Chapter 104 An innocent man got into trouble because of his ability
While He Danggui was on her way back to the East Flower Hall, she was thinking about these strange things happened tonight. Would those be coincidences?
At the very beginning, she saw Ms. Dong and Luo Baishao breaking in in with full fury, but she was sick at that time, so she wanted to drive them away with Madam Luo’s help before she dealt with them when she was in a good mood later. She remembered that there were many crows in the grove, so she pretended to be a mystical conman just like Bai Yangbai, predicting the “bloodshed disaster” mysteriously. She thought that when someone found the dead crows outside the backyard, Madam Luo would believe in the “meditation in two days to get through the suffering” under the guidance of her superstitious character. Then she could get some time to rest and heal.
Unexpectedly, she was a little surprised when she heard Bitter Bamboo Grove was on fire. Was it on fire? Was the fire caused by the dry weather and flammable things? And the sparks flied out of the kitchen? However, before the fire was put out, Luo Baiying appeared like a ghost suddenly, which made Chan Yi offend her. He Danggui was also a little worried about this. Luo Baiying was a serious person and He Danggui didn’t know how she would deal with Chan Yi. Well, even if she took what happened to Luo Baiying as an accident, how did the plaque on the hall fall down unexpectedly?
He Danggui shook her head lightly. Coincidences happened. Maybe that worked for everything happened today. Anyway, she had already chased Ms. Dong and Luo Baishao away as she wanted. Next, she could use her free time to think about how to deal with Ms. Dong for finding fault to her. Judging from Madam Luo’s attitude, He Danggui could tell something probably. Ms. Dong came to find the culprit who caused her son’s death. Madam Luo picked out from the four cards of Wei, Ms. Dong, Ms. Sun and her, the silly girl. Ms. Sun was the treasure of Madam Luo, and she was the first to be excluded. Secondly, whether it was Wei or Ms. Dong to be blamed, the story of “One in the First Branch lifted the stone and smashed his own foot” would spread and become the laughingstock of the people in the house. So, Madam Luo chose the unimportant girl, i.e., her, to be blamed in the end.
Although it was expected and reasonable, she was sad when she saw Madam Luo trying her best to cover up the truth of Zhu’s rebirth in front of the public. In fact, she should have thought of this a long time ago. She smiled bitterly. It’s not the first day she knew about the improper behavior of everyone in Luo’s Family. What was she looking forward to?
“Good evening, sis, have you had dinner?”
He Danggui frowned to see the speaker, Feng Yang. Behind him was the sick boy who looked like Lu Jiangbei. So, she replied, “Not yet, how about you?”
“Oh, yes, we have.” Feng Yang answered.
He Danggui nodded and said, “That’s good. Are you going to sleep?” What were these two people doing in the middle of the intersection of the East Flower Hall and West Flower Hall? Appreciating the moon? It was the dim last quarter moon today. What was worth seeing?
Feng Yang also nodded, “Yes.”
He Danggui continued, “Well, guests, please go to bed early. Our mansion is on fire tonight. I hope you can excuse our poor service.”
“Not at all.” Feng Yang nodded.
He Danggui raised her eyebrows, “Does Childe Feng catch a cold? Your voice sounds hoarse. If you need to see a doctor or ask for medicine, there are ready-made staffs in our mansion. Just enjoin the maids in your room to do that for you.”
Feng Yang touched his throat, cleared it and said, “Sis, you are so considerate. I had a cold on the way. Unfortunately, I won’t be cured for a month. And to be honest, I always hate to see doctors and take medicines, so I will speak in such a hoarse voice in the next month. Sis, if you see Madam Luo, please tell her about this and let her have a psychological preparation.”
What nonsense was he talking about? What coldness required a month to recover? He Danggui’s eyes focused on Feng Yang’s face for a few seconds, and then Feng Yang turned his face shyly. She was full of doubts. Why was he acting like this? In the morning, he was cheerful and eloquent, but he showed the shy expression like girls at night? Forgot it, anyway, it had nothing to do with her. He Danggui nodded, “Childe Feng, I’ll leave you to enjoy the moon.” Then she bypassed the two and went to the East Flower Hall.
“Hey.” The man next to Feng Yang said suddenly, “What’s your name?”
It was impolite for a stranger to ask a girl’s name. However, He Danggui told him casually. Names were named to be called. After she went afar, Ning Yuan turned his head, frowned and stared at Feng Yang, “You had behaved badly. Hadn’t you practiced the whole afternoon? Can’t you talk to people for a little while normally?”
Feng Yang said with a bitter face, “Childe, I share totally different temperament with Childe Chang. How can I learn his skill of talking and chasing girls within such a short time?”
