Chapter 220 Women’s thoughts were unpredictable
“You changed your mind?” Chang Nuo looked at He Danggui expectantly and asked, “So, are you interested in my proposal?”
He Danggui still laughed, neither nodding nor shaking her head. She just said, “We’ll see.”
Chang Nuo asked cautiously, “When Lord Ning comes to Yangzhou City, are you willing be with him? Can you guarantee that you will be obedient and never hurt him?”
He Danggui stood up and put on her cloak. She said with a smile, “You worry too much. If I had the ability to hurt Lord Ning, I would never come to the world from the beginning. I’m not good enough to be with noble Lord Ning, and I may overestimate my abilities. Finally, the higher I climb, the heavier I fall. However, I’m really interested in meeting Lord Ning. When he arrives in Yangzhou City, Childe Feng, you can send an invitation card to Madam Luo and invite me to play for a few days in the name of the ladies of Feng’s Family.”
Chang Nuo picked up the robe that had been torn by He Danggui on the ground and put on it. Then he found a small dark green invitation card from the lining and showed it to He Danggui. He said with a smile, “You don’t need to wait for a few days. From now on, you cannot get out of my sight. I will send the invitation card after dawn and tell Madam Luo that my sisters all invite you to live in Feng’s Mansion for half a month and to spend the New Year with them.”
“Spend the New Year in your home? How will you explain that I will have the family reunion dinner with your family?” He Danggui felt it would be inappropriate and said, “If I spend the New Year in other’s home, people may think I am homeless.”
“Actually, you were completely homeless during the New Year every year.” Chang Nuo pointed out sharply, “I heard that Luo’s Family had a grand ancestor worship ceremony during the New Year, and you were excluded because of your surname. What’s more, you went to the ancestral hall like all others every year, but you were stopped by the guard at the gate who said, ‘Strangers are not admitted to the ancestral hall.’ But I’m confused. Since you are smart and haughty, having high self-esteem, why did you still go to the ancestral hall every year?”
He Danggui smiled perfunctorily, “Childe Feng, you really think highly of me. I didn’t expect that you even placed your members spied on me, a little girl without status and threat, and observed all about my daily life. I feel extremely flattered. However, I cannot go with you. I will still spend the New Year in Luo’s Family and go to the ancestral hall this year. They worship inside the ancestral hall, and I worship outside. It’s not a conflict.”
“Why?” Chang Nuo was confused, “Anyone with some cognition will choose to disappear for a while when he or she is undesirable.” Chang Nuo didn’t expect that He Danggui was so alert and smart. She guessed that he arranged informants around her only by the clues in his words.
He Danggui put on her cloak and walked out of the cave. Her voice echoed through the cave, “A person who can take a hint has been smart for a long time, so it is not a big deal to become a stupid person occasionally and lose face once. Do you think so?”
Chang Nuo walked behind her and sequentially said, “Anyway, from now on, you have to stay with me until I send you to Lord Ning. Of course, I won’t seal your acupoint and use Heart Crushing on you, as long as you don’t use internal force waywardly. Or I will be unlucky at last. But I still don’t understand why you destroyed those puppets. Do you dislike those because Lord Ning inscribed you as an old woman? What an overbearing woman.”
“Old? Ho-ho. It’s none of my business.” He Danggui asked, “My Fourth Sister writes your name all the time. Would you mind if she wrote your name in cursive or regular script?”
Chang Nuo said with eyes wide open, “How noble Lord Ning is! How can you compare him with Luo Baishao, a vicious woman? I heard that she burned the Shui Shang Temple and many Taoist nuns burned to death, right? Luo’s Family used money to suppress this deliberate arson case, which saved her from guilt. Lord Ning, concerning the word, fixes his whole mind on you at all times, but you regard him as an irrelevant person, don’t you? Miss He, do you have any conscience? I have persuaded him to stop worrying about you many times until after the fierce battle in last spring. He was shot by an arrow in his chest in order to protect the sachet containing your hair, and lay in bed for more than a month. Otherwise, how could he have time to inscribe these tiny sculptures?”
He Danggui looked into a dark cave in the distance and said, “Oh, for such a busy person, taking a break is also a good thing for him.”
“You...” Chang Nuo was momentarily unable to speak with anger.
He Danggui stopped and tightened her cloak. She turned around and said with a smile, “No wonder that you haven’t come to visit me since last year. Well, tell him not to do that next time. Since he was temporarily silly, I didn’t receive any gifts for a whole year. And I may be hated by Ming Ri and Ming Yue secretly. Please tell Lord Ning that I still have a lot of hair. I can give him 2 jin hair next time as a gift to return for the night-shining jewels that he gave me.”
After Chang Nuo heard that, his veins protruded in anger. This time, he wanted to hit the head of the girl in front of him instead of a banyan tree! He tried his best to refrain while taking a deep breath. Then he said, “Women’s thoughts are unpredictable. Lord Ning said when he met you the last time, you have obeyed him and acupunctured for him. Why do you deny it after he left? Do you blame him for not keeping promises and not leaving you the position of Princess? But he did it not of his own free will. Since he married Xie Qiaofeng, he entrusted me to give you all the rewards that should have been given to Princess Xie. And Xie Qiaofeng was left out in the cold. The best courtyard in the mansion is reserved for you. Don’t you be moved?”
