A Girl Traveling Through Troubled Times

Chapter 521: Tracking down the mastermind behind the scenes

After hearing this, Gui'er said, "Could it be those people who run opium dens?"

Sha Yanxiao shook his head and said, "He did mention someone, but when we went to arrest him, the place was empty."

This was a bit strange. Guier asked, "What is father going to do?"

Sha Yanxiao sighed. "Father has always had a bad temper, as you know. When something like this happened, he shot the doctor to death himself and then ordered the banning of all the opium dens in the city."

Gui'er rolled her eyes. This was too impulsive. Wouldn't this just cut off the clue? She found this matter extremely suspicious. If it wasn't one of those opium dens in the city, then who had gotten the Marshal addicted? It must have been for their own benefit. The question was, what benefits could the other party gain from the Marshal's addiction?

Originally they were supposed to return to Nanjing today, but because of this incident, their trip was postponed. The Marshal seemed to be crazy. Except for Sha Yanxiao's courtyard, he searched the courtyards of all other concubines, even the main room. Of course, he couldn't tell what happened. The most unlucky one was the fourth concubine's courtyard. Sha Yanwen had always been smoking opium, but he just didn't say it explicitly. However, it was already an open secret. When the Marshal took his confidants to the courtyard to watch the etiquette, they found the opium hidden in the cabinet by Sha Yanwen. He was so angry that he took matters into his own hands and beat Sha Yanwen in front of everyone.

Gui'er didn't know about all this excitement, but Dingxiang was a servant in the Marshal's Mansion. There were maids with the same generation name as her named Xiang in every courtyard, so she told Gui'er about the search situation in every courtyard.

Dingxiang described it vividly to Guier: "The Marshal beat the Third Young Master until his skin was torn and his flesh was raw. He used his fists, and when his fists got tired, he took off his belt and whipped him. The Third Young Master didn't dare even groan. It wasn't until the Marshal grabbed the gun from the guard beside him, and the Fourth Concubine was so scared that she knelt down and hugged his legs, begging him to spare the Third Young Master, and Miss Lily was so scared beside her that she burst into tears, that the Marshal stopped."

Gui'er shook her head. She felt that something was wrong. The Marshal's direction was completely wrong. It must be someone from outside. Moreover, as the actual leader of Fengcheng and Jiangcheng, if anything happened to the Marshal, it would have a great impact on these two cities.

She found Ah Cheng and said to him, "I want to meet Wu Mingqiang and ask him in person about the information he has found."

Considering that she has always been a low-key person in the Marshal's Mansion, and now this matter is in the spotlight, she asked Ah Cheng to invite Wu Mingqiang to Zhenxiufang.

Then he said to Sha Yanxiao, "Since I'm not going back to Nanjing for the time being, I'd better go to the pharmacy and check it out."

Sha Yanxiao nodded and said, "Well, we just need to be careful. After all, we haven't found the mastermind behind this."

Guier came to the shopkeepers Zhang and Liu. They were both wondering why Guier was still there. They were supposed to leave for Nanjing today.

After hearing Gui'er's story about the Marshal, they all realized the seriousness of the matter.

At this moment, Wu Mingqiang came over. Shopkeepers Zhang and Liu quickly invited him in to sit down, and then found an excuse to go to Liu's Pharmacy.

Gui'er said to Wu Mingqiang, "Little Brother Wu, I asked you to come here mainly to inquire about the specific details of the matter. The Marshal is my father. Although we don't usually meet, he is still my father after all. He is also the leader of this city. Even the little things he does could change the fate of this city."

Wu Mingqiang smiled and said, "Miss, don't worry. I understand. Miss, you have never been like a boudoir girl. You act decisively and intelligently, often even surpassing men."

Gui'er said, "I'm glad you understand. I just want to know what the doctor said at that time."

Wu Mingqiang frowned and thought for a moment before saying, "He said he met a man with a foreign accent in the casino. The man said he could pay off his debts, but he only asked him to add opium to the tonics and medicinal foods he gave the Marshal. In short, everything he took would be laced with opium."

"The doctor in the mansion has been with my father for many years and has been traveling the world for many years. How could he be so easily bewitched by a stranger?"

Wu Mingqiang sighed and said, "Of course not, but that person was too generous. He gave the doctor 20 silver dollars right away and said he would give him another silver dollars every month. The doctor only made silver dollars a month. He had wanted to open a clinic for a long time, but he saved money for years and never got it done. Instead, he got dragged into gambling by his friends and lost all his savings. He was also deeply in debt. Now that someone was so generous, he naturally agreed."

Guier frowned and said, "But my father isn't stupid. If this had gone on for so long, how could he not have noticed that he had inexplicably developed a smoking addiction?"

Wu Mingqiang said, "I heard from the Young Marshal that, in addition to the usual practice of putting opium in the Marshal's medicine and diet, this doctor also told him that opium is also called "Fu Shou Gao" (longevity paste). There's a reason for this, and it depends on one's constitution. Some people can smoke it, while others can't. If someone doesn't feel any discomfort after smoking it for the first time, it means they are suited to smoking opium and it's harmless."

"Father, you won't believe such nonsense, right? Even I don't believe it."

Wu Mingqiang smiled and said, "Miss, the Marshal is probably very confident in his military background and strong physique. He has inhaled so much opium every day that when he really smokes it, he naturally doesn't have any bad reactions. He thinks he is one of the people with good physique, so he has started smoking opium ever since. When the young marshal took me and the doctor to meet the Marshal yesterday, he was still very shocked."

Gui'er sighed and said, "But since my father killed the doctor, we can't find the mastermind behind this. I think the owner of the opium den in the city is the more likely suspect."

Wu Mingqiang waved his hand and said, "Not necessarily, because the Marshal didn't kill all the opium dens, he just collected a higher tax. Even when he was cracking down the hardest, there were still opium dens in our city. Moreover, the Marshal was actually quite shrewd. He didn't say that he killed the doctor because of this incident, but said that he seduced his concubine. To make this statement stand up, he also beat to death a maid who knew about it but didn't report it. The bodies of both of them have been thrown into a mass grave. At present, the young marshal is still tracking them down, but we have searched for him according to the address and appearance given by the doctor, but we have found nothing. The address has long been deserted. According to his appearance, there are people in the casino where the doctor often goes who can recognize the man, but they all say that he is not a regular customer and only comes occasionally, especially when the doctor is here. So we guess that he was specifically targeting the doctor."