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Chapter 97 - Got a head start
Chapter 97 - Got a head start
Chapter 97 Got a head start
“Ha ha ha.” Chang Nuo smoothed his face and smiled silly, “Although what you said is true, you don’t have to say it all the time. Since you trust me so much, it’s my duty to go to Daning Prefecture for you.”
Ning Yuan thought and said, “You can fight with the generals and commanders on the field if necessary. And do not use uncommon kung fu, just only use leg-kicking movement, Arhat movement, water distribution movement, palms-rubbing movement, or other secular kung fu of Shaolin. And remember to take a proper way to get upper hand slightly when the six team up to against you, which can not only deter and subdue the crowd in the field, but also can fool the spies of Lu Jiangbei. Also, go to find Ming Ri in the branch Tower of Wuying when you arrive at Daning Prefecture. He will prepare everything for you so that you won’t have to house in the Mansion in case Wan Ling and Zhou Jinglan find any claw.”
“That would be perfect. The bunch of women in Feng’s Family are over my head all day. I am afraid of talking with women now. You see my head is aching when it comes to the words of ‘women’.” Chang Nuo raised his forehead and sighed, leaning right on Ming Yue’s shoulder. However, Ming Yue didn’t feel sorry for him. Instead, he held his shoulder back, opened the bamboo curtain and jumped out of the gharry.
Chang Nuo sat up moodily and said his farewell to his good friend, “I’ll leave Feng Yan and Feng Yu to you in Yangzhou. They will be your servants. They are my clever confidants who have bitchy mouths. If you need, just assign them. Yuan, since you are going to recuperate at Luo’s Mansion, why don’t you make up a disguise on the way? It looks so strange if you visit others with a bamboo mask. Maybe they will regard you as a leper and lock you up. Also, you should make your face a bit ugly and don’t go around in Luo’s Mansion to attract women, causing a house of beautiful women missing you so much…”
“Ming Yue will replace you to dress up as Feng Yang temporally. I guess you must have a lot of things to enjoin him.” Ning Yuan couldn’t bear Chang Nuo’s nonsense. He frowned for a moment and said, “I have no idea what else to tell you now… Anyway, you’d better play it by ear with Ming Ri by your side. And you can ask him for help if you have any questions. After everything settles down, you can pretend to be bedridden, and then you will be able to change Ming Ri into my appearance and let him stay in bed. By doing so, you will be able to return to Yangzhou City.”
“Come on, Yuan. Just relax, there will be no trouble.” Chang Nuo held Ning Yuan in his arms and took a pat, “Alas, you are three years younger than me, but you talk and act like a little old man, worrying about everything all day long. Don’t you feel tired? You should relax your mind during this healing time. When you are free, you can read poems, play the flute and dally with women in Luo’s Mansion…”
“Young Lord, First Master Guan comes to say farewell…” With this sound, the curtain was suddenly lifted, and Feng Yan’s head came in. Seeing the Young Lord and Childe Ning embracing each other, Feng Yan was frightened to “the sound of the curtain” and put down the curtain. He turned his head and laughed to Guan Bai, “Please hold on a minute, First Master Guan. Our Young Lord will see you soon, ha!”
At the same time, Guan Bai also saw the scene inside the gharry through the half-raised curtain. Also, every expression and action of Feng Yang’s intimate manservant had already exposed the story.
At once, Guan Bai lowered his head in some distresses and thoughts. He didn’t know whether Feng Yang was a bisexual or a gay. It was fine if he was the former, because Guai Bai’s Fourth Younger Sister and Fifth Younger Sister both were interested in Feng Yang. His parents were also intended to settle the marriage with Feng’s Family, so he was asked to talk about it with Feng Yang at the right time… Anyway, his sisters would have to share their husband with other women, and there was no difference between sharing with men or women… But if he were the latter, it would be bad. Because if Feng Yang couldn’t marry his Fourth and Fifth sisters, Guai Bai or his Second Younger Brother would have to marry a daughter of Feng’s Family. However, it was said that the daughters of Feng’s Family weren’t ladylike. They looked just like old women bosses in gangster inns in Jianghu…”
With worries, Guan Bai saw the curtain of the gharry was opened, and then Feng Yang came out. After simply arranging the clothes that were messed up when he blocked Madam Luo’s gharry, Feng Yang smiled uneasily, “Guan, how about your horse? What did you give it to eat before? Ha ha!”
