TMBIABHL: Chapter 19

 Glossary

·Ye Chutang (叶初棠): Female Protagonist. Heir to an ancient medical family. "Black-Hearted Lotus." Runs a clinic in Jiangling.

·Ye Jingyan (叶璟言): Third Brother (阿言). Calm, studious.

·Ye Yunfeng (叶云风): Fourth Brother (阿风). Impulsive, protective.

·Little Five / Xiao Wu (小五): Youngest sister. ~4 years old. Non-verbal but expressive.

·Shen Yanchuan (沈延川): Male Lead. The Marquis of Dingbei.

·Lian Zhou (连舟): Shen Yanchuan's attendant/guard.

·Cao Chengwen (曹成文): Eldest Young Master of the Cao family.

·Cao Deping (曹德平): Owner of Caoji Restaurant. Father of Cao Chengwen and Cao Chengwu.

·Zhou Shi (周氏): Auntie Yang's niece. Wife of Liu Si. Publicly accused Cao Chengwen.

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Chapter 19: Her Brush and Ink

"How could this be!?"

Upon hearing the news, Ye Yunfeng's eyes widened in disbelief.

"The evidence was conclusive! So many people could testify! How could he possibly walk out of the yamen completely cleared!?"

The more he thought about it, the angrier he became. He turned to rush outside.

Ye Chutang stopped him. "Where are you going?"

Ye Yunfeng clenched his fists. "I'm going to the yamen to demand an explanation!"

Ye Chutang's voice was calm. "He walked out openly through the main gate today. What exactly do you think you can achieve by going to ask now?"

Wouldn't that be forcing the yamen officials to slap their own faces?

"But—"

A stifled breath stuck in Ye Yunfeng's chest, leaving him frustrated and unable to vent.

Ye Chutang sorted the medicine cabinet as she spoke. "The Cao family is a local power in Jiangling. They aren't someone our small household can contend with."

After the initial surprise, Ye Chutang quickly figured out the key reason—Cao Deping's cousin was the current Magistrate Yang's wife.

To call her 'wife' was not entirely accurate; she was actually a concubine. Magistrate Yang's official first wife had passed away years ago, and since then, this concubine had been managing the household.

It was said she was very favored. Magistrate Yang quite wanted to officially elevate her status, but hesitated due to her merchant family background. So the matter had been delayed.

Apart from lacking the official title, this concubine enjoyed all the treatment of a proper magistrate's wife.

If she whispered a few words by his pillow, wouldn't it be easy to help her cousin?

Ye Jingyan frowned. "But those were three human lives! How could they just let it go?"

A slight curve touched Ye Chutang's lips, but her dark, warm eyes held a cold stillness.

She said calmly, "Human lives? Mere blades of grass. How much silver are they worth?"

In this world, that was the least valuable thing.

Those three masked men were all gamblers who owed Cao Chengwen gambling debts. That's why he had bribed them to undertake this deadly task.

Now that the three were dead, Cao Chengwen could easily spin a story to extricate himself. No one would pursue the matter seriously anyway.

(read @cherrybombbertranslations.blogspot)

Even if someone wanted to get to the truth, power and profit would easily bury it, erasing all traces.

Hearing her words, Ye Jingyan was momentarily stunned, as if thinking of something. He remained silent for a long time.

Ye Yunfeng, however, still couldn't quell his anger. "But even so, what about Cao Chengwu? He was killed by Cao Chengwen! That's an ironclad fact! How can that case be overturned too?"

The scene of Zhou Shi causing a commotion in front of the yamen, publicly accusing Cao Chengwen, was still a hot topic of conversation. How could public opinion change so completely in just three days?

Ye Chutang pulled open a drawer of the medicine cabinet. It was still empty.

Ever since the major herb shops refused to sell to her, the clinic's stock had been rapidly depleting. Now, it was almost impossible to gather a complete set of ingredients for a single prescription.

She closed the cabinet, turned, picked up a brush, and wrote down the required herbs one by one, then gently blew on the paper to dry it.

"Zhou Shi gave a testimony, that's true. But without evidence, it's futile." Ye Chutang neatly folded the paper and instructed Ye Jingyan, "A-Yan, go write a notice. Say that from today onwards, the Ye Clinic will only provide diagnoses and prescriptions, not dispense medicine."

