"Do you find this matter somewhat strange?" Ye Ziāan smoothed out his sleeve, frowning in thought before speaking to Mu Shaoling, "Do you think itās possible that this isnāt sickness?"
"I know what youāre about to say," Mu Shaoling reclined in his chair, "This illness is riddled with oddities. If it were a contagious disease, by now a large number of people in Shandong would have died, at the very least the people around you should have contracted it, and given the number of people who have come and gone from Shandong recently, itās impossible that other places wouldnāt have reported cases of the illness. But if itās not that, then cases keep cropping up in Shandong."
This was the part he couldnāt figure out. These past few days, he had been studying ancient medical texts, heād even looked into the witchcraft of the Miao region. There were some similarities, but also differences.
Recently, he had begun to suspect that the mummifying illness might not be a disease at all, but a poison or something else entirely. That could possibly explain some of the oddities.
"If itās not a disease, then the problem is much bigger," Ye Ziāan said lightly.
If it was not a disease, but the problem only appeared in Shandong, it looked more and more like someone was targeting him.
"Investigate!" Mu Shaolingās eyes flashed with anger, "We have to start investigating from the beginning, we have focused on treating the illness, forgetting to look into what lies behind it."
"If we are to investigate, we must start with the first person who fell ill, the first place that was affected," Ye Ziāan followed up immediately, "I will have someone look into it right away."
"Iāll lend you a few people, none worse than Ye Yi."
"Good, thank you!"
"Tsk, still saying thanks to me, how insincere," Mu Shaoling scoffed before he went out.
Ye Ziāan also went to give instructions.
Meanwhile, two women in the kitchen who knew nothing of the situation were thinking about what delicious things to make for lunch.
For some reason, Dongyang and Yang Chuxia decided to cook lunch themselves.
But when lunch was ready and everyone was about to eat, Mu Shaoling had not yet returned.
"Where has he gone?" Yang Chuxia asked.
"He had some matters to attend to," Ye Ziāan replied, "Letās eat first, he said he would come over for dinner and take you back afterward."
The last part was addressed to Dongyang, who didnāt ask any further having been given an explanation.
After leaving the Mu Residence, Mu Shaoling dragged Baili Yan out from the residence of the Third Princeās wifeās natal family and briefed him about the situation. The water in Baili Yanās cup spilled onto the ground, and the typically composed Baili Yan lost his composure.
Enraged, thus on the night of the second day of the new year, quite a few people from both the Third Princeās residence and the Mu Residence went out of the city. Fortunately, the people of Capital City were still enjoying the festive joy of the new year and didnāt pay much attention to external matters. As a result, although their movements were significant, they didnāt attract much notice from others.
"Uncle Shaoling!"
After finishing his conversation with Baili Yan, Mu Shaoling went back to his medical hut and spent the afternoon flipping through books on poisons. It was only when it got dark that he arrived at the Luo Residence. He had just entered when Lele called out to him.
"What are you doing here?" Mu Shaolingās eyebrows twitched.
"I have some matters I wish to ask Uncle about," the child said, his expression somber and, if one looked closely, his eyes a bit red.
"Alright, then what do you want to ask me?"
Mu Shaoling was curious about what the little guy wanted to discuss with him.
"Please come with me, Uncle."
As he spoke, he led the way, and Mu Shaoling could only follow behind, watching as the boy took several turns and eventually led him to the gatehouse by the back door. As for the original gatekeeper, there was no telling where the boy had sent him.