Chapter 167 Men and women were concerned with love and romance
Liao Qing’er used to describe that Qian Xi’s long thin face seemed to be full of bitterness and hatred, as if he had experienced more class struggle since his childhood. In fact, if his eyebrows could be relaxed, he was also a middle-aged man with great vitality.
He Danggui appraised Qian Xi in her heart and waited his answer. If he agreed to cut Qian Mudan’s hand, she would stop him, which showed that cutting the hand could no longer save Qian Mudan. And she would provide another more terrible treatment which was extremely dangerous, strange and weird. It could only be used when the Shi Hua Poison first attacked; if this attack was the second time, only the people who poisoned could save her; if this attack was the third time, only Taishang Laojun could save her.
However, these were from books. To believe everything in books was worse than to have no books at all. He Danggui never treated a patient with a venomous insect before. Moreover, Shi Hua Poison was extremely sinister. The person who poisoned Qian Mudan must hate her very much, because the person didn’t kill Qian Mudan directly, but tortured her by poisoning. And this person wanted Qian Mudan to be a dead-alive person so that Qian Mudan couldn’t die peaceful... What kind of hatred was this?
In those years, Zhou Jinglan poisoned He Danggui with Xiaoyao Poison. She not only wanted He Danggui to experience the extreme pain, but the most important reason was that she hoped He Danggui had no scars and toxins in her body after dying, which looked like a natural death. The book said, “Xiaoyao Poison, as the name suggests, will make the face of the dead still be vivid and peaceful after being killed by it. It’s hard to imagine that people will experience so extreme pain that they die. Although the body of the dead is still complete for 49 days, the soul of the dead is destroyed and the person can’t even be a ghost.”
In general, someone died of Xiaoyao Poison, which was the most dignified way to die–which was the sentence from that book. And He Danggui would never believe it until tonight. However, after seeing the horrible situation of Qian Mudan tonight, should she be grateful that Zhou Jinglan gave her dignity? She didn’t know whether the noble and affectionate gentleman had ever paid a visit to the “lifelike and peaceful” remains of his beloved concubine? Did he let someone go to the bottom of the well to retrieve his little daughter’s corpse which was wrapped in swaddling clothes with a long-lived lock?
Ho-ho, “venomous insect” was a terrible thing. No wonder people were frightened when hearing it. But even if it was frightful, it was only a tool. And the most frightful thing was people’s minds. The thing could be described clearly in the books, but it was hard for everyone to guess others’ ideas. Although the most practiced fortune-tellers who could know other people’s psychology through his face, Royal Prophet, Qi Jing, and his son, Qi Xuanyu, they could only guess people’s previous life, present life, and the bad experience in people’s life. But they also couldn’t guess the evil thoughts in people’s minds.
Those evil thoughts of viciousness, arrogance, jealousy and hate, cynicism and all negative emotions appeared in people’s minds, which created those people such as Geng Bingxiu, Cao Hongrui, He Jingxian and Sun Meiniang. They spread their evil ideas to the world, and made more people become evil like them... Now, how much bad idea were there in He Danggui’s mind? It was no matter that she consolidated step by step to calculate Second Branch of Luo’s Mansion, but the juvenile who sat next to her was her little master, and he taught her many things. How could she, in order to let herself out of trouble, seduce him and deceive him to save herself from suffering?
No, she couldn’t go wrong like this. Otherwise, even if she could revenge in the future, she would become the second Sun Meiniang, who used her husband, Luo Chuangu, a man who she didn’t love at all.
Meeting in the Water Dungeon, Sun Meiniang proudly revealed to He Danggui that she also had been pregnant with a son of Luo Chuangu when she was young. But because of He Jingxian’s letter, she was so excited that she aborted the child, and waited the tryst with He Jingxian. But a month later, she realized she had been cheated and He Jingxian didn’t plan to meet her at all. However, she didn’t regret too much. Anyway, she didn’t like boy very much, because she thought the boy would grow up to be the same coward as Luo Chuangu...
He Danggui secretly made up her mind to make it clear to Meng Xuan that originally, she wanted to use him to avoid enemies. But later, she realized her wrong behavior, so she didn’t want to use him anymore. If he was willing to forgive her, they could continue to become master and apprentice, or friends; if he wasn’t willing to forgive her and keep her at a distance, she would say nothing and have less burden in her heart, and at least she could live a little easier. The biggest difference between herself and Sun Meiniang was that she could repent in time. She didn’t use the kindness of good people and didn’t involve innocent people.
“Bai Yangbai.” Meng Xuan said coldly, “I hope you will not make jokes like this. And do not dream about someone you shouldn’t dream about when your dreams are erotic. Otherwise, I’ll make you stop joking and dreaming in the future. Now, I have some “midnight whispers” with Xiaoyi. Do you really want to hear?”
Bai Yangbai nodded excitedly, and asked He Danggui, “Can I hear? I won’t tell anyone!”
He Danggui snorted noncommittally and thought, “It doesn’t matter. Nothing can’t be told, and I have decided to tell the truth to Meng Xuan. Now I want to face my heart frankly. It doesn’t matter if there is an audience.”
