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 accustomed to showing her intimacy in front of others, so he changed the topic hastily, "What should we do now? How about… letting the yamen runners search through the Taoist Temple?"
This scared the h.e.l.l 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?! Some Taoist nuns who also hid some secret stuffs in secret became 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 steamed buns in the kitchen were constantly missing. 1 or 2 now and then. I thought we have thieves here!"
"Bah! I thought it was something precious. Just a few coins worthy stuff, excuse me? The statues of immortals were brushed with gold in our Taoist Temple. Why did no one sc.r.a.pe the gold on them?"
"How dare you call yourself a Lady? Losing an old and cheap lock and you come 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 came here, Jin Xun had a crush on this handsome 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 same evening, she got a place to serve the diner, and she almost became crazy for extreme happiness. She kept fawning on him at diner and she also sang a tune from her home town. But to her disappointment, 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 surname of Gao was annoyed by the hara.s.s of Zhen Shu, Huai Wen and some 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 d.a.m.n 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 become so mean?
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 memory 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 stammered, "How do you know my religious name?"
He Danggui lied calmly, "Because I heard someone call you once the other day. Although my memory is not very good, I remember it unconsciously." Liao Zhiyuan hissed, then Jin Xun felt more embarra.s.sed. She retreated to the wall and said no more.
Lu Jiangbei looked at Tai Shan, pretending to be furious, "You unruly people, if someone dared to buy time again, you crime would not be regarded as covering the arsonist, but accomplice! Let me ask you one last time, 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 times and begged with cries and tears, "Please listen to me, please listen to me! This is our fault. We were frightened by the fire and distracted to misunderstand Miss He! Now I come 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 statement. 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 someone who forced us to this circ.u.mstance 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 same mistakes, I"ll help you correct it."
Tai Shan"s face was complicated, as if she ate a bucket of s.h.i.+t just now.
"First, I"ve just said that the gold lock was a gift my mother gave me 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 means 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 embarra.s.sed 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 memory, that"s so pity. There"s nothing I can do to help. Third, Master Tai Shan and every master here didn"t "misunderstand" me. The thing was there for all to see, all of you "wronged" me."
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 came 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 men 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 some 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 something, just waiting for the hearing. Hum, at that time, 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, "b.i.t.c.h, 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 time, we saw Zhen Jing dressing Miss He with shroud through the window. Huai Dong stared at the gold lock all the time! But when the Younger Master asked her just now, she said she couldn"t remember. She"s definitely guilty for her crimes!"
So, everyone looked at the Taoist nun who named 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 b.i.t.c.h without conscience. You are arrested for arson but you are talking nonsense here to force others to take the blame! b.i.t.c.h, do you want me 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 me? Would you like me 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 me! Huai Xin framed me! If everyone doesn"t believe me, 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 framed her, and Huai Xin had done all the crimes! 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?"