Ning Yuan thought for a moment and sighed, “With Chang Nuo’s character, I wonder if he could disguise as me successfully. Hope everything goes well.”
“Childe.” Feng Yang asked in confusion, “Why did you knock out that plaque in Luo’s Family?”
Ning Yuan’s eyes flashed a cold light and said coldly, “Because I don’t like it. I hate everything related to Crown Prince Yiwen. If it hadn’t been for him, my mother wouldn’t have died so miserably!”
He Danggui ran back to her room hurriedly. Since Chan Yi had gone to serve Luo Baiying and didn’t come back, she began to search her luggage in a hurry, and finally took out a jar. Inside it were 9 egg-sized Purple Jujubes. When she was in the Taoist temple, she firstly found out 24 kinds of fine herbs. After she washed and baked them 3 times, she soaked them in strong wines, then added Shayu Jujube which came from the Western Regions, and finally processed them into purple jujubes. She chuckled. With these in her hands, she would be able to stand firm in Luo’s Mansion.
※※※
“Where are you going, Third Miss?” Mammy Tang asked her anxiously. He Danggui was about to speak, but Madam Luo’s voice sounded on the other side of the screen, “Is it Yi? Come here quickly. Grandma has something to tell you.”
When He Danggui bypassed the screen, Madam Luo was very weak. She couldn’t help worrying about her and said, “Grandma, you look pale. Take care of your body. I have some...”
“Good child, come here.” Madam Luo waved and said, “Let grandma see you.”
He Danggui walked obediently, and sat on the small chair with brocade beside Madam Luo’s feet. She lowered her head under Madam Luo’s glare and blinked her eyelashes, “Grandma, what’s the matter?”
After scolding Ms. Dong for leaving, Madam Luo thought it was a bit inappropriate. She remembered that every October, Dong’s Family would send someone to visit Ms. Dong in Yangzhou City. Once Ms. Dong told some bad things to her natal family, the outsiders would gossip that Luo’s Family treated their daughter-in-law badly. Anyway, now Ms. Dong just wanted justice for Zhu. It was better to solve it the way she had planned, i.e., asking Yi to apologize for almost killing Zhu.
Madam Luo took a string of Buddha beads from her sleeve and twirled them one by one, “Yi, this time you made great contribution to save Zhu’s life, exchanging your skin with the Immortal. You should have been rewarded. But on second thought, the story about the celestial must keep as a secret. Once the outsiders know that Zhu was saved by the celestial, they would think that our family have stored such precious elixir. By then, will Luo’s Family have a safe life? So, even if we want to reward you, we can’t do it in the name of this.”
He Danggui nodded convincingly, “Grandma, you are so considerate. Even an innocent man would get into trouble because of his wealth. We shouldn’t let the outsiders know about the celestial.”
As soon as Madam Luo saw that He Danggui understood the truth, she felt relieved to turn half a circle of Buddha beads, and then looked up at Mammy Tang. Then Mammy Tang also moved a chair with brocade to sit next to He Danggui, and said in a tone of discussion, “Third Miss, since the things about the celestial should be kept as a secret, we can only record this contribution to you secretly. Your kindness to Zhu’s Family can only be known by the three of us.”
“I didn’t do it for the sake of fame. Now that Zhu is alive, the rest are unimportant.” He Danggui looked up at Mammy Tang and said calmly.
Mammy Tang clapped her hand and said, “Now the First Younger Mistress Luo is not willing to give up. Third Miss, do you still remember what I have told you in the Taoist temple? You are the master of the West Lateral court. So, you are responsible for the rat disease in your place. Madam Luo and I have discussed this. We both think you should take the initiative to admit your mistake to First Younger Mistress Luo. In this way, she could ease her anger and Zhu also could also get his justice. Madam Luo would be glad to see such a happy ending.” Looking at the girl’s placid face, Mammy Tang asked anxiously, “What do you think, Third Miss?”
Her black eyes seemed to hide a star awn which had been broken. Mammy Tang was shocked to see that. But when Mammy Tang fixed her eyes and saw it again, she suspected that she was in a daze, because Third Miss didn’t even lift her eyelids.
He Danggui said obediently, “Mammy, your proposal is very good. If we can end it delightedly, I will also be very happy.”
“Yi, I know that you feel aggrieved in your heart. You have been bullied by some unruly servants during the half year you lived at home. Once I faired Wang Qi’s wife, I will tell the accountant to pay you several hundred liang silver, and then give you several sets of gold and silver head dressing dowries, the kind that Second Miss often wears.” The Buddha beads in Madam Luo’s hand stopped for a while, and then continued slowly, “I heard that your sister-in-law had suffered a lot for Zhu’s illness this time, and was beaten by your cousin in front of the servants in the yard. Now she has no face and feels that the servants are laughing at her behind her back. If you apologize for your cousin by the way, kowtow to her and offer her tea in public, she wouldn’t be embarrassed like before. Okay?”
