Medicine cannot be stopped

  Bi Xi stayed in the humble side hall to review Mao Shi San's case, without elevating it. Mao Shi San was tied up for a night, still vigorous and loud-mouthed, scolding and cursing Mi An Bu De Dao, taking advantage of his drinking flower wine to catch him, not a gentlemanly behavior. Bi Xi sternly slapped the shock wood, ordering the bailiffs to enter and beat him with boards, to suppress Mao Shi San's prestige. Mao Shi San took two hits, suddenly jumping up, using his strong arms to collide with the bailiffs, colliding in the side hall, people and horses overturned, mouths cursing non-stop. He scolded Mi An, then Bi Xi, and cursed the entire Huangshi County government. Bi Xi was shocked and exited the side hall, ordering the doors sealed, starving Mao Shi San for a day and night before speaking again.

  The yamen runners kept running back and forth, listening to Bi's arrangements to seal the door with wooden boards and iron nails. Fei was woken up by the noise, washed his face, and stood at the desk by the window to brew a pot of early tea. A strong fragrance of rouge wafted over, but he didn't even lift his head to look.

  Hua Cui was wearing a crimson half-sleeved jacket and an apricot-yellow skirt that trailed on the ground, like a begonia flower peeking out from the branches in early autumn. She stood prettily by the window. If she didn't have anything to do with her clothes, she would pick up a bamboo stick and poke at the red clay tea stove, saying: "Did Anzi tell you that story about Bi Shi sending gifts and his concubine running away?"

  Fei Yi knew that half of the people in this county government were unusual in their words and deeds, having seen it many times before. When she saw Hua Cui carelessly interrupting his tea-brewing, she wasn't surprised, and simply used her tea clip to open the bamboo tube as a response.

  "Are you not letting him finish speaking?"

  Fei Yi didn't deny it, she just raised her eyes and asked: "What's wrong?"

  Huā Cuì stretched out a bamboo branch in the boiling tea soup and stirred it, saying: "You don't let him finish speaking, his illness will recur, he needs to take medicine, and Lǎo Diē is not in the county town, so you can only go and treat him."

  Fei Yi didn't know what illness Min An had contracted, or what medicine he needed to take. He also didn't care about the cause and effect of these events, all he asked was: "Where did Wu Ren go?"

  "Jumping into someone else's business."

  "When will you return?"

  Huā Cuì replied: "Huangshi County is Bi's territory, and it's not good for Lao Die to show off his old face here, so he can only go to a more distant place. If he goes, he'll be back in ten days."

  The bamboo branch was swaying in the wind, and she lowered her head to think about her worries, no longer responding. Huā Cuì poked at the small ceramic cup, making a clattering sound, and said: "Hey, I'm talking to you! You have to go see ānzi once, listen to him finish his story, otherwise he's been wandering around the house all day like he's lost his soul, not combing his hair or washing his face. When Bǐsī called him to go on duty, he didn't even respond. Together with Mǎo Shísān, they made a ruckus in the entire county government, making it impossible for anyone to have peace. From now on, if you encounter something like this again, remember to stay away when he gets excited about telling stories and wants to talk..."

  "What illness did he contract?"

  Hua Cuier was taken aback for a moment before answering: "Nothing's wrong, it's just that he loves to get annoyed and sulky when things don't go his way."

  Fei Yi held the tea stirrer in his hand, and for a moment, he thought to himself that there was such a strange illness. Was it possible that he had a problem with his brain? But looking at how he spoke and handled difficult matters, he seemed much smarter than ordinary people.

  Hua Cui somewhat guessed Fei Yi's thoughts and sneered: "Those who are with Lao Die are not normal people, so just spare your heart."

  No clothes no words.

  Huā Cuì turned to leave, but Fēi Yī used a tea clip to hold onto the corner of Huā Cuì's sleeve, making it impossible for her to break free. "Finish this cup of tea before you go," he said calmly, picking up the teacup and handing it over through the window. "If you struggle any harder, your flower shirt will tear."

