Chapter 98 Shen Qingying, Stop Playing Dead!
Achan swiftly grabbed his hand and pulled the jade bottle from Bai Xiuming's loosely clenched hand.
"Don't be so stingy. If Lord Shen finds out, he'll be heartbroken."
"He's gotten used to it." That's what he said, but Bai Xiuming didn't take the jade bottle back.
Ah Chan snorted inwardly, saying one thing but meaning another. Anyway, once the item was in her hands, it was hers.
Bai Xiuming watched as she ran back to the bedside, rummaged through her purse, stuffed the jade bottle inside, and slowly said, "Do you know what crime it is to rob a Great Xia official?"
Ah Chan tied the purse, then replied dismissively without turning her head, "I know~ I won't do it again next time."
After putting the things away, Achan sat back down next to Bai Xiuming, bringing with her a faint fragrance.
She poured him a glass of water, presented it with both hands, and said considerately, "Lord Bai, you've worked hard. Please have some water."
Bai Xiuming stared at her for a long time, then took the water glass she offered, but did not drink it. Instead, he held the small glass in his hand, waiting for her to speak.
As expected, Achan did not disappoint him. She first offered her favors, and then immediately revealed her true intentions.
"Bai Xiuming, you killed that dragon a long time ago, why are you still keeping it?"
"Nowhere to use it."
You have nowhere to use it, but I can.
Achan leaned closer and asked him, "I heard that you killed many demons in Youzhou. Do you still have a lot of precious materials that you don't know where to use?"
Bai Xiuming turned his head, a hint of a smile in his deep eyes: "Indeed quite a lot. Are you very interested in my wealth?"
Achan was taken aback. Should she answer that she was interested or not? She felt like there was something wrong with the question.
Finally, she held up one finger: "Just a little bit."
"Oh, then I can't tell you."
"Why?" Achan was immediately dissatisfied. The two collaborations had been so pleasant.
She even plans to make a list so she can get goods from him for free in the future.
Faced with Achan's question, Bai Xiuming had no intention of giving an answer. He directly changed the subject: "The Xiling area has been quite unstable these past few days, so try to stay home as much as possible."
Achan looked at him with resentment.
This feeling is terrible; it's like knowing there's a treasure mountain in front of you, but not knowing what treasures are hidden inside.
Under her melancholy gaze, Bai Xiuming remained unmoved and instead asked, "Did you hear that?"
"I heard you."
It seems he really doesn't intend to say anything more, so Achan had no choice but to give up for the time being.
If she doesn't succeed this time, there will be another time. One day she will be able to get something out of him.
Bai Xiuming stood up, seemingly intending to leave.
Achan's gaze followed him, and she suddenly asked, "Bai Xiuming, on the day of the engagement, are you going to the Shen family to pick up Shen Yingzhu?"
Bai Xiuming looked down at her: "Otherwise what?"
This step wasn't originally included, but we have to add it now. Otherwise, if the Dragon Mother goes mad, Shen Zhuo and the others alone might not be able to control the situation.
The events unfolded too suddenly, and the Mingjing Division's preparations were not yet in place, but it was ultimately to their advantage.
As for the King of Xiling, he had his own ways of dealing with him.
"Then you'd better be careful, lest you get captured by the Dragon Mother." Achan's concern was rather perfunctory.
It's a pity she can't go see the excitement herself; the scene that day must be spectacular, she said with longing.
Suddenly, the candlelight in the room went out with a hiss. Ah Chan let out a short "Ah!" and then there was complete silence in the darkness. Bai Xiuming had vanished without a trace.
"He didn't even say goodbye," Ah Chan muttered, quite dissatisfied with his sudden disappearance.
She briefly weighed the options between lighting candles, organizing materials, and going to sleep, and decisively chose to go back to sleep.
She groped her way back to her bed, got into position, and after a short while, sleepiness came over her again, and she fell asleep.
Perhaps knowing she had something to do, Achan opened her eyes just after 7 a.m.
Unable to manage a nap, she reluctantly got up to wash and get ready for bed.
After breakfast, Achan pulled Chen Hui into the bedroom so she could admire the treasure she had just acquired.
Seeing a pile of things on the table in her room, Chen Hui asked, "Did that Lord Shen come again last night?"
She was considering whether to temporarily stop using the demon beast blood.
Otherwise, I sleep so soundly every night that I wouldn't even know if someone entered the yard.
“It wasn’t him, Bai Xiuming delivered the things.” Achan rummaged through the purse she had thrown at the foot of the bed and proudly showed her the jade bottle inside.
