Chapter 120 Vampire in Yu Ya Hall
He Danggui was bored to fiddle with a box of jade beads that Mammy Tang sent and she said helplessly, “Chan Yi, don’t take these things in front of me, OK? It makes me feel dizzy!”
“Third Miss, I’ll tell you what. I can sleep tight at night since I put on those sets of ghost-fighting things!” With a monster-revealing mirror on her chest, Chan Yi tied a circle of garlic around her neck. What’s more, her maid uniform was sewed several dozens of bright yellow ghost-fighting hierogram runes for luck. Every time she came to serve tea, the acrid smell came along. Chan Yi said with a smile, “Since you told me in Tu’er Town that Luo’s Family is dangerous, I have prepared those things for exorcism. I was skeptical about it originally, but since I met ‘you-know-who’ that day, I fully believed what you said.”
He Danggui and Chan Yi made a covenant that they would use “you-know-who” to describe that monster when they mentioned that, for fear that it might be heard by other people.
According to Chan Yi, that night, after she and Miss Ji sent Luo Baiying back to the courtyard, First Miss assigned her a bunch of chores and ordered that she must finish before leaving. Since Miss Ji was hurried to count the bills in the small warehouse of Fu Shou Yard, Chan Yi was left there alone. The sun was almost up after she weeded the whole garden, fed a few goats, sheared the fleece of them and spread them on the ground.
Chan Yi wanted to go back to Ting Zhu Yard to have a rest. Unfortunately, she lost her way. She came to a pavilion named “Yu Ya Hall”—Afterwards, He Danggui had once inspected the scene of the accident, so the place Chan Yi mentioned might be “Yuan Yang Pavilion”. There were a man and a woman kissing with their legs crossing. She wanted to ask them for directions, but before she did it, a man like a monster flew down from above.
The fact was that the man in the pavilion was caught by “you-know-who” to suck his blood, and that woman was fainted on the spot. According to Chan Yi, you-know-who’s eyes were suffused with purple lights, but... it seemed that he couldn’t see something still, but the moving things only. Because after you-know-who sucked the blood of that man, he didn’t do it again to the woman who was fainted on the ground. Instead, he turned around and sucked the blood of a passing badger pig.
Chan Yi recalled with fear. Her own cries had drawn him to her side. Feng Yan and Feng Yu suddenly came out from behind and dragged her to run away. But they all could not outrun you-know-who. There was an ideal flashed through Feng Yu’s mind: Everybody lay on the ground and held their breathes. When you-know-who flew over, he didn’t even look at them who were lying on the ground to fake their deaths, but flew away straight to the southeast direction. Later, the three of them found that they accidentally crushed a large piece of white magnolia in the flower bed when faking death. Later, Administrator Li found a crushed white magnolia on the back of Feng Yan’s head, and then Feng Yan and Feng Yu were detained for compensation.
He Danggui pondered after Chan Yi finished. There was only Bitter Bamboo Grove at the southeast of atrium. Did that vampire fly into the Bitter Bamboo Grove? Thinking of this, she drew portraits of all who could perform kung fu in Luo’s Mansion, and then let Chan Yi identify them one by one. However, Chan Yi shook her head and said none of them was the you-know-who. Couldn’t get more information, He Danggui just simply laid it aside. She just told the maids to keep the door of Tao Yao Yard at night.
Actually, the so-called maids were only five people. Although Tao Yao Yard was incredibly big, now, except for Chan Yi and Huai Hua, there were only Bo He, Dou Jiang and Qian Shi three maids who were transferred from Madam Luo’s place to take care of Zhu specially. Mammy Tang once said that a few days later, Second Mistress Luo would send a batch of good maids and mammies and she could choose some for her own use. But the conception of “a few days” was fuzzy, because seven days later, there were still nobody sent here. He Danggui enjoyed staying at this quiet courtyard, and she ordered Chan Yi and Huai Hua to do nothing more but the sprinkling and sweeping work of their own room.
Since the Administrator of the kitchen Wang Qi’s wife had fallen, this position was replaced by Yang Wu’s wife. Although everyday her diets were lit, at least all the food was delivered timely. Every day, He Danggui stayed at her room after dinner, planning to do something with her first deal. After eating and putting away the dishes and bowls, Chan Yi began to draw her ghost-fighting hierogram runes for luck on the dining table. After it was finished, she would ask Huai Hua to sew it on her clothes. And then she would show it to He Danggui. The three of them would comment and laugh... Days passed like flowing water.
