"What are you talking about?" Duan Xiaolou was shocked at her words. He got extremely angry but smiled, "What do you mean your chest got a hole? Who did this? I"ll punch out that guy! And what do you mean you are jealous of me as soon as you see me? As long as you accept me, I and all I have are yours. It"s totally unnecessary for your jealousy. Also, what do you mean I love you because I got briefly blind? Alas, your words are super cute. Haw-haw!" His embarra.s.sing 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 meet at the wrong time. If I met 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 time he held her in his arms, but it was the first time he had the cold and thin feeling. He even thought there was no reality. He felt like she was a ghost without living ent.i.ty, 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 me? You"re the first girl who makes me fall in love. I don"t want to say how good you are or how sincere I am. But could you please give me a chance to prove myself? Even if you can"t trust me right now, time 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 met?
"Actually, I come 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 Wus.h.i.+ 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 medicinal peddler, Tai Chen, was just a windfall. The most surprising thing is that we got the evidence of a three-cla.s.s official buying Wus.h.i.+ 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 me the secrets of you imperial guards."
Duan Xiaolou smiled, "I like telling you these things, and I prefer you to listen to me."
"A storyteller of Tu"er Town said that Shui Shang Temple was built in the later period of Yuan Dynasty. Some Taoist priests found a rare gra.s.s growing in the mountain, so they built the Taoist Temple for making pills. We were interested in this temple at that time, 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 Wus.h.i.+ Powder instead of the so-called "rare gra.s.s"." Duan Xiaolou paused for a moment, then he suddenly touched He Danggui"s face with his thumb. He said in a low and kind voice, "Will you please marry me? I"ll tell you everything I know in the future, okay?"
He Danggui looked down and her mind had an instant change. Sometimes 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 me 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, remember what you promised me—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 p.o.r.nographic pictures in the Taoist Temple, because Tai Xi will punish them with the commandments 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 become her persuader? I"ll give you the same as she gives. If so, will you also care for me?"
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 mentioned just now." Then he took out two small snow porcelain bottles, "I sent this medicine 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 mentioned, and you help me take my medicine. How do you like it?"
Staring at the two exquisite medicine bottles engraved with the words "Yao s.h.i.+ 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 me, 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 medicines is equal to 10 times 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 medicine" by many doctors. As far as I know, the two are always too valuable to be bought in the herbal medicine shops. Whoever wants the medicine should find the four most hard-to-find medicines in the prescription in person, and send them to the herbal medicine shop, then the pharmacist would make the pill freshly. Among these pharmacists, the best ones are from Yao s.h.i.+ Tang in Yingtian Prefecture, and the price is more expensive than that of ordinary herbal medicine shops."
Duan Xiaolou became 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 w.a.n.g Xi, the shopkeeper of Yao s.h.i.+ Tang. The two medicines 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 me as an outsider. Or—I will pluck out Tai Shan"s hair and let her become 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 medicine is warm and pungent. It"s better to take it before bed at night. If you feel fl.u.s.tered after eating it, don"t drink cold water. It can be relieved by pus.h.i.+ng 100 times from your heart to your abdomen. 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 me do it tonight…"
"No, I can do it. Don"t worry, I won"t waste any drop of such precious medicine," 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 medicines are a timely help to me and they could save me a lot of time. I am really…happy." However, her expression and tone said the opposite, and there was a sense of gnas.h.i.+ng 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 remembered the last time when he sent her the medicine, she did the same! He tilted his head doubtfully and gazed at her eyes, "Is there anything wrong with the medicines? That is impossible. Yao s.h.i.+ Tang of He"s Family is one of the 3 major medicine pharmacies that supplies official medicine for the imperial court. Moreover, Yao s.h.i.+ Tang—well, Yao s.h.i.+ Tang is owned by He" Family, and your family name 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 name. Luo"s Family did a good job to hide the fact. Therefore, few people knew the relations.h.i.+p between the two Families that both supplied official medicines. They have no contact with each other now, but 10 years ago, they shared friends.h.i.+p 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 s.h.i.+ Tang. Otherwise I won"t have hurt you with this. Don"t do that, okay? Don"t show me that look. We have made an appointment that we are going to..."
He Danggui raised her lips, "That"s not an appointment, 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 me. Well, let"s not talk about it anymore. I"ll take the medicine 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 me a favor again."