Meng Xuan looked at the beautiful face of He Danggui, and said all the words in his mind, “Xiaoyi, just now, in this grove, you are so docile in my arms. You let me hug you quietly; let me take off your shoes and socks; let me warm your cold body.” There was a loud breath by Bai Yangbai. Meng Xuan continued to state the facts, “You let me kiss your eyes, lips and body.” There was a cough by Bai Yangbai. Meng Xuan ignored, and he asked seriously, “However, you said that you don’t love me. What kind of feelings do you have for me? I have kissed you. Who else do you want to marry? We’ve all been like this. You still said that you and I don’t have a deep relationship. What kind of relationship do you think can be deep enough? I don’t understand. Xiaoyi, you tell me.”
Bai Yangbai’s eyes were bright, his cough was loud. He shook his hands and hit his thighs. It seemed that the hidden messages in Meng Xuan’s words had made him so excited that he forgot other things. However, He Danggui was biting her teeth and comforting herself repeatedly, “Nothing can’t be told”, so that she could only resist the impulse of beating Bai Yangbai to the deep of bamboo grove. This guy was really boring.
Bai Yangbai sit on the ground, took out a small box of melon seeds from his medicine box. He was eating the melon seeds and winking to Meng Xuan. He said, “Boy, you are very good. I haven’t even dreamed about that link, but you can actually do it. You are our example. Those boys in the academy will be mad when they know it.”
He Danggui handed the dagger back to Meng Xuan, but his hands were behind him, so she turned to give it to Bai Yangbai and said, “Take it first, and return it to Meng Xuan when he leaves.” Then she laid a handkerchief on the ground, facing the crowd outside the bamboo grove and intending to sit on the ground like Bai Yangbai. But Meng Xuan added his folded robe on her handkerchief and said, “The ground is cool, so take good care of yourself. Otherwise, you will need me bring warm to you at midnight.” Bai Yangbai took the dagger and whistled loudly.
At that time, He Danggui sat on it without hesitation and said coldly, “It’s unnecessary that you mention this in front of Bai Yangbai. The witness won’t affect my choice. Even if there are more than 10 spectators, I will tell the truth today.”
Meng Xuan also sat on the ground and nodded slightly, “Come on, tell me what you lied to me.”
He Danggui listened to the conversation of the people on the bank of the river in the distance. Just a while ago, she didn’t hear it. It seemed that Qian Mudan’s father, Qian Xi, also agreed to cut the hand, but her sister, Qian Shuixian, was still struggling to stop this.
Qian Shuixian said in tears, “Sir, everybody, you don’t know that my elder sister is eager to do well in everything and pursues perfection. If she doesn’t go to school at her best, she will not go out until she is satisfied. As a result, both of us are often late. Once there was a kind of jade hairpin made of bloodstone in the capital. It was said that it was the first popular hairpin from the mansion of Princess Lin’an. The bloodstone is precious and rare. A 3 zhang high rough was cut in the jade market of the capital, which only gained dozens of jin of bloodstone. These were open plundered by jade’s shopkeepers. At that time, our father bought a jade hairpin of bloodstone from the capital at a high price, and gave it to my sister when he went home. She was very happy and wore it all night. However, when she went to the academy the next day, she found that Miss Wu even wore a whole set of bloodstone jewelry, and each one was better than her hairpin, so she...”
He Danggui thought that Qian Shuixian was procrastinating. Wu Yuying also found this and said, “It’s the critical moment. What are you talking about? I think you want to delay time until Qian Mudan died, which will make you happy. Qian Shuixian, what do you mean?”
Looking at the Qian Shuixian who couldn’t answer the question, He Danggui thought that Qian Shuixian wouldn’t poisoned Qian Mudan at least. Because a person who knew the poison slightly would know that the poison in the Qian Mudan’s body had spread, and it was hard to recover. Therefore, If Qian Shuixian wanted her sister to die, she had achieved her goal now. Why did she use this set of clumsy procrastination tactics? It was in full view of the public, and there were guards of Yamen. Wasn’t this too obvious? Eh, where was Qian Shuixian squinting at?
“Hello.” Of course, He Danggui mainly called Meng Xuan, “Do you hear anything in the thick growth of wormwood on the other side of the river bank? Such as people’s breath sounds?” The thick growth of wormwood was about 400 or 500 zhang away from here, and there was a rushing river in the middle. It was hard for He Danggui to hear people’s breath sounds there, not to mention Bai Yangbai. So, in fact, she asked Meng Xuan.
“I can hear one person’s breath sounds and 4- or 5-person’s footsteps.” Meng Xuan listened carefully. Then he gazed at He Danggui affectionately and said, “Let’s talk about us. Your love for me...”
“One person’s breath sounds and 4- or 5-person’s footsteps?” He Danggui said inconceivably, “Are you stupid? Or is something wrong with your ears?”