“Oh,” Guai Bai answered in a muffled voice when it came to his lovely foal, “It’s a real disaster. Wu Ti has always been clever, sensible, and he knows man’s thinking. It was beyond my expectation that he caused such a big mess this time. I have to break one of its front feet. I’m afraid he can’t run any more… Alas, his feed has always been taken care of by specially assigned persons. Is there a problem with the feed? It’s not like poisoning from the symptoms. His eyes are red and tongue is white. Did he drink too much yesterday? Alas, poor Wu Ti!”
Feng Yang put his hand on Guan Bai’s shoulder and comforted him, “Don’t be sad. Maybe it can be cured if you nurse it carefully. I’ll go with you to Xi Mu Horse Ranch to pick a new one if I’m free next month...” Unexpectedly, Guan Bai, whose back suddenly stiffened, suddenly changed his standing position unnaturally as his face turned embarrassed. By doing so, he just “happened” to shake off Feng Yang’s arm upon his shoulder.
Being afraid of Feng Yang’s displeasure, Guan Bai quickly smiled and changed a topic, “Feng, why are you together with Madam Luo? I remember last time when you met people of Luo’s Mansion in my garden, you didn’t even recognize Madam Luo.”
“It’s a long story. I have something urgent to do. I’ll tell you next time when we have a drink.” Feng Yang turned around to summon Ming Yue and then turned to ask Guan Bai, “I’m going to say goodbye to Madam Luo. Guan, do you want to go with me?”
Guan Bai nodded, “Of course, I was about to apologize to Madam Luo for what happened just now. Although it’s a false alarm, it scared the girl to vomit blood. Do you happen to know who she is? I often walk around the East Yard and West Yard of Luo’s Mansion, but I don’t remember such a person among the ladies.”
Feng Yang scratched his chin and recalled, “Maybe she is the daughter of First Madam Luo’s daughter, because she was called ‘Yi’ all the time…”
Hearing that the three men, Feng Yang, Ming Yue and Guan Bai, had gone to the opposite side, Ning Yuan, who was preparing the ingredients of disguise in the gharry, immediately raised his head and summoned Feng Yan and Feng Yu who were outside the gharry, “Listen, you two go along this street and look for the wild flowers and weeds beside the road. If you see a kind of fragrant white flower, take all the petals of the flowers back to me. All of them should be picked, but not the stems and leaves. Also, you need to buy a bag of salt to sprinkle on the stems. Well, don’t be dazed. Go back quickly!”
On the other side of the gharry, Mammy Tang asked Madam Luo, “Most of the compensation we sent out has come back. Do you think we should stop right here or let Ji send them again?”
Madam Luo turned to see He Danggui and said kindly, “Yi, those common people only gave these silvers back because of your kindness. You can decide how to deal with them.” In fact, Madam Luo wanted to send the money out again. Because at this moment, scattering money was much better than delivering rice and money in a shed specially.
He Danggui naturally complied with Madam Luo and said, “In my opinion, it’s better to ask Miss Ji to send them again. We can do this in the name of making amends for interrupting the hawkers’ business and delaying trips of the passers-by. After all, it’s our fault. What do you think, Grandma?”
Madam Luo nodded, “Sounds great. That’s settled.” So, she turned to Miss Ji and said, “The rest of us are going back home first, and then we will let another gharry send some medicines to the public and pick you up afterwards.”
He Danggui also seized the opportunity, “Miss Ji, I’ll ask Chan Yi and Huai Hua to help you. Anyway, this gharry is not enough to take them as well. I’ll let them go back to the mansion with the next gharry later.” So, Miss Ji agreed as she got off the gharry. Feng Yang and Guan Bai also got there and heard the conversation. Guan Bai took the opportunity to hand over an ingot of 10 liang silver to Miss Ji with a smile, “Please give those silvers to the mother and son who were just frightened. It’s my fault for almost causing a disaster.”
Miss Ji left after taking the silvers. And Guan Bai then apologized to He Danggui, “Sister, I’m so sorry to frighten you today. I will make amends with you some day.”
