Liu Yuan, savoring the lingering aroma of the boneless chicken strips, silently shed a tear of sympathy for the two children who had been “forced” to eat bland dishes for quite some time.

These two children from Wei Fu’s family were about the same age as the children who regularly lined up at the Imperial Academy to buy snacks—they were growing rapidly and had the biggest appetites! Just by looking at what those other children liked, one could tell what these two children loved to eat.

Although they weren’t quite as wicked as some who deliberately brought boneless chicken strips to have someone watch them eat, the aftertaste was indeed quite strong. Although they weren’t eating anymore, the way they subconsciously sniffed their noses showed that they had smelled the aroma of meat and spices.

While they were talking, the two children swallowed hard, their expressions truly echoing the words of some outlaw heroes in storybooks: “My mouth is practically watering!”

Although they wanted to eat meat, the aftereffects of their upset stomachs hadn’t subsided, so they had to suppress their urge. The two children said to Lin Fei, Liu Yuan, and the others, “Father and Mother still have upset stomachs this morning. They were up most of the night yesterday, and only after taking medicine did they finally lie down, and they are sleeping soundly now. Should we go and wake them?”

Upon hearing this, Liu Yuan subconsciously shook his head. Just as he was about to speak, he caught a glimpse of Lin Fei standing with his hands behind his back and quickly swallowed his words, turning to look at Lin Fei.

Lin Fei glanced at him, shook his head at the two children, and said, “No need,” before turning to them and asking the question everyone wanted to ask: “You two have had stomach problems for several days now; how come they’ve lasted so long? Even Wei Fu, who was perfectly fine before, has started having stomach problems too?”

Upon hearing this, the two children exchanged a glance before turning to Lin Fei and saying, “Replying to Lin Shàoqīng, we don’t know what happened either. We only know that the stomach problems started to get slightly better, but then they returned. It’s not serious, just a little uncomfortable and weak. Father has been investigating for a long time, but he doesn’t know what’s wrong.”

Looking at the neat and flowing records on the paper, Liu Yuan’s heart tightened: as expected of a Dali Temple Sìchéng — Old Wei truly had this habit ingrained into his bones.

Having worked together as colleagues for so long, he naturally understood Wei Fu’s habits when investigating cases: he handled everything in meticulous detail and liked tracing matters back to their very source from the very beginning.

Sure enough, upon looking at the paper, the first meals eaten by both families, the ingredients used, and their sources had all been recorded. After that, every time the stomach troubles began, Wei Fu made corresponding records as well.

After so many days, even something as ordinary as a cabbage had already come from three or four different vegetable vendors, yet problems still continued to occur.

Could it be that the source of ingredients throughout the entire market was problematic? Yet these ingredients came from all kinds of farms, and while some were grown by the vegetable vendors themselves — they were not the same.

If that were the case – whether from farms or the vendors’ own fields – if all had problems, then they would have to trace the matter even further back. Perhaps there was an issue with the seeds… yet that did not seem quite right either. Vegetable seeds were distributed season by season; if there had been a problem, it should have begun long ago rather than only now. Moreover, some vegetable vendors who farmed their own land even kept their own seeds, making the explanation even less convincing.

Wei Fu was a meticulous person. A few days later, he bought vegetables from the same vendor who had caused the problem, and this time he didn’t experience any issues.

This wasn’t an isolated incident; the vendors weren’t the only ones experiencing intermittent problems, so the theory that they had poisoned the produce was also unfounded. After all, the market’s business had been affected to some extent due to the problematic ingredients. What benefit would these vendors gain from ruining the entire market?

Wei Fu had been meticulously comparing and analyzing the produce, filling an entire sheet of paper with notes. He had ruled out many possibilities, including poisoning the produce, but even today, when they visited him, the root of the problem remained elusive.

After reviewing Wei Fu’s records from beginning to end, Lin Fei handed them to Liu Yuan and Bai Zhu beside him. Looking at the two children, whose steps were slightly unsteady but whose complexions were still relatively good, he asked, “Could I take a look at the medicine the doctor prescribed for their stomach upset?”

The children paused, as if realizing something, a flicker of surprise and lingering fear crossing their eyes. They then turned and quickly ran back into the house to fetch the medicine.

Bai Zhu, who was still reviewing Wei Fu’s records, couldn’t help but ask Lin Fei, “Young Master Lin, do you suspect the root of the problem might lie with the doctor?”

If a thorough comparison of the food consumed reveals no problem, then one might suspect the doctor’s diagnosis was correct. The two children were also startled by Lin Fei’s words, assuming the stomach upset medicine was the cause of their expressions.

Lin Fei didn’t refute Bai Zhu’s question, only nodding and saying, “That’s possible. However, most of the doctors in the city have already been consulted for stomachaches. One or two might be okay, but with so many, it’s unlikely the doctors would team up. But since we’ve checked, we need to rule it out.”

As he spoke, the two children had already brought out the doctor’s prescription and the medicine from the house, laying them out in a row on the stone table in the courtyard, eagerly watching Lin Fei as he looked down at the prescription and opened the medicine packet for inspection.

After checking, Lin Fei shook his head and said to the two children, whose faces showed tension, “The prescription and medicine are fine.”

Hearing this, the two children breathed a sigh of relief but were immediately even more puzzled: where exactly was the problem?

Lin Fei turned to Liu Yuan and Bai Zhu, who were equally puzzled, and pondered. After a moment, he said, “It seems we should go to the market!”

(End of Chapter)

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