Chapter 175 Reappearance of the massacre in the previous life
Bai Yangbai removed the camouflage and was stared at directly by He Danggui. He was a little shy. He turned his body slightly and looked at the grass beside him. Then he scolded her with a low voice, “I’m shy of you looking at me like this. Didn’t I show you my face last time? Why is it still like seeing me for the first time? Besides, Meng Xuan is so handsome, so you shouldn’t look at others. If I say something carelessly to him, it will cause you to quarrel.”
He Danggui sneered and said, “If you relate me to Meng Xuan again, I will let the first-rate senior to expose your mask when you walk on the street. Don’t you like to expose others’ shortcomings best? I’ll let you also taste the feeling of being embarrassed in front of the public!”
“No, no, no.” Bai Yangbai pleaded for mercy, “Don’t be angry. Did I say something wrong? I heard that Meng Xuan said he will go to the Luo’s Mansion to propose a marriage with the whole rituals.”
He Danggui squatted and stabbed the surrounding grass with a plum blossom needle in her hand. She said dully, “First, he just pretended to propose a marriage. Second, I didn’t agree at that time. I was determined to solve the enemy by myself. I don’t want to bother Meng Xuan anymore and don’t want to owe others debt of gratitude. You have received my silver, so you should work for me. Before my matter has been solved, you should obey all my orders.”
Meng Xuan couldn’t be trusted, but Bai Yangbai, an acquaintance in her previous life, was a relatively reliable. She would ask Bai Yangbai to find out if Zhu Quan had forgotten her.
If Zhu Quan was busy enough and had many women around him, she wound not bother him. If Zhu Quan still remembered the girl with unusual intelligence three years ago, and wanted to add a helper in Wuying Tower and a concubine at the same time, she would ask Bai Yangbai to trouble Zhu Quan, so that Zhu Quan was too busy to find her in Yangzhou City. After a long time, when Zhu Yuanzhang had a new situation, she believed that Zhu Quan would not bother for a woman. After all, women were insignificant to him.
However, what she was most worried about at present was that the Madam Luo would agree Feng Yang to let her marry him as a concubine. Who took the initiative? Was Madam Luo or Feng Yang? Would the passive party agree? She felt that things were out of her control.
“Girl, you are so stingy. Only 20 liang want to buy me over. I’m too cheap!” Bai Yangbai sitting on the ground dug a small pit with a straw stick and buried his disguise materials in it. Then he read the poem that Qing’er wrote on the Feast of Qushui Liushang with a sharp voice, “The blossoms fade and falling fill the air/Of fragrance and bright hues bereft and bare/ Can I, that these flowers’ obsequies attend/Another year who will be burying me?” Then he said, “Girl, you’re talented. How can you make such a vulgar friend? She also takes the initiative to make a fool of herself. Is she crazy?”
“Listen, you can’t speak ill of Qing’er. If I hear you again, I will make you suffer for it. I think this poem is good. The first half is exquisite, and the second half is straightforward. Besides, Qing’er is just a beginner. As long as the verses are neat, it is very rare!” He Danggui continued to ask, “By the way, have you seen Qing’er? I haven’t seen her since just now.”
“One of her maids, Jia, Yi, Bing and Ding, came to her just now. Then she ran out of the academy in a hurry and didn’t even tell you. But she can’t find you and Meng Xuan in the bamboo grove. ‘Exquisite’ means euphemistic, and ‘straightforward’ means direct… One’s poems can reflect his character.” Bai Yangbai was lying on the grass with grass leaves in his mouth. He laughed and said, “Is it funny and suspicious that a person who is both euphemistic and straightforward? I guess the first two verses were not written by her, but stolen.”
He Danggui frowned. The four maids of Qing’er were now helping in Yi Hong Brothel. Was there any problem?
When she was planning to visit there first, Bai Yangbai said, “The maid named Bo He has come to you. She has been standing under the tree for a while. It seems that something happened in your family. I heard her tell your coachman that your Second Uncle’s concubine has miscarriage. Now they are looking for you.”
He Danggui was shocked and said repeatedly, “My Second Uncle’s concubine has miscarriage?” She was absent-minded.
“Yes.” Bai Yangbai laughed and said, “It’s so strange. She is neither your mother nor your father’s concubine. Why are all your family looking for you? Did you prick her with your small needle?”
He Danggui silently twisted the grass at her hand, bowed her head and fell into meditation. After a while, the grass was ground to pieces.
