Chapter 14 Tai Chen took the bait
Ms. Zhao was not satisfied with Qi Xuanyu’s answer and asked another question, “How about her family and relatives?”
Qi Xuanyu threw the grass in his mouth away and took out three coins from his sleeves. He became more serious. After a short pause, he threw the coins on the table and repeated his action for several times. Madam Luo and Ms. Zhao hold their breath for the result.
After throwing the coins for the last time, Qi Xuanyu suddenly became solemn. He asked slowly, “Did you say that the miss remembered she had taken the solidified elixir of life before waking up, Madam Luo?” Madam Luo nodded nervously. Qi Xuanyu looked worried and said, “With all due respect, may I have a look at the portrayal of the miss?”
“A portrayal?” Madam Luo wanted to call someone to bring it here. Then she remembered that among all her grandchildren in the family, only Qingyi didn’t have a portrayal. Ms. Zhao also felt embarrassed. The maid Gan Cao next to them smiled and said, “Madam Luo and First Mistress Luo, do you remember? The Third Miss is a clever and deft girl. She often makes paper-cuts of flowers and birds as gifts to others. She had made a paper cut in her appearance. We can use it.”
Madam Luo urged, “Hurry up, bring it soon!” Gan Cao said again, “Madam Luo, it may take a while to find it.” Madam Luo urged Gan Cao to find it, and then she let the other maids bring tea, fruits and desserts. The three people were waiting while eating.
After they finished the third cup of tea. Gan Cao came in from outside. She gave Qi Xuanyu a paper-cut in an inch. When Qi Xuanyu took the paper-cut from Gan Cao’s hands, he stared at Gan Cao’s face. Then he smiled and said, “Thanks for your help, young lady”. Gan Cao instantly blushed.
Madam Luo and Ms. Zhao looked at each other again. Qi Xuanyu was a Fifth-Grade official in the imperial court, and it was said that the Emperor thought highly of him. But this man looked not serious.
Qi Xuanyu looked at the paper-cut in his hands for a moment. He was happy and nodded again and again, “It seems that I am right. This miss has an extremely good destiny. I believe this kind of destiny should only be possessed by elegant people who had accumulated merits for ten generations. Now she had the solidified elixir of life as a gift from the immortal. I can confirm that she has an extremely good destiny, but ...”
“What?” Madam Luo and Ms. Zhao asked with one voice.
Qi Xuanyu didn’t reply. He put his chin on the back of his hand, and then nodded and shook his head from time to time. Finally, he put the paper-cut into his clothes. He smiled and said, “This little paper-cut is really impressive. My younger sister loves delicate things very much. How about giving it to my younger sister, and I will not charge for the divination.” Then he stood up from the seat and said in pain, “I have a stomachache. Maybe I have eaten something wrong. Don’t worry about me, and I just need to go to the toilet.” Then he immediately raised his feet and flew away.
Ms. Zhao doubted, “Qi’s Family has only one child for five generations, and he is the only child of Royal Prophet Qi. How can he have a younger sister?” Madam Luo and Ms. Zhao sat silently for a while. Then Ms. Zhao shouted, “Shi Liu, go to check whether Mr. Qi comes back from the toilet?”
A maid leaned out her head from the door and answered, “First Mistress Luo, I saw that Mr. Qi jumped between a dozen big locust trees, and then jumped over the wall in an instant. I don’t know where he is.” Madam Luo and Ms. Zhao were speechless. The maid put out her tongue and stood out of the door.
After a while, Ms. Zhao said, “Madam Luo, it is obvious that Qi Xuanyu must figure out some bad things. So, he was scared away!”
Madam Luo lay on the soft couch and closed her eyes, “Let me think about it. You may leave early.”
※※※
At noon, the weather was good. Zhen Zhu began to mend the windows and door lattices with Zhen Jing using paste and thick paper. At the beginning, He Danggui also helped to mend for a while. But she found that the windows mended by Zhen Zhu and Zhen Jing were so beautiful, while the two windows she mended were crumpled, looking like two patches on a new gown.
Zhen Jing was happy and said, “Look at here. The big wrinkle will be blown off by the wind easily. I thought you were omnipotent, but it seems that you also have shortcomings. What a disappointment!” He Danggui rolled her eyes and thought, “I can plant rice and rob. Can you do that?”
