Chapter 190 A friend cost 300 liang silver
Luo Chuangu frowned and wondered whether to let He Danggui continue. What kind of “real people and thing” was she talking about? He had talked that he would not investigate the case of Run Xiang. It was really his fault to violate Run Xiang surreptitiously. He had tried twice to hint Sun Meiniang, but she had not noticed. Well, Run Xiang was trapped in the woodshed by Sun Meiniang, so Run Xiang was probably dying now. Luo Chuangu could image that how angry Sun Meiniang was when she knew that Run Xiang was pregnant. After all, Run Xiang was her closest maid, who was at her side almost 24 hours one day. But he availed himself to make Run Xiang be pregnant.
Luo Chuangu thought that he and Sun Meiniang reconciled in the matter of Run Xiang. But in the case of Hua Yu, who was the most favored woman that he had favored all these years, he could not reconcile it so hastily. He felt an unspeakable heartache when he looked at Hua Yu who was haggard, resentful and terrified. If He Danggui framed Hua Yu, he would let He Danggui pay with her life. If his wife Sun Meiniang did that, he would let Sun Meiniang kowtow and make an apology to Hua Yu!
Guan Mo suddenly stood up. He bowed with hands clasped to Madam Luo and said, “Madam Luo, it’s getting late now, so I have to go.”
After Madam Luo listened to the words of her granddaughter just now, especially when she heard that Guan Mo had put the informer into East Yard of Luo’s Mansion, Madam Luo didn’t like Guan Mo as much as she used to. The mansions hid informers and passed secret information to each other, which could only be done by the family of public officials in the capital. And it was one of the means of uniting with those who had the same views and alienating those who had different views in the court. However, Yang Zhou City was prosperous and peaceful. And no one entered the court and became an official in the East Yard of Luo’s Mansion. Unexpectedly, there was a hidden informer. How puzzling it was!
Even though Yi said that Guan Mo was taking revenge on her, which sounded childish, Madam Luo thought that Guan Mo did these crazy things only because he had fallen in love with Yi. However, Madam Luo had determined to reconsider the marriage. Guan Mo was becoming less and less pleasant...
No, Yi was still hanging by a thread. Once she was dead, she could not get married. And the eight immortal jujubes, which could be passed for generations...
Madam Luo nodded with mixed thoughts and said, “Second Childe, you can leave right now.”
Guan Mo bowed down again, and he bypassed “a lump of thing” on the ground with his head holding high, as if there was nothing there. He brushed the nonexistent dust from his gorgeous robe, lifted his leg over the threshold ruthlessly and walked away in the dark. “The end of disobedience is death. Enjoy your death, my Sister He.” He thought.
Guan Mo ran in the night wind and went directly to Tao Yao Yard. He wanted to find out what had happened to Shu Qin and whether she had a miscarriage. Then he would take her away by the way. Shu Qin, who was a considerate girl, was too humble to be sent to monitor He Danggui. If Shu Qin hadn’t heard that he was determined to get a stubborn girl, and she hadn’t really wanted to personally see the girl who bothered him, he would not have sent Shu Qin to He Danggui as a servant. He Danggui was unworthy of using his Shu Qin as a servant!
Just now, Madam Luo secretly told Deng Cao to set off the signal bomb to call Pan Jingyang and Guang Hang, who both belonged to the Four Guards. And Madam Luo asked them to search the garden carefully to find out the odd Biddy Wen.
It was so heavily guarded in Luo’s Mansion that the old biddy could not get out of there. When the old biddy was found, she would ask the biddy to open the lock first, and then explain clearly whether the words were true or not that her second daughter-in-law tried to harm Yi and prevent Yi to withdraw a confession. If these were just nonsense, the old biddy must explain it to Yi clearly, so as not to let Yi care too much to hurt the feelings of the family. Even if something bad happened to Yi this time, and Yi couldn’t continue to quarrel with her Second Aunt, it must be explained clearly. If someone who was nosy talked about it when Luo Chuanxiong came back, wouldn’t it become a knot in the heart that could never be solved? What a crazy biddy who talked nonsense!
“Madam...”
Three people followed Li Jiuguang’s wife to release Run Xiang, but only Biddy Zhao came back with empty hands.
