Chapter 24 The so-called personality stain
Duan Xiaolou was holding a pink wool cloak. His chest moved up and down. There were full of stars deep inside his dark eyes. He didn’t say a word, but opened the cloak directly and wrapped it around He Danggui. Then he tied the mixed satin ribbon into a bowknot carefully.
He Danggui frowned. She was struggling in her mind, “I can’t do this anymore. No matter he has other thoughts or he’s just like what Lu Jiangbei said—so enthusiastic to girls. He had done too much.”
She couldn’t accept this kind of care, and he offered his gentleness to the wrong person.
Lu Jiangbei noticed He Danggui’s inconspicuous expression. And he thought she was not accustod to showing her intimacy in front of others, so he changed the topic hastily, “What should we do now? How about… letting the yan runners search through the Taoist Temple?”
This scared the hell out of Tai Shan.
All the IOUs she got from usury were locked in the closet beside her bed. Those couldn’t be found out?! So Taoist nuns who also hid so secret stuffs in secret beca anxious as well. They yelled despite the imperial guards standing opposite them,
“It’s absurd! They have no evidence to prove that we stole it! We want evidence!”
“The stead buns in the kitchen were constantly missing. 1 or 2 now and then. I thought we have thieves here!”
“Bah! I thought it was sothing precious. Just a few coins worthy stuff, excuse ? The statues of immortals were brushed with gold in our Taoist Temple. Why did no one scrape the gold on them?”
“How dare you call yourself a Lady? Losing an old and cheap lock and you co here to search our place? Stingy!”
“Since she cherishes that lock so much, she should hide it and protect it well. It would be better if she hid herself, too. Then nothing would happen…” A Taoist nun Jin Xun, who was called “The fastest Scriptures Reciter”, stood out and said.
The first afternoon Duan Xiaolou ca here, Jin Xun had a crush on this handso and elegant man in a red long gown. That day, he walked from the end of the road and lifted his head up, looking at her with an attracting smile, then he just took her heart and soul away in an instant. In the sa evening, she got a place to serve the diner, and she almost beca crazy for extre happiness. She kept fawning on him at diner and she also sang a tune from her ho town. But to her disappointnt, she failed to earn Duan Xiaolou’s heart.
So, the next day, she dressed her up well again and even prepared a dancing. However, before she danced, a guest with a surna of Gao was annoyed by the harass of Zhen Shu, Huai Wen and so other nuns. Then the guest cut the table in half with his broadsword and chased away everyone. From then on, Jin Xun never had her second chance to get close to Duan Xiaolou.
Now, looking at Duan Xiaolou’s gentle action towards He Danggui and their intimacy, Jin Xun was filled with hatred. If possible, she could rush toward and chock that girl to death. She believed herself to be the most beautiful woman in the Taoist Temple. She was 20 and she could sing and dance. All she wanted was to marry Duan Xiaolou as a concubine, but that damn girl just ruined everything.
Hearing their nasty words all at once, Lu Jiangbei and Duan Xiaolou couldn’t help frowning. Miss He suffered great pain for losing her precious lock in the Taoist Temple and everyone could feel her sadness. How could these Taoist nuns beco so an?
Jin Xun was full of jealousy. He Danggui looked at her with a smile and said slowly, “You must be Master Jin Xun. I just heard you said that you had the best mory in the Taoist Temple, but how can you forget what you said so quickly? According to you, you were sure that the black mark on the wall appeared tonight, so they must have been left by the arsonist by accident. Yes, it’s not necessary to search the whole temple for finding a thief. But in order to find out the arsonist who had an evil mind, intended to set fire to the officials and rescued Tai Chen, Master Jin Xun, should we follow the only clue to find out more?”
Jin Xun was speechless. At last she stamred, “How do you know my religious na?”
He Danggui lied calmly, “Because I heard soone call you once the other day. Although my mory is not very good, I rember it unconsciously.” Liao Zhiyuan hissed, then Jin Xun felt more embarrassed. She retreated to the wall and said no more.
