Pei Jian candidly confessed some things to him, but he kept the most crucial part hidden.

He also revealed some key information about the person behind the scenes.

There was sincerity, yet he had his own little schemes.

This old guy is also someone who hides a needle in cotton; he must be handled carefully, lest he leads you astray, and you end up being sold while counting money for him.

Old Tang reported that the mastermind behind falsely accusing him was Ye Shengyuan, and Ye Shengyuan’s grudge against him mainly stemmed from the death of "Ye Xizhao".

He was certain that Ye Xizhao’s death was related to him, which left no resolution, no matter how much he tried to prove that it wasn’t related to Ye Xizhao’s death.

Some people, once fixated on something, cannot be changed.

"Master of the Prefecture, we are strangers to one another, why would you want to help me?" Lin Miao didn’t want to circle around with Pei Jian any longer, so he directly opened up the conversation.

If the interests aligned, cooperation would not be impossible.

As for who was scheming against whom, and who could laugh last, that would depend on their own capabilities.

"In Dongshan City, I, as the Prefect, am not the one whose words carry the most weight," Pei Jian slowly said.

"You are the Prefect, if your words don’t carry the most weight, then whose do? Stop joking, please!" Lin Miao chuckled, shaking his head in disbelief.

"Mr. Lin, you have not yet touched the core circles of power in Dongshan City, so it’s natural that you do not understand," Pei Jian said, "In Dongshan City, there’s someone whose words are much more influential than mine."

"Who?"

"Mrs He."

"Who is Mrs He?"

"The wife of Marquis Lingyang, a high-ranking titled lady officially honored by the Court. In terms of status, she far surpasses me as the Prefect," Pei Jian explained, "Marquis Lingyang’s Mansion controls half of the mineral resources in Dongshan Prefecture and has many businesses and shops in the city. Half of the wealth is pocketed by the Marquis Lingyang’s Mansion. Additionally, they maintain five hundred private soldiers, and half of the officials in Dongshan City are connected to the Marquis Lingyang’s Mansion. Those not connected to it do not dare to cross them, and the merchants and gentry of Dongshan all look up to the Marquis Lingyang’s Mansion, while the Prefect’s officials, the long history of Dongshan Prefecture, the six departments and branches, as well as the adjutant, see over half receiving illicit salaries from the Marquis Lingyang’s Mansion."

"With the Marquis Lingyang’s Mansion bribing officials like this, could it be that they are planning a rebellion?"

"Rebellion, not quite. These people are merely colluding with him out of interest but following in rebellion, that’s a beheading matter, who would be willing to risk the lives of their entire family for a bit of money?" Pei Jian shook his head.

"I’m just a humble physician, it seems you’ve got the wrong person to talk to about these matters," Lin Miao said.

"Ye Shengyuan is a key person beside Mrs He, and much of the official bribery by the Marquis Lingyang’s Mansion is handled through him; he is her most important arm," Pei Jian said.

Of course, there’s also the matter of being her paramour; Pei Jian knew this secret but did not say it.

Lin Miao understood now, Pei Jian wanted to take down Ye Shengyuan, cutting off an arm of Mrs He from the Marquis Lingyang, and he had been chosen as the "pawn".

"Prefect Pei, you want me to help you get rid of Ye Shengyuan, is that right?"

"The Ye Family is part of the Golden Tree, focusing on curing and saving people is the right path, yet Ye Shengyuan, as the patriarch of the Ye Family, is so restless, meddling in bureaucratic affairs, shouldn’t the Ye Family be helped back to the right path?" Pei Jian raised his cup and drank the wine in one gulp.

The old fox is like that, never putting his words to death.

But the meaning was clear to him, Ye Shengyuan had to be taken down, at least, the Ye Family needed a change of the guard, pulling him down from his position as the patriarch of the Ye Family.

"Ye Shengyuan seeks revenge against me for some inexplicable resentment, with a human life as the price. Such a person doesn’t deserve to be a physician," Lin Miao nodded in righteous indignation, "Prefect Pei, I am willing to cooperate with you."

Pei Jian was startled for a moment; cooperating with him, wasn’t that leading the charge, which was not what he had designed.

"Mr. Lin, you know I cannot act openly, otherwise it would be a head-on confrontation, detrimental to both you and me," Pei Jian pondered aloud.

"Then are you suggesting I confront Ye Shengyuan and those people alone?"

"Of course not, I will provide you with support in terms of information, I have people monitoring their every move, you will understand their activities clearly, allowing you to formulate corresponding strategies." Pei Jian assured.

Using him as the "pawn", dying was unfortunate, winning meant he took the lion’s share of benefits, said in such a grand way.

Even if you let a dog bite someone, you have to give it a meat bone, right? Not giving anything, what a stingy man!

However, he indeed needed someone to provide him with information at the moment, so he could launch targeted counterattacks. Always being passively beaten was not an option.

"In the prescription I wrote for the Shang Family, I used cinnabar; this was very confidential information known to very few people, how did Ye Shengyuan find out?"

"Anning Hall, Song Yunzhong."

"It’s indeed him, the cinnabar was purchased from his pharmacy. Since it was discovered that Shang Youwei was poisoned, investigating the source of the poison and sealing off Anning Hall should not be an issue, right?"

"Indeed, the Arresting Department will arrange to seal off Anning Hall early tomorrow, but my concern is that they have already erased the evidence."

"Cinnabar is poisonous, whether an apothecary is purchasing or selling it, it must have records. To cause someone’s death, a large dose must be taken, even if it’s slow poisoning, it won’t lead to sudden death. So, I dare to conclude that Shang Youwei’s death was due to ingesting a large amount of cinnabar causing acute poisoning, and no one in the Shang Family would do such a thing. Surely, someone secretly sneaked into the Shang’s house, tampering with the herbal decoction!"