Chen Hui took the jade bottle, somewhat surprised. The bottle was extremely cold to the touch, but a warmth quickly followed, suppressing the chill.
She couldn't help but ask curiously, "What's in there?"
"Dragon Essence".
Chen Hui looked at the thing in her hand, then at A Chan, as if confirming with her whether it was the thing she thought it was.
"Just as you thought, this stuff is incredibly precious." She sat back down in her chair, a smile on her face. "Bai Xiuming was very generous this time, giving us this small bottle. We should have about half left."
What do you plan to do with this?
"Make a pill of fragrant medicine."
"You intend to give it to...Miss Light Mist?"
"How did you guess?" Achan asked.
She remembered that when Shen Qingwu spoke to her, Huiniang was still cooking in the kitchen.
“If she didn’t have something to tell you, why would she send Huixue to me for help?”
Achan had a different opinion. She said seriously, "I believe Huixue is genuinely trying to help."
Who could resist Hui Niang's cooking skills?
Chen Hui chuckled: "Are we going to start preparing the incense now?"
"right."
Achan took out the bottle containing the moonlit toad saliva and poured it all into a bowl.
Chen Hui went to the kitchen and found some tea oil, then soaked the whole piece of *Que Si Xiang* (a type of fragrant wood) in it. The fragrance of the *Que Si Xiang* became very faint after being soaked in the oil, and after about an hour, the fragrance had completely dissipated.
During this time, Achan crushed the other three spiritual herbs in a mortar and pestle, squeezed out the juice, and let it stand.
After preparing all the ingredients, Achan first took out a piece of incense the size of a fingernail, mashed it into a paste, and then mixed it into the saliva of the moon toad.
The saliva was originally gray, but after absorbing the fragrant mud, it turned milky white and had a slight sheen.
The saliva wasn't sticky at first, but after being stirred repeatedly, it slowly began to solidify.
Achan took it out and had Huiniang roll it into a sheet with a rolling pin, then shaped it into a bowl shape with her hands. Afterwards, she took out the light green juice mixed with the spiritual herbs, quickly took out a jade bottle, and poured half a bottle of dragon essence into it.
The moment the bottle was opened, even Chen Hui felt a surge of heat, which seemed to carry a fishy smell.
However, after being poured into the herbal juice, the taste changed to a faint herbal fragrance, and the texture also changed slightly, becoming much thicker.
Achan poured the substance into the shaped moonlit toad saliva, and then Chen Hui quickly pinched the opening closed, rolling it into a ball.
They placed the finished balls aside to air dry. Visibly, the outer layer of saliva mixed with the pungent smell of the dead slowly contracted and gradually hardened.
Hui Niang was very skilled; the fragrant herbs she kneaded were perfectly round, and when they were completely dry, they turned into something resembling a lustrous pearl.
You can smell a fragrance that is a mixture of deadly incense and spiritual herbs without even getting close. It smells like fruit but is very refreshing.
Having prepared the incense, Achan placed it in the cloth bag sewn by Huiniang, waiting for Shen Qingwu to come and collect it the next day.
The next day, Shen Qingwu brought Shen Huixue to visit his home again.
The two also brought snacks, candied fruits, and milk.
Upon seeing the milk, Chen Hui went to make milk tea for them. As she left, she casually pulled Shen Huixue along, saying she wanted her to taste it.
After everyone left, Achan took out the cloth bag and handed it to Shen Qingwu.
Shen Qingwu took the cloth bag, and before she even opened it, she could already smell the fragrance. She carefully poured out the contents, and unlike the dark, murky sachets she had expected, the so-called fragrant medicine actually looked like a pearl of excellent quality.
If it weren't for the fragrance emanating from the incense, she would have really thought that Ah Chan had taken the wrong thing.
"How do I use this? Can I just carry it with me?" Shen Qingwu asked.
"Right now it's just an ordinary incense pill. When you see someone, just crush it."
"It's that simple?"
“Of course it’s not simple.” Achan’s expression became much more serious. “After you crush the incense, you only have the time it takes for an incense stick to burn to get away. If you don’t get far enough away within that time, you wouldn’t want to know what it’s like for a dragon from the Four Realms to go berserk.”
Shen Qingwu nodded: "I understand. Liufeng's inner core is still in my hands, and I will not allow anything to happen to me."
She took the inner core out, so naturally she had to get it back safely, otherwise what would happen to her Returning Snow?
Seeing this, Achan said no more. She had done all she could, and now it was up to Shen Qingwu.
