Chapter 79: Unexpected Poisoning

Before the words were finished, foam suddenly appeared at his mouth, and he collapsed on the ground in a faint. The shop assistant was utterly stunned, staring at the shoes in his hands—nothing seemed amiss. What on earth had happened? The sudden turn of events shocked the other customers in the shop as well, and they all rushed out in panic.

“A terrible thing has happened! Someone seems to have died in the Bai family’s shop. Brother Li from next door walked in perfectly fine, and not even fifteen minutes later, he was on the floor.”

“Is that true? You can’t go around spreading rumors without proof.”

“I saw it with my own eyes. Hurry and tell Mrs. Li next door; if she doesn’t get there soon, it’ll be too late.”

The news spread like wildfire. In less than half an hour, the reputation of their shop was utterly ruined inside and out. No one could have imagined such a strange incident would occur.

“What did you see just now? Was someone attacked?”

“No, I was just telling him about these shoes in our shop, and as soon as he asked me to pack them up, he fainted right there.”

The shop assistant was so frightened that his words faltered, and he hurried to call the physician from next door.

Physician Zhang examined the face, tongue, and mouth and made a preliminary diagnosis—it was likely caused by poisoning. Yet they hadn’t eaten anything in this clothing shop. How could this happen? It all seemed far too bizarre.

“Are you sure it’s not the shop’s fault?”

“I don’t know, but we really only sell clothes and shoes here.”

The shop assistant hesitated.

“Physician Zhang, can you tell what kind of poison caused this? Our shop is spotless; surely nothing here could be the cause?”

Bai Jingming asked with some distress.

“No, it doesn’t look like he ate anything he shouldn’t have. It’s likely he inhaled some kind of gas.”

What? The more they listened, the more confused they felt. But with so many customers, surely it couldn’t affect just one person. Outside, a crowd of townsfolk had gathered—most just here for the spectacle.

Mrs. Li’s eyes were red with anger and she was determined to get justice for her family.

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Han Qing heard about the incident and hurried over. At first, he suspected someone was deliberately framing the Bai family, but after listening to those around him, he felt something was amiss.

“Let me take a look at this man,” he offered, advancing to check the man’s pulse, but Physician Zhang stopped him.

“Which clinic are you from?”

“I’m sorry, I’m not from a clinic. I merely have a modest knowledge of medicine,” he replied calmly. This was indeed true.

However, Physician Zhang seemed unconvinced, partly suspecting Han Qing’s reliability and partly fearing he might steal his patient.

“Who are you? Are you in league with them?” Mrs. Li demanded angrily. Her family’s breadwinner had collapsed in the Bai family’s cloth shop—how could she not hate them? She had finally seen the Bai family’s misdeeds exposed, only for another disaster to strike. What kind of curse was this?

“Madam, that is Young Master Han. How could he possibly be in league with the Bai family? It was thanks to him that the old master Bai was sent away,” someone explained, having heard of Han Qing and seen him before, urging her not to make trouble and offend the wrong person.

“But you can’t delay the physician’s treatment!”

“Madam, you’ve misunderstood. The physician has clearly failed to treat the illness, wasting a quarter of an hour without any answers.”

That was indeed reasonable. Still, Physician Zhang was greatly annoyed, wanting to retort but unable to, for what was said was the truth. However dissatisfied he was, he could only swallow it.

“Carry him to the bed in the back, and bring me some silver needles,” Han Qing said solemnly. This was a matter of life and death; there was no time for further discussion. With so many people outside, whether anxious or just watching, they could not let the matter grow worse.

He inserted the needles into the acupoints and observed some unusual signs. Han Qing then wrote out a prescription.

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“Follow this prescription and quickly fetch the medicine from the nearest pharmacy. Boil it for half an hour and have him take it!”

The shop assistant rushed out. The people outside waited anxiously.

About an hour passed before there was a slight improvement. Brother Li opened his eyes; though still pale, he was at least able to speak.

“Wife, don’t blame them—it was my own fault,” he said fairly.

“How could that be? You were perfectly fine when you left, and only after coming to their shop did you get poisoned,” Mrs. Li protested.

“Madam, have you been using mosquito coils regularly these past few nights?” Han Qing suddenly recalled something and asked.

“Yes, with this hot weather and so many mosquitoes, it’s impossible without mosquito coils,” Mrs. Li replied without hesitation.

“That’s it. The main reason for his poisoning is the mosquito coil. Normally, there’s nothing wrong with it, but the problem is that they may have used inferior materials,” Han Qing explained.

However, he quickly amended, “But this is just a guess. You must bring the leftover coils here for inspection before we can know the truth.”

Mrs. Li nodded, feeling grateful.

“Young Master Han, I was too anxious earlier and said many harsh words. Please don’t take it to heart,” she apologized sincerely, embarrassed.

If not for his willingness to forgive and help, they would never have learned the cause of the poisoning.

“It’s nothing—that’s what I ought to do. Seeing you collapse in this shop, how could I just stand by? Besides, we used to run a mosquito coil shop ourselves, but things went wrong due to poor management,” he said with a sigh.

“I remember. When you first opened, we bought from you. But now Zhao’s mosquito coil shop has lower prices, and people like us who need it regularly can only afford theirs,” Mrs. Li said genuinely.

Indeed, it would be unfair to blame them. People must choose what suits them best. There’s no need to spend money in vain.