Biddy Zhao came in through the side door. She leaned over Madam Luo and whispered. Madam Luo’s face immediately turned pale, and the tea cup was scratched by her long nails. People all over the room looked at the scene and wondered what happened. Was Run Xiang and her child frozen to death?
“Madam!”
Pan Jingyang said, who was called to search for Biddy Wen. He saluted outside the main hall. Then Madam Luo nodded and beckoned him to come in.
Pan Jingyang came in and strode over the corner of He Danggui’s quilt. At this time, he realized that the girl in the way was actually Third Miss. So, he went back and asked surprisingly, “What are you doing, Third Miss?” She was lying on the carpet with a lock on her neck and was covered in a quilt with half closed eyes... Was she sleeping?!
He Danggui opened her eyes and said innocently, “I am being punished. The elders suspected that I had something to do with a poisoning case. They hoped that wearing a lock could sober my mind up and make me speak more clearly.”
He Danggui was unfamiliar with Pan Jingyang in her previous life. She had no idea whether he was loyal or treacherous. In this life, she saw that he was very deferential to Sun Meiniang when she met him at first time in Ting Zhu Yard, so she regarded him as “the subordinate of Sun”. However, later, Madam Luo assigned her and Zhu to live in the Tao Yao Yard, and asked Pan Jingyang to guard the entrance for a few days. At that time, Pan Jingyang was immune to both soft and hard tactics of Ding Rong’s wife, and he never let Ding Rong’s wife get into Tao Yao Yard to make troubles. Since then, He Danggui had a good impression on him.
A year ago, He Danggui went out of the house secretly and was discovered by a spy who was arranged by Sun Meiniang in Tao Yao Yard. He Danggui didn’t realize it inattentively, but on second thought, she noticed something was wrong. So, she turned back to find if there was anyone squatting around and waiting to get her faults. However, she found that Pan Jingyang was tying a servant behind the stone lion not far away. The servant was the gardener in her yard, who was the spy arranged by Sun Meiniang a few days ago. He Danggui realized immediately that Pan Jingyang was helping her catch the spy! It was strange that he was unfamiliar with her. So, why did he help her?
She asked Pan Jingyang, and he answered truthfully that he had received 200 liang silver from Nie Chun to help guard the Tao Yao Yard until Third Miss was married.
He Danggui was amazed by his words. She had never met Nie Chun after the “itching powder event”. Nie Chun came back to Luo’s Mansion occasionally to greet Madam Luo only, and then he went away. He had never come to meet her. Nie Chun was the creditor who had promised to teach her Kung Fu in the Bitter Bamboo Grove but failed to fulfill it. Why did Nie Chun spend money to help her get on well with others? Their contacts in this life was rarer than that in the previous life. And Nie Chun was also a murderous villain rather than such a good man that helped the weak and the poor! This mysterious Nie Chun had never appeared in front of her, so that she couldn’t ask him for answers.
In this way, Pan Jingyang helped He Danggui solve a lot of troubles for the reward of 200 liang silver. On several occasions, he might even provide the “heavyweight aid” which might offend Sun Meiniang, who was in charge of the family.
He Danggui considered that the “workload” of two hundred liang silver was almost used up. She dealt with Sun Meiniang more easily since she had the tacit help of Pan Jingyang. And when she went out, she didn’t have to worry about that Sun Meiniang would come to bully Chan Yi, Bo He and others. Therefore, she tended to spend 5 pieces of 100 liang silver bills to continue hire Pan Jingyang. Pan Jingyang didn’t receive these at first, but he took one silver bill and gave back the other four to He Danggui due to her persistence. He said that this was the regular wage, which was clearly priced in the bodyguard business. So, he couldn’t overcharge for fear of breaking the rules.
After these contacts, He Danggui gradually regarded Pan Jingyang as “the subordinate of He”. In the course of working in unison against Sun Meiniang, there was a comrade-in-arms friendship between them.
