Chapter 102 The young old man
He Danggui felt her chest cool because of the cool tea she just drank in her room, so she took the tea brought by Miss Ji after she gratefully thanked her, and then began to drink happily with a foolish look.
Madam Luo and Mammy Tang looked at each other and sighed. They thought that He Danggui might think that she had made great contribution for saving Zhu’s life, and she must be waiting for Zhu’s mother to pay her thankfulness. He Danggui was such a silly girl. This time, she would be inevitably wronged, because they were out of choice and the only solution was the best for Luo’s Family. Then they both shook their heads and ignored their concerns at the same time.
Luo Baishao had already lost interest in Dong Xinlan’s revenge for her son at this moment, so she circled around He Danggui twice on the ground excitedly. Then Luo Baishao stared at He Danggui’s face and finally touched it twice. Staring at He Danggui’s shy appearance, Luo Baishao asked happily, “Third sister, how did your face become like this? Didn’t you say that your skin was a little special and could not be tanned easily?”
Seeing that He Danggui was about to answer her, Madam Luo hurriedly stopped her and said, “Shao, your third sister is tired from the journey. You can talk about these gossips another day! Mammy Shangguan in the palace will give you the etiquette lesson in person in a few days. You should go back and prepare for it. Why do you always make people worried?” Speaking to the end, Madam Luo blamed Luo Baishao seriously, making Luo Baishao speechless for a moment.
Mammy Tang sighed in relief... How did He Danggui’s face turned yellow? That should be kept as a secret.
Dong Xinlan had never heard Madam Luo scold her two granddaughters. When she saw this scene, she couldn’t help wondering what had happened.
Hearing what Mammy Tang said about “picking up our great heroine back”, Dong Xinlan felt disgruntled about what kind of heroine He Danggui was? She was just a wild girl who had lived in the mansion for half a year, and always looked at Luo Baiqian with a pair of attractive eyes, which let Luo Baiqian always make a statement for her. It was annoying that the two cousins exchanged glances of silent understanding.
In fact, Dong Xinlan knew that Wei had taken a litter of mice to the kitchenette of the West Lateral court 6 months ago.
Dong Xinlan disapproved of her son playing those things, but she couldn’t stop her son after she tried so many times. In addition to taking care of the kids, she was also busy memorizing the Catalogue of Jokes to coax Madam Luo to be happy, finding various reasons to divide Second Mistress Luo’s ownership of Luo’s Family, and trying to tie her husband’s heart. In order to keep the mice, her son cried and quarreled, making her distracted. So, she directly let her son raise them outside Liu Li Tang. Later, when she learnt that her son raised them in He Danggui’s place, but He Danggui dared not to speak out, there was a burst of pleasure in Dong Xinlan’s heart. She felt glad that her son knew how to help her to rectify her rivals at such a young age. What a filial kid! Unexpectedly, these mice settled down in He Danggui’s place and developed rapidly. In the end, they were brought back to her son’s place, and another son almost died because of them. Dong Xinlan felt very bitter, but she could not express her pain to others.
Dong Xinlan didn’t want to suffer the consequences, so she wanted to come here to make some troubles to He Danggui, and abreacted the resentment in her mind. There were a lot of things wandering in her mind: Luo Baiqian detested and abused her, and he disappeared again when their son just came alive; she herself, as the eldest granddaughter-in-law of the eldest son in her generation, could not take charge in Luo’s Family in the past 4 years, and she could not even save more money for her own use; she was so great to have given birth to 3 kids for Luo’s Family consecutively in the past 4 years, all of whom were top-notch, so she felt that everyone in Luo’s Family owed her.
The weakest member of Luo’s Family was He Danggui. Everyone knew that He Danggui was like a weak little white rabbit who could be teased by anyone, but never had refuted a word. Dong Xinlan now felt that she was full of anger but failed to release. If she didn’t pull the girl out and hit her 40 boards, she would be too annoyed to swallow her meals! Thinking of this, she cried out loudly, “Grandma, you don’t know. After the fake death of Zhu in the morning, Luo Baiqian was so unconscionable that he beat me covering with wounds... Also, he hid a letter which He Danggui wrote to him, and kept it a secret from me! He said there was something wrong, and it was about confidentiality... Grandma, now He Danggui is here. You should ask her what inscrutable secret is written in the letter?”
