Chapter 68 Royal Prophet Qi was abstinent
Lu Jiangbei frowned. He wasn’t offended by this question but was so confused, “I’m half a year younger than Gao Jue. Why did you say that ‘we two don’t match’? Everyone loves the beauty. Miss He is a rare beauty. I admire her, but I don’t offend her. Isn’t that okay?”
Liao Zhiyuan did not answer the question but asked, “Do you want this dagger?”
Lu Jiangbei put the dagger in his palm and observed it for a while. Then he put the dagger into the scabbard, gave it to Liao Zhiyuan and said with a smile, “You just said you would sell it to Childe Duan. How can I take it? Next time you make another one, maybe I’ll buy it for 50 liang silver.”
Liao Zhiyuan shook his fingers and said shrewdly, “Ask the white finch for white feathers and ask the colorful finch for colorful feathers. I ask Childe Duan for 100 liang silver because he has a lot of money. But you have a lot of Zhenqi... I have an idea. I make another one and sell it to Childe Duan. I will give this dagger to you as a souvenir, but you may need to massage or unchoke the channel for me...”
Lu Jiangbei could not help laughing, “No matter how much you said, this is what you want! You are really a lazy lynx, greedy lynx, drunk lynx, and avaricious lynx!”
Liao Zhiyuan was unconvinced and said, “You have nothing to lose. Look at this natural craftsmanship and smooth knife work. And think about the hard work I made to get the paper cut in He Danggui’s appearance from Qi Xuanyu. I have paid a price to make it…” He showed his broken finger again and continued, “Now, you only need to give me a little help to get it. It’s ‘a crash price’ that my sister used to say!”
“Well,” Lu Jiangbei suddenly became serious and said in a deep voice, “You said that Qi Xuanyu discovered a shocking secret when he saw the paper cut in Miss He’s appearance. What’s the secret?”
“Oh, about that,” Liao Zhiyuan recalled with a yawn, “Qi Xuanyu seemed to say that Miss He is very similar to a person he had met, very much alike. Qi Xuanyu also said it seemed that this paper cut had been made according to that person.”
Lu Jiangbei was surprised and held his breath to ask, “Is it Gao Jue’s dead wife Ling Miaochun? So, he treats her...”
“No, I have looked at the dagger several times since Childe Liao finished carving it yesterday,” Liu Sui came in with two pots of hot Nv’erhong Wine and explained in a crisp voice, “Although the woman carved on the dagger is very beautiful, I have never seen a real person who looks the same as her. And I am not familiar with her. She totally doesn’t resemble my lady Ling Miaochun!”
When Liu Sui just finished, not only Lu Jiangbei was extremely surprised, but also Liao Zhiyuan stopped his yawn.
After knowing that He Danggui was Ling Miaochun’s younger cousin, they had preconceived that Gao Jue had an unusual attitude to He Danggui just because she looked similar to Gao Jue’s beloved. Because this idea was really firm and persuasive, they did not seek confirmation from Gao Jue if He Danggui looked like Ling Miaochun.
Although Liao Zhiyuan was with Liu Sui who knew Ling Miaochun, his interest in He Danggui was limited. He carved her portrait just for making money, so he never asked Liu Sui whether the portrait looked like Ling Miaochun.
Lu Jiangbei and Liao Zhiyuan looked at each other. Was Gao Jue interested in a woman who didn’t look like Ling Miaochun? Did he really like her instead of looking for a substitute for Ling Miaochun? They were Gao Jue’s good friends, but they criticized his ruthlessness without forethought and said that he always regarded other women as Ling Miaochun. Finally, they forced Gao Jue to say that he would not meet He Danggui again in this life. Did they do Gao Jue a disservice? Just because they didn’t want Gao Jue, Childe Duan and He Danggui to get involved in the three people’s entanglement, they killed Gao Jue’s little love seedling cruelly?
Lu Jiangbei thought more that since there was no resemblance between He Danggui and Ling Miaochun in appearance, who was the person that was almost the same as He Danggui in Master Prophet Qi Xuanyu’s words? Even if there were two people who didn’t know each other but looked the same, it was just strange and interesting for others. It was not a shocking secret. How could it make Qi Xuanyu, such a lofty and handsome person, care so much and go to Changye Tower to investigate He Danggui’s life experience?
“Lynx, what did Qi Xuanyu say originally? You repeat that again.” Lu Jiangbei stared at Liao Zhiyuan. “Didn’t he mention the person who looked like He Danggui?”
Liao Zhiyuan scratched his eyelids with distress, shrugged and said, “He didn’t mention this, and I didn’t ask him too. Because we have known that He Danggui was a cousin of Ling Miaochun at that time, I thought the person he said was Ling Miaochun. And you know that he likes being deliberately mystifying, so only a fool would take his words seriously! Besides, as soon as I saw the paper cut that he took out, I was thinking about how to get it and then exchange some money with Childe Duan…”
Lu Jiangbei thought for a moment and discussed with Liao Zhiyuan, “Lynx, I think there must be a lot of matters behind this. Could you go back to the capital tomorrow and ask Qi Xuanyu about that again? As you know, he looks cynical and doesn’t pay attention to anything. In fact, he has a deep mind and it’s difficult to make friends with him. We are both officials working for the Emperor and we are of the same rank but have different salaries. In the past, I wanted to make friends with him many times, but he played a trick on me. You are the only one in the Department of Imperial Guard who has the same temper with him and can speak with him in private. But I even don’t have any opportunities to communicate with him for public affairs. So, if I go to find him specially for private affairs, it will cause his misunderstanding.”
