Chapter 261 The miraculous effect of Broom Woman for Fine Days
Feng Yang grabbed Ning Yuan’s collar and pulled him into the forest behind the ancestral hall. Then he shook off Ning Yuan’s collar and asked in a deep voice, “Are you crazy or I’m crazy? How could you say that? You love her, don’t you?”
Ning Yuan slowly smoothed the wrinkles of his collar. Then he chuckled, and looked up at Feng Yang, “That girl is so capable that she gets your support. I just teased her. Why are you angry? Chang Nuo, won’t you like her either?”
Feng Yang waved his fan to make himself sober. He took a deep breath and asked, “You teased her? You asked to buy her as your concubine in front of the Luo’s Family, and then asked her to stay with you for the night. You even offered such a high price. Are you sure that this is a trivial joke? What if the Luo’s Family agrees to you for profit? You said that she is your beloved person and you must marry her. Or Am I wrong about your thoughts? And what I have done for three years is not helping?”
Ning Yuan smiled, picking up a small white flower from the ground, and said, “Don’t worry. I will be responsible for this. Besides, it doesn’t matter if the Luo’s Family sells her to me. It takes a few days to get the position of infanta. During this period, I’m willing to approach a beauty and make up for what was not done last time. In this way, she will not be able to marry someone else, so she can only belong with me and be obedient ever since.”
Feng Yang frowned and asked, “Have you seen her? Are you still playing with her? I have told you that she is very good. She not only accepts your gift, but also will go to your yard to serve you. Can’t you just wait?” Feng Yang wondered, the last time he saw the prince, his attitude towards Qingyi was not like this. The last time he mentioned her, his eyes lit up, and he repeatedly listened to the news about her from Yangzhou City. He was even drunk and called out her name. How did he change his attitude so quickly? Or was his true temperament covered by his mask?
Ning Yuan paced leisurely with his hands crossing behind his back, and debunked, “Although she received the gift, she kept it in a money shop outside, and will return it one day. She resolutely refused my kindness and was not grateful for what I did for her. This woman is not good at all. These are all what I heard from servants of Luo’s Mansion. Don’t forget that they are not only loyal to you, but also obedient to me.”
“I am the one who concealed the truth about this matter. I apologize. I’m just worried that you will feel sad when you hear it. Did you get angry with her just because of this?” Feng Yang was puzzled, and subconsciously touched his face, “You always like to train a disobedient lady, don’t you? You... Why do you have such a bad attitude toward her?” He couldn’t get his answer, so he whispered, “If your mind changes, let’s leave Luo’s Mansion now. There is no time to waste time to discuss marriage.”
Ning Yuan looked at the sky coldly, and slowly said, “Today I heard something interesting from Xuanyu. He said that three years ago, a blue thorn star fell into Luo’s Mansion from the sky and turned into a cave in the Bitter Bamboo Grove of Luo’s Mansion. He also said that the thorn star was sent from another world by a man with great power, but because the man’s mana was consumed, his soul was scattered, and there were only some fragments of his soul that came to this world with the cave.”
“Bamboo grove and cave?” Feng Yang looked at him suspiciously, “What happened to the cave? Was it changed from a star in the sky? Don’t believe Qi Xuanyu’s nonsense! What are you trying to say? I don’t care about anything but this marriage. Do you really want to give it up halfway? Now do you love her or not?”
Ning Yuan put the small white flower on the tip of his nose, staring at it intently, and said, “The first time I met her on the street, and the second time I met her at the entrance of the Bitter Bamboo Grove, I didn’t feel anything strange. I just treated her as a stranger. Then I went into the Bitter Bamboo Grove to find a place to heal my wounds and found the caves. I stayed there for a day. After I got out, I saw the back of the little woman again, and suddenly, I had a strong desire for her. I have never had any such feelings for any woman. Chang Nuo, do you know the reason for this?”
Feng Yang was confused, so he had to persuade, “Your feeling was the bud of love. Ning Yuan, you grew up, and suddenly started to like women. This is a turning point. The reason why I am so enthusiastic about you and Qingyi is that I know she is the first woman you like.” While saying, he thought, “As the man who had a relationship with you, I go forward but you stay put, so I worry about you.”
Ning Yuan shook his head, “At the time, I thought that mood was very novel. I really thought of it as love. I also wanted to take that girl out of Luo’s Mansion to treat her well. But then, strange things followed one after another. I started dreaming, and the dreams were very realistic and self-conscious. In the past years, I learned a kind of dreaming skill from Mr. Bai. The dreams I had were very similar to the dreams of that dreaming skill. Every time I waked up, I loved her much more, and was more curious about her. I thought that feeling was love, but now I realized that those emotions were foreign and were imposed on me. I have no feelings for that girl... I even have an urge to strangle her with one hand.”
“A dreaming skill? Oh, I know that. Six months ago, Taoist Sage came to ask for my nails. I trimmed my nails while listening to him explain the reason for the dream.” Feng Yang recalled with a folding fan against his chin. “It is said that although the skill is about dreams, it is connected to reality. The communication between dreamers can be regarded as direct dialogues between souls. Later, Taoist Sage also called me into dreams many times and asked me to cook for him. I blamed him that eating a hundred jin of rice in a dream is in vain, because he was still hungry when he woke up. I said to Taoist Sage, ‘If you don’t want to eat and sleep in the open, just come to the Caobang Organization, and I will serve food and drink for you’. But he still asked me to go hunting in a forest, and roast chickens and rabbits for him. He said that this dream was half-false and half-true, and it could be treated as a real thing. You can eat in your dreams, and you will be full when you wake up. Have you met Qingyi in the dream?”
