Novel Bin Chapter 131 - The father of my mother’s teacher
Chapter 131 The father of my mother’s teacher
At this time, He Danggui gave the third cup of tea to Meng Xuan, who took it to taste. The confused look in his eyes flickered in the dense vapor.
Meng Xuan always thought that the girl was different, but he didn’t figure out her uniqueness. Now he found that the girl acted like a noble. For example, she walked slowly and quietly, but her dress did not move a little. When she talked, her expressions are relaxed, as if she was an official dealing with “diplomatic affairs”. If she was not born in this way, she must be trained specially and seriously. But no one would be trained like this except the princesses?
As noble as Meng’s Family, an Earl family, his three sisters were taught about etiquette by mammies from the Imperial Palace. They had been taught not to grin and not to show feet in walking since their childhood. But none of them could obey the rules in daily life. After all, everyone was relaxed in their own family. They could laugh and run casually.
He heard that Madam Luo just called her “Danggui”, and the Third Miss Guan Yun called her “Miss He”. Therefore, where did the girl named “He Danggui” grow up? She must live in a quite noble place where people couldn’t talk or laugh casually for many years, so she behaved in an aristocratic manner.
“Yi”, Madam Luo drank a cup of tea, and chatted with He Danggui as if she forgot about the present situation, “Your mother Chuanxiong once learned the tea art from a tea expert Song Shuwen who was called ‘Junior Lu Yu’. But I think your skill of making tea is better than hers. Did you learn it from your mother? How could you be better than her?”
He Danggui smiled and replied, “I cannot compare with my mother. Tea tasting is nothing more than a state of peaceful mind. Grandma, you are calm and relaxed at the moment. Therefore, it tastes good and delicious.” Then she held the teapot to pour out the fourth cup of tea and taste it. At the same time, she thought, “You do not know, Grandma. The teacher of my mum is the “Junior Lu Yu” Song Shuwen, but my teacher in the previous life was the father of Song Shuwen — ‘Senior Lu Yu’.”
At this time, no one in the hall noticed that another masked man was lurking outside the transom above the hall.
After He Danggui poured out the four cups of tea, the three cups had been tasted out except the one of Geng Bingxiu. The room was full of tea fragrance. At this time, a voice came far outside the hall. It was Guan Bai, “Childe Duan, you come back! Do you know why the soldiers outside the mansion came here?”
Then Duan Xiaolou said, “Go ahead first. Everyone should be upset in waiting.”
Then Guan Yun shouted, “Ah! Brother Xiaolou, your hand is hurt, and it bled! What happened? Did you fight with the soldiers? Let me bind it up!”
All people in the hall were listening attentively. At that moment, the masked man suddenly ran away from the side door, carrying Madam Luo in one hand and Third Miss in the other. Everyone in the hall screamed. Mammy Tang shouted, “Madam Luo, Third Miss”. Luo Baiying was glad that the wicked finally left and at the same time, asked the maids to find the Four Guards of Luo’s Family. Luo Baiqiong stood up and ran to the side hall quickly as if her broken leg recovered suddenly. She thought, “Where is safe? Yes, let me hide in the restroom of the side hall where no one was inside!”
Seeing that two people beside him were taken away, Meng Xuan was angry and regretted about what had happened. And he was astonished to find that he was too weak to stand up! What the hell was going on? Was it an overpowering drug? It was impossible! No overpowering drug in the world could work on him because he was powerful enough!
Hearing the noise in the hall, Duan Xiaolou immediately flew in like an arrow and asked in a loud voice, “What happened?” At the same time, he tried his best to search the hall for someone. But the hall was in a mess like a vegetable market. Even if someone answered his question, he could only hear a few fragmented sentences, “Third Miss... tasted tea...” (In Chinese, the pronunciation of “tasting tea” is similar to that of “committing suicide”.)
Duan Xiaolou was shocked, continuing to search the hall. He asked seriously, “Where is she?” Then another person pointed to the side door of the hall, so Duan Xiaolou used arts of lightness to fly over the head of the people to the side door.
In the hall, one next to the speaker was surprised to ask, “What did you say to Childe Duan? Why he suddenly became crazy?” The speaker looked even more surprised, “Huh? I just said, ‘Madam Luo asked the Third Miss to make tea for her, but they stopped in half way’. Before I said that they stopped tasting tea because they were arrested by a bad man, he rushed away!” Another man sighed, “What a kind man!”
Outside the main hall, Duan Xiaolou flew to search for He Danggui in the darkness. Gosh! He had just known that she committed suicide, but forgot to ask how did she do it. Did she jump into a lake, or a well? Or did she hang herself? How to find her in a darkness? Damn, he didn’t expect that she would commit suicide just after a few moments!
He pretended not to recognize her because he asked Master Geng to be a matchmaker. If other people knew that they had stayed together in a Taoist temple in a mountain for a few days, and then he, a Shizi, proposed to her, a daughter of a concubine with low status, as his wife, all kinds of rumors would spread and damage her reputation... It was destined! This time, in order to meet her, he tried his best to take the job of catching Bai Yangbai in Yangzhou City! He heard that Guan’s Family and Luo’s Family were old friends, so he asked Guan Bai to bring him to the feast in Luo’s Mansion. However, he didn’t expect that she would commit suicide because he didn’t recognize her!
