The meal was finally over, and everyone drank some tea. Zander Zhan stood up to pay the bill, but the waiter said that Zane Zhao had already paid. Gongsun and Zander Zhan were both slightly surprised. Zane Zhao had been eating and had not left his seat. When did he pay the money?
Zander Zhan smiled slightly and bowed to Zane Zhao, "How can I be so embarrassed?"
Zane Zhao waved his hand and said with a smile, "There is no reason to let Brother Zhan spend money."
Gongsun frowned, watching Zander Zhan and Zane Zhao playing guessing games, feeling a little confused. This Zane Zhao... didn't seem to be an ordinary gangster.
Afterwards, everyone got up and rushed to the prefectural government office in Qingyang Prefecture.
They had just finished their meal, so Gongsun took Ethan Xiao for a slow walk. As Ethan Xiao walked, he rubbed his belly twelve times to the left and twelve times to the right.
Zane Zhao found it interesting and asked, "Little Fourth Son, what are you kneading?"
Ethan Xiao looked up at Zane Zhao and said, "Well, it helps digestion."
"Digestion?" Zane Zhao was quite surprised.
Gongsun said casually, "It is good for children and the elderly to gently rub their stomachs after meals and before going to bed. "Zander Zhan looked back at Gongsun and said, "Sir, you seem to know a lot about keeping fit."
Gongsun smiled and said, "It's better for people not to get sick. Once you are sick, it's too late to treat it. You have to prevent it first, just like fighting a war, to prevent it before it happens."
"Speaking of war," Zander Zhan suddenly asked Zane Zhao, "How is the situation in the northern part of the Great Wall? I heard that it has been very peaceful recently."
"Yeah." Zane Zhao shrugged. "The Liao people and the Xixia people are busy, so this year should be peaceful... I can't say for next year or the year after next, it depends on who is in power."
Gongsun stroked his chin and said, "The culture of the Central Plains has always valued peace, and generally focuses on defense rather than attack. In fact, the timing is very good now. If we can seize the opportunity to negotiate good terms, we can have a few more years of peace."
"Heh..." Zane Zhao smiled, waved his hands, and said, "You are just a nerd. Those barbarians will never reason with you. You promised today, but you will turn your face and deny it tomorrow."
Gongsun frowned slightly, turned to look at Zane Zhao, and said, "My ignorance of the nature of foreigners has nothing to do with whether I am a nerd or not. Why do you think I am a nerd just because of that sentence?"
Zane Zhao raised the corner of his mouth and smiled, saying, "Then why do you think I am a gangster?"
Gongsun asked seriously, "You were at my doorstep with those two lechers in the middle of the night, you behaved improperly during dinner, and you were vulgar all the time. And you still say you are not a hooligan?"
The corner of Zane Zhao's mouth twitched, and he looked at Zander Zhan again, and saw that he was looking at him curiously, as if asking - Oh? Are you still hanging out with the rapist?
"Hey, nerd, please stop talking nonsense without basis. I told you that I heard some noise that night and came out to check... I stayed in the inn because I was afraid that those rapists would pay attention to you and your son." Zane Zhao cried out, "How am I like you, teaching your son to kick hooligans in the middle of the night... and saying bad things about me behind my back!"
Gongsun was stunned at first, then he opened his eyes wide and stared at him, "You...you eavesdropped on our conversation?!"
...
Zane Zhao was embarrassed, and in his excitement he told the truth... He said, "No... the walls of the inn are relatively thin!"
Gongsun looked at Zane Zhao with disgust, and became even more convinced that this man was a hooligan.
Zane Zhao was speechless. Fortunately, the county government office was in front of him. Zander Zhan interrupted the two of them while they were staring at each other and said, "We've arrived at the government office."
Everyone entered the county government office. The county magistrate saw Zander Zhan coming back and brought people to greet him. Zander Zhan said that he brought a doctor to see the injured witness, Meng Dafang.
Gongsun followed Zander Zhan into the wing of the yamen. Zane Zhao also strolled to the door and looked inside.
