Goodbye Chengyu
Under the blazing sun, the golden sunlight, along with the gentle breeze and the murmurs from the swallows on the rafters, fell upon her in wisps.
Her wide sleeves concealed the brownish-yellow medicine bottle in her hand. She stepped out of the alley and turned to the right. "Uncle Chu, come out."
Chu Feixuan wore a scarlet round-necked robe with a bright and eye-catching peony on his chest. He turned and stood in front of Sui Zhixu, his face beaming with a smile. Time seemed to have been kind to him, leaving only a few lines at the corners of his eyes, adding to his mature charm.
Sui Zhixu remembered that he seemed to be younger than his mother.
"Quite perceptive, isn't he?" He was nonchalant and unserious.
Sui Zhixu looked away, "Your breathing is heavier, making you easy to recognize."
"Alright, Liu Lü is gone. Your mother told me to keep an eye on you." Chu Shiguan stood at attention, abandoning his flirtatious demeanor.
"Um."
She was a woman of few words, and had no place to talk to Chu Feixuan, so she walked forward in a sullen manner.
A commotion arose in the distance, and the crowd stirred. Xu thought he should take a detour, but then he heard a familiar voice.
Beneath the soft, delicate voice lay a stern command, "Take him away now! Openly defying the laws advocated by the Sui family and agreed upon by the government, I think you're courting death!"
As he walked around the crowd, he indeed saw a familiar figure.
"Chengyu."
Sui Chengyu turned his head, his dignified demeanor gone, and casually tossed the whip in his hand to the attendant beside him before running straight towards Sui Zhixu.
"cousin!"
She held Sui Chengyu firmly in her arms, and in Sui Zhixu's eyes, it was as if an apricot blossom had fallen into her embrace.
Why are you here?
She looked back and saw that the plaque read "Huang Mansion".
Liao Ran asked, "About the sale of wives?"
“Well, I’ve been busy with things in Jingzhou, and my third aunt and cousin couldn’t get away, so I came instead. I just happened to run into my cousin, so I’m so glad I came.” Sui Chengyu nuzzled her face affectionately.
“I’m really something. I went up there and gave them two good lashes with the whip! That’ll teach them a lesson for openly defying the Sui family. They’ve got some nerve, daring to flirt with the Sui family right under their noses.”
"And then there's Master Huang's wife. She's no better. She forbids her husband from taking concubines and even tries to harm other men's wives, thinking that this way her husband will belong to her alone. Isn't that just burying her head in the sand?"
Sui Zhixu: "You've grown quite a bit."
After returning home, her first dependence on Chang'an was her mother and Chengyu.
Even apricot blossoms that are about to bloom can stand proudly on the branches and stand on their own.
She hugged Sui Chengyu, remaining unmoved by the fierce gaze of Madam Huang, and waved for someone to take her away.
"What are your plans, child?"
As Chengyu grew up, this was still her mission.
“Jingzhou is not peaceful right now. Give them to the wet nurses first, and then send them to the Immortal Abode after the great calamity in Jingzhou is over.”
Sui Zhixu nodded.
Chu Feixuan, standing behind them, didn't interfere in their affairs. He idly whistled and even had the mood to compete with the children on the side.
They don't look like rescuers; they look more like tourists.
“Cousin, Sui Chuke has arrived in Jingzhou. Be careful, there are still many people in the clan who support him,” Sui Chengyu whispered in her ear.
She said calmly, "I understand. Let's go together once things are settled. Something happened here, and Liu Lü is going to the Sui family to bring Chi Gong with her."
"Chi Gong? When I left, he was extremely busy. I wonder where these Gu worms came from, causing such harm?"
Sui Chengyu lowered his head and sighed heavily, his words filled with sorrow.
As Xu Zhixu touched the porcelain bottle in her hand, she knew that Jiang Li wouldn't be so kind. The porcelain bottle in her hand felt like it was burning, stimulating her palm and spreading to her heart.
"Let's go back first."
"oh."
Sui Chengyu could tell that she didn't want to talk, and guessed that what she had come up with must be quite significant. She silently followed behind her, occasionally being asked a few questions by Chu Feixuan.