Bai Yangbai saw it and then sighed, “I’ve advised you many times. Sometimes your kindness is unnecessary. For example, Zhu is a spy. You keep Ms. Dong’s son, who has hatred with you. He doesn’t show his selfishness in ordinary days. But when he needs to choose a position, will he choose you or his biological mother? Half a month ago, when I bought medicine candies, I saw that Qian Mudan’s ophryon was livid, so I took a divination for her. I figured out that she would die on the street today, which was a dead end and could not be solved. I haven’t seen such a situation for many years, so I followed her into the academy with curiosity. Then, I saw you say something behind her, but she pushed you away. You stood behind her for a moment. Then you picked up a small stone and hit her sleepy acupoint to treat her. You didn’t have to treat her. No one will appreciate you. Meng Xuan even suspected that you won’t save Qian Mudan because of your personal grievance.”
He Danggui said coldly, “I can do whatever I want. I don’t need anyone to understand me. Since you saw this scene, when Meng Xuan accused me just now, why didn’t you explain for me?” She didn’t want to admit that Bai Yangbai was right, but she couldn’t deny that Sun Meiniang won again because of her miscalculation. The thing of previous life was repeated. Sun Meiniang wanted to frame her that she murdered the concubine of Luo Chuangu.
Actually, she had already become hard-hearted, but after a relatively stable year, she forgot the lessons she had learned. She saw Hua Yu, a concubine who was controlled by Sun Meiniang’s medicine, and realized that Hua Yu was pregnant. She couldn’t help asking herself how the history could change.
In the previous life, Luo’s Family had few heirs. Luo Baiji, the Second Master of the Third Branch, eloped with Su Niang, a heroine in the Jianghu, when he was a teenager. Since then, there was no news about them, and the Third Branch had no heir.
Luo Chuangu of the Second Branch had two daughters, Luo Baiqiong and Luo Baishao. Although Sun Meiniang found many beautiful concubines for him, she secretly poisoned them by sterilization drugs. Several smart concubines escaped the sterilization drugs and became pregnant quietly. But Sun Meiniang tried to make them miscarry. Hua Yu was also one of them. The ending of Hua Yu in the previous life was abject. Compared with Sun Meiniang, she was too simple.
Although He Danggui had a grudge with the people in Second Branch and had no relationship with Hua Yu. On the one hand, she wanted to know whether the history could be changed in a small scale. The life and death of these people would not affect history. So, why couldn’t human effort achieve anything? On the other hand, she also wanted to know if she could leave an heir for her grandfather.
In the previous life, not only the Second Branch and Third Branch had no heir, but also the First Branch had no heir. The First Lord, Luo Chuanbai, only had a son of the concubine named Luo Baiqian, who only had the twins, Shiwei and Shizhu. However, one of them was fond of men and the other was impotent, so the Luo’s Family had no heir.
No matter how rich and powerful East Yard of Luo’s Mansion was, none of them could inherit the family business. Therefore, they had to go to the distant relatives of Luo’s Family for adoption. They raised three little boys but all died. After that, no poor relatives would give their children to them. Even if they were poor, they would not let their children die. Maybe this was the punishment of Immortal for them, so that they had no heir.
Although Luo Baiqian of the First Branch was dissolute before, he had no interest in beauties since a massacre three years ago. Now he was absorbed in refining elixirs and different than before.
Three years ago, a great tragedy happened in Yangzhou City, in which 82 people were killed in house. It was said that brigands did it. No one heard the noise or saw the fire at night. When they went to see it in the morning, it had become scorched. According to the guard, there were 31 masters and 51 servants in the yard. All of them were women. They were not the local rich family and had no farm income, but lived a luxurious life. They didn’t earn money, but spent money like water.
After discussion, several guards concluded that the courtyard was a brothel, and all the women were prostitutes. Because of the dispute with the brigands who were disguised as whoremasters, they were all raped first and then killed. This conclusion seemed inconceivable. There were mountains and forests around the courtyard. Although it was close to Chengxu Academy, it was remote and nearly 2 miles away from the nearest private house. The beautiful women sang and danced in the yard, where there were great treasures, but no guards and passers-by, so it was not surprising that the brigands were attracted.
There were 2 questionable points. First, after the brigands raped and killed the prostitutes, they moved their bodies out of the yard first. Then they robbed the yard and burned it. When the fire was going out, they moved the corpses back to the yard. When the guards received the report, they found that there were more than 80 bodies of naked young women lying on the scorching ground. And their colorful clothes were scattered on the ground. The strange scene shocked them. Someone had nightmares after many years.
