Chapter 233 You were his woman
Meng Xuan looked at the girl’s calm face silently and then replied with a smile, “If the opponent is Lord Ning, everyone will be afraid of him. However, I guess that some people are also willing to help, if the person who needs help is you.”
“I have stated my feeling about you clearly. Aren’t you angry with me? Do you still want to help me against Lord Ning?” He Danggui asked smoothly.
Meng Xuan lifted Meng Ying slightly in his hands. He looked down and recalled, “My brother and I came to Luo’s Mansion to visit you a few days ago. We asked to stay here after knowing you were ill, and then I moved to see you for the first time. I saw Miss Liao chatting with your maid in the yard, so I avoided them and went straight to the back hall. I approached your bedroom from the window in the west as usual. You know the window is facing your bed, so I have already seen it.”
“I was sleeping because of violent sickness, when Qing’er arrived. After waking up, I took medicine and went to sleep again. What did you see?” He Danggui asked with puzzlement.
Meng Xuan sighed softly with deep eyes, “You don’t have to worry because I am so cautious that I won’t talk to anyone. Girl, Lord Ning is an outstanding person who can deserve you, and I’m also happy for you. However, he is the person who plans to do great things, and he has to worry about so many things. As for the things he can give to you will be unstable. I just hope that you can take care of yourself and keep your temper, learning how to be a wife.”
He Danggui became more and more surprised at those words. She glared at Meng Xuan and rebuked, “You are talking nonsense! I have already said that Lord Ning is my enemy, so I invite you to help me get rid of him. It’s okay that you are unwilling to help me, but why do you say such sarcastic words?” She wondered why Meng Xuan and Bai Yangbai both had the same reaction that they thought she had an affair with Zhu Quan, when they heard that Zhu Quan was her enemy. It was said that women liked to imagine unrealistic things, however, men had the problem that they were far-fetched. Enemy was equal to lover? What sort of logic was that!
Meng Xuan turned his head to look at the sparse peach blossoms, and answered sadly, “Although I don’t know what happened between you, you are already his woman and there is no room for repentance. You have to adapt to the complex environment of Lord Ning’s Mansion. Of course, we are still friends after you get married. I won’t hesitate to do anything for you, and I am at your service.” He glanced at her furtively and guessed, “You ask me to pretend to propose you, so you must plan to make Lord Ning anxious and take more care about you. Don’t be so shocked. I just guess a little from my brother’s words. Don’t worry. I’m not angry with you. I hope you can find your own happiness.”
He Danggui rose from her seat suddenly and said coldly, “I can’t understand your ravings, even a word. Is there a language barrier between us? Why do you think that I have an affair with Lord Ning? What do you mean that I am already his woman? Does it speak by your brother? Where did he heard about it?” She spoke fast and directly, gasping for air.
Meng Xuan frowned and looked at her. He didn’t understand why she was still stubborn, “I have told you that I saw everything outside the window. You and Lord Ning...” Gritting his teeth, he continued to say with violent pains, “He kissed and pressed you tightly on the bed, and then you were disrobed half with writhing under him. You can’t deny that you have done this. Don’t worry. I am not going to underestimate you, and I won’t tell anyone about it.”
Meng Xuan looked at stupefied He Danggui and shook his head. He sighed, “I take my brother back to sober up now. You can summon me if you have any problems. You may rest assured that I am obedient to you like 3 years ago. Until the Wulin Assembly of the Lantern Festival, my brother and I will both live in Xi Chang Yard which is next to you. If you want to find me, please...” He thought for a while and continued, “Please set off blue fireworks. I have seen that Luo’s Mansion is delivering them one by one.”
Then Meng Xuan hugged his brother and left Tao Yao Yard, a yard with full of peach blossoms. It once made him obsessed, and let him know what was love and feel the jealousy.
This time Meng Xuan left without any hesitation, and didn’t look back at the wordless girl who was exposed. His resolute figure disappeared behind the bend of the wall, revealing his sadness in the place where she could not see. He clenched his fist and comforted himself repeatedly, “She actually isn’t so good, and I didn’t like her 3 years ago. Maybe I can imitate Lord Ning to find a girl who looks similar to He Danggui, and name the girl Xiaoyi which is the same as her.”
After hearing the footsteps behind the wall fade away, He Danggui waved sleeve and threw all the things on the stone table to the ground. Then she picked up the stone stool which was 70 or 80 jin and smashed the peach tree in front of her. After smashing, she picked up the stone stool to smash again and made the stone table crooked. She finally stopped until the scene was disordered.
Zhu Quan!
You were my sworn enemy!
Lunar New Year’s Eve, Lunar New Year, and the second day of Lunar New Year were the liveliest days of Luo’s Mansion. However, Tao Yao Yard was like a lifeless well water without any splashes. It had no not only atmosphere for the Spring Festival, but also erstwhile brightness and noise. The reason just was the Miss fell ill again!
Chan Yi stitched sole in the main hall and sighed. Miss had a strange disease which was completely different from the past. She refused to see anyone and locked herself in the room. Every day she only ate a small bowl of porridge which was passed through the window. After finishing, she immediately closed the window and locked the room completely. Miss was unwilling to open the door to see a doctor, no matter what Chan Yi persuaded. Madam Luo had asked person to invite Miss to have New Year’s Eve dinner several times, but Miss replied in the room that she had suffered from the same peeling illness as Second Lord, and she couldn’t get in a draught or come out to greet.
