Chapter 103.1
“Why is there a tuóluó smell on this ancient fragrant satin?”
When these words came out, the people around looked at each other.
Ye Jia Er asked: “Master Tang, what is tuóluó ?”
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“Tuóluó is a kind of plant from the Western Region,” before Tang Fan opened his mouth, Jiang Li had replied. “It grows around swamps, has a fragrant smell, but its petals carry poison. Once there’s a person who grinded the petals and managed to turn it into poison. No one would notice when it’s blended into food or clothes, after a long time, people would be poisoned.”
Tang Fan looked at Jiang Li in surprise. He spoke after a long time: “How does second miss know so clearly?”
“I’ve seen a Western Region unusual record in my father’s study. As it happened, there’s a note about this.” Jiang Li said with a smile.
Jiang Yuan Bai, as the chief assistant of the court, had a large collection of books in his residence, so it’s reasonable to have such an obscure book. Tang Fan said: “So it’s like that, second miss really has wide learning and a good memory.”
Ye Rufeng and Ye Jia Er glanced at each other. Jiang Li was younger than them but she seemed to know more than them.
“Master Tang means, there’s tuóluó on these ancient fragrant satin?” Ye Ming Yu asked.
“Correct,” Tang Fan said: “it’s undoubtedly tuóluó.”
“There’s fragrance in the tuóluó petals, the ancient fragrant satin also has its own fragrance. When the tuóluó petals are grinded into powder then mixed into the ancient fragrant satin, it’s not easy to be discovered. From this it can be seen that the reason why the ancient fragrant satin caused rashes, and even death, was due to the tuóluó flowers.” Jiang Li said.
“What second miss said is correct,” Tang Fan looked at Ye Jia Er, “how could there be tuóluó inside the Ye family’s ancient fragrant satin?”
Ye Jia Er shook her head: “Master, this is impossible. For no cause nor reason, why would the Ye family ruin our own reputation? There has not been any problem with the ancient fragrant satin for so many years. Suddenly there’s an accident, there must be a reason. But it absolutely will not be our Ye family that did this.”
Tang Fan stared at her: “Perhaps the Ye family accidentally mixed the tuóluó flowers during weaving?”
“This....” Ye Jia Er hesitated for a moment before shaking her head firmly. “Master, the Ye family’s weaving place is closely followed and inspected by my father and the second uncle. It’s impossible for a problem to arise. If there’s problem within the Ye family, it would have been discovered way before something happened in the weaving place. It’s not possible to let problematic fabric be released.”
What else could Tang Fan say? Soon he heard Jiang Li spoke from the side: “Master Tang.”
The words of the chief assistant’s daughter, no matter how daring Tang Fan was, he would still give face on the surface. Thus he put out an attitude of listening seriously.
Jiang Li said: “As far as I know, tuóluó grows around the swamp in the southern side of the Western Region. The Western Region and Xiangyang are too far apart. In the final analysis, Xiangyang is not like Yanjing where numerous people come and go. The weaving girls from the Ye family’s weaving manufacturer have not gone out of Xiangyang for many years, so they should not be able to obtain tuóluó. Other people in Xiangyang are also the same, might as well check the merchant going in and out of Xiangyang over the year, whether or not there’s anyone coming from the Western Region. Supposed that there was, tuóluó would most likely come from their hands. Whether it was intentionally targeting the Ye family or accidentally mixing it in the weaving process, this kind of foreign dangerous plants is not something that can be seen on ordinary days.”
Hearing this, Ye Ming Yu also said: “Right, this annoying tuóluó should be a rarity. I travel extensively all year round but this is the first time I’ve heard of this thing. Ah Li, this thing should not be cheap, right?”
“A little bit of tuóluó cost 100 taels. There are better tuóluó that cost 1,000 taels. The more gorgeous the color of the flower, the fragrance would also be stronger, the toxicity would be greater and it would be more precious. Like this one on the problematic ancient fragrant satin, able to poison a person to death, should be the kind that’s no less than 1,000 taels.” Jiang Li looked at Tang Fan, “Master Tang, forgive me for speaking out of turn, a bolt of the highest quality ancient fragrant satin only costs 500 taels of silver, ‘accidentally’ mixing a 1,000 worth of tuóluó into the ancient fragrant satin that’s only worth hundreds, afraid ordinary people would be hard-pressed to accomplish this. It’s not too excessive if I suspect that someone is deliberately shifting the blame on the Ye family using this plot.”
She smiled and spoke with a pleasant tone. As Tang Fan listened, his brows furrowed, his heart grew heavier. What Jiang Li said was indeed possible, but if it was truly a conspiracy, the matter would be big. In the competition among merchants for profits, it’s not impossible for them to trip each other in private. However, the Ye family was a family of Northern Yan’s chief assistant, the Ye family’s shops were all over Northern Yan. Those who dared to attack the Ye family undoubtedly had big guts and there’s a huge possibility that some major characters were involved. On the other hand, the Ye family had the Jiang family’s support, it’s impossible not to investigate this matter thoroughly. Especially there’s Jiang second miss, seemingly an amiable person, but her mind was very clear, it’s not possible to deceive her. The person had evidently seen through this matter from the beginning, just waiting for someone to come and be a gunman to solve this matter neatly and cleanly.
Knowing that he was involved in this terrible trouble, Tang Fan felt depressed. After pondering, he thought that this time, he could not put his own safety before matters of principle. Anyway, he would offend someone either way, he might as well give face to Jiang second miss. After all, the Jiang family’s position in the middle of court had been extremely stable for many years. The chief assistant, Jiang Yuan Bai, was someone who tried to never offend anybody. With him helping the Ye family this time, Jiang Yuan Bai received this favor and would say a few nice words to him in the future.
Thinking up to this, Tang Fan immediately said: “What second miss said is justified, indeed it’s no small matter. Even though the investigation of the case is not the responsibility of the Weaving Unit, the superior has dispatched us to Xiangyang precisely to investigate this matter thoroughly. The Ye family is Northern Yan number one weaving manufacturer, we can discuss this over with Magistrate Tong. From tomorrow onwards, we can thoroughly investigate the people in Xiangyang who have traveled to and from the Western Region.” historical
“Will Magistrate Tong agree?” Jiang Li frowned slightly, somewhat appearing awkward.
“Miss Jiang second rest assured,” Tang Fan said: “this matter is related to the common people in Xiangyang, the distribution of tuóluó is a dangerous thing, Magistrate Tong will surely agree.” In the end, Tong Zhi Yang was just the prefectural magistrate of Xiangyang while he was a person from the capital. Tong Zhi Yang was used to being superior in this place, not knowing how powerful Jiang second miss was. But he was very clear. When the Jiang family was at its peak, a majority of the court was Jiang Yuan Bai’s students. Nowadays, the Jiang family was a bit more cautious, but it didn’t mean that they were declining and they must not be offended.