“I’m also curious about this matter, but he has always been a mysterious person. He can take the initiative to find someone else, but others can’t find him!” Liao Zhiyuan took the Nv’erhong Wine heated by Liu Sui and drank two mouthfuls. Then he said, “Even if I go to Qi’s Mansion to wait for him, I think it may be impossible to find him. Besides, his father is a disgusting old goat. I can’t eat or drink after seeing his father. So, I won’t go anyway!”
Lu Jiangbei moved quickly like electricity, held Liao Zhiyuan’s cheeks heavily and rebuked him, “Shut up! Even My Majesty respects the Royal Prophet. You don’t talk nonsense. Disaster emanates from careless talk! You should take care and shall not say it again. Moreover, as far as I know, the Royal Prophet, Qi Jing, is abstinent and has no desire of being close to a woman for many years. He is not the old goat in your words. Why do you always nickname others?”
Liao Zhiyuan broke free from the control of Lu Jiangbei and muttered angrily, “I haven’t wronged him and I think Qi Jing is a hypocrite. If he kept himself from the women, Qi Xuanyu wouldn’t be born in the world. You don’t know. Once I went to the temple fair with my sister, Qing, and we were having a good time strolling. Then I suddenly felt that my back and neck were cold, as if someone was peeping at us. So, I pulled Qing by the roadside stall and squatted down. I pretended to look at the jade in front of the sun, but I secretly searched for the peepers. Finally, I found it was Qi Jing, that hypocrite!”
Lu Jiangbei raised his eyebrows, “Do you mean that the Royal Prophet followed you and peeped at your shopping? It’s impossible. I think it was probably a misunderstanding. He originally intended to greet you. But after seeing that you were having fun, he didn’t bother you. Then you saw him coincidentally, causing a misunderstanding.”
Liao Zhiyuan was so angry that he slammed Lu Jiangbei’s shoulders and hurriedly said, “I didn’t misunderstand him. He was staring at Qing intently at that time!”
Lu Jiangbei took a half step back, and then his face became pale. When he was about to say something, he suddenly coughed fiercely and continuously. After a while, he gradually calmed down. But the bright red blood overflowed from the corner of his tight lips, slipped across his beautiful jaw and finally dripped on his bright green official uniform.
※※※
“What?” Madam Luo was shocked, making the bowl in her hands tilted and the snow-white soup spilled on her sleeved over-dress with peacock feathers. She frowned, “I don’t understand your words. Yi had dreamed that Zhu would die? She has been away from home for more than half a month, and she didn’t know what happened to Zhu. How could she dream about it!”
Mammy Tang quickly grabbed a handkerchief from the table to clean the soup for Madam Luo and corrected her words, “Don’t be so excited, Madam Luo. I just said so quickly, so I make a mistake. The original words of Third Miss were not like this. And the sentence that ‘Zhu would die’ is also guessed by me based on what she said.”
Madam Luo pushed Mammy Tang’s hands away and said fretfully, “Stop! Stop cleaning. I can’t understand what you’re talking about. You repeat to me exactly what Yi said! There must be an evil in our house. Many strange things happened one by one. Yi lived in the mountain outside the city. How can she have anything to do with Zhu!” Thinking that her first and second daughters-in-law, Ms. Zhao and Ms. Sun, and elder grandson’s wife, Ms. Dong all had said that “He Danggui was an evil”, Madam Luo clutched the purple silk quilt with swastika and Ruyi patterns.
Mammy Tang sat down on the footrest beside the bed. She took a deep breath and stared at the leaping candle fire. Then she recalled, “At first, Third Miss just asked me hesitantly. ‘Does someone get ill in Luo’s Mansion? If he one of the twins of Nephew Wei and Nephew Zhu?’ I felt very surprised and asked her why she knew that. She replied that she had dreamed about it. Of course, I didn’t believe it, so I asked her about the details. Third Miss looked very frightened. She only mentioned that it was a nightmare and everything she knew was told by an old immortal. I thought her words were hinting that ‘Zhu is going to die soon’. But when I left Luo’s Mansion, everything was all right to Zhu and he could eat and sleep normally. So, I stopped her and told her never to mention this to anyone else, so as to avoid offending Younger Mistress Luo. Third Miss followed my words and we never talked about it again.”
Madam Luo listened to Mammy Tang seriously. Her expression wavered on her face which was weathered but still “beautiful”.
“Later, I came back home. As soon as I entered the door, I saw that all the red lanterns had been replaced by white ones. So, I quickly asked a manservant. Then I knew that Zhu is in serious illness.” Mammy Tang rubbed her swollen hands and sighed, “Zhu is a sweet and sensible child whom we all adore. When I heard the sad news, I was both distressed and shocked. I didn’t expect that Third Miss’s dream should come true. I thought what Third Miss had said at that time over and over again. But I still couldn’t figure out the mystery. So, I came here to wake you up at midnight to tell you this strange thing.”
Madam Luo’s five fingernails of her left hand sank deep into her right wrist. Her tremulous voice echoed in the empty room, “The Fortune-teller Li who was invited by Meiniang… said that there was an evil girl in our family… Were his words true?
Were his words true?
Were true?
True?
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