Chapter 343 – Bloodstain

After returning to her room, she wrote a letter. Together with Lu Lingzhi’s, they were sent to Old Madam Lu.

Ye Zhen was worried that because of his injuries, Tian Jiu would not have been able to travel far and could be hiding here in Jinwu City. How could she find him?

“Yaoyao, I’m going to the mountain. There’s no medicine in the city. I shall take a walk in the mountains, perhaps I can find it. You can stay and take care of Marquis Anyang.” After scouring the medical books in the hope to find an antidote for a long time, Qi Jin came to find Ye Zhen. Although she had finally found a way to detoxify, it was not necessarily the cure. As such, she could only try.

“Imperial Physician Qi, it’s better for me to go to the mountains and find the herbs. It’s better for you to be around here with Eldest Brother,” Ye Zhen said.

Qi Jin hesitated for a moment but handed her the sketch anyway. “This is Qijie grass. It grows in deep mountains. It’s not commonly seen. I’m not sure if there is Qijie grass here.”

Qijie grass? Ye Zhen rifled through her mind. She had seen this herb in the medical books. It could be a treatment for Qitiantong, but it could only relieve pain, not detoxify.

“Imperial Physician Qi, you can rest assured that I will find it.” Ye Zhen was certain that Qijie grass was impossible to grow in Jinwu City. This place was not wet enough, this type of herb was found in the swamps deep in the mountains.

“Then, be careful. I’ll have someone accompany you. If you can’t find it, come back. There will always be a way to find it,” Qi Jin said.

“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of myself.” Ye Zhen said, smiling. This was her chance to seek and disclose information to Tian Jiu and let him leave quickly.

When Lu Shiming heard that his precious daughter was going up the mountain to collect herbs, he went along, regardless of what Ye Zhen would say. In addition to her father, there were also Luo You, two imperial guards, and Hongying in tow.

There were many soldiers in the city. Soon, Tian Jiu’s sketches were everywhere. Sitting on her horse, Ye Zhen frowned when she found out how fast they had spread the word. Arriving at the city gates, she found that it was guarded with massive military force. No matter where one entered and exited, there were people stationed to inspect, not letting anyone off the hook.

With such a situation, she could only hope Tian Jiu was not in the city, otherwise, even if she wanted to help, it was beyond her capability.

“Why don’t you go out of the city to find them? Can assassins be found in the city?” Lu Shiming asked Luo You next to him.

“The assassin was injured. If they don’t want to die, they will go to the city to find a physician. Moreover, if they don’t go to the city to buy medicine, where else can they go to recuperate?” Luo You explained.

Ye Zhen’s heart sank. With such close inspection and guard, could Tian Jiu really escape?

♚

Out of the city, garbed in plain attires, Ye Zhen and the others went to the mountains not far away. Though she had nurtured it for a day, due to the initial bruise on her thighs, her flesh was still tender. As such, it was not long before she began to feel uncomfortable again.

Previously, she had been on the road for three days straight, and her legs were sore to the point of bleeding. Now that she had only just recovered from the injury, she still had to travel once more to gather medicine for Lu Lingzhi… Just the thought of it made her feel very much unreconciled. In short, even if she were to spot Qijie grass that the other needed, she would not collect it for him!

I hope it hurts him to death! Let him suffer from the poison for as long as he lives!

“There is a forest deep in the mountain ahead of us, the horses can’t get in. So, from this point on, we can only go on foot,” Luo You said to Lu Shiming.

“Then let’s just go on foot. Didn’t Imperial Physician Qi say that the medicine can be obtained in the mountain?” Lu Shiming got off his horse, looked back at his daughter and said, “Yaoyao, only a few of us will go into the mountain. You don’t need to go there.”

Ye Zhen herself really didn’t want to go into the mountain to look for the medicine since she was feeling uncomfortable, still… “Father, let’s split up. That way, it’ll be easier to find it.”

“I’ll go with Luo You to look for the medicine. Meanwhile, the rest of you protect the princess.” Lu Shiming stated for everyone to hear.

In this way, trying to look for the Qijie grass, the group split into two. While Lu Shiming and Luo You went up to search, Ye Zhen chose to walk around a relatively low spot in the mountain.

“Princess, are you tired?” Hong Ying asked as she held Ye Zhen’s hand to support her, fearing she would be injured again. After all, she was the one who knew best the brusied condition of her mistress’s legs.

Ye Zhen only smiled as she said, “It’s all right. Let’s go.”

With great difficulty, she finally got up to the mountain and glimpsed the dense woods and shrubbery before her. She could only smile and said, “You should all look at the sketch carefully and see if you can find it.”

However, the two bodyguards accompanying her did not dare to walk too far away from the princess’s side. So, they simply took the sketch and looked for the herb nearby her.

Alas, the Qijie grass looked almost like a weed. That said, despite spending a long time looking for it, they still hadn’t managed to find one. They did come across many similar looking plants, but none was the Qijie grass they needed.

While she was scouring the flora on the ground, Ye Zhen suddenly noticed something strange in the grass in front of her. She looked back at Hong Ying and the two bodyguards busy searching just like her and found them not far away from her. However, they didn’t seem to have noticed the situation on her side.

There’s bloodstain in the grass!