Chapter 39 Framed
It was already evening when we came out of Prince Jing's Mansion.

Xibing stood inside the palace gate and waved goodbye to him, while Chen Ji stood on Anxi Street with a heavy heart.

He walked in the afterglow and smelled the aroma of cooking from every household along the street. Only then did he feel relieved.

The dark cloud poked its head out from the eaves and jumped into his arms: "Who hit Bai Prajna? I didn't hit it!"

Chen Ji smiled and patted its head: "No one beat it, it was just a reason for Concubine Yun to summon me to the palace."

He muttered to himself, "At that time, Concubine Yun said that Concubine Jing's lead-barium glass cup was given to her by her family, so I didn't think much about it. But now looking at the relationship between Concubine Jing and the Liu family, maybe someone did it on purpose... Has she cursed the Liu family recently?"

"Yes, she cursed her brother Liu Mingxian. Her curses were very filthy."

"That's right." Chen Ji sighed, "I was only concerned with logical reasoning at the time, but didn't think deeply about human nature. It turns out that human nature cannot be judged by common sense. But I didn't anger Old Master Liu to death, I didn't give the cup, and I didn't kill Liu Shiyu. Why did she target me instead of taking revenge on the Liu family and the Secret Service... Hiss, Liu Shiyu was also killed by the Liu family to silence him. There must be a ruthless person in the Liu family!"

Chen Ji took a deep breath. He reviewed all the clues and suddenly realized that the Liu family was extremely cruel and did not care about family affection for their own people. "Wasn't the old man Liu in the coffin also killed on the spot?!"

Wuyun stood in awe: "Very fierce!"

Is this kind of cruelty useful? Of course it is useful. If it weren't so cruel, Yun Yang and Jiao Tu wouldn't have been thrown into prison. Instead, the Liu family would have been guilty of deceiving the emperor.

Back at the clinic, Old Man Yao was behind the counter, looking at the account book and fiddling with the abacus. He looked like an old man who was calculating but couldn't figure it out...

Chen Ji smiled and said jokingly, "Master, can't you just toss a coin and do the math?"

Old man Yao glared at him and said, "Stop talking nonsense. I think you are just itching for trouble. Fortune telling can only tell the direction, how can it tell the exact amount?"

"Where are the senior brothers?" Chen Ji asked curiously.

"I went to the backyard to cook." Old Man Yao glanced at him and said, "Didn't you go to diagnose the cat? Didn't you prescribe some medicine for it?"

"No……"

Old Man Yao sneered: "I thought you were so cautious. Even if it's not injured or sick, you have to prescribe some cheap trauma medicine for it and send it to the palace. You have to put on a good show, otherwise it will be discovered sooner or later."

Chen Ji was stunned for a moment: "Thank you for the reminder, Master. The old ones are still the wisest. I will send some snake bed tomorrow."

He walked to the backyard. In the kitchen, only Liu Quxing was washing rice and cooking porridge. She Dengke was not there.

Just as Chen Ji was about to go to the apprentice dormitory, he saw She Dengke pushing the door open.

She Dengke was shocked when he saw Chen Ji: "Hey, didn't you go to the palace?"

Chen Ji said, "The white cat wasn't seriously injured. I came back after taking a look. What was Senior Brother She doing in the room just now?"

"I'll just change my clothes and go help pick the vegetables. If I cook slowly, the master will scold me," She Dengke pulled Chen Ji to the kitchen.

However, at this moment, there were the sounds of orderly footsteps outside the clinic, and the rustling sound of iron armor scales colliding with each other as the guards walked.

Chen Ji noticed that She Dengke's hand, which was pinching his arm, suddenly clenched tightly, and he could feel the sweat in his palm through his clothes.

Old man Yao walked to the door and frowned and said, "Miss Chunhua, General Wang, what are you doing blocking the door of my Taiping Medical Clinic?"

Chen Ji broke free from She Dengke's hand and walked out. Liu Quxing also came out of the kitchen holding a spoon: "What's wrong?"

Outside the Taiping Clinic, Chunhua was looking exceptionally plain today, wearing only a light green skirt, without any jewelry on her body, and her hair was simply tied up with a wooden hairpin.

Chunhua looked nervous and seemed to be hesitant to speak. Beside her, the palace guards were all holding long spears and wearing heavy iron armor. The leader walked with a sharp gaze, like a tiger walking with an eagle's gait.

Chen Ji asked with a smile: "Miss Chunhua, what are you doing?"

