Chapter 120 : Hara.s.sing Him
Trigger Warning: involuntary s.e.xual actions under the influence of drugs
Xiao Shao carried Jiang Ruan all the way back to the Jinying w.a.n.gfu. At the same time Steward Lin was perusing the account book carefully, for the Jinyi Guard had sent over a pair of imported items the previous day, saying that they were novel items from overseas. Two thick pieces of coloured gla.s.s were in front of his eyes, enabling him to see the book extremely clearly. Upon realising that Xiao Shao had returned, Steward Lin unconsciously stood up. When he finally noticed that Xiao Shao was holding a young woman, it was as if his mind had been struck by a bolt of lightning and was thrown into immediate chaos; he could not speak a single word.
It was only after Xiao Shao had taken several strides towards his room, kicked open the door, then turned to shut it firmly, that Steward Lin came back to his senses. When a familiar figure dropped down from the sky, Steward Lin grabbed hold of Jin San and asked, “Jin San, what happened to w.a.n.gye? Who, who, who is that?”
Within the Jinyi Guard, Jin Yi and Jin Er were twin brothers, while Jin San and Jin Si were twin sisters. The four of them could be said to be Xiao Shao’s personal bodyguards, the little chiefs of the Jinyi Guard. Steward Lin liked to approach these four any time he wanted some information.
Jin San shrugged her shoulders and said, “It’s Young Furen, Lao Lin. Don’t blame me for not warning you, but you will have to wait upon Young Furen for the next few days, as Master has commanded me to see to other matters. It’s best to prepare yourself.”
She had only taken a few steps before she turned around and cautioned him, “By the way, Young Furen has been drugged with an aphrodisiac. Therefore, Lao Lin, you’d better not casually walk in to take a look at what’s going on, otherwise Master will be even more enraged.”
A long time after Jin San had left, Steward Lin was still standing in his original position, gobsmacked. The little moustache above his upper lip was moving up and down with his breaths. Young Furen . . .drugged with an aphrodisiac. . . even more enraged . . .
Steward Lin was so overcome by emotion that his tears flowed freely. “Young Master will have heirs!”
* * *
In contrast to Steward Lin who was outside the room smiling until his eyes were mere slits, inside, Xiao Shao was somewhat at a loss as to what to do. He had given Jiang Ruan some medicine and had also bandaged the wound on her arm. Who would have thought that the drug within Jiang Ruan would peak in its effect, causing her entire body to writhe sinuously. Xiao Shao had originally intended to stimulate the appropriate acupuncture point to get her to sleep, but the effect of the drug was too overwhelming. Even though he had some medical skill, he feared harming her body. When he thought of how Xuan You had dared to give Jiang Ruan such a potent drug, his eyes turned cold and pitch-black.
Jiang Ruan lay flat on Xiao Shao’s bed, but had kicked off the blanket which Xiao Shao had covered her with in an instant. Perhaps because she was too hot, she had also unconsciously pulled open the collar of her clothes. Xiao Shao had just turned around, intending to wipe her forehead with a wrung out handkerchief that had been soaked in cold water beforehand, when he was met with a wide expanse of shining white flesh. It was l.u.s.trous and dewy, as pale as snow. Xiao Shao stilled, utterly thunderstruck for a brief moment, then hurriedly picked up the discarded blanket to cover Jiang Ruan again.
Little did he imagine that, as he covered her with the blanket, Jiang Ruan would grab his hand. As the effect of the drug reached its peak, Jiang Ruan was unusually strong. She caught Xiao Shao off guard and hauled him towards her so that he staggered and almost fell on top of her; he reached out his hand instinctively and planted it next to Jiang Ruan’s head in order to support his weight.
Jiang Ruan opened her eyes abruptly and stared unblinkingly at Xiao Shao. Her eyes were naturally beautiful, but now, under the influence of the drug, they were even more alluring. In his lifetime, Xiao Shao had met numerous beautiful women, but he never once imagined that today, because of one look from Jiang Ruan, his heart rate would actually quicken, and a faint blush would spread across his elegant visage. Thinking that Jiang Ruan was lucid, he whispered, “Jiang Ruan.”