Ye Jingyan felt miserable but had to comply. "Alright, I'll go do it now."

Ye Chutang called to Ye Yunfeng, "Since the medicine cabinet is mostly empty now, find some time later to tidy and clean it out."

Ye Yunfeng responded gloomily, "Oh."

Ye Chutang planned to wait and see.

She actually wanted to see what other methods Shopkeeper Cao had up his sleeve.

Although Ye Yunfeng had a fiery temper, he obeyed her words extremely well. Hearing this, he gritted his teeth and agreed.

Ye Chutang brought the prescription to Lian Zhou.

"The clinic is running quite low on herbs. I'm afraid you'll have to trouble yourselves to purchase the medicine from an herb shop. After you bring it back, I can decoct it for you."

Lian Zhou took the prescription with complicated feelings and returned to the room.

"I didn't expect that Cao family to be quite resourceful. Physician Ye must be in a difficult spot now."

Running a clinic but unable to buy medicine—wasn't that cutting off her livelihood?

(read @cherrybombbertranslations.blogspot)

Even if she could still see patients now, one could easily imagine the Cao family wouldn't let it go. If they applied a little more pressure later, her entire family would probably...

Shen Yanchuan's gaze fell on the prescription. He raised a hand.

Lian Zhou immediately handed over the paper. Seeing his master stare at it for a long time, he asked curiously, "What is it, Master? Is there something wrong with this prescription?"

Shen Yanchuan said, "The handwriting is excellent."

Lian Zhou also took a look.

It was written in a very beautiful "lady's script" calligraphy, delicate and graceful.

He nodded. He initially wanted to say "the writing reflects the person," but then he thought of that night a few days ago and felt the phrase might not be quite appropriate.

Physician Ye seemed... not quite the same as ordinary women.

But even if the handwriting was very good, was it worth his master's attention like this?

After all, his master's own calligraphy was so highly sought-after in the capital that obtaining a single character was difficult. Physician Ye's writing, while good, seemed too rigid and constrained, lacking a certain vitality, compared to his master's.

Shen Yanchuan said, "The paper and ink are even more interesting."

Huh?

Lian Zhou was even more puzzled.

"This... isn't this just ordinary Sunan writing paper and lampblack ink?"

These things were commonplace and didn't seem special at all.

A faint, almost playful smile touched Shen Yanchuan's lips.

"These two items are indeed ordinary individually, but finding them together is not common. This lampblack ink is produced in Yecheng and carries a very faint scent of pine wood. It's shipped from a thousand li away, and the price increases severalfold. Jiangling mostly uses ordinary pine-soot ink, which is relatively cheap and works well. Yet, she deliberately doesn't choose that."

Lian Zhou hesitated. "Perhaps... she just prefers this lampblack ink?"

That wasn't unheard of. Many people were indeed very particular about their writing tools.

Shen Yanchuan chuckled softly, placed the paper aside, and tapped it lightly with his slender, jade-like fingers.

"The last time I saw paper and ink like this was at Xu Fengchi's residence."

(read @cherrybombbertranslations.blogspot)

Lian Zhou started, almost thinking he had misheard.

"You mean, the Left Vice Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate—Lord Xu!?"

…

Not many patients came to the clinic that day. Enjoying a rare moment of leisure, Ye Chutang stayed in her room silently transcribing "On the Six States."

Xiao Wu lay opposite the desk, her chubby little cheeks propped in her hands, watching intently.

Although she was only four, she could recognize most of the characters on the page.

Not that she understood the content much, but that didn't matter. Ye Chutang occasionally picked an interesting story from the texts to tell her.

By the time she finished writing, two hours had passed.

Ye Chutang flexed her slightly sore wrist.

This couldn't go on forever. Although she could procure many books for A-Yan to read, it still wasn't enough.

Besides, there was their tutor...

Thump thump thump!

Hurried footsteps sounded from outside. Ye Chutang looked up to see Ye Yunfeng rushing in.

"Elder Sister! It's bad! They're going to seal our clinic!"

(End of Chapter)

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Translator's Note: check out my other work— My Younger Sister Insisted On A Marriage Exchange Wanting To Make Me The Wife Of A Marquis and Rebirth as the Matriarch of a Noble Family (⁠*⁠＾⁠3⁠＾⁠)⁠/⁠～♡ 

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