Chapter 181 Madam Luo became younger and stronger
Guan Mo dressed in silver gray riding suit and became attractive in the night. He held the reins and the whip in hands. Then he said loudly with a smile, “Since you are worried that Madam Luo will not allow you to take outsiders home, well, I will wait in Luo’s Mansion first. If they make trouble for you, as the guest of Luo’s Mansion, I can help you with a few words. Don’t be afraid. I will always support you at any time.”
Hearing it, He Danggui became more uncomfortable. She didn’t provoke Guan Mo, but why did he say that? What an unreasonable person he was. She thought for a moment and asked Guan Mo, “How is Guan Yun doing with tea art in the capital? I heard that she had an engagement with a family in the capital, right?”
Guan Mo was stunned and then nodded. He said, “Yes, Yun is very nice. She now lives in Qing’er’s house in the capital, and she will be married early next year. By the way, she mentioned you in her home letter.”
“Oh?” There was some surprise in He Danggui’s eyes, as if the moonlight in the sky was accidentally reflected. She asked, “What did she say?”
Guan Mo showed a thoughtful expression and said with a smile, “It seemed that there was a Master Lu who went to the tea house to drink tea. They mentioned you for some reason. Yun admired your tea art. She said that she had studied so hard for many years but could not compare with the tea you made causally. It seemed that what we lose in hake, we shall have in herring. Although you live in Luo’s Family and have a pitiful background, you are very smart.”
He Danggui was puzzled, but she couldn’t see anything from Guan Mo’s expression. Didn’t Guan Mo really know if Guan Yun broke off the engagement? Or did he pretended to do? She put down the curtain and said, “The weather is cold and the road is slippery. You should return to Guan’s Mansion earlier. Luo’s Mansion doesn’t like guests to visit at this time.”
Guan Mo pulled the reins and laughed loudly. He said, “Go slowly, sister, see you in Luo’s Mansion.” Then, he rode and went away with the sound of horse’s hooves.
When He Danggui turned her head, she saw Huai Hua have a strange expression. So, she said with a little unhappy, “What’s wrong with you?”
Huai Hua whispered, “Guan Mo is really persistent. There is a saying that the brave woman is tired of the man who has been pestering her. How clever is he. Whether you agree or not, go home first! So, he has more potential than Duan Xiaolou and Meng Xuan.”
He Danggui asked with a low voice, “He has been 22 years old and doesn’t has an engagement. Is the rumor true that he is a homosexual?”
“You’re right,” Huai Hua nodded and said, “Whether Feng Yang is homosexual is still uncertain, but the entire Guan’s Mansion knows that Guan Mo sleeps with a little eunuch in his arms every night. Alas, I really want to go to his room at door in disguise and overhear one night.”
He Danggui sternly said, “Don’t make a fool of yourself. Guan Mo’s hearing is so good that you can’t get close to him. If you keep running around like this, you will be caught by him!”
After a while, the gharry stopped, Ren Dongteng said, “Miss, we’re home. Zhang Huan’s wife is waiting us at the gate.”
He Danggui got out of the gharry and followed her to the inner courtyard. Zhang Huan’s wife led the way and other 3 little maids walked closely behind He Danggui, which was like escorting the prisoners. When she arrived at Fu Shou Yard, she saw Madam Luo, Younger Second Madam Luo and Second Lord sit in a row on the main hall and be surrounded by a group of mammies and maids, which was like in the court.
The suspect He Danggui saluted the elder and said, “Good luck to Madam Luo, good luck to Second Uncle and Second Aunt. I’m sorry that there were some accidents in the academy, which delayed our work.”
Sun Meiniang wore silver red satin sleeved over-dress and held a small handwarmer in her hands. She sneered and said firstly, “This is your pretext. It’s clear that you dare not to come back. He Danggui, how did our Second Branch offend you so that you poisoned Concubine Hua who is pregnant?”
