Hemiplegia

  "Sun Simiao?" Pei Qiantong's eyes sparkled with intensity as he turned to the salt merchants' branch leaders and said, "You all heard that. Even if you have to dig three feet underground, I want you to find that doctor named Sun Simiao for me! And bring back that tofu westerner, I want to interrogate him personally!"

  "Alright, I'll go and take care of it!"

  The branch masters of the Salt Gang all left the house in a hurry, as if they had been pardoned, and carried out the corpse of the Lu River branch master together.

  The house returned to its quiet state.

  Several doctors knelt on the ground, not daring to move, only Pei Kun's eyes flashed with a fierce look, gritting his teeth and muttering to himself: "Don't let me catch you, otherwise I'll make you regret coming into this world!"

  ……

  The city of Luoyang has been in an uproar for the past few days, with everyone discussing the wanted notices that have been continuously posted by the Salt Gang.

  On the bulletin board on Luoyang Street, there were many wanted posters with heavy rewards. Some were looking for Tofu West Zhang's family, some were looking for Old Man Song, and one was looking for a doctor named Sun Simiao. The poster read that anyone who provided clues would be rewarded with 1,000 taels of white silver.

  A luxurious mansion in the south of Luoyang City.

  Tall and majestic Liu Ermei was holding a tray of food and knocked on the door of one room in the east wing.

  "Grandpa, I've brought your lunch."

  A loud, excited voice came from inside: "Quickly come in, quickly come in. Oh dear, how can you personally deliver it? This kind of thing is done by the lower-ranking people, but you are a heroic woman, my son's lifesaver, how can I let you serve me?"

  "This is what a daughter-in-law should do, don't be polite, it's rare to serve you, elder, let me take the opportunity to show my filial piety to Second Brother." Liu Ermei carried the dishes into the room, walking and smiling as she spoke.

  On the bed in the room lay a person wrapped all over in white gauze, with only two dull grayish-white eyes exposed. His hands and feet seemed to be broken, making it difficult for him to move, even getting up was somewhat difficult. When Liu Ermei came in, he hastily expressed his gratitude.

  "Hubby, if you keep being so polite, Master will get angry and I won't care about you anymore." A spoiled and disobedient voice came out of Liu Ermei's mouth, sounding particularly discordant. The several servants outside the house heard the sound and all had expressions of wanting to laugh but not daring to on their faces.

  An old man's voice came from inside the house, praising incessantly: "My boy married you, it's really his good fortune accumulated in his past life."

  "If you like, Second Sister is willing to serve tea and pour water for you for a lifetime, attending to your every need."

  "Haha, okay, okay, where's that kid of mine these past few days?"

  Liu Ermei's tone suddenly became somewhat sour: "Master hasn't come back for several days, it seems like he went to find someone."

  "What's there to look for? If a woman like that is gone, she's gone. We won't miss her either. I'll talk to him when we get back..." The old man hastily comforted.

  Liu Ermei finally smiled and fed him some food, chatted with him for a while, then carried the dishes out.

  As soon as he went out, he threw the bowl and chopsticks to the servant beside him, and returned to the main house with a sullen face. The several servants who had been waiting early followed in a hurry.

  Liu Ermei sat down with a huff, slapped the table and asked loudly: "How's the person you're following? What's with the wound on your face?"

  She didn't dare to hide it from her subordinates, and told them in detail about how she had followed Zhen Mingshu to the Luhe branch of the Salt Guild, all the way until Zhen Mingshu brought a wounded man to Sun Langzhong's hut, where they stood guard for a night, only to be discovered by the man who was rescued by Zhen Mingshu and beaten up.

  Liu Ermei fell into deep thought after hearing this.

  "Second sister, shall we send someone...?" Her subordinate made a throat-slitting gesture.

  Liu Ermei shook her head: "No, Zhen Ming's body still has the Hegang secret formula, and he can't be moved for the time being. It seems that's where the Tofu Siren is hiding. Come closer and listen..."

  She whispered something in her subordinate's ear, and he nodded repeatedly: "I'll go take care of it right away!"