After hearing this, Second Master Luo Baiji was so anxious that he came to see Miss with a small medical kit. Since he knocked at the door for a while without responses, he continued to knock on the 8 windows around Miss’s bedroom 3 or 4 times. However, Miss still didn’t appear. Second Master sat at a small campstool in front of her room, and persuaded patiently, “You should see a doctor. Don’t be afraid of it. When Bian Que (a famous doctor in ancient China) greeted Duke Huan of Qi, he once said that the superficial disease could be cured by applying hot water or medicine. The disease which appeared in the muscle and skin could be cured by acupuncture. The disease which appeared in the stomach could be cured by medical soup. But the disease in the marrow was decided by destiny, and doctors had no means about it. Now you are just peeling and the disease is showed with your skin, so you should not give up early.”
On the morning of Lunar New Year, Chan Yi took Zhu in her left hand and the little white wolf in her right hand to pay New Year’s greetings to Miss. But today they couldn’t even enter Miss’s bedroom, who always made Miss happy in the past. Zhu cried in a loud voice, and the howl of the little white wolf scared 2 short-lived chickens in the kitchen. But they couldn’t let Miss open the door.
Chan Yi would have called someone to open the door with an axe, if she had not heard the voice of Miss occasionally. She had looked after Miss for 3 years. Although she regarded Miss as an enigmatic and wiser person, she got on well with Miss and never had communication barriers. But now she really didn’t understand the mind of Miss. In other words, she had conjectured several versions of Miss’s thoughts.
Chan Yi watched clearly that Miss was energetic and her face was not peeling when she sent her porridge. That was to say, Miss was malingering!
When did Miss start to feign illness? After the 2 childes of Meng’s Family played Go and left on that day, Miss entered the room in sadness and never came out. Maids in the next-door Xi Chang Yard also spread an astonishing news soon that Third Childe Meng walked to play Go with Third Miss but came back in a coma! What kind of Go did they play? What fierce fighting happened between them to cause an illness and a coma? People were searching for answers among the chaotic peach trees, and imagined various sentimental stories.
Chan Yi sighed, “Miss Qing has never come to Tao Yao Yard since she promised to help Sister Zhenzhu. It’s also an unusual thing because Miss Qing came to Tao Yao Yard to have dinner frequently in the past. Besides, there is no fresh news from Lu’s Family. Is Sister Zhenzhu cured? Is Master Tai Shan who is a blackmailer dismissed? Are Sister Zhenzhu and Governor Lu reconciled?”
Chan Yi would feel unperturbed before even if it was hail and knives outside, because Miss was smart. But this time she was restless when she felt depressed before a storm, because the omnipotent Miss was also helpless and overburdened.
Today was the second day of Lunar New Year in 31th year of Hongwu Period, and it was an inauspicious start.
Sewing soles in the middle of the night, Chan Yi asked Miss how she was feeling. Miss replied in a grunt, as if it showed that there was a living creature in the room who could breathe. Chan Yi went to sleep at a loss, “Why is Miss depressed suddenly? Is what servants discussed privately true that she fell in love with Third Master Meng at first sight? Then she imitated Second Miss’s method, which was dealt with Master Peng Shi, and did something bad to Third Master Meng. So, she is as ashamed as Second Miss now...”
After imagining and sleeping hazily for two hours or more, Chan Yi was shaken up by Shi Liu. Seeing it was at dawn, she asked Shi Liu in amazement, whose nose was in red because of cold, “You are so early that it’s just 5 o’clock in the morning. Does Madam Luo ask you to care for Miss again?”
Shi Liu breathed out the warm air to her frozen fingers and answered in a hurry, “No. Today when I sorted the bundle of invitations of Madam Luo, I found a very exquisite one with copper side. I opened it, and it says, ‘I have admired He Danggui for a long time, who is a famous and accomplished girl in Chengxu Academy, so I hope to marry her as my wife and we can meet for details.’ The signature is Bai Yang from Fuzhou City, a Jinshi in the 29th year of Hongwu Period.”
“Bai Yang?” Chan Yi put on the warm quilted jacket by the fire and frowned. “Miss and Miss Qing often chat about the interesting things in academy, and they also talk about childes who have written to Miss. But I’ve never heard an admire named Childe Bai. Sister Shi Liu, you can warm yourself by the fire and wait for me. I’ll ask Miss now.” She said while putting on her cotton-padded trousers. Then she put a small stool on the side of the fire and used a hook to make the fire blazing.
Shi Liu approached the stove for warm but didn’t sit down. She said in anxiety, “The thing hasn’t finished yet. Bai Yang, a strange and unrelated man, came to make a proposal. However, Feng Yang, a Master of Feng’s Family, is commanding servants to carry many riveted boxes in front of the gate now. The scene is so lively! Go to ask Third Miss what’s her thought!”
Chan Yi asked curiously, “Does Miss have relation with the boxes of Master Feng?”
Shi Liu glared at her, “Hey! It is bride-price for Third Miss!”
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