Before He Danggui answered, Guan Mo in the silver coat rushed into the main hall with a cold wind to help her, “Sister He didn’t lie. Second Mistress Luo, you don’t know what happened on the poetry feast today. A girl fell into the water, and Sister He jumped into the water to save her. Madam Luo, Sister He soaked in ice water and blew cold wind for half a day. If she was not taken good care, she would be seriously ill.”
“Oh?” Sun Meiniang pulled the clasp of the handwarmer and laughed. She said, “It turns out that she is a heroine, waiting for us to reward her.”
Hearing this, Madam Luo asked people to bring a small stool with brocade and a cup of ginger tea with brown sugar to He Danggui. Then she allowed He Danggui to reply while sitting. Although He Danggui was a little shorter than just now, the atmosphere of the whole court changed immediately when the “suspect” was treated with tea.
Madam Luo said with stateliness but was not angry, “Yi, Concubine Hua said that you had some resentment with her, so you changed several herbal medicines in her antiabortifacient, which made her fetus be unstable. Is this true?” Madam Luo dressed the home-made cotton jacket with lined velvet. And she looked much younger than 3 years ago, as if she was a woman in her early forties.
It all depended on the recuperation of the “lifesaving prescription”. The family heirloom, “lifesaving jujubes”, were 8 left, so Madam Luo was reluctant to eat them. However, He Danggui still quietly mixed the decoction of lifesaving prescription into Madam Luo’s tea, dessert and hot spring water, like the previous life, so that Madam Luo could continue to enjoy the benefits of this miraculous prescription specially developed for her disease. In the previous life, she used the Senior Lord Luo Maitong’s imperfect prescription, but in this life, she used the real lifesaving prescription. So, the effect was not the same, which made Madam Luo feel younger and stronger day by day, and the past diseases were swept away. Her body was even stronger than when she was young.
Although Madam Luo didn’t know He Danggui’s “secret labor”, she recorded all the credit on the lifesaving jujube of 3 years ago. And He Danggui, as the key to open the elixir, became a pivotal figure in Madam Luo’s heart. In addition, 3 years ago, First Miss, Luo Baiying, let Madam Luo down. Now she was not as popular as she used to be, and her position had been vacated. As a result, He Danggui gradually became a respectable person around Madam Luo, but she still had to be in the back of the whole Second Branch.
“Please allow me to report to you. Although I was scared by Concubine Hua’s big black cat once, we are the whole family and I won’t hold grudges.” He Danggui sipped a sip of ginger tea and warmed her hands with the cup. Her face was full of loyalty and honesty. She replied lovely, “Besides, Concubine Hua’s child is Second Uncle’s, which means that the child will be my brother or sister in the future. How can I poison her?”
Guan Mo declined the guest seat that Madam Luo provided, but he got a small folding stool and placed it upright next to He Danggui. He sat down with his robe and faced the 3 “masters” in the hall just like her. Guan Mo tilted his head slightly and apologized to He Danggui, “Sorry, my horse doesn’t like strange places and refused to enter your stable, so it took some time. I’m late, have you been wronged?” Guan Mo’s voice was not loud, but it happened to be heard by everyone in the room.
Guan Mo showed great hospitality to Luo Baiqiong a year ago. Sun Meiniang and Luo’s Family had seen it with their own eyes, and Sun Meiniang was also happy to see it. They even regarded Guan Mo as half a son-in-law. But Qiong couldn’t forget Peng Shi. Even if Peng Shi was going to become the person who accompanied the emperor’s grandson to study, the Peng’s Family didn’t care about this marriage. Wasn’t it necessary for Qiong to insist on it? As a result, the incident dragged on, and Guan Mo was attracted by He Danggui. Sun Meiniang had no choice but comforted herself that it was almost an open secret that Guan Mo was a homosexual. Even if He Danggui get married with Guan Mo, she could only be a concubine. And Guan Mo would be tired of her soon.
But last month, Luo Dusong, the master of Luo’s Mansion in the capital, brought Peng Shi and Peng Jian to visit relatives. Sun Meiniang thought of creating opportunities for her daughter and Peng Shi, so she organized a poetry feast and let them be alone. Unexpectedly, her daughter got some overpowering drug, which made Peng Shi be unconscious. And she got Peng Shi into her boudoir. Fortunately, Peng Shi only slept for a while and woke up, so that things did not develop to the point of being out of control.
