Chapter 107 Ruin your reputation
He Danggui waked up from a long dream with tears. In the dream, her daughter came towards her with a pack of silver needles and begged naively, “Mum, I heard your acupuncture can save people from death. Why don’t you save me from death? I haven’t seen enough of the world!”
She saw a large orange bed, and smelt the familiar aroma from the pillow. If she was right, it was ambergris, which was specially used by the royal family. In the previous life, it was Zhu Quan’ favorite. By smelling it, she would know he was approaching. She didn’t know when she had a deep memory of the aroma. She had asked him for a piece to put on her pillow, smelling it day and night. No wonder that she always dreamed her daughter, it’s because of the aroma.
“Where am I?” He Danggui sat up. This was not her room. She must be in Ting Zhu Yard because there were no curtains and mosquito nets on the bed. She remembered she felt chest distress, and took several hours to seal the important acupoints on her chest to avoid the burst of Zhenqi, then she went blank, but she could smell ambergris...
“You are awake? Press your Fengchi acupoint and Qimen acupoint to check out whether the pain exists. If you cannot feel the pain, try to lead Zhenqi into Dantian.”
Following the voice, she looked at the side hall, then saw the young man who looked like Lu Jiangbei sitting by a jade-made table. She didn’t know him well, so she blurted out, “Why am I here? Where is Childe Feng?”
“Why are you looking for him? The person who saved you is me. You should thank me!” The young man said unpleasantly.
“Oh, thanks for saving my life!” He Danggui looked at the teapot on the table and asked, “Is there any water in the teapot?”
The young man remained silent for a moment, then poured out a cup of tea reluctantly. He came slowly and held it in front of her face impolitely.
It was sure that he had never served tea for anyone, but He Danggui was used to the bad attitude and complained nothing. She took the tea and drank up. The warm tea made her feel very comfortable. Just thinking of cold tea in her room, she immediately got out of bed and run to the table with a pair of strange soft shoes on her feet to pour herself a cup of tea.
When she was drinking the third cup, she heard a husky voice of the young man, “You are He Danggui, aren’t you? Now that I ruined your reputation… Tomorrow I will ask Madam Luo for marrying you as my concubine. What do you think?
He Danggui suspected she was hallucinating, then she looked down at her child-shaped body and her neat clothes. She was still confused, “Who has ruined whose reputation, and who will propose to whom?
Ning Yuan saw that she was confused, and reminded, “I see your feet.”
“Ah!” He Danggui realized she had no socks on. The size of the shoes showed that they were a man’s shoes. She put on his shoes by mistake! Luckily, her dress was long enough, so she quickly covered her exposed feet with her dress.
“The shape of your feet is very beautiful and they look less than three inches. You didn’t bind your feet, did you? Although I don’t mind if women keep them natural, I think foot binding would make your feet look better since you’re at the perfect age for it.” Ning Yuan commented, looking at the woman, and then recommended, “I intend to take you with me when I leave Yangzhou City. It doesn’t matter that you are still young. You can live in my mansion for a few years before you marry me as a concubine, and get familiar with your new home before our marriage...”
He Danggui was surprised and angry, “What nonsense are you talking about? Who would like to go with you?”
Ning Yuan said slowly, “A lady’s feet are so precious that only her husband can see them. Even if you cannot match me, I have to accept...”
“Now that you know there’s Zhenqi in my body, then I can tell you, I am a heroine actually.” She interrupted him angrily, “I’m forthright, so I don’t care about the Law of the Ladies, and I will not marry you.”
“Oh? Sorry, so you are a heroine in Jianghu. What is your alias then? Do you belong to the group of the day road, night road, land road or water road?”
“… Yangzhou Heroine.” He Danggui thought for a long time, and only thought of this normal alias.
Ning Yuan laughed, “Yangzhou Heroine? This is the first time I’ve heard of it. No wonder you were not scared of the dead birds. Turns out you are a little heroine…” A faint gleam passed over his eyes. He said, “What have you put on your hands and face? I have checked you. Except for the two parts, the skin on other parts of your body is white.”
“What part of my body have you seen??” He Danggui stared at him.
“What? Change your mind and want me to take the responsibility?” Ning Yuan showed an improper smile, taking a sachet from his waist, and said slowly, “When I took off your shoes and socks just now, I found that the skin color on your feet was different from your face. Out of curiosity, I checked the color of other parts of your body. Not much to look anyway... I won’t deny, you see,” he plucked a wisp of black hair from his sachet, “this is your hair that I took from your hairpin. Consider it a token of our relationship. Ordinary people would not dare to marry a woman like you. Even if you refuse to come with me this time, I will come back and offer the bride-price to take you away within three years.”
He Danggui frowned after hearing this, and smiled, “I heard that there are two excellent skills in Jianghu, namely ‘disguise skill’ and ‘voice-changing skill’, but I’ve never seen one. To my surprise, today I have seen both of them at the same time. Your disguise skill is exquisite, but you voice-changing skill still need to be improved. In our conversation just now, your voice, tone, and speed of speech have changed three or four times.” Looking at the boy’s expression in shock, she was in a good mood, “Nowadays, these minstrels are quite irresponsible. How could they send their disciples off when the latter only learned a few skills? You are destined to make a fool of yourselves like this!”
Ning Yuan jumped up and pinned the woman down on the table. With two fingers clasping her thin neck, he coldly said, “Who the hell are you? How do you know I am disguised?”