However, Jiang Ruan just stared at him fixedly. Then, her eyes began to lose focus. Xiao Shao was just about to speak when, out of the blue, Jiang Ruan stretched out her hands to reach around Xiao Shao’s neck, pulling him against herself in a sudden move.
Xiao Shao was truly at a loss this time.
Something soft pressed against his lips, and unlike her usual cold and indifferent appearance, it was as fragrant as a flower. Xiao Shao’s long eyelashes fluttered lower as he fixed his pitch-black eyes on this young lady who was obviously delirious.
“Monster . . .” Jiang Ruan whispered indistinctly as she relaxed her hold slightly.
Xiao Shao raised his eyebrows. Was she talking about him?
Clearly, Jiang Ruan had no idea who he was at this point in time. She murmured, “Your body is so cold,” as she snuggled into Xiao Shao’s arms. Xiao Shao found himself in a quandary. He could still handle Jiang Ruan nestling against him, but why was she tugging at his belt?
When he thought about how, since his youth, he had lived dispa.s.sionately showing neither happiness nor anger, this was really a pretty pickle of a situation. He held on to his belt with one hand and eyed Jiang Ruan pressing herself against him with exasperated helplessness. Someone who had ingested the drug was really completely changed; why was Jin San not back yet?
Steward Lin, who was risking his life by peeking through the flower window, was totally flushed. On the one hand, he was completely bowled over by the boldness of the future Young Furen; on the other hand, the virtuous and upright behaviour of his own Young Master was threatening to severely undermine his health. Young Furen had taken the initiative in such a manner, so Young Master, being a man, should fearlessly advance! Steward Lin shook his head and sighed. His Young Master was good in every way, just that his moral character was too good. If it had been any other man, he himself would long ago have become the antidote to the drug Jiang Ruan had been given.
* * *
Amongst the twelve pleasure houses of the capital, Bai Hua Lou was the most renowned. Not to mention the beauty and intelligence of its diverse group of ladies, all of them had seen various and diverse aspects of society. Thus, it was not surprising that even high officials and members of the n.o.bility were willing to partake of the entertainment they offered, and sang their praises. However, today, an unusual guest arrived.
This guest wore a long gown and green cloth boots, with long hair tied high. The appearance was that of a man, but it was easy to see that it was actually a woman. The brothel’s Madam glared at her venomously. At one glance, she could see that this woman walked with a certain bearing, her facial features were very pretty, and while her clothes were simple, they were made of the costly rain silk brocade. Although it was definitely strange for a woman to walk into a brothel, the Madam still welcomed her and said, “Why does Miss want to visit our Bai Hua Lou?”
Jin San glanced at the Madam and said, “Rumour has it that Bai Hua Lou is experienced and knowledgeable. What do you know about chunfengdu[1]?
[1] 春风渡 (chun feng du) – literally, ‘spring wind crossing’.
The Madam’s face changed immediately and she a.s.sessed Jin San with great seriousness. After some thought, she asked, with extreme caution, “Why does Miss want to ask about chunfengdu?
“I have a friend who has been affected by it due to carelessness. Since Bai Hua Lou is acknowledged to be the capital’s biggest ‘Cave of Beauties’, surely you must know something about its use?”
In his younger days, Xiao Shao had travelled extensively. After today’s incident, he had sent someone to look for the cup that Jiang Ruan had drunk from, and when he smelled the remnant of the contents, he thought that it was very much like chunfengdu, which he had previously encountered. Moreover, even though he had studied pharmacology, he had never researched this drug, and naturally did not know its antidote. However, Bai Hua Lou’s Madam would certainly know of some way to counter the drug, so he had commanded Jin San to look into it.
The Madam smiled and said, “I won’t conceal anything from Miss, chunfengdu is an aphrodisiac of the highest quality, and it is extremely powerful. As long as someone has ingested this, if that person does not become intimate with someone within 6 hours, he or she will die of the poison. They call it an aphrodisiac, but they might as well call it a poison.” The Madam smiled apologetically as she said, “In my opinion, Miss, if your friend still has time, just look for someone to be intimate with.”
“If it were this simple, why would I look for you?” Jin San said with some impatience. “I have more pressing matters to attend to, so if Madam could bring the antidote out quickly, that would be great.”