It was difficult for one to tell the changes within 1 or 2 days. But about 5 days passed, fallen leaves had covered the ground of Tao Yao Yard. Now, most of the rooms, except for a few occupied, were covered with dust, and the newly painted beams were already decorated with beautiful cobwebs.
In previous times when Luo Baishao was the master of Tao Yao Yard, there were more than 20 servants in the yard who took charge of maintaining the peach-blossom forest, pruning bushes, nourishing the soil, and watering, plus those who swept the main courtyard and served drinking, sewing, starching, and kitchenette respectively. There was always a crowd as soon as one entered Tao Yao Yard. At that time, Tao Yao Yard could top the busiest place in the whole Luo’s Mansion.
This morning when Mammy Tang came to deliver the money and visit Zhu, she thought she wandered into the wrong yard. Compared with the busy and prosperous yard it used to be, she felt the depression scene in front of her seemed even more dispiriting. So, this time, even Mammy Tang couldn’t help but secretly reprimand Second Mistress Luo, because it was really too unseemly. Second Mistress Luo could treat her daughter and her niece differently, but was it too obvious? Wouldn’t it be another joke for the outsiders? Now there were two groups of distinguished guests in Luo’s Mansion! Fortunately, Third Miss was always reasonable. She said living at Tao Yao Yard was very comfortable. Both Chan Yi and Huai Hua were also thoughtful. So, there was no need to add maids.
Feeling sorry for it, so in the afternoon, Mammy Tang brought 12 maids from Madam Luo’s Fu Shou Yard for cleaning and starching when she sent a box of jade beads to Tao Yao Yard. Now, they all began to clean up the fallen leaves and cobwebs everywhere. Mammy Tang was thinking that the distance between Xi Chang Yard and Tao Yao Yard was the closest, so it was possible that the two Masters of Peng’s Family might come one day to visit. Therefore, she must do a good job from all appearances, so that she could help Third Miss handle one of them as soon as possible. Only in this way could “the bridegroom’s father” Peng Haoguang seek an official position for First Master in the capital! Thinking of that, Mammy Tang was afraid that the fragrance of the peach-blossom forest would not be strong enough to attract the two Masters next door, hence she let gardeners bring all the hundreds of aromatic chrysanthemums in the garden house out, and circled 2 rounds in the whole Tao Yao Yard.
He Danggui didn’t know Mammy Tang had such an idea, but thought that her “Depression Plan” had been fully succeeded. So, she was delighted to see these fascinating chrysanthemums all over the place. In this way, the two smiled inwardly for their own plan…
But after Mammy Tang left, He Danggui was in a bad mood again, because Mammy Tang said before left, “By the way, good news for you, Third Miss. We get two test-free admissions to Chengxu Academy, and one is for you. You will go to school four days later! It’s the most important thing. So, please prepare some clothes and bead flowers (a flowery headdress made of beads) you will wear!” And then she left before she patiently explained some questions about how to match clothes and ornaments.
“Alas...” He Danggui sighed. She didn’t expect that she not only lived in Luo Baishao’s yard, but also went to school for her. Plus, the 1,700 liang silver she had just won, the 240 liang silver in Qibao Money Shop, this box of superior jade beads, and that agarwood removed from the lignaloes coffin, now she had about 2,700 liang silver in total. Next, she planned to sneak out Luo’s Mansion to investigate the market situation of Yangzhou City’s business streets. She was so busy to catch up with her plan. How could she squeeze out time to play the child-go-to-school thing?
“Here, drink it while it’s hot, and hurry up!” Chan Yi approached with a whiff of garlic, bringing a bowl of chamomile tea. She said in delight, “I’ve just picked up a lot of chamomiles in the yard, and I’ve made it into tea!”
He Danggui wondered, “Where are you going?” She took a sip of the tea and said bitterly, “The flowers are all burnt. Why do you add sugar? It tastes quite strange.”