After a brief exchange, Chen Hui and Shen Huixue returned with milk tea. The four of them sat around the table, eating snacks and drinking sweet milk tea. The afternoon passed quickly.
Two more days passed, and early in the morning, the sound of gongs and drums came from outside. Achan kicked open the door impatiently and asked Chen Hui, who was tearing wood in the yard, "Hui-niang, what's going on outside?"
Stacking the torn wooden strips neatly, Chen Hui said calmly, "What else can we do? Today is the engagement of the Prince of Xiling, a day of celebration for the people. Several processions are walking through the streets and alleys, handing out wedding candy and throwing copper coins everywhere."
Only after Hui Niang reminded her did A Chan remember what day it was.
"The Prince of Xiling really values this engagement banquet. The Shen family must be very lively right now, right?" She looked towards the entrance, and although she couldn't see anything, she seemed to foresee the bustling Shen family at this moment.
Early in the morning, Shen Qingwu and Shen Huixue got up early to do their makeup. By the time they finished, the people sent by Shen Zhiheng had already arrived.
The person who came was Shen Zhiheng's confidant. Shen Huixue had known him since childhood. This person was from a collateral branch of the Shen family and was named Shen Shunian.
Shen Qingwu asked the other party to wait a moment, saying that she needed to go back to get an important congratulatory gift. Shen Shunian seemed to understand her implied meaning, and a hint of excitement appeared on his face.
After waiting a while, when she came out again, she had a delicately embroidered purse on her belt.
Seeing that she had a purse hanging from her arm and a sachet on her arm, Shen Shunian didn't say much. He simply respectfully invited her and Shen Huixue to get into the carriage sent by the Shen family, while he rode ahead on horseback to lead the way.
Inside the carriage, a mother and daughter were talking.
Because they were standing quite close, Shen Huixue unexpectedly noticed that the incense on her mother seemed to have changed its scent. The scent was somewhat unfamiliar, but it smelled very nice.
He couldn't help but ask, "Mother, did you change the incense?"
Shen Qingwu was taken aback for a moment, then smiled and said, "Yes, the fragrant pills that Achan gave me, I thought they smelled really good, so I put them in a sachet."
Shen Huixue wholeheartedly agreed: "Achan's incense-making skills are indeed quite good, but she's not very diligent. Fortunately, she doesn't make a living by selling incense pills, otherwise she would starve to death."
Little did she know that Ah Chan had also been diligent, but eventually found it too difficult to support herself, so she had to find another way and go and inherit the estate.
Shen Qingwu looked at her daughter, who became much more lively when Achan was mentioned, and a smile appeared on her face.
She has made some good friends in Huixue, and things will only get better in the future.
"Why did Uncle send someone to pick us up today, and even his personal staff?" Shen Huixue asked her mother in a low voice.
"They probably thought I wouldn't recognize the way to the Shen family's house, so they specially sent someone to guide me."
Why did Shen Zhiheng send someone to pick her up? Naturally, it was because he was worried that she hadn't brought the important "congratulatory gift" with her.
Shen Huixue found this explanation somewhat strange, but she didn't delve into it further.
The carriage was getting closer and closer to the Shen family. Shen Qingwu suddenly said, "Hui Xue, your mother needs to talk to your uncle in a little while. You are not familiar with those people in the Shen family, so don't pay them any attention. After you see Shen Yingzhu, find an excuse to leave first. Remember, you must leave the Shen family and stay far away from them."
Shen Huixue's expression changed; how could she not sense the problem? Her expression turned grave: "Mother, you..."
Shen Qingwu whispered in her ear, "Listen to your mother, don't worry, nothing will happen."
Shen Huixue was still uneasy: "Mother, whatever you want to do, I can accompany you."
Shen Qingwu shook her head: "Mother is going to see her former sisters, and you can't be by her side."
"But……"
"No buts."
Shen Qingwu's attitude was too resolute, and Shen Huixue had no choice but to compromise in the end.
"Are you sure nothing will happen?"
Shen Qingwu couldn't help but laugh, her tone relaxed: "What could possibly happen to me in the Shen family? Don't worry, my poison has been cured, and nothing serious will happen."
Although Shen Huixue knew that her mother was just deceiving her, she could only take it seriously and remember that she would be leaving the Shen family soon.
The carriage soon stopped, and Shen Shunian dismounted and stood beside the carriage, helping Shen Qingwu down from it.
At this moment, the vermilion gate of the Shen family ancestral home was open, and Shen Qingwu's sister-in-law, Zhao, along with several female relatives from collateral branches of the Shen family, walked out together, seemingly to welcome guests.