He Danggui showed a small plum blossom needle in her fingertips and shook it. She explained, “Acupuncture is my avocation, and I have needles in my hands at any time. I may acupuncture anyone I meet, so it isn’t the token of love.”
“What about He Fu?” Chang Nuo stared at her and said, “I don’t believe that you have no resentment against the man who cheated your mother. You probably don’t know. When he went to the capital to be an official, he picked up 2 pretty maids dressed in silk instead of you and your mother. One of them was holding a baby girl. Don’t you feel wronged for your mother? Before He Fu married your mother, he was so poor that he was going to take his whole family to beg! Everything he had was given by your mother, but he left her alone and enjoyed freedom and happiness!”
“Well, Childe Feng, you are going to accomplish momentous undertaking like a hero. But you actually inquired so clearly about my trivial matters. It really touched me so much that I am at a loss for words.” He Danggui said satirically and walked quickly. She added, “He Fu is just a jerk. How can I gamble my life to make a deal with you for such a nasty person? There is no denying that I hate He Fu, but I don’t have to kill him. To be honest, I hope that my stepfather will be released from prison safely and come back to visit us.”
Chang Nuo inquired clearly about He Danggui’s lot through Wuying Tower. He thought that everything was within his plan, and he could control this little girl for helping Lord Ning. However, everything in the world could be conjectured, except for people’s minds. And he didn’t know that the girl in front of him was special, who was the most incalculable unknown mystery in the world…
“Ah!”
Just when Chang Nuo did not know what to say to the weak He Danggui, she yelled in a low voice suddenly and fell forward. Chang Nuo hurriedly clasped her waist. He realized that the deep cave was impenetrable by light, and her eyesight was as good as his. She was easy to be tripped, so he took out a Huo Zhe Zi and asked, “Did you hurt?”
The fire lighted up the road in front of He Danggui. She shook her head and said, “I tripped accidentally but was saved by you. Thank you.” When she looked at the ground, she yelled in a low voice again.
Chang Nuo looked down at that place where tripped her just now. It was a half-moon-shaped bone. Ordinary people might think of the bone as an animal bone, but Chang Nuo knew it was from a person’s mandible that had been dismantled integrally! Then he looked forward and found there was a small pile of bones. There might be 20 or 30 bones, or even more! He didn’t pay attention to the situation under his feet when he entered the cave just now. At this moment, he also yelled in a low voice and backed up.
Although Chang Nuo was accustomed to seeing sanguinary scenes on the battlefield, when he saw such a pile of mandibles, he couldn’t help but get gooseflesh and break out in a cold sweat. A person had only one mandible, so every bone represented a life that was once alive. Who left so many human bones here? Where were these bones taken from, the dead or the living?
Chang Nuo turned his head to look at He Danggui and found that she was too frightened. She stared blankly at these bones, as if she was thinking about something. He guessed she must have recognized what these bones were. He hurriedly pressed her face to his chest and said in a deep voice, “Close your eyes and stop looking at it. I’ll send you out!” Then he picked her up and rushed out of this dark cave as quickly as he could.
After coming out, they breathed with a sigh of relief at the same time, especially He Danggui. As soon as they came out of the cave, they felt relieved a lot. He Danggui remembered Qing’er said that everyone was more or less “claustrophobic”. If people stayed in an opaque room, they would unconsciously think of the darkest memories and then be deeply tortured by those memories. In the past, she had never been afraid of the dark or ghosts. But this time, she surprisingly believed what Qing’er said. During the four hours in the cave, her most painful memories in the depth of her heart were dug out unexpectedly because of the “claustrophobia”.
Chang Nuo patted her head reassuringly and apologized, “I’m sorry. There weren’t those things in the cave when I came last time. Otherwise, I won’t bring you here.” It was frightful. Chang Nuo thought the caves in the bamboo forest of Luo’s Mansion was a rare refuge away the world. However, he didn’t expect that there was a place with den of iniquity since it was unfrequented.
He Danggui looked up at him and said, “Do you mean those bones were put there recently?” The voice was tinny and high-pitched, which was unlike her voice.
Chang Nuo nodded and said honestly, “When I was staying here for healing, I wandered into the cave alone when I was so bored. I have walked many times in every place of these caves. I remember clearly where there is a stone ditch and hidden beautiful spot after the next turn, but I have never seen those things. What’s wrong with you? Are you sick by seeing that? Your eyes are bloodshot.” He wanted to check the temperature of her forehead, but there was sweat in his hands without noticing.
So, he bent down and moved his forehead to test the temperature of her forehead. Then he frowned and said, “You had a feverish brow, and your breath is hot. Don’t worry. There is a highly skilled doctor in my separate courtyard outside the city. I’m going to take you there.”
“Bang!” He Danggui smacked Chang Nuo hard on his handsome face. The sound made the birds fly off the bamboo forest.
“You...” Chang Nuo backed away in panic because he felt that the human skin mask on his face seemed to be cracked!
“Sorry, I saw a mosquito fall on your face.” He Danggui slowly apologized and said, “Childe, you don’t know that the mosquitoes in Luo’s Mansion are more venomous than other mosquitoes, and a bite can hurt you!”
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