"Cough, cough." Lu Wuxie coughed lightly behind his mask. As he lit the dried grass and mugwort leaves in front of him with his torch, a puff of smoke drifted towards the woodshed along with the wind and the fan made of large leaves in Zhong Li's hand.
Not long after, all the Cabbage Whites that had not yet left the vicinity of the woodshed flew far away from the flower bushes.
About half an hour later, when the two felt it was enough, Lu Wuxie picked up some burning mugwort from the ground and walked inside.
Because Lu Wuxie had broken out earlier, the already rickety back door of the small house, as soon as their hands touched the bolt, shattered with a crisp sound and fell to the ground.
To enter the main house of the small house, one had to pass through a side room. Zhong Li took some mugwort and dry grass wood from Lu Wuxie, fanning the butterflies out of the room as she walked in.
The two had been in a hurry to avoid the danger earlier and hadn't properly observed the situation inside the room. Now that the danger was gone, Zhong Li finally got a clear look at the side room.
The side room was not large, about two zhang in length and width. Against the wall were piled several rows of sacks woven from hemp, stacked one on top of another, reaching the ceiling.
Zhong Li, out of curiosity, approached the hemp sacks to examine them. When she smelled a familiar medicinal odor, her brows furrowed involuntarily.
"What is it?" Lu Wuxie, standing beside her, noticed her expression and asked.
Zhong Li did not answer his question immediately. She drew the dissection knife from her waist and slashed at the hemp sack.
As the sack split open, a lot of medicinal herbs spilled out. She dipped her fingers into the sack, grabbed a handful, and sniffed it before holding it up to the sunlight by the doorway to observe.
"Indeed, this medicine is problematic," she said after a while, stating her conclusion.
"How so?" Lu Wuxie, unfamiliar with medicinal herbs, saw them all as dark and indistinguishable.
"This is Coptis Chinensis," Zhong Li said, presenting the herbs in her hand to Lu Wuxie. "Your Highness, please smell it and tell me if there's anything wrong."
Lu Wuxie leaned in to smell Zhong Li's palm for a while, then said thoughtfully, "It seems the scent is not as strong."
Zhong Li smiled and explained, "Coptis Chinensis is very particular about its origin. Although it can be found everywhere in the Southern Yue Kingdom, the Coptis Chinensis from the southwestern regions is the best. As the name suggests, its therapeutic effects are also the best."
"So, the ones from other places are unusable?" Lu Wuxie asked.
"They can be used," Zhong Li said, a hint of helplessness flashing in her eyes. "A physician's goal is to cure illness with medicine. Coptis Chinensis from other places can be used, but its efficacy is slow and poor. Especially for severely ill patients, it's like a drop in the bucket, or even completely ineffective. Yet, patients spend the same amount of money for inferior Coptis Chinensis, which is no different from taking someone's life?"
As she spoke, Zhong Li slit open the other sacks one by one. As the small room filled with medicinal herbs, she squatted on the ground and began to sniff, observe, and even taste them.
Seeing this, Lu Wuxie did not interfere further, only standing by to prevent the few remaining Cabbage Whites from flying into the house.
After a while, Zhong Li threw the herbs back to their original places.
"How is it?" Lu Wuxie asked.
Zhong Li replied with a grim expression, "None of them are usable. What's more, some have expired. If consumed, they will not only be ineffective but even have the opposite effect."
Lu Wuxie's brows furrowed upon hearing this. He surveyed the room. If, as Zhong Li said, all the herbs in the room were problematic, the quantity, which amounted to tens of dan, could affect nearly half of Suqing County.
"The masters of Lingshan Temple are selling fake medicinal herbs?" Lu Wuxie's lips curled into a sarcastic smile. It seemed the waters of Suqing County were much deeper than he had imagined.
After inspecting the side room, the two headed straight for the main house.
According to Zhong Li's memory, the person they were looking for – Master Liao Chen – should be on the bed in the main house at this time!
Indeed, as the two passed through the room piled high with medicinal herbs and entered the main room, Liao Chen, now free from the butterflies, lay on the bed with his eyes wide open in terror, his mouth agape, his body contorted in a spread-eagle position.
Lu Wuxie glanced at Liao Chen's corpse, then at the sky outside. Knowing that time was pressing and they needed help, he handed the mugwort to Zhong Li, gave a few instructions, and turned to walk out of the house.
"You check here, I'll go notify the others."
This time, Zhong Li had unexpectedly come to Liao Chen's secret hideout and hadn't brought her medicine chest. All she had with her were a few masks, a pair of gloves, and a dissection knife occasionally used for self-defense.
She put on her gloves and approached Liao Chen's corpse. First, based on rigor mortis and livor mortis, she determined the time of death. Then, based on the condition of Liao Chen's body, she determined the actual cause of death.
By the time Lu Wuxie released the Cold Flame Fire into the sky, Zhong Li had already walked out of the house.
"How is it?" he asked, turning his head.
Zhong Li took off her gloves, took out an embroidered handkerchief from her怀, and wiped the sweat from her forehead. "The time of death was between the morning and midnight last night. The cause of death..."
She paused, looking at the surrounding flower bushes, and continued, "Your Highness must have guessed it already. He died of poisoning. There were no obvious signs of resistance on his body. It is suspected that he was drugged and then the Cabbage Whites were led to him, causing his death. Of course, to confirm what I've said, further dissection is required."
Lu Wuxie nodded slowly upon hearing this. However, there was something he didn't quite understand, and he asked, "Did Li'er just call these butterflies Cabbage Whites? Are they truly poisonous?"
"Yes," Zhong Li nodded and explained, "Cabbage Whites are also rare poisonous butterflies. They live on a certain island."
She paused here. In fact, Cabbage Whites lived in the Taiwan region, but if she said that, Lu Wuxie wouldn't know, so it was better to be vague.
"The larvae of Cabbage Whites feed on oleander. By the time they emerge from their cocoons, their bodies naturally carry some toxicity. Theoretically, a single Cabbage White cannot cause death, but if there are many of them..." she said, glancing into the room, the meaning obvious – Liao Chen was a prime example.
"I also found some pollen on Liao Chen," Zhong Li said, presenting the powder on her gloves to Lu Wuxie. "This pollen is likely the culprit that attracted the Cabbage Whites."
Lu Wuxie was about to take Zhong Li's gloves, but she dodged him first.
"This is oleander pollen, and it's poisonous," Zhong Li added.
"Oleander," Lu Wuxie retracted his fingers, his eyes narrowing.
"Do you remember Zhao Jun's case?" Zhong Li knew that it would take some time for Lu Wuxie to notify Lin Jin and the others to arrive, so she began to analyze the case.
"You suspect it was the same person?" Lu Wuxie asked.
Zhong Li nodded. "Zhao Jun was bitten to death by rats. I found fragrant oil that attracts rats on Zhao Jun. Liao Chen was poisoned, and oleander pollen was found on him. The same method of killing, just a different 'killer' responsible for the death."
Lu Wuxie understood Zhong Li's words about the killer – one was a rat, the other was a butterfly. This mastermind was truly skilled at using animals to kill.
"Do you have any suspects?" Lu Wuxie asked.
Zhong Li shook her head. So far, she had no clues. After all, the killer had hidden himself very well in terms of both the time of the crime and the evidence at the scene. The only useful clue was...
"The killer is very familiar with animal behavior, and... he must have planted a lot of oleander in Suqing."