  A few people informed him that they had left the house, and Liu Ermei's face showed a relieved expression, and she smiled slightly: "Second brother, you can't blame me for this. Who told you to come back and run out every day? I thought you didn't know I was going out to find her? You even dared to expose your identity, provoke the Luohe branch, and get involved with Pei Qiantong, making a big fuss in the city. It's you who first disregarded our husband-and-wife relationship, so don't blame me for secretly taking action."

  ……

  Bai's Mansion.

  Pei Qiantong sat at the top of the hall, holding a letter in his hand, his face looking extremely unpleasant.

  Several subordinates stood a few meters away from him, their heads bowed and not daring to breathe.

  "When did you receive this letter?" Pei Qiantong finally finished reading the letter and looked up to ask in a deep voice.

  "Just now, when the gatekeeper opened the door, he found someone had inserted it at the gate, with 'Private letter from Lord Pei' written on it. The gatekeeper didn't dare to delay and immediately sent it over to you, Master."

  "Someone tentatively asked: 'Boss, is what's written in the letter related to Second Master?'"

  Pei Qiantong nodded and said, "Master Qi, take a dozen or so men to the north of the city and investigate whether there is a thatched cottage in the Wogong Mountain Valley outside the city. If that tofu beauty is hiding there, bring all those people back to me for interrogation!"

  "Go and take care of it." The speaker left the great hall hastily with several attendants.

  Pei Qiantong got up and walked out the door, walking all the way to the bamboo forest where Pei Qian was staying. As soon as he entered a courtyard in the bamboo forest, he heard Pei Qian's resentful cries coming from inside the house: "Get out, get out of my sight! I want to kill that bastard, I want to kill that old man Song, I want to kill that little slut! I won't forgive, I hate...!"

  Pei Qiantong sighed and entered Pei Qian's room.

  In the room, several slaves stood trembling beside Pei Qian's bed, motionless.

  At this time, Pei Qian had already woken up and was lying in bed, motionless, with his eyes wide open, gasping for breath, his face twisted in a fierce grimace, and he was frantically shouting to kill everyone.

  Pei Qiantong walked over to the bedside, gesturing for the slaves serving Pei Qian to temporarily withdraw, and sat down in a chair.

  Pei Qian finally stopped shouting, and with great difficulty turned his only movable head towards Pei Qiantong, tears streaming down his face.

  "Brother, you must avenge me! Kill them all!"

  "Calm down, speak slowly and tell me what exactly happened that day." Pei Qiantong gently patted his hand.

  "It was done by one person, wearing black clothes and covering their face. There were over a dozen of us in the same room, but before we could even see each other's faces clearly, he took care of us. This guy must have a connection with Old Song, he deliberately made me like this to warn us not to mess with that little scoundrel. Have you found Old Song? Have you found that little scoundrel?"

  "Not yet." Pei Qiantong shook his head, "The other side dared to make such a ruthless move, they must have come prepared. I've already ordered the capture of Old Man Song and that Tofu Siren, just received news that the Tofu Siren is hiding in a mountain valley outside the north city, I'm sending people to capture her now, believe it won't be long before we get news."

  Pei Qian's face was filled with venom: "Catch that little slut, I want to see her being gang-raped to death by ten men!"

  "It will be as you wish, but before that, you need to eat and take care of your body. I heard there's a doctor named Sun Simiao who can cure you, and I'm now doing my best to find him. Don't worry, brother will definitely get justice for you, just focus on recovering from your injuries, the gang's affairs still need you to handle personally."

  "Brother!"

  "Let's just drop it for now, I won't let the person who hurt you like this go unpunished. I still need to enter the palace and discuss the Eastern Tour with the Emperor, I'll come visit you again another day."

  As soon as he left the room, Bae Gun returned to his usual cold expression.

  As the leader of a gang, he would never let people see his weak side.

  He turned his head and took a glance at Pei Qianhua's room, with a hint of despair flashing in his eyes. Yesterday, he had specially invited the imperial physician to take a look, but even the imperial physician was helpless. As for whether Sun Simiao could cure Pei Qianhua or not, he didn't hold too much hope.

  He turned around and one of his subordinates quickly walked up, leaned in close to his ear and whispered a few words.

  Pei Qiantong clenched his fists, with bulging veins, and growled: "Go find them!"