Chapter 295 Meng Ying became an old man
Meng Ying’s serious expression almost made He Danggui believe him. Maybe, it was a supernatural power that arranged him. Meng Xuan came to see her from the future to reveal something that she shouldn’t have known. In case she would change the ending, the power arranged a child for Meng Xuan? Just like last time when she wanted to rescue Luo Baiqian’s concubines, they were killed in advance…
Looking at her gloomy eyes, Meng Ying thought she was jealous. So, he comforted her, “The more women and children a man has, the more happiness he will enjoy. Besides, my brother is outstanding. If you love him, you should be happy for him. Even if you are not willing to do so, you should never intervene in his happiness from other women.”
“Who tell you I like him?” He Danggui asked stiffly.
“Don’t you like him?” Meng Ying raised his eyebrows. “Then why do you make the sad face when you heard that child?”
He Danggui’s response was clamping Meng Ying’s eyelids with the tightest clip. After a while, she threw a small mirror to Meng Ying when she was packing things. She said, “Keep the mask on your face for three days and then peel it off with a special liquid. After that, you can use it at any time.”
“This face is...” Meng Ying looked at the person in the mirror in astonishment, “Still mine!”
“In fifty years later.” He Danggui corrected him, “Just as your request, it is handsome but won’t get no necessary attention. Do you think you will not be handsome after fifty years? And you don’t have to worry about the people in Luo’s Family. They don’t care about an old man in servant clothes, and you won’t draw any attention at all.” She raised her head to look at the stunned Meng Ying and added, “Keep your distance from me. If someone asks you, tell them you are the sweeper Ma San from Tao Yao Yard.”
Looking in a mirror, Meng Ying made two expressions and was unconvinced, “I can’t be this old fifty years later. This must be what I will look like in a hundred years.”
He Danggui picked up the incense ash container and poured some ashes on his head and face. Then, she put the container in front of him and mocked, “This is how you will look a hundred years later, Third Childe.”
“How dare you!” Meng Ying brushed the ashes off angrily.
“You are too good-looking. I have to cover your face. Now you look like the sweeper in my yard.” He Danggui suddenly heard the footsteps of a group of people in the distance. So, she quickly pushed Meng Ying into an empty bookcase and told him in a deep voice, “Don’t come out until they leave, Ma San. If you make sounds, I won’t give you the special liquid. And you have to go back to the capital with the mask.”
After closing the bookcase door, He Danggui used a silver needle to poke an acupuncture point on the right arm and then bent over the scripture table, pretending to be sick.
There was a strange noise from the bookcase. She yelled to make Meng Ying quiet. Then, she buried her face in her arms.
“Squeak—” The door of the Depositary opened. Madam Luo came in and asked, “Yi, are you better now? What did your grandfather tell you?”
He Danggui raised her head laboriously and said, “I am dizzy. Weird! There are two grandmas in front of me.” Madam Luo reached her hand to check her pulse. He Danggui also obediently took out her right hand.
Madam Luo felt the pulse after a while. Then, she shook her head and said, “You...are dying!”
“Huh?” Miss Ji didn’t expect it to be so serious, and she couldn’t help but let out a cry in a low voice.
Madam Luo shook her head and sighed, “According to your pulse, I’m afraid that you won’t be able to see your mother’s return. Do you have something to say for her?”
He Danggui dropped her head and handed a folded letter, “I found this letter several days ago. I dared not show it to you at that time. However, today, I found that the font of the letter is the same as that of the tombstone. So, I guess I have to give it to you.”
“A letter?” Madam Luo took over the letter and read it, “A daughter-in-law of the Luo’s Family is an evil-minded woman. It’s a misfortune for the family. She should kowtow to me a thousand times at the ancestral temple and then be imprisoned in the Depositary of Buddhist Texts. In the 31st year of Hongwu Period, Luo’s Family will meet terrible suffering. If you want to avoid it, you should change the ancient well deep in the Bitter Bamboo Grove into a water prison and imprison the evil-minded woman in it for ten years. If you don’t, the whole family will die! In addition, my descendant, a young girl, has saved Luo’s Family from disasters. I know she is dying. Put her in the ancestral temple, and I will save her.”
Miss Ji glanced at Madam Luo and took out the white silk from her sleeves. She handed it to Madam Luo for comparison.
Miss Ji and Madam Luo compared the letter and the silk word by word. They found that the similarity between them was over 80%. But that made sense. One was written with a pen while the other was written on the standing stele. Many places of the writing on the tombstone were intermittent and disjointed. In other words, they could be viewed as the same.