Chu Feixuan briefly summarized his experiences along the way, and when he mentioned Xi Yushao, Sui Chengyu had an expression that said, "I knew it."
“I knew he had ulterior motives. Back at the Shanhai Academy, he would come to the academy every few days to share his experience. He was the most diligent among the top students. He also kept coming to talk to my cousin and saying strange things. I felt something was wrong at that time. Sure enough, he was plotting against my cousin. No, I won’t allow it!”
Sui Chengyu shouted at the top of her lungs, "I disagree!"
"Huh?" She suddenly shouted as they approached the front door, causing Sui Zhixu to turn around and look at her.
"What did you say you disagreed with?"
Sui Zhixu's face remained expressionless. Beneath her long eyelashes, her eyes were dark and deep. Her fresh and pure profile came into view, and the contours of her upturned peach blossom eyes were natural and lively.
No one noticed her pure charm; on the contrary, they seemed captivated by her beauty and dared not speak.
As Cheng Yu swallowed, she stammered for a long time without making a sound.
Xu frowned and met her gaze. "What did you just say? I didn't hear you clearly."
She was thinking about Jiang Li and didn't hear what she said.
“I said…” Sui Chengyu lowered her head even further, “I said that the playboy has ulterior motives towards my cousin!”
Her voice suddenly rose and then fell, "He doesn't seem respectable, I... I don't approve of you having anything to do with him."
Sui Zhixu frowned even more deeply. "What kind of relationship could I possibly have with him?"
Why is everyone saying that Xi Yushao has feelings for her? Wasn't he trying every means to seduce Cui Wan?
Chengyu is, and so is her mother.
Sui Zhixu shook her head, wondering what they were thinking.
“He’s definitely not a proper person. Stay away from him in the future.”
Ever since she left without a word, Fan Lingzhang's heart has been restless, pounding wildly as if it wanted to leap out of his chest to find where she was.
Until the bamboo-green hem of her dress crossed the threshold, his heart calmed down, guiding him forward. One step, two steps, his vision gradually blurred, and finally he collapsed a step away from her.
In the last second of my consciousness, I heard her urgent voice calling out, "Little Hibiscus!"
He had a feeling that the Gu worms had fully awakened.
As Sui Zhixu stepped inside, she immediately saw Fan Lingzhang, dressed in a sky-blue robe, walking towards her and finally collapsing in front of her.
"Little Furong? Wake up!" Sui Zhixu picked him up and ran into the house, shouting, "Danhong, come quickly and see what's wrong with him!"
She had a bad feeling. She noticed an abnormal blush on the skin of the person in her arms. He frowned and muttered to himself.
"What's wrong, my wife?" Danhong was preparing the medicine for the child, crushing live poisonous insects and putting them into a bowl when she suddenly heard her wife return. She ran out with the blood-soaked bowl in her hand.
"Take a look at him quickly, see if the Gu worms inside him have awakened."
Dan Hong put down the bowl containing the poisonous insect's blood and looked at Fan Lingzhang. Her eyelashes trembled slightly. Oh no!
She tried to keep her tone calm, "Madam, please put Mr. Fan down first. I'll tidy up the things here, right away."
She couldn't hide her panic in the end. Trembling, she put the children's medicine aside and took out the sachet left by Chi Gong from the medicine box.
Dan Hong placed the sachet on Fan Lingzhang's nose, then moved it step by step down his cheek to his palm. In a moment, Fan Lingzhang's palm seemed to have come to life, throbbing incessantly, as if it were about to burst out of his body.
His breathing became rapid, his throat moved unconsciously, and an abnormal blush spread from his cheeks to behind his ears. The tips of his ears burned bright red, like cinnabar licked by candlelight, and his whole body seemed to be immersed in scalding hot liquid.
Everything is obvious now.
She said, "The love potion has awakened."
If the Gu worm is deprived of nourishment, it will produce hallucinations to seduce the man. Once it has intercourse with a man, it will become like the man in the storybook whose life essence is drained, confused and unable to live for long.
Sui Zhixu gripped the brown porcelain bottle tightly in his hand, his gaze wandering aimlessly.
She braced her hands on the edge of the bed to support her trembling body.