He Danggui’s eyes widened, and she wanted to explain something. Madam Luo was so scared that she hurriedly took the head start before He Danggui saying anything, and scolded Dong Xinlan sternly, “You are talking nonsense. She is a girl who has not married yet. How can you describe her like that? Yi felt happy when she finally learned how to write in the Taoist temple, so she wrote a letter to greet you. After reading, I feel it quite literate, so I asked Nie Chun to give it to Qian and let him review it. How can you, her sister-in-law, directly call your third sister’s name? It’s not appropriate! Is this the way how your family taught you to call people?”
After scolding, Dong Xinlan and Luo Baishao were very surprised. Because Dong Xinlan had always called He Danggui like “Hey”, “You” or her name directly. In private, every time she mentioned He Danggui, she also called her “her”, “that person” or her name directly, and she did the same thing in front of Madam Luo all the time. For half a year, Madam Luo had never blamed Dong Xinlan for that, not even once! Now was there red rain in the sky, or Madam Luo was mentally confused? How could Madam Luo’s every word be on He Danggui’s side? For He Danggui, Madam Luo repeatedly scolded 2 people she had always favored! Out of surprise, Dong Xinlan and Luo Baishao chose to keep silent.
Mammy Tang sighed in relief... As for the content written in the letter, that should not be exposed!
A surprised expression also appeared on He Danggui’s face, and she looked around. Then her eyes were suddenly wide open, and she whispered with her mouth covered, “Oh my god, a disaster is imminent. I’m afraid our family will suffer a disaster soon!”
Madam Luo bounced from the seat when she heard this, and the thin blanket fell to the ground as she moved. She asked in a tight voice, “What disaster? Where (which immortal) did you hear that from?”
There was a drop of sweat on He Danggui’s forehead. Had she become a god-like person like Bai Yangbai that no matter what she said, Madam Luo just believed her immediately?
Dong Xinlan and Luo Baishao were even more shocked and angry. They just asked He Danggui in a few words like “How did your face become like this?” and “What did you write to Luo Baiqian?” They didn’t even start bullying He Danggui, but had already been scolded by Madam Luo. However, what He Danggui directly said was “a disaster is imminent”, which committed high treason, but Madam Luo acted like she was under great stress. She did not even scold He Danggui, but regarded her words as a decree!
Dong Xinlan hated He Danggui so much that she almost bit off her tongue. After everything she suffered, her third aunt only drove her away on the excuse of headache. So, she wanted to come to Madam Luo to complain, and then vent her anger on He Danggui. Unexpectedly, Madam Luo helped He Danggui and accused her of having no manners. It was unfair! Madam Luo was partial! Dong Xinlan was a legitimate daughter of a famous family, but He Danggui was just a daughter of the concubine. How could she call her “third sister” with this identity? Every time Dong Xinlan heard Luo Baiqian calling He Danggui like that, her anger puffed up!
He Danggui’s big doe-eyed rolled, and then she answered with a small volume, “I was told by the man I mentioned before... ‘The young old man’.”
The young old man? It was that old immortal who rejuvenated! Madam Luo and Mammy Tang suddenly praised her for being smart because they hadn’t told her what to do before, but she had already learnt what she could say and what she couldn’t. So, Mammy Tang also asked vaguely, “Is it because the ‘commandment’ of no guests is broken?”
He Danggui nodded solemnly and said, “Yes, the old man said that it must be at least 2 days to ‘obey the precepts’. Of course, staying a few more days would be more secure, but I am surprised that something bad happens on the first day... Oops.”
Madam Luo asked nervously, “What kind of disaster? Is there any remedy?”
“The old man only mentioned the word ‘bloodshed disasters’, and he didn’t disclose more.” He Danggui blinked her eyes in sharp contrast and spread out her hands, “At that time, I was in a state of illusion and didn’t ask anymore. You must have had a dream, Grandma. The feeling was that I wanted to ask in my minds, but my tongue was stiff, and I couldn’t control it. So, I couldn’t ask even if I want to.”
Madam Luo sat back in the soft chair and said sadly, “What should I do? I wonder if it would be useful if I invite some monks and old Taoist priests to perform some religious rituals. Ordinary Taoist priests only have limited power. Unfortunately, Qi Xuanyu is quite capable, but he left a few days ago. Now Senior Lord Luo is not here, where are we going to find Qi Xuanyu?”
Dong Xinlan and Luo Baishao became dizzy, and didn’t know what they were talking about. For them, the rest’s conversation was like speaking ciphered codes, but they talked very eagerly as if there were some great secrets. What secrets could He Danggui know, but they couldn’t? Luo Baishao went up, pulled Madam Luo’s sleeves, and coquettishly complained, “Grandma, what’s wrong with you? I don’t care! I would have third sister to accompany me tonight...”