“It was just a doubt, but now you admit it yourself.” He Danggui squashed on the table and yawned, “Your disguise is fine. The problem is your voice, so I think you just want to hide your identity. Anyway, who you are and what you are trying to hide have nothing to do with me. Just give my hair back to me and swear that you will never mention tonight again. Then I will not expose you.”
Ning Yuan thought about it and let go of her. She just knew he was disguised, but she didn’t even know his identity. He snorted coldly, “You’re only rejecting me because you don’t know who I am. Once you learn about my identity, you will beg to be my concubine!”
“Boy, the ambergris you used is too ostentatious. Change an incense next time when you disguise as someone else, and return my hair to me now!” He Danggui spread out her palm for her hair. She didn’t expect this man to not only peek at her body but also steal her hair. However, after careful thinking, she was 28, and she needn’t care much about it. If she had a son when she was 14 in her previous life, her son would be as tall as this boy in front of her! She could consider that she was seen by her son!
Ning Yuan looked at her in surprise, “You know... Ambergris? How do you know that?” Ambergris was only used by the royal family. Only a few pounds of spices were presented as tribute each year. Zhu Yuanzhang only rewarded it to three or four favored sons, including Zhu Quan. Even many powerful seigniors had never used this incense. Very few people could recognize it. Even his Senior Concubine Wan, the daughter of the Crown Prince’s grand preceptor (Second-Grade), a girl who had already seen the prosperity of the capital, couldn’t recognize the incense and praised it smelt good.
He Danggui also realized that she had made a slip of speech and she felt regret, so she threw another question to divert his attention, “Hey, where’s the real Feng Yang? You get someone to fake him. Why don’t you get someone who can talk more fluently?” Seeing the boy wanted to rush here and kill her, He Danggui put her hands in front of her chest and said, “Stop! Stop there! Like I said, I am not interested in your secrets. As long as you don’t mess with me, we can mind our own businesses — Give my hair back to me!”
Ning Yuan inscrutably looked at her for a moment, then he tried to negotiate, “I can give you your hair back, but not now. I’ve got serious internal injury and I’m looking for a senior to heal it. I saved your life once before, now it is time for you to repay me. If you can heal my wound, I will return your hair.”
“Se…nior?” He Danggui pointed at herself, “Are you talking about… me?”
Ning Yuan nodded naturally, “Of course, I’ve never seen any woman with such deep internal force like you. Although I don’t think it’s worth mentioning...” Seeing that the woman’s face darkened and considering he still needed her now, he turned his tone and tried to say the following justly, “To be fair, it is reasonable that you call yourself Yangzhou Heroine. My injury will take two months to heal if I do it by myself, but with your help, the period can be shortened to one month. If you serve me well, maybe I’ll be in a good mood and take you as my junior wife.”
In a fit of rage, He Danggui almost wanted to slap him. But given what he said, he seemed like a senior, which was a rare opportunity for He Danggui. She thought about it for a second, and then slowly asked, “Do you know any Method for circling Zhenqi?” Seeing him nodding unknowingly, she laughed and said, “How about this? You teach me the Method for circling Zhenqi, and I’ll help you with your healing. It’s mutual benefit. What do you think?”
“I can do it, but why do you want me to teach you this?” Thinking of her untidy pulse before, he raised his eyebrow, “So, you don’t know the Methods for circling Zhenqi? Where is your deep internal force from then?”
He Danggui spread her hands, “I don’t ask about your secrets, and I don’t like others to find out about mine. ‘The guidance of Methods for circling Zhenqi’ for ‘one-month treatment’, deal?
“…Deal.”
※※※
“Dong dong dong! Dong dong dong!”
He Danggui opened her sleepy eyes, and saw it was almost dawn, wondering who was knocking at the door, “Chan Yi, is that you?” Yesterday, Huai Hua and she waited for Chan Yi until midnight, but the latter still didn’t show up, so she finally fell asleep.
Mammy Tang pushed the door open and said anxiously, “Third Miss, terrible news! Be quick! Change your clothes. Let’s go to Liu Li Tang!”
“Liu Li Tang?” She asked out of curiosity, half-supporting her body. “Haven’t we decided to go there tomorrow and I’m supposed to prey for Zhu today?” Today, she made an appointment with Ning Yuan to start the first day of their operation. Martial arts learning and therapy, working along for mutual benefits.
“Third Miss, Zhu is again in danger. Be quick and check on him!” Mammy Tang said with a bitter face, “Ms. Dong sent a message that he was unconscious right after he had the bird’s nest soup you sent him!”
He Danggui pulled her long hair to her chest and combed it with her fingers. “I haven’t eaten for two days. How can I get him any soup?”
“Actually, the soup was made and sent in your name under Madam Luo’s order. She wanted to do this to ease Ms. Dong’s rage. Then she wouldn’t embarrass you tomorrow. No one expected such things.” Mammy Tang found a green forging cloth and put it on He Danggui. Then she further explained, “Madam Luo ate a jujube yesterday. She thought the jujube pit might be with good fortunes as well, so she had the pit boiled in water all night. A pot of water boiled into a small bowl of water. Then she enjoined the maid to make a bowl of bird’s nest soup with the water of the pit and send it to Zhu, saying it was your apology to Ms. Dong. But within less than two hours, Zhu was unconscious! So, people from Liu Li Tang delivered a message that Zhu fell unconscious right after he took little of the soup. Third Miss, does he have food poisoning after he drank the water of your pit? Quickly, go and look at him!”
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