  Hua Cui's heart ached as she put on her new clothes, but she had no choice and took the teacup, downing the tea in one gulp. The tea water inevitably floated with the bamboo leaves and yellow dry leaves that she had stirred into the tea soup, looking very disheartening. After Hua Cui finished drinking the tea, she wiped her mouth with a silk handkerchief and walked away, tossing over two sentences: "In the future, just don't come to stir up trouble when I'm brewing tea, do you have to treat me like this..."

  Fei Yi poured out the tea, washed the tea utensils clean, and slowly walked towards the west wing of the government office. Outside the courtyard, there were still yamen runners repeatedly urging Min An to go to the front hall to receive orders, but unfortunately, the main gate of the government office was tightly closed, and there was no reaction inside.

  Fei Yi pushed the door, but it didn't budge. He thought for a moment, concentrated his strength on his toes, and indeed kicked the door open. Once he mastered the technique of opening the door, it would be extremely convenient to come find Min An at any time in the future. Min An was pacing back and forth inside the house, like a headless fly bumping into things everywhere. Fei Yi walked over to the table and sat down, asking: "What's wrong with you? Why are you so anxious?"

  Min An knocked his own head and frowned: "The weather is gloomy, it seems to be going to rain, my head hurts so much that it feels like it's splitting open."

  Fei Yi glanced at Min An's face and indeed saw that his temples were already damp with sweat, and his skin was pale. Fei Yi thought of what Hua Cui had said about Min An's illness and couldn't help but ask: "Is it unrelated to the story you told me last night?"

  Min An was taken aback and carefully asked Fei Yi for the reason behind her words. When he learned that it was Hua Cui who had informed him of the situation, he couldn't help but burst out laughing: "Hua Cui is protecting me and doesn't dare tell you the truth. I really am ill, in my brain, often getting confused and having episodes where I don't recognize anyone."

  Min An's words still left Fei Yi bewildered. However, Fei Yi was not one to pry into others' affairs and had only come this time because he valued Min An's connection to Wu Ren. Moreover, the more he interacted with Min An, the more he understood his situation, just like this visit to inquire about Min An's illness, which made him somewhat believe that Min An's brain was indeed a bit abnormal, causing him to speak and act differently from others.

  Min An turned around and saw Fei Yi's face slowly falling, and smiled again: "Well, since you're here, I'll tell you the ending of last night's story!"

  Huā Cuì's words of advice still linger in my ears, and she specifically mentioned not to go into the details of the story. Fēi Yī immediately stood up and walked out, Mǐn ān hurried over to grab Fēi Yī's sleeve and hastily said: "Are you really not interested in listening?"

  "Let go."

  Min An grasped Fei Yi's sleeve and wouldn't let go: "You listen to me and I'll let you leave."

  Fei Yi exerted a few more ounces of strength and shook open Min An, who fell to the ground in pain, his face flushing bright red. Seeing the beads of sweat continuously dripping from Min An's forehead, Fei Yi's heart softened slightly, and he walked back to sit down at the table, but didn't say a word.

  Min An jumped up and told the story of the three stories on the mountain road with great excitement. His words were very fluent, and he explained everything to Fei Yi. It turned out that the brocade sent by Bi Si had caused trouble, and was cut into a scarf by the concubine for Wang Zhi County to wear. The staff members often looked down on Wang Zhi County's character, using the excuse that the scarf looked like a pillowcase, and ridiculed Wang Zhi County as a "grass bag". Coincidentally, the concubine heard the implication behind the words, added oil and vinegar to tell Wang Zhi County, and instructed Wang Zhi County to deal with the staff members. Wang Zhi County was furious, drove away all the staff members, and personally handled the subsequent cases and government affairs, making the security and people's livelihood in Qingquan Town more difficult. The concubine could not bear the white eyes of the yamen staff, and on a rainy night, she rolled up her belongings and escaped from the yamen. Later, the concubine met Mao Shi San and his gang, and actually fell in love with one of them, Xiucai Junshi, and eloped with him. Wang Zhi County lost his concubine and wore a new green hat, and was furious with Bi Si, asking Bi Si to recommend another beautiful daughter. Bi Si searched hard but couldn't find anyone, thinking that only a Bodhisattva could meet the requirements of "cherry lips, apricot kernel eyes, crescent moon eyebrows, and a heavenly face, not talking about food or drink, not talking about clothes, not going out of the four gates, and rarely speaking". He hastily sent a golden Bodhisattva statue to Wang Zhi County. However, this time Bi Si's gift completely triggered Wang Zhi County's anger, and Wang Zhi County scolded Bi Si severely, assigning more miscellaneous tasks to Huangshi Prefecture and refusing to dispatch officials to assist in handling the theft case... That night, he returned and met Fei Yi at the entrance of the Luanyu Gang.