Before even stepping out the door, I saw Shen Qingwu, whom I hadn't seen for many years.
Although I had already heard from my husband that my sister-in-law was getting better, I was still quite surprised to see her in person.
"Sister-in-law, it's been a long time." Shen Qingwu stepped forward to greet Zhao Shi.
"I heard from your elder brother that you've recovered. It's wonderful that you could come today." Zhao's face showed some excitement, but only she knew how much of it was genuine and how much was feigned.
Shen Huixue watched from the side; she had never seen her aunt so warm and welcoming to anyone before.
It was this very aunt who suggested sending her to the capital. Back then, she even reminded herself to always be grateful for the Shen family's kindness to her.
"I hope my sister-in-law doesn't mind my presumption. I wonder where my brother is? I have something to discuss with him."
Seeing Shen Shunian following behind, Zhao immediately made up her mind and whispered to her, "Your eldest brother should be at the ancestral hall right now. Just have Shunian take you there. As for Huixue..."
She hesitated for a moment. Someone of Shen Huixue's status was naturally not qualified to approach the Shen family ancestral hall.
"Let Huixue go see Yingzhu first, then let her play by herself. Sister-in-law, you don't need to worry about her."
These words were exactly what Zhao was thinking, and she quickly nodded and said, "Alright, I'll have the maid take Xue back right away."
As the mother and daughter parted, Shen Huixue looked at Shen Qingwu with concern. Shen Qingwu waved to her and followed Shen Shunian away.
The Shen family's ancestral home was located in a relatively remote area, nestled against a mountain. The front yard, where people lived, was fine, but the back became increasingly gloomy.
All she knew was that the backyard was the Shen family's ancestral hall, and the area behind it, which connected to the mountain, was the Shen family's forbidden area, which was not allowed to be entered under normal circumstances; at least, Shen Qingwu had never been inside.
After bringing Shen Qingwu over, Shen Shunian waited at the entrance of the ancestral hall until Shen Zhiheng came out and whispered a few words to him before Shen Shunian turned and left.
"Qingwu, you've arrived." After Shen Shunian left, Shen Zhiheng strode up to Shen Qingwu, his gaze sweeping over the purse at her waist.
Shen Qingwu smiled and congratulated Shen Zhiheng: "Brother, you are in excellent spirits today. Congratulations!"
"Haha, congratulations to you too." Shen Zhiheng could not hide his joy. Although he was unable to marry his daughter to the second young master, the heir was not bad either. As long as he entered the Xiling Prince's Mansion, it would be a good match.
"I heard you saw your sister-in-law at the gate. Why don't you go with her to meet the clansmen?"
Shen Qingwu sighed softly: "More than ten years have passed in the blink of an eye. I don't recognize many of the people anymore, and I wouldn't know what to say if I saw them. Let's just leave it at that."
"You just overthink things."
“Rather than seeing those people’s pitying looks, I’d rather hear them say some sour things, like Shen Qingying…” She paused halfway through her sentence, then asked hesitantly, “Big brother, is Shen Qingying still alive?”
Shen Zhiyuan was taken aback, then laughed and said, "You still remember him."
"Of course I remember. We've been arguing since we were kids, so we're pretty close. Yingzhu's engagement—isn't her here today, her aunt?"
"She came too, but like you, she doesn't want to see anyone."
“That’s perfect. It’s been over ten years since I last saw her. I’ll go see if she’s gotten any uglier,” Shen Qingwu said casually.
Shen Zhiheng hesitated only slightly before Shen Qingwu asked, "Is it inconvenient for me to see her right now?"
He immediately realized that his sister probably knew something about their father's plans from back then, so there was no need to hide this from her.
Besides... she brought a demon core today, so there's really no need to upset her over some trivial matters.
She laughed and said, "You're sisters, it's just a meeting, there's nothing inconvenient about it."
After saying that, he led her around the ancestral hall and into the courtyard behind it.
"Qingying is resting in the back courtyard. Things are different now, so don't argue with her again."
"knew."
The back courtyard was already against the mountain, and it was completely quiet, without even any maids serving.
Shen Zhiheng opened the courtyard gate and led Shen Qingwu inside.
He spoke only after they reached the outside of a house: "Qingying, I've brought Qingwu to see you."
The room was quiet. After waiting for a while, Shen Qingwu suddenly spoke up: "Shen Qingying, are you ashamed to be seen by anyone now? Stop pretending to be dead."
The door suddenly slammed open, and a woman's hoarse, sinister voice came from inside: "Shen Qingwu, you're still alive."
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