In this way, He Danggui paid one hundred liang silver, and Nie Chun paid two hundred liang silver in advance. It costed 300 liang silver to hire a “bodyguard friend”. It could be said that a new scenery had been found in this Luo’s Mansion where the sense of warmth was very scarce. Look, after renascence, she could see a lot of scenery that she didn’t have the chance to see in the previous life, which was also an unexpected harvest of insisting on living in this damn Luo’s Mansion.
Pan Jingyang frowned and stared at the half collar of the girl under the quilt. It was...blood! Smelling carefully, he found that she was surrounded by a strong smell of blood. There must be a lot of blood! Third Miss was injured! He wanted to open the quilt, but he immediately realized that it would be against the rules. So, he asked in a low voice, “Are you seriously hurt? Should I beg Madam Luo to let you go?”
He Danggui responded in a low voice as well, “No, I am very good. Just listen to my breath. Are the seriously injured people as energetic as me? And Madam Luo is trying to unlock me instead of punishing me now.”
After hearing her words, Pan Jingyang looked at the old stone lock. It looked very hard, and he wondered whether his knife could split it...
When He Danggui saw Pan Jingyang’s hand touching the knife at his waist, she found out his intention. She declined quickly, “No, please stop! Well, Uncle Pan, you don’t have to care about me. I’m very comfortable with this lock. It’s true. You can’t cut my lock with your knife. Actually, I’ll be a little dizzy when seeing the knife. I’d better wait for the locksmith to open it.”
Pan Jingyang felt uncertain and stopped his act of pulling the knife. What was Third Miss doing? Not only was her speech quite different from her previous temperament, but also there was a sense of nervousness in her voice. Was she truly dizzy when seeing the knife? It was impossible! He often saw her in the Peach Blossom Grove carrying a large knife and playing it powerfully. But there were too many moves. All of which were pretty and useless tricks. It was strange that the girl liked to play a big knife.
However, when he got closer, he could feel that the breath of Third Miss was long and powerful. She really didn’t look like an injured people. So, he left her alone for the time just as she said.
In fact, Pan Jingyang was under 28 years old this year, so it was theatrical to be called “Uncle Pan”. But he and Nie Chun were friends of the same generation. Since He Danggui called 32-year-old Nie Chun “Uncle Nie”, she must call Pan Jingyang “Uncle Pan”. At first, Pan Jingyang was really surprised by this title, but he got used to hearing it. Then he gradually felt warmer when he heard it.
After successfully driving Pan Jingyang away, He Danggui let out a sign of relief. This stone lock looked over 100 jin, but it was actually only about 5 jin, which was not as heavy as her little white wolf. The little white wolf without teeth three years ago had grown up now. It weighted more than 10 jin but still liked to jump on her shoulder to see the scenery. The wolf might think it could see farther in that way. Compared with the furry little white wolf, this fake lock was really much lighter.
He Danggui didn’t know where Bai Yangbai temporarily got such a thing and what material this “stone lock” was made. It might be hollow. Just now, Guan Mo also was about to split the lock, and Bai Yangbai, who disguised as the dark-faced woman, tried his best to stop him, which showed that this “stone lock” must be unusual. And if it was broken, it might be exposed. So, it was safer to open the lock in a normal way. Otherwise, she could also try to crush this fake lock with her deep internal force. But then, what the hell did funny Bai Yangbai run out to do? Why did he leave her here?
After hearing about the report on the matter of Run Xiang by servants, Madam Luo looked gloomy. Her face was as same as Luo Chuangu’s face in his normal expression. At this moment, Pan Jingyang just finished the contact with He Danggui and went forward to report back to Madam Luo. The words he said made everyone be startled, “Madam Luo, Biddy Wen, the person you asked us to find, has been dead.”
“Dead?!” Several people in the room exclaimed at the same time, so that others could not distinguish who exclaimed.
Madam Luo glared at Pan Jingyang and said, “Bring her to me, dead or live. Have you found her corpse?”
Pan Jingyang nodded and said, “We have found it by several wolf dogs. According to the description of Deng Cao, Guang Hang and I got preliminary conclusion that the scorched corpse was Biddy Wen, who was the person that Madam Luo asked us to find. However, the spot is in chaos, and the key that Madam Luo is looking for has not been found yet. Oh, by the way, 2 lines of words are written on the wall above the head of the corpse, which may be... her last words!”
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