Ning Yuan said with a forced smile, “What I had is not an ordinary dream, but it is like another person’s dream. I accidentally stepped in and felt very strange. I appeared as a bystander. I saw the grievances and hatreds of the people in my dreams. I could hear them speaking, but they couldn’t hear me. They couldn’t see me. I was deeply trapped in those dreams, and sometimes I was dreaming even I was awake. I couldn’t tell the difference between true and false.”
Feng Yang looked at Ning Yuan’s ironic expression, and couldn’t help being curious, “What did you dream about? Even if you fall in love with Qingyi through a dream, it’s not bad. It’s a good story. I think you two have similar temperaments. It’s a long-term relationship. Don’t miss it now and regret it later. Didn’t you almost lose your life on the battlefield to pick up that little strand of her hair? Now you have come to Luo’s Mansion in Yangzhou City, so why are you so standoffish to her?”
“You have lived in the capital for a long time. You must remember that a new kind of drama called ‘serial drama’, which emerged in the theater a few years ago. The two-hour drama was filled with plot and was arranged into a long drama of hundreds of hours, and then it was staged every day. People of all ages and both sexes were all interested in it.” Ning Yuan twisted the small flowers in his hands into powder with two fingers, spread out the palms downwards, and stated flatly, “My dream was also a ‘serial drama’. I dreamed of that woman for three years and was obsessed with her for three years. But after hearing Xuanyu’s words this afternoon, I went to revisit the old place of Bitter Bamboo Grove and had a new dream. In that dream, I stopped loving her, and wanted to kill her.”
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“Kill her!” Sun Meiniang cried, pointing at He Danggui, “She is a little siren, who has cursed all of us. After the curse is cast, everyone will not be able to escape from evil! Just like Baiqiong. Kill her! Only in this way, will Baiqiong’s illness be cured!”
Just now, Luo Baiqiong failed to attack Meng Ying and knocked over a few stools. Then she knelt on the ground and rolled her eyes, with a little foam on the corners of her mouth. Both Madam Luo and Luo Chuangu had top-notch medical skills, but they took turns to see her and couldn’t see what went wrong with her, so they couldn’t do anything.
Sun Meiniang turned her head and saw He Danggui and Luo Baiji chatting happily on the side. She suddenly became furious. This game was obviously a big victory for her. He Danggui would be grounded and fasted, and her mother Chuanxiong would also be escorted back to the mansion. When the two of them were distinguished the sin of cursing their family members, no one would be able to save their lives. Remembering Luo Chuanxiong was forced to cut her daughter’s nails with silent resentment many years ago, Sun Meiniang felt her heart overflowing with pleasure. She thought that history was about to repeat itself. But why was He Danggui not panicking at all, not kneeling down and begging for mercy?
Seeing Luo Baiqiong, her daughter, who entrusted all her expectations, writhing on the ground in pain, Sun Meiniang felt distressed and perplexed. She couldn’t help but want to vent her anger with He Danggui. And being grounded was too good for He Danggui, so she must punish He Danggui with family rules and then ground her.
Madam Luo stopped, “It’s her mother who makes the witchcraft doll. She is a child who nearly never sees her mother. Don’t get her involved with this matter. I will ask Pan Jingyang and Guang Hang to go to Sanqing Temple to pick up Chuanxiong, and then she can solve the curse for Baiqiong. If you have any grievances, settle with Chuanxiong later.” The implication was that Madam Luo had completely believed that her granddaughter’s symptoms were caused by nightmare. The chief culprit was Luo Chuanxiong who lived a sequestered life in Taoist temple.
“No!” Sun Meiniang screamed, “Luo Chuanxiong is guilty, and her daughter must have something to do with this! We must hit her forty times as compensation for my Baiqiong, otherwise it will not be no over!” She raised her hand to point the white doll hanging on the wind chime in front of the porch, bewildering everyone in an alarmist manner, “I know the origin of that doll. The doll made of white cloth with only one head was specially used on the battlefield of the Qin Dynasty in ancient times. It was used to wrap up the evil things such as the head of the dead. He Danggui is cursing all of us to be dead. What a vicious scheme! Let’s work together to kill this siren with stone!”
“Don’t talk nonsense!” Luo Baiji took a step forward, isolated everyone, and argued, “That doll is called Sunny Doll, also known as Broom Woman for Fine Days. It has a hundred years of history, and it is also recorded in the book. It is a kind of serious blessing object, absolutely not like what Second Aunt said. There are various records about it in the book. A poet in the Yuan Dynasty once wrote a poem for it, ‘Rolling up sleeves and holding a broom in hand, she waves her hand to bring sunshine’. If you don’t believe me, wait for me to find the book and show it to you!”
Sun Meiniang grinned her teeth while listening. Then she suddenly smirked, “We women are ignorant, and we are not as knowledgeable as a scholar like you. It turns out that there is such an allusion. We have never heard of it. Why don’t you show us that book?”
Luo Baiji immediately nodded and rushed out of the ancestral hall. Suddenly, he returned and hurried back to protect He Danggui again. He stood in front of a group of Sun Meiniang’s minions, and sternly shouted, “Who dares to hurt her? Step on my corpse!”
Sun Meiniang commanded the servants, “Second Young Master has also been bewitched. He is not sober now. Don’t have to worry about him. Tie him up and put him aside, so that he can wake up and regain his nerve!”
The servants looked at each other, wondering if Third Lord would get even with them later, and did not act immediately. Madam Luo only cared about the condition of her granddaughter Luo Baiqiong and was too busy to do so. There was a stalemate between the two sides, and the atmosphere was spooky. Suddenly, the night sky turned bright as bright as day, and it was sunny in an instant!
He Danggui smoothed her hair on her ears and said with a smile, “Look, my Sunny Doll has summoned sunny day. Can I get rid of the suspicion of witchcraft?”
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