CHAPTER 22: CHAPTER 21: HIDDEN STASH

Zhu Yu listened to those people discussing for a while, then moved towards the periphery and saw an old man with grizzled beard also watching the commotion. She approached him, bowing respectfully.

Seeing a stranger like a gentleman, appearing cultured and polite, the old man hurriedly bowed in return.

"Elder, is this Lu’s?" Zhu Yu put on a face of confusion, as if she wasn’t the one who had just been jostled inside, "I want to buy wine from Lu’s."

"Buy wine?!" The old man was taken aback, hurriedly waved his hand at her, and pointed towards the large Lu Family residence, "Didn’t you see Lu Family, the winemakers, were in chaos!

Their winery had an incident, all the wine has gone bad; there’s no wine to sell to you!"

"Then where can I buy wine? Does the elder know if there’s any place in the county town that sells it?" Zhu Yu asked again.

"No, no! Only Lu’s!" the old man sighed, "Not only in the county town, you won’t find another place to brew and sell wine within dozens of miles other than Lu’s!"

"Oh dear, what should I do!" Hearing this, Zhu Yu’s face fell, "I was just passing through Qingshui County, but unexpectedly my family’s old illness relapsed, and the medicine requires wine as a guide.

I brought my retinue to buy wine, and everyone directed me to Lu’s. After much difficulty, I found Lu’s, but it turned out like this!

Elder, please be kind and help me out, tell me where I can buy wine, my family’s medicine can’t wait!"

The old man looked at Zhu Yu with some sympathy, then at the dark-faced retinue behind her, and sighed: "I can’t help you, in this Qingshui County, no one dares to privately brew wine!

You’d better quickly find a carriage, take your family, and leave the county as soon as possible; you might be able to buy some once out of Qingshui County!"

Zhu Yu, unwilling, wanted to speak with the old man a bit more, when she suddenly felt someone tug at her sleeve from the side.

She turned her head and saw a thin-faced man in the crowd behind her, looking slightly anxious, signaling with his eyes, then turned and squeezed out of the crowd, leaving.

Zhu Yu quickly glanced at Lu Qing.

She knew Lu Qing had a good mind and was brave, but she also knew if they met someone dangerous, she might end up losing her life for nothing.

Being Lu Qing’s nature, daring to leave the Fu Lu at the inn and come out with her alone, he probably had some assurance in his heart.

Sure enough, Lu Qing calmly helped her through the crowd, and they walked unhurriedly toward the direction the thin-faced man left.

After walking a distance, they arrived at a narrow alley. There were almost no pedestrians here, very secluded.

The thin-faced man from before was waiting in the alley. Seeing Zhu Yu had indeed come, he hurriedly approached and asked in a low voice: "Mister, are you the one who wants to buy wine?"

Zhu Yu nodded, pulling a long face: "Indeed, my elder needs wine as a medicine guide, but unfortunately, there’s no wine in Qingshui County, which worries me greatly!"

"I have a bit of wine at home," the man hesitated slightly, whispered, "but it’s a bit expensive, are you willing?"

As he spoke, he cautiously raised a finger.

"One tael?" Zhu Yu asked.

The man seemed startled by Zhu Yu’s guess, quickly waved his hands: "Not one tael, but a string."

"No problem! Where is the wine?" Seeing that Lu Qing had no intention of stopping her, Zhu Yu agreed without hesitation.

The thin-faced man, hearing Zhu Yu agree, showed some relief on his tense face, his eyebrows relaxed a bit, and he quickly signaled Zhu Yu to follow him.

He led the "master and servant" pair through twists and turns in the alley. Even someone like Zhu Yu, unfamiliar with Qingshui County and somewhat directionally challenged, could feel that this man was deliberately leading them around.

She felt uneasy and secretly glanced back at Lu Qing. Seeing him still calm, she had to put her heart back into her chest and continue walking.

Finally, after a series of twists, they arrived at a small courtyard on the west side of the county town.

This small courtyard was in a secluded location with high walls. The paint on the two wooden doors was mottled, suggesting they were once prestigious.

But it was clear the prestigious time had long passed. The wood planks on the two doors had holes in them, letting light through from inside.

The thin-faced man walked ahead, didn’t enter his home immediately at the doorstep, instead looked around before pushing the door open, signaling Zhu Yu and Lu Qing to hurry in, then closed the door, grabbing a sleeve of each and leading them towards the backyard.

Zhu Yu didn’t expect this person to suddenly rush them into the backyard as soon as he closed the door.

The backyard also looked desolate, with a woodshed, a few broken baskets stacked outside, and nothing else.

"What are you doing? Where’s the wine?" Zhu Yu asked, pretending to be puzzled.

"I’ll get it for you right away! Don’t worry!" The thin-faced man signaled to them, quickly went over, moved the pile of broken baskets aside, lifted a cellar door from beneath, and cautiously crawled in.

After a while, he crawled out of the cellar, holding a small wine jar in his arms.

Lu Qing reached out to take it, but the thin-faced man didn’t give it to him. Instead, he covered the small jar with his clothes and turned into the kitchen.

The kitchen stove was steaming, with hot water boiling in the pot, and nothing else.

The thin-faced man probably didn’t expect he had busied himself outside for so long that no one at home came out to greet him. For a moment, he was also a bit bewildered.

"Hey, inside there, come out! We have guests!" he shouted in a low voice.

From across the kitchen, a woman pulled back the curtain and came out, her eyes red and swollen as if she had just cried.

"The child’s father, the little one was fine this morning, suddenly rolled his eyes and fainted just now, we couldn’t get a response no matter how we called, what are we going to do!" She burst into tears upon seeing her husband returned.

The thin-faced man’s expression changed, ignoring Zhu Yu and the rest, he hurriedly followed his wife to check on the child’s situation, with Zhu Yu quickly following behind, arriving at another dilapidated room’s doorway.

The room wasn’t big, with a canopy bed that lacked curtains, where a very frail child lay weak and unconscious, face pale, forehead covered with a fine layer of sweat, unresponsive to his parents’ calls, limbs hanging as though drained of bone.

Seeing this, Zhu Yu, despite everything, stepped into the room, went straight to the bed, squatted down, took the child’s limp little hand, feeling it was cold, and placed two fingers on the child’s wrist, finding the pulse extremely weak.

"This young master..." The thin-faced man’s wife didn’t know Zhu Yu’s background, but seeing her check-up stance, she seemed somewhat like a doctor from a medical clinic, leaving her a bit at a loss.

Zhu Yu opened the child’s eyelids, noticing the white lower eyelid, and seeing his emaciated frame, she roughly understood.

"Your child has collapsed due to spleen and stomach weakness causing blood and energy production deficiency, which led to sudden fainting, not a major illness, don’t panic.

Quickly, get some stone honey, mix it into honey water and infuse it, this will temporarily bring him back, but any delay might make it worse!"