to get angry, but at this moment, she had used the Shen family's silver, as the saying goes "eat people's mouth soft take people's hand short", later when she went to negotiate with Shen Jinglun, she would definitely feel inferior to him. Besides, her illness had nothing to do with the Shen family, and this silver shouldn't have been paid by the Shen family in the first place.

  Cao stealthily patted the silver at her waist, fearing that the cooked duck would fly away without wings. She claimed she was willing to follow He Huan's arrangement and immediately returned to the He family to report the news, leaving without looking back.

  Cao's wife had long since fled without a trace, and it was only with great difficulty that the coughing finally subsided.

  Before long, Xiangcao returned from Shen Zhihua's side and apologetically said to He Huan: "Miss, the steward asked me to tell you that he doesn't need your apology or thanks. He only hopes that after you return home, you take good care of yourself, and that will be enough."

  He Huan was not disappointed, as she had expected things wouldn't go so smoothly. She wanted to speak up, but suddenly her stomach churned and with a "retch", she vomited out all the medicinal soup she had just drunk.

  Baizhou supported He Huan, and her eyes were instantly filled with tears. Xiangcao poured warm water for He Huan on one side, while calling out to the little maid outside the door to come in and help.

  After a flurry of activity, He Huan was settled on the soft couch by the window, and the maids tidied up the room in an orderly fashion. Looking out the window, He Huan saw that there were young maids with their hair tied back, as well as hurrying servants, and occasionally one or two stewards passing through; although everyone seemed a bit busy, they moved about in an orderly manner.

  He Huan's suspicions in her heart grew even more certain. She closed her eyes and weakly asked, "I'm really not feeling well, can I rest for a while before going home?"

  Xiangcao saw her face was pale, lips were white as paper, and she could only nod. She and Baishao fed Hehuan half a bowl of rice porridge together, then served her the medicinal soup, and after she finished drinking, they left her to rest on the couch.

  He Huan tried to clear her mind and think of the next move, but the fever made her dizzy and the medicine made her drowsy. Slowly, she fell asleep.

  When He Huan opened her eyes again, she felt sticky all over and full of sweat. She turned to look around, but only saw Bai Mian sitting stupidly on the edge of the bed.

  He Huan did not make a sound, and instead listened intently for any movement outside the house.

  A joyful and easy-to-read novel "Delightful Revenge" (book number 3145474): Sun Miaoxi died of a broken heart in her previous life, and this life she spared no effort to take revenge. What? He actually said that everything was just a miserable misunderstanding? Hey, Young Master, this girl's greatest wish in this life is to get rid of you, so why are you still chasing me?

  Interested friends can search for the book name "Di Huan", or pull the page to the bottom and click on the light gray book name to cross directly ~ [bookid = 3145474, bookname = "Di Huan"]