Meng Xuan said impatiently, “I don’t know. Anyway, since I met you, I have a lot of trouble. I think you know my mind, but I extremely puzzle your attitude towards to me. Today, when I first met you, you were so docile and obedient that I could take whatever I wanted, which let me think that you also had feelings for me. Why did you be angry later and leave with Bai Yangbai without saying goodbye?”
He Danggui recalled the past and answered, “At that time, you were quarreling with me, so it’s not surprising that I leave without saying goodbye. Besides, you found fault with me first, and I just fought back. Anyway, it’s over. Now I think back to the quarrel process which was stupid at that time.”
“Stupid?” Meng Xuan looked at the girl’s indifferent face and smiled sadly. In the rhythmic sound of Bai Yangbai’s eating melon seeds, he said, “Why do you always be so rational and calm? Don’t you ever do anything in your life that you know is stupid but can’t help doing? Do you really don’t know why I’m so angry with you? In the final analysis, this is because your indifferent attitude.”
He Danggui pulled some grass from the ground, made a grass ring and said, “Everyone has done stupid things. I have done so much before, and there are no good results. So, now I have formed the habit of thinking carefully when I do things. And I can’t change it easily. Please forgive me more. In fact, the truth is that I have had a bad experience in Luo’s Mansion in the past 3 years. Madam Luo asked me to recognize my Third Aunt as a godmother. Every day, I need to salute my godmother in the morning and at night, and all things are nice. But, later, I found that she used to put a kind of poison in my tea and advise me to drink it all.”
“What kind of poison?” Meng Xuan was going to help her expel the poison, but He Danggui waved her hands and said, “Don’t worry. That was 3 years ago. Now I’m still healthy. At that time, Madam Luo asked Zhu to cure his illness in my yard. Zhu ate the knockout drops given by his mother, and was poisoned by Datura, monkshood and radix aconiti. I secretly replaced the medicine prescribed by Dr. Wu, because I felt that his body was too weak to be put into medicine. I only used the warm tonic and acupuncture method for him. But Zhu’s body was too bad because of those poisons. At first, those poisons would invade his brain and make him become a fool. So, I sealed the acupoints with silver needles to make him be drowsy, and I wanted to let those poisons disperse slowly. Later, the wife in charge of the Luo’s Family, Younger Second Madam Luo, went to tell Madam Luo that I was murdering Zhu and brought out the evidence that I had secretly changed Zhu’s medicine. After being interrogated and confronted, although I didn’t receive any punishment, I was not favored by Madam Luo. The reason why I was able to live in Tao Yao Yard and enjoy the treatment of a young lady was because of several jujubes and a painting.”
“Jujubes and painting?” Two men who listened to the story in silence repeated in unison. Bai Yangbai unconsciously stopped eating melon seeds and asked with his chin in his hands, “I have sneaked into Luo’s Mansion several times, but I haven’t seen any jujubes and paintings in your room. I’ve also been to your boudoir many times. However, I only saw your maid who has round and little face often folds your bellybands into a pile and puts it on your bedside, and your bellybands embroidered with begonia and plum blossom, right? Ha-ha, don’t stare at me. I’m a gentleman. I only saw them but didn’t take them.”
He Danggui stared at Bai Yangbai coldly and said, “You’re so boring. In these 2 years, there is a severe drought in the northwest. Aren’t you Dragon King? Why don’t you bring rain to relieve all living beings?”
Bai Yangbai picked his nose and looked up at the sky. He said, “It can be seen from the disrespectful attitude of yours towards me that you don’t believe that I’m the kind of person who can know everything. Since no common goal, no common cause to cooperate, it’s not convenient for me to disclose it to you. However, since the Luo’s family think you hurt Zhu, why is he still eating and sleeping in your yard now? And he often moved into your room in the middle of the night and got into your bed. Once he wet your bed with urine.”
He Danggui raised her eyebrows and said, “You have also seen that Zhu’s mother go to my yard to make troubles with me, but Zhu didn’t want to go with her. I can do nothing about it. Although I don’t hate children, it’s inconvenient for me to support him for a long time. Everything about him should be kept by me. If I didn’t take care of him, Younger Second Madam Luo always would say that I severely reduced his food, articles for use and monthly allowance. Then Younger Second Madam Luo would fight a lawsuit with me at home, which made a lot of troubles. Every time when I sent Zhu to his mother and Madam Luo, he will sneak back by himself at night. I reprimanded him several times with cold and unhappy expression, but he didn’t leave, which made me be helpless. Now he is 7 years old, and he will be sent in the end.”
Bai Yangbai covered his mouth and smiled. He said, “In the past 3 years, you have one more mother and one more son. Oh, by the way, you also have a non-relative younger brother, that strong young man who can carry such heavy things, right? My oh my, his strength is really powerful. Last time your Second Aunt said that there were obscene things hidden in your wall. She called the whole family to your yard and asked someone to knock on the wall to search. Your younger brother, Xiaoyou, pushed down the wall with brute force by one hand. It was so powerful! It was really disappointing that they didn’t find anything at last. I was curious that what obscene things were in your yard, which your Second Aunt framed you.”
Meng Xuan questioned closely, “What are the jujubes and painting you just said?”
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