Chapter 121 Fellow Sufferers Empathize With Each Other; The Truth is Revealed [1]
“I heard that her mother’s medical skills were superb. The daughter is following in her mother’s footsteps. And now she formed a female medical team. Such ability is really a blessing for the military.”
“Yes. No matter what, she cured Shizi’s leg, wasn’t averse to him, and agreed to marry him. She’s more righteous than Duke Yongnan’s whole family. Haven’t you heard? In order to cure his son, Duke Yongnan took advantage of the situation and coerced Mu Xiaojie.”
“Yes. When Taizi, Third w.a.n.gzi, and An w.a.n.g Shizi competed to marry Mu Xiaojie, everyone thought that there was some secret entanglement among them. To prove his granddaughter’s innocence, Old General Mu refused Taizi, Third w.a.n.gzi, and An w.a.n.g Shizi’s marriage proposals. At that time, Duke Yongnan came to beg on his knees for Old General Mu to marry Mu Xiaojie to his son. He said that his son wouldn’t marry anyone but Mu Xiaojie. If this wasn’t taking advantage of the situation, then what is it? Poor Mu Xiaojie. She cured his son’s leg and even had to agree to marry his son.”
“If Taizi, Third w.a.n.gzi, and An w.a.n.g Shizi are bad people, then Duke Yongnan and his son are even worse people. How can they bully people like that? Without Old General Mu, would our Great Yan be so peaceful?”
“……”
There were people in teahouses and wine shops everywhere in the capital discussing this matter.
Of course, they were discussing it in whispers. But they still pa.s.sed into the ears of Taizi, Third w.a.n.gzi, and Shangguan LingRan.
Despite his anger, when Taizi heard, he let out a sigh of relief.
Third w.a.n.gzi ruthlessly smashed all the antique jade in his room. “A little Shizi dares to fight with Benw.a.n.gzi for a woman! Wait and see. Benw.a.n.gzi will make you suffer terribly and show off Benw.a.n.gzi’s ability.”
At this time, Second w.a.n.gzi was feeling sorry for Zi You. His brain suddenly lit up. He said to his eunuch Xiao Zhuzhi, “Push Benw.a.n.gzi to Mufei’s.”
[Mufei: imperial consort mother, who is not the Empress (Muhou)]
Xiao Zhuzhi knew that Second w.a.n.gzi had a bad temper so he did not dare to delay. He hurriedly pushed the wheelchair De Fei’s Changchun Palace.
De Fei saw that her son came so she hurried went to meet him. She asked, with great expectation, “Son, how is it today? Was there any feeling?”
Second w.a.n.gzi saw that his Mufei asked him this every time she saw him. He couldn’t bear to make his Mufei sad anymore, so he revealed a far-fetched smile. “Mufei, Erchen feels much better today than yesterday.”
Speaking of which, his Mufei was very pitiful. Since he was paralyzed, she wasn’t in the mood to curry favor with his Fuw.a.n.g. As a result, she went from a favored consort to a resentful wife.
He was also upset that she asked him if he had any feeling in his legs every time, so he didn’t come to see her.
Second w.a.n.gzi looked at his Mufei’s somewhat haggard face and didn’t want to make her sad. So, he quickly said what was on his mind. “Mufei, Erchen wanted to come to talk about something. Duke Yongnan Shizi’s leg had a poisonous sore a few days ago. Imperial doctors were invited from all over but could not cure it. Do you know about this matter?”
De Fei thought to herself, ‘You think that I have the time to worry about others? I can’t even worry about you enough. Where do I have the mood to care about others?’
But she could not say these words. Otherwise, she wouldn’t know how sad her son would be.
De Fei suppressed her heart full of bitterness. She forced herself to smile and said, “I heard, but didn’t ask more about it.”
Second w.a.n.gzi spoke somewhat excitedly, “Mufei, things were like this. Duke Yongnan Shizi’s leg grew a poisonous sore. None of the imperial doctors could cure it. Do you know who cured it in the end?”
After he asked, Second w.a.n.gzi did not wait for De Fei to answer, and said excitedly, “Old General Mu’s granddaughter, Mu Xiaojie, cured it. This makes son hold a bit of hope. Those imperial doctors said that they couldn’t cure son’s injuries back then too. Son is now thinking if their medical skills were too bad? If Mu Xiaojie tries to treat son, do you think there will be hope?”
De Fei was a little surprised. Since her son was paralyzed, he hadn’t trusted anyone again.
What did this Mu Zi You do that made her son so trusting of her?
De Fei did not know that since her son’s paralysis, almost everyone looked at him with eyes of contempt or sympathy. No one was like Zi You who looked at him with astounded eyes.
That look was like when people used to look at him before he was paralyzed.
He was the handsomest among the w.a.n.gzis. Plus, he had his Fuw.a.n.g’s favor, so at the time, everyone looked at him with envious and astounded eyes.
But later on…… Second w.a.n.gzi thought of everything that happened after he was paralyzed. He was secretly determined that he must stand up again. He wanted the people who have hurt him, threw rocks while he was down, and despised him to pay the price.
De Fei watched her eyes changed from pained, resentful, ruthless, and finally determined. It was like a knife was slicing her heart.