The Madam made a show of being highly awkward as she said, “Miss, it’s not that this old person doesn’t want to give you the antidote, it’s just that the antidote for chunfengdu is very rare. No one has ever asked for the antidote to counter the drug’s effect before; Miss, this . . .”
“Ten thousand taels,” Jin San said.
“Miss, this is really . . .”
“Of gold.”
The Madam shut her mouth, and her face was immediately wreathed in smiles, such that she resembled a blooming flower. She said, “This old person will send someone to fetch the antidote straightaway.” In her opinion, the person before her was spending money foolishly; who on earth would throw away ten thousand gold pieces on an antidote for an aphrodisiac? Whose virtue was so valuable? Even Bai Hua Lou’s leading performer would be hard pressed to encounter a benefactor willing to spend ten thousand gold pieces in one night.
With one look at the expression on the Madam’s face, Jin San knew exactly what she was thinking. She cursed inwardly; tonight, Young Furen was truly proving to be more costly than the most famous beauty in Bai Hua Lou. Ahhhhh, what was she saying, how could she compare the irreproachable and spotless Young Furen with a courtesan!
* * *
Once Jin San returned to the fu with the antidote, she could not help her shock upon seeing Xiao Shao. His face was crimson, and his customary cold and detached visage seemed to have cracked greatly. He was sitting bolt upright next to the bed, and underneath his long black robe, some suspicious things were moving slightly.
Jin San covered her nose; who would not feel a surge of heat on glimpsing this scene?
Xiao Shao expressionlessly received the antidote and said, “Out.”
Jin San felt extremely embarra.s.sed on departing the scene. When all was said and done, had she done something good, or something bad? She never thought that Young Master, who appeared cold and detached, would be as pa.s.sionate as a scorching fire. What had Young Furen been doing under Master’s clothes? Would Master harbour ill feelings towards her because she had given him the antidote?
The more Jin San thought about it, the more uneasy she felt, and resolved to look for Jin Si to talk over today’s happenings. After she had left, Steward Lin stood alone outside the door, beating his chest. Even though tears were still flowing down his cheeks, now they were tears of anxiety.
Young Master, you spent so much money on an antidote; does your family know what you’ve done? You will ruin your family! Don’t you know that the best antidote is a person? Old Furen looking down from heaven must be furious!
Xiao Shao supported Jiang Ruan’s head as he fed her the antidote. As he looked down at the woman in his arms, his earlier awkwardness receded, and he was now completely serious. He was aware of the activity outside the room, and neither was he deaf. On this matter of a person being the best antidote, even if Jiang Ruan herself did not take offence, he would never take advantage of her predicament. The notion had never entered his mind, and even if he did have the stirring of feelings for her, his emotions were governed by propriety. In some ways, although Xiao Shao had had to make his way in the world from a young age and had seen many things, he was like a blank piece of paper when it came to his own body and physical experiences. In Steward Lin’s words, he was too much of a gentleman.
* * *
That night, almost all of the people in the Jinying w.a.n.gfu were unable to sleep well, and it was the same with the Jinyi Guard. However, while the former were too excited to sleep, the latter were too busy to sleep. The people in the Jinying w.a.n.gfu were all surrept.i.tiously discussing the possibility of gaining a mistress yet, as they had been specially trained by Steward Lin, they were very discreet. Not a word leaked out about the situation, otherwise Jiang Ruan’s reputation would have been greatly affected.
Jiang Ruan awoke to the sensation of her entire body aching tremendously. Ma.s.saging her head, she sat up, and noticed a pretty maidservant tidying the items on the table in front of her. Noticing that Jiang Ruan was awake, the maidservant came forward and asked, with concern in her voice, “Is Miss Jiang feeling better?”
Jiang Ruan noticed that the maidservant was looking at her with a slightly strange expression; there seemed to be a hint of a smile, and an air of familiarity that was close to overstepping boundaries. Despite her suspicions, Jiang Ruan smiled slightly as she replied, “I’m fine. Where is this place?”
“Jinying w.a.n.gfu.” The maidservant smiled even more sweetly as she said, “w.a.n.gye brought Miss here yesterday and looked after you all night. He only just went out.” The maidservant looked at the bowl of medicine on the table, picked it up and brought it to Jiang Ruan’s lips, saying, “Since Miss is awake, please drink this medicine.”
