Chapter 43 Return to its Rightful Owner: The ivory dagger returned to Le Jin after many years...
As autumn approaches, the summer heat seems to have disappeared into the ground, and today a light drizzle has even begun to fall.
Le Jin sat under the eaves watching Bao Yin, flipping colorful paper flowers in her hands, sometimes turning them into small dragons, sometimes into flower balls.
I opened the box of sweet cakes I had on hand, and there were only two pieces left.
"Baoyin, do you want it?"
Le Jinming spoke softly, but Bao Yin was still startled, and the paper in her hand fluttered and fell to the ground.
She has recovered well and no longer suddenly screams or pushes everyone away, but she is still very resistant to external noises.
Baoyin picked up the paper flowers, glanced at Lejin, then quickly looked down and continued playing quietly by herself.
A bitter feeling welled up in Le Jin's heart. Such a lovely girl shouldn't have to suffer like this.
Her gaze fell on the sweet cake, and she picked up a piece and stuffed it all into her mouth in one gulp, as if venting her anger.
This is the fourth day that Yue Zhao has confined him to his quarters.
The reason? She knew without even guessing: Meng Shutai must have complained.
What a despicable person!
She was worried about Baoyin and didn't want to cling to him anymore, but who knew that being confined to the house would be so much more torturous than she had imagined!
This old house is small; it was the Le family's residence before they became wealthy. It only has four rooms and a small courtyard.
There are only walls, and only the sky.
Le Jin felt like the moss in the corner was growing all over her body from sitting there all day!
Ugh, so frustrating.
She tilted her head back and leaned out from under the eaves, and the cool raindrops fell on her face like slightly heavy hair.
They're all just threads of worry.
Time seemed to shift across his face; someone was coming.
When Le Jin opened her eyes, she almost spat out the pastry she was eating.
"Dede (brother)!"
Le Zhao pinched the bridge of his nose, his eyes filled with vicissitudes. "I told you to stay home and reflect on your mistakes, but you're just enjoying yourself?"
Le Jin chewed and swallowed the cake crumbs with all her might, then patted the crumbs off her lips, looking completely obedient.
"No, no, I've been reflecting on my mistakes!"
Her eyes were wide open, and she stood up with her hands behind her back, much like when she was a child and Le Zhao would grab her by the back of her collar and pull her up to recite lessons.
A part of her heart softened, and Le Zhao coughed, covering her mouth, and turned away intentionally to avoid looking at her.
Having finally decided to take action, this time we can't give up halfway.
"Do you know where you went wrong?"
Le Jin nodded vigorously, pointing out one by one the ridiculous things she had done since arriving in Luoyang, and sincerely promised Le Zhao that she would never do them again.
"Never do it again?" Yue Zhao frowned slightly. "How many times did you say that at home? When have you ever kept your word?"
Le Jin estimated that in Le Zhao's mind, her credibility was probably negative...
She grinned sheepishly and wisely refrained from replying.
Le Zhao walked up the steps, his face cold, and gently brushed the stray hairs from Le Jin's mouth, smoothing them behind her ear.
"You're becoming more and more like a child, how can I let you get married..."
Le Zhao was critical in his words, but his actions betrayed him.
He's not angry anymore!
Le Jin's clear eyes shone with an unusual light. "Whether I get married or not is another matter. Could you please lift my confinement first?"
Le Zhao smirked and gave Le Jin a solid tap on the forehead.
"This is punishment, and you still want to bargain?"
"Ouch~" Le Jin rubbed her hand in pain, but she saw a smile clearly rising in Le Zhao's eyes.
There's hope.
“Then…” She turned left and right looking for an excuse, when she suddenly saw Baoyin.
"Then I won't lift the confinement, but could I take Baoyin to see a doctor one last time?"
Le Jin moved closer to him little by little, "Okay?"
Le Zhao leaned back, seemingly disgusted by Le Jin's coquettishness, but the corners of her mouth still involuntarily curled up.
He knew that unless he never saw her again, he would eventually be controlled by her.
Fate is truly unpredictable.
Maybe I really did owe her something in my past life.
Le Zhao shook his head helplessly and withdrew before his brother's authority was completely broken.
"Your stay-at-home order hasn't been lifted yet. Don't mess with people you shouldn't. Remember to come home early."
——
Outside Jishanfang, a crowd of people surrounded the area, with colorful oil-paper umbrellas bumping into each other, and raindrops dripping from the tips of the umbrellas onto Le Jin.
Strange, is it possible that half the city is crowded in Jishanfang today?
Le Jin held Bao Yin's hand tightly, tilted the umbrella towards her, and squeezed into the crowd.
"Make way, there's a patient here."
As she approached the gate of Jishanfang, she heard a mournful cry amidst the noisy crowd.