Ethan Xiao was carrying a small white medicine box and following Gongsun. Zane Zhao was behind him, gently pulling him and saying, "Ethan Xiao, are you still going in? Let's chat outside."
Ethan Xiao blinked and hesitated. In fact, he liked Zane Zhao very much. He thought he looked very impressive. Although his father said he was a gangster, Ethan Xiao thought Zane Zhao was a good man. So he asked, "What do you want to talk about?"
Zane Zhao lowered his voice and asked him, "What are you two doing in Kaifeng?"
Ethan Xiao blinked again and said, "Oh, it's because Daddy received a letter..."
Before he could finish his words, Zane Zhao saw a flash of white sleeves in front of him, and Gongsun's slender white hand stopped Ethan Xiao in front of him, protecting him as he walked inside, and glared at Zane Zhao.
Zane Zhao grinds his teeth... How come his son is so much cuter than his father?!
After entering the room, Gongsun checked the condition of the person on the bed, stretched out his hand to feel his pulse, frowned, and said, "It is indeed poisoned."
"Is it really poisoned?" Zander Zhan frowned and asked, "What kind of poison is it? Can it be cured?"
Gongsun stroked his chin and said, "This poison is very potent... and it's a chronic poison, it's been there for at least a year."
"More than a year?" Zander Zhan was shocked and said, "So, the person who harmed him was someone who had been with him for more than a year... that is, only his housekeeper, not his wife who he had just married for half a year?"
Gongsun shook his head and said, "Half a year? Absolutely impossible!"
"That's good." Zander Zhan said, "Sir, can you give him the antidote? I need him to personally identify the perpetrator."
"It should be fine." Gongsun said, and asked Ethan Xiao to bring the medicine box. He opened the box and took out a set of silver needles. The seventy-two silver needles were placed neatly beside the bed. Gongsun treated the man and said, "It may take an hour or two. You can go sit outside and have a cup of tea first."
"No problem." Zander Zhan waved his hand and said, "I'll just wait here."
Gongsun nodded and said nothing more. He lowered his head and concentrated on giving acupuncture.
For more than an hour, Zander Zhan sat not far away and waited quietly. Gongsun sat and gave acupuncture. Ethan Xiao took a clean handkerchief and wiped Gongsun's forehead from time to time. At the same time, he gently pinched the silver needles inserted in the acupuncture points and rotated them regularly according to Gongsun's instructions.
Zane Zhao leaned against the door with his arms folded and watched. He originally wanted to take a look and leave, but he was unknowingly attracted by Gongsun's focused expression. He stood by the door and kept watching.
Two hours later, when it was almost evening, Gongsun finally put away the silver needle and breathed a sigh of relief.
Ethan Xiao first handed Gongsun a cup of tea, then obediently spread out the paper and pen on the table, dipped the brush in ink, and waited.
Gongsun came over, picked up a pen and wrote down a prescription, handed it to a yamen runner, asked him to get the medicine, then boiled five bowls of water into one bowl of water and brought it over.
The bailiff immediately took the prescription and left. Before leaving, Zane Zhao glanced at the prescription. Although he was not a man of letters, the words on the prescription were really beautiful, many times better than those written by Hugo He.
Hugo He, who was far away at the frontier, suddenly sneezed. He hugged the stove in the cold weather and continued to write his memorial. Several shadow guards left at the door looked at him with sympathy.
"He is fine now." Gongsun said to Zander Zhan, "He will be conscious soon, but he can't move yet. He needs to drink medicine to completely remove the poison. He will be able to walk in about four or five days. But his body is too badly injured. He needs half a year to recover. It would be best if he has a good wife who can take good care of him."
Zander Zhan nodded. At this time, Meng Dafang really woke up, slowly opened his eyes, let out a long breath, and seeing the county magistrate in front of him looking at him with surprise and wide eyes, he cried and told him how he was murdered. As expected, it was his housekeeper who murdered him for money.
The county magistrate repeatedly praised the genius doctor Gongsun, but Gongsun just waved his hand. Zander Zhan then asked Meng Dafang for some important clues, and he got some results, which made him overjoyed.