Zhen Zhu smiled and said, “Miss He, our Taoist temple is far away from the town. Even if we pay a high price, it is still hard for us to employ a craftsman because they are unwilling to climb the mountain. Therefore, we should not only mend the windows, but do some carpentry, masonry and iron work. We are all used to it. Maybe you are a clever and deft girl, but without experience, it is still hard for you to do that. You can’t render any assistance here. You can enjoy the sunshine and take a walk.”
He Danggui also acknowledged her shortcomings and replied with a smile, “The people in Front Palace are reciting scriptures. I want to have a look. Take your time.” Then she went out.
Zhen Jing scratched her cheek and asked, “How does she know the time to recite the scriptures?”
Zhen Zhu stirred the paste and rolled her eyes, “I also don’t know.” Then she looked at the back of Zhen Jing’s hands, finding that there were only some faint red marks. Zhen Zhu said admiringly, “I never thought Miss He has such good medical skills. It often takes more than a month by applying medicines. But she heals up it in a short time. What is this therapy called?”
Zhen Jing shook her hands with a smile, “Xiaoyi called it ‘Jin Zhen Da Xue’, a type of acupuncture. It has the most immediate effect on external injuries. On the contrary, it is not so effective to cure Xiaoyi’s cold illness. I thought it must be painful, but in fact, it is a little cool and not painful at all.”
Zhen Zhu frowned and said, “She had such abilities at a young age. Her abilities will inevitably be coveted by some people. Zhen Jing, you should never spread it out.”
“I know, you two had said for seventeen times in total! I can even remember it in my dreams! If someone asked about my injuries, I will tell them that it was cured by a traditional remedy of Xiaoyi’s family.”
Under the warm sunshine, He Danggui slowly walked into the Qingxin Palace. She heard the “murmur” of reciting scriptures from the Lidao Palace. Then she sat in a corner and listened to the abstract sentences in the scriptures. She waited with patience.
Every day after midday recitation, Tai Chen must come to Qingxin Palace because there was a large bag of dried meat behind one of the statues of Sanqing Immortals.
Every day after night recitation, Tai Chen must come to the backyard because there was a pot of Shaoxing Aged Wine in the courtyard wall. Zhen Jing had taken the wine away at the night before yesterday. Even though the wine was lost, Tai Chen couldn’t live without meat. Gluttony was her biggest shortcoming.
Although she wanted to persecute Tai Chen by the hand of imperial guards, she was only a ten-year-old girl, and it was unwise to contact with the imperial guards.
However, if she intentionally encountered Master Tai Chen and had a short conversation with her, nobody would notice her. He Danggui smiled slightly. Since she couldn’t egg the imperial guards on making trouble for Tai Chen, she had to egg Tai Chen on finding the imperial guards. It would be more wonderful if Tai Chen could “misunderstand” something.
As long as she pretended to be a naive and ignorant child, Tai Chen will not doubt a child even if she encountered some unfortunate incidents in the future. Tai Chen could only sigh and admit that she was deserved or unfortunate.
The sunlight in the afternoon shone through the window lattices, reflecting the bright face of the girl in the corner of the palace. The beautiful girl looked like a porcelain doll.
At this moment, the girl half bowed her head, as if she was thinking about something intently. People were unwilling to break the peaceful atmosphere around her. She only wore a cyan coat skirt and a water paint wooden hairpin on her head. Her attire was even worse than the clothes of rich Taoist nuns. However, whether men or women, monks or laymen, couldn’t look away when they glanced at her.
“What a delicate beauty”, Duan Xiaolou thought.
“What a pretty girl. The fate is really unfair. Why was she given such good appearance?” Tai Chen thought with jealousy.
Duan Xiaolou and Tai Chen walked into Qingxin Palace one after the other. They looked at He Danggui in the corner for a while, and then recovered from shock. Tai Chen smiled in surprise, “Bless you, Mr. Duan. How is it going? Have you got accustomed to living in the temple?”
Duan Xiaolou nodded and replied, “Thank you very much for your hospitality. I felt comfortable to live here.” Tai Chen still wanted to chat with Duan Xiaolou, but Duan Xiaolou stepped forward and approached He Danggui. Duan Xiaolou bowed with a smile and said, “When I looked at your expression just now, I thought you almost became an immortal and your mind was beyond the earth. I want to know what are you thinking about, Miss. He? Would you mind sharing it with me?”
