Chapter 33 A ghost without living entity
“What are you talking about?” Duan Xiaolou was shocked at her words. He got extrely angry but smiled, “What do you an your chest got a hole? Who did this? I’ll punch out that guy! And what do you an you are jealous of as soon as you see ? As long as you accept , I and all I have are yours. It’s totally unnecessary for your jealousy. Also, what do you an I love you because I got briefly blind? Alas, your words are super cute. Haw-haw!” His embarrassing laughter sounded in the room, even made a piece of wall finish peel off.
He Danggui wanted to explain more but she couldn’t. People in this world couldn’t understand her words. She said in her heart, “I’m so sorry, Duan Xiaolou. You are not my Mr. Right. Of course you’re a good person, but we et at the wrong ti. If I t you in my previous life, I might be grateful to fate, yet I would be quite different from now.”
Staring at her little fair face with a desolate look, Duan Xiaolou felt a twinge and suddenly held her in his arms, comforting her sadness of experiencing two lives and aloof indifference.
It was not the first ti he held her in his arms, but it was the first ti he had the cold and thin feeling. He even thought there was no reality. He felt like she was a ghost without living entity, sneeringly looking at common people’s love in the distance, and the next second she would suddenly disappear in the world of mortals.
Duan Xiaolou said sadly, “Why are you so aloof? I said I’m willing to share your burden. Why don’t you trust ? You’re the first girl who makes fall in love. I don’t want to say how good you are or how sincere I am. But could you please give a chance to prove myself? Even if you can’t trust right now, ti can prove how much I love you. And you’ll know that my true love for you will never change.”
He Danggui’s nose pressed against his chest. She asked with a little depression, “Childe Duan, are the imperial guards about to leave the Taoist Temple?”
Duan Xiaolou felt a little bit stiff and made her loose from his embrace, looking down in her eyes, “How do you know that? Yes, we plan to leave tomorrow morning, but we just made this decision yesterday.”
She took her eyes off him to see a yellow leaf rolled by autumn breeze in the yard, and said slightly, “Just my guess.” Duan Xiaolou prepared the bride-price in such a hurry and also entrusted Lu Jiangbei, a bad matchmaker, to propose for him. He even wanted to trick her into taking the bride-price, probably he intended to get the marriage planned before he left. But she couldn’t figure out what her personality attracted him that could make him propose marriage to a person he just t?
“Actually, I co here to say goodbye to you, but...I didn’t know how to say when I saw you. Master Geng told us that Jiang Yi had got the location of Wushi Powder’s materials after he questioned Tai Chen and sent people to seal up. So, he let us pack up our bags and set off for the capital about 5 o’clock tomorrow.” Duan Xiaolou thought He Danggui was angry for his dishonesty, so he explained for her in detail, “You know what? We had another mission in the journey of Yangzhou City. Catching the dicinal peddler, Tai Chen, was just a windfall. The most surprising thing is that we got the evidence of a three-class official buying Wushi Powder. The Emperor had already wanted to handle him, but there was always no evidence...”
“Childe Duan!” He Danggui interrupted him. She sided her head and said, “Stop saying! You should not tell the secrets of you imperial guards.”
Duan Xiaolou smiled, “I like telling you these things, and I prefer you to listen to .”
“...”
“A storyteller of Tu’er Town said that Shui Shang Temple was built in the later period of Yuan Dynasty. So Taoist priests found a rare grass growing in the mountain, so they built the Taoist Temple for making pills. We were interested in this temple at that ti, so we planned to have a look. But now Tai Chen had told us clearly that those Taoist priests were interested in the materials of Wushi Powder instead of the so-called ‘rare grass’.” Duan Xiaolou paused for a mont, then he suddenly touched He Danggui’s face with his thumb. He said in a low and kind voice, “Will you please marry ? I’ll tell you everything I know in the future, okay?”
He Danggui looked down and her mind had an instant change. Sotis refusing a person’s love was more difficult than loving a wrong person. What a pity. When she followed love, it fled away; while when she tried to avoid love, it followed her instead.
When she looked up again, her eyes were calm and clear. She smiled and raised her forefinger, “Childe Duan, why don’t we make a bet?”
...
...
“Wish you peace. Take care then.” He Danggui saw Duan Xiaolou out the yard and said goodbye to him sincerely with a smile.
Duan Xiaolou looked at her deeply and pretended to sigh, “Why do you smile happily to before our separation?” He was so happy to make a bet with his loved one. Because he firmly believed he would win and get her as a prize.
He Danggui said to him in the end, “Childe Duan, rember what you promised —close the fire case of the Taoist Temple, and don’t hold its responsibility anymore; don’t spread the news that there are books which printed pornographic pictures in the Taoist Temple, because Tai Xi will punish them with the commandnts of the temple then; besides, never provoke Tai Shan, I’ll handle her.”
Duan Xiaolou couldn’t help laughing, “What does Tai Xi give you to let you beco her persuader? I’ll give you the sa as she gives. If so, will you also care for ?”