He Danggui had to use all her self-control to suppress the sneer that almost spilled from her throat. They promised her gold and silver first, and then let her replace Luo Baiqian to apologize and recover Dong Xinlan’s face? Let a ten-year-old girl join in the resentment between a couple? Ha ha ha, indeed, she could hear the funniest joke in the world as long as she went back to the East Yard of Luo’s Mansion.
When Mammy Tang saw that she remained silent, she thought that He Danggui thought she would lose face if she did this. Mammy Tang advised gently, “It’s said that the Elder Sister-in-law is like a mother, so First Younger Mistress Luo is also the elder of you, Third Miss. You are young, so it means nothing to kowtow to the elder. Now that First Younger Mistress Luo and First Master have quarreled, and First Mistress Luo can’t handle that due to her headache, as their sister, why don’t you take this opportunity to mediate from the middle? First, you can apologize to them for what happened to Zhu. Second, you can get closer to First Younger Mistress Luo, which means you will have a sister-in-law who would care about you in the future. Why don’t do it? In fact, we...”
“Ying!” Madam Luo interrupted Mammy Tang and looked at Luo Baiying, who was standing beside the screen in a red outermost clothes and green dress. She raised her eyebrows and asked, “How can you match such a suit? Red outermost clothes matched with green dress?!”
Luo Baiying nodded and replied, “I’ve just been cold. This is the warmest clothes I got. Hey, lend your maid to me for a few days.” One thing that Luo Baiying was similar to Ms. Dong was she liked to use “hey” to call He Danggui. And she said “Lend your maid to me for a few days” without any discussion or inquiry. She just met the owner of the maid, so she informed her. She would still borrow the maid away even if she didn’t meet He Danggui.
He Danggui took a look at Chan Yi, who was hidden behind the screen and sending out a help signal to her with her eyes. Seeing Luo Baiying still having no expression, He Danggui smiled and said, “It’s okay to borrow her, and I can even give her to you, First Sister. It’s just I heard that you always like your staffs clean. Even your Wu Shang Yard has to be cleaned three times a day with rose water... My little girl is not selected from the Qingcaoniu market. She hasn’t been trained systematically. This is not the biggest concern. She has a little problem. I wonder if you can pardon...”
Luo Baiying frowned and hummed, “I just want to borrow a maid, but you talk so much. What’s her problem?”
He Danggui looked at Chan Yi and shook her head regretfully, “Bed-wetting.”
“Bed-wetting?” Luo Baiying was surprised and looked at He Danggui for the very first time.
“Yes.” He Danggui blinked, “It’s normal for a child at her age. After all, she has not grown up. I’ll go to the Medicine Pavilion of Nanyuan Yard to take some herbs for her in a few days.”
Luo Baiying looked at Chan Yi in disgust and said, “I will not borrow her then, but I need her to carry the lantern on my way back. I don’t like to walk alone at night.”
“As a green hand, she can’t even recognize the way. She might get you lost, First Miss.” Miss Ji went out behind the screen and said with a smile, “I’d better go with you. I’ll be a companion to talk to First Miss when I’m leading the way.”
Luo Baiying walked out of the main hall without hesitation. Mammy Tang asked, “What’s the emergency you mentioned just now, First Miss?” Luo Baiying didn’t look back. She just threw out the words “I forget it” and went to the gate. Miss Ji grabbed Chan Yi with her left hand and chased up with the lantern in her right hand.
Seeing the three people went far away, Mammy Tang turned her head to continue the topic and explained in a low voice, “In fact, Madam Luo and I discussed that we should tell the truth about Zhu’s rebirth to First Younger Mistress Luo. Then she would feel grateful for your kindness and take care of you more in the future. But next month, Ms. Dong’s parents and some childes will come to Luo’s Mansion for a visit. We are afraid that First Younger Mistress Luo will tell something about the celestial in Luo’s Mansion, so we plan to keep it from her temporarily. We will find a suitable time to tell her about it after two months, and tell her to keep the secret. So, before First Younger Mistress Luo knows the truth, please take the grievance first!”
“Moreover, you are Wei’s aunt.” Madam Luo added, “It’s your duty to guide him in the right way, but you let him play with that thing for half a year, and never restricted him. Just for this matter, you should apologize to your cousin sincerely!”
After listening obediently, He Danggui said, “What Mammy Tang and Grandma said makes sense. I also feel sorry for my cousin’s family. It’s a good solution to apologize to them in public. When should I do it?”
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