Chapter 48: The Nine-Striped Dragon's Desperate Situation and Sudden Reversal of Fortune

  Shi Jin's eyes were fixed on Li Bai Cao's hands, which held the medicine tray, but Li Bai Cao seemed to be taking it lightly and just smiled without saying anything. Shi Jin looked at the shocking scars, under the white new flesh was a bright red color, the scars were like trenches dug out of Li Bai Cao's hands, deep and sunken, with some places still visible with the bones of his fingers underneath the skin.

  "Bai Cao, this is..." Shi Jin looked at his wound and felt an inexplicable pang in his heart. He didn't know what had happened to Li Bai Cao in just a few short days, but from the severity of the injury, he could guess that Li Bai Cao had been hurt badly and suffered greatly.

  Li Baicao was still smiling, carefully applying medicine to Shi Jin's wound. As he turned to leave, Shi Jin suddenly lifted his sore arm and gently grasped Li Baicao's wrist. Shi Jin looked at Li Baicao with both eyes and said: "What's going on with this injury? If there's something difficult, don't bear it alone."

  Li Baicao gently struggled free from Shi Jin's hand, let out a faint sigh, but then thought to put Shi Jin at ease, and forced a smile as she said: "It's all in the past, never mind what he did." As she spoke, she placed the medicine tray on the Eight Immortals table in the center of the room.

  Shi Jin was born to be straightforward and saw that Lei Baicao was being evasive, he really didn't have the patience for it. But in his heart, he felt that this injury was not ordinary, even if Lei Baicao wasn't careful, he wouldn't have gotten himself hurt like this. Moreover, during those few days at Shao Hua Mountain, Lei Baicao rarely brought any news, and later on, they lost contact, even the messengers sent to make contact disappeared. Shi Jin's mind was quick-witted, in that instant, his thoughts connected everything from start to finish, thinking it through once. He felt that during those few days, Lei Baicao must have gone through something, or rather, at least he faced something.

  Shi Jin was somewhat anxious and asked him directly: "Li Bai Cao, tell me the truth, who dared to hurt you so badly?"

  Li Bai Cao heard the subtle change in tone and knew that not saying anything would be inappropriate. After thinking for a moment, he said sincerely: "Master, it's originally a personal matter, at this critical juncture, shouldn't bother you."

  Shi Jin is now only concerned about who caused his injury and said: "Don't mention what's laborious or not, we're all brothers from the same family, you'd better speak quickly."

  Li Baicao took out a bandage from the medicine cabinet and wrapped some unnamable grass leaves on Shi Jin's wound. Then, while wrapping the bandage, he said to Shi Jin: "This matter is long-winded, it was all caused by my young son. However, since we have to talk about it, I'm not afraid of being laughed at by the master. I only have this one son, and he was born when I was already middle-aged, so I couldn't help but spoil him. Unexpectedly, my foolish son, being young and ignorant, went to provoke Huang Tianba's underlings one day and got beaten up badly. That day, I was still sitting in the pharmacy on the front street, and unexpectedly, a group of neighbors brought back my own son."

  Lei Baicao seemed to see again the miserable sight of his son being carried in that day, and his eyebrows slightly furrowed. Now it seems that everything is heart-wrenching. Lei Baicao continued: "At that time, both legs were broken. I could only watch and give him medicine to treat his injuries. But as for Huang Tianba, I really couldn't afford to offend him, so I had to swallow my anger and endure it."

  "Huang Tianba is nothing, I've never heard of him, you have Mount Shaoxing to rely on, what's there to fear!" Shi Jin listened and felt somewhat indignant.

  "This Huayin County isn't home to two prominent families, is it? He's the young master of the 'three generations of officials' Huang family. The original militia leader of Huazhou, Huang Yizhe, was his father. The head of the household hadn't heard of him before because his father was around and he didn't dare act recklessly. Last year when his father died, he turned Huayin County upside down. He has a group of thugs and fugitives under his control, and apart from the county magistrate, he's the most powerful one."

  "Wouldn't it be even better if Hua Shan was bigger? If I were in charge back then, I would have immediately helped you vent your anger. Why did you hold it in?" Shi Jin heard him belittle others' ambitions and wanted to boost his own prestige, so he felt very displeased with Huang Tian Bao.

  "That's what the master said, but I'd never do such a thing. As for me, Lei Baicao, opening a pharmacy in Huayin County is just a cover, others might think I'm just an ordinary doctor, but in fact, I'm a hidden pawn, to be frank, I'm a chess piece arranged by Mount Hua in the county. Who doesn't want to vent this evil air, but can I?" As he spoke, Lei Baicao himself slightly shook his head.

  Shi Jin listened and thought what he said was right, but although this way of doing things could maintain his identity, it would also bring a lot of humiliation.

  Li Bai Cao saw Shi Jin fall silent, and continued: "I endured it here, but my dog son didn't forget. Not long ago, Huang Tian Bao's favorite concubine caught a cold, and he asked me to take a look at her illness. My dog son took advantage of my inattention and added ten taels of Radix Rehmanniae to the medicine, reduced ten taels of White Spirit, and added two ingredients: Ice Sliver and Poria cocos. This made it a potent medicine. The concubine's body couldn't withstand it, and she died that night. Huang Tian Bao held onto the medicinal dregs but couldn't figure out what happened. My dog son's anger was alleviated, but Huang Tian Bao didn't let it go. On that same day, he sent people to smash our two shops on the street into pieces."

  "This scoundrel is really hateful! He dares to move earth on my grave, just wait until I'm better and I'll dig up his ancestors' graves!"

  "To be honest, it's over and done with, and it's better to let things settle down. But unexpectedly, trouble arose. That day, I found out that the prefecture didn't send any troops, but instead, the county wanted us to recruit 8,000 soldiers ourselves. I thought this was a big deal, so I wanted to report back to the mountain and sent two shop assistants to deliver the message, but neither of them returned. With no other choice, I had to go myself, but didn't expect..."

  Shi Jin listened intently, and what he said was the answer to the strange feeling he had been experiencing for several days. But at this moment, there was a twist in his words, and his heart suddenly became anxious, interrupting him by saying: "What didn't you expect?"

  "Unexpectedly, I had just left the west gate and headed in the direction of Shouhua Mountain when I was ambushed from behind by a group of people, beaten unconscious and dragged away. When I came to, I found myself already locked up in the county yamen's prison, along with my two shop assistants. Not long after that, I was taken out by the constables and subjected to severe torture and interrogation, but he didn't manage to get anything out of me, though I did piece together what had happened through listening and guessing... No matter how careful you are, there will always be a mistake; on that day when he smashed up my shop, he inadvertently discovered a page from a letter that I hadn't yet had time to burn, which was the details of the medicine that Zhu Wu, the second master, had sent someone to fetch. So he secretly laid his plans, lured me out and then took both the evidence and witnesses together to report to the officials and ask for a reward."

  Shi Jin listened and took a deep breath: "No wonder, those few days I didn't receive any news from you."

  "That County Magistrate Liu had no protection from the province, was anxious in his heart and would be very happy if he could capture me. That County Magistrate Liu had a good plan in mind, wanting to ask me about the situation and deployment on our mountain one by one, and also wanted me to be a spy, luring everyone to come and send themselves to death. For this reason, he interrogated me twice in the morning, twice in the afternoon, after dinner, and then again twice at night. At first, he used gold, silver, and beauty to tempt me, but seeing that he couldn't get anything out of me, he started using torture one by one. To be honest, I could still hold on at first, but later on, when the severe torture was applied, I..."