But Chunhua said to the head guard of the palace: "General Wang, some time ago my wife lost the South China Sea pearl that the prince gave her. We first checked the maids in our Wanxing Garden, but couldn't find the whereabouts of the pearl. Later, we thought about it and found that only this apprentice of the medical clinic named Chen Ji had been in and out of Wanxing Garden and had rummaged through my wife's things!"

Chen Ji frowned, Concubine Jing!
After the loss of her son and nephew, Concubine Jing's revenge came quickly and urgently, and it didn't even take overnight!

General Wang stared at Chen Ji coldly: "Do you have anything to say that might prove your innocence?"

Chen Ji was silent for a moment, then said calmly, "Someone accused me of stealing something, and it's hard to prove my innocence in such a matter."

On Anxi Street, shop owners and shop assistants were all peeking out the doors, looking in. They were about to close their shops, but unexpectedly, they had seen something big. Someone whispered, "Did Doctor Chen from the Taiping Clinic steal something from the palace?"

"It is said that these are South China Sea pearls that Prince Jing gave to the princess. I have heard of this thing. One pearl is as big as a longan. One can be sold for hundreds of taels of silver!"

……

……

Chen Ji listened to the discussions around him without changing his expression.

General Wang stared at him for a long time, and finally said gloomily: "Control this apprentice and go in to search!"

After that, two guards held up Chen Ji's arms, one on the left and one on the right. The guards' arms were like iron rings, tightly wrapping Chen Ji's arms so that he could not move, and it was so tight that it hurt.

Chunhua followed the guards into the clinic: "General Wang, let me look for it too. I have seen that pearl and it is easy to identify."

Chen Ji watched her enter the clinic, open the drawers of the medicine cabinet one by one, and mess up the medicinal materials.

Old man Yao looked at him coldly and said, "General Wang, if there really is a thief in my Taiping Clinic, I will resign and return home, and never set foot in Luocheng again. But if there is no thief in my Taiping Clinic, what will you say?"

General Wang bowed to him and said, "Doctor Yao, I am also following orders. Miss Chunhua brought Concubine Jing's badge, and I must follow your orders to arrest the thief. Besides, people's hearts are hidden in their stomachs. How do you know if your apprentice is a thief?"

Old Man Yao suddenly snorted angrily: "I'm sure he's not!"

Chen Ji looked at Old Man Yao in surprise, but he didn't expect that the other party would come out to speak for him at this time.

As they were talking, Chunhua had already entered the backyard. She first searched the kitchen and then went into the apprentice dormitory.

But she was seen rummaging on the bed for a while, and finally set her eyes on the apprentices' wardrobes.

Chen Ji understood that the other party was just pretending to search other places before, and this place was her real target.

Chunhua knew from the beginning that Zhenzhu was here!
Chen Ji looked towards She Dengke, only to see that the other's tall and strong figure was nervous, his hands were twisted together, and there was no trace of blood on his lips.

When She Dengke saw Chen Ji looking at him, he hurriedly turned his eyes away and didn't dare to look at him.

This was a premeditated frame-up by She Dengke and Chunhua!

Chen Ji frowned, but She Dengke had clearly never left the clinic, and Jinri Chunhua had never been to the clinic, so how did they convey the information to Zhenzhu?

Chen Ji looked around. The backyard of the clinic was separated from the palace by only a wall. If people talked on the other side of the wall, they could be heard in the backyard.

The wall is not high, so it is not difficult to throw a pearl over.

Chen Ji suddenly asked, "Brother She, do you like Chunhua?"

She Dengke was stunned for a moment, and subconsciously took a step back: "Ah? What did you say? I don't understand what you are talking about."

Chen Ji shook his head: "It's okay..."

Liu Quxing looked at Chen Ji and asked worriedly, "You didn't really steal anything, did you?"

Chen Ji denied it: "No, I will never do such petty theft in my life."

When Liu Quxing heard him say that, he believed it, but Liu Quxing clearly felt that Chunhua was confident and very sure.

He looked at his master again: "Master, please say something quickly."

Old man Yao remained silent. If evidence was really to be found, no one could help Chen Ji.

At this time, the guards came out of Old Man Yao's main house and shook their heads at General Wang.

Everyone looked at Chunhua in the apprentice dormitory. Chunhua was rummaging through the closet like crazy. Finally, she stood still in front of the closet, with her back to everyone, shaking and crying.

(End of this chapter)