Lu Jiangbei looked at Tai Shan, pretending to be furious, “You unruly people, if soone dared to buy ti again, you cri would not be regarded as covering the arsonist, but accomplice! Let ask you one last ti, will you allow to search?”
Tai Shan nodded anxiously, then shook her head. Suddenly she knelt at the feet of Lu Jiangbei and Duan Xiaolou. She raised up her head, slapped her face 5 or 6 tis and begged with cries and tears, “Please listen to , please listen to ! This is our fault. We were frightened by the fire and distracted to misunderstand Miss He! Now I co to think of it, the black mark on the wall must have had nothing to do with the fire. In fact, I just found out it is Huai Xin’s fault! How foolish she was! She forgot to put out the fire after cooking. And then it caused this big fire. It was just an accident!”
Duan Xiaolou sneered, “It’s hard to believe that you always keep changing your statent. Besides, you should apologize to Miss He. Why do you kneel to us?”
Tai Shan hesitated. She gritted her teeth and turned around with her knees to face He Danggui. Then she put up a kind smile and said, “Miss He, ladies from large families like you are well-educated. Please forgive us if any of us was careless and misunderstood you. Just ignore those rural girls. They don’t deserve your attention. As for the gold lock you lost, I’ll look it up for you tomorrow. There’s no need for a fanfare search now, don’t you think? If this news went out, Miss He would be described as soone who forced us to this circumstance for small plaything. It is a disgrace to your reputation, and a blot on your future marriage...”
He Danggui couldn’t stop laughing without a sound and almost doubled up with laughter. Her expression was like she had heard the most ridiculous thing in the world. Looking at Tai Shan, He Danggui corrected her kindly, “Thank you for your considerate concern, and I’m so grateful to you. But Master, you said 3 things wrong again. So, in order to prevent you from being humiliated by your disciples for making the sa mistakes, I’ll help you correct it.”
Tai Shan’s face was complicated, as if she ate a bucket of shit just now.
“First, I’ve just said that the gold lock was a gift my mother gave when I was one-month old. Master, you have always been living in the mountain, so maybe you don’t know those who live in rich families all have this kind of gift, representing the token between child and mother. I cherish it more than my life. If I lost it, that ans I’m unfilial, and ‘unfilial’ will be a big stain for my future marriage, so I must find it. Second, ascetics do not lie. All of you just firmly said that the arsonist left the mark, but you suddenly correct yourself in front of the officials. I don’t want you to be embarrassed deliberately. I just worry about your moral integrity and lives. A sense common — the imperial guards like the crucifixions of flogging, burning, exenteration and cutting to extort a confession. What’s more, they refuse two-sides confession. If you’re not sure the authenticity of confession, or you have a poor mory, that’s so pity. There’s nothing I can do to help. Third, Master Tai Shan and every master here didn’t ‘misunderstand’ . The thing was there for all to see, all of you ‘wronged’ .”
Tai Shan and other Taoist nuns were stunned. Crucifixion? Extorted a Confession? Many people were so scared that they had to hold the wall to support themselves. Even Lu Jiangbei and others were also looking at He Danggui with complexity on their faces. They couldn’t believe those words ca from a 10-year old girl.
Tai Shan was intending to threaten He Danggui through her apology. In Tai Shan’s eyes, if this thing was exposed, the Taoist Temple would have to announce He Danggui as a girl who was not only out of upbringing but also greedy, selfish and malicious. In this way, she couldn’t be able to marry a nice one. After hearing this, Duan Xiaolou was so angry that he almost wanted to kill Tai Shan. However, He Danggui’s response was beyond his expectation greatly. She was so eloquent and even exposed them instead. Besides, where did she hear about the crucifixions of flogging and burning?