He Danggui shook her head and said, “Childe Guan, it doesn’t matter. I wasn’t frightened. And I’m sorry for soiling your cloth.” Anyway, it was the Huolie Flower on the street corner that caused the disaster, which made two parties suffer losses. Madam Luo was stunned, Guan Bai broke the leg of his lovely foal, and the man with the bamboo mask vomited blood. What was worse? She was the unluckiest one who had to face the bad situation of the trudge with Zhenqi again. She remembered that last time Gao Jue had said that if this situation didn’t be dealt with well, she would be paralyzed even if she didn’t die? She might have to guide the Zhenqi in her body through Yunqi Acupuncture. She should have bought some silver needles in Tu’er Town if she had ever foreseen this. She wondered if she could sneak into Senior Lord Luo’s room tonight and take some good acupuncture needles…
“Not at all, my sister. My cloth doesn’t matter. I should apologize to you.” Guan Bai made a little bow again, being polite with her. But this time, he didn’t get her answer. When he looked up, he only saw the little face under the veil. She was stupefied. He guessed she must be over-shocked, so he turned to Madam Luo again and apologized quite sincerely. Then he went back to deal with the delivery of Wu Ti.
Feng Yang came up again. He gave Madam Luo an excuse that he had something urgent to deal with. Besides, he had to prepare some gifts to see his aunt, so he had to leave for a moment.
At first, Madam Luo said that the gift was totally unnecessary, and she didn’t want to let Feng Yang go easily after all the efforts she made. Later, she heard that Feng Yang hoped to send the patient in his gharry to Luo’s Mansion first for rest and treatment. She thought that there was a hostage in her hand, so she was not afraid if Feng Yang didn’t come later. Therefore, she agreed.
After this communication, Feng Yang left with Ming Yue. And the gharries that Madam Luo and Ning Yuan took also departed one after another and went straight to Xiaodong Street, Hongpei Avenue.
He Danggui thought that at this moment, the mansion was absolutely in a mess for eliminating rats, and the West Lateral court was burn down. She had better find another good place in Luo’s Mansion to have a rest. So, she advised Madam Luo, “Grandma, the immortal in my dream had said that there were some troubles on our way home today. I didn’t believe it at first, but he was totally right about it. He also said that if we want to go home safely today, we can’t go back to the East Yard of Luo’s Mansion through the main gate, but turn into the side door of Mingyue Alley, and then go to Senior Lord Luo’s Ting Zhu Yard for two or three days. During this period, we can’t let anyone of Luo’s Families in. Otherwise there will be bloodshed disasters.” For example, she would spit blood from time to time, and have the risk of paralysis.
“What! I can’t believe this!” Madam Luo sat up straightly in surprise, and immediately complained about He Danggui, “Yi, why didn’t you tell us earlier? No wonder my head is always dizzy, my eyelids are always twitching, and my heart is still pounding! Hong Jiang, hurry up!” Under Madam Luo’s urging, Mammy Tang commanded Ren Dongteng and Gui Banjiao to leave the avenue and go straight to the Mingyue Alley.
Soon, the two gharries stopped at the side door on the north side of Luo’s Mansion. After Mammy Tang’s enjoining, Ren Dongteng went up and knocked on the door gently. He pulled Ma Douling on the door and whispered something. The latter was immediately ordered to hoot other manservants and the passers-by. After that, Madam Luo, He Danggui and Mammy Tang quickly got out of the gharry and looked around stealthily. Then they trotted straight to Senior Lord Luo’s Ting Zhu Yard, leaving the patient in the back gharry behind.
Ning Yuan opened the curtain of the gharry, but Feng Yan and Feng Yu did not come back from their mission. The front gharry was also empty. When Ning Yuan was frowning and thinking, Feng Yan covered his chest and gasped for breath. He ran up and said, “Childe Ning, we found the flower you… you mentioned, but someone… got the head start. I have asked Feng Yu to stay with that the stems there. I just come back to ask you if you want the stems… without the petals you wanted?”
“Someone got the head start?” Ning Yuan raised his eyebrow as the eyebrow on his new face also raised.
“Yep...” Feng Yan said as his left hand gesticulated, “That Miss of Luo’s Family, as tall as this… who almost died. She asked her maid to take the flowers… all with nothing… left!”