Chapter 212: Interrogation
Editor: Atlas Studios
Xiuhong came back with two sets of medicine, pouting slightly. She said to Shu Wanniang unhappily, “Aunt, Physician Pang clearly knows that Cousin is pretending, but he still prescribed such expensive herbs for her. There’s either ginseng or lingzhi in it. He said that it’s to nourish the Qi and blood and strengthen the organs. He also used many terms that I didn’t understand. Anyway, in a nutshell, it’s expensive. One set of medicine costs 1 tael and 50 copper coins, and he prescribed three sets at once. Cousin’s medicine cost only 23 copper coins per set.”
Smiling, Shu Wanniang said, “In order for this to look more real, no matter what, you have to buy this medicine. Otherwise, others will know what’s going on once they find out. Since that medicine is so precious, keep it first. It might be useful in the future.”
“Don’t.” Having heard the gist of it in the room, Mu Yangling quickly sat up. “Mother, brew it for me to drink. Since the herbs have already been mixed together, it might expire if we keep it for longer.”
Shu Wanniang was stunned. “How can you take medicine casually when you’re not injured? What if you get sick after taking it?”
‘Dear Mother, I’m really sick.’ Mu Yangling couldn’t voice her bitterness and could only say, “I’m just trying to make it more realistic. How can there be no smell of medicine in the courtyard when I’m injured?”
Smiling, Shu Wanniang said, “I’ve already thought it through. Since your brother has to take medicine too, we can just brew his medicine. It’s not as if passers-by can tell what medicine it is just based on the medicinal fragrance alone. You just lie in bed obediently for two days, and we’ll be able to cover up this lie.” Seeing that Mu Yangling really wanted to take medicine, Shu Wanniang looked at her suspiciously. “Don’t tell me you’re really injured?”
“Mother, do I look like I’m injured? I just felt that it’s a waste to keep it since this medicine is so expensive. Besides, most of the herbs are tonic. Anyway, I’ve been very tired recently so I can use some nourishment.”
Knowing her daughter wasn’t someone who would take medicine so as not to waste it, Shu Wanniang looked at her suspiciously.
Mu Yangling could only keep a straight face and puff out her chest to prove that she was really fine.
Shu Wanniang took the prescription and looked at it. In the end, she said, “That’s fine too. I’ll go brew medicine for you and your brother now.”
Shu Wanniang knew that her daughter was most likely injured. Otherwise, she wouldn’t waste the medicine just because it was expensive. Since she didn’t want to say it out loud and make everyone worry, she would pretend not to know.
However, knowing that her daughter was injured, Shu Wanniang couldn’t help but feel a little worried. In the evening, she didn’t let her get out of bed during dinner. At night, she even handed the twins to Great-aunt to take care of them and moved over to sleep with Mu Yangling and Bowen so that she could take care of her.
Feeling a pain in her chest at night, Mu Yangling couldn’t help but get up to drink hot water. Shu Wanniang woke up the moment she moved. She quickly pressed Mu Yangling down and said, “What do you want? I will go get it for you.”
“I want to drink water. Hot water.”
“There’s some in the kettle. I’ll pour it for you.” Shu Wanniang put on a set of clothes and got out of bed, then took a bowl and poured hot water for her. Seeing that she was leaning against the pillow to drink, she couldn’t help but touch her face and reprimand in a low voice, “How dare you say that you’re not injured when your face is so pale. You’re too bold. Despite knowing that he’s a bad person, you still dared to follow him. If you do this again in the future, I beat you up directly without waiting for your father to come back.”
Mu Yangling stuck out her tongue and hugged Shu Wanniang’s arm. “I’m just afraid that Great-aunt and Bowen will be worried. Mother, don’t be angry. Physician Pang also said that I’ll be fine after sleeping for two days.”
“So Physician Pang was telling the truth and wasn’t bribed by Little General?”
Mu Yangling lowered her head and smiled. “Little General can’t wait to avoid him. How would he dare to bribe him?”
Only then did Shu Wanniang remember that back when Qi Haoran was seriously injured, he had pretended to be a bandit and forced Physician Pang to stay in the house to treat him.
Shu Wanniang looked at her daughter helplessly and gently pinched her ear. “You can’t scare me like this in the future.”
“Mother, don’t worry. I won’t do this again,” Mu Yangling said as she hugged her arm.
Shu Wanniang sighed. “You’re just paying lip service. I also know that there’s no such thing as guarding against thieves the day before yesterday. Your father isn’t at home, and your brother has to go to the academy every day. It’s not safe for us to stay at home either. You were following them because you’re afraid that if we alarm them this time, they’ll attack us directly next time. That’d be impossible to guard against. This time, if we capture them directly, it can be considered as a deterrent to those people. They’ll then have to consider carefully going forward.”
“Mother knows me best.” Mu Yangling said, “In addition, since Great-aunt has spread the word, they probably won’t come looking for me anymore and will directly go find trouble with Qi Haoran.”
Shu Wanniang said worriedly, “Can we push the matter to Little General like this? Will he blame us?”
“Qi Haoran was the one who came up with this idea. He said that the young and the old in our family were a burden and that he wouldn’t be able to explain things to my father if anyone from our family was kidnapped. So, he directly eliminated those potential future troubles.”
Only then did Shu Wanniang heave a sigh of relief. Smiling, she said, “Little General is a good person. In the future, you have to be more polite to him. Don’t always call him by his full name. He’s magnanimous and doesn’t mind, but it’s not good should outsiders hear it. Also, I will ask Xiuhong to buy two catties of pork belly tomorrow and prepare some good dishes. I’ll make his favorite braised pork and ask Bowen to invite him over for a meal, okay?”
Mu Yangling lay on the bed and slept. She closed her eyes and said, “He’s busy and hasn’t been free for the past few days. I’ll eat the braised pork and good dishes on his behalf.”
“Nonsense. How do you know he won’t come when Bowen hasn’t even invited him yet? Write an invitation tomorrow and ask Bowen to send it over.”
Qi Haoran really didn’t have time because another one of the three kidnappers who were still alive had died. Now, there were only two left. However, those two were very stubborn and refused to speak no matter what torture they used.
The three of them had poison sacs stuffed in their mouths. The military doctor accidentally damaged one of them, and that was how the kidnapper died. The remaining two were successfully taken out, but they were extremely tight-lipped and stubborn.
Although they did not confess, it was certain that they were Hus.
However, they couldn’t tell if they were from the Jin Kingdom or the Xixia Kingdom. Also, they couldn’t get any information regarding the other spies left in Mingshui County.
Qi Haoran didn’t have enough interrogation experience, so he had no choice but to drag those two to the prefectural capital and hand them over to Qi Xiuyuan.
Seeing his cold expression, Qi Xiuyuan asked, “Do you want to stay and watch the interrogation?”
Qi Haoran nodded, so Qi Xiuyuan got up and brought him to the dungeon. As he walked, he said, “Interrogation is also a skill you have to learn on the battlefield. You can’t guarantee that you’ll have enough time to interrogate the captives every time, so you have to obtain information that is beneficial to you in the shortest time possible.” Qi Xiuyuan turned around and looked at him. “You don’t have to make the other party confess. There are some things that he thinks are useless to you or are wrong information. You have to judge and deduce them yourself. Haoran, I hope that you’re not just a fierce general on the battlefield, but also a wise general.”