Duan Xiaolou put his thumb and forefinger on his mouth and whistled. Suddenly there were crowds of n in black surrounded the alley. He looked at the person in front and said low, “10 stay here to guard these Taoist nuns. If anyone dares to escape, just kill her! The rest research the Taoist Temple thoroughly. Be sure to find the important evidence of the arson–the gold lock!”
After copying it, these trained started on it. 10 left here and silently surrounded the crowds, while those who were responsible for the researching of the evidence were far away within a blank. Their footsteps were so orderly like only one person’s footstep at the clear night.
Liao Zhiyuan found so of the Taoist nuns still wanted to justify themselves, so he made a gesture of stop, “Stop, shut up! Just find the evidence first. If you still want to say sothing, just waiting for the hearing. Hum, at that ti, I’m afraid you won’t say enough.”
Tai Shan was very scared. Suddenly, she saw Huai Xin standing next to her and scolded angrily, “Bitch, it’s you who caused the big trouble. I’m gonna hit you to death!” As she was speaking, she raised the horsetail whisk with copper-made handle to hit Huai Xin’s head.
Huai Xin covered her head in horror and yelled, “Spare my life! Spare my life, please! I know Huai Dong is the arsonist, and she stole the gold lock! She did all the things!”
Huai Dong? It attracted everyone’s attention. Tai Shan also put the whisk down out of suspicion.
In fact, Huai Xin was also speculative secretly, and even imagined out of this. But after seeing everyone staring at her, she only had to continue, “I’m sure that Huai Dong stole the gold lock... At that ti, we saw Zhen Jing dressing Miss He with shroud through the window. Huai Dong stared at the gold lock all the ti! But when the Younger Master asked her just now, she said she couldn’t rember. She’s definitely guilty for her cris!”
So, everyone looked at the Taoist nun who nad Huai Dong.
Instead of being prim and conservative like before, Huai Dong ran to Huai Xin and slapped her, then she scolded angrily, “You are such a bitch without conscience. You are arrested for arson but you are talking nonsense here to force others to take the bla! Bitch, do you want to expose those scandals that you had done?”
Huai Xin scratched Huai Dong’s face with her long nails and was not convinced, “Well, you are not afraid of your scandals, are you? Do you have less scandals than ? Would you like to tell everyone?”
For a while, the two of them fought with each other. Other Taoist nuns looked at them ironically, but none of them walked over to stop the fight. Only after a second, Huai Xin and Huai Dong had scratched each other’s face. Huai Dong was torn off a large amount of hair, screaming with the pain. As for Huai Xin, half of her face was swollen.
Huai Dong held Tai Shan’s leg and cried loudly, “Younger Master, please help ! Huai Xin frad ! If everyone doesn’t believe , I’ll be willing to let the official search my room to prove my innocence!”
Tai Shan hesitated, then turned to look at Liao Zhiyuan who was watching this scene and begged, “Master, please. My disciple Huai Dong has always been clever and sensible, and she even doesn’t pocket the money that she had picked up, so she wouldn’t steal the gold lock! Or please just search her room according to what she said. If there is no gold lock, it will prove that Huai Xin frad her, and Huai Xin had done all the cris! Master, I only beg you to stop searching the Taoist Temple in order to avoid alarming the immortals in the hall!”
Liao Zhiyuan raised his eyebrows, “What about the gold lock that Miss He lost? She had rescued all of you in the Taoist Temple the day before yesterday. Is this the way you repay her kindness?”
Tai Shan gritted her teeth and said boldly, “I will question my disciples one by one tomorrow, and I will certainly help Miss He get her gold lock back! If I can’t find it, I’ll take out all my savings, 20 liang of silver. If it’s not enough, I will let all the Taoist nuns in the Taoist Temple hand out a few strings of 1,000 qian each, then I’ll go to Tu’er Town to make an identical gold lock for Miss He!”
Liao Zhiyuan turned to look at He Danggui, “Miss He, what do you think?”
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