Chapter 35 A Familiar Face
Cao Cao suffered from headaches, and the illness was quite strange.
During his illness, Aman was unusually quiet, often staring at me intently with a thoughtful expression that made me feel uneasy.
"Alright, stop looking, drink your medicine." I coaxed him with a smile as I handed him the bowl of medicine.
"Hmm." He smiled at me and obediently picked up the medicine bowl himself.
"Don't drink!" Guo Jia suddenly burst in, his breathing slightly rapid.
I turned to look at him, puzzled. "What's wrong?"
Taking a few steps forward, Guo Jia snatched the medicine bowl from Cao Cao's hand and said calmly, "It's poisoned."
"Poisonous?!" I exclaimed.
"Hmm." Guo Jia waved his sleeve and splashed the medicine in the bowl into the corner of the wall.
With a hissing sound, the dark medicine suddenly foamed up on the ground, causing a piece of the wall to chip off.
I suddenly felt a chill run down my spine.
Ah Man seemed startled as well, and wrapped his arms tightly around my waist.
"Who is it?" I cried out in disbelief.
"Don't panic," Guo Jia said, looking at me and dropping the bowl of medicine he was holding. "Who gave you the medicine?"
I was slightly startled, remembering that morning when Tuanzi cheerfully brought me medicine from the kitchen, saying that the Prime Minister insisted that I feed it to him.
"Tuanzi?" Guo Jia looked at me and spoke softly.
I did not deny it. 70
"Young Master! Young Master! Has Xiao Mao arrived yet?" Tuanzi walked in with a smile, then froze, looking at the medicine bowl that had rolled to the ground. "What's wrong?"
Guo Jia coughed lightly and looked at Tuanzi, "The medicine is poisoned."
"What?" Her eyes widened in horror, and Tuanzi immediately knelt down. "It's...it's Madam Du...Madam Du brewed the medicine and told me..."
Madam Du? Who is Madam Du? I was stunned for a moment, then glanced at Cao Cao sideways. He really has a lot of wives.
Ah Man looked up at me, blinked, and looked completely innocent.
In no time, all of Cao Cao's wives had arrived, filling almost half the room... Lady Ding was in the lead, and Lady Yin was also there. I only recognized these two; the others were all unfamiliar faces.
I glanced at the innocent-looking Prime Minister Cao again with a strange look, and shook my head and sighed. With so many wives, how could he possibly use them all?
But he has good taste; they are all very attractive.
I scanned them from left to right; he had collected a wide variety of beauties, plump and slender. If we put them together, we could hold a beauty pageant.
However, I frowned slightly. Although the beauties each had their own unique charm, I felt something was off, as if...
"Madam Du, what's going on?" Madam Ding frowned slightly and spoke slowly, displaying the authority of a principal wife.
A beautiful woman, her face deathly pale, suddenly knelt down with a thud. "Prime Minister...Prime Minister...I'm innocent..."
Ah Man held my hand, lowered his head and played with my little finger, not even glancing at the beauty.
Madam Ding glanced back at Cao Cao, then at me. Seeing that Cao Cao didn't speak, she turned around and scolded, "You brewed the medicine, how can I wrong you?"
"I really don't know anything..." Madam Du was so frightened that she trembled.
“Sister, although she brewed the medicine, it’s hard to guarantee that the person serving it didn’t tamper with it,” Madam Yin, who had been standing to the side, suddenly spoke up.
Madam Du raised her head slightly and gave her a grateful look.
Madam Yin raised her hand, picked up a strand of hair, and played with it between her fingers without looking at her.
"Hmm," Madam Ding nodded slightly.
Tuanzi stood pitifully beside Guo Jia, offering no rebuttal.
"I had Tuanzi bring the medicine," Guo Jia said calmly, clearing his throat. The implication was clear: you even suspect me?
Madam Du's face turned deathly pale.
Tuanzi paused slightly and looked at Guo Jia.
"Very well, considering you've done nothing wrong, take some money and send you out of the manor." Madam Ding sighed softly, looked at Madam Du, and said slowly.
Madam Du was stunned for a moment, then kowtowed repeatedly to express her gratitude, leaving red marks on her fair forehead.