“Ah, ah!!!” There were sudden screams coming out of the hall, “Fire! Madam Luo, fire! Mammy, fire!”
Madam Luo bounced off from the seat and asked in a dumb voice, “Where?” Mammy Tang anxiously stepped forward to hold Madam Luo’s arm and whispered, “You should care about your body. Is there anything more important than your own body?”
Xiang Chunya ran in panic from outside the corridor and breathlessly replied, “Madam Luo... It’s the Bitter Bamboo Grove behind the yard... The grass outside the grove caught fire and burned terribly.”
“Grasses of Bitter Bamboo Grove?” Madam Luo immediately breathed a sigh of relief and ordered with a deep voice, “You go to organize the servants who guard the yard inside to save the fire and call servants who guard the yard outside together!”
Mammy Tang also breathed a sigh of relief with a little smile on her face. Then she turned to comfort Madam Luo and said, “You can relax, Madam. First, the weather in fall is too dry, and the items are dry and flammable. Under normal circumstances, there is also the possibility of getting fires. Second, the fire was kind of a proof that the old immor... Er, the old man was right about what’s gonna happen. Therefore, the disaster of Luo’s Mansion is considered to have passed. We will have a bright future since then. Xiang Chunya, why are you still standing there? Didn’t you hear Madam Luo asked you to organize manpower to fight the fire?” Mammy Tang scorned the girl in green dress at the door. It was already a period with frequent accidents and incidents, but the maids were still stupid during their services. They were not very clever when it came to manage things, which was really annoying.
“Eek!” Xiang Chunya suddenly screamed with tears, which shocked everyone in the hall except He Danggui. Surrounded by everyone’s astonishment, she said extremely sorrowful, “No, Mammy! No, indeed the grass is on fire. But the burning things are…there are so many... bloody corpses!”
“Many bloody corpses?” This time, not only did Madam Luo and Mammy Tang feel scared, but even Dong Xinlan and Luo Baishao felt shocked and even took few steps back, “You mean a lot of... dead people! How many people were there?”
Xiang Chunya waved her hands and said, “Not dead people, but dead crows!” Speaking of the experience just now, she couldn’t help shivering and said, “Just now when a few of us were checking the kitchen utensils, we suddenly saw a fire outside the window in the direction of Bitter Bamboo Grove. So, we gathered some people to be courageous with each other, and then we went to check the situation. After approaching, we found the fire was burning very vigorously, and the smoke was soaring. There was a pungent burnt smell. Then we went on and saw... dead crows were all over the place! They were all fragmented crow corpses, all over the ground. Heads, wings, claws and intestines of hundreds of dead birds. Actually, there was not a complete...”
“Enough, stop talking!” Mammy Tang noticed that Madam Luo was not in a good mental status. For fear that Madam Luo’s old illness would recur due to excessive shock, she quickly stopped Xiang Chunya from going on, and enjoined her with a deep voice, “Release an emergency letter rocket now and call Nie Chun and the Four Guards (Pan Jingyan, Guang Hang, Xiao and Wei) of our mansion. Explain the serious situation to them, let them take people to extinguish the fire first and then search the Bitter Bamboo Grove again to see what beasts are hidden in the grove.”
After Xiang Chunya ran away, Mammy Tang helped Madam Luo to sit down, put the blanket for her again and comforted, “Don’t worry, Madam. After all, Luo’s Mansion occupies a large area. Except for many groves in the Mansion, there are many rare animals delivered from the South. Occasionally, it is normal that 1 or 2 wild cats or weasel leaping in from the courtyard wall to come in for food. Now we have called Nie Chun and the Four Guards to come over. When they arrive, everything will be solved. Besides... Now it has fulfilled the prediction of ‘bloodshed disasters’, and it meets doom. The most fortunate thing is that this time only a few noisy crows died, so Luo’s Mansion did not suffer a little loss...”
“Ah! Ah!” A scream in the hall interrupted Mammy Tang’s words, attracting everyone’s attention to the face of the person who made the noise.
He Danggui also turned her head, looked at Chan Yi unhappily and blamed her in a low voice, “What’s the matter with you? Don’t you know there is a fire in our mansion now? Everyone feels nervous and is scared by your scream! I shouldn’t take you out to meet the guests. It’s quite rude for you to do so!”
“Ah,” Chan Yi still whispered while covering her mouth with her hands, and immediately raised her fingers, “No, look at that. Ghost! There is a ghost out there!”
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