“Sister He, do you know how much I missed you in the capital? I cannot wait for our “half-year agreement”. My mind is all about you when I’m awake. You show up in my wine cup when I’m drinking; you are holding a cup of tea beside me and smiling when I’m reading in the midnight; I saw that you married someone when I closed my eyes to sleep. In my dream, you smiled and waved to me, saying, ‘Childe Duan, you are not my Mr. Right. Wish you good luck!’’’ Duan Xiaolou thought.
“In my dream, I was so worried that I could not speak. After waking up, I found that the dagger engraved with your image had made a red mark on my chest. Then I stared at the image as small as a copper coin to miss you... Sister He, why did you commit suicide? Why didn’t you wait for me? Please wait for me! I will come to you soon, and we will never be apart!”
On the other side, the Sister He of Duan Xiaolou was still alive, and was happy to negotiate with the masked man, “Knight, my grandmother is about 50 kilograms and it is hard for her to walk by herself. She will exhaust you! Although she is honorable, no one could recognize her as Madam Luo or Mammy Luo who deals with the excreta in Luo’s Mansion in the darkness and mess. I think you can leave her here, and we can walk faster together!”
Geng Bingxiu kept silent, and stared at the little girl. She was kidnapped and would lose her life easily if he wanted. He wondered why she didn’t fear of it but still bargained with him. Did she have any background to support her?
“You see! My grandmother sleeps like a dead pig.” He Danggui pointed to Madam Luo on the ground who was knocked out as soon as they flew out. He Danggui shook her head and sighed, “I have heard that the dead pig is the heaviest thing in the world. It weighs like a mountain. And I hear that your breath is in disorder. Dou you have an internal injury? Is it necessary for you to carry such a thing with you?”
Geng Bingxiu stared at He Danggui, “What! You know I have an internal injury. How do you know? Do you also practice martial arts?”
He Danggui played her handkerchief, lowered down her head and said in a low voice, “Uncle Knight, do I look like a person who practices martial arts? You are kidding me. Don’t waste time. Let’s go fast. Otherwise, we will be caught by guards who are all seniors in martial arts!” As she said, she dragged Geng Bingxiu to the dark garden. Geng Bingxiu looked back and was reluctant to leave Madam Luo who was asleep. But finally, he made up his mind to leave her and run away with her granddaughter.
He Danggui was happy to see that the masked man finally decided to leave Madam Luo. Madam Luo would be saved by Duan Xiaolou and Pan Jingyang who were chasing behind them! It would be easier for her to escape if she was the only hostage. When she was close to him, she knew that although the masked man was good at martial arts, he was seriously injured both internally and externally. His breath was weak and in disorder. And his legs began to bleed after running. It was really strange that he should be hurt on legs because legs were the strongest part of a martial artist, not to mention a senior. Who could hurt him like this? Was the person fighting with him… a dwarf?
“What do you see, girl? You’d better show me the way to the secret exit of Luo’s Mansion. If you dare to play a trick, as a knight, I will gouge your eyes out!” Geng Bingxiu grabbed He Danggui’s collar, running and threatening her. As long as he saw her clever eyes, he felt that she was thinking some evil ideas to against him.
“What for?” He Danggui clutched the masked man’s arm and said carelessly, “If you gouge my eyes out, no one will show you the way. If you pull my tongue out, no one will answer your questions. Why don’t you cut my ears? I can hear without ears anyway. Do you have a knife or a dagger? Get ready!”
No one ever dared to despise his methods for torturing others like this. Geng Bingxiu was furious and said, “Hum! As a knight, I have a hundred ways to make you beg for death. Even if you are brave and knowledgeable, you have never known my ways to torture. Beg to me, or I will let you know the feeling of ‘rolling on the board full of nails’!”
“Rolling on the board full of nails, now?” He Danggui asked as she ran, “We need a wooden board with rusty nails, but I find that you don’t have anything like this on you, Uncle?” Before he replied, He Danggui smiled again, “‘Rolling on the board full of nails’ is the favorite method of the officials for torturing others. Are you one of them? Oh, nice to meet you!”
Geng Bingxiu was so surprised that he stumbled and almost fell down. A pair of small hands supported him kindly, and their owner asked with concern, “Uncle, are you OK? Do you feel uncomfortable with the mask on your face? Let me help you to take it off!”
“Help me to take the mask off?” Geng Bingxiu thought. Then he immediately stopped, “Hum! As a knight, I don’t need your help. I’ll take the mask off by myself when I want to. As soon as I take it off, you’re going to die!”
“Ah, ah, I am so scared!” He Danggui patted her chest and said, “But why don’t you go, Uncle? You let me drag you to walk all the time. You are really heavier than the plow. Sorry, I cannot support you anymore. I’ll let go!”
Geng Bingxiu fell to the ground, feeling too weak to sit up. He screamed in horror, “What have you done to me?”
“Shh!” He Danggui said, gently and dangerously, with a slender finger on her lips, “Lower your voice down, Uncle! What if the pursuers hear us?”