She suddenly remembered when Yue Nu gave birth to several cubs.
There's a folk saying that cats give birth after three months of pregnancy, just like dogs do. The day before Yuenu gave birth, she lay on her bed, panting like a puppy.
It would occasionally let out a mournful cry, like a child crying, which was heartbreaking.
Meow~
Late at night, Yue Nu hid in the delivery room they had prepared for her. It was pitch black all around, and Yue Nu seemed much more at ease, occasionally bumping her head against them.
Despite his busy schedule, Fan Lingzhang began preparing the chicken and dried fish that Yue Nu liked. The two of them waited anxiously late into the night.
"I hope everything will be alright?" Fan Lingzhang had experience delivering Ahua's baby before, but his heart was pounding.
“Yuen Slave has experience giving birth, so she should be fine.” Sui Zhixu wasn’t sure if she had any memory of Yuen Slave giving birth.
She even consulted experienced people a few days ago, I wonder if what she learned was helpful?
The two of them talked back and forth, sometimes considering whether to prepare more food for Yue Nu, and sometimes sending people to prepare more soft blankets.
Even in the dead of night, they remained alert and showed no signs of sleepiness.
At that time, Fan Lingzhang always felt sleepy. He would be doing accounting in the middle of the day when he lost consciousness. When Sui Zhixu found him, he was already fast asleep on the table.
On the night Yuenu gave birth, he stared straight at the little nest he had prepared for her. After a long while, a soft sound, like "ah," rang out.
The two immediately got up to check, but they weren't sure if Yue Nu was still pregnant, so they could only take a quick look.
"How many kittens do you think Yue Nu will have this time?"
"My wife, I don't know either."
Sui Zhixu: "The chicken in the bowl is gone, go and add some more."
"Okay, sure."
When Yuenu gave birth, Xu and Fan Lingzhang also spent the whole night with her. In the middle of the night, Yuenu stopped giving birth halfway through and lay there panting heavily.
Sui Zhixu touched her belly and felt that there was still more. He fed her chicken and coaxed her. In the middle of the night, she finally gave birth to another baby.
In the end, three kittens were born, and Ahua had three younger brothers and sisters.
Xu and Fan Lingzhang were exhausted and collapsed on the bed. The night had been terrifying. She was extremely worried about Yue Nu's safety, even though she had no memory of Yue Nu's last childbirth.
But in the human world, childbirth is a life-or-death ordeal for women. If she felt this way towards humans, she would feel it even more so towards a small, vulnerable cat.
After Yue Nu gave birth, Fan Lingzhang was visibly much more energetic. Sui Zhixu didn't know whether he was forcing himself to stay awake or was too excited to suppress the Gu worm's reaction.
He couldn't resist sneaking peeks at Yue Nu's kittens. His mother had told him that newborn kittens shouldn't be touched too often, as they would get human scent and wouldn't recognize the kittens. So Fan Lingzhang would lie by the nest and peek.
After giving birth, Yue Nu's temper worsened, especially towards Fan Lingzhang, who would scratch her at the slightest provocation.
After he was arrested, he ran to her crying and complaining. During the first month of the lunar year, his voice, along with Yue Nu's meowing and Dan Hong's playful nagging, mingled in Jianjia Pavilion.
Occasionally, a few petals from the red plum blossoms in the courtyard would fall, fluttering down onto the pure white snow, just like her heart, which was cheered and encouraged by their joyful cheers.
"Chi Gong left a message: if the young master commits another offense, the wife will seal his acupoints."
Her voice was hoarse, "I know..."
Danhong looked at her worriedly. She still felt that Fan Langjun was not good enough for her, but he could indeed make her happy.
During the days he was in Jianjia Pavilion, his wife probably didn't even realize that she smiled more often. After shedding her identity as the young master of the Sui family, and freed from the Sui family's numerous affairs and the disturbances of that group of madmen, Jianjia Pavilion gained a sense of tranquility and beauty.
"I'll seal his acupoints. Go and continue preparing. There are still various things to prepare. Give them to Chi Gong when he arrives. Remember to dissolve them."
Danhong took the porcelain bottle from her hand, called her name softly a few times, but received no reply, and silently left the room.
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