Ah Man remained with his head down, intently studying my fingers.
Watching Madam Du being helped out weakly, I felt a surge of anger, shoved Aman aside, and glared at him.
Ah Man let out a soft "Eh".
As she was helped to the door, Madam Du's eyes lit up, and she turned to look at Cao Cao.
But Aman grabbed my hand again and continued to study with his head down, without even glancing at her.
With a slight dimming in her bright eyes, Madam Du lowered her head gently and slowly walked out of the mansion.
That one glance back gave me a clue, and my heart skipped a beat. I scanned the beauties in the room, and sure enough...
Although each woman is beautiful in her own way, if you were to put their features together... a woman's image, as radiant as a smiling spring mountain, would vaguely appear in my mind.
"...I just saw a very interesting girl in the square."
"Her name is also Xiaoxiao."
"What's even more interesting is... she gave me a feeling..."
"Her eyes... were lifeless, and her forehead was dark... Hehe... Just like me in the past, she had that unlucky look of someone about to time travel..."
A sweet voice, tinged with schadenfreude, echoed in my ears, and that exquisitely beautiful face appeared in my mind.
An Ruo, is An Ruo the Xiao Xiao they're talking about?
Madam Ding's serene and indifferent eyes, Madam Yin's soft and smiling lips, Madam Du's slightly upturned eyebrows, and the other beauties in the room—whether in their noses or foreheads—all shared a resemblance.
For a moment I was stunned. Could it be that all these beauties in front of me were just one person in his eyes?
In his eyes... these beauties were just a broken piece of a woman's puzzle?
Those eyebrows and eyes pieced together... that woman who smiled like a spring mountain, that woman with the same name as me... Xiaoxiao?
Are you kidding me?! (37)
I stared in astonishment, stood up abruptly, and shook off Ah Man, who was still holding my hands.
Aman looked up at me, his face blank, "Xiaoxiao..."
I turned and walked out of the room, my steps quickening.
"Xiaoxiao! Xiaoxiao!" Aman actually got up and chased after him.
I ignored everything and kept walking forward.
"Xiaoxiao, my head hurts... my head hurts so much..." A soft cry suddenly came from behind.
My steps faltered slightly, and I resignedly turned around to see Aman squatting on the ground, his hands covering his head, looking very pained.
Pulling down his hands that were frantically banging on his head, I gently massaged his temples.
"Does it still hurt?" I asked, sighing and speaking softly.
"Hmm," Aman squinted his eyes slightly and hummed comfortably.
I sighed again, utterly speechless.
The matter of poisoning ended with Madam Du being expelled from the manor. However, I still felt uneasy, always feeling that the blood letter I saw that day was harmful to Cao Cao.
Unfortunately, in this dynasty, I became semi-literate.
After coaxing Aman back to bed, I turned around, grabbed the bamboo slips, and began to write, leaning over the table...
“Xiaoxiao…” Aman called softly.
"Hmm?" I responded unconsciously.
"I'm hungry." (f7)
"Go tell your wife," I said, waving my hand.
After a long silence.
“Xiaoxiao…” Aman called again.
"Um?"
"I'm thirsty." (d3)
"Send your wife over."
Remain silent.
"Xiaoxiao..." The fearless voice shouted again.
"What exactly do you want?!" I turned around, grinding my teeth fiercely. The books and scrolls on the table were already a mess from my rummaging. I've always had an exceptional memory, known for my photographic recollection, so I was trying my best to copy that blood-written letter, but this person kept interrupting me!
"I...I feel so bored..." Ah Man said softly, looking aggrieved.
"Go play with your wife!" I gritted my teeth, my face fierce. "If you utter another sound, I'll leave this manor immediately and never come back!"
Upon hearing this, Cao Cao hurriedly raised his hand to cover his mouth.
Having solved the source of the noise, I turned back to continue my "creation" with a sense of satisfaction.
I chewed on the calligraphy brush in my hand, almost wearing it down to the bone, and finally wrote the last stroke.
Blowing the ink dry, I carefully tucked it into my bosom and rushed off to find Guo Jia, completely ignoring Cao Cao's mournful gaze.
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