  Fei Yi listened, seemingly deep in thought: "I've only heard that the governance of Chu State is chaotic, but I never expected a small seventh-rank county magistrate to have such great power, deceiving his superiors and cheating his inferiors, manipulating private interests and committing corruption, grasping control over the security and livelihoods of the lower counties, forcing his subordinates to obey all his proposals."

  Min An took a sip of tea and said indifferently, "The higher the official position, the more people are oppressed. The governance of the Imperial Court has always been like this, from the Emperor himself. You're an outsider to the officialdom, don't take these things to heart, just listen and let it pass."

  "You've told me so much, how could I just listen and let it pass? There must be something else you want me to do."

  Min An smiled: "Fei Yi is indeed a clever person, and you can't even deceive him like this."

  "Come on, don't put on airs."

  Min An immediately became enthusiastic, sat down at the table and said: "As I told you earlier, Wang Zhi County doesn't like our Governor Bi, and he's unwilling to send someone to handle the bandit case. Governor Bi is afraid of Wang Zhi County's power, so he's hesitant and doesn't dare to take on Mao Thirteen's case. Now that I've helped Governor Bi capture Mao Thirteen, all we need is his confession to reveal where the other bandits are hiding. However, Mao Thirteen has a very stubborn temper, no matter how much we beat him, he won't confess, and when we locked him in the side hall, he still cursed loudly. To make him surrender and admit defeat, we can only think of some clever tricks. Governor Bi is pressuring me, I've been avoiding him because the plan to deal with Mao Thirteen is missing a crucial step, unless Non-Yi lends a hand..."

  Min An stared at Fei Yi intently, and Fei Yi turned his head to glance at Min An, asking: "The method of dealing with Mao Shi San must have been thought out a long time ago, right?"

  Min An nodded and continued to gaze at Fei Yi eagerly. Fei Yi added, "So you've thought about it for a long time and wanted me to help you?"

  Min An smiled: "I said Fei Yi is clever, nothing can be hidden from her..." Fei Yi looked up, her dark eyes with a hint of warning, Min An immediately stopped talking, avoiding flattery.

  "Needless to say." Fei Yi stood up and walked towards the door, "I said I'd only help you once."

  Min An certainly remembered that Fei Yi had said before that he would only help once and not set a precedent, so he went to great lengths to deal with him. Seeing Fei Yi wanting to leave, Min An rushed up in a panic, trying to grab Fei Yi's sleeve again. Fei Yi deliberately slowed down his pace, making Min An feel like he could catch up to him, but then quickly dodged to the side, causing Min An to lose his footing and crash straight into the door frame with a loud thud, hitting his forehead red.

  Min An ignored the pain and grabbed Ni Yi's clothes, shouting: "Hey, why are you so bad at talking? Since you're staying in the county government office, shouldn't you take a look at Master Bi's face? Taking care of Mao Shi San is equivalent to helping Master Bi with a big matter!"

  "Your handling of the Mao Thirteen case is done to gain favor with your superiors, what does it have to do with me? Why should I help you?"

  Min Anqin knew that Fei Yi was right, and for a moment he couldn't think of anything to say in response. He could only use his hand to grab Fei Yi's sleeve. Fei Yi reached out and pinched Min An's ear, pulling him out the door and delivering him right into the hands of the waiting official who had been urging Min An to hurry up and attend to his duties.

  The yamen runner suppressed a smile and said: "Young master, please go in; the magistrate is waiting impatiently."

  Min Anzheng straightened his collar, coughed softly, and slowly walked away with his hands behind his back, taking extremely square steps.

  The author has something to say: Jinjiang was extracted, unable to log in TT, this episode is late, there's a reason for it

  Thanks for the two landmines from Pig Ear Sister, thanks for Weilang's return, thanks for Uncle's efforts :)

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