"If that’s the case, then I’m afraid we won’t be able to find any evidence!"

"Evidence is actually not hard to find, it’s just that the people from the Arresting Department may not be capable," Lin Miao chuckled softly.

"Do you have a way?"

"Pei Sir, do you believe there are two identical leaves in the world?" Lin Miao countered.

"Of course there are, I can have someone find them for you right now!" Pei Sir blurted out.

"Then you should have someone try it." Lin Miao chuckled, such common knowledge was known to everyone in his previous life, but here, it was different.

"Isn’t that the case?" Pei Jian looked at Lin Miao’s expression and hesitated.

"I haven’t seen it anyway," Lin Miao said. "Similarly, each of our five fingers has ridges, much like the veins on leaves. Different people have different patterns, so fingerprints are a crucial feature of a person. If we find fingerprints on the bowl that Shang Youwei drank the medicine from, which do not belong to the Shang family, then that person is the one who poisoned him."

"Are you sure the fingerprints are still there?"

"I can give the method of fingerprint extraction to the Arresting Department and let them handle it. Then extract the fingerprints of the three people in the Shang family for comparison, and the results will be clear."

"Once it’s proven that Shang Youwei was murdered, then you’re completely cleared of suspicion." Pei Jian understood, even if Shang Youwei died from the medicine, but if someone else tampered with the medicine, what does that have to do with Lin Miao?

"No, things won’t be that simple. They will surely find a way to accuse my prescription of being problematic. However, who will step up to be the fool revealing the so-called truth is unknown. Anyway, it definitely won’t be Ye Shengyuan, as the mastermind, he won’t expose himself," Lin Miao analyzed.

Since he is the pawn, he must prove to be a useful one, or else he’ll be discarded once he’s used.

The integrity of officials is inferior to that of brothel women, not to be trusted. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

"Song Yunzhong!"

The two exchanged a glance and almost spoke in unison.

"Pei Sir, this is the fingerprint extraction method." Lin Miao picked out a sheet from a stack of papers on the table and handed it to Pei Jian.

"Mr. Lin thought of a way to clear his name early?"

"Preparedness averts peril, it might not come in handy, but if no one believes it, even the best method is useless," Lin Miao replied with an awkward smile.

"I understand, I will personally have Feng Sheng supervise this matter," Pei Jian said, carefully placing the paper into his pocket.

This method can only prove that Shang Youwei might have been poisoned, but it cannot prove that Lin Miao’s prescription isn’t problematic.

Shang Youwei’s death has another possibility, which means it’s not the sole reason. Without sole reasoning, it cannot prove him guilty.

...

After a night sitting idly in the study, Sun Youwei finally decided to find Si Miaoxue. Perhaps, at this moment, the only person she could trust was this woman, who already had a close relationship with her junior.

Si Miaoxue not only had great capabilities but also excellent martial arts. In every aspect, she was much more competent than herself.

When she pushed open the secret passage, reaching the other end, and opened the door, Si Miaoxue was already waiting there.

"You know all about my junior’s situation?"

"I do. I live next door to you, and such a big incident, all of Xiuyue Square has heard about it. How could I not know?" Si Miaoxue’s fierce eyes surged with anger; those daring to touch her man were asking for death.

If Lin Miao had not sent word back, she wouldn’t have hesitated to wreak havoc in Dongshan City tonight.

"I don’t know what to do now, do you have any ideas?"

"Before going to the Arresting Department, did he leave you any messages?" Si Miaoxue asked.

"He just told me not to worry, that he’ll be fine."

"It seems she’s afraid you’d worry, so she said that," Si Miaoxue gritted her teeth. "This guy always hides his thoughts, making people guess. Now, who can guess what he’s really thinking?"

"There’s one thing; he sent Xia Zhu to Anning Hall..."

"Anning Hall, does this matter have to do with that Song person?" Si Miaoxue’s voice was chillingly cold, "He must be fearless to secretly plot against my man!"

"Miaoxue, I’d like to ask for your help."

"Between us, there’s no need to use ’ask,’ just tell me, what do you need my help with?" Si Miaoxue asked.

"Keep an eye on Anning Hall, see who they’re in contact with."

"Don’t worry, even if you didn’t say it, I’d do it," Si Miaoxue firmly stated. "Madam, the first thing you need to do is stay steady, don’t panic. Our fellow is adept at handling crises, as long as you remain calm, he’ll pull through; this situation isn’t an issue for him."

"It seems you understand him better than I do," Sun Youwei revealed a hint of sadness. "Tomorrow morning, I’ll visit the Arresting Department, do you have anything you’d like me to tell him?"

"Thank you, Madam Youwei, but what I want to say, you can’t bring yourself to say it," Si Miaoxue blushed slightly.

Sun Youwei wasn’t foolish, she could sense what Si Miaoxue wanted to say, and indeed, if that’s the case, she couldn’t possibly bring herself to say it.

"I’ll take my leave then, you get some rest." Sun Youwei lifted her leg to leave.

"Don’t go, let’s chat for a bit more. I doubt you can sleep anyway; since we’re going to be sisters from now on, shouldn’t we open our hearts and get to know each other better?" Si Miaoxue called after Sun Youwei.

Sun Youwei stopped in her tracks. She didn’t have the heart for it now, but thinking of the words Yun had said, she knew some things must be faced rather than avoided.

Even if junior treats her as before, people do grow up. Junior was changing too fast; if she didn’t want to be left behind, she must also change and grow alongside him.