But for some reason, the servants in the mansion rushed into the yard and witnessed the scene of these 2 being disheveled and pulling out of the room, which damaged Qiong’s reputation. Peng Shi returned to the capital as if nothing had happened, leaving Qiong to bear the consequences alone. Qiong still locked herself in the room and refused to see anyone.
Today, Chengxu had a poetry feast of blind date. Sun Meiniang persuaded her daughter to go out for a walk, but failed. Later, she saw He Danggui dress up and go outside, knowing that she was going to academy to attend the blind date, which made her be jealous. One of her 2 daughters had a handicapped hand, and she would definitely not marry a particularly good person in the future. The other had a damaged reputation, and it was uncertain for her daughter to get married in Yangzhou City. But He Danggui, an uncultivated girl, looked like an aristocratic lady every day. So, how could she accept it?
Fortunately, 2 months ago, she witnessed a quarrel between He Danggui and Concubine Hua in the yard. At that time, she had a plan to make them fight each other and both lose. This trap was done as early as a month ago, and it happened to be used today, which made He Danggui cannot participate in a poetry feast of blind date happily!
Thinking of this, Sun Meiniang sneered and said to Madam Luo, “Do you hear that, Madam Luo? It is clearly that Yi has a guilty conscience. As soon as she heard that we came to look for her, she immediately asked Second Childe Guan to go home. She thought that it’s not appropriate for us to punish her in front of the guests, so she can escape the blame. She is so treacherous at a young age. And she told outsiders about our family affairs, which is really unforgivable!”
Madam Luo took it seriously and reprimanded He Danggui, “Yi, you took Second Childe Guan home because you let him to intercede for you, right? Since you let him do, you must first confess your guilt!”
He Danggui was about to explain that she met Guan Mo halfway through, and he came to Luo’s Mansion alone when he got the news. But Guan Mo said firstly, “Please calm down, Madam Luo. Sister He had already told me everything. I understood that she would only do such a thing because she was confused for a while. So, I agreed to come to your mansion with her to explain clearly. She is so young and ignorant that she accidentally made a mistake. And she is about to marry into Guan’s Mansion soon, so I hope Madam Luo will forgive her this time!”
He Danggui looked at Guan Mo in surprise. What was he talking nonsense? Rather than exonerating her guilt, it was better to say that he was convicted of her crimes. And what did it mean to “marry into Guan’s Mansion soon”? When was this marriage set? Why did she know nothing as a party? Madam Luo in the hall didn’t react strangely to the last sentence. He Danggui suddenly understood that it seemed that they had a tacit understanding in private and agreed to let her marry Guan Mo as a concubine. It was what happened within this month, after Guan Yun was canceled the engagement.
Huai Hua standing at the door was covering her face, and thought in her heart, “It is awful. I didn’t expect that Guan Mo is a double-faced person. He not only has different performance, but he talks nonsense about making He Danggui into trouble at a critical moment. He Danggui is miserable this time. She is framed by Sun Meiniang. At the same time, she is thrown into trouble by Guan Mo. How to deal with this bad situation? How can I help her? Should I pretend to be Guan Mo’s mother and pick up Guan Mo here?”
Sun Meiniang was overjoyed when she heard this. She quickly told to Madam Luo, “Doctor Ma has already said that Concubine Hua’s child is a boy. Now that she has eaten the abortifacient and parturifacient for many days. Even if the child can be born, he may be an idiot in the future! It is really malicious that she is about to poison people’s lives just because of a bit of collision and quarrel. Is it tolerable? Madam Luo, our Second Branch now has no males and He Danggui has poisoned the only one. You have always been fair. We can’t let He Danggui just get rid of the sin of murder by taking the opportunity of marrying into Guan’s Family!”
Guan Mo was anxious and pleaded, “Madam Luo, my mother promised to consider Sister He as my wife. You may think thoughtfully when you are sentencing. If she is injured, how can she marry me?”
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