He Danggui guessed that the words on the tombstone were probably written by Bai Yangbai in advance, and then he used some special potion to turn them invisible. When Mommy Tang and the others walked there, the potion was air-dried. Then, the words appeared one by one according to the concentration of the potion. That explained the rusty marks on the silk. This trick could be done by many fraudulent warlocks, but only Bai Yangbai could make them show at the exact time.
Just now, after Miss Ji left, He Danggui thought for a while before writing the letter that “written by the ancestor”. Although she was familiar with Bai Yangbai’s handwriting, the best she could do was imitating it to 60%. Fortunately, she had something from the Dream, Guidance on Qizhen Fantasy Dreamwritten by Bai Yangbai. Some words on it could be used directly. Soon, a “judgement” to Sun Meiniang was done, though with some slight differences. However, no one would suspect that she forged the letter because she had only read the silk once from Miss Ji. She couldn’t write a letter unless she was familiar with the ancestor.
After the appraisal by Madam Luo and Miss Ji, the letter was confirmed genuine. Looking at the content of “In the 31st year of Hongwu Period, Luo’s Family will meet a big suffering,” Madam Luo showed a solemn look. She stared at He Danggui’s pale forehead and asked, “Where did you get this letter?”
He Danggui answered, “From my dream.” Then she passed out. Madam Luo was anxious and wanted to take off her veil, but the veil was tied with four ropes. At this time, Miss Ji reminded Madam Luo that she could follow the instructions of the letter to put He Danggui in the ancestral temple and let the ancestor save her. Therefore, under Madam Luo’s direction, they all went to the ancestral temple immediately.
Inside the temple, the evidence last night had not been withdrawn so far. The pile of things dug up from Sun Meiniang’s yard was still there, which reminded Madam Luo of the “evil-minded woman” mentioned in the letter. Sun Meiniang just matched the description.
In addition, Run Xiang’s death also added to the proof that Sun Meiniang was really an evil-minded woman according to a servant’s testimony. Now, the letter was saying that Luo’s Family would be affected by an evil-minded woman. Madam Luo went through all women in the family, but only Sun Meiniang met the “evil-minded woman”. However, she didn’t have evidence. She could not convict Sun Meiniang with a letter. Moreover, her second son might contradict her to protect his wife.
The servants efficiently set up a simple bed under the incense table. Considering that He Danggui was a young lady, they hung a curtain. After moving the unconscious He Danggui inside, Miss Ji ordered every servant to leave and accompanied Madam Luo to wait there.
Soon, He Danggui woke up. Madam Luo was overjoyed and screamed, “Amitabha, the ancestor showed his power.” After helping He Danggui sit up, Madam Luo couldn’t wait to ask, “What’s going on? What did your grandfather tell you? Why we are going to have good news when Yangzhou City has gone through the earthquake?”
He Danggui pretended to be so weak that she couldn’t speak. Seeing that, Miss Ji hurriedly asked the maid to bring jujube tea with wolfberries and sent away all the other people. They were going to discuss something confidential.
He Danggui lifted her veil a little and took a sip. The more anxious Madam Luo was, the slower she drank the tea. The veil was a bit in the way. If she did not wear the veil, she would be more leisurely now. In fact, she didn’t want to wear this cumbersome veil, but she had to put on the makeup and the veil until Zhu Quan left Yangzhou City.
After drinking half a cup of tea, she finally opened her mouth, “I have suffered inexplicable injustice not long ago and was seriously injured. After that, I got sick and had to recuperate at home. A few days ago, I felt that I was going to die, so I wept to sleep by reading my grandfather’s name, because he loved me. As a result, I saw him in my dream.”
“Really?” Madam Luo asked surprisedly. She held He Danggui’s hand tightly, “What did your grandfather look like?”
In fact, He Danggui didn’t have any impression of the appearance of her grandfather, but she admired him very much in her previous life and inquired many stories about her grandfather from her mother. Therefore, she described it vividly as requested.
When Luo Duzhong, He Danggui’s grandfather, died, He Danggui was only less than three years old and she had not seen him many times. So, Madam Luo immediately believed He Danggui’s words. But, why did Luo Duzhong go to his granddaughter’s dream instead of Madam Luo’s dream?
He Danggui guessed Madam Luo’s question and explained thoughtfully, “My grandfather said that my deadline was approaching and I was the closest one to that place, so he could come into my dream and talk to me. Grandma, you will live a long life, and you are only half way there now. As a result, my grandfather couldn’t go to your dream.”
“I see.” Madam Luo wiped her eye with a handkerchief, “What did he say? Was it because of his blessing that we didn’t suffer from the earthquake?”
He Danggui took out a Sunny Doll from her sleeve. She stroked its little bald head and said, “Grandfather brought me a message, saying that...”
“What?”
“He said that our family has a vicious person. If we don’t get rid of the person, our family would go extinct!”
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