Looking in the direction of the sound, they saw an elderly woman with white hair kneeling on the ground, holding a small child and weeping bitterly.
A young pharmacy clerk was so anxious that he kept stamping his feet in front of her.
"Old man, our Dr. Wu went out on a house call today and hasn't returned yet. Crying won't do any good!"
The old woman wailed, "My granddaughter has been poisoned! If you don't save her, what am I, an old woman, supposed to do!"
The onlookers were all surprised, and someone asked, "How could a perfectly healthy child be poisoned? Did you feed her something wrong?"
The old woman shook her head frantically, hugging the child in her arms even tighter. "My grandson and I live and eat together, and we only have one bag of chestnuts!"
Her voice grew increasingly grief-stricken, “My granddaughter ate that bag of chestnuts and started having a fever and vomiting terribly! Then the neighbor’s cat took the rest of the chestnuts and died two days later! My granddaughter was poisoned! I beg you, please save her…”
Le Jin's hands, which were holding the umbrella, trembled uncontrollably.
This woman was none other than the vegetable-selling old woman she had asked for directions from that day.
That bag of chestnuts was given to me by her.
But she clearly ate a few of them, and she's still perfectly healthy. Where did the poison come from?
Le Jin's heart was pounding. Was she implicated in someone's murder?
But the chestnuts were definitely not poisonous when they were given to the old lady, so the child's poisoning was definitely not her fault. So should she still care?
If I take charge, I'll inevitably be involved, but if I don't...
My mind was in turmoil, and I was completely at a loss when someone suddenly patted me on the back.
"ah!"
Le Jin turned around in a panic, and when she looked up, she saw that she was standing under an oil-paper umbrella with a bamboo pattern, being tightly protected.
Compared to other people's umbrellas, her little umbrella was like a fish eye looking at a pearl.
The umbrella owner smiled and said softly, "Lady Le, it's been a long time."
Meng Shutai has always been the center of attention in Luojing, drawing everyone's gaze wherever he goes.
But at this moment, this ability to attract attention has become a disaster for Le Jin.
The old woman selling vegetables also noticed her, her eyes widening in fury as she pointed at Le Jin and shouted, "Murderer! The one who gave me the poisoned chestnuts!"
This statement caused an uproar among the crowd.
Le Jin was so frightened that she dropped her umbrella on the ground. She hurriedly waved her hands, "I'm not the murderer! Those chestnuts are fine!"
Unfortunately, some of the onlookers happened to have witnessed Le Jin riding her horse recklessly and bullying the people on Chang Street. Now that they had caught her, they immediately jumped out.
"It's you! I've never seen you so arrogant and domineering before. Would you really be so kind as to give someone a chestnut to eat?"
Le Jin opened her mouth to speak, but a barrage of insults followed.
The crowd swarmed around her, pushing Baoyin aside. Lejin could only hear Baoyin anxiously calling out, "Wife! Doesn't my wife want me anymore?"
As if a flood had overwhelmed her chest, Le Jin suddenly found it hard to breathe. Fear made her dizzy and weak, and darkness seemed to disappear before her eyes.
In her utter despair, a fair, slender hand with distinct knuckles grasped her arm and gently but firmly pulled her into its embrace.
The two bodies leaned against each other, and Le Jin could smell the faint sandalwood scent emanating from him.
The fragrance acted as an anchor, instantly transporting her back to that night when he carried her on his back.
It seems that in the vast wilderness, Meng Shutai was always the one who carried her helpless and alone heart.
"Please be patient, everyone."
Meng Shutai shielded Le Jin with one hand and held an umbrella for her with the other, displaying extreme gentleness, but when he turned to others, his expression instantly became authoritative and dignified.
"How can the murderer be convicted based on just a few words? Human life is at stake, saving lives is the priority right now, it would be better to send the child to another place for treatment."
Meng Shutai turned to look at the servants of the Meng family, and was about to instruct them to send the unfortunate grandmother and granddaughter away when Le Jin suddenly tugged at his sleeve.
"Time is of the essence, and I'm afraid it will be too late to see them off at the farewell place."
She was so frightened that she was in a daze, but she gritted her teeth and tried to calm herself down.
"Hey—" Le Jin waved to the pharmacy clerk, "I gave your doctor Wu a sachet filled with medicinal powder. It was very valuable, and he must have kept it safe. There are life-saving medicines inside. Do you know where it is?"
The waiter's dark eyes lit up. "I know!"
He immediately ran back into the shop, and soon returned, holding the sachet embroidered with a peach-pink koi fish.
"Is this what you mean, my lady?"
Meng Shutai's expression hardened. "This is not..."