Second, according to the disorder of the scene and the situation that more than 80 dead were raped, the guards concluded that that there were at least 30 murderers. But all the women were strangled, with the same palm print on their neck. It was a man’s right palm print, who had lost the little finger.
It meant that no matter how many brigands there were, there was only one murderer who strangled more than 80 women. What a vicious villain! It was deplorable that 3 of the dead were pregnant. The fetuses were taken out and burned to ashes. There was a baby more than a month old who was killed by the smoke in the house.
The local government was preparing to determine the nature of the case. When they draw a picture for sampling and hand it over to the Ministry of Punishments for disposal, a dramatic turn happened.
Hearing it, Luo Baiqian, the First Master of the Luo’s Family, came to the scene in a hurry. When he only saw it, he ran out of the yard quickly. He was retching and crying while propping up on a locust tree. The Yamen runner who guarded the scene knew him, so the Yamen runner went to comfort him. The Yamen runner thought that it was very possible that there was a prostitute who had an affair with Luo Baiqian, because there was not far from Chengxu Academy. Maybe the customers were the male students, so these women lived so rich.
When Luo Baiqian slowly stopped crying and made it clear off and on, the Yamen runner was shocked! It turned out that all the women in the yard were Luo Baiqian’s concubines!
They are not the prostitutes, but good women! All the women were bought by Luo Baiqian from the Qingcaoniu market. The beautiful women were concubines and the unattractive women were maids for Luo Baiqian to enjoy after school every day. The four dead babies were all Luo Baiqian’s children.
The case changed from “robbery of more than 80 prostitutes” to “murder of more than 80 good women and four rich illegitimate children”, which had been highly valued by the Ministry of Punishments. However, the case had not been solved for 3 years because the criminal was too cunning and didn’t leave any useful clues at the scene.
This case made Luo Baiqian grieved, and he was no longer as dissolute as before. Even though Madam Luo found several beautiful concubines for him, he was not interested.
After finishing his study in Chengxu Academy, he neither took the imperial examination nor took over the San Qing Tang. The Master of Guan’s Family invited him to the Weaving Factory, but he refused. The Master of Feng’s Family invited him to the Lu Feng Escort, but he was not interested in it. Now, he had built a Qi Xing Hall and Zhai Xing Tower in Qi Lu Yard of Luo’s Mansion. During the day, he sat in the hall for meditation, and at night he went upstairs to watch the sky. Madam Luo and others regarded all these as his mourning for his one son and three daughters. As for scholarly honor or official rank, they had to wait for the influence of this matter to fade away.
When He Danggui heard about it three years ago, she was very surprised. She knew that Luo Baiqian had several concubines, who had given birth to four children, and they would die. But those things were all happened in the 2nd year of Jianwen Period, and the cause of death of those people was not robbed by brigands, but a mud avalanche after the rainstorm.
He Danggui was surprised that Luo Baiqian had more than 80 concubines. Besides, these people would die two and a half years earlier than in the previous life, which was tragic.
Why? Did Immortal make some changes?
Since she knew the future, Immortal thought that she would try to find out the houses of those people and move them away before the mud avalanche appeared. So, Immortal acted before her and took the lives of those people.
In this life, something happened that never happened in the previous life. However, Luo Baiqian’s concubines and children were all dead in the end. He Danggui didn’t know what such an event meant. Would history change with time? Or would history never be changed, no matter how many variables there were?
He Danggui, Qing’er and Meng Xuan came from different era. Couldn’t anyone change history? Even small changes?
She would marry into Lord Ning’s Mansion; Qing’er and Meng Xuan would follow the track of their previous lives step by step. No one knew the previous life of Qing’er. Meng Xuan once mentioned that he was betrayed by Deputy General Liu who feared the enemy in his previous life. He didn’t have enough time to waiting for the reinforcements. He was not only outnumbered, but also his leg was hit a poisonous arrow. Finally, he died after exhaustion.
Meng Xuan would be on guard against the Deputy General Liu in this life, but would there be other people or other reasons for his death?
In this life, would she be taken into the Lord Ning’s Mansion soon? Then, Zhu Quan would threaten her with the lives of her mother and friends and force her to work for Wuying Tower. Finally, she would avoid the vicious Zhou Jinglan but be harmed by Xie Qiaofeng.
Neither she nor Meng Xuan could not disobey the will of fate. Could they only disappear in the history?
Couldn’t everyone’s ending be changed?
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