He Danggui glanced at Tai Chen behind Duan Xiaolou and smiled, “I was just in a daze here. I’m not as busy as you, Childe Duan. I have a lot of free time.”
Duan Xiaolou took out two exquisitely painted white porcelain vials from his sleeves and gave them to He Danggui. He said tenderly, “I only enjoyed the conversation with you yesterday, but I forgot to give you these. You just recovered from serious illness, and you need to take good care of yourself. However, the temple is far from the town, and it’s hard to find herbs and doctors. These two vials were filled with pills made by Yao Shi Tang of Yingtian Prefecture. I don’t need them, so you can keep them.”
“Yao Shi Tang?” He Danggui thought and frowned. She took the two porcelain vials and opened them one by one. Then she corked them again and handed them back to Duan Xiaolou. She said, “I can’t accept such a valuable thing. I didn’t do anything to deserve this.”
Duan Xiaolou didn’t believe that she could understand the value of these pills at a glance. He thought she was just unwilling to accept gifts from a strange man. So, he smiled and explained, “I have no special purpose. It is just a small gift. These two vials of pills are not worth than 1 liang sliver. Please accept it.”
He Danggui stared at the two porcelain vials and sneered in her mind. She not only knew the ingredients of the pills in the vial, but also heard about Yao Shi Tang. In all fairness, these two bottles of pills were very beneficial to her. The efficacy of only one pill could even overpass ten days’ rest. He Danggui turned her head firmly and closed her eyes gently, “Thank you for your kindness, but please keep it by yourself. I didn’t do anything to deserve this.”
Duan Xiaolou was shocked. He thought his gift made He Danggui feel offended because her tone of voice was suddenly changed. He regretted in his mind.
Duan Xiaolou had met ladies of humble families, and he usually gave gifts to them. Under normal circumstances, the ladies must refuse the gifts first, and then accept them with gratitude and even tears in their eyes. But no one got angry. He suddenly realized that it might be forbidden to give gifts to ladies of rich families. Was there any special meaning for giving gifts? Duan Xiaolou thought he was innocent because he didn’t have any special meaning.
Tai Chen came up from the side and said with a smile, “Never mind, Mr. Duan. Young ladies are often mischievous and angry. I’m in charge of the Medicine Room. I’ll give Miss He some good herbal medicines to calm her down. So, she can talk to you in a good mood.”
As soon as Duan Xiaolou was about to speak, there was a laugh from the entrance of the palace. The three people turned around at the same time. They saw Liao Zhiyuan who wore a neat blue coat leaning against the door. Liao Zhiyuan stared at He Danggui with ease and said, “Childe Duan, when we went out together, you suddenly said you saw a beautiful bird and wanted to catch it. So, the others stood there and waited for you. We could hardly stand but you still didn’t come back. Master Geng let me find you. May I ask you some questions, Childe Duan? Where is the bird and what are you doing here?”
He Danggui didn’t change her expression, but Duan Xiaolou was a little embarrassed. He replied, “Shut up, Liao Zhiyuan. I saw Miss He in the palace, and I just want to greet her.”
Liao Zhiyuan ignored him and looked at He Danggui with a smile. He said warmly, “Please accept my apology, Miss He. Our Childe Duan was a little stubborn, and he was not good at getting along with girls. So, he is still a bachelor although he is not young. If he does something silly, please don’t take it serious and forgive him.”
He Danggui just nodded slightly and didn’t say anything.
Liao Zhiyuan and Duan Xiaolou found He Danggui was not as talkative as they met for the first time. They thought she was still annoyed because their flippant words. Since Tai Chen was here, they couldn’t say more but only leave together. Before leaving, Duan Xiaolou glanced at the silhouette of He Danggui under the window, and then he stepped out of the threshold unhappily. Even now he couldn’t understand why He Danggui suddenly changed her attitude. freewebno(v)el
Tai Chen thought that Duan Xiaolou must take a fancy to He Danggui, so he visited her. It was strange that after these noble guests lived in the temple, they often went out for several times every day. Besides, they often went out in a hurry and didn’t look like travelers who wanted to enjoy the landscapes. Moreover, the temple was in remote place with only a few people coming every year. Tai Chen was puzzled, “Who are these noble guests? What is the purpose for their staying here?”
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