In the evening, Zander Zhan said goodbye to Gongsun and Zane Zhao. He still had to continue investigating the case according to the clues he had obtained, so he had to leave first.
"Zhanzhan, are you leaving?" Ethan Xiao reached out and grabbed the corner of Zander Zhan's clothes, looking very reluctant to let him go.
Zander Zhan pinched his cheek and said, "Little Four, aren't you going to Kaifeng? I should be back in Kaifeng in a while. When the time comes, I will take you to have fun in Kaifeng City and eat delicious food. How about that?"
"Yeah." Ethan Xiao nodded immediately and gave Zander Zhan a big smile.
Afterwards, everyone said goodbye and left the county government office. In the blink of an eye, Zander Zhan had disappeared like a gust of wind.
Gongsun saw that Ethan Xiao seemed a little melancholy, so he comforted him, "Ethan Xiao, we'll meet in Kaifeng in a while. Your uncle Zhan has some official business to attend to."
"Yeah." Ethan Xiao nodded.
When Zane Zhao saw him, he smiled and said, "Little Fourth Son, your uncle Zhan is a great hero, a man of the world, who comes and goes like the wind, that's called being free and easy... You should also be more free and easy, meeting is fate, not meeting is also fate... Are you happy and at ease?"
Gongsun raised his eyes to look at Zane Zhao and thought to himself - could you please say a few more words of truth?
Ethan Xiao tilted his head and thought about it for a while, and suddenly he was no longer sad, and said, "Yeah, that's right... I'm not sad anymore."
Gongsun picked him up and said, "I'm glad you're not sad. Daddy will take you to dinner, okay?"
"Okay!" Ethan Xiao smiled. Gongsun took him to the south of the city. Ethan Xiao waved to Zane Zhao, who was hesitating whether to continue on his journey or find a place to stay, and said, "Jiujiu, shall we go eat together?"
After hearing what Ethan Xiao said, Gongsun was stunned, and Zane Zhao was also stunned.
Originally, the two thought that since the matter was over and Zander Zhan had left, they should also go their separate ways. After all, they didn't have much friendship. Gongsun thought Zane Zhao was a gangster, and Zane Zhao didn't like Gongsun because he was a nerd... They would just hate each other if they were together. They just met by chance, so they would go their separate ways.
Who knew that Ethan Xiao asked Zane Zhao to have dinner together, and Zane Zhao was a little hesitant.
Gongsun looked at Ethan Xiao and said, "Ethan Xiao, why are you asking him to eat?"
Little Sizi blinked and said, "Dad, today's lunch is ninety-nine silver. Didn't you say that we can't eat other people's food? Let's go back, shall we?"
Gongsun opened his eyes wide and looked at Ethan Xiao, thinking - yes, I almost forgot!
Thinking of this, he turned around and looked at Zane Zhao. Zane Zhao smiled and waved his hand, saying, "No need."
"Alas!" Gongsun stopped him and said, "Let's put things in perspective. I don't owe you any favors. We are not related at all. Why should I eat your food for free... Come on, I'll treat you to a meal back!" After saying that, he turned around and left with Ethan Xiao.
Little Fourth Son lay on Gongsun's shoulder and waved to Zane Zhao with a smile.
Zane Zhao thought about it, raised the corner of his mouth and smiled, thinking - let's go, although the nerd is a bit annoying, but the fourth child is cute, eating together is always more lively than eating alone.
After thinking about it, I followed slowly.
only...
Gongsun invited Zane Zhao to dinner in order to avoid owing him a favor, but unexpectedly the dinner caused a big disturbance.
Today, he truly understood that the so-called hooligans were divided into three, six, and nine grades. If hooligans were third-grade hooligans and bullies were sixth-grade hooligans, then Zane Zhao, the Ninth Prince, was a typical ninth-grade hooligan...
Gongsun regretted for a long time because of this. Every time he thought of this past event, he had the urge to spank Ethan Xiao. It was because of his pink and tender little hand that he got himself into a big trouble that he couldn't get rid of.
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