As if to confirm her words, Xiao Shao walked into the room, saw the maidservant preparing to give Jiang Ruan the medicine, and said, “Leave. I will feed her.”
The maidservant smiled mischievously and left the room with her hand over her mouth, turning back only to close the door considerately. As Jiang Ruan regarded Xiao Shao, fragmentary scenes flashed across her mind. She knew that she had ingested a potent aphrodisiac the day before, but she could not recall anything after that, only that Xiao Shao had rescued her in front of Xuan You. She knew without a doubt that Xiao Shao would not take advantage of her while she was in difficulty, so her concern was whether she had done something improper towards Xiao Shao while under the influence of the drug. Thinking about this, Jiang Ruan’s head ached. Why did things have to become so hazy after she remembered up to this point?
Xiao Shao sat by the bed and took up the bowl of medicine. Jiang Ruan was about to reach out for it when her arm throbbed with severe pain. She looked down and noted that her arm was wrapped in white cloth bandages, then remembered that she had hurt it the day before. Subconsciously, she reached for the dagger which she always kept on her, and it took her a moment to understand that she had dropped it somewhere.
Xiao Shao retrieved an item from the belt around his waist and placed it in front of her. “Are you looking for this?”
It was indeed the exquisite dagger, and Jiang Ruan stretched out a hand to grasp it. Looking up, she met Xiao Shao’s eyes, which were shining brilliantly, like stars. She was stunned momentarily. When the moment pa.s.sed, Xiao Shao had already lowered his head, and quietly used a silver spoon to scoop up some medicine and bring it to her mouth.
Since it was not convenient to use her hands at present, she obediently swallowed the medicine that Xiao Shao was feeding her, without the slightest embarra.s.sment. The two of them were sitting so close to each other that she could smell the nice, clean smell of Xiao Shao’s body. Jiang Ruan was momentarily dazed.
When the bowl of medicine had been drained, Xiao Shao took a few sweets from another bowl and offered them to Jiang Ruan. The sweets were adorably brightly coloured, and Jiang Ruan stared at them blankly for an instant. Xiao Shao explained, “If you eat them, the bitterness will be gone.”
Jiang Ruan, “ . . . .”
She was not a three-year old child! Why was Xiao Shao using a tone of voice more suited to coaxing small children? What had happened to his usual serious expression? It was just that such great kindness was difficult to come by and, looking into that pair of pitch-black eyes like shining stars, Jiang Ruan could not find it in her to utter any words of rejection. After she had put the sweets in her mouth, she came back to her senses. In her previous life, and even in this life, how long had it been since she had eaten such things? The medicine was an extravagance, even more so these sweets which only those who were deeply cherished would be able to enjoy. Feeling that eating such sweets was detrimental to her current calm image, Jiang Ruan eyed Xiao Shao while secretly thinking, ‘Evil demon!’
Xiao Shao raised his eyebrows as he gauged Jiang Ruan’s reaction, amused. After some thought, he said, “Last night, you were affected by ‘chunfengdu’.
She knew instantly what it was when she heard this name. Jiang Ruan looked at Xiao Shao with suspicion and felt somewhat uneasy. She asked, tentatively, “Did I perhaps act inappropriately towards you?”
“No,” Xiao Shao replied.
Jiang Ruan breathed a sigh of relief, then heard Xiao Shao continue in a steady voice, “You only threw yourself at me, pulled off my belt, and hugged me tightly while refusing to let me go.”
Jiang Ruan was flabbergasted. Looking at Xiao Shao’s serious and cold expression, it did not seem as if he was joking with her.
“You are a man. The one who would suffer is me,” Jiang Ruan emphasised.
Xiao Shao thought for a moment, then nodded and made a sound of agreement.
Fearful that Xiao Shao would carry on with this awfully embarra.s.sing topic, Jiang Ruan hurried to change the subject and asked, “Do you know who was behind last night’s scheme against me?”
When he heard this, Xiao Shao’s eyes turned cold as he said, “I know.” He glanced at Jiang Ruan, whose expression had become cold and impa.s.sive, and asked her pensively, “Do you know?”
From Jiang Ruan’s expression, it seemed that she had figured out who was behind the scheme some time ago. She said, “Don’t you already know?”