“You taught me that!” Chan Yi said naturally, “You put much more sugar in your Hawthorn tea last time, right? Madam Luo just sent someone to say that she is going to invite the guests to have dinner at Fu Shou Yard in the evening, and she invited you, too. But you were in a daze at that time, and didn’t hear it. So, I agreed on your behalf. Our meals here are all vegetarian and you just recovered from a serious illness, so you should go to gain more nutrients. By the way, Madam Luo emphasized that she hoped you can dress up nicely. Do you want to wear flowers? I haven’t run out of it for tea. Let me put some on you.” As she said that, two fresh chrysanthemums were sent to He Danggui’s nose.
However, He Danggui refused. After drinking the Chrysanthemum tea, she went to the closet to find clothes for meeting the guests.
There were mixed clothes in the closet. When she lived with her mother half a year ago, she got a lot of gorgeous dresses, which almost were wide-sleeved floor-length skirts for dancing only. Later when she came to Luo’s Mansion, all the misses were given clothes for Spring, Summer and Autumn except her. So, there were only two plain home clothes made by female embroiders from West Lateral court. The only lucky thing was that she asked the maids to take some boxes out of the house before Luo Baiqian burned the court, or else she would have lost all her clothes.
Picking and choosing, finally she put on that most plain feather gauzed skirt with double breasted dress that Duan Xiaolou sent her in the Taoist temple, which was the most decent clothes she got recently. Madam Luo said that she would hold a dinner party, and specially sent someone to invite her. Given that Madam was quite hospitable to the guests of Peng’s Family the other day, He Danggui could tell that they were the guests who were invited. And Luo Baiqiong also did not let her down. “Once again” she fell in love with that Peng Shi at first sight. There was no doubt that Luo Baiqiong would certainly be present in such an occasion. If she dressed plain, Luo Baiqiong’s dress would look more decent.
After putting the clothes on, He Danggui went out alone. Because Chan Yi firmly refused to pick off her garlics and monster-revealing mirror, so she did not take any maid with her. Passing a few courts, she met nobody. However, when she turned the corner, she saw that manservant who named Feng Yan or Feng Yu. The one quickly walked in a hurry towards southeast. So, He Danggui also followed out of curiosity.
With a small pack, he ran to the side door southeast. Then he opened half the door, handing out the pack and murmured something with someone outside the door. Under the cover of the branches, He Danggui saw a man outside who seemed like a boy about 14-year-old at first glance. Although his purple robe was luxury, it was shabby and dirty. He had an unkempt chignon with several straws on it. Again, fixing her eyes to see the boy’s attractive face, He Danggui found that she was familiar with this youth with double curved eyebrow, dark eyes, an upturned nose and a dimple on the left cheek as he spoke.
He Danggui’s eyes wide-opened. The person was... Gao Jue’s sister-in-law!
Yes, that’s right. She was the girl appeared in Tu’er Town! He Danggui still remembered that in Qunxian Restaurant, the gossip boy and the cool boy both called this girl “Ling Miaoyi”. He Danggui was curiosity about how this little girl of noble birth troubled in this abject situation and why she came to the side door of Luo’s Mansion?
He Danggui closed her eyes to ruminate for a moment. However, when she looked at them again, the two people had finished their talking, and that girl standing outside ran away, while that manservant closed the side door, went back to the court as he hummed songs. He Danggui jumped out from sideways to block his way and questioned with a smile, “Hi, man. Does that little girl come from Ling’s Mansion in the capital…What’s her name? I forget it. I should say hi to her!”
Feng Yu was scared by He Danggui’s popping out. Hearing that He Danggui not only recognized Ling Miaoyi, but also wanted to find her, he hurriedly stopped her and said, “Please don’t, Miss. She... you cannot talk to her!”
He Danggui was puzzled, “Why? All the people of the world are friends. Couldn’t I say hello with my ‘friend’?”
Feng Yu scratched his head and smiled embarrassedly, then an idea occurred to his mind, “Ah, Miss He, you must have seen her in rags! She doesn’t like to meet people in that way, because it’s embarrassing for both sides. So, just leave her alone.” He said, peering at He Danggui, and then probed, “You don’t know her that much? Even her name?”
He Danggui shook her head and said, “Oh, actually I only met her once in the street.” Seeing that he breathed a sigh of relief, she laughed, “But I have admired her for a long time, and we just like two old friends separated for a long time. Today, we come together as if by predestination, I must greet her today no matter what!”
“You can’t look for her!” Feng Yu yelled in a low voice, with his arms stretching to block her way, “Well, tell you the truth, she’s... She’s a wicked villain!”
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