Feeling guilty, Le Jin didn't look at him and mumbled "I'm sorry" softly.
Before she could even speak, Meng Shutai knew what she was planning to do.
"It doesn't matter."
He chuckled and shook his head, then leaned close to Le Jin's ear and said, "Since it was given to you, you can decide how to handle it."
Looking up again, Meng Shutai pointed to the shop assistant and said, "Take a thumb-sized amount of powder, mix it with water, and have the child drink it to detoxify."
He was the one who found the medicine, and he knew better than Le Jin how to use it.
The waiter did as instructed, and soon after, the previously lifeless girl opened her eyes.
The old woman was overjoyed and immediately knelt down to kowtow to Meng Shutai.
"My lord is truly a living bodhisattva who saves people from suffering!"
Meng Shutai ordered someone to help the old woman up, and bent down to personally brush the dust off her knees.
"Saving a life is better than building a seven-story pagoda. It is you and your granddaughter who have brought me this blessing."
He was gentle and composed, calm and unhurried, like the bright moon shining down on the world.
Le Jin was so engrossed in watching that she was completely absorbed.
Is this person... really the one who killed her at Tiger Head Mountain?
The old woman sobbed uncontrollably, and it took her a while to calm down. But when she saw Le Jin, she was on high alert again.
"You wicked woman, I was just trying to give you directions, how could you harm me like this!"
"I really didn't!"
"Your earring is still in those chestnuts, the one you gave me. And you're trying to deny it!"
What Le Jin said was indeed the truth, but at the time there was no surveillance and no witnesses, and the things she gave even poisoned the cat. Now she really had to swallow her bitterness and couldn't say anything!
"Madam."
Meng Shutai suddenly stopped the old woman from criticizing Le Jin, and smiled gently: "I have a solution."
He hooked a strand of hair hanging behind him with his fingertips and took out a dagger from his waist.
With a gentle cut, the gleaming blade met the hair, leaving a severed section in the hand.
"Our bodies and hair are given to us by our parents. I cut my hair to apologize on behalf of this woman, as if she is repaying your grandson's physical pain."
He placed the severed hair in the old woman's palm and instructed her, "If you encounter any difficulties in the future, you can come to the Meng family with this."
The old woman was astonished. What was so light and airy in her hand was not hair at all, but clearly a promise of a worry-free life in her later years.
Le Jin didn't even know how she finally got into Meng Shutai's carriage. By the time she could feel the wheels rolling, they had already passed several market towns.
Baoyin sat to the side, clinging tightly to Lejin's arm, turning over and over in a low voice, "You scared me to death, you scared me to death..."
Le Jin came to her senses and rubbed her hands, both to comfort her and to calm herself down.
"Is Miss Baoyin still not better? Should I have the family physician come and take a look?"
Meng Shutai handed Le Jin a cup of tea, but Le Jin had no interest in dealing with him.
She gazed at him for a long time, her expression as if she were looking at a jagged rock in a desolate mountain, exploring, guessing, and pondering.
Why?
He's clearly ruthless and murderous in secret, so why does he repeatedly show her such tenderness?
Is it all fake? Is there not a single bit of sincerity?
If it weren't for Meng Shutai today, she probably would have been punished for multiple crimes and would have had to pay with her life at the prefectural governor's office in Luoyang.
"Why is Lady Le looking at me like that?" Meng Shutai asked, seeing that she didn't take the tea. He touched his smooth, delicate cheek. "Is there something wrong, Shutai?"
"No." Le Jin stammered, then suddenly raised her eyes. "Does Young Master Meng always carry a dagger?"
Meng Shutai nodded and smiled, “A birthday gift from an old friend.”
"May I take a look?"
The ivory dagger returned to Le Jin's hands after many years.
It was heavy, very substantial, weighing as much as her two lifetimes.
Her wrist trembled slightly, and Le Jin forced a sweet smile: "It's so beautiful. I've never seen such a beautiful dagger before."
Like a envious child, she hid the dagger in her heart.
"Young Master Meng, please give it to me!"
He used this dagger to end her last time, but this time he used it to save her.
A life for a life, even the deepest hatred can fade away one day.
But this was her heartfelt gift, and no matter what happens in the end, she cherishes it and doesn't want it to be tainted by anything else.
Le Jin blinked, gazing at him with eyes as bright and innocent as a deer's. Meng Shutai clearly saw himself reflected in her pupils.
As if by some strange twist of fate, he himself was surprised to utter the following words:
"It is not appropriate to give away the relics of an old friend, but Lady Le can borrow them to play with for a while before returning them to Shutai."
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Author's Note: Meng Shutai: Don't be afraid, you have no one to rely on, but I will always be by your side. What?? What do you mean you have no one to rely on?? Well, don't ask that...
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