Xiao Shao was silent. What was the Jinyi Guard, after all? They were the quickest in the capital at gathering information. When he had found out that this was all Imperial Consort Chen’s doing, Xiao Shao had been both furious and astonished. With Jiang Ruan’s current special status, Imperial Consort Chen should not have used such methods to humiliate her. If Imperial Consort Chen were an intelligent person, she ought to figure out how to develop Jiang Ruan’s power and influence for her own use, and definitely not resort to such a cruel method where the aim could only be to ruin Jiang Ruan for life. If he had arrived just a little later last night, Jiang Ruan might not have been able to escape from that calamity.
“Since Imperial Consort Chen has schemed against me in this way, how can I not reciprocate with a big gift?” Every inch of Jiang Ruan’s expression radiated coldness. The road of vengeance had to be walked one step at a time, but since Imperial Consort Chen had taken the initiative to act, how would it be possible to sit and wait for death?
“I will help you,” Xiao Shao declared. With this simple statement, he made his standpoint clear.
Jiang Ruan looked at him and said, “You have nothing to do with this situation, so why bother to involve yourself?” In reality, if she truly gave in to such a selfish idea, having Xiao Shao on her side would be the same as possessing a life-saving talisman, and would greatly facilitate the everyday execution of her plans. Thinking from the perspective of taking advantage of his authority, in truth, the protection that Xiao Shao would afford her was much greater than that of Liu Min. However, the greater her debt to him, the more uneasy she became. In life, the most difficult debt to repay was the debt of grat.i.tude. When all was said and done, this man was one who attached the utmost importance to the ties between people, making him a rarity on this earth, a truly n.o.ble person. His only flaw was that his usual temperament was somewhat stiff and he wasn’t that eloquent.
“I have taken advantage of you, and must compensate for it,” said Xiao Shao as he looked at her seriously.
Jiang Ruan was speechless. She must really have a bad memory to think that this man’s temperament was stiff and ineloquent!
Then with a ‘bang’, the door was pushed open from the outside, and an entire group of eavesdroppers fell to the floor. As Xiao Shao frowned, Steward Lin was the first to stand up. Clearing his throat, he said, in deadly earnest, “w.a.n.gye, the ten thousand taels of gold you spent on the antidote for Miss Jiang last night has been entered into the accounts, do you want to look them over?”
“No need.”
Jiang Ruan stared at Xiao Shao in absolute shock. “Ten thousand taels?”
Jin Si hid behind Steward Lin and ‘kindly’ reminded Jiang Ruan, “Wasn’t Miss affected by chunfengdu last night? w.a.n.gye used ten thousand taels of gold to buy the antidote from Bai Hua Lou.”
Xiao Shao was frowning once again, why was everyone blabbing away like this? When had he ever involved himself with the money and account matters, but today they had all shown up at this moment to actively discuss this.
During Jiang Chao’s situation, Jiang Ruan experienced what Bai Hua Lou was like, and knew well what kind of place it was – a money squandering establishment. She had not realised until that time how expensive a top-ranked beauty could be, and the antidote to a drug would be just as expensive. Ten thousand taels of gold. Very well, her debt had grown tremendously.
Steward Lin was inwardly very pleased with himself. It was good that Young Furen knew how large her debt was; if she had no money, she could repay the debt in person.
Jin Si noticed the faintly displeased expression on Master’s face, and could not stop herself from holding her forehead. Why was Master so stupid? By making known the extravagant[2] amount spent on her, surely Miss would be moved?
[2] 掷千金 (yi zhi qian jin) – lit. to stake a thousand pieces of gold on one throw (idiom); to throw away money recklessly / extravagant.
However, the two people in the room were not cognisant of the other people’s complicated ways of thinking. One had a strange expression on her face, while the other was faintly frowning. The former was blaming the pleasure establishment’s black heart for plunging her into a debt that she would never be able to finish repaying in her lifetime; the latter was thinking that there were so many people, it was truly noisy, and there was no way that any kind of romantic[3] feelings could bloom.
[3] 风花雪月 (feng hua xue yue) – lit. wind, flowers, snow, moon. Fig. referring to the trite subjects of poetry; effete language without substance; romance is in the air.