Her eyes turned misty. She endured for a long time and rubbed her eyes. Then she strongly smiled. “Okay. Since you said so, then Mufei will go ask the Emperor……”
“Don’t ask him!” De Fei had not finished speaking, but Second w.a.n.gzi objected with a gloomy face. “Don’t ask him, Mufei. He has plenty of sons. He no longer cares about son’s life or death. If Mufei does not agree, son will go ask Mu Xiaojie personally.”
“Mufei agrees, Mufei agrees. Mufei will summon her to the Palace tomorrow.” De Fei heard how deep her son’s resentment towards the Emperor was and was even sadder. What more was there to say? She hurriedly nodded in agreement.
However, Second w.a.n.gzi shook his head. “How about Mufei sending someone to summon her to the Palace right now? Son heard that she was going into the mountains with Old General Mu to train soldiers. Son is afraid that it will be too late.”
De Fei looked at the time. It had pa.s.sed Bu Shi [3 to 5 p.m.] so she persuaded, “It’s late now. Old General Mu might not agree. Let’s be prudent and wait until tomorrow. Mufei knows that you’re anxious, but you still have to consider others’ difficulties, right?”
Second w.a.n.gzi nodded in embarra.s.sment. “Yes, son is too impatient and didn’t consider it. We’ll do it according to what Mufei said then.”
De Fei had not summoned Zi You into the Palace, but Shangguan LingRan ran to Hundred Herb Garden that night.
When he heard that Zi You was engaged to Zhao HongXiang, he was extremely angry!
He took out the earring that he stole from Zi You and angrily scolded, “This idiot! She clearly knows that that Zhao HongXiang is nothing good and clearly knows that this Shizi likes her. But you dare to get engaged to him? Wait for this Ye. See how this Ye will take care of you!”
Shangguan LingRan was secretly frightened when he arrived at Hundred Herb Garden. He hadn’t come to find Zi You for nine days because he was anxious to recover his martial arts to seek revenge from Shangguan Lingluo.
He didn’t expect that her Hundred Herb Garden array had changed and it was harder to solve than the last one.
Even though he had seen many arrays, he still needed more than half an hour to completely solve it.
After he solved the array and came to the Hundred Herb Garden’s door, unsurprisingly, he met Weishali and the spirit pets it led.
Weishali saw that it was him and spat and rolled its eyes in despise twice. Then he reported to Zi You, “Little master, that An w.a.n.g Shizi is here again.”
“Kick him out,” Zi You ordered impolitely. She really didn’t want to be involved with him.
However, she underestimated Shangguan LingRan’s power. Since his martial arts were fully recovered, how could these spirit pets stop him?
Soon, Weishali reported again. “This man’s martial arts are too strong. We can’t hold on.”
“Hateful!” Zi You scolded out loud. She put the several kinds of poisons that she extracted from herbs into a porcelain bottle and put it away carefully. She turned to leave.
At the entrance to Hundred Herb Garden, she saw Weishali and the small animals being surrounded by a red flame.
That red fire emitted a purple color. Zi You was quite certain that that was the most beautiful flame she had ever seen.
“What are you doing here?” Zi You asked coldly.
“If Ye doesn’t come, Ye’s wife will have ran off with someone else.” Shangguan LingRan also answered huffily.
“Who is your wife?” Zi You was angry. She generated her spiritual power to disperse the flame, but there was no effect.
Zi You suppressed the shock in her heart. She revealed a flirtatious smile, like the black mandara flowers in the flower bed. “Eh? How fun. Shangguan LingRan, what kind of fire is this? How come I can’t destroy it?”
Then she deliberately lifted her foot to step on the flame.
Shangguan LingRan was startled. He flew over and extinguished the flames. Then he pulled her into his arms. “You really are stupid! Is the flame something you can stomp out? Careful it doesn’t burn you into a skeleton!”
Zi You secretly and proudly laughed. She did that on purpose to see if Shangguan LingRan latched onto her out of some other motive or if he was sincere.
Seeing that he was so concerned over her, her heart wasn’t moved, but there was a trace of pride.
Thus, she deliberately did not break free from his arms and lifted her head to look at him. She lightly smiled as she asked, “What kind of martial arts are you practicing that is so powerful? Even Weishali is trapped by you.”
Because Zi You just used her spiritual power, her eyes were a deep purple. Underneath the moonlight, they sparkled and were even more dazzling than amethysts, as if they could illuminate his shadow.
Shangguan LingRan was stunned as he looked at her. He muttered, “Amethysts…… You’er, your eyes are really beautiful!”
He bent down to kiss her, but Zi You tapped his acupuncture point. “Haha…… Shangguan LingRan, you’ve fallen for a trick.”
Zi You looked at Shangguan LingRan’s startled expression and was as proud as a fox.
Then she pushed him down, grabbed his legs, and pulled him into the house.
She took a pair of extremely sharp flower-tr.i.m.m.i.n.g scissors and walked around him. Her eyes landed on Shangguan LingRan’s crotch underneath his abdomen.
She smiled devilishly and enchantingly. Her voice was gentler than ever. “Shizi Ye, you spend your days in brothels and the red-light district. What do you think if I…… cut off your little brother today and turn you into a eunuch?”
Shangguan LingRan looked at her in alarm and anger. He scolded, “You heartless darned yatou! You want to kill your husband?”