He Danggui smiled slightly, “I have a fair deal with her. It’s just a reciprocity for mutual benefits.”
Duan Xiaolou thought for a while and smiled, “Well, why don’t we make a deal as well? As long as you accept this, I will do everything you ntioned just now.” Then he took out two small snow porcelain bottles, “I sent this dicine abruptly the other day, but you refused to accept it. Now let’s have a ‘fair deal for mutual benefits’. I help you with the issues you ntioned, and you help take my dicine. How do you like it?”
Staring at the two exquisite dicine bottles engraved with the words “Yao Shi Tang”, He Danggui’s smile was suddenly faded. She shook her head and said, “No. Thanks for your kindness, but they are too valuable. I can’t accept them.”
Duan Xiaolou lied without hesitation, “How valuable it can be? And it’s not worth several liang silver in total. Listen to , you have always been cold and weak, which made this very suitable for you.” Since she would belong to him after all, it was necessary to take care of her body from now on. It was very laborious to be the hostess of Duan’s Mansion, as it could be known from his mother.
He Danggui exposed him and said, “If I haven’t misread it that day, one of the two bottles is Lifesaving Pill, and the other is Zhiming Sticking Plaster. The price of both dicines is equal to 10 tis of the gold. Both bottles are full, I say they should add up to 400 liang silver. Moreover, if they can be bought only with money, they will not be called “life extending dicine” by many doctors. As far as I know, the two are always too valuable to be bought in the herbal dicine shops. Whoever wants the dicine should find the four most hard-to-find dicines in the prescription in person, and send them to the herbal dicine shop, then the pharmacist would make the pill freshly. Among these pharmacists, the best ones are from Yao Shi Tang in Yingtian Prefecture, and the price is more expensive than that of ordinary herbal dicine shops.”
Duan Xiaolou beca more and more surprised, “Why? Why do you know more than I do? These are all secrets in the pharmaceutical industry. I only know these because I heard from Wang Xi, the shopkeeper of Yao Shi Tang. The two dicines are rare even in the capital. How could you recognize them within a casual glance! Where did you learn that from?”
He Danggui sneered and didn’t want to explain.
“Well, forget it.” Duan Xiaolou pulled up her wrist. “Anyway, take this. Don’t regard as an outsider. Or—I will pluck out Tai Shan’s hair and let her beco a Buddhist nun.”
She opened her palm and let him put the bottles in her hand. The slight cool of snow porcelain bottles also brought her a little temperature of his palm.
Duan Xiaolou let her go contentedly and smiled, “This dicine is warm and pungent. It’s better to take it before bed at night. If you feel flustered after eating it, don’t drink cold water. It can be relieved by pushing 100 tis from your heart to your abdon. It’s a pity that I will go down the mountain tomorrow. Otherwise, I’ll use my Zhenqi to guide it for you. The effect will be different. Well, let do it tonight…”
“No, I can do it. Don’t worry, I won’t waste any drop of such precious dicine,” He Danggui stared at the small bottles in her hand and said in a low voice, “Since Childe Duan is so generous, I will take it. To be honest, the dicines are a tily help to and they could save a lot of ti. I am really…happy.” However, her expression and tone said the opposite, and there was a sense of gnashing at the end.
Duan Xiaolou paused, held her little face in his palm and asked anxiously, “Did I make you angry? Why are you unhappy again?” Suddenly, he rembered the last ti when he sent her the dicine, she did the sa! He tilted his head doubtfully and gazed at her eyes, “Is there anything wrong with the dicines? That is impossible. Yao Shi Tang of He’s Family is one of the 3 major dicine pharmacies that supplies official dicine for the imperial court. Moreover, Yao Shi Tang—well, Yao Shi Tang is owned by He’ Family, and your family na is He—are you...”
He Danggui was calm and she answered indifferently, “Nice guess. Because my mother remarried another man who used He as his family na. Luo’s Family did a good job to hide the fact. Therefore, few people knew the relationship between the two Families that both supplied official dicines. They have no contact with each other now, but 10 years ago, they shared friendship of generations and had been relatives by marriage.”
Duan Xiaolou frowned and gripped her slender shoulders. He comforted her in an apologetic voice, “I’m sorry, sorry. I didn’t know your father owned Yao Shi Tang. Otherwise I won’t have hurt you with this. Don’t do that, okay? Don’t show that look. We have made an appointnt that we are going to...”
He Danggui raised her lips, “That’s not an appointnt, please call it a ‘bet’.” It was a bet to let Duan Xiaolou give up on her.
Looking at Duan Xiaolou’s loving eyes, after a while, she smiled gently, “Sorry, I should apologize. You are just being kind to . Well, let’s not talk about it anymore. I’ll take the dicine because this is a pair of hard-earned body. I’ll cherish it. Since you